Investment Secrets From Heaven – Part 5

Review

• Investment Secret # 1: Invest in people’s lives.
• Matthew 20:28
• An is one who comes to serve.
• A is one who comes to be served.
• The measure of a church’s success is not the quality of a pastor’s sermon, but in the quality of a congregation’s service.
• While God wants us to serve everyone, there is a particular focus on service to other believers. (Galatians 6:10)
• When you are serving other believers, you are serving your .

Nourishment

• Service is a source of .
• Ephesians 4:15-16
• In Christ, we are part of a spiritual that hinges on service.
• When we serve with the right attitude, we receive as much and often more than we give.
• We are deceived when we think that we are only nourished by the teaching.
• Romans 12:3-8

[Citation Information for Biblical Gift Descriptions: Bruce E. Winston, “The Roman 12 Gifts: Useful For Person-Job Fit” in Journal of Biblical Perspectives in Leadership 2, no. 2 (Summer 2009), 114-134. © 2008 School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University ISSN 1941-4692 (https://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/jbpl/vol2no2/Winston_JBPLV2N2.pdf)]

• Prophecy (moral clarity) – The God-given “ability to discern and proclaim truth. . . .the ability to quickly and accurately discern good and evil and the ability to reveal truth for understanding, correction, or edification.” (118)
• Service (tasks) – “the God-given ability to identify the unmet needs involved in a task and to make use of available resources to meet those needs and help accomplish the desired goals.” (121)
• Teaching (knowledge and understanding) – The God-given “ability to discern, analyze, and deliver information and truth so that others will learn.” (124)
• Exhortation (uplifting perspective) – The God-given ability to call forth the best in others through encouragement and motivation. . . .to minister words of comfort, consolation, encouragement, and counsel in such a way that others feel helped and healed” (126)
• Giving (resources) – “the God-given ability to understand the material needs of others and then meet those needs generously” (127-128)
• Leadership (directional clarity) – “the God-given ability to set goals in accordance with God’s purpose for the future and to communicate these goals to others in a way that they harmoniously work together for the glory of God.” (129)
• Mercy (empathy) – The God-given ability to feel and to act upon genuine empathy for others who suffer distressing physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual pain. . . .to feel genuine empathy and compassion for individuals, both Christian and non-Christian, who suffer distressing physical, mental, or emotional problems and to translate that compassion into cheerfully done deeds” (130)

Reasons Why People Don’t Serve:

• Not seeing a call to serve as a call from Jesus Himself
• Seeing the church as a time thief
• Not seeing positive results from your service personally or collectively
• Church hurt
• Authoritarianism and Unused gifts

Practical Benefits of Service:

• More direct connection with the pastor
• Inside Information
• Practical ministry Training
• Everything you believe about God is tested in your relationships with people

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2021