“Saved to Serve and Serve to Save” By Jeff Lynch April 11th,
2010 I want to start with three reminders: In the Good Friday message, Brother Kenneth shared from John 13:4-17, how that, at the Last Supper, Jesus washed the disciples feet, and then said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” Are you happy to do the will of the Lord today? Let Jesus wash you, and then you can wash others. Second, from Luke 10:29-37, the Good Samaritan saw someone in need, and tended to him. He took time out of his schedule, he spent his own money, and he took care of a stranger. Third, from Matthew 25:30-46: When saw we thee? The righteous didn’t remember doing anything special, because they had a mindset that what they were doing wasn’t special; it was just what they did. The other people didn’t remember the opportunities to do unto others, because they didn’t have the mindset to notice people in need. Sometimes we have a bib mentality. You know what a bib is, we put those on babies when they eat so that they don’t make too much of a mess when we feed them. Sometimes we have to take of the bib, and put on an apron, because we’re going to get our hands dirty when we serve other people. We are saved to serve, and we serve to see others saved. While I read some examples that have touched my heart over the years, you also think of your own memories to share with us today during service. Over the years, our founding pastor, Pastor Davis preached and preached, and his wife Hazel opened their home, cooked dinner every Sunday, and eventually made the center available to others. Pastor Paine also preached, and he and his wife Debbie opened their home here to countless many when they would come to visit (my family: my Mom, sister and niece once stayed with them for a week). Pastor
Thomas preached, and he and his wife moved to Brother
Kenneth Ray and his wife Jennifer and their daughter Ginger left the comforts
of southern, sunny, seaside Greg Grashen and his wife, Alma, Kirk and Nubia Orelup, and Mike and Norma Fudge; they all opened their homes for my wife and myself, while we were in transition. One time Joseph Johnson had a flat tire, and I called Greg Grashen, and he came over and helped me change Joe’s tire. Anne Keller’s son, Steve, had some trouble this last week, and I called Chris Ulrich and Ed Howes, and they came and we dealt with it. One time Charlie Brown invited a man up to the center, and he got baptized, and his shoes didn’t look too good. This was in the dead of winter, and those shoes just weren’t going to cut it. Pastor Paine gave that man his own shoes. Another time Pastor Paine and Larry Davis were going somewhere and there was a woman stopped by the road with a flat tire. It was freezing cold, so they stopped and changed her tire for her. Larry said, “If that was my mom, I would hope somebody would take the time for her.” Many
of you have gone out of the way to pick up others for church, even to Mark Lanier shared that five years ago he broke his ankle in three places, and Charlie and Cova Jean Brown took him in until he recovered enough to get around on his own. Vince
Stepchuk shared that the people he had been staying with moved to Chris Schilling shared that when he had a friend whose son had leukemia, he mentioned that to his Children’s Church class, and they made Get Well Soon cards for him. Jason Burton shared that when he had hernia surgery, he was doped up on vicodin, and Aleks Rasimov kept checking up on him, and even cooked for him. Brent Havisto shared that when he was young in the faith, he struggled with some things, one of which was alcohol. He once was driving under the influence, and caused an accident, and broke another guy’s leg. He spent some time in jail because of that, but people from the church came to visit him, and didn’t condemn him, which made it a lot easier later on. Greg
Grashen shared that he was homeless before he got saved, and he was in a drug
rehab program. One time Ken Avellino was
dropping him off for a support group meeting at another church in Donna Ferguson shared that she remembers in the early days of Children’s Church, Bob Hiertzler spent countless hours working on curriculum and plays and activities for the kids. Matthew Gonzalez shared that when Ken and Abby Avellino got married, they asked him to be in the wedding, and Ken gave him a toy truck; which surprised him. He thought only the bride and groom got presents at a wedding. Mary Ogden shared that she had a pipe break on the lower level of her house. The lower level of her house was mostly a storage area, and, although she was able to get a plumber quickly, there was a lot of stuff that was getting soaked. She and Mike owned a shop vac that would have helped salvage a lot of that stuff, but they had loaned it to Brother Kenneth. They called and asked if he could return it; not only did he return it, but he stayed, and helped move boxes around and do damage control. George Holmes shared that some time ago, he wasn’t feeling well (it turned out to be diabetes) and Jeff and Teri Lynch ministered to him, and made sure that he was taken care of. Christine Schultz shared that with her disabilities, she has given up her car. Becky Adams has made herself available to take Christine to doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, and anything else she needs, and just truly encourages her. Sermon notes by Pete Shepherd |
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