Morning, everyone. So our theme being servitude this week and the verse of the day being Ephesians chapter four, verse number one, where the Bible says, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called. So for a few minutes this morning, I just want to talk about that and It's a privilege to be here with each and every one of you. It's a privilege to stand up here and as Brother Tim was saying, as intimidating as it is, I'm thankful for the opportunity to stand up and talk about our Lord. We sang the song this morning for a thousand tongues to sing. And if I had a thousand tongues, I pray that every one of them would worship God and be given to his service. And as a kid growing up and as a young person, I loved to play sports. Like most of the kids around here, That's what I love to do. And I got out there and I played and played and played and practiced hard and worked hard at it. It's just what I love to do. It's what I was passionate about. I gave it everything within me. May not have been the best player out there, but I gave it my best every single time. I loved it. So when the Lord called me, saved me and called me, That's the same desire that I have. So regardless of talents, whatever I have, I want to give to him and to his service. And I hope that you feel the same because it doesn't matter whether someone's called to preach or teach or any level of ministry. As a Christian, every one of us are called as ministers of the gospel, to be a light to the world, to be a testimony to those about us. So when we think about the character of a servant, what does that mean? What does that look like? There's a couple of things that I want you to evaluate today. That is a willingness to serve and then evaluate the response to that, your own response to service. So what does it mean to be willing to serve? I think there's two types of service that we can give. One, being voluntary, and another being involuntary. So, you know, obviously, if you've put your name on the board over there to serve, then you've volunteered to serve. And that means that you're willing to do that. But there are also times, and we'll look at some examples of what involuntary service looks like. And obviously as a Christian, I hope that you're willing to serve the Lord. But there are times that God will place us in situations in life that we may not be asking for or looking for. And so that's what I'm referring to when I say involuntary service, that you didn't necessarily seek out, but you were placed in a situation to serve. So what is your willingness at that point? The true test of willingness comes when trials and difficulties arise in the midst of our serving. We say that we want to serve, we want to give ourselves to service, but when the way gets rough, what is our willingness at that point to serve the Lord? Again, in voluntary service, everyone likes the story of a hero and there's all kinds of fairy tales and fantasies and in this day and time there's virtual reality and we live in a society that really many times is just an alternate reality to what life is truly about. And so may the Lord help us to focus on what truly matters. That, of course, being his word and how we respond to that. So I hope that we respond with obedience, I hope that we respond with a good attitude and a good heart in service. The, you know, the biblical character of a true servant will shine didn't start my timer, so better do that. The biblical character of a true servant will shine no matter the level of servitude or oppression. You see, we live in a free country today. As Americans, we don't even understand or hardly have the knowledge of what it is like to be a slave or under oppression or bondage of any sort. But the true character will show forth no matter what the level of servitude is, no matter what the level of oppression is, a true servant's heart will show forth regardless of that. If we're serving just to be seen of others is not the right reason to serve. That's not the right character of a biblical servant. So regardless of the situation or conditions or circumstances or relationship, we are to serve the Lord because of him and for his glory. He said that he'll share, not share his glory with anyone. And so we think of children toward their parents. That's one of the very first levels of servitude. The Bible says, children, obey your parents. If you're a believer as a child, if you're unwilling to be obedient, then you're unwilling to serve in that level of servitude where God has placed you. The same thing is true regardless of our age or status in life. If we're unwilling to be compliant, then we're unwilling to serve. As I think of examples in the Bible, we'll talk about several examples, but one of the first examples that came to mind is Moses. And he was a servant leader. So a servant leader, you know, but he didn't he didn't necessarily start out that way. A servant leader will show humility and love. Will help strengthen the weak and encourage others and show compassion. But they'll also do this with patience. We look at Moses. He had he had the right. He had the heart. But what did he do? He took things into his own hands. On several occasions, he did this. And as he desired to see his people free from bondage and slavery, he took it into his own hands and ended up killing someone. So he was ready. He thought he was ready. But then, of course, he was 40 years on the backside of the desert. Then when God came to him and God called him, when it was in God's time and will, then what do we see for Moses? He wasn't as ready as he thought he was. You know, the Bible tells us that God's grace has made, his strength has made perfect in and through our weakness. And so 40 years later, Moses was beginning to realize what it meant to be a servant leader. Like I said, there was many times when Moses took things into his own hands, but those times did not turn out well. Of course, the ultimate example of the character of a servant leader was Jesus himself. As he washed the disciples' feet, he showed forth humility and love As was mentioned last evening, this is what the lowliest did, and yet Jesus took that position to wash the feet of his disciples. May our heart have that humility and love and service to others. Ultimately, he became a servant by obeying his own father's will and dying on the cross for our sins. The Bible says that he learned obedience through the things which he suffered. We don't become a servant without a certain level of suffering. And Jesus was the ultimate example of that. We turn over to first Peter. In chapter number two. Verse 16, he says, as as free, not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as servants of God, Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Service be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy if a man for conscious toward God endured grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. We even here in two recall because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in his steps. So Christ set the ultimate example through the things which he suffered He set an example for us that we are to follow. As we look back up there, Peter encourages us as free. We're free today. We live in a country where we can be free. So we can be free to serve the Lord. But let us not abuse that freedom is what he's saying here. Let us be true servants of God. We should honor all men. We should not look down on the more lowly. We should look with compassion and with love upon all. We should honor all. We should love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. That means honor the people and rule over us, whether we're in agreement with their leadership or politics or not. And we're going to talk about, we're going to look at examples from the scripture regarding this. Instead of running down whatever president we may have, how often do we find ourselves on our knees praying for that person? And the same in all levels of leadership. It's easy to say a critical word, but how often do we find ourselves with a heart of a servant, which begins on our knees in prayer for those people? So as free, we serve the Lord. As servants, we should be servants to our masters with all fear. This is not something that we can fully comprehend because we are free today. But if we were servants, the scripture tells us to be subject to our masters with all fear, not just to the good and gentle, but also to the forward, to the overbearing, I mean, again, how can we even comprehend that, not being in such a situation? I hope that that sets perspective, going back to children learning to be servants, learning about what true character of servitude is simply by obeying our parents. If you have trouble obeying your parents, how could you ever serve as the scripture instructs us here, service be subject to your master with all fear. How could you do that if you can't obey your parents? He says, for this is, this is thankworthy for man for conscious toward God endured grief and suffered wrongfully. You know, what, what glory is it when we suffer because of our own faults? If I choose poorly, I tell my children this at home. If you make poor choices, you're going to suffer the consequences. That's a fact of life. And that doesn't change no matter what your age is. Poor choices, you're going to. So as my children at home make poor choices and they face whatever consequences, I try to explain to them there are consequences based on the rules of the home, but there's also what I call home natural consequences. For example, a child is instructed not to do a certain thing. child goes and does this certain thing and maybe gets hurt in the process. Well, I explain to my children that that's a natural consequence. A parent tells a little one, don't touch that stove, it's hot. What happens when the child touches the stove? It gets burned. That's a natural consequence. The parent didn't have to spank the child. might still need it, but he experienced a natural consequence. So regardless of what our consequences are, we must face those consequences. And that's what Peter is saying here. What glory is it if even as an adult, we make such a foolish decision to touch the stove whatever parallel we touch that stone we get burned what what glory is there in that if we take that patiently but if we do well if we make good choices if we do the right thing and we suffer from having made a good choice and having done the right thing he says if you do this and you suffer for it take it patiently this this is acceptable with God. And he goes on and gives Christ as the ultimate example. So in thinking of what it would be like to be a slave or a servant to a master, there was a few examples that came to mind from the scripture. There was Naaman's little servant girl. And most everyone here knows the story of Naaman. Some of the young people may not even realize that this story kind of began with a little servant maid, a young, a young, a very young person, as indicated by the scripture. You know, we don't know much about this little girl. Her name's not even given to us. We don't even know her name. But she was a very, very important part of the healing of Naaman. And like I said, we all know the story of Naaman. It's an amazing story, miracle of God. But it all began with just a little maid, unnamed. We don't even know who she was. And she was basically stolen, kidnapped. She was taken from her homeland. probably or possibly taken away from her parents, unless her parents were brought into slavery as well. She was taken away from her people in her homeland and made a slave. So as a slave and servant to her mistress, she heard about her Lord and Amen. Now keep in mind, she was captured and made to serve This is going back to the involuntary, this was an involuntary service of this little maid because she was placed in a situation that she didn't choose. She wasn't looking for, she didn't want, but she found herself there. So when I think about, she heard about her Lord who had leprosy and leprosy was something that you would die from in that day. But yet, the minute she heard about it, what did she think? What was her response? This shows the willingness of her to serve, no matter the level of servitude or oppression. She immediately said, oh, that my Lord knew about the prophet in Israel. Her response was a willingness to help, a willingness to serve. And here she is, just a young girl, as a slave, and yet her desire was to help her Lord, Naaman, the captain of the army, that he may be free of this leprosy. So we see her faith, we see her belief. There was no doubt in her mind and her heart that the prophet in Israel, you see, I find the story very interesting because they're the king of Israel, If you remember the story, he rent his clothes when Naaman came inquiring, the king of Israel was very upset. He said, man, this guy's looking to pick a fight with me. Because what can I do? See, even the king of Israel, his heart, his faith wasn't what this little bitty maidservants was. But she was willing to serve regardless of her situation. We find similar service from Daniel and the three Hebrews. They were servants, but yet they stood true to their God. And if you notice or remember the stories there, you'll find it. These young men were actually in pretty high positions to the king or to the pharaoh, because there was Joseph as an example as well. But not surprising, understanding the character of a believer, but they were very compliant to their position as a slave in service to the king or to the pharaoh. So it doesn't surprise me that they were raised to these levels of position. They could have been much lower, and I'm sure there were much lower positions of slavery. But it's not surprising that these young men who were so devoted to God, to what they believed in, to the truth, that they would be placed in higher levels of servitude because of the character of a true believer. So we can be men and women or boys and girls of character in any situation, no matter what the circumstances are. Again, with Daniel and the three, and we know more details about Joseph. And his own brothers sold him into slavery. And then he went down as he was, there was in Egypt, just trying to make the best of a situation that he found himself in. Then he was accused of wrongdoing that he had no fault in. Going back to what Peter was saying there, if we suffer for our own fault, what glory is it there if we take that in stride patiently? But if we do well, Joseph did well. He had the right heart. He had the right attitude. He just simply desired to serve the Lord. And he took it patiently. And of course, you know, the story of Joseph, he he was promoted higher and higher till he became basically Pharaoh's right hand and had so much authority in the land that it was pretty much like Pharaoh followed the leadership of Joseph or his advice, at least. So this is what Peter is saying when he says, but if you do well and suffer it and take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. Peter also said later in chapter 5 and verse number 5, likewise you younger submit yourselves unto the elder, yea, all of you be subject one to another, be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Again, when we talk about the character of a true servant, we will be clothed with humility. We must understand God's not going to share his glory with anyone. That's why he resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So may the Lord help us from day to day to evaluate our own selves, our own willingness to serve, to understand, to appreciate the freedoms that we have. No, sometimes, I was a child, I remember the balls. Sometimes it may feel like you're a slave at home. But remember, there's a lot that we have to learn. I'm still learning. Every adult here would tell you they're still learning, they're still experiencing, they're still growing. If Jesus himself learned obedience through the things which he suffered, then no matter what you consider your level of servitude at home as a child, there are things that you are learning through this process, whether you understand it now or not. You will understand more and more in time. It's a natural process, but may God help you to realize the stages and the process that develops this true character of being a servant. And it starts with humility. That's why Peter encourages in the next verse, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. So as we close this morning, When evaluating our service to God and the character of our servitude, we shouldn't evaluate, as we said earlier, in an alternative or alternate or fantasy world, but help us to evaluate it realistically against God's word. In this sense, You know, most of us would say that we're willing to die for Christ. We're willing to die for Christ. But how will we truly know that until we're ever placed in that situation, in that moment of time? We may say we're willing to serve Him anywhere or do great things for the Lord's sake. But are you willing to simply live for Him in your plain old boring life right now, today? We're not willing to serve Him. We're not willing to live for Him. We're not willing to stand up and do the right thing today. We have no reason to believe that we could die for Christ or go halfway around the world to serve Him. So are you willing to obey your parents? Are you willing to pick up the trash? Are you willing to follow the rules? Are you willing to tell someone? That's not really a nice thing to do. You shouldn't say that. Are we willing to stand up? Are we willing to tell someone? Are you willing to serve when it's not your turn or your duty? As we said, there are times when we're placed in what My terminology is more, if it's incorrect, someone will correct me later, but when I'm referring to involuntary services, like I said, it's simply being placed in a situation where you're up to bat. You know, you might be the designated hitter at that point. You might be, you know, just suddenly put into the lineup. Are we willing to serve in that moment? Are we willing to Are you prepared to, as Ephesians 4.1 says, walk worthy of your calling in Christ? Are you showing forth the true character of a servant? Let's bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your calling. your heavenly calling that is true in the life of every single believer. Help us to realize that at all times we are servants of the Lord. You've called us to be lights to this world. We should love the brotherhood, we should serve, we should have hearts of humility. Lord, help us to understand what this is. Help us to obey what your will is for our lives. Help us to weigh everything that we say and do against your word. And be as certain as we can that we are walking in accordance to your will for our lives. May you receive all the honor and the glory. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.