Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Enthusiasm”
Our Bible verse for today: “For I have given you and example that you also should do just as I have done for you.” John 13:15 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Service breeds enthusiasm”
There is joy in the act of giving. Few things are as satisfying or fulfilling as seeing someone else being blessed by an act of your service or generosity. When my children were young I was usually a bigger kid on Christmas morning than they were. For weeks before the big morning I would visualize and anticipate the looks of surprise and joy on their faces as they opened their gifts. The satisfaction and fulfillment I got from giving those gifts far exceeded what they experienced from receiving them.
These days I lead short-term mission teams to remote locations around the world. It’s a tremendous privilege to be the bearer of God’s gifts to people in great need. I’m always careful to make sure the people understand that the relief supplies are coming to them as a gift from God and not from me – I just get to be the conduit through which they flow. But still, it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to do things like that for people in great need.
In John chapter 13 Jesus performed a humble act of service for His closest disciples by washing their filthy feet. Then He instructed them to go out into the world and perform similar acts of service for people in need. Jesus wasn’t teaching a lesson about foot washing. He was teaching a lesson about having a servant’s heart. This is the primary way in which people end up coming to faith in Christ. A servant of Christ meets a very real physical need in that person’s life, and that then often creates an opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel.
There are real and compelling reasons to serve those in need, both physical reasons and spiritual. But what Jesus didn’t mention in this passage was the serendipity embedded in those acts of service. Servants end up experiencing great joy in their own hearts as a result of their acts of service to others and you often end up feeling more blessed than they do. One of the most effective ways of igniting enthusiasm in your faith is to engage in acts of service.
Five years ago at Oak Hill Baptist Church we adopted “The Acts 1:8” model of ministry. We believe the Lord is calling us to be on-mission with Him outside the walls of the church building – in our Jerusalem (Cumberland County); in our Judea (Tennessee); in our Samaria (the USA); and to the ends of the earth. We then developed small ministry projects in each of those locations and we regularly venture outside the church buildings to all of those locations to serve people in need. The effect this had on our church was significant. There’s a spirit of enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment to the cause of Christ that is really pretty remarkable in a day-and-age when so much of church life in the USA tends to be inwardly focused.
I encourage you to participate in acts of service to those in need. You’ll discover that although your acts of ministry are a blessing to them, the bigger blessing will be what God does in your own heart. Service breeds enthusiasm.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 