Alright.  Hey everybody.  Welcome to Valley Creek Church.  I am so glad you are here with us today.  We want to give a big welcome to all our campuses, Denton, Venue, Flower Mound, everybody who’s watching online, wherever you are in the world, we are glad that you’re here.

Hey, if you got a bible, flip with me to Philippians Chapter 2.  Philippians Chapter 2, and as you’re turning there, I want to tell you where we’re going to go for the next few weeks.  You see, over the course of the next few weeks, I want to talk about some things that are completely counter cultural to this world.  And so I kind of want to prepare your hearts, I want to prepare your minds, we’re going to talk about some counter cultural things, some things you’re not going to hear from the world around you but that means they’re probably the things we need to hear because in John 18:36, Jesus says, “My Kingdom is not of this world.”

Isaiah 55, he says, “My ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”  And we always have to remember as followers of Jesus, we’re primarily citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven more than we are citizens of this world.  So I’m going to talk about some things that are counter cultural and we’re going to start a new series today, called The Back Door and we’re going to talk about our hearts.  And then it’s going to transition right into a series called In the Lion’s Den and we’re going to talk about the government, the election, the economy, oh, that’s going to be fun.

But here’s the deal, these two series overlap and they interconnect with one another.  So I hope you’ll track with us starting now because you got to get this first series to get where we’re going to go in the second one and they’re just going to mesh together.

And what I want to start by talking about today is just simply this.  I want to talk about how to become great.  See, I want you to be great.  When I pray for you and I prepare for these messages and we lead this church, I want you to become great.  Jesus wants you to be great.

But if you ever just stop and really ask yourself the questions, like what makes someone great?  How do you really become great?  It’s a pretty big question and since we spent most of our lives trying to become great, we should probably have an answer to that question.  And we should probably know what it looks like and if you think about the people in your life that you think are great, like what makes them great?  Is it the people that are the most talented, the people that are the most beautiful?  Is it the people with the most money or most social media followers?  The people that are the smartest, the best, the most influenced?  I mean, what makes someone great?

And this isn’t a new question, it’s been going on for years.  I mean, you go all the way back to Jesus and his disciples, they were asking the same question.  In fact, in Mark 10 is a great story, Jesus is getting ready to head to the cross, he’s walking down the road with the disciples and James and John, two of the 12 disciples, they walked up to Jesus and they said, “Hey, Jesus, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  Pretty bold question, wouldn’t you agree?

And I loved Jesus’ response.  He looks at him and says, “What do you want me to do for you?”  Jesus is not put off by a bold faith.  He loves when we come to him and ask for big things.  Only, they didn’t understand what they were asking for.  They said, “Jesus, when you come into your glory, we want to sit on your right and your left hand side.”  In other words, they were jocking for position, they were looking for a promotion.  They wanted the right hand and the left hand seats next to Jesus’ throne.  They wanted to become great.

And it says when the other 10 hear about it, they were all upset, and they’re not upset because these two guys asked the question, they’re upset because they want the seats on the right hand and the left hand side.  And so Jesus grabs these guys and then in Mark 10, he pulls them together and this is what it says, verse 42, “Jesus called the 12 together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them -- these people of the world but not so with you.  Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus grabs the 12 Disciples, he pulls them together and he says, “Guys, you’ve been walking with me for 10 chapters. You’ve been with me for a few years.  You’ve sat in church for a long time and you still don’t get it.”  So let me make it really clear.  If you want to be great, you got to be a servant.  The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are the greatest servants of all.  In other words, Jesus is the fastest way to greatness is through servanthood.  Now let’s be honest, that’s counter cultural.  Would we agree with that?

You will never hear the world tell you that.  The world tells you the exact opposite, the world says, hey, if you want to be great, spend your life getting other people to serve you.  Well Jesus says, if you want to be great, make sure you spend your life serving others.

The world says you need to go through the front door of performance, Jesus says you need to go through the back door of servanthood.  The world says, greatness comes from the place of prominence, Jesus says, greatness comes from the posture of hiddenness.  So maybe, we need to choose to repent.  Change our thinking and agree with Jesus’ definition of what greatness looks like.  And that’s what I’m hoping to take you on a journey over the next few weeks because Jesus wants you to be great.  But it only comes if you’ll walk through the backdoor of servanthood.

Now, if you look at Philippians 2 with me, this is a passage that they would call Christology, okay?  A little bit of teaching here for you for a moment.  Christology, which basically mean the Theology of Christ, like what do we really believe about who Jesus is.  And this is probably one of the most eloquent passages in all of the New Testament.  So just listen to this and then let me share some things with you.  Here’s what he says, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being in one spirit and purpose.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others.”  And here’s how we tell you how we do it.  “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.  Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant -- circle the word servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross.  Therefore -- circle the word therefore.  Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place, he became the greatest and gave the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That was half-hearted but that’s okay.  Here’s what I was going to say, that’s all you need.  Have a great week.  I’ll see you next time. That’s Christology.  That’s the passage of our Jesus and it changes everything about us.  A couple of thoughts for you.  First thing is this, Jesus chose to be a servant.  Here’s what you need to catch in this.  Jesus chose to be a servant.  Think about this.  The Lord of all creations, the maker of heaven and earth, the Son of God, the King of kings and he chose to become a servant.  He gave up his King’s crown and he took on a servant’s towel.  Come on.  What other king do you know that does that?  What politician?  What celebrity?  What business owner?  What rich person gives up what they have to go serve other people, let alone the King of kings?

I mean, Jesus didn’t have to do this, you get this, right?  He didn’t have to do it, he could’ve sent someone else, he could’ve gave us his leftovers, I mean, he could’ve sat on his throne in heaven and looked around and then like, “Hey let’s send that angel with a third wing. I’m not sure what happened to creation but we’re not sure really what to do with that guy anyway.  So, you know, maybe let’s let him go.  It’s not what he did.  He chose to humble himself and become a servant.

And catch what it says, Jesus didn’t just come to serve, he came to become a servant.  It wasn’t an action he performed, it was an identity he embraced.  That’s why he’s the servant king.  He is the servant king and he chose to go through the back door of servanthood.  He came through the servant’s quarters not the king’s gate.  That’s why he was born in a manger, lowest of lows.  Grew up in Nazareth, a town where nothing good came from.

Spent 30 years in obscurity.  Literally became poor, was unattractive in every way, was disfigured and marred, went to the cross, became the greatest servant of all so that -- verse 9, this is why I had you circle the word therefore.  Therefore -- whenever you read that in the bible, therefore means you have to read what was just said to understand what is now just happening.  Therefore, because he became a servant, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name and Jesus became the greatest because he was the greatest servant of all.

Do you understand that we don’t worship Jesus because of his fame or his wisdom or his talent or his resources?  We worship Jesus because of his servanthood.  That is why you worship Jesus.  That’s what sets him apart from everyone else.  And that’s what makes him the greatest.

And what we learned from Jesus is that everyone has the opportunity to choose to be a servant.  And while there are a lot of things in your life you can delegate, serving is not one of them, okay?  So Jesus chose to be a servant.

The second thing I want you to get is this is Jesus came to serve you.  Not the person next to you, he came to serve you.  Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.”  Jesus flat out says that that's like his mission statement like, “Hey, I'm not here so you can serve me, I'm here to serve you.”  And I'm going to serve you by laying my life down.

I mean, if you'll read through the gospels, you will never find one passage when Jesus asks anyone else to serve him.  There are no missing passages that you've just not read or just not discovered yet.  Like nowhere does Jesus ever asked Peter to massage his feet, he doesn't ask Mary to make him a meal, he doesn't ask John to take the garbage out or Matthew to do his homework.  No, no, no.  Jesus was there to serve them.

He served the disciples by inviting them to a life or purpose bigger than themselves.  He served the women at the well by giving her a spring or a drink of living water.  He served the leper by touching the man with an incurable disease and setting him free.  He served the demon-possessed boy by breaking the bondage out of his life.  He served the crowd by feeding them when they were hungry.  He served the Pharisees by giving them grace and truth.  He served the disciples by washing their feet.  He served his enemies when he hung on the cross and said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."  And he serves you and your need by providing what you need and he serves you and your brokenness by bringing you healing and wholeness.  He serves you in your pain by bringing you comfort and compassion and he serves you and your sin by paying the penalty that we could never pay for ourselves.

See, can I just tell you something?  Religion has just flat out messed us up.  Anyone want to agree with that? Religion has messed us up.  Here's why it's messed us up because religion has told us our whole life is about serving Jesus.  And instantly you hear then you're like yeah, but isn't that what it's about?  That's the juxtaposition.

Religion will tell you it's all about what you have to do for Jesus but the truth is that Jesus didn't come so you could serve him, Jesus came so he could serve you.  The bible is not a list of rules and regulations of all these things we have to do for God, the bible is the story of how Jesus Christ came to serve you.  And until you understand he serves you, you'll never be able to serve him or anyone else in your life.

That's why we say we're a Jesus-focused church.  We're more focused on what Jesus has done for us than in what we have to do for him because when I understand what he has done, it changes what I now do.  You don't change by trying harder, becoming religious, by golly, you change by looking to Jesus.  And until you get that the King left his throne and his crown behind, picked up a servant's towel and came to wash your feet, you ain't going to serve anybody.

He served you.  I mean, I'm convinced that our unwillingness to serve comes from our unbelief in what Jesus has done.

Think of this, our unwillingness to be servants comes from our unbelief in what Jesus has done.  That's why verse 5 says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus."  I can't do what Jesus has done until I understand what Jesus did.  So my unwillingness to serve comes from my unbelief in the finished work of the fullness of Jesus.  And what we learned from Jesus is that it is the least likely, least deserving people who are the easiest to receive the servanthood of Jesus.

In fact, do you realize, the only people Jesus didn't serve, the only people he couldn't serve were those who didn't want his help.  Were those who's so prideful and kept him at an arm's distance to wait and say, "I'm good.  I'm going to take care of this myself."  Man, may that never be you and may that never be me.

So he chose to be a servant, he came to serve you and now Jesus sends us to serve the world.

Can I just tell you something?  If serving wasn't beneath Jesus, it's not beneath you.  It's not.  And you're called to serve.  I mean, think about this.  God has given you time, talent and treasure in order to make you great.  He's given you time, talent and treasure as a tool to make you great.  But it's not meant to be used on you, it's meant to serve other people.  You literally have time, a certain number of days on this earth, you have talent, gifts and passions and abilities and things that God has placed inside of you and you have treasure, a certain amount of finances and resources.  God has given you those things to make you great but not so you can hoard them and hold on to them yourself, so you can use them as a tool to serve other people and in the process become great in his Kingdom.

I mean, think about it.  The Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of servitude.  It's the Kingdom of servanthood.  Why?  Are you with me on this?  Why?  Because the King washes feet, the angels serve humanity, it's leaders lay down their life and its citizens go out and serve a broken world.  It is the Kingdom of servanthood.  So if you don't like serving, you won't like Jesus' Kingdom is what I'm trying to tell you.  And the truth is, few of us like serving.  And the reason few of us like serving is because we don't fully grasp what Jesus did in Philippians 2 as he chose to be a servant and serve you.

I mean, just think about it.  Genesis 1:28, first words God says to mankind, "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, rule over and subdue it, using its vast resources in the service of God and men."  Hey, we're God's delegated authority on this earth, empowered by him to rule and reign on his behalf, to do what he would do and what does he do? He serves.  And he wants us to use the resources to serve God's purposes in the lives of men.

Or how about Galatians 2:22 that says, "I've been crucified with Christ and I don't even live anymore, it's Christ who lives within me."  And if Jesus is a servant and he's in me, then I'm always being led towards servanthood.  In fact, your old nature, okay, before you believed in Jesus, your old nature is hardwired to selfishness.  That's why before you meet Jesus, every day you wake up and you don't think about who am I going to serve, but you think about who's going to serve me because you're hardwired to be selfish.  Okay.  But guess what?  In Christ, you don't have the old nature anymore, you're a new creation in Christ Jesus.  You have a new nature and that nature is hardwired to servanthood because Jesus is your factory setting.  So everything changes.

Or how about Ephesians 4 that says, "Jesus gave the church, church leaders, okay, some he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for what purpose? To prepare or equip you for works of -- say it with me, service."  You understand one of the whole reasons we gather together right now is to try to repair things in your thinking and in your soul and in your hearts, so that you can go out and do the service that Jesus sends you to do.  Why?  Because he's called you to be great and he wants you to be great but it looks very different than the way the world tells you to be great.  The pathway to greatness is through the back door of servanthood.

And can I just tell you something?  The world is waiting for the people of God to humble themselves and start serving.  That's what the world is waiting for.  All the brokenness you see on the news, all the shootings and the murders and the economy and the elections and the hate and the vengeance and the frustration and the animosity and the confusion.  I don't care what your political bent is, what ethnicity you are, all these -- all of that anger and that rage, you understand the church is the answer.

Which means you're the answer.  Jesus brought you into his Kingdom by serving you.  We bring them into the Kingdom by serving them.  Okay?  But how are we going to serve them if we don't even start serving each other?  I told you it'll be a little counter cultural.

Listen, great people are great servants and great churches are made up of great servants.  And what we learn from Jesus again, is that you know you're growing in your spiritual walk when your willingness to serve increases.  In fact, the lack of servitude reveals a lack of spiritual health in your own life.  In fact, I'd go so far as to say to you like this, you can't say you're following Jesus and yet never served anyone else.  It's literally impossible.  You say, “Yes, I can.”  You actually can't, because if you're following Jesus, Jesus is always leading you into the lives of other people to serve them.

In fact, Luke 6:40 Jesus says, “A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”  He says, “Hey, if serving wasn't beneath me, it's not beneath you and if you follow me, I'm leading you into the lives of other people so you can learn to serve them too just like I served you.”

And the key to this whole thing is understanding that Jesus served you first and until you grasp that, none of it is going to make sense.  We are called to serve and there is an urgency around it, you can hear it in my voice, you can feel it in my soul.  There is an urgency on earth right now.  The world is imploding but the Kingdom of God is advancing.  And so, we have to be serious about choosing to pick up the servant's towel just like Jesus did and that's why we do things like start our Lewisville campus and the Next Steps ministry center.  And for those of you who say, “What's that?”

Well we're in process right now of launching the campus in the city of Lewisville and a ministry center that will be open all during the week.  We call it Missional Move Breakthrough.  We said, it's when we can take the next step so someone else can take theirs and bring breakthrough into their lives the way Jesus has brought break through into our lives.  And we said we have no interest in planning the campus.  We have a major interest in serving the city.  So we're going through the back door of servanthood.  So let me give you some updates on that.  Can I do that quick?

Okay, watch this.  Check out this little video.  Here's the construction, this is what's happening.  Things are moving, things are flying.  Look at those guys, they are fast.  It is amazing.  We are under construction, things are going, it's flying.  We are going to be in most likely in early spring.  Okay?  So the building is moving along, we're getting there.  That is great.

The video was longer than I thought it was.  It just kept going.  So all right, they're still working even while we're at in church, just keep going, boys.  We're going to make it happen.  So most likely, early spring we're going to be in -- okay, and so here's the deal so for those of you were helping hundreds of you go to help us be part of the launch team, the first launch team interest gathering is October 16th.  Register online for those of you that say, “That's it, man.  Gods turning in my heart.  He's calling me to go.  I live over there or I just want to go and serve and be a part of our vision to make this thing happen.”

You got to go to the interest meeting and hear all about it as we start building the teams, putting that together.  We can't wait.  There's motion, there's action, it's happening.  This is real life servanthood here and now in front of us.  For those of you that made your commitments to Missional Move Breakthrough member, it's $4 million for all of it to do it debt free.  You guys have been doing a great job staying faithful with your commitments, keep going on that.  We're about halfway through the giving cycle of what we agreed for that year.

If you want to join in, for those of you that are new, join in with us and in the process of all that, we've been building our team.  And so, the question that everyone always asks us now for a few months is, “Well, who's going to be the campus pastor?  Who's going to be the campus pastor?”  All right.  I don't know what that is, but somebody probably said it to me like that.  So you want to know who the campus pastor is going to be?  Yeah, I do too.  Okay, so here's the deal.  We’ve prayed about this.  We processed it and in a moment, I'm going to tell you who the campus pastor is.  And when I tell you, because we're people of honor at all our locations even for those of you that are watching online.  I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet to be people of honor, because I am so excited to announce that our campus pastors for the Lewisville campus, why do you guys all moving around?  You got a little nervous?  Are Ben and Rachel Moreno.

Good job.  Good job.  All right, sit down.  You didn't see that one coming, did you?  We didn't see that one coming either.  And as we prayed and processed, there’s a leadership team and kind of wrestled through it, these are the guys that God has picked, and we couldn't be more proud of them, we couldn't be more grateful for them.  What you don't know, is, they’re the longest running staff members of Valley Creek.  And for those of you that are wondering, you're like, “Oh, so they're going there to lead worship?”  No, they're going to be the campus pastors just like Justin is in Denton.

And they're going to do an amazing job and these guys have been so faithful.  Ben is the faithful son of this house. And these guys -- these guys have poured their life into this church over the last 15 years.  Rachel, you have the most pure heart, your humility and your love for God, your passion for Him and worship has inspired me every single day since I've met you. I am so grateful for the way that you love Ben and you love this church and you love Jesus.  And the way that you have taught all of us how to meet with Jesus. And, Ben, there's nobody else that I would rather have done this with all these years together, there is a unique relationship between the lead pastor and lead worship pastor.  There's just this thing.  We just danced together.  It's -- sometimes, we’re boxing and sometimes we’re dancing.  It just depends on what the day is.

But, man, I am so grateful for you and your friendship and your partnership.  And it's time for you to go, in a sense, lead a family and move beyond just worship, into the full oversight of pastoring the entire campus and the flock as we reach a new city through amazing servanthood.  We love you.  We’re so proud of you.  And so, can you just cheer for these guys one more time? Now, here's what I want you to catch.  Everyone loves them.  They are probably the most recognizable face in our church leadership.

If you have any engagement with Valley Creek Church at some point, you know Ben and Rachel.  They've lead our church to become a worshipping church.  They've taught us how to meet with God and they're really talented.  I said in the meeting this week, I said I don't know if I'm sadder about Ben going or Rachel's violin.

Here's what I need you to understand though.  They're not great because they're talented.  They're not great because they're on a platform.  They're not great because they're likable, fun-loving, good to be around people.  They're great because for the last 15 years, all they've done was serve, that’s why they’re great.  So, why does everyone want to stand up and cheer for them?  I don't even know these people.  Because, they’re servants and in the kingdom of God.  If you will just serve, you become great.

And no, not one day of serving makes you great.  Faithful servanthood as a lifestyle, makes you great.  And what I need you to understand is, in a sense, they're the -- Ben is like -- listen, I've been the leader for the last six years and then pastor Kevin was the leader for whatever, 15 years before that.  But Ben all along, well he's just been the favorite son of the house.  He's like -- he's like the kid that's just grown up here that's become a man in the process and he's the favorite son.

And in Romans 8:32, here's what it says.  It says, “He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, will he not then in him give us all things?”  Catch this.  The Father was so into the redemption of mankind that he served us by giving Jesus his first and his best, his favorite son, and by doing that, he proved I am all in on this redemptive purpose of humanity.  So don't you ever question whether or not I will do everything it takes to save the lives of mankind because I just gave you Jesus.

Now listen, don't clap.  Listen.  Because you're going to ruin the flow.  In us sending Ben and Rachel, you need to understand that that proves there is nothing we won't do to be a part of God's redemptive purposes on earth.  Nothing. So, you say, “What does that mean?”  That means anything.  That means we will change anything, do anything, go anywhere, send anyone, be anything God tells us to be in order to reach this world.  Which means it's going to challenge a lot of our own personal preferences, convenience and comforts.  But I just proved it to you that there’s nothing holding us back from it.  And what you need to understand is when you serve people, you don't give them your leftovers.  You don't send them the angel with the third wing.  You send them the first and the best.  That’s how Jesus serves and that's how we serve.

And this is our vision.  I mean, listen to this, John 14:12, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.”  We read that and honestly, when we talk about it, we talk about miracles.  Forget the miracles for a moment, what did Jesus do?  Serve. So, if we really are following Him, he's telling us that we will do what he did and then serve.  And we’ll do even greater things than he did, because he's going to the father.  In other words, when next steps are taken, greater things are released.

So Ben and Rachel taking the next step to what God has called them to do, greater things are going to be released. Why?  Because now, Andy's going to rise up and Andy’s going to be the lead worship leader in the Flower Mound Campus.  And other people are going to step into new space the same way that when we launch then -- and then you guys have to remember that when we send Justin and Eric and all those guys and all of you amazing leaders that went like, there was a huge void that got left behind because we send our first and our best.  But now, we're reaching an entirely new city and a whole new group of people have showed up and stepped up in Flower Mound, that's how this whole thing works.

It’s our vision.  Raise up leader, send them to new places and new people step into the game.  And we bring grace and truth to new neighborhoods the way Jesus brought it to us.  Do you get it?  He say, “Who cares, bro?  What does that have to do with me?  I ain’t going in Lewisville.” Alright, here's what it has to do with you.  It’s an invitation for you to become great.  It’s what this is.  It’s a moment in time where you get to choose, do I want to be great according to the world standards or do I want to be great according to God's standards?  You see, so what does that mean?  The first thing I would say to you is this, to some of you, you just got to let Jesus serve you.  Stop this.  Stop it.  Like literally, some of you hear me say it the third time.  Stop it.  Stop being so prideful and so resistant to think that you can do this life on your own and start letting the King who left his crown behind to pick up a towel wash your feet, because that's what he wants to do.

And if you have any resistance in your heart towards serving other people it's because you're doing this to his service to you.  Because I'll tell you what, when I get how much he has served me, I can't help but serve someone else.  The same is true for you, so let him serve you.  And some of you just join the team like, we can't serve the world if we can't serve each other.

So when hundreds of people go to Lewisville, we need hundreds of people to rise up and step into new servanthood roles.  And some of your sitting there, you say, “Well, I've been waiting for three years for someone to ask me.”  I'm asking you right now.  Like, what else do you need?  Stop waiting for this magic thing to show up.  There ain't nothing coming in the mail, you ain't going to get a text message.  I'm telling you right now, we need hundreds of people to step up.  Guys, the world is crumbling.  Let's not like have a shortage of servants in the church let alone changing the world for goodness’ sakes.

Yes, I'm passionate.  That's right.  So go to I Serve.  Just go to I Serve and learn about being a servant and join a serving team.  You've got an hour a week to serve.  If you don't, I got to challenge you on, are you really following Jesus?  Because he says, if you follow him, he's leading you into the lives of other people.

A student becomes like his master and if you have faith in me, you’ll do the things I've been doing.  And then, maybe you’ll say, “I can't join the serve team.”  Fine.  At least start serving someone in your life.  A little bit here and there every single day.  Listen to me, you’re called to be great.  So the only question I'm going to leave you with today is this, how are you pursuing that greatness?  Do you really think that getting a little bit more money, a little bigger house, a little nicer car, looking a little prettier, having a little more followers, a little more influence, do you really think that's going to make you great?

You can spend your whole life trying to be the best in a world that is temporary and is going to fall apart or you can spend your life serving and become great in the kingdom that will never end.  If we are honest with each other, most of us spend most of our lives trying to get out of positions of servanthood.  Jesus says, “Hey, you need to spend most of your life trying to find and step into positions of servanthood.  And you won't do it until you understand Philippians 2, that He did it for you.  This isn't a go serve someone for God message, this is a, oh, by the way, Jesus came and served you message.  And He invites you through the same door he walked through the back door of servanthood where greatness is found.

So, and close your eyes with me.  Here's my question for you.  What do you sense God is saying to you?  All I want you to think about for this moment is that Jesus served you.  He is so in on this game, of your redemption that he didn't send you his leftovers and he didn't send someone else, he came for you. And he didn't say if you serve me then all these things will happen.  He said, “No, I'm here to serve you.  Will you let me wash your feet?  Will you let me take your sins?  Will you let me be disfigured and marred, and poured out and broken and become poor and ignored and rejected and lonely, so that you can have everything that belongs to me and my heaven?

Until we grasp the servant nature of the servant king, we’ll just play a game of religion that is tiring and boring and hopeless.  But when we get what he did for us, changes everything.  So, Jesus, today, all we want to do is say thank you for serving us. We love you, we bless you, because you have served us.  May we have the courage and the faith to respond to what you have done.  In your name we pray, amen.