Doing Small Things is Service to God

Too many times, Christians seemed to be getting a message that God only wants us to do big things such as being a missionary, a preacher, or serving as an elder. There are times we do not think about the small things that God will have us to. 

I appreciate this video from Reformed Baptist Network encouraging their listeners that believers can serve God in the small things.

We are Saved to Serve Christ

To be saved means that we are rescued from the slavery of sin and brought into the delightful liberty of the servants of God...We are not saved by serving Him, but we are saved to serve Him. From the moment we are saved, we ought to live in the service of our Lord. If we refuse to be His servants, we are not saved, for we evidently still remain the servants of self and the servants of Satan.

Charles Spurgeon, Following Christ

Your Age Does Not Matter

The NCAA National Championship game was last night between Duke and Wisconsin. The game started with Wisconsin right where they left off beating the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats, who were the favorites to win by a majority of people. The first half went back and forth which lead to a tie at halftime.

The second half went back and forth for a while until Wisconsin had a nine point lead with about five minutes left in the game. One of Duke's key players was in foul trouble with only four (you can foul out with five in NCAA). I thought Wisconsin had this in the bag then all of sudden two freshman got Duke back in the game. I am sure Wisconsin fans were feeling the same way Kentucky fans were Saturday thinking, "What just happened?" Wisconsin did everything they could to make a comeback but it was not enough because the Blue Devils won their fifth national championship.

What was amazing about that game was not just the miraculous comeback, lets face it, normally a team down by nine with five minutes left does not win, but it was the fact two freshman led Duke to victory. How many of you know people in the church that has said God cannot use them because they are too young or too old?

Some Christians tend to look at their past and already judged for themselves that God cannot use them. I am too bad. My past is horrible. I am not a super sinner that was saved to become a super saint. Others will use their age as an excuse. I am just in high school. I am 75 and retired.

My son last year, along with another brother in Christ, witnessed to another student who was an atheist. My son was only 13 at that time yet God used him to proclaim the gospel to this fellow student who denies the existence of God. At my previous church, we had a retired minister who was faithful in church attendance but he was also faithful in serving others. Even though his health was declining, he still did whatever he could for the glory of God. He was over the age of 80.

Moses was about 80 years old when God charged him to lead Israel out of Egypt to the Promise Land. Jesus started His public ministry at the age of 30. God has no age requirement from Him to use us. There is a gospel to be proclaimed and He will use anyone at any age for His glory.

Ways Christians Can Serve a School

Derek & Colleen Hiebert:

One of the simplest ways to love a city is to serve its schools. Education, among other structures, is one of the main components on which a city thrives, creates culture, and builds the wellbeing of the population. We are called to seek the welfare of a city (Jer. 29:7), and you can do no better than to invest your time and energy into a local school. The school that my wife and I serve needs a fair amount of help. We have been serving there for the last seven years. We enjoy serving there, because of the relationships we get to build with normal everyday people, and the opportunities we get to bless them.

More than just the practical and social reasons, though, there are theological reasons. We get to serve there, because we have a great Lord and Savior who served us perfectly, laying down his life and dying for us while we were still sinful and rebellious. We would confess, however, that often our reasons for serving the school do not always fall in line with this truth. Sure we want to see the people of the school come to know Jesus; sure we want to see people’s lives changed and we want God to be glorified through us—all good evangelical notions. Sometimes we might have other practical or quasi-selfish reasons for serving the school, such as for the betterment of the school, or that our kids will benefit from our time there. Those are not bad reasons. However, in the gospel we need to remember that all our motivation, strength, and the resources we need to serve, come from how Jesus served us. This is the truth by which we are often convicted and what causes us to repent and seek the best reason.

With the gospel in mind, then, here are four ways to serve and bless a school. These simple methods are transferable for any school context in any city.


1. Pray for the school

2. Ask how to help and show up

3. Give generously of your time and resources

4. Practice hospitality

Read the entire post here.

Reflections from T4G 2014

Last week in Louisville, KY was the biannual conference known as Together For The Gospel. This event draws thousands of people, mostly men serving as pastors, for worship and edification. Unfortunately, I did not attend but did see some of the live feed and looked at a lot of quotes on Twitter from people that were there. There have been a few posts reflecting on the conference that I would like to share:

Reflections on T4G: A generation gathered around the Throne by Dave Jenkins

My top 5 highlights from #T4G by Aaron Armstrong

Best Things I Heard at Together for the Gospel 2014 by Pat Aldridge

5 Motivations to Call Others to Repent by Casey Lewis

T4G Reflections: “Softly and tenderly, Jesus is calling…” by Denny Burk

Recommended Reading:

Proclaiming A Cross-Centered Theology

Preaching The Cross

The Unadjusted Gospel

The Underestimated Gospel

What I Learned from A 92-Year-Old Retired Pastor

Yesterday, I attend the funeral of a retired pastor who was a member of our church. His wife past away about a couple of years ago which our church was gracious to hold the funeral service for her, even though, the place was packed with friends and family which was the case for this pastor yesterday. As I sat during the service, I was amazed at his work ethic. Even in his old age, he was very active. He loved working on his garden, in fact, many considered him a perfectionist.

He spent 55 years in the ministry pastoring small churches where some ministers as a bi-vocational pastor. One of the stories is when he was a car salesman, no one ever told him what was wrong with a car because he would tell his customers which means the car lot knew he was not going to cut corners for a sale. He led many people to the Lord, friends and family, and he was not a famous pastor. He did not write a book nor blogged. He was a man who served God without fame.

What amazed me is that he continued to serve the Lord even when he was not a pastor. People retire for their jobs and seek to travel the world or do something they only dreamed of. This pastor continued to serve in the church. Our pastor told us that he would come in early on Sundays to make sure there was coffee and even came in to talk with our pastor when he was in the office.

One of my stories is on Wednesdays, he would be one of the first ones at the church building ready to pray for people and hear the word of God preached. He even gave money for our youth that he got from recycling cans he had in his house or just picked on the road. His purpose was for me to use on the money on a youth activity.

As I mentioned earlier, people retire from their jobs, but in God's economy, there is no such thing as retirement. In serving the Lord, there is no retirement plan except leaving the body and be with the Lord in heaven. Yes, we will serve the Lord in heaven, and when Jesus returns, but we will have a body that never grows tired. The pastor's nephew, who helped conduct the funeral service, said he told him that I must be getting old because I had to take a breath as I was working in the garden. That took place nearly a year ago when he was 91-years-old.

The lessons I learned for this 92-year-old pastor who met the Savior face-to-face last week, is simply these three things:

1. Serve the Lord even though you will not be famous. There are many in the church that will not have their name of a blog nor be recognized, but we are to serve the Lord with no reward of fame.

2. If you have to step down for ministry, continue to serve the Lord. God may have closed the chapter in vocational ministry but not in your service to him.

3. Be an encouragement to your pastor and offer your insights.