Prepare by Witnessing & Serving

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hello, this is your host, glenn Kivett, and welcome
to today's episode of theChristian Cafe, where the bread
is made fresh and deliveredright from the Word of God.
To keep up to date with what'scoming up, be sure to follow me
on Facebook, at the ChristianCafe, also on Twitter.
Feel free to email me with yourprayer request at

(01:04):
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I would love to hear from you.
So grab me a seat, place yourorder and we will deliver it
fresh and hot, just for you.
Well, hello everybody.

(01:43):
Guess what time it is.
It's that time again.
It's time for the ChristianCafe.
Hope you are having a great day.
Sit back and enjoy as we cometo you for another episode of
the Christian Cafe.
We're here to see that wedeliver the Word of God to you

(02:03):
and that you are blessed.
It's great to have you heretoday.
It is a special day for us.
I'll tell you what God has beengood and he's blessing.
I just thank God for what he'sdoing and how he is blessing and
moving in our midst, and howhe's just doing great and
marvelous things.

(02:23):
We're thanking God for thatevery day.
I've got a special broadcastfor you today.
We're going to break away fromthe book for just a little bit,
for this one episode, and I'mgoing to bring you a message
that I preached at my localchurch a week or so ago and it

(02:44):
was a blessing to me.
It's really something that I'mpassionate about, but it talks
about how we are empowered to bea witness for Jesus Christ and
to serve Him in the best way wecan by getting His Word out, and
I'm just thankful for thismessage.

(03:04):
It was a blessing to me and,like I said, it's something
that's dear to my heart, becausewe've seen God do great things
and if we can't keep it toourselves, then how is the world
supposed to know about Jesus,when we're supposed to take the
message to the ends of the earthand we are to tell the people
about the truth, about JesusChrist and how he loved them and

(03:25):
how he has come to set thecaptive free?
I'm just so thankful for thisand I want you to hear this
message today.
I do want to just say you know,drop us a line to our email at
W.
Well, excuse me, I'm about togive you the wrong email there,
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(03:50):
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(04:12):
I'd love to hear from those thatare listening.
I was looking the other day.
We are in a lot of countriesthat's listening to us and
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We would love to hear from youand if God tells you, asks you
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We do have a link on ourwebpage where you can support

(04:34):
the ministry.
Everything that comes in goesright back into the ministry.
They help pay for what we usefor our podcast.
Now, if you want to watch thisepisode coming up, you can see
the episode on the YouTube pagewhere I was ministering in our
local church if you want to dothat.
But I want you to sit back andlisten to the message here.

(04:58):
It's a little lengthy, butenjoy it and I hope you can get
something out of it.
But enjoy it and I hope you getsomething out of it.
When we come back, we'll getstarted right back into the
message that we give at ourchurch.
A couple Sundays ago, we'regoing to take a break and we'll
be right back.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Here at the Christian Cafe, we believe in serving up
a hot, fresh word for ourlisteners.
We recently read a new booktitled Revival Makers Stop
Chasing a Move of God and Be Oneby Pastor Tony Suarez.
We would love to send you acopy of this book for free.
All you need to do is contactus through email at

(05:41):
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Also, be sure and tune in toall the latest episodes of the
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Again, email us at.

(06:13):
Thanks, and have a great day.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
Good morning, everybody awake, alive.
Blessed day that we're aboveground.
Amen here to do something thatGod has called us to do today.
If you're alive and well, thenyou're ground.
Amen here to do something thatGod has called us to do today.
If you're alive and well, thenyou're called amen.
Shake your head, it won't falloff.
Give me a minute.

(06:55):
My thing does not want to workthis morning for some reason,
but it's an honor to be herethis morning.
I'm not normally down here.
I'm usually stuck up there inthat hole over there looking
down on everybody, but I get tosee a lot of things.
But, here we go.

(07:17):
I'm always nervous when I firstget started, but if you'll give
me a few minutes I'll get myhorses going and we'll get
through this thing.
Bishop done told me I need toslow down and not talk so fast
and stay on point.
Now you guys that have been inour Kingdom Connection class,

(07:40):
you know how I am.
If I don't follow my notes,you'll see my wife over there
telling me she can't come andslap me on the leg today, so,
but you might see her.
You do this right here or thisright here or something like
that, because I have a tendencyto get away from my notes and
when that happens there's notelling where I'll go.

(08:01):
So we'll hopefully stay withour notes because, as I was
talking to a friend of mine justlast night, I told him, every
time I sit down to go over mymessage, the Lord just keeps
feeding me more and I keepmaking it longer and longer and
longer and longer, and so I'mgoing to try and stick with my

(08:22):
notes and kind of cut out whatI'll need.
But first of all I want to givehonor to our bishop and pastor
Tammy for allowing me to speakthis morning and our pastoral
staff that allowed me to takepart in this series.
It's an exciting series.
When Bishop told us about it, Igot excited, because a lot of
the things that we have beentalking about preparing the
church we discussed in ourKingdom Connections class.

(08:42):
Let me just throw a little plugin for our class.
If you've never been in a class, I don't care how long you've
been here, sign up.
We have people in our class nowthat's been here for coming
here for years.
We got ones been here since thebeginning of the church.
That's in the class.
Why are they taking the KingdomConnections class?

(09:03):
Well, there's a lot in it, andsome of the things we've been
talking about in this Preparedthe Church series is what we
teach, you know, and so it'sgood to get, I guess you might
say, refilled, kind ofrejuvenated, because sometimes
we forget about the basics ofwhat we're supposed to do as a
child of God.
Right, we forget and we beginto just say, well, I'm not

(09:28):
needed any longer, I just sithere, be myself and not worry
about, let everybody else dothat.
But God did not call us to dothat.
God called us to do a certainthing and that was to win souls,
and that is our mission here atthe Rising Church is to make
disciples and win souls.
Well, reverse that win soulsand make disciples.
That is our mission.
And if we're not doing that,then we're disobeying what the

(09:52):
Word says.
Reading the Bible, equippingourselves with the Word of God
that was the very first thingwe'll talk about.
So if we call ourselvesChristians, we should be obeying
what's between those covers,right?
And the next thing we'll talkabout is very key is prayer and
fasting.
And I can tell you fromexperience and myself and your

(10:13):
honesty and self we never doenough praying.
We never do enough fasting,because the scripture tells us
if we pray and fast, then thingsbegin to happen.
Right, without those things, itdon't happen.
And all the way to know that isto read the Word.
And then last week, pastorDustin talked about praise and
worship, which is a very key.
Praise and worship will bringus into the presence of the

(10:35):
Almighty God.
It will take us to a place thatwe may never go.
Can we turn these?

Speaker 2 (10:41):
monitors off.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
I'm getting a lot of racket here, please, I don't
like to hear myself talk so,bringing ourself into the
presence of God, we begin to seethings.
We begin to see the scripturesopened up to us.
We begin to see things that wehave read and read and read and

(11:04):
read through the Word and neverreally thought about them, right
?
How many of you have read abook that is your favorite book?
Now, my daughter is here thismorning.
I'm glad to see my daughter, mynew son, in love with us today.
She loves to read and she willread a book in two hours, and
that's not small ones either.
She'll sit and read and read,and read.
But if you'd ask her if shewent back and read that book

(11:26):
again, if she got somethingoutside of it, I guarantee you
she'll say yes.
When you start reading thingsover and over, you begin to see
other things you didn't seebefore because it's new to you,
right?
So if you've read theScriptures one time, go back and
read it again and I guaranteeyou there's going to be
something new there.
And that's what has been with meever since Bishop had.

(11:48):
Well, actually, bishop didn'task me.
I went to him and he showed uswhat he wanted to do, and this
part kind of just slapped me inthe face because it's one of my
passions I love to talk about,because it's very important in a
child of God's life, not justin the body of Christ, but also
in every child of God's life,and I want to talk to you this

(12:11):
morning about witnessing andserving.
Did I say a bad word?
I?
saw somebody grabbed theirpocket but ready to leave.
No, I'm just kidding, but it'svery important in a child of
God's life.
What do we know aboutwitnessing, serving what do we

(12:32):
know?
I know we've heard a lot ofthings about it.
I know we've heard that youknow we need to go out and knock
on doors and witnessing, butdid you know that witnessing is
more than just going andknocking on doors?
There's more to it, and for along time in my Christian life
as a child, that's what we usedto do every Saturday morning.
We was meeting at the churchand we was going out and we'd

(12:52):
knock on doors telling peopleabout Jesus.
It was not until later in mylife that I realized that
witnessing was more than justdoing that.
There was a lot more to it.
Let me ask you this questionhow many of us are actively
going out and spreading the word?
How many of you have added tothe kingdom this week?

(13:17):
What about last month?
What about last year?
What about last month?
What about last year?
What about ever?
God called us to do this verything.
That's why Matthew 9, verse 37,says that the harvest truly is

(13:40):
plentiful, because God knew thata lot of us wasn't doing it.
That's why there's so manypeople out there that are lost
and on their way to hell,because we as a child of God, as
a church, are not doing whatwe're called to do.
But you say, brother Glenn, howcan I do that?
We're going to answer thatquestion this morning In our

(14:03):
first text today, acts 1, 1,verse 8, new Living Translation.
Jesus said but you will receivepower when the Holy Spirit comes
upon you and you will be mywitnesses telling people about
me everywhere, in Jerusalem,throughout Judea, in Samaria and
to the ends of the earth.

(14:24):
These are the very last wordsJesus told the disciples before
he ascended to heaven.
He said that you will be enduedwith power.
Now I was looking at and I wasat work yesterday and I told you
that things just keep comingback to me and I thought it was

(14:45):
very interesting.
I went over to one of myfavorite translations of the
Bible, and it's the PassionTranslation, and that word
received was replaced with theword seized.
In other words, the Bible tellsus that we will be seized with
power.
What does that word seize mean?

(15:05):
I looked it up.
It says it means to take holdof suddenly and forcibly.
In other words, bishop, it'sgoing to come on you and it's
going to just grab you and it'sgoing to move you forcibly.
In other words, you're notgoing to sit still, all right,
you're going to have so muchpower in you that you want to

(15:26):
know you're going to feelsomething.
It's not going to be somethingthat just sits on you like let's
see a weight.
Right, it's going to move you,so it's going to seize you.
In order for us to understandwhat Jesus is talking about,
let's go back to Acts 1, verse 6.

(15:47):
It says so.
When the apostles were withJesus, they kept asking him Lord
, has the time come for you tofree Israel and restore to our
kingdom?
This was a question that theyhad asked Jesus many times.
Lord, when are you going tofree Israel, when?

(16:08):
But see, jesus was looking atit a different way.
It was just not only about thechildren of Israel, freeing them
, or the church or Israel.
It was about the kingdom of God.
It was about everybody.
He was wanting to freeeverybody.
It was the kingdom of God,which does not have physical or
time boundaries.
So Jesus responded in verse 7.

(16:29):
He says he replied the Fatheralone has authority to set those
dates and times, and they arenot for you to know.
Then he continued in verse 8.
And he said but you willreceive power when the Holy
Spirit comes upon you and youwill be witnesses telling people
about me everywhere, inJerusalem, throughout Judea and

(16:51):
Samaria and the ends of theearth.
There are two foundationstruths that we need to talk
about this morning.
Number one is we have beenempowered by the Holy Spirit to
witness.
We have been empowered, we'vebeen given that power.
Number two we are to be God'switnesses everywhere, not just

(17:13):
here, but everywhere.
Well, brother Glenn, I'm scared.
Yeah, we all are.
But I just told you that wehave been empowered by the
Spirit.
It's in us, it has seized us.
If you're a born-again child ofGod, the power of God has
seized you and it's going tomove you forcibly to do that.

(17:35):
Why are you moving?
Well, that's the questionbetween you and God.
We have to desire to beempowered.
We have to desire to go out anddo the things that God has told
us to do.
We just can't say well, I guessI've been, the pastor asked me

(17:57):
to go do this, I guess I'll godo it.
Not going to work that way?
I believe that when we dosomething out of desire, then
the anointing has already beenbefore us and it is profitable.
But when we're doing of our ownstrength and because our own
might, then God does not seethat.

(18:18):
That's what I believe.
You may be me say itdifferently, but I believe
everything that we do is doneunder anointing of God and God
will bless it.
God will use it for his kingdomand his glory.
Who am I to say that what I'mdoing is not good?

(18:39):
We've been empowered.
The first part of the verseJesus said but you will receive
power.
Well, the word power means tobe able or to have strength.
You have the strength, pastor,johnny.
You have the ability.

(19:00):
You are able to do it.
Do we always feel like it?
No, no, there's going to betimes that we just God, I just
can't do this.
But you never know who's goingto need what you have.
You never know it.
You can just say well, you know, I'm going to keep that in my
soul and I've done this.

(19:20):
I don't know how many of youhave, but I've done this.
God, speak to me, tell themabout my story, and I say, god,
they don't want to hear that.
I said God, they don't want tohear that, but guess what?
Someone else comes along andtells them their story.
See, if you don't do it, god'sgoing to have someone else do it

(19:40):
.
His word's going to go out.
The good news of what he's doneis going to go out.
You just need to decide whetheryou're going to be part of that
or not.
But, brother Glenn, I'm notrecognized for what I do.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter whether yourecognize it or not.
The only person you need tocare about is what God thinks of
you, what he says.
We have the strength.

(20:04):
When did they receive the power?
The day of Pentecost, they werein one mind, one accord, in the
upper room waiting becauseJesus told them.
He says you go to Jerusalem andyou tarry there and you will
receive power after the HolyGhost has come upon you and
you'll be witnesses.
If he didn't want us to bewitnesses, why is it in his word

(20:28):
?
Why is it there?
Everything that God has put inthe precious pages of the Bible
was meant for us.
Every word, down to every T, itto am.
There's a purpose for it.
It wasn't just put there byaccident.
It was divine revelation fromGod.

(20:48):
And when it's divine revelation, it means we better pay
attention to it.
It was not a command, but it wassomething he asked us to do.
Well, this is my thinking.
If I'm asked to do something,it means I'm commanded to do it.

(21:09):
That's my thinking.
Because why else?
Why else would they ask so manytimes that we look at our
leadership, our pastors, andthey tell us and ask us to do
something, we think, well, theyjust asked us, it didn't mean
anything.
But see, what we don't realizeis that our leadership, our
pastors, have a directconnection with the Father and

(21:30):
they're there to lead the sheep.
And when they ask us to dosomething, it may be asking, but
I believe it's command.
And God commanded us to witnessto everybody, not just a
certain few.
The disciples had been withJesus for a while.

(21:51):
They had watched him heal thesick, cleanse the leper, open
blinded eyes, had dead to raise,feeding 5,000 with just a
minimal thing.
They saw this with their veryeyes.
It was not nothing that wasn'ttrue.
A witness is someone that tellsthe truth about things because

(22:14):
they've seen it.
How many have been to courtBeen a witness?
What did you have to do?
Promise to tell the truth?
Nothing true, for the sake ofGod Same concept.
The disciples had seeneverything that Jesus did.
And so he says when you're inJerusalem, I'm going back to

(22:40):
heaven.
He said, but wait for me rightthere because I'm going to send
you something.
I'm going to send you a giftthat you're going to be able to
tell everybody about what I havedone.
Paul says you'll be a witnessthat you were freed from prison.
Lazarus, you're going to beable to tell everybody that you

(23:01):
were raised from the dead.
All these things that thedisciples saw and heard and
experienced.
They were to go out and telleverybody, same as us, whatever
God has done in your life youshare with others and we could
go around to everyone in thisroom and I know that God has
done something for you and ifyou told it, someone would be
blessed, someone's life would bechanged, because they're in a

(23:22):
state right now that they'rehopeless.
They don't see any change, theydon't see any way out of their
situation.
But someone has experienced it,someone has walked in it,
someone has been free from itand delivered from it.
You're the key to help thembreak hold, to break that chain.
But when we just sit back andsay God, the pastors will handle

(23:48):
it, the leadership will handleit.
I don't need to worry about it.
You're not the pastors, you'renot the leadership, you're not
God, you're you.
I could stand up here today andtell you testimony to testimony
that's happened in my life whereGod has moved and I've seen

(24:15):
people change because oftestimony.
When I was, I guess, 17, 17years old, I can take you to the
very spot in a church that Iwas attending back home I always
had everybody remembertestimony service.
Yeah, I always had testimonyservice.

(24:35):
I stood up and testified and Itestified about how I had quit
paying my tithes and I began tosee my finances go down the tube
and nothing was going right.
And I went to the altar and Igot forgiveness for not paying
and I stood up and testifiedabout that.
The gentleman in the back Iknew him very well.
He was dating one of my bestfriends.
He came running down the aisleand gave his heart to Jesus.

(24:57):
He stood up and testified.
He said if that brother had nottestified about what God done,
about just not paying tithes, hesays, I'd have walked out the
door, lost A simple thing.
It's not nothing from a brokenleg that was healed or being
raised from the dead, blindedeyes open, brother Tyler, but it
was just a simple thing.

(25:18):
A simple thing that you talkabout that could change
someone's life.
And it's not always about whatyou talk about.
It's the way you live.
Remember, I told you that a lotof people think about when you
witness.
It's about what you say or tellthem about Jesus.
It's not that People know whoyou are in your community.

(25:39):
They know exactly what you'regoing, what you do, where you go
to church at.
They know how you live and allof a sudden you do something
that's not according to what yousay you are.
And all of a sudden you dosomething that's not according
to what you say you are.
Your witness and testimony justwent down the drain.
Now they have no confidence inyou any longer.
You can't tell them aboutChrist because you've ruined

(25:59):
your witness.
You've ruined your testimony.
It's more than just talk.
It's how we live, because whenwe live according to the
Scripture, I believe it emanatesfrom us.
It brings out what God wantspeople to see.
When we can get out of ourselfand let Jesus shine through,

(26:22):
then we can see the kingdom ofGod be built.
But as long as we do it inourself, as long as we let
people see who we are and notGod, we can't reach nobody.
We have to be witnesses inJerusalem and all Judea and
Samaritans.
Jesus expected all of us to dothe same.

(26:46):
All of us to do the same.
Dan, will you put that firstslide up for me, please?
Where do we witness?
Does Jesus actually expect usto go to all these places to
witness?
Jerusalem, samaria, samaria.

(27:07):
Let me break it down just alittle bit.
Jerusalem is our family,neighbors, people who are work
associates, people that weregularly come in contact with
on a daily basis.
In addition, we speak theirlanguage, we know their culture
right.
So this should be the mostnatural place for us to start

(27:31):
sharing the Christ with someone,people that we know we feel
more comfortable with right.
So it's not something thatwe're uncomfortable with.
But then let's break a littlefurther.
Let's go on to Judea.
These are people in oursocioeconomic and ethnic groups,
people that we have nothing incommon with at all.

(27:54):
We have no relationships.
They could be people that wework with.
We never talk to neighbors,club members.
I know a lot of people are amember at the Moose Lodge in
Morganton.
You don't even know them thatgood.
We can witness to them, right?
Other parents that our kids goto school with, we can be a

(28:22):
witness.
What about Samaria?
These are people whoselifestyle, their culture, our
economic standing is differentthan ours.
Does that mean we don't talk tothem?
They need God too.
How are they going to get it ifwe don't share it with them?

(28:45):
How do we share it with them?
We love them, it doesn't matter.
We have to love them withunconditional love.
Unconditional I haveunconditional love for all of my
kids, with nothing in the worldI wouldn't do for them, because

(29:06):
I love them I don't care wherethey're at, what they're doing,
whatever, it doesn't matter.
Just because they don't live forGod doesn't mean I cast them
aside.
We love them.
Jesus did Last ends of theearth.
We might be intimidated when weconsider the challenge of going
to the ends of the earth.

(29:26):
Now I'm going to make a plugfor Tyler and Miriam right here.
Missions that would beconsidered ends of the earth
Pretty close.
If you've never been involvedin missions, trust me it would
change your life.
How do we reach everybody?
The Bible says that we willreach everybody before the time

(29:49):
comes.
There's a thing calledtechnology.
We do it every Sunday throughlive stream.
We reach people that you havenot fathomed.
The last time I checked, we arein 19 countries.
This church alone, People from19 countries are watching us

(30:10):
every single week.
Ends of the earth.
We're witnessing people.
People's lives are beingchanged because what we do here
at the Rising.
People's lives are beingchanged here because what you
are doing Sharing the gospel ofJesus Christ.
We should never lose sight ofthe fact that the Lord's

(30:35):
intentions is for us to witness.
Never lose sight.
I told you that the word powermeans to be able and to have
strength.
We have the power.
Power means to be able and tohave strength.
We have the power, we have beenempowered.
According to Acts 1 and 8, wehave been empowered with the

(30:58):
Spirit of God.
It was put in us on the daythat we was born as a child of
God.
It's there.
So why are we keeping itbottled up?
Why?
Why, afraid of what someone'sgoing to say?
We shouldn't be that way,should we?
Being a witness for Christ issomething that we should enjoy

(31:21):
to do.
We love what God has done forus in our lives.
We shouldn't be here, we shouldbe someplace else.
But because of the love ofJesus Christ and the death on
the cross, we are serving apower of an almighty God that
has taken us and changed us fromwho we are to where we are now

(31:43):
and has greater things in storeif we will follow what the Word
says.
But it takes a desire.
It takes believing in what weknow is truth, not something
fake, because there's a lot offakeness out there today.

(32:11):
But if we follow the plan thathas been laid out for us in the
Word, we'll win the kingdom morepeople to the kingdom.
See, I'm being obedient to mypastor.
I'm moving on, because I couldgo on there.
I'm trying, I'm doing good.
I'm staying on my notes, so youknow we're doing good.
I'm trying, I'm doing good.
I'm staying on my notes, so youknow we're doing good.

(32:32):
I'm trying to stay there.
Like I said, I have a tendencyto get away from my notes and
when I do, I do what Bishop toldme not to do get on rabbit hole
, rabbit chase and go chaserabbits.
So we're going to move along.
The next bad word that we'regoing to talk about this morning
is serving Serving.

(32:55):
When you talk about servingpeople, just get up and start
running, you know.
But again, it's something God'scalled us to do.
Being a servant is not alwayswhat people think as a path to
greatness.
Many think that having servantswould better signify a greater

(33:17):
life.
That would be nice, wouldn't it?
You sit back.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
I can't get my wife to do that.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
She says no, you go and do.
And of course I pay attention.
I don't want to be buried inthe basement one day, so I pay
attention.
That's why we got a basement.
For those of y'all who don'tknow, if I misbehave, if I don't
show up on Sunday, you'll justcome to my house, you'll see.
That's where I'll be.
But no, seriously, it's nice tobe served, but Jesus didn't

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come to serve, to be served.
He came to serve.
He tells us that whoever wantsto be great will be a servant.
Bishop told me something I wantto use here.
You really can't serve withoutwitnessing.
Serving testifies to whatyou're witnessing about.

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That's powerful.
Serving testifies to whatyou're witnessing about.
If you're serving God, thatmeans that you love him.
That means you'll go to theends of the world for him.
You'll suffer like he suffered,you'll die like he died and

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you'll do the things that he did.
Mark, chapter 10, verse 35through 45.
Jacob, john, sons of Zebedee,approached Jesus and said
Teacher, will you do us a favor?
What is it?
He asked?
We want to sit next to you whenyou come into your glory.
They said, one at your righthand and the other at your left.

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Jesus replied just don't have aclue.
You don't have a clue whatyou're asking for.
God ever told you that youdon't have a clue what you're
asking for.
God ever told you that youdon't have a clue.
What you're asking about, youjust think you do.
Are you prepared to drink fromthe cup of suffering and be

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immersed into my death?
But to have you sit in theposition of highest honor is not
mine to decide.
It is reserved for thoseespecially prepared to have it.
Now.
The other ten disciplesoverheard this and they became
angry and began to criticizeJacob and John.
Jesus gathered them alltogether and said to them those

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recognized as rulers of thepeople and those who are in the
top leadership positions ruleoppressively over their subjects
.
But this is not the example youare to follow.
You are to lead by a differentmodel.
If you want to be the greatest,then live as one called to
serve others.
The path to promotion comes byhaving the heart of a bond slave

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who serves everyone.
For even the Son of man did notcome expecting to be served by
everyone, but to serve everyoneand to give his life as the
ransom price for the salvationof many.
This story was in Matthew.
If you remember about, themother had come to Jesus and

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asked the privilege for her ownsons.
It's the very same thing.
So when Jesus asked themwhether they could be baptized
with the same baptism that hesuffered, jesus answered, said
that they could.
Why?
Because of their faithfulness,because of their loyalty to him.
And when James became, we know,james became a martyr and John
was exiled to Isle of Patmos.

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We don't believe, know, if hewas executed or not, we just
don't know.
But they were great men of Godand they wanted to sit there
beside him.
But it was not for Jesus to give, it was those that had what
Prepared.
Isn't that what we're talkingabout?

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Preparing ourself for a certainthing, preparing ourself to be
greater in the kingdom,preparing ourself to bring
people to the kingdom?
Salvation is free, saints, Igot two amens.

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Salvation is free, see, wedidn't have to die for it.
It was given to us.
Heaven is a gift, but your placein heaven, you work for that.
There's something you got to do.

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A gift, but your place inheaven, you work for that.
There's something you've got todo.
Everything that is in the wordwe're supposed to do.
And I ain't got time to go here,but last night I was looking at
this again and again.
As I said, something popped inmy.
God just gave me something else, but I ain't got time to talk
about it, I'm just going tomention it.
What are our rewards that wereceive if we serve?

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What is it we're going to get?
There's five crowns.
You can go back, you can lookthem up and study them.
I suggest you do.
They're great.
But the one first one is thevictor's crown.
Second is the crown ofrejoicing.
Third, the crown ofrighteousness, the crown of life
and the crown of glory.
If you want those scripturesafter service, leave me, I'll

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give them to you.
These are five crowns, yourrewards.
If you want to serve for God,we can get to heaven, not a
problem, it's a gift.
What about our place in heaven,pastor?
There's people that just want atitle, but they don't want to
do anything for it.
They don't want to work for theposition.

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I'm going to tell you.
I'm going to be transparentwith you.
Okay, I'm not proud of this.
I'm actually ashamed of thisand for many years I repented of
it until I finally got victoryover it, because I can't put
myself down over it.
But I have been in church myentire life.

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There's not a position that Ihave not held in the church,
from Sunday school teacher,sunday school school teacher to
pastor, you name it.
I've been a part of it.
Musician, whatever.
When I come here to the rising,my first thing and Bishop Tessie
, I come and told him who I was,told him my title, went to our

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praise worship leader, told herwhat I could do, boasting myself
up Again.
It was what I know.
I didn't have no option not toserve in a church, my dad being
a preacher, a pastor, I had nooption.
It was something I was made todo and as years went by, I was

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trained to do that, got verygood at it.
But then there's one thing thathappened.
Every church I go to I say Ican do this, I can do that, and
never was used.
It was a long time before Istarted serving here.
Serving is more than a title.
Serving means that you'veproven yourself.

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You're being faithful, you'redoing everything that you can
that you've been called to do,being obedient, tithing,
attending church Did I saytithing?
Giving, giving, reading theWord, praying, fasting, praise

(40:59):
and worship.
See all this ties in All theother disciples.
They were upset because Jacoband John wanted the position,
they wanted the title of beingthe greatest.
But Jesus I think Jesus rebukedhim right here.

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He said if you want to be great, what did he say?
Do Be willing to serve others.
I told you, jesus came to serve, not to be served.
People who refuse to getinvolved in problems of the

(41:40):
community are like twoshipwrecked men in a lifeboat.
From their end of the boat,they watch as those at the other
end bailed frantically to keepthe boat afloat.
The one said to the other thankheaven, the hole is not on our
end of the boat.
Unfortunately, that seems to beall too typical of most people

(42:01):
in our society.
The trouble with so many in oursociety is that they don't
realize that just because thehole's not on their side of the
boat doesn't mean the boat's notgoing to sink.
It's still going to sink.
Every boat I ever seen with ahole in it sunk.
Titanic went way down.

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It had.
With a hole in it sunk.
Titanic went way down.
It had a big hole in it.
We should be using everythingGod gives us, every one of you.
God has given you something todo.
You're a child of God and ifwe're not using what, we know
what God has given you somethingto do.
You're a child of God, and ifwe're not using what we know,
what God has given us, then whatgood is it?

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It's not benefiting anybody.
You're just holding it down,thinking well, you know, I just
got this talent that God gave me.
Should I use it or just let itgo?
Deanna, pull up that next slidefor me, please.
What is it that we have hard?

(43:08):
Why is it we have a hard timeserving?
Why is it that we have a hardtime serving other people?
I like this.
I found this on the World WideWeb.
You know, I like this.
I found this on the World WideWeb.
I like this If you take in anddon't give out, you become fat.

(43:31):
I heard some laughter.
If you give out and don't takein, you become faint.
If you give out and don't takein, you become faint.
If you give out and take in,you become fit.
I like the last part, becauseif I'm giving out what God has
given me and taking in everySunday more, then what does that

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do, pastor Johnny?
He just gives me more to giveout.
It's a constant cycle, right?
If we just take it all in andnever give anything out.
What good is it?
You see, going to church andlearning about Jesus and all
that he did for others is a goodthing, right, but if we don't
do anything with it, it'suseless to us, it's useless to

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anybody else.
It's kind of like gettingsomething from the store or your
order online or Amazon, as mywife does constantly.
There's two of us, right, andit comes with instructions.
She said, honey, we put ittogether and I'm taking

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instruction.
I said I can take care of this,I don't use it, nothing.
But to start a fire with whatgood is it?
And I mess it up.
And then I got to reorderanother one because I messed it
up.
If we learn about God and don'tshare it with others, what good
is it?
It does anybody no use.

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In Ephesus there were a lot ofpeople who just loved to sit and
read, study and debate theBible.
Paul wrote a letter to Timothyand told him that not the
purpose of going to church.
Did you know that?
Did you know coming to churchis not to sit?
Read him that not the purposeof going to church.
Did you know that?
Did you know coming to churchis not to sit, read and debate

(45:28):
the Scriptures.
Paul said the purpose oflearning the Bible is not just
so you know the Bible or so thatyou could win a debate or
persuade someone to your side.
Paul told Timothy that juststudying the Bible just leads to
endless discussions and debates, which really doesn't do
anybody any good does it Doesnobody any good whatsoever.

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Paul told Timothy that thepeople needed to change their
purpose in studying the Bible.
We study the Bible to learn howto love God and our fellow man.
Love is witness.
Love is serving.
Without love, none of thisworks.
If you can't love the personyou're witnessing to, if you

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don't love the person you'reserving, we have a problem.
So it first starts with love.
The first commandment is love.
Everything else fallsunderneath it.
We seem to make a lot of excuseswhy we're not serving.
Shake your head.
We always do.

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We don't want to serve if thehole's not on the end of our
boat.
We don't want to sit there.
We don't want to serve if wedon't know enough about the
Bible.
We don't want to serve ifpeople don't appreciate what we

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do.
Cleaning toilets is serving.
Somebody's got to do it.
I remember that's the firstthing I did when I come, started
started here very first thing.
I went to pastor john andpastor roma they can be my
witness here and ask them whatcan I do if I can help clean the

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church?
Very first thing I did here atRising six years ago.
It's been that long or longer.
She's counting on fingers.
Everything is important andeverything is appreciated.
We don't want to serve if wedon't think we have any talents.

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We've all got excuses and whywe don't want to serve.
If anyone had a reason not toserve, it was Jesus.
I mean, look at his life.
Look at how many times he wasridiculed, despised by his own
people, rejected by men,crucified.

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The Pharisees how many timestried to kill him.
He deserved to be served.
But the Scripture tells us inMark 10, 45, that he came to
serve, not to be served.
Jesus' ministry was a ministryof humility and humble service.

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There was nothing about Jesusthat was weak or timid and yet,
in the midst of all his power,there was an underlying attitude
of humility and servanthoodtoward others.
All the power Pastor Johnny hadjust to speak at the wind and

(48:53):
say Be calm, to open deaf ears,blinded eyes.
All that power.
But yet he came to serve thegreatest servant that ever lived
, pastor Dustin, the man thatwent to a cross and died so that

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you and I could be here thismorning.
He served us by doing that.
The biggest servant ever livedwas also the most powerful
person.
So it doesn't matter about yourposition in life, it doesn't
matter where your position is inthe church.
All that matters is I'm willingto do what God did.

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I'm willing to sacrifice mytime.
I'm willing to sacrifice myselffor the better of the kingdom.
I encourage you if you're notserving here at the Rising,
there is a lot that we can use,a lot.
What better time than thismorning that I go back there

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after church and I see a list ofpeople that's wanting to serve.
I would shout for joy and I'llmake a bold statement, but
unfortunately this morning Iwon't see that.
Why?
There's a lot of reasons, but Ibelieve the biggest reason is
fear, fear.

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I'm afraid of what people aregoing to say.
I'm afraid I'm not going to doa good job.
I'm afraid.
I don't know enough to do it, itdoesn't matter.
Your willingness and yourdesire to serve is what God
looks for.
God will train you, god willteach you of what to do and how
to do it.
All you need to do is walkaccording to the word of God.

(50:40):
Everything else flows like it'ssupposed to be.
Do you want to be great in thekingdom of God?
Do you want to be that one thatJesus looks at and says well
done thou, good and faithfulservant, then serve.
Jesus told his disciples if youwant to be the greatest, then
live as one who serves.

(51:04):
If we are expected to earn ourspot beside the king, then we
need to serve.
That's what Jacob and Johnwanted, right?
They want to be known as theking, then we need to serve.
That's what Jacob and Johnwanted, right?
They want to be known as thegreatest.

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I don't care about title.
I don't care about position.
All I care about, bishop, is toknow that I am in the will of
the Father, doing what I've beencalled to do.
I have been equipped to do.
I have been equipped to do.
I have been empowered to do.
That's all that matters to meIn our life as a Christian.

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We're going to be rejected.
We're going to be talked aboutPastor Roma.
We're going to be called allkinds of names.
I was called all kinds of namesin school because my dad was a
preacher and I was held to avery holiness-strict background.
It hurt me when I was young,yes, but as I got older I

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realized that names doesn'tmatter.
All that matters is that myname is written in the Lamb's
Book of Life.
That's all that matters is thatmy name is written in the
Lamb's book of life.
That's all that matters.
If you're here this morning andyou don't know about Jesus, if
you don't know what it's like toserve an almighty and powerful
God, one that can take your lifeand change it to the better,

(52:37):
someone that can deliver youfrom all the bondage that you're
under, I invite you to thisaltar this morning.
Right here is your freedom.
Right here is where you canmeet the one that died on the
cross for you, that shed Hisblood that you can be saved.
Not only did he die for thesaving of our souls, but he died

(52:57):
for the healing of our bodies.
He suffered every stripe, thatwas, every disease known to man.
He suffered on the cross.
You want to be a part of thekingdom, a part of the family of
God.
Come lay it down at the altar,every head bowed, every eyes
closed.
Man, what a powerful word.
Nothing about something aboutwitnessing and telling people

(53:27):
God's mercy and his goodness.
I just thank God that you know.
He called me out of darknessinto a life of hope and
everlasting love.
This week, go out, tellsomething about Jesus.
Let your light so shine thatothers might see Him, and I just

(53:47):
know that God will bless youfor it.
God will put somebody in frontof you that needs some love.
All we can do is just show itto them.
It doesn't matter where they'reat, what their condition is or
their lifestyle.
We're to be like Jesus Christ.
That's the problem with theworld today.
We want to judge them becauseof their lifestyle and what they

(54:08):
believe, and if they don'tbelieve like we do, then we have
no use for them.
That's not the way Jesus did.
Jesus loved them in their sins.
Jesus loved them in their sins.
Jesus loved them no matter whatthey were in.
He died for every and each andevery one.
It doesn't matter If we expectto win the loss.
We've got to love them.
We can't spread hate, like it'sgoing around today.

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Just love them.
Guys, thank you for joining inagain.
I hope that you are blessed andyou receive some of this
message.
I hope that you are blessed andyou receive some of this
message.
Until next time.
This is the Christian Cafesaying the bread is fresh and I
hope that you ate from God'stable today.
God bless you.
We love you.

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Have a great day.