BILLION

We invited everyone at KFA to the Servolution Expo in the gym after services today. There, set up at booths, were local ministries that people could pick from to give their volunteer time. Some of the ministries represented were:
First Step
Care Net
United Way
Shalom Center
Genesis House
Youth for Christ
Salvation Army
Women's Horizon
Royal Family Kids
Walkin' in my Shoes
Sidewalk Sunday School Success Center

The various ministries of KFA also had their own booths for volunteers to peruse. It was a great day.

If the Gospel is true, it changes everything because it demands radical compassion - it demands radical service -- we aren’t living for ourselves, friends. We’ve died to all that. We live for eternal pleasures. We live for others.

This is the Jesus who commissions you and me to selflessly serve. In His day - 3 million people ... but today? 4.5 billion people who do not know this reward ... and how many right here in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois?

'For God's sake ... you are not your own, Christ-follower.'

The teachings of Jesus go against what most of us have learned. His way is not our way. His path does not parallel ours. God has not shrewdly created many paths that lead to the same destination. Every path but His is a dead end. And there is a reason His way is different from ours and from all the rest. It’s because He is different than all the rest.

His path is the path of servanthood - there is no two ways about it. Jesus said, ‘The Son of Man didn’t come to be served, but to serve - and to give His life a ransom for many.’ His path ... is our path.

I love our church - and when I say that, I don't mean I'm in love with our building. I like our building just fine - it's a nice building - but it's the church, the people, that I love. We have an amazing church -- but as great as it is, what could bring us down ... is a lack of serving. 'Servolution' is a way of life ... and it is the life of the Kingdom.

Jesus said to His disciples - and He says to us -- ‘The way I’ve lived, the way I’ve loved, the way I’ve cared for you, the way I’ve cared for hurting people -- I call you to do the same. Just as I have loved and served you, you should love and serve each other. That’s how people will recognize that you are followers of Mine.’

We read in the book of Acts that the early members of the church were called ‘Christians,’ not because they had given themselves that name, but because the people who saw them in action gave it to them. They gave it to them because they saw them emulating the life and service of Jesus.

That’s the call to us today. You are not your own, Christ-follower. There is far too much at stake. For God's sake, and for the sake of billions of people who are headed to an eternity without Christ, tens of thousands of them right here in our own city ... you are not your own. The Gospel demands that we serve.

And be blessed.