Transformative Power of Serving Others with Purpose

Philippians 2, 3 through 8 says this. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourself, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of others. Let's park here just for a moment. Think about it. If every interaction that we had with people, we thought about not our own interests. What can we get from the interaction? What can I get from the conversation? What makes my life better? But in 10, we flipped that script and we said, how could I serve someone else better? Paul goes on to write, And our relationships with one another have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant and being made in human likeness. Being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even. To the death of the cross. See, Jesus himself said early on in his ministry that the son of man, referring to himself, has not come to be served, but to serve others. [00:33:21] (79 seconds)


Just because I have the opportunity to stand up here on this platform, does not mean I don't go through that same pain as you. But today, right now, your heavenly Father is saying to you that he wants to take your pain. He wants to turn your graves into gardens. He wants to turn your seas into highways. He wants to turn the dead bones of your life into a mighty army for him. He wants you to walk in freedom and in joy with purpose and destiny this year. We have to give those over to him. We have to be willing to say, not my will, as Jesus said, but your will in my life, Lord. [00:36:32] (43 seconds)


So what if in 2025 we were to do this, live in the present peace and be in the moment with those around you? Now yes, we have to have a plan. The Bible tells us without a vision the people perish. But we we've got to remember to live in the present peace that Jesus wants to give us. I think sometimes we get so hung up in the situation that we see coming up. And oh God, what am I going to do? Because I know in three months this is going to happen and something else is coming down the pike here. God wants us to walk in the daily peace and joy that he gives us, that he provides for us. We need to be in that moment. [00:46:06] (43 seconds)


But as adults, we can find ourself in that same mode of just saying rote prayers without any true meaning behind them. Lord, bless me today, bless my family, even we go through all the names, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless. Lord, you know, I got this test coming up from the school. Lord, I got this hard day at work coming up. Help me, help me, help me, do this, do this, do this. You just... Jesus wants relationship. He wants to spend time with us. He wants to hear from you, and he wants to speak to us. And so we want to develop or redevelop a lifestyle of prayer in English and in our prayer language. [00:53:25] (39 seconds)


And then there's a whole group of people out here, and I got to be honest, I'm just a tad jealous of you guys. I'm a floater. I can just go where life takes me. I don't worry. I don't have to plan. I can just go with the flow. Trust me, as a worrier, I'm a little jealousy, y 'all. But however, sometimes if we're just floating too much float, we don't have that Jesus Christ purpose. Again, we need that vision. So to all three of us today, I say, what if in 2025 we would trust God's plan and rest in the assurance that God holds the future? Think about how much victory we can have in our life, how much joy we can have in our life, how much peace we can have in our life if we rest. That's the key word there. Rest in the assurance that God holds the future. [00:59:51] (55 seconds)


Heavenly Father, today, Lord, we say thank you for Christian men and women that are going to be in that operating room with Maggie today. Their hands are going to be guided by the very power of the Holy Spirit. Father, we claim that this, this is the answer for her, and that she comes out of here stronger. I pray over my brother Lonnie, Father, that he walks in victory today, Lord. I pray for everyone that's out here that has their hand raised, that has a need in their life, in their body, in their soul, in their spirit, their family. Father, you have the answer. You turn graves into gardens. [00:13:32] (42 seconds)


What if your goal was to serve others, treat others better, and lead others to Jesus Christ? I would like for all of us in here to make part of our goal moving forward that we will win at least one person to Jesus in 2025. Let's not let another year go by in which we have not fulfilled the Great Commission. And if we do this, do you think your church and your community would be better? Do you think you would be a better person, have a better life, have more peace, have more purpose, and have more joy? [00:32:21] (38 seconds)


Now look, I know that, you know, it's kind of not a normal prayer time, but right now, if there's a pain that you have in your heart, in your life, I want you to come down. We want to lay it down at this altar. Our prayer team is ready and willing to serve you and pray, and you know what? I know there's pain out there. I know there's hurts out there. Right now, I want you to just come down. Be the first one. Get up. Let's rock to this altar. Your heavenly father wants you to walk in victory in 2025, and he's saying, take that step of faith. Take that leap of faith this morning. Come down. Let's agree in prayer with our prayer partners today. [00:38:58] (41 seconds)


So to assist us as a church in continuing to walk out the freedom, because we come up, we get prayed for, we feel great, we feel the presence of God just pouring over us, but then we have to go out and walk back into the life. Where we are, right? So we want to help you. We always want to stand shoulder to shoulder with you. Here at the Father's House, we have a group of trained freedom life coaches. If there's some issues going on in your life that you would like some assistance with moving forward into 2025, you can take out that connection card and you can just write on there, Tim, link me up with a freedom coach. [00:44:10] (40 seconds)


Moving forward in 2025, I want you to hear these words. It's called journey groups. And we're going to be training some journey leaders to release a journey groups later in the year. And they're going to help you learn why you do what you do. Why do we repeat the same negative behavior, have the same thoughts, and we can find freedom through the power of the Holy Spirit that is alive and working in our lives. [00:45:38] (28 seconds)


We encourage you all here in the Father's house to complete growth track. Find your place to serve in the house or in the community. Remember, we started off today talking about serving others, meeting them at their point of need. Join a life group in 2025. If you have not been in a life group, I challenge you in the spring semester, we'll be signing up in January, February, we'll be signing up. Join a life group. Commit to 10 weeks. [00:56:12] (30 seconds)


Plans to give you the future you hope for. What that tells me is that when I line myself up with Christ, He already knows the hopes and dreams that I have. And if I'm aligned up with Him, His hopes become my hopes, and my hopes are following His plan. He wants to give me the things that I want because they're the things that He has already picked out for me. He has already dropped them in my spirit. He has already showed me good things for my self, good things for my family. I just have to submit my way to His way in 2025. [01:01:16] (38 seconds)