FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Why We Serve | Judges 4-5
What if the secret to your mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical wellbeing was hiding in plain sight all along? Groundbreaking research from Harvard, Psychology Today, and other leading institutions now confirms what Jesus taught centuries ago—serving others transforms every aspect of our lives.
When you serve, you're not just helping others; you're activating a powerful mechanism God designed within you. Studies show service reduces depression and anxiety, lowers blood pressure and stress levels, boosts life satisfaction, increases purpose, and elevates happiness. But more importantly, service connects you directly to the heart of Jesus.
In this powerful message, we explore four transformative truths about service from the book of Judges. First, Jesus served us with His life to save our lives—we serve because He served us first. Second, God doesn't just call us to serve; He gifts us specifically for service. As we hear, "God doesn't call the gifted; He gifts the called." Your unique SHAPE—Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences—equips you perfectly for your calling.
Third, when God calls us to serve, He empowers us beyond our natural abilities. Like Barak facing 900 iron chariots with just 10,000 men, God makes impossible missions possible when we step out in faith. Finally, God can use absolutely anyone—even a nomadic housewife with a tent peg can end a twenty-year war when God works through her!
Your past struggles, weaknesses, and experiences aren't disqualifications from service—they're often the very qualifications God uses most powerfully. When we understand that "saved people serve people," we discover our deepest purpose and greatest joy. What might God want to do through your life if you simply make yourself available to Him today?
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of your smiling faces here this morning at First Baptist Church, powder Springs and the TV's not working. Amen, all right, let's go. So I just want to say first of all, just thank you again to everyone who's here, everyone that is tuning in online. What an honor it is to get to do church together today, like it is on every single Sunday. I want to remind you that we are one church. Everybody say one church. We're one church that meets in two different locations, two different services the Sanctuary at 930 and our CLC here at 11. So we are multi-service. We are always multi-generational people of all ages and we are multi-ethnic, reaching people, lord willing, from all across Powder Springs and beyond and all around the world. God is so good for what he is doing here at First Baptist Church Powder Springs. We're so thankful. I'm going to ask Donna Johnson. Donna, come on up here with me and we always love for you to know who is serving on our staff in key areas. Put your hands together for Donna Johnson. We are so thankful for her and I just wanted to introduce her quickly. Donna, she is our preschool interim coordinator, so here during the interim period she is herding cats back there in preschool and she's doing a great job with all the, from nursery to all the preschoolers, all the parents and all the workers, all the volunteers. It's a big job and we appreciate you so much, like Esther, for such a time as this in the way that you serve One more time for Donna Johnson. We are so thankful, thankful for you. Donna, thank you so much. Also want you to know oh, there, she was right there. Sunny Medlin. This is Sunny and her family, the Medlin family, and she is our paid childcare coordinator, which means when we have different events, like our next step, lunch, and we want parents to be their favorite. Two words hands-free. Can I get an amen? She is the one that puts together all the child care workers so that parents can be hands-free and they could focus and they could be ministered to during those events.
Speaker 1:And while I'm talking about Donna's and Sonny's and others, I just wanna thank all of you. I wanna thank everybody that you serve, in whatever way that you do. Maybe you serve in our worship band or our production ministry, our AVL. Maybe you serve in our kids ministry or our hospitality ministry or greeting ministry. Maybe you serve in our student ministry, our young adult ministry. Maybe you lead one of our groups. Maybe you serve in our senior adult ministry. Maybe you serve, like I said, with our hospitality, our greeters or even our creative team in all that they do. Maybe you serve when it comes to our local mission or our global mission team. Maybe you serve in our men, our ministry, our women's ministry, our personnel ministry, our deacons ministry or our finance ministry. Can we put our hands together one more time for everybody who serves here at First Baptist Church, pattern Springs.
Speaker 1:We are just so thankful and, as I mentioned that this morning, as you see here on the screen, there is actually a secret in God's word for you. There's a secret and scientists have actually discovered it to be true from their research. There's something that God has for you, that he says when you do this, it will affect your mental health, your emotional health, it will affect your spiritual health. It will affect even your physical health. Psychology today says it will reduce your depression and anxiety and boost satisfaction. Harvard Health says when you do this, it will increase meaning, purpose and your overall well-being. Carnegie Mellon University says when you do this, it will lower your blood pressure and your stress levels. It says in the National Institute on Aging that you'll have higher levels of happiness. And Barna Research says when you do this, you will be spiritually fulfilled, connected and loved. What is that?
Speaker 1:When you serve others, everyone look at somebody and say serve others. When you serve others In fact, that's what we're talking about this morning. When you serve others In fact, that's what we're talking about this morning. What I wanna show you this morning is four reasons why we serve. Now I wanna explain very quickly. Service Jesus has called us to serve. I believe that Jesus served you so that he could save you and he saved you so that you can serve him, and you serve him so that others can be saved too. What happens? Saved people serve people. It's not just our calling, it is our culture. It's the culture of First Baptist Church Powder Springs that we're not coming here just to be served, but that we want to serve as well, because here's what we believe. We are never more like Jesus than we are serving. If you believe that, say yeah, here's also so. 1 Peter 4.10,.
Speaker 1:The Bible says each of you should use whatever gift you have received when you got saved. God gives you spiritual giftedness. You've received it from him. And what do we do with them? We serve others One more time. Everyone say serve others. So here's what I want you to do. I want you to open up to the book of Judges. The book of Judges it is the seventh book of the Bible, the book of Judges, and we're in our series here called Relentless Rebellion Meets Redemption, as we're in our series here called Relentless Rebellion Meets Redemption.
Speaker 1:As we're looking here at this spectrum of living relentless lives, I pray that you feel encouraged this morning. I pray that you feel uplifted. I pray that you feel empowered. I pray that you just feel this motivation from God. Look at this gift that he's given me. He's given me a gift that affects my whole being, and that gift is to serve him. I want to remind you that rebellion, sin, is saying I am here to be served, but redemption, when you've been saved, your heart, is saying I am here because Jesus has already served me and I am here to serve others. So here we go. Four reasons why we should serve, why it should be our calling and our culture. Number one because Jesus served you to save you. Jesus serves you to save you. He served you with his life because he wanted to save your life.
Speaker 1:Look with me at Judges, chapter four. Looking at verse one, it says and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud had died. So, if you remember, last week we were talking about break the cycle. We're talking about the cycle of sin and how, when we sin, then sinful oppression comes into our life and we are called to cry out to God and then God delivers us and then God gives us peace from sin. Well, the book of Judges shows how easy it is, even as God's people, to fall into sin over and over and over again. It has happened to me Don't look at me over again. It has happened to me, don't look at me. So spiritual. It happens to you too, and it happens to the people of God, the people of Israel. And what is sin? Sin is anything that is evil in the sight of the Lord we talked about last week.
Speaker 1:You can go back and listen to it that the world, the culture, loves to say that you can do what is right, whatever you wanna do, what is right, whatever you want to do in your eyes, if it's right for you, then it's right for you. And God says no, what is right is what is right in my eyes. It's kind of like our kids, my kids, all three of my kids Brooklyn six, cruz two, eliana one. They're all sick at home, with different sicknesses right now. If you ever say one prayer for me, pray 10 for my wife, please. She's at home with the kids and they love to do what is right in their eyes. What's wrong with our kids? I don't even know. They love to. If it was up to them, like they would eat candy all day long and then they would watch TV all day long and then, because of the candy and because of the TV, then they would wanna stay up all night long just so they could get a little sleep and they could go and do it all over again the next day. They love doing things that are right in their own eyes. Why do we love doing things that are right in our own eyes? You can write it down. It won't be on the screen.
Speaker 1:Judges 21, verse 25 says in those days in the book of Judges, there was no king. Everyone say no king. There was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his eyes. What is sin? Sin is when you do what's right in your eyes but it's not right in the sight of the Lord. And so when do we do that? When we don't see Jesus as our king, we do what's right in our eyes, not in his eyes, and so we therefore end up falling into sin. And it said they did that after Ehud had died, god would send a judge to come in and deliver them and rule over them so they would not fall into sin again. But when the judge would die, they would fall back into sin. Aren't you thankful that Jesus is our eternal judge? He's already died, he's already risen from the dead and he lives eternally, so that we don't have to fall into sin over and over again. Put your hands together for Jesus. He is our, he's our judge.
Speaker 1:Verse two says the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, the king of Canaan. As a reminder God selling his people does not mean that he's making a profit off of his people. It's actually the worst thing that God could ever do to you. It is handing you over to the sin that you want most. But the reason he does it is to show you, to prove to you, that no sin will ever satisfy like he can satisfy your life. Can I get an amen? So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin. Jabin was the king of Canaan. He reigned in Hazor. The commander of Jabin's army the Canaanite army was Sisera, who lived in Heshereth Hagoyim.
Speaker 1:Verse three then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord we talked about last week. Crying out to the Lord is not just saying help, not just saying God, get me out of this. It's saying God, you were right, I was wrong, I confess, I repent. Get me out so I can live for you, worship you and serve you again. The people of Israel cried out to the Lord for help, for Jabin and Sisera had 900 chariots of iron and he oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for 20 years.
Speaker 1:Now why did the author of this book tell us that the enemy had 900 chariots of iron? You realize that the Canaanites were in the Iron Age, the Israelites were still in the Bronze Age, meaning the Canaanites had 900 iron chariots in the Bronze Age. Meaning the Canaanites had 900 iron chariots. The Israelites all they had to fight with were it might be a club or a stick or a rock or a slingshot. It would look like people coming out of the woods with like a crowbar and a pitchfork versus a real army. These chariots back then would be likened today to an M1 Abrams tank. In other words, if there is an army that has 900 tanks, you do not have a chance against this army. The odds are stacked against you.
Speaker 1:But my question is can you remember how that felt, when you felt like that all of the odds were stacked against you, when nothing was going your way in life? It felt like that, everywhere you turned, you just kept falling into sin, falling into addiction, that you was just doing everything that was right in your eyes, but there was no direction, there was no truth. It was like you had no king. You had no one to live for, you had no one to tell you how to live or what to do in your life. Can you remember what it was like before you were saved, and do you remember crying out to God for that first time and saying God, I need you, god, I believe in you. God, I believe that Jesus died for my sin and he rose from the dead and I want to ask him to be my Lord and I want to ask him to be my king. God, would you deliver me so I can live in your peace? Do you remember that, because that's what Jesus did when he saved you.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in Mark, chapter 10, for even the son of man, jesus, he did not come to be served, but he came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. In other words, when Jesus came, he didn't come to be served by you. He came first to serve you. And how did he serve you? By giving his life all the way unto death. That's what Jesus did for you. He gave his life for you. He gave his life for you. So when Jesus calls you to serve him, he's not calling you to do anything that he hasn't already done for you. He calls us to serve him because he served us first. So the point is this serve Jesus with your life because he served you with his, because he served you with his. Serve Jesus with your life because he served you with his Number two.
Speaker 1:Why do we serve? Well, god calls and he gifts you to serve. So he calls you. It's a calling in our life. It's a humbling in the life of a believer. We have to humble ourselves to say God, I can't save myself. Jesus, you gotta save me. We humble ourselves when we come to the baptism waters In front of people saying I wanna get baptized to show people that I believe in Jesus. No longer I live life for myself, I live life for Jesus Christ. The life of salvation is humility. Everyone say humility for Jesus Christ. The life of salvation is humility. Everyone say humility. And in the same way, the salvation life is not to be served but to serve, because we are never more like Jesus than we are serving Jesus saved. Jesus serves you to save you and he saved you so you can serve him in return, so that other people can get saved too. He calls you, but he doesn't just tell you to serve. This is the goodness of God. He doesn't just call you to serve, he gifts you to serve. He doesn't just tell you to do something. He gives you the very ability that you need from him in order to accomplish what he's called you to do. If you're following me, say yeah, so check it out.
Speaker 1:Verse four, judges 4-4. I wanna show you this Now. Deborah was a prophetess, the wife of Lippidoth, and she was judging Israel at that time. There were some 12 judges throughout the book of Judges, and Deborah was the only woman judge out of the 12. And so Deborah is? She's first of all a prophetess, which means she's filled with the spirit of God in order to communicate the word of God. And when would she do it? Verse five we won't have it on the screen, but verse five says she was sit under a palm tree. How many ladies would you love that for your life? She was sit under a palm tree, and it says that all of Israel would come to her and she would give them counsel and she would show them what God had for their life. She was this leader that God raised up for the people of God. She was a prophetess, she was judging them.
Speaker 1:But here's what I think is so interesting, because I believe that God is raising up today godly women to serve godly women, to teach godly women, to communicate the word of God. God wants to use godly women. God wants to use godly men. God created us equal and God wants to use us all equally. Can I get an amen? That's what we see from God's word.
Speaker 1:But here's what's interesting Even with the great calling in her life, she always understood the divine order. From the word of God. It doesn't say and her husband's name was Lippidoth. No, it says that she was the wife of Lippidoth, which means that, as God, had a high calling in her life and ministry, as Ephesians 5 tells us, that today husbands are called, we're called to love our wives and to lead them, as Christ loved the church. And it also says in Ephesians 5 that, wives, you are to submit yourself to your husband as to the Lord, amen. So we see in scripture, as God has created us all equally in his image, he's all called us equally unto ministry. Yet at the same time, there is a divine order within man and woman, within husband and wife, because there's a divine order within the Trinity the Father, the Son submits to the Father, the Spirit submits to the son. We see, in other words, even in a marriage, we are picturing this beautiful relationship of the Trinity, even as man and wife.
Speaker 1:So we see, it says that Deborah sent and summoned Barak, who was the general of the Israelite army. He was the son of Ben-Oam and from Kadesh, naphtali. And Deborah said to Barak has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, go gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun? And didn't God say that he would draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army to meet you by the river Kishon, with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand. This is fascinating. Deborah's coming up to Jabin and she's saying Jabin, god has called you to do this. I want to encourage you to do it.
Speaker 1:Notice, deborah didn't come to Barak and she didn't come to Barak and say Barak, if you're not gonna do it, then I'm gonna do it. If you're not gonna tell your army, then I'm gonna tell your army. She did not take over as general. She stayed in her lane as Barak was called to stay in his lane, as they're both called to stay in their calling and within their gifting. But she came to Barak and she said I know what God told you to do and here's what she's saying. I wanna encourage you to do it and I will go with you if you do it.
Speaker 1:You, ladies in this room, I want you to know that you have the power of encouragement over your man. You have the power of encouragement over your man. You're not called to tell your man. If you won't do it, then I'll do it. You're not taking the place of your man. Know what you're doing and you're not criticizing your man. Know what you're doing is you're encouraging him. You will never know what your encouragement to your man means to him, more than anyone else in his life.
Speaker 1:God uses you, ladies, to encourage your man, your husband. And it's like Ruth telling Boaz I'm not going to propose to you, but, boaz, if you propose to me, I just want you to know. I'm going to say yes. In the same way, deborah is saying I'm not telling you what to do and I'm not going to do it for you. I'm just telling you, if you go and do what God calls you to do, then I'm going to go and do it with you. And that's what a godly wife does. Husband, I'm not gonna tell you what to do. I'm not gonna lead you to lead me or lead you to lead my family. I just want you to know that when you follow God with all your life, I'm with you and I'm following Jesus with you all along the way. Amen, that's what we see through the word of God.
Speaker 1:And so here's what Barak says. What does Barak say back? He said well, if you will go with me, I will go, but if you don't go with me, I will not go. It's like I told my wife if you ever leave me, you can go, but I'm coming with you. Okay, it's kind of like the same thing there. That was a joke. All right, barak said if you go with me I will go, but if you will not go, then I'm not going. In other words, barak knew that God was with Deborah with him, and she said I'll surely go with you.
Speaker 1:Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory. As we serve others, as we live out our calling and our gifting, it's never for our glory, it's never for our name, it's never for our fame, it's not even for our good, it's not even for our gain. Said for, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. Why? Because God wanted to show his power. We'll get there. Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh.
Speaker 1:I just want to remind you that Deborah had a calling on her life and God gave her the gifting. Barak had a calling on his life and God gave him the gifting. God has a calling on your life and God gave him the gifting. God has a calling on your life and God gives you the gifting to serve him in his church, in his community and in this world. And I just want to remind you that Ephesians 4 says when Jesus ascended on high, when he rose from the dead, is when he gave gifts to his people. In other words, when you believe in Jesus's resurrection is when he gives you the gifts that he has given you to serve. It's a reminder God doesn't call the gifted, he gifts the called. It's a reminder that God didn't look at you and say, oh man, I really wish she was on my team, I really wish he was on my team. Man, they're so talented, they're so able, they're so awesome. Man, I could do a lot of good through them. That's not how God rolls. God calls us when we're making a mess and a wreck of our life and God says I want to do more through them for my glory than they could ever do for themselves.
Speaker 1:I remember back in high school, my least favorite class, the class that I hated the most. It was in the ninth grade. I wanted to opt out, but I couldn't. With speech class, the number one thing I hated doing, talking in front of people In college. True story freshman year rolled back around again. Oh my gosh, I gotta take a speech class. I'm up in front of people. I'm sweating, I'm nervous, I'm shaking like I just wanted to run and scream like a girl right, like it was the worst thing ever. But what do I do now with my life?
Speaker 1:I love preaching the word of God before people. Why? Because God doesn't call the gifted. God gifts the called. In other words, god may be calling something to you in your life right now or maybe in the future, and you're thinking I can't do it. And I want you to hear me say you are right, you can't do it. The point isn't that you can do it. The point is that God wants to do it through you. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:So here's what we see that you need to discover If you want to know what your giftedness is. Your calling is discover your shape. What are your spiritual gifts? Well, what are you passionate about? What is your heart? What are your abilities? What are you good at that God has gifted you with? What is your personality like and what are your experiences that God has put in your path to prepare you for your present and your future. What is your shape?
Speaker 1:Because I would encourage you in our discipleship pathway here, worship group, serve mission that you will always have a place to serve Jesus here, because he's called you and he's gifted you that you'd be able to serve Jesus in our worship services, maybe on our worship team, or maybe back in our production team, or maybe in our kids ministry or our student ministry or our young adult ministry, or maybe God is calling you to lead a group, or maybe God is calling you to serve in our senior adult ministry or maybe our men's ministry or maybe our women's ministry. Maybe you want to be a greeter or a golf cart driver or a parking lot host on our hospitality ministry. Maybe you want to work on help with our social media or our web design or our videos in our creative ministry, or maybe you want to be a part of our local mission where you go out and you spread the word of God throughout Powder Springs and beyond, or our global mission team going to other countries on mission trips. Whatever it is, the question is this what has God called you to do for his glory? Because what he's called you to do, he will gift you to do it.
Speaker 1:Number three the third reason why we serve is God empowers you. When you serve, everyone say serve is God empowers you. When you serve, everyone say empower. He empowers you when you serve. This is crazy.
Speaker 1:The story gets crazier. One of the craziest story of all the Bible. Stick with me, we'll go through it fast. Watch this. Sisera called out all of his chariots 900 chariots of iron. Having chariots are like having tanks, like M1 Abram tanks. You have a serious advantage right If there are 900 tanks versus 10,000 men. You put your money on the tanks every time. And all the men who were with him, from Herosheth Hagayim to the river Kishon and Deborah, said to Barak get up, big boy, for this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera that sissy boy into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you? God is with you and if God is for you, then who can be against you? So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. Why was Barak hesitant? Because his army had clubs and sticks and rocks and slingshots against 900 M1 Abram tanks. You would hesitate too. Check this out, but it says the Israelites came up against the 900 chariots of the Canaanites and the Lord routed Sisera, the Canaanites and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword.
Speaker 1:That's what God does Listen when God calls you to serve and when he gifts you to serve, he empowers you. I believe when you feel the power of God most is when you're serving him the most. When you feel God closest to you is when you are serving him. When you feel God working through you is when you're serving him, and God loves to do miracles through his people who are willing to serve him. What was this miracle? There was only one way that 900 tanks could lose to 10,000 men.
Speaker 1:It actually tells us in the next chapter, judges 5,. It retells the story. You can read it for yourself later. It says that God sent a rainstorm which caused a flood, and the only way to beat 9,000 chariots were for them to get stuck in the mud. It was dry season. It never rained during that time. It would be like snowing in July today. But God did it. He sent the rain, he caused the floods, the chariots got stuck and the 10,000 men pursued all of the Canaanites and God's people won again. Put your hands together right now for the way that God works and that's what God wants to do in your life, because God is. He wants to do miracles in you and he wants to do miracles in you and he wants to do miracles through you. And God does miracles when we humble ourselves and when we serve him and when we serve others I think about last week there was a man who was invited by one of you here in this room came for his first time.
Speaker 1:He was a dad and he texted me. I wanna read this text to you real quick. You just gotta hear this text for yourself because this is just so powerful. The dad texted me that was here for his first time. He said hey, pastor Chip. He said my wife and I couldn't stop talking about how awesome the service was and how welcomed everyone made us and made us feel. He said it was truly amazing and I felt like it was 100% God's plan for me to be there that day, because the message you gave was absolutely what I needed. I was crying my eyes out and it allowed me to take a leap of faith this week about an issue that I've been battling with and I feel at ease so much more now than beforehand. That's what God wants to do. If this person in this room did not invite this man, if those of you in here, whoever you are and you probably don't even know it that you made him feel welcome and you made him feel loved so that he would sit down and listen to God's word and allow God's word to speak into his life. God wanted to do a miracle in his life that day and God used you to do it.
Speaker 1:Can I get an amen? I want you to know that God is doing miracles. In our kids' ministry, as Pastor James talked about, had 100 kids last week. We're averaging about 100 kids in our kids' ministry this time last year was about 50 to 60. It's doubled in over a year. We see all these baptisms happening in our kids and our students. That is nothing that we're doing. That is the miracle of the Holy Spirit. I love that. Our kids and our student ministry and our young adult ministry are leading the way in our church growth and leading the way in multi-ethnicity reaching the community for Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen? I love the miracles that God is doing. What does God do? It says, for God is the one who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. To will means if you ever want to do the right thing that desire to do the right thing came from God If you ever do a work for God, you serve God. It is actually God who does it in you and it is God who does it through you. It's not you, it's God, which means he's not after your ability, he's after your availability. Your greatest ability to God is your availability. Is just saying God, what can I do for you, god? How can I serve you God? I am here. Lastly, number four, this is it we're done, why we serve? Because God can use anyone to serve him. God can use absolutely anyone to serve him. Let me read you this story, the end of the story. So Sisera fled away on foot as all the tanks and all the people of the tanks, of all the chariots, got killed, to the tent of Jael. Jael was a housewife of a nomadic tribe that was known as the Kenites. Just a quick little historical background housewives of nomadic tribes, the wives would be the ones who would set up and tear down the tents. So they were very skilled in nailing tent pegs all day long, the next day, taking them up, setting the tent back up over and over and over again. She was the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin, the king, and Hazor, the house of Heber the Kenite, and Jael came out to meet this housewife, came out to meet Sisera, who was fleeing away during this battle, and she said turn away, turn aside, my Lord, turn aside, come into my tent, come into me, don't be afraid. So Sisera, the general of the Canaanite army, turned aside to her and went into the tent and she covered him with a rug. Come here, you, big boy, you strong military man, you, why don't you take a little nappy nap right here? Right is what she's saying. And he said to her please just give me a little water to drink, for I'm thirsty. So she opened up a skin of milk and gave him a drink. You, big boy, you don't get water. I'm going to give you, baby boy, I'm going to give you some milk, right, because milk puts men to sleep. Let's go, verse 20. And he said to her stand at the opening of the tent, sisera said and if any man comes and asks you, is anyone here, tell him nope, nobody's here, but Jael. The wife of Heber hear this took a tent peg. This would be ladies today's household common item. This is like you taking a frying pan, okay. Or maybe a steak knife. She took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, jl. She went softly to him while he was sleeping, jl, and she drove the peg into his temple until it went down into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. And the most unnecessary sentence in the entire Bible, and so he died. This sentence should say and so she nailed it Right there, okay, and so he died. What is this story teaching us? If God can use an unsuspecting nomadic housewife to take the life of an enemy general who is oppressing the people of God and end a 20-year war, god can use anyone. God can use you. You might be saying I'm too weak, I've got nothing to offer. My past is so messed up. The apostle Paul said but God said to me my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness, paul said. Therefore, I'm gonna boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ would rest upon me. One of the most powerful things that we can do is to humble ourselves before the Lord and we can say God, you can use me, not because of me, but because of you, because Jesus, you served me. Jesus, you served me, jesus served you. He, you served me. Jesus served you. He served you to save you so you can serve him for others to be saved to. I think about a lady that came to us just a couple of weeks ago and she said I wasn't sure for a long time what to do for the Lord. She just said our wasn't sure for a long time what to do for the Lord. She just said our family was just so broken. She said my dad was in addiction. My son was in addiction. What do I have to offer the Lord? And she said it hit me. I can minister to people whose parents are in addiction. I can minister to people whose children are in addiction that God has given her this experience and this heart and this ability to come along and to start a Bible study group so that they can find hope in Jesus, like she has found hope in Jesus. That's exactly what God wants to do through you. Why do we serve? Because Jesus served us. Why do we serve Because he's given you a calling and a gifting? Why do we serve Because he just wants to empower you and work through you? Why do we serve Because he wants to use you in anyone's life and Jesus can use anyone for his will and his glory. I'm going to ask us all to bow our heads and close our eyes. Every head bowed, every eye closed during this time. I just want to encourage you right now just talk to Jesus. You just talk to him and just maybe you need to tell him. Maybe it's been a while since you've told him Jesus. Thank you for serving me with your life. Jesus, thank you for saving me. Jesus, help me to live my life as a service to others and help other people to get saved through my service to you. And maybe you're here this morning and you can't pray that because you haven't given your life to him yet, you haven't been saved yet. But right here, right now, I can help you with that and you can, just from your own heart, your own words. You can pray to Jesus right now and just say Jesus, I believe in you and I need you. You can tell him Jesus, I just wanna say thank you. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin, past, present and future. You can tell him Jesus, I believe that you rose from the dead. So I wanna turn from my life and I wanna turn and I wanna live it for you, not in perfection I can't do that but in direction. I wanna live my life for you, jesus, and you can tell him. Jesus, I believe that your word is true and I confess with my mouth that, jesus, I believe that your word is true and I confess with my mouth that, jesus, you are Lord and you are my God and you are my savior, and all I need is you and the Bible promises. If you do that, he will save you, you'll be saved, you'll be forgiven, you'll have a fixed home in heaven forever and you will be a child of God. Lord Jesus, we thank you for that truth and we pray for everyone who just prayed that prayer, given their life to you. We celebrate that in Jesus' name and all God's people said amen. Put your hands together for anybody who prayed that this morning. God is so good. Jesus served you so we could save you. Our ushers are coming forward right now. We're going to take the Lord's Supper together. They're going to. If you don't already have the elements of the Lord's Supper, just go ahead and just raise your hand. They're just going to come back through the crowd right now and make sure that you get one. Thank you, I don't have one. Thank you, keith, and make sure that you get one right now and we're gonna take this together. I will lead you through it together, but I want you to see that this is a disposable cup. The wafer, the bread, is at the top. You'll just peel back the top layer, as you see, and then, after that, the juice will be under. I wanna remind you this morning that I can't think of a better Sunday to take the Lord's Supper together than the Sunday that we remember that Jesus served us with his life to save our life for his glory. I wanna remind you that Jesus said in Luke 22, he said I earnestly, when he took the Lord's Supper with his disciples. Jesus said I earnestly, take this. He took the Lord's Supper with his disciples. Jesus said I earnestly, take this with you, eat this meal with you. You know that Jesus loves it when we do this together, because we are communing with him and we're communing with one another. We're saying Jesus, you are my savior, and we're saying and these are my blood thought, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, this is the family of God. I want to remind you that the word of God says in Matthew 26, verse 26, as Jesus was taking the Lord's supper with his disciples. It says now, as they were eating, jesus took bread. I wanna encourage you just to peel it back and to take the bread off the top. As they were eating, jesus took bread and after blessing the bread, he broke it and he gave it to the disciples and he said take this, take and eat. This is my body. So this is our opportunity to remember that Jesus was physically, bodily crucified, sacrificed, suffered and died with his body for your salvation. Jesus said take, eat in remembrance of me. He says in verse 27,. And Jesus took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Traditionally we have believed that grape juice is the closest representation to the blood of Jesus Christ and as we drink this as a symbol that Jesus shed his blood on the cross as a way to cover over the biblical word is to atone over our sin. That Jesus shed every drop of his blood to cover every single sin in our life. He said drink of it all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many, for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. Lord Jesus, we love you. Thank you for this opportunity to be served by you, to be saved by you, to remember this morning all that you did with your body, with your blood, for the forgiveness of our sins, for our salvation. Lord Jesus, we praise you, we glorify you, and because you served us with your life, may we serve you with our life, and we just wanna say thank you and we worship you together, right here, right now, and we give you all the glory that you deserve In Jesus' name. In all God's people said let's stand together and let's worship Jesus together.