Discover and Serve pt 5. Humility and Obedience

Equipping, Serving
Continuing our study in Philippians 2 what else is attributed to Jesus' attitude? First, total humility. Humility When Paul teaches us that we should have an attitude like Jesus' (Phil 2:5) he quickly shows us that in taking on the form of a bond-servant the path he had to walk was one of total humility ‘counting not equality with God a thing to be grasped'. I wonder if you have ever been in the position where you have been tempted (or even yielded to the temptation) to ‘drop names', thus implying to your hearer that you are someone special since you know such and such a celebrity? In this way we can try to build a reputation on the back of someone else's character and achievements without having to demonstrate…
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A one-day workshop for Administrators

Administration in the Church, Administrative Skills, Conference Administration, Equipping, News
Are you a Church Administrator? An Office Manager? A PA to a church leader? I was delighted to accept an invitation to speak at this workshop which seeks to help you explore your gifting and turn vision into reality. Administration is a spiritual gift that is much needed in our churches today, and I am pleased to have an opportunity to pass on some of what I learnt during over 30 years working with Terry Virgo as his administrator and on the wider scene within the Newfrontiers family of churches. As you will see, the event is being hosted by New Life Church in Milton Keynes. To enable as many people as possible to attend they have kept the price low - just £15, which includes lunch. For more details…
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Discover and Serve pt 4. A servant’s rights

Equipping, Serving
Self-sacrificial servanthood We have abundant scriptural evidence of Jesus demonstrating that he practiced what he preached. From the prophetic utterances in the famous servant passages through Isaiah (Is 52:13-15 and Is 53:1- 12) to Paul's letter to the Philippians we find the pages of our Bibles peppered with examples of Godly self-sacrificial servanthood, primarily demonstrated by Jesus but also by other men whom God commended, such as young David who was described as a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22) for his willingness to do God's will. God loves willing servants. The rights of a servant It is instructive to study the second chapter of Paul's letter to the Philippians; it tells us so much about Jesus' servant-attitude. First, what were his rights as a servant? He had none!…
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Discover and Serve pt 3. Saved to Serve

Equipping, Serving
I have written on previous occasions about serving and servanthood. These are topics close to my heart. But it is such an important feature of the role of the church and of individuals, as modelled by Jesus, that I make no apology for writing on this topic once again. Servanthood is not an option At times Jesus must have nearly despaired. He had been seeking to teach and train the twelve for well over two years and yet they still did not seem to get it! In Matthew's gospel (Matt 20:20-28) we read that on one occasion the two Zebedee brothers, James and John, even enlisted their mother as an advocate for them to lobby Jesus to give them places of prominence in his kingdom. Jesus patiently spells out the…
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