Lives Of Service “Out There”
“Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20: 26-28).”
If you’ve spent any time around Jesus, it is hopefully obvious by now that Jesus’ whole life was spent serving humankind as an act of love. Therefore, we who seek to live as his disciples are to live lives of service to others, especially to those in need. A Disciple’s Path is a life of service.
Often when this message gets preached, it comes across like this: “To be a good follower of Jesus, you’ve got to sign up to help at all church events and ministries.” Now, there is nothing wrong with serving to support the ministries of the Lakeside! In fact, nothing around here happens without people like you and me offering ourselves to God’s work. However, what doesn’t often get said is that our whole lives are to be lived as acts of loving service to God and others, and that a huge role of the church is to support people’s acts of service in their homes, in their neighborhoods, in their work, and out in the community and the world.
When we covenant with God and one another to support God’s work in and through Lakeside by offering our “prayers, our presence, our gifts, our witness, and our service,” we assume that God’s work through Lakeside is always flowing out into the world. We hope our worship services help us focus on God’s love and presence and help us clarify how God wants us to live every day of the week wherever we go. We hope people experience a loving, supportive, community in growing groups that challenges one another to live daily life as a follower of Jesus. And we hope that at every Grace and Grits, Brethren Reaching Out, supply packaging drive, or other outreach event that we are casting the vision that making a difference in our community by serving is an expectation and joy of following Jesus!
This week we will have the opportunity to prayerfully consider our particular calling to service in our lives. Join us for worship at 8:30 or 10:45, and invite friends and family!
Please also prayerfully consider filling out an “Estimate of Giving” card for 2016 as it will help Lakeside’s leadership plan for the support of our ministries in the year to come. You can fill out a hard copy at church or click here to do it securely online: https://lakesideumc.net/give/ A budget is available upon request.
Joy on the journey,
Pastor Cameron
Disciples of Jesus
“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us (Hebrews 11: 1).”
Take a moment and think about someone that has made an important difference in your life. What did you learn from them? How did they become part of your story? How did you become part of theirs? What still influences the way you think and make decisions that is a gift from God through them?
This week in “A Disciple’s Path” sermon series, we will be talking about the role saints play in our lives. Saints are not perfect people, but people who, by God’s grace, sought to be faithful to God in their daily lives. They are people whose lives help us see creative ways to love Jesus and live in Jesus in our own lives. We will take some time in worship to honor those saints who have gone before us into eternal life. It will be a meaningful time.
This week I also want to invite you to prayerfully fill out an “Estimate of Giving (EOG)” card. A printed EOG will arrive in the mail early next week or one can be found in your bulletin. You may also fill one out electronically and securely on our website https://lakesideumc.net/give/ Sunday, Lakeside’s Leadership Team will share the basic budget plan for the church’s mission in 2016. EOG cards help the Leadership Team responsibly plan to use your giving to do God’s work so please fill one out and give your team a hand. My family and I will be filling ours out this week.
As disciples of Jesus at Lakeside, we commit to supporting our mission to gather, grow, and sow the love of Jesus by sharing our prayers, presence, gifts (giving), and service. God receives our offerings and, by grace, translates them into changed lives! See you Sunday at 8:30 or 10:45!
Pastor Cameron
P.S.-I’d love to hear how you are and how I can pray for you. Feel free to drop me a line at clashbrook@lakesidefellowship.org.
Weekly Devotion & Closing of the Patch
Pumpkin Patch News
“I Am Who I Am”
“But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you (Exodus 3: 13-14).'”
This has always been an entertaining passage of Scripture for me. Moses tried to get out of becoming Israel’s chief escape artist and leader of the Jewish rebellion against Pharaoh and the world’s greatest military, but God won’t take no for an answer. Then, Moses tried to get a little help from God by asking God what inspiring thing he should say to rally the Israelites to pack up and outrun Pharaoh’s sword swinging charioteers and spear chucking horsemen. He asks for God to share God’s most magnificent, most powerful name. Maybe Moses was imagining saying, “Have no fear! Rise up! Thunder God has come to blast Pharaoh’s armies and free us!” Maybe “The Almighty has come to save us!” or something magnificent like that. Instead, God said, “Tell them ‘I Am’ sent you.” I wonder if Moses said something like, “Gee, thanks…”
But is there anything more powerful than the truth that the Almighty God is present in all our situations? After all, this is the God whose presence pushed the waters of the Red Sea over the entire Egyptian Army, birthed God’s self into human form on the first Christmas, healed the woman who touched the edge of Jesus’ robe, forgave sins, raised Jesus from the dead, and energized the disciples to spread the gospel across the world in the face of persecution and death!
God, I AM, is present with us today…now…as you read this! The power and love to do his will in your life is available to you and I.
Last week in worship we talked about how disciples of Jesus discern and do God’s will using Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. This week on “The Disciple’s Path” series, we will talk about the importance of being present to God and each other in worship and small groups. Being together is what disciples of Jesus do.
I hope to see you at 8:30 or 10:45! And bring a friend!
Pastor Cameron
P.S.-I’d love to hear how you are and how I can pray for you. Feel free to drop me a line at clashbrook@lakesidefellowship.org.