You are the Church

August 2, 2023

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) “For

we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so

that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

You were made to make a contribution, not just to consume. God made

you to make a difference. And what matters is not how long you live,

but how you live. What matters is not the duration of your life, but

the donation of your life. On this planet, nobody gets a free ride.

We're all meant to give something back.

The Bible says we're created to serve, we're saved to serve, we're gifted to serve. We're commanded to serve God.  

Now whenever God gives us an assignment to do something, He never gives it to us without equipping us first.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) "Each of us should use whatever gift he's received to serve others!  

You weren't put here just to take up space, consume and get a free

ride through life. You were put here to serve God and the way you serve

God is by serving other people. Now, some people want to serve God; they

just don't want to serve others. But you can't do that. The only way

you can serve God is by serving others.  

Now the Bible has a word for this, it's called "ministry". This is a

misunderstood word.When I say the word "minister" most people think of a

priest, a pastor or a rabbi. But the Bible says every believer is a

minister. Now not every believer is a pastor, but every believer is a

minister.  

All of us are called to ministry, including you. If you are called to

salvation, you are called to serve. To be a fully devoted follower of

Christ you must have a ministry. 

Now the good news is that God not only created us for service, He

gave us a model. He came to earth Himself and said, "This is how you do

it. I want you to watch Me". So he came to earth in the form of a man,

Jesus Christ, and He said, "This is what I want you to do with your

life". You were created to be like Christ. What did Christ do while He

was here on earth? He served. Notice the next verse, 

Matthew 20:28 (NLT) "For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others.”  

Jesus said to give your life away in order to find it. The greatest

thrill in the world is to be used by God, to be used in serving Him.  

YOU

are the church... at your place of work. On your campus. In your home.

At the store. On social media. In your neighborhood. To the other people

you go to church with. How can you "be the church" and serve others where God has placed you?