Serving - Smiling - Sharing

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever the cost. -- Arthur Ashe

If someone asked you about the heart of our church, you could simply answer with "people matter to God." Okay, I know you have that figured out by now, but people will never know how much they matter to God until they realize how much they matter to us. To that end, we have had three weeks of service. Not just saying we are a serving church but actually serving. With our Kid's Day in the Park, Our Flower Festival Parade "water giveaway" and our Graffiti eradication / clean up this Saturday, we have created many opportunities for the people of LFC to serve. In July we will serve others by hosting our annual Military and Public Safety BBQ at Beattie Park (for all active duty military and currently serving public safety personnel) and honor others who serve so faithfully and give so much. Of course there are weekly opportunities to serve at LFC, with our "housekeeping" or cleaning team, our office volunteers, our Sunday teams and much more. There are many of our church who also see value in serving to help local agencies and sports teams and the list goes on. We are encouraged and even commanded to serve.

Ephesians 6: 7 & 8
Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does...(NIV)Why is service so central to Christian belief? Because we follow a God who serves. Do we dare hold ourselves to be greater than God, and hold that what God does is too menial, too difficult, too much beneath us or too dirty? Even more, we follow a Christ who loves others. We must remember that all the people we serve, the new guests on Sunday, the people in our family and our

Elizabeth Delkner & Karen Jacobs give LFC water to Congressmen
Elliot and Mrs. Gallegly and their driver at the end of the parade.

neighborhoods are all treasures of God. If we fail to serve, to care enough about someone else to act in their favor we miss seeing people as treasures. When we connect all we do back to souls and when we see those souls as God's treasures it is easy to serve them from our hearts. I know many who are reading this are servants - you have committed yourself to serving others and not for personal gain, to make a sale, to get a promotion but simply to serve. It's not as if servanthood is hard. You can do it. Jesus wasn't out for self-this and self-that, but rather others-this and others-that. God wants to work through you. Maybe we have to rely on Jesus' character growing in us, as it brings out the fruit of the Spirit, and focuses us on doing right by others.Servants aren't posers. They know they're not superstars or game show hosts. They are real and authentic, living from the heart and giving from the heart. A servant of Christ chooses to be like Christ and serve others. They do it in whatever way is needed, but prefer doing it in person. They see freedom not as a great way of doing something for themselves, but as the freedom to do what's needed to lift someone else who needs it. They forgive those who do them wrong, since God forgave them in Jesus. Most of all, the servant is actually looking for helpful ways to serve, to give, and to build up. They're glad to do it. The Spirit gives Christ's servants gifts so they can build each other up.There's a focus God desires we possess: to ignite certain spiritual gifts - to fan and fire up these areas. Recently in our daily bible reading we were reading Paul's words to Timothy: For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6).
As with Timothy, we must see where our hearts need some fanning! Where is God sparking something inside of us that needs to be fanned into a flame - what gifts of service are areas where God wants me to grow and then burn brighter for Him. If we attempt to be someone we are not, we will miss how we can serve God. The lesson could be: To simply be authentic we must use what God has given us and the focus on what He is focusing on in us. Be sure to fan and use the gifts He's given me - not the gifts we covet.Keep fanning - to develop the gifts of the Spirit. The flames of these gifts won't automatically grow without patience and persistence. Keep using these spiritual gifts - be authentic, faithful and daring. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16).Your good works will lead others to the Father and all His glory. We are ambassadors (representatives) for Christ to a darken world. Astronomers say it this way, in the darkest of space there’s still light. But you can’t see it because there are no reflectors to reflect the light. Some of our team members (others were already at refilling locations on the parade route) stop for a photo op at LFC before moving to the parade. We as reflectors of God’s light need to stand in position of the source of His light and in such a way that will reflect to those you want to see the light. And this is our assignment. The greatest command of all is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. And to love your neighbor as you love yourself.

"Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a
college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree
to serve.... You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by
love."------ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us keep on going, growing and serving. I love being your pastor, Pastor Bernie