The Believer’s Blueprint - Serving - September 6, 2026

Hey, friends. Welcome to the City Hope podcast. My name is Bobby Thompson, and I have the privilege of serving as a lead pastor. I pray that today's message would inspire you, it would encourage you, and it would also challenge you in your walk with Christ. Enjoy today's sermon.

Amen. Part of why we do that, you know, as a church together, God's given in his word a couple of commandments that we are to do these things together as a church. And one of those is baptism, and another one is partaking in the Lord's supper together. Those are just reminders and remembrances and opportunities for us to come together as a church and remember what the Lord has done. And so I'm glad you got to be here for that today.

How many of you are happy to be here this morning? Anybody excited? All right. I got a little bit of. I was struggling a little bit.

First day of college football yesterday, waiting for the big game last night, and rain delay came in, and I was like, man, I cannot stay up for this. And I'm glad I didn't. And so if you're a Orange fan this morning, I'm so sorry that was not a good night for you. But I'm glad to see you guys here. I love.

I love getting together with the body of Christ. I love. I love worshiping. I love seeing you worship. I love, you know, doing communion together.

It just. It does something in my soul. I get fired up when I see God's people together worshiping him. If this is one of your first times or first time in a long time and you want to connect with us, we try to make it as easy as possible. All right, There's a little card there on the front of your seat.

You can tap that with your phone. There's a people out front when you get ready to leave. We would love to connect with you. We got a little gift for you, but we just want you to know that we want this church to feel like your church. And so before I get started, I want to give one quick announcement.

There's something coming up that I'm really excited about. We are starting a new ministry called Grief Share, and maybe some of you have heard of that before, but we're kicking that off on September 14th. And so we're. We get it right. Like, sometimes life just hurts.

Sometimes life just stinks. And we need people to help us. And we understand, though, that even though life may hurt, God heals. And so we're starting this ministry on September 14. No matter what kind of grief that looks like in your life, we would love for you to be a part of that.

All of that's on our website. There's some signup tables over here in the landing today that if that's something that maybe you want to, you know, check out, we would love for you to. To be a part of that. Coming up here next week. So today we're in week number five of our series called the Believer's Blueprint.

And God's not silent about how us believers should live. He. He doesn't just say, okay, you got this, guys. Y' all go do whatever you want, live however you want. He gives us a blueprint in his.

In His Word. Now we. What we're not saying is this. All right, I don't want you to hear this, that every single Christian has to live the same and look the same. That's not what this is.

But there are things in God's Word that should be noticeable about your life. If you claim Christ, there are things that should be active in your life. If you say, yes, I am a. I'm a Christian and I'm striving to be fruitful in my life, a passive approach to God's blueprint will always leave you lacking. If you're passive to what God's Word tells us to do and how he tells us to live, then you're always going to feel like, ah, there's something else, there's something more. There's there.

I'm missing something in my life. And so if you. If you're feeling maybe spiritually just lethargic, if you're feeling just meh or just blah, or like, ah, it just doesn't feel right. Maybe, maybe it could be that something in God's blueprint is missing out of your life. And here's the thing.

One thing I pride myself on is just trying to be real and trying to be genuine and trying to be honest. I'm not standing up here acting like I'm Mr. Super Spiritual. And I got all this Bible stuff figured out, because I don't. There are many times in my life where I feel like that and I have to go back and remind myself what's off, what has God told me to do, what has God commanded me to do as a believer, that that's not in my life right now. That is not active right now in my life.

Because I believe when we're building our lives according to God's blueprint, that's when we grow. That's when we become useful in his hands. And so today we're going to talk about a subject that probably most people don't really love talking about. Some people have this gift that some people don't. It's a chore.

But today we're going to look at God's blueprint about serving him, about serving God. Now, one of the first thoughts or questions that come up when we start talking about serving God and serving others, it's most likely not, well, am I supposed to do that? Because I think most Christians, most people who know anything about God's word, most people understand the second greatest commandment, right? Love your neighbor. Neighbor as yourself.

We're not questioning whether or not I'm supposed to serve. I think we have a good grip on that. I think we have a good understanding that, that God in heaven is not up there in like his, his greatest pain. His. He's not up there trying to just figure out, okay, how do I make the USA prosper more?

Right? That's not what he's up there really concerned about. He's not up there concerned about, you know, man, we're going to make this stock market jump and it's going to be all. That's not God's great concern in heaven. I think heaven's great concern and most people who, you know, the Lord, Heaven's great concern is, well, how do we make heaven more crowded?

How do we expand God's kingdom? That's what God's worried about. That's what him and Jesus are up there having these conversations about, like, how do we get the world to know who God really is? That's what they're up there thinking about. And I think for the most part, churches, not just city hope, church, I think church people understand that that's what heaven's great concern is.

But here's where I don't know if everybody totally gets. Do you know what God has chosen to make all those things happen, to expand his kingdom, to make heaven crowded, to make people know who God really is. To do you know what God decided to use in order for all of those things to happen? It's his church. It's the church.

God's not sending down angels anymore to talk to people in this manner. He uses us. He uses his people. We are the ones chosen to work on earth on his behalf. And he has chosen to say, I want to use church.

I want to use the people who make up the church to go throughout the world and do these things that heaven's so concerned about. Matthew says it like this, you are the light of the world. He's talking to you church people. He's not talking to just the pastors or the worship leaders or those handing out communion. He's talking to church people.

You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights lamps and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lamp stand and gives light for all those who are in the house. Look at this in the same way. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works.

And what? Give glory to your Father in heaven. So heaven's great concern or watch. This depends on you being obedient. Doesn't that put that in a little bit different perspective?

Like, wait a minute. You're telling me it's my job, it's my calling from God. It's my commission from Almighty God to go and serve the world? Yeah, that's exactly what he's saying. Now, here's something that I hope you understand.

Okay? Now, in this series, I'm really talking to those of you who are what we would consider believers. All right? You. You got saved, or you asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior over your life?

Maybe when you got saved, they left out this part. Maybe when you got saved, they said, I hope. In the church world, we call it a Jesus juke, right? Like, Gotcha. Like you.

Here's what I hope you understand. When you got saved, you don't just make Jesus your savior, you also make him your Lord. Okay? Now let me show you the difference, because this is a really big deal, right? You don't just make Jesus your Savior, you make him your Lord.

Because calling Jesus Savior means you trust him to rescue you from. From an eternity in hell. Right? But calling him Lord means he actually gets to run your life. Think about that for a second.

And again, I hope that when you made that decision, you understood what you were stepping into. Right? It's not just get out of hell insurance, Right? It's not just calling him Savior. Yes, I. I want you to be my Savior.

Yes, I want you to take me out of an eternity in hell. But also I want to make you lord of my life. And that means that I am called to do the things you've called me to do. Calling him Lord means actually letting him run your life, your time, your gifts, your yeses, your nos. Savior is who he is for for you.

Lord is who he is over you. And when we ask the Lord to be a part of our lives, we have to understand there's a huge difference there. There's a huge difference in him being Savior and him being Lord. And so is it okay? Can we get.

Can we get a little real this morning? Is that. Is that all right with y'? All? All right.

Some of y' all are like, no, it's too early. You're still mad. I don't know what's going on, but. But I hope you're ready to jump in. Okay?

Because I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna go all in this morning, and hopefully you'll come back next week. Okay.

Too many Christians go from sin to sitting.

Think about it. We go from, man, I want Jesus. Somebody preached a good message. I heard this. Or my parents told me, and, man, I don't want to go to hell.

And so I want to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. And I do all that, and we go from sinful life into. Okay, now I'm just gonna go sit, and I'm gonna listen, and I'm gonna sing a few songs, and I'm gonna soak it in. Too many Christians go from sin to sitting. That's not how this is supposed to work.

That's not God's blueprint for you and your life. We are called to move from sin to. To serving, from sin to serving. Now, I really believe most people realize this, but I also believe that if anybody's paying attention, I don't know if I told you guys this story. A few weeks ago, when we went to beach camp one night, I was preaching to the students, and I asked the students, a room full.

I don't know, hundred some students in the room, and I asked him this question. I said, how many of you guys, When. When you look at church, maybe it's City Hope church, maybe it's other churches. Wherever you've been to church, when you look at a church, how many of you guys think that the majority of people sitting in churches are all in for Jesus? Y'?

All, I didn't have any hands go up.

Isn't that sad that our younger generation is looking at churches going, I don't know if the majority of people in my church are all in. And I don't think that anybody who's paying attention would really be able to claim that, yeah, most churches are sold out for Jesus, and they're just full of servants, and there's never anybody that's. That. Isn't that sad? I mean, if you really, really think about it, and it really just kind of stirs in my heart and let me continue.

To be honest, I think some church leaders are to blame for part of this. I really do. Because we preach messages that tickle people's ears instead of challenging them. We preach messages that. I've done this.

That draw a crowd versus challenge people and make people a little bit uncomfortable. And so I think church leaders are a little bit to blame for this. We've made this Christian life just too easy. Made it seem like all you got to do is say a prayer and then go live the life the rest of your way, whatever you want to do. But I also think the enemy has a part in this.

Why does the enemy have a part in this? Because he knows how to distract you from living out the blueprint that God's called you to live. So he knows how to distort the truth so that you don't do all that God's called you to do. He's got a lot of tricks. And listen to this.

We recognize the big ones, right? We recognize sin and struggle and all those sinful, rebellious things. Like, we know all those things, but what about things in our lives that are. That are good, that he uses, right? I think that.

I think the enemy uses busyness to keep you from living the life that God's called you to live. I think the Lord uses tiredness, fatigue. Oh, you know, we had a long weekend. Let's just sleep in. Oh, we're supposed to go do this, but now let's.

I think. I think the enemy uses money, big time to keep you from living the. I think. I think the enemy uses your children. I think the enemy uses sports.

None of those things are evil. Those are good things, right? We love these. Those are gifts. I love my kids most of the time.

Those are gifts, Bobby. How is that bad? How is the enemy using this? Watch this. The trick is, when a good thing starts running your house that Jesus is supposed to run, Jesus is supposed to be in charge.

Jesus is supposed to be lord over my life. But when I start allowing good things, things that are gifts from the Lord, when I start allowing those things to rule my life, that's when I get in trouble. See, you still believe he saved you. You still believe He's Lord, you just stop having room for him to lead your life.

So I believe this with all of my heart. One of the callings I didn't. I never in a million years thought I would plant a church. I'm just being honest with you. That was not on my radar five years ago when we decided, yeah, let's do it, right?

I didn't have a plan. I didn't. I didn't have. I Wasn't watching somebody do it. For years and years and years, I just said, yes, all right, let's go.

I have no idea what I'm doing. But, God, I know you're telling me yes, but here's what I believe. Over the time that we've been building this church and being obedient to the Lord, I believe one of my main focuses and one of the callings that God has placed on my heart here at City Hope Church is to help Christians understand this, that if he's Savior, he's also Lord. Now, how do I live that out? And that's exactly why our mission statement is what it is.

I want you to experience Jesus. We try to create an environment in here every Sunday for you to experience Jesus through people, through singing, through prayer, through worshiping in God's word. We want you to experience it. But it doesn't stop there. And that's why it says, and to follow him in ways that change the world.

That's you're the Lord over my life. You've given me gifts, you've given me passions, you've given me blessings. How do I use these things to go and change the world around me? I truly believe that's one of our callings here at City Hope Church. Not just Savior, but make him Lord over your life that helps people around you change.

Now, some of you go, well, how do I do that? How do I make that happen? Well, the Bible is very, very clear on how God calls Christians to do this exact thing. It's really two things. It's really two things.

It's love and service. Watch what Paul tells the church. Listen to what he says in Galatians, chapter 5. For you are called to be free, brothers and sisters only. Don't use this freedom as an opportunity to the flesh.

So when Jesus came into your life, you became free. You're no longer in debt to sin. You're no longer going to hell. You have an eternity when Jesus becomes Savior and he says, don't use that just to go live however you want. Look what he says.

But serve one another through love.

That's how. How do you live out the mission statement of City Hope Church? Experience Jesus and go and do things and live in ways that change the world by loving and serving the people around you. Now, here's where I want to make a little bit of a transition. Okay?

And I want to get a little bit more practical. And this is what God really put on my heart. For this week. I think we have a. We would all agree we have a pretty good foundational understanding of what we are called to do as Christians.

Right? Most people aren't going to argue this. We're expected, we're needed. We are called to serve and love people. Right?

Probably 99% of Christians would go, yeah, I agree with that statement. That's not a hard question. Here's the question that I think we're faced with, that maybe today we can get a little insight on. When God calls me to love people and serve people, does that mean that I need to do this inside the church, or do I do this outside the church?

Where? How do I do this? And I think that's the bigger question that maybe some of you sitting in here today even struggle with. Let me explain to you. I'm gonna start by telling you what it's not.

Okay? God, when you were born, doesn't have people coming down a conveyor belt and going, you're inside the church, you're outside the church. You're inside the church, you're outside the church. Right? That's not God's blueprint.

God's blueprint is not for some of us to do outside work and some of us to do inside work. He's very clear on what the blueprint should look like. So let me show you what we believe in this. Go to Galatians chapter six. Galatians chapter six.

It'll be here on the screen. If you bring your Bible with you this morning, and we're judging you on the inside for that. Just kidding.

I'm at that age where some of you guys probably noticed I stopped putting my Bible here. And the reason is I can't see it.

So, yeah, there's that.

Galatians, chapter 6. So the apostle Paul, this was a man who was terrorizing Christians, worst of the worst, had an experience with the Lord, had an experience, and then dedicated his life to proclaiming the gospel. So Paul, if City Hope Church mission statement had a. Had an example of what that looked like. It's Paul, okay?

He experienced Jesus worst of the worst. Experienced Jesus got him forgiveness, love, grace, goodness, all that stuff. And then he goes and lives the rest of his life with Jesus as Lord over him, leading him, telling him what to do. So Paul is writing this letter to a group of churches that were the church people just kept kind of being pulled back into legalism. If you follow this rule and you eat this thing and you pray this way and you say these words, they were being pulled back into legalism.

So Paul was writing these letters and he was making it clear that you've been set free from all of that because of what Jesus did on the cross. It's not about your performance anymore. Right? So he spends the entire chapter six showing the Christians what freedom is for. But he says something in verse 10, that this is going to be our main scripture for today.

One verse. We're going to bounce around a little bit, but this is going to be our main verse. And I think this verse gives believers a very clear insight to how this is supposed to work in our lives. How am I supposed to serve? All right, so we're going to break it down.

We're going to sit with verse 10 for a minute, and then we'll work our way backwards. Look at verse 10 with me. We'll read the whole verse here. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith. Now, I don't really do this a ton.

I don't really preach this way a lot. But we're going to break down this verse almost word by word. And really the reason why I don't do it is because I get so fixated on it. And it'll take me an hour to go through one verse. Not today.

I only got 15 minutes left. But normally. But anyways. All right, so let's break this down. Start with the first word there.

When you're reading anything in life and the first word is therefore, what question are you supposed to ask? What is it? Therefore. Right. So what is Paul saying?

Why did he start verse 10 with therefore? And so Paul just finished. When we get to verse 10, he just finished verses 1 through 9, giving Christians some really good wisdom on how you're supposed to live your life. He's giving the church a lot of instructions. Do these things.

These are the ways that you are called to serve God. So we're talking about the believer's blueprint. We're talking about God calling you to serve. Now here's Paul literally telling the church, this is how you serve. Look at verse one.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaking, overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, underline this word. Restore such a person with a gentle spirit watching out for yourselves so that you also won't be tempted. So serving is going after a brother or sister who is drifting away from the Lord. Part of my service as a Christian is to have grace, is to have mercy, is to help someone that is struggling in the moment, is helping them get back. And he says, restore such a person, what with a gentle Spirit.

So what does that mean? How do I serve people? When I see someone, you know going away from the Lord, or their marriage is struggling or whatever's going on in their life and they're walking away, God's called me to restore. That means in a gentle way. That means not gossip.

That means that I'm not going to give up on them. That means I'm not going to guilt them into coming back. It means I'm going to restore them gently. So Paul says part of your service is to restore people. Verse two, he says, carry one another's burdens.

Carry one another's burdens. In this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Burden bearing is one of the clearest pictures of servanthood in the church. That, that when you go through something that you have people to rally around you. That's why we say these, these connect groups are so important for you to find people in your life that.

Because guess what? Guess what? Every single one of us in here has burdens. Every single one of us in here has times in our lives when we need people to rally around us and help us. So simple, he says, when people are sick or when they have grief, or when they have financial strain, or when they have marriage trouble, when they're a weary parent, when they're just struggling, you don't let those people carry it alone.

You use gold to them and you make sure they know that I got your back. I'm with you in this. That's what service means. Paul's saying, jump down to verse seven. He says, don't be deceived.

God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, he will also reap. That's wisdom that's been handed down for years, right? Some of you may have heard it said, what goes around comes around, right? Same lesson, believers and non believers.

You know what non believers call this? Karma, right? It's wisdom that Paul is giving us. And so what he's saying is, whatever type of seed that you're sowing in your life, that's the harvest that you're going to reap. And so he's telling the church, hey, guess what?

If you sow to the flesh the sinful side of you, the things that you want to do, the selfishness, guess what's going to happen. Guess what's going to happen. You're going to reap the harvest of sowing to the flesh, which is corruption, which is struggle bus, which is not in a very good spirit most of the time.

But when I sow to the Spirit, I reap what the Spirit gives, I reap the harvest, which is eternal life. So Paul's laying it out. He's telling these people, this is how you serve. This is how you get. Look what he says in verse nine.

Let us not get tired of doing good. Here's a good one for some of us in here today. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time. Watch this. If we don't give up.

How many churches have lost members because they gave up? They, ah, just. Just tired.

Guess what? You're not always going to see the harvest. Keep sewing. Anyway, Paul knows that serving the church and serving the world, it wears people out. It's hard.

We used to say when I, when I first got into ministry, this is 2003 and I don't feel this way anymore. But we used to say, if it weren't for people, ministry would be easy.

What Paul is saying, the wisdom that he's given you and I, it's really. He's just saying, hey, have endurance, keep fighting, don't, don't, don't give up. Even when it's hard, even when it's tough. You may not even see the harvest, but keep enduring, keep sowing. Anyway, so we see verses 1 through 9.

Paul's just given all this wisdom. He's telling the. He's telling the church, this is how you're supposed to serve. So go back to Galatians 10. So therefore, now we know why this verse is here.

Therefore all this service. Therefore, look what he says. As we have opportunity. Now, as we have opportunity, this can read in a couple of different ways. For some people it may, you may look at it and go, well, as I have opportunity means a season, right?

Or an occasion. Maybe there's this occasion. The way I read this, I read it more as day to day, as I have opportunity, as often as I have opportunity, then I need to do good. Not when it's convenient, not when I want to, not if I have time, not if I don't have anything else better to do. As I have opportunity, when God puts it in front of me, that's my time to serve people whenever that time may comes.

And here's the thing, this is really difficult because let me tell you why this is an important part. As I have opportunity, if I'm going through my life living the way that I want to, focused on everything going on in my life, guess what? I'm head down, blinders on, and guess what? I'm not gonna see, I'm not gonna See the opportunities that God's put in front of me because I'm so focused on me and what I got going on and the good things in my life. And so guess what?

I don't ever have any opportunity to serve. Pick your head up and look, because I promise you, you're walking by people every single day of your life that need help, that need hope, that are hurting. You're probably sitting next to somebody right now that you could use an opportunity to serve them. It takes a heart and a mind that is not so consumed with me. It takes an intentional lifestyle.

I'm going to go look for the opportunities. And Paul says, therefore, as we have opportunities, what do I do with the opportunities? Look at the next part. He says, let us work for the good of all.

Let us work for the good of all. The Greek word here for all. It's really simple. It's all okay.

I'm glad the pastors laughed at that one. That's good. Thank you, guys.

Everybody, or if you grew up where I did, we used to say everybody, right? Sorry, my ghetto's coming out. I can't help it.

Here's what Paul's teaching. Here's what Paul's teaching. Watch this. As a church, we don't get to draw a circle around who we get to love and serve. It's not just about everybody that's in our little believer bubble that we get to.

That we get to help out, right? Paul's teaching. He says, let us work for the good of all. It means that. That Christians who are giving away goodness, who are giving away service, is not just a members Only benefit, right?

It means all. So. So think about this. I was. I was just.

The Lord put these verses in my heart as I was reading through this. The same Gospel, right, that says Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. It's the same gospel, right? If everybody's fallen short, then that means everybody is in reach of God's mercy. Everybody should be able to serve.

No one is outside of Christian goodness. And that word all shows up again and again and again throughout the Bible. Look at Titus 2:11. For the grace of God has appeared. Watch this.

Bringing salvation for all. First Timothy 2:4. Who wants everyone. Different word, same meaning. Who wants everyone to. To be saved, to come to the knowledge of the truth.

So what is Paul teaching here? What is he trying to say? That freedom in Christ, the freedom that you received, is not to be selective with your love. It doesn't mean you get to Be selective with who you serve and how you serve. It's not for people just like you that.

That. That vote like you and act like you and go to the places you do. And it's not for people who can pay you back. It's for everybody. Think about how small we're making the cross when we believe it's only for certain people.

Oh, I can. Only. I can't help them all.

All includes your neighbor who will probably never show up at City Hope Church.

All includes the person that drains you every time you talk to them. All is the person that you may even think is your enemy. All means all. He called us salt and light, right? It says he sent us out.

I love this. The Great Commission, right? Think about it like this. Break that word commission down. It's a co mission.

So what does that mean? That means you and I are on a mission with Jesus. He has given us a mission together to go and serve the world. Love your neighbor is not a side project, right? It's not something I do when I'm outside mowing grass and I give a little wave.

That's my loving with my neighbor.

I heard this quote this week. If the gospel is for all, then the goodness that grows out of the gospel is aimed at all too.

If the gospel is for all, then the goodness that grows out of the gospel should and is aimed at all too. So let's finish this out. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all. Then look at this last part. Especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

Especially watch. If you are a believer, you are expected to serve the people in your household of faith. So who's my household of faith? What does that mean? Paul tells or in First Timothy, chapter three, verse 15.

Look, look. The Bible gives us a clear definition. But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves. Watch this. In God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the foundation of truth.

So when Paul is telling these church folks, serve as you have opportunity, do good for all, but especially for the church, let us work for the good of all. But especially for those inside the church. Especially is family language, especially the people. Paul doesn't say only the church, only have a holy huddle. He says the church should get first claim of your servanthood, of your love, of your goodness, and then you go out.

That's how a household works, right?

If tomorrow night you get home from a long day at work and tomorrow during the Day you come in contact with somebody and God puts it on your heart to pray for them and to love them and, you know, help them out, invite them to church, whatever it is. And you get home tomorrow night and one of your kids come up to you and like, dad, I got a problem. What are you going to do? Are you going to be like, hey, guess what? I already served somebody today, and so I can't.

I can't do that. You're an idiot. Right? You're not doing that. Why?

Because the people in my household come first. The people in my household I love the people in my household get the best of me. The people in my household are the ones that, man, God's given me the gift of these people in my house, and I want to love them so much.

You see, again, I'm pushing on you this morning. I'm going to challenge you, too. Many Christians have learned how to enjoy church without ever becoming the church.

We show up, we sing, we listen, we learn a little bit, and we leave. Somebody else taught the kids. Somebody else got the room set up. Somebody else sat with somebody who was. Who was barely getting through the week.

Somebody else did everything. But we call it faithfulness. Because, man, I went. I showed up.

That is what I'm talking about when I say we move from sin to sitting versus sin to serving. There's an old stat, and we've not run these numbers, so I don't know if it's true here at City Hope, but there's an old stat with churches that 20% of the people do, 80% of the work. We're probably close. I'm not sure, but we're probably close. Now, I want you to hear with everything in my heart, I am not trying to guilt you into serving.

I'm not trying to get you to sign up on a team. What I'm trying to do is to show you the truth of God's word and let his conviction come over you, okay? That's not my job. That is not my job. And I don't want to do that because guess what?

If I can talk you into it, somebody else can talk you out of it, okay? So I'm not trying to talk you into anything this morning.

But here's what I fear.

A lot of believers are looking for a way. Looking for an out, looking for a way to convince myself, well, this isn't my season to serve. I'm just so busy. I just got so much other stuff. Guess what?

God did not save you to attend a weekly event, all right? That's not what he did for you.

He placed you in a household. He placed you in a household of faith. Guess what? When. When guests come to your house for dinner, do you make them work?

Do you make them do the dishes? Sure does. But. But don't come to my house. Do you make them do that?

No. You're like, you're a guest in our house. We will take care of that, right? Guests get to sit. Guests get to get to not have to be in a part of everything going on.

Family works, right? We got a rule in our house. Whoever cooks dinner, the other people have to do the dishes, right? Always work that way most of the time, but sometimes it doesn't.

Guests get to sit, families work. And let me tell you why this matters. And I'm done here in just a second. Let me tell you why this matters, okay?

Because if the family is weak, if the body is weak, then what we send into the world, world is going to be weak. Think about that. I've said it before. This is practice for what goes on outside of the walls of the church. And God says, as Paul, he's using Paul, and he's saying, listen, you need to take every opportunity to do good to all people, especially to the household of God, to the household, to your church family.

God's not trying to keep all the good inside the building. He's trying to strengthen us, strengthen the household. And so the way this works is we strengthen the household, and then we overflow into the world around us. Why? Because a church full of spectators will never, never change the world, but a church full of servants just might.

And as pastor of City Hope Church, my heart is that we do not have a church full of spectators, that we have a church full of people who are willing to say, you know what? I'm not just going to make him my Savior, but I'm also going to make him my Lord. And that means he gets to be in charge of everything that I got going on. So here's the sequence that Paul's given us today, right? You start where you're at.

Start where you're planted. You use your gifts, you care for the household of faith. And then you take that same life outside of the walls into your neighborhood, into your job, to the person who will never walk through the doors of our church. That'll never happen unless we, as the church, go first. So here's my question that I want you to leave with.

Today you're called to serve. You're expected to serve. You're gifted to serve. But are you willing to serve? Are you willing to serve?

I don't know what your gifts, callings, passions are, but if we want to be like Christ, we must discipline ourselves to serve as Jesus served. It's not an option. It's not. If you feel like it. And listen, you don't have to do everything.

That's not what he's saying. But you do have to refuse the idea that if I'm kind to my neighbor one day this week, then that's good. That's not what the Lord's calling us to do.

Refuse to lie. That one direction is the option. God's blueprint is very, very simple. Love and serve the church like family. Love and serve the neighbor like it cost you something.

I'm going to ask you just to bow your heads, close your eyes this morning.

My prayer this week and leading up to this moment has been that you would take this question, am I willing to serve? That you would take it to heart and that God would speak to you. I think all of us in here would agree. We're called to serve. We're expected to serve.

God's given us a mission to serve. But the question comes back to, am I willing to serve? And he lays it out very simply. It's not one or the other. It's the world and especially the household of faith.

So take a minute in your life right now and ask this question. Am I living according to God's blueprint when it comes to my service? Some of you in this room today are killing it in serving your church.

But for some reason, your mouth shuts when you go out into the world. And for some reason, when the neighbor comes or when the Holy Spirit's pricking you to say something or to buy something or to give something, you just. You clam up. That's not obedience.

Yes, we serve the church, but all means all.

Would you ask God today to give you boldness, to give you strength, give you more opportunities? And some of you in here, you're the opposite, man. You do some good stuff out in the community, you might serve and you might do some things Here you got a group, you got. You got some people and all that. But when it comes to serving in the church and loving one another and carrying each other's burdens and restoring each other and all those things that Paul listed, man, you're nowhere to be found.

What's God calling you to today? It's not either or, it's both.

And I'm just praying that today you would be real and you Be honest when you answer that question, am I willing to serve?

Maybe today for some of you, you've realized, man, I've made him my savior. But the reality is, I'm lord over my life. I'm the one that calls the shots. I'm the one that convinces myself it's okay.

And I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would just convict your heart and that you would respond in a way that says, you know what? I'm gonna make him, Lord. I'm gonna let him lead this thing that I call life, and I'm gonna just step off the throne. Whatever it is, man, don't walk out of here. If the Lord's stern in your heart, don't walk out of here the same.

Spend a moment right now.

Something keeps coming to your heart. That's. That's conviction. That's the Holy Spirit. That's him bringing that thing to your mind.

And here's the thing. I mean this with all my heart. Don't come up and sign up for some ministry just because you feel a little bit guilty today. That's not my heart. This is a life change.

This is something that God wants for you. And we say this a lot. If City Hope Church is not the household of faith for you, then we will help you find one that you can go be faithful to.

But don't just sit. Don't. We don't want a church full of spectators. Let's be a church full of servants. Father, I just pray that your word would continue to just sit in our hearts and in our minds.

And, Lord, this challenge that you've given us this morning, I pray that we would take it just for face value. We would understand what you've called us to do, who you've called us to be. You did not save us to sit. We are called to serve. Lord, you sent your son Jesus to seek and to save the lost.

To serve, not to be served. The King of kings and Lord of Lords came to serve other people. Give us a passion and a desire to do the same thing. Lord, there is a world out there that is hurting, that is struggling, that is battling. They need hope so desperately.

And may we, the church, be the ones who answer the call and say, I'll go. Here I am. Send me. I'm available. God, may we be the ones that start, especially in the household of faith and love and grow and serve and help and have each other's back and restore each other and carry one another's burdens.

May that be said of City Hope Church so that we can go out and overflow into the world. Lord, thank you for loving us. Thank you for sending your son Jesus to die for us. Even when we're not being obedient, when we're not being faithful. Your Word promises that when we're faithless, you'll be faithful.

So today we say thank you. We love you. In Jesus name, Amen. Thanks again for tuning in with us today. We would love to connect with you and the best way to do that is, is through social media or go straight to our website.

God bless you and have a wonderful day.