(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The part of the chapter that I wanted to focus on was in verse 19, where the Bible read, For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without law, as without law, being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have made all things to all men, that I might be by all means save some. And the title of my sermon tonight is A Servant unto All. A Servant unto All. So we see there in verse 19, Paul says look, I've made myself a servant unto all. And so to kind of get a better understanding of what he's saying here, I like to just break the word down servant a little bit. It really comes from the root word of serve. I mean a servant is just a person who serves. And if you look up the dictionary definition of the word serve, it says to perform duties or services for another person or an organization. So to be a servant means that you're a person performing duties or you're performing services, you're doing something. You're helping somebody out, you're accomplishing tasks for somebody, you're doing something. That's what it means to serve. And that's what it means to be a servant. Being a servant is not just some title, it's not just something that you are, no, being a servant is the fact that you're actually doing something, you're actually accomplishing something. And we see that Paul, in this context, when he's saying that he's made himself a servant unto all, it's in the context of salvation. It's in the context of preaching the gospel, of trying to get people saved. We see that he's like, hey, I became as a Jew to the Jews, I became weak unto the weak, I became without law to those that are without law. He was willing to go to any length, whatever he could do to preach the gospel, to get people saved. He wasn't willing to go so far as to break the laws of God. He said he was still without, he still had the law of Christ, but that he was willing to go to any length. He was willing to do anything. And we even see this example with Timothy. Timothy was half Jewish and half not, and he ended up getting circumcised. Just so when he would go to the Jews, he could preach unto the Jews. How did he do that? He did something. He was willing to go an extra mile to do something. And you know what? I can't imagine being an adult male and getting circumcised. I mean, if you're talking about going to an extreme length to get somebody saved, that's a pretty big length. I mean, that's a pretty big sacrifice to say, hey, I'm willing to do that just so that I have the opportunity to preach to these people and get them saved. Just so I could go to any length, and when we see that Paul, he said, you know what, I've made myself a servant unto all. There's not any length, there's not any service, there's not any action that I'm not willing to go and do to try and get people saved. And my first point tonight is that in order to be a servant unto all, you must choose to serve. You must choose to serve. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7, if you would, flip with me. You know, being a servant is not something that just automatically happens. You don't just automatically decide to just go choose to serve somebody or do some actions for them. Now, there are some people that are forced to do things for people, and they're like a slave. They're not a servant, though. You know, they're not really waking up and deciding to do it, they're just forced. But a servant is someone that actually has a choice, they have the choice to do some actions for somebody or for some organization, and they have to make that choice. And you know, it could be just one person, you could just pick out a person and say, hey, I want to serve you. You know, probably the best manifestation would be a job. I mean, we all, you go get a job, you have a boss, and you do things for them, you're a servant. It could be an organization, it could be a group of people, maybe you work for a company, or maybe you're doing work for the Lord, doing it for the church. Not just the pastor, not just one person, but you're serving multiple people. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, look at verse 21, the Bible says, Are thou called, being a servant? Care not for it, but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman. Likewise, also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. Ye are bought with a price. Be not ye the servants of men. So what is Paul saying? He's saying, look, you know what, we shouldn't be the servants of men, we should be the servants of Christ. Now immediately you might kind of say, well, wait a minute, Paul said that he was a servant unto all, and here he's saying, no, we shouldn't be the servants of men, we should be the servants of Christ. But what this is trying to say, if you understand the context, he's saying, look, it's not wrong to serve people, but at the very top of who you're trying to serve, it should be Christ. When you're serving Christ, you're going to be serving man. But you know what, the top person, the person that you're trying to be the servant to, shouldn't be a man at the top. And this is really manifested by the secular people, by the workplace. They go, you know what, I'm just going to serve this company for the rest of my life. I'm just going to go, I'm going to work for this CEO, I'm going to work for this company, I'm going to work for this guy, I'm just always going to be a servant of this man. But we see that that's not what we should be. We should be servants of Christ. And to be a servant of Christ, we would still serve men, but ultimately we're trying to fulfill his purposes, not ours, not some man's, we're trying to fulfill his purposes. So if y'all turn with me to Romans chapter 1, he's laying it out here, look, why would he tell you that you should be Christ's servant, because it's not automatic. A lot of people, they'll say, well, once you get saved, you're just automatically God's servant. You just automatically want to do things for him. You're automatically going to have fruit, you're automatically going to do the works. If you have faith, you're going to do the works automatically. But that's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches to do the works as a choice. You have to choose to actually serve the Lord. You have to choose to be Christ's servant, to not just be man's servant, not even be your own servant. You know, some people, they say, well, I'm going to be my own boss. You know, I'm going to start a company, but guess what, they happen to be the servant to all their customers. You can't get away from serving man. You know, but the thing is, is you can be doing it for the Lord, which will be much better. And I'll read for you in Joshua 24 while you'll turn there, it says, and if it seemed evil on you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites and whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. We see that Joshua is saying, look, you have a choice. Are you going to serve the gods of the Amorites? Are you going to serve man? Are you going to serve yourself? Or are you going to serve Christ? Are you going to be a servant of Christ? You have a choice. Every single person has a choice. They have a choice to go to heaven or hell. And then after you get saved, it's not over. You don't just automatically be Christ's servant. No, you have a choice. Are you going to choose to serve the Lord? Are you going to continue to follow in what He gave you? In Hebrews chapter 11, I'll read you one other place, it says, But by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the approach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect under the recompense of the reward. So even Moses, he had a choice. You know what? He could have stayed in Egypt. He could have stayed a really powerful man. He could have eaten the delicacies of the land. He could have been great authority. He could have basically probably just done whatever he wanted. I mean, I don't know exactly what the life of the Pharaoh or the Pharaoh's son was like, but I'm guessing it was pretty extravagant. I bet him they got to kind of just do as they pleased. They got to have all kinds of fun. But you know what? He said, you know what? I'm not going to do that. I'm going to choose rather to be afflicted with God's people. I'm never going to choose to serve the Lord than just to choose to serve myself than to just serve man. Look at there in Romans chapter one. So what does it mean to be Christ's servant? If it's a choice, you have to understand what that choice is to even be able to make it. I mean, how many people go to get a job these days and they don't even ask what the job is. They don't even ask for the job duties or whatever. They just show up and they say, hey, you know what? I don't care what you're going to make me do. I just want to work for you. Just put me to work. I mean, most people don't do that because then the guy's like, okay, well, you can clean the toilets and you can mop the floor and the guy's like, oh man, I don't know if I want to do that forever. I mean, it's not going to last if you don't even know what you're doing. The only way to serve the Lord is if you actually know what it is, if you count the cost first, if you understand what it means to be Christ's servant. You can't choose to be Christ's servant if you don't even know what it means to be Christ's servant. So if it's a choice, let's figure out what it means to be Christ's servant. I had you turn in Romans chapter one, it says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God. So Paul, you know, so many times throughout the New Testament, he's mentioned to be a servant, a servant of Jesus Christ, and we see here in this verse, he tells us what it means to be a servant. It means he's separated under the gospel of God. The only way you're going to be a servant is if you're under the gospel, if you're preaching the gospel. Look at verse number nine, we'll get to this a little bit more, he says, For God is my witness, whom I serve with my Spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I may mention of you always in my prayers. Look, the only way you can be God's servant is if you're preaching the gospel. That's the only way. And in Revelation chapter two, he said in the church of Ephesus, if they would forsake his first works, then he would remove their candlestick from them. They would no longer be a church. The only way to be Christ's servant is to preach the gospel. You want to be a servant of God? You better be preaching the gospel. You better be going out and doing something for him. If you're not doing anything for him, you're not a servant. And all these pastors and all these churches out here that have people and they're not preaching the gospel, if they're not doing it, they're not Christ's servant. You can't be Christ's servant if you're not preaching the gospel. If you're not preaching the death, burial, and resurrection as payment for sin, if you're not preaching the first works, if you're not fulfilling the great commission, he said, go ye therefore and preach the gospel to every creature. That's what you have to do to be his servant. And just think about in Acts chapter 10 it said, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. The Old Testament, the New Testament, they're all servants of God because they're preaching the gospel. They're preaching, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. If you're not doing that, you're not a servant. The only way, he said, if you're not gathering with me, you're scattering abroad. If you're not actually gathering people to get saved, if you're not going out preaching the gospel, you're not a servant, you're against him. And I think a lot of people in this church, they get that point. But look at the second part of verse nine, it says that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers. So if you want to be Christ's servant, you got to be preaching the gospel. But you know, another thing he says, look, I'm always in prayer and I'm always praying for people. Another port part of being Christ's servant is being in prayer. And you know, prayer life is a thing that I think is a lot of times private. It's not something that's just open before man. People know, oh man, I bet that guy's been praying for hours today. I mean, you can't really tell. You don't know if somebody's praying. Turn to Philippians chapter one, I'll read through 1st John 5, the Bible says, if any man see his brother sin of sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask and he shall give them life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. You know, the Bible actually says if you want to be God's servant, that when you see a brother or sister in a fault, you see them in a sin, that you pray for them. That you try to make intercession for them. You say, oh man, I don't want to make intercession for that guy. I mean, you know, it cuts me off in the church parking lot. He takes my parking spot. You know, he never says hi to me. He always takes the last cup of coffee. You know, he said something kind of mean about my kids one time. You know, it doesn't matter. When we see a brother or sister in Christ in a fault, no matter what our personal feelings are, if we like the guy, we need to be praying for them. That's what it means to be a servant. We see that Paul was a servant unto all men. He wasn't just the ones he liked, he wasn't just the cool people, he wasn't just the rich people. We're not supposed to be a respecter of persons, we're supposed to see if our brother and sister in Christ, we're supposed to pray for them, make intercession for them. And the thing about this, Christ makes intercession for you every single day. I mean, if we're honest with ourselves, we probably sin every single day. I mean, at least most people, right? I mean, the thought of foolishness is sin. I struggle not to have a foolish thought most days. I mean, the Bible makes it clear that Christ is on the throne making intercession for us every day. How much more should we be willing if we see our brother or sister in Christ to make intercession for them? And don't you want to be in a fault or if you ever backslid or if you ever fell to to have somebody praying for you and trying to encourage you to get back up? The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 7, it says, Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Christ is constantly making intercession for us, for our sins, and he wants us to do the things that he does. He wants us to pray for others, to be a servant unto them. It says in Romans chapter 15, Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that he strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Now it's interesting, Paul makes a lot of mention of the fact that he was praying for other people. But he even says, Look, I need you to pray for me. And I think one of the reasons why he put that in there is if the Apostle Paul needed people to pray for him, I think it just proves everybody needs prayer. None of us is above the idea that we need prayer. The Apostle Paul, probably one of the greatest Christians to ever live, he said that he labored more than they all, he labored more abundantly than they all, all the apostles. He's constantly preaching the gospel, he's doing big things for God, he has such a big faith, he wrote so much in the New Testament, he needed prayer. He was a man. We all need prayer. And you know so much more if you realize the fact that you need prayer, it'll help you want to encourage you to pray for others, to be Christ's servant. Ephesians chapter 1, I'll read one more place, it says, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and a love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. If I was just going to show you every verse in the New Testament, where it's like talking about praying for people, we'd be here for a whole night. I mean, it's just constantly saying, pray for these people and pray for this church and pray for this guy and pray for me. I mean, the Bible says over and over to pray. Why do you think it says pray without ceasing? We should always be constantly asking and praying for God and making intercession for our brethren, praying for God to help us, encourage us. I mean, you just think so much the more when we live in a crooked and perverse nation, right? I mean, when we're just constantly under attack, when God's people are being afflicted. Look at Philippians chapter 1, right as you turn it says, Paul is Amotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy. Paul said, look, I pray for this church every time. Every time I pray, I pray for this church. I mean, that's a big thing to say. I mean, cause he prayed for a lot of churches. He was going to all these churches, all the churches in Asia, you know, he's going through Greece, he's going through all these places and saying, you know what, every time I get down to pray, I pray for Philippi, you know, I pray for the Philippians. I pray for these people. I mean, there's a lot of things that we can pray for. You know, one of the things that I think about when it comes to prayer is, you probably all heard this, is someone saying, hey, I'm struggling with something or, you know, my job's not going well or we're sick or we're doing this and somebody be like, I'll pray for you, you know, I'll be praying for you. You know, I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I think a lot of times people just say that and then they never really do, they never really go and pray for that person. They just say, hey, I'll be praying for you. And you know, I thought to myself, I saw that so many times and you know, usually the way you see it is by a family member or a friend or somebody, you know, they say that and then you see them pray lots of times and they never pray for the person or they're just never praying and you're just kind of like, oh man, why are you telling all these people in church you're praying for them? It doesn't look like you are. It looks like you're kind of being a hypocrite. You know, it's just to be seen of man to tell somebody that you'll pray for him when you don't ever do it. I think if you're going to tell somebody that you're going to pray for him, you should make sure that you pray for him. I mean, just imagine God the Father's looking down, he gave you his word, he said, pray for the brethren, make intercession with the brethren, pray without ceasing and then you make a vow and you tell somebody, hey, I'll be praying for you and then you don't. What do you think God thinks? You think he's going to answer your real prayers, whatever prayers you do make, when you can't even keep the simple vow you had to pray for your brethren, when you decided to pray for somebody? That's why I always make personally, I make a note, if I'm going to say that, if I'm going to just be like, I'm going to be praying for you, I make sure that I do it. You know, the next time I get a chance that I'm not like around other people, I have a private moment, I make sure that I try to pray for that person. I don't want to say something and not be true. And look what he said here, he says, every prayer. You know, I try to think, man, every time I'm praying, maybe I need to be thinking about these people. Maybe I need to be, you know, praying for people. You say, why should I pray? I mean, it doesn't always have to be something that's negative for the person. It doesn't have to be that they're struggling or going through stuff. Sometimes I see somebody and I think, man, this guy's really zealous. This guy's going soul winning all the time. He's always in church. He's doing big things with God. Maybe he's traveling across the country. He's preaching the gospel. He's on fire. I'll just pray, God, man, I hope you just keep him going. That you just keep this guy, that you can give him patience and endurance to just keep the fire. That he can just stay on fire, that you can give him more wisdom, that he can do bigger works. We can pray for people for a multitude of things. We can constantly think of other people and say, oh man, this guy's doing big things. I hope that God continues to use him. You know, and sometimes I think those prayers are better. I'd rather be encouraging the guys that are doing the big things for God. You know, but of course we should make intercession if we see a brother in fault. We don't want anybody to turn aside or backside or get out of church. Go to Romans chapter 14. I'll read for you in Colossians chapter 1. It says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, which are colossi, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Look, he's saying to all the churches, look, I'm always praying for you. I'm always asking God to bless you. I'm always asking God to keep your faith. I'm always trying to encourage you. I'm trying to make sure that you stand, that you can endure all the persecution and the affliction, that you continue to grow in your faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul made it a big deal. Prayer is a big deal. If you want to be a servant of Christ, you've got to be preaching the gospel. If you're not preaching the gospel, you're not a servant. But even then, you've got to be praying. You've got to decide, hey, I'm going to pray for others. You know, I think prayer is a tough thing because if you're out preaching the gospel, you're reading your Bible and you're working and going to church, sometimes it's easy with our time to be like, oh man, you know, you just kind of skip it or you just don't think about it or you're not really conscious of it. I think prayer is one of the harder things and it's a private thing. But it's so important. If you want to be a servant of God, if you want to be Christ's servant, you've got to be in prayer. Look at Romans chapter 14 says, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of, for the kingdom of God is not meat and meat, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. So he said, look, if you're focused on these things, what, righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, that's going to do what? It's going to make for peace. So the third point that I have, if you want to be Christ's servant, is you got to be making peace. You can't be constantly in strife with one another, trying to cause conflict with one another. You should be making peace. And even the Bible talks about doubtful disputations, that we shouldn't even if you see something that you don't really agree with, or you don't really like, or you maybe you're like, oh man, I think that's unclean. But it's not like a clear verse in the Bible or it's not something that's a huge deal. We shouldn't just be going around and pointing out everybody's sin, and just picking out things that we don't like, even if it's not really a sin. Because the Bible says that sin is a transgression of the law. So if there's not a clear law in the Bible, why are you pointing it out? Why are you trying to pick on your brother, pick on another servant? The Bible says that we shouldn't be picking on other servants, we should be focused on ourselves. But we should be making peace. Rather, if we see them in the way, we should go to the person to be nice, we should be kind, we should be making intercession. We should be a servant unto all. We should be willing to look the other way at certain transgressions or things that we maybe don't like. Oh man, this guy's a vegetarian. What a weirdo. I mean, he doesn't like to eat meat. We shouldn't act like that. We should just receive him as a brother. We should be making peace. We should encourage them. We should love them. You know what? That vegan, he might go out soul winning twice as much as you. He might win more people to Christ than you. He might do bigger things for God than you, and you're sitting here mocking him, in your heart, in your mind. No, you should be praying for him. You should be encouraging him. And who cares? I mean, ultimately it doesn't really matter. I mean, you're really going to get to heaven and be like, oh man, I wish I had a T-bone. I mean, obviously in this life, yeah, I hope everybody gets to have some steak, because it's great. But, does that really matter? Is that something we should be caught up in? Is that really the attitude of Christ's servant? Is Christ's servant getting caught up on the little things? No, he's trying to make peace. He's trying to bring people together. Blessed are the peacemakers. Isn't that what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5? Go to Galatians chapter 1. So we need to be preaching the gospel. We need to be making prayer for the brethren. We need to be constantly in prayer. We need to be making peace with other people. Look at Galatians chapter 1 verse 6. It says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed, as we said before, so say I now again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you, than any you received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. So how do you be a servant? Well you can't be pleasing men. You can't be pleasing people. You can't decide, hey, you know what, the gospel's a little offensive. You know, some people don't like it when you preach against all the false prophets, against all the false gospels. They don't like it when you preach against these, you know, Joel Osteens and the Rick Warrens and the Joyce Meyers of this world. They don't like it. You know what, I'm not caring about pleasing man. I want to please God. And how much more if I'm just going to pervert the gospel with these false prophets. That's not going to please him. I can't be Christ's servant if I'm not willing to stand for the truth. So the fourth thing, if you want to be Christ's servant, you have to care more about the truth than pleasing man, than making people happy, than making people feel comfortable. I mean it's easy to get up here and just tell jokes and have cool stories and be like, Jesus just loves everybody. You know, just follow him and have a happy life. It just sounds great. That's not offensive. Nobody's going to get mad about that. You're just pleasing man. But that's not going to please God if you're not a servant. You can't be a servant if you don't care about preaching the truth. You got to be preaching truth and not just in the gospel, the whole Bible. You can't just, well, I'm not in the gospel, but I'm just not going to, I'm going to stay away from all the other hard topics. You know, all the commandments and all the laws and all the sin. I'm going to stay away from that because that's not real pleasing. People like the gospel though, you know, I mean there's a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches today, they might be right on the gospel, but they're wrong on a whole bunch of other stuff. You know what? They're not servants of God. You're not a servant of Christ if you're going to please man, if you're going to go out of your way to not preach the truth. So you got to be preaching the gospel, you got to be making prayers, you got to be making peace, but you got to be preaching the truth. Go to Mark chapter 9, be the last one of how you can be choosing to be Christ's servant. In Revelation 1, the Bible says, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, and he sinned signified it by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. When it talks about his servants, he's saying, John's my servant, and guess what? He bare witness of all the things that he saw. He didn't only think that. He didn't just give you, oh, here's Revelation chapter 1, it's not that offensive. I mean, if you look at Revelation, there's some really hard chapters. I mean, you got locusts coming out from hell, stinging people, you got all kinds of wrath of God, the water turning into blood, the water being bitter, and great fire and hell stones coming down, and the sun scorching men with heat. I mean, there's some really tough stuff in there, some tough chapters. But you know what? He gave it all. He was going to preach the truth. That's what made him a servant of God. He wasn't a servant of God just because he woke up one day, oh, I'm a servant. No, he chose to preach all the things that he saw. In Mark chapter 9, look at verse 34, he says, But they held their peace, for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all. And servant of all. Look, you want to be great? You got to have the right mindset. You have to decide, hey, I'm going to choose to be a servant. You have to have the right mind. In Luke chapter 22, I'll read it for you. He said, And therefore was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he that is chief, as he that does serve. If you want to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, you got to be a servant. You got to choose to serve. That's why I said in Philippians chapter 2, Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, which is above every name. That of the name of Jesus, every tongue should confess of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that at every niche should bow, and that at every tongue should confess of Jesus Christ his Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Look, the only way Christ got exalted was because he became a servant. You know, he was in the form of God, but he didn't have that mindset. He had the mindset of, you know what, I'm gonna be a servant, I'm gonna humble myself. And we think about the greatest man to ever walk on this earth that was non-deity, that wasn't Jesus. It was John the Baptist. And he said, he must increase, but I must decrease. Why was John the Baptist the greatest man? Because he had the mindset of being a servant. Jesus Christ was the greatest person to ever live, because he was a servant. Because he came here to serve. He came here to do things for others. What did he do? He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The greatest thing that any person could ever do is lay down his life for others. That's why the Bible says, hereby perceive with the love of God that he laid down his life for us. We ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Look, putting your life down for another person is the greatest form of love. That's why the Bible says God is love. The only thing, you know, we're not love, we're not loving, we're not good, we're evil, we're wicked. But God is love because he was willing to die for us when we didn't deserve it. When we were sinners. When we were terrible. I mean, you think, oh man, I can't be nicer than this guy. I mean, has that guy really harmed you more than we harmed Christ? Than the people that killed Jesus? The people that were murderers and wicked and reprobates even? I mean, he died for the whole world. He was willing to put down his life for everybody. We ought to be able to put down our lives for the brethren. For those that are the saved. Turning people into Galatians chapter 5. So my first point is if you want to be Christ's servant, you have to choose to be a servant. It's not just something that just happens. You don't just wake up one day and you're the servant of God. You don't wake up one day just preaching the gospel of Christ and praying for all your brethren and, you know, obeying all the commandments and making peace and doing all the things that he said. No. If you want to be Christ's servant, you have to choose. You have to be disciplined. You have to decide, hey, I want to be a servant of others because you love people. Because you want people to be saved. Because you want people to succeed. And that really leads into my next point. Second point is that you have to esteem others better. You have to decide that other people are more important than yourself. So first you have to choose to be a servant but really you get that motivation from esteeming others better. What does that really mean? It means you look at somebody else and you say, well, is it more important that I accomplish the goals that I have set in my heart or he accomplished the goals he has set in his heart? Or the things that God could do for him? Is it more important that everybody in this church make sure that I succeed? Or is it more important that I make sure people in the audience succeed? Or some of y'all go out and preach the gospel or get more people saved or do big things for God. If I want to be a servant unto all, I have to realize, hey, it's more important for this guy to succeed. You know, I've known some people, they were good soul winners and they knew this guy and he had a good opportunity and they decided to spend time with him teaching him how to be a soul winner, teaching him how to go out and win souls rather than going out and getting souls for themselves, rather than being, you know, selfish and doing those things. He was there esteeming somebody else better than themselves, saying, hey, you know what, it's all for Christ, I'm a servant of Christ, so what's more important? I've already, you know, is it more important for me to go further or for me to help others? For me to serve unto others? For me to make sure that they're better, that they're doing big things for God? I had you turn to Galatians 5, look at verse 26, it says, Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another. You know, if you want to esteem others better, you can't be envying other people. You know, you might look at some guy and say, oh man, why did this guy get to, you know, preach and I didn't? Why did this guy get to be the soul winning leader? Why did this guy get to go preach and I didn't get an opportunity? Why, you know, they're just envying other people for the big things they're doing for God. And it's out there. It's a mindset that just is carnal, it's a natural fleshly thing to just look at somebody getting opportunities that you're not and be like, man, I wish I had that opportunity. We shouldn't be desirous of vainglory. We should be looking at it and saying, you know what, that's great that he's doing that. Why don't I help him? What if he becomes even bigger? What if he becomes the next, you know, Pastor Anderson? I mean, can you imagine the guy that won Pastor Anderson to Christ? I mean, it's his mom, but I'm saying, let's think of a better example, Donnie Romero. Donnie Romero, he was just in his house one day, someone knocked on his door, gave him the gospel and got him saved. And now he's a pastor of a church, he's going out preaching the gospel every week. I mean, that's, that's great fruit. Is it more important for you to get more pastors out there, more soul winners, or for you to just win a few more people to Christ? Now if you're steaming others better than yourself, if you're going to be Christ's servant, you have to realize it's more important for you to serve others, for you to help others. Was it, I mean, Christ, he's the best soul winner in the whole world. He could have just gone around and given everybody the gospel himself, but know what? He trained other men. He invested his time and his energy into 12 disciples and tried to teach them everything he possibly could so that they could be soul winners, so that they could do big things, so that they could be successful. That's what it means to be a servant. It's not all me, me, me. Oh, I just want to have a big church. Oh, I just want to have a big following on a big YouTube video. No, it's not about you. It's about helping others. It's about serving others. You know, that's one of the reasons why I came to this church is because I believe Pastor Anderson, you know, he really actually cares about building other people up. He said he doesn't want to just keep all the best people. He wants to send the best people out. He wants to train men up to go out and preach the gospel, to do big things for God. And I believe in my heart that, you know, he doesn't care if somebody got more famous than him or had a bigger following or bigger church. He would think that's great. You know, he just wants to do big things for God. He wants to be Christ's servant and he's going to steam others better than himself. That's what it means to be a servant of God. Luke chapter 14, in Numbers chapter 12, the Bible says, Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Moses many times, the children of Israel, they were just disobedient. They were just complaining. They were just, I mean, they got so mad at him and Moses was afraid. He's like, man, they're about to stone me. I mean, these guys are really upset, but he constantly stood in, you know, in between them and God. He was constantly making the intercession for the people. He was being, he was the meekest man on the earth. Why? Because he was steaming these terrible people so important that he was willing to risk his life for their sake. He was willing to put down his life for them to succeed. For them to go to the promised land. For them to be successful. Are you willing to put down your life so that some other man can do big things for God? So that he can be a great man of God? What does it mean to be a servant unto all? You say, oh man, it's tough to go to church and it's tough to go soul-wetting sometimes. It's tough to do these things, but you know, it might be encouraging somebody else. You might be serving someone else and helping them do big things for God. You know, I think a lot of times with the soul-wetting marathons or the soul-wetting events or just the soul-wetting times, I don't think it's really for the most experienced soul-winners. I think it's for the people that haven't gone soul-wetting. For the people that, you know, don't know how to preach the gospel. That it's a great time for them to get paired up with someone that is a good preacher and to try and teach them, try and train them, try and show them how to go out and win souls to Christ. Cause it really more, I mean, somebody that's an experienced soul-winner, they can just go out whenever they want. They can just call somebody up, they can go by themselves, they can do... I mean, is it really that beneficial for that person to just have the dedicated time? I mean, it's an encouragement, it's a help, it's a blessing, it's nice to see other people, but you know who needs it the most is the person that's learning how to soul-wetting. The person that isn't going to go out on themselves, isn't going to find somebody and just start going out and winning souls, isn't going to do it in their daily life. It's important time to teach others, to be a servant unto others. To say, hey, you know what, I want to try and teach you and train you and give you instruction and help you succeed. It's more important that you become a good soul-winner, that you go out and preach the gospel, that you can do big things for God. That's what a soul-wetting time is for. Look at Luke chapter 14, verse 9, it says, And he bade thee, and him come and say to thee, Give this man place, and thou being with shame, to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room. And when he made that wind, he that bade thee come in, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit and meet with thee. For whosoever exalted themself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. The Bible says, look, if you were to come into some place, and you know there's a big table and there's a lot of people there, and you know like the main person that's throwing the feast, the host, or maybe the pastor, some great man, you're like, I'm gonna go sit by him. You know, I'm gonna go and sit in the high chair, I'm gonna go sit in the best place to sit, because I'm, you know, I'm like his best friend. You know, we're like buddies, and then you would go sit down, and then the master of the house or the host, he comes in, and he's like, oh, what are you doing? Go sit way over there. And he brings somebody else. That would be a shame. That would be, you know, not something you want to do. You wouldn't want to sit there and be like, oh man, I'm the best soul-winner, and I'm the best Christian, I'm the best preacher, and I'm the best this. And God's like, I don't even think you're my servant. You're not even preaching the gospel, you're not even preaching the truth, you're not praying for anybody, you're not making any peace. We shouldn't esteem ourselves better than we think we ought to be, you know. We shouldn't look at ourselves and be like, oh, I'm so great, because then we're going to be abased, according to the Bible. If you want to be exalted, just think of yourself as the lowest person on the totem pole. Don't think so highly of yourself. Paul, when he was talking about things he'd done, he said he labored more abundantly, but he said he was the least of the apostles. He was humble about the fact, even though he'd done more works, he's like, I'm the least because I persecuted the church of God, because I've done these things. He was humble. He was a servant unto all. He didn't think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Go to John chapter 13. In 1 Timothy chapter 2, the Bible says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. We should be willing to be a servant unto all. We should, you know, it doesn't matter, yellow, black, and white, we should just pray for any person. Titus chapter 3 says, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers but gentle, showing meekness unto all men. Meekness means, look, you're looking at any person and you say, you know what, it's probably more important for me to invest time and do service unto them so that they can do big things. So that they can... To all men. It doesn't matter. When you knock on someone's door and think, man, this guy has a lot of pencil. This person has a lot of pencil. I mean, it'd be so exciting if they got in church, they started serving God, they started raising Godly family, they started doing big things, you might look at some young lady with a bunch of kids and be like, oh, what does it matter if she gets in church? Yeah, but she could raise a generation of soul winners. She could raise a generation of pastors. She could do big things for God. We should never limit God's potential to what he could do in any person's life. We should be meek unto all men. We should look at them and say, God thinks this person's important. So I should think that this person's important. And in John chapter 13, that's my third point. Look at verse 3, it says, Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, that he was come from God and went to God, he rises from supper and laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. So we see Jesus Christ, he girded himself with a towel. And look at verse number 12, so after he had washed their feet and taken his garments and was set down again, he said unto them, know ye what I have done unto you? You call me master and lord and you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither is he that is sent greater than he that sends him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. And my third point is that you actually have to start washing people's feet. What does that mean? Well, you have to first choose to be a servant, then what do you have to do? You have to decide that you're going to, you know, follow all God's commandments. You have to esteem others better than yourself. I'm going to choose to be a servant, how are you going to get that motivation? By esteeming others better than yourself. But you know what, you actually have to start doing it. You have to get to work. You can say, oh, in my heart, I just want to serve God, I want to go a slow way, I want to do big things for God, I want to be a missionary, I want to be a pastor. Well you just got to start, you got to start doing something. You say, hey, I want to be a pastor someday, well what are you doing to get there? Well I mean, there's a lot of things you got to do, you got to read the Bible bunch, you got to be filled with the Holy Spirit, you got to have a wife, you got to have kids. Well, do you have a wife? No. Are you looking for a girlfriend? No. You're like, better get started, better start doing something, hey, I want to be a missionary someday. Well, are you reading the Bible, have you been looking at countries, have you been learning foreign languages? No, I just think it'd be great to be a, you know, a missionary someday. I think, I think I'm going to choose to be a missionary. You got to actually start doing something if you want to accomplish something big for God. When we see Jesus Christ, he washed the disciples feet. He actually got down on his hands and knees. He was a servant to the point that he washed his disciples dirty feet. The Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of heaven and earth. You know, that's not a, that's not a great task. I mean, I can't imagine deciding to wash everybody's feet in this room, but I don't think it'd be the funnest thing. I don't think it'd be the most exciting thing to do. But you know what, Jesus just got in there and did the hard work. He did the dirty work. You know, and if you want to be a servant of God, sometimes you just have to start going. Things that aren't that fun. Things that aren't that exciting. You know, people that have been sowing for a long time, we wouldn't look at being a silent partner as maybe the greatest thing ever. I mean, as being the most exciting, but you got to start somewhere. You got to start doing something. The first time you read the Bible cover to cover, there's a lot, you're like, oh man, I don't know what that means. I don't know what it's saying here. It's maybe not even the easiest. You look at all the names and you're like, oh man, there was just like 40 names and it was like really long and it's really hard. You just got to get started. You're never going to do anything big for God if you just don't get started. Maybe when it comes to prayer, maybe that's an area that you're struggling with. Just get started. Maybe you're not going to be the best person. You're not going to remember every single person you want to pray for and you maybe not pray the best way and maybe you're not doing as often as you like. Well, you're never going to be great at praying and making intercession if you don't start. If you don't just start somewhere. You know, you're never going to be a soul winner if you don't start trying to learn the gospel. If you don't go out and just be the silent partner for the first time. You're not going to be making peace if you're not making an effort to make peace. If you're making an effort to control your tongue, control your actions, control your spirit, then maybe you're in a conflict with somebody or something's not going your way to make an active thought, hey, I need to control my actions, I need to control who I am. If you're having a thought about somebody that's kind of negative or you're looking at somebody and you're just sitting there dwelling on negative thoughts, just stop yourself and it's like, hey, I'm going to think good thoughts for this person. I'm going to pray for this person. You have to start doing the work or you're never going to be the servant. The servant's got to start somewhere. The servant's got to start washing the feet. Go to Matthew chapter 21. In John chapter 8, the Bible said, then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on me, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. You can decide, hey, I want to be a servant. Hey, you can decide other people are more important than me. But if you don't actually do anything, if you don't actually go do something, you're not a disciple. You're not a servant. The servant actually has to be in service. Faith without works is dead. It's meaningless. It's pointless. Hey, I want to be a soul winner. Hey, I want to go do big things for God. Hey, I want to go to church. Well, if you don't really do it, it doesn't count. It doesn't matter. You can have all the right ideas, you can have the right desires, but you actually have to do it. Look at Matthew chapter 21, verse 28, but what think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not, but afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second and said, likewise, and he answered and said, I go, sir, and went not. Whither of them twain did the will of his father? They said unto him, The first, Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Now this is a parable that Jesus has given to the Pharisees to illustrate the fact that they weren't going to get saved. They weren't going to go to heaven. But we see a great truth in here, that if you actually want to be pleased by God, it's not lip service, it's the action that matters. It's actually doing the work that matters. The guy that decides, you know what, I don't even know if I want to be a servant. I don't even know, you know, I kind of think I'm better than this guy. But at least he goes and does the work, at least he is a servant under his brethren, at least he does make the prayers, at least he does do the things. Which one of them did the will of his father? The guy that had the lip service that's, you know, oh man, I'll pray for you, and then doesn't go and pray for him. Or the guy that, you know, maybe doesn't really like the guy, he's really struggling with it in his flesh, but then he decides, you know what, I'm just going to go pray anyways. Which of them did the will of the father? We actually have to do the works of a servant to be a servant. It's not the lip service, it's not the ideas, but to get there, yeah, you have to choose. You have to decide, hey, I want to choose to do this. I want to do the right thing. And eventually this guy, you know, even though he was like, I'm not going to do it, at some point he realized, you know what, I better do it. I better just go ahead and work in this field. I'm not going to just be a disobedient son. I'm not going to just rebel against the Word of God. I'm actually going to do the work. Matthew 23, it says, Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. Turn if you would to a Galatians chapter 6, and we'll finish there. Look, the greatest person on this earth is going to be the servant. The greatest person in the kingdom of God is a servant. So if you want to be great, if you actually have those desires, it's not thinking great about yourself. It's not trying to get people to help you accomplish your goals. No. Look at, what did Jesus Christ accomplish in his life? He died on the cross in the carnal fleshly world. That's not a success. I mean, even the Pope, he was like, oh, you know, Jesus Christ's life was a failure. It wasn't a failure. It was the greatest thing that ever happened. But in the carnal sense, yeah, but you know what, it's because he was a servant and all. He gave his life for the whole world. He became a servant. That's how he's the greatest. That's why God gave him a name above every name is because he was a servant, because he laid down his life for others. And if you want to be great, you have to decide to serve. And you know what, a lot of times serving is not noticed by man. It's doing things behind the scenes. It's going out and preaching the gospel when no one's paying attention to what you're doing. Maybe you're helping in the church and nobody sees what you're doing. Maybe you're being an encouragement to people behind the scenes, maybe you're giving alms to the poor behind the scenes, but God's paying attention and you want to be the greatest? It's not doing things in front of men, it's doing things for God. It's being Christ's servant. Look at Galatians chapter 6, verse 9. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for a new season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. So we started in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and Paul was talking about being a servant unto all, and he's talking about preaching the gospel. And of course, yeah, in that context, he's talking about salvation, getting people saved, and we should be meek unto unbelievers, and we should be meek unto the unsaved, but the Bible has a lot of examples that we should take that same attitude and that same mindset to brethren in Christ, to those that are the household of faith. We shouldn't just be nice unto the people outside those walls. We should be just as much more kind and compassionate and loving to the people in the judge's house. We should be even more so, and unfortunately, in the world we live in, a lot of times you're not as nice to the people you're comfortable with, to the people that you know, to your family members, to your parents, to who you really like. A lot of times you kind of let your guard down, and you decide, hey, you know what, I'm just going to run my mouth to this guy, and I'm not going to be nice unto him, and I'm not going to be passionate. No! You know, God says, look, we should be even more loving, more kind, more of a servant unto those in the house of God than those out there, but we still should be a servant unto all men. So if you want to be a servant, you have to choose to serve. You have to esteem others better than yourself, but most importantly, you got to start washing some feet. You better start going and doing something. The only way you're going to be a servant is if you just get started. Might be a menial task, might be something you don't really excited about, but just start doing it. That's how you're going to be the servant of Christ. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for your Word. Thank you for your example that you have given unto us, that we can look to you and see how to be a servant, that we can know what things that we ought to do, how we ought to behave. I pray that every one of us would choose to want to be a servant, that we'd realize and count the cost, that we'd see what you'd have us do, that we'd constantly preach the gospel, that we'd be making prayers, that we'd be making intercession for our brethren, making peace, that we would not esteem ourselves better than others, and that we would start working for you in service. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.