I appreciate the staff at Valley Fellowship Church! Pastor Will Umbarger is an anointed minister and a great pastor for young adults at Valley Fellowship, but this afternoon, I caught Pastor Will installing a lock in a VFCA classroom. Why? He understands service!
Valley Fellowship Christian Academy Open House is Saturday afternoon, and Will is doing what was needed to have this classroom ready for guests. You are welcome to join us on Saturday, March 2, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Please, drop by! You can get more information at http://valleyfellowship.com/academy_home.php. The teachers and staff are BIG reasons why VFCA is the best school in Huntsville, Alabama (and beyond!). They understand that service is required of a servant of God.
Are you willing to do what’s necessary to serve in God’s kingdom?
If everyone in your local church was just like you, what kind of church would your church be?
All-out surrender is demanded of a servant. The “serve me” mentality of modern culture goes against what Jesus says in Mark 10:35-45. Jesus talks of being a servant. “Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant (v. 43 NIV); For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (v. 45 NIV).”
For the Greek the highest ideal was self-determination expressed in freedom. Thus the Greek looked upon the slave as an inferior kind of person. It would have been contradictory to the Greek ideal to speak of becoming a servant to another, even to God. Christianity stood this ideal upon its head. (Harper’s Bible Dictionary, Harper & Row, 1985)
Hebrew slaves were to be freed after a period of time, but someone who had been a slave, then set free, could by choice commit to serve the master for life. I think that is the imagery that Paul (Rom 1:1), James (James 1:1), Simon Peter (2 Peter 1:1), and Jude (Jude 1) highlighted.
You are saved by grace but you serve by choice. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)
You must choose to submit to God’s control. Are you ready to serve God by serving others?
