I want to speak to you this morning
a message called Jesus Wash My Feet from
the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 19.
If you go there in your Bibles, please,
Matthew Chapter 19.
Father, I thank you, God Almighty, with all
my heart for the anointing of your Holy
Spirit.
I thank you, Lord, that you are teaching
us, you are preparing us in the same
way that Joshua had to roll away the
reproach of Egypt before the next generation could
go in and inherit the promised land.
You are rolling away from our hearts and
our minds, the reproaches of this world, the
things that render us weak and cause us
not to understand where the power of your
kingdom is truly found.
Lord Jesus Christ, our hope for the future
is a spiritual awakening in the nation.
So, Lord, we ask you, God, to take
away from us what needs to be taken
away and plant in our hearts what needs
to be put there.
Deliver us, God, from thinking of this world
that weakens us.
Lord, even things that we've embraced, we may
have heard them in the house of God,
but they're not true.
So, Lord, help us, God, to believe and
understand that your word is the final authority
on all things.
Give us the grace to love your word.
Give me the grace to speak it today.
Give our hearts the grace to hear it.
Lord, we don't stand before you in strength,
we stand before you in weakness.
We stand before you as Isaiah once did,
acknowledging that we are undone without your mercy.
We can't go forward without your presence.
Nothing will happen, Lord, unless you choose to
walk with us and use us for your
glory.
So, we implore you to come, Lord Jesus
Christ, and bring your own name back to
glory again in our generation.
We yield our bodies to you, Lord.
We don't know what else to do.
We give you our hearts.
God Almighty, even that is frail and flawed,
but still, you took a boy's lunch and
you fed thousands with it.
So, you can take us, Lord, and you
can use each of us for your glory.
We simply come to you with an honest
heart, Lord, acknowledging that you don't take us
because we have it all together.
You take us because we are weak and
we know we are.
You take us not in our success, but
in our failure, and you become the success
of our heart.
Oh, Jesus Christ, we long for your name
to be honored.
As David once came into the camp of
Israel and heard this threatening coming from the
other side of the valley, and he was
more concerned about the honor of your name
than anything else.
Oh, God, would you plant that so deep
within us, Lord, that it's about your honor,
Lord, that we stand, we live, we move,
we have our being.
I have no desire to preach a sermon.
I want to hear from you, Lord.
I want to hear your word.
I want to hear deep in my heart,
not just accumulate more knowledge without power.
What's the point of it, Lord?
I want my life to change.
I don't want to be just standing here
preaching.
I want to live these words that you've
given my heart.
And so, Father, I thank you, Lord, for
what you will do today.
I praise you and give you all the
glory in Jesus' name.
Jesus washed my feet.
Matthew chapter 19, beginning at verse 28.
So Jesus said to them, assuredly, I say
to you that in the regeneration, when the
son of man sits on the throne of
his glory, you who have followed me will
also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12
tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has left houses or brothers
or sisters or father or mother or wife
or children or lands, for my name's sake,
shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.
But many who are first will be last
and the last first.
A perplexing verse, verse 30, talking about the
coming kingdom of God, a kingdom where it
seems at least at face value to refer
to the reversal of an order of things
that are generally sought for and accepted in
this world.
In other words, when we get there, a
lot of things are just going to be
turned upside down.
People that we didn't esteem, we will find
out that God did.
People that we esteemed will find out that
God didn't.
Everything will be brought into its rightful order.
Every heart will be rewarded according to the
diligence of its service to God.
It will be an amazing day.
I've shared with you before, but it's a
thought.
It's a chuckle in my heart, to be
honest with you and a bit of a
fear of God as well.
That one day when we get to heaven
and we're all sitting in heaven's waiting room,
like we are today, and there's no time
anymore.
So a million years can seem like a
30 seconds.
There's no time.
Time doesn't matter anymore.
We're there for eternity.
You don't get hungry.
You don't get tired.
You don't, you can't sigh.
You can't cry.
And we're waiting now for the reward to
be given, the rewards to be given to
the righteous.
Jesus did say, some will rule 10 cities.
There'll be all kinds of things that are
given to do for eternity.
And suddenly the list will be brought out.
I'm telling you, let me give you a
secret.
Sit in the back seat.
It would be less embarrassing there.
Don't sit in the front because it's going
to be real obvious when your name hasn't
been called for 10,000 years.
And suddenly names are being called Mary Johnson
and all the angels start to wave their
wings and heavenly beings are clapping and everyone's
looking around Mary Johnson.
Where did I ever hear about her?
Well, you didn't.
You see, she was the little lady in
the midst of a country church way, maybe
out in Kentucky somewhere that every Sunday brought
a glass of water and set it on
the pulpit.
Every week made sure the flowers were just
set right in the sanctuary.
Maybe it was at the door, greeting people
and handing out bulletins for the weekend.
And we didn't esteem her maybe as having
achieved a pinnacle of success, but you see
God's ways are not our ways and God's
thoughts are not our thoughts.
And names will be called names and you
don't know.
And I don't know names in this church
will be called that many have never heard
of.
It's it's going.
Yes, amen.
Thank you, Lord.
What a day that's going to be.
And many who are first are going to
be last and many are last are going
to be first.
I'll tell you, if you want to fellowship
with me, you're going to have to go
to the back door because that's where I'm
going to be.
I'll be holding the door for many of
the ushers in this church.
I'll be holding the door for those that
have cleaned the church.
I'll be holding the door for those who
volunteer to clean the bathrooms downstairs.
I'll be holding the door for people who
are in children's church right now, babysitting your
children so you can hear the word of
God.
I'll be holding the door for those that
are in the nursery, serving in the nursery.
And it's a rightful thing.
Many who are first now are going to
be last then.
And many who are last are going to
be first.
And it's right in the sight of God.
Now, this statement that Jesus makes about many
who are being first becoming last and who
are last becoming first is made immediately following
an interaction with a very religious young man
earlier in the chapter.
We know him as the rich, young ruler.
That's what he's called.
That's what he was.
He was rich.
He was young and he was a ruler.
He came sliding.
I can just see him sliding across the
stage, almost in a dramatic fashion on his
knees.
Good master.
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
You can see that, right?
You can see that, you know, expecting a
commendation instead of a condemnation.
And Jesus says, well, you know, you know
what the, the, the commandments don't murder, don't
commit adultery, don't steal, don't bear false witness.
And he says, all these things I've done
from my youth, what do I lack yet?
You see his, his religion had helped him
to attain what those of this world always
strive for.
He was a very religious young man, but
his religion brought him to a place where
he had this world's wealth, this world status,
and this world's power.
When religion loses touch with God, that's what
it always offers you.
Wealth, status, and power.
In first Samuel chapter 17, verse 25, King
Saul was leading the nation of Israel there
in a battle.
And suddenly they faced something that was too
strong for them as we are facing today.
We're facing a Goliath folks in our generation,
just as they were in their, this threatening
voice, you will serve us.
You will serve us.
We are stronger than you.
You will not defeat us.
Every morning, this voice is rising up and
the whole army are trembling before this threatening
voice that's been raised up, boasting of its
size, boasting of its strength, boasting of its
power.
And David, just a boy comes walking into
the camp and he starts to ask, he
says, why is nobody fighting this?
Why is everybody cowering?
His brothers are there and his brothers are
pricked in their conscience by his inquiries, because
they don't, not one of them has the
courage to go down and fight this giant.
And he says, well, what will be, what
will be done?
And they said to the man who fights
this giant.
So the men of Israel said, have you
seen this man who has come up in
first Samuel 17, 25, surely he's come up
to defy Israel.
And it shall be that the man who
kills him, the King will enrich him with
great riches, give him his daughter that's wealth
and status and give his father's exemption from
taxes in Israel.
And when religion departs from the presence of
God and the power of God, all it
can offer is wealth status and power.
If you are listening to any voice, that's
offering you that in God's name, you are
listening to a voice that has lost touch
with the genuine power of God.
Years ago, when I was pastoring in Canada,
I got a phone call one morning from
a new Christian.
And he was all excited.
He said, pastor, I was in prayer this
morning and the Lord told me that I'm
destined for greatness.
I said, well, praise God.
I'm glad to hear that because our janitor
resigned yesterday.
And until we can hire somebody new, I
need somebody to wash the floor of the
church after service every Sunday.
I remember his words.
I remember his exact words.
He said at that moment, he said, well,
that's not exactly what I had in mind.
No, it probably isn't, but I believe it's
exactly what God had in mind because God's
view of greatness and our view of greatness
are not exactly the same in the gospel
of Luke chapter 22 verses 24 to 26.
It says now about the disciples.
Now there was also a dispute among them
as to which of them should be considered
the greatest.
Now, actually, when you looked up dispute, it
means a heated argument.
These are the disciples of Jesus Christ walking
down the road saying, I'm going to be
greater than you.
No, I'm going to be greater than you.
Oh, wait until you see the miracles that
I'm going to do, man.
It's going to leave you in the dust.
When you see the crowds that are going
to come to hear me preach, and they're
in a heated dispute about which of them
should be the greatest.
And Jesus said to them, the Kings of
the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them.
And those who exercise authority over them are
called benefactors, but not so among you.
On the contrary, he who is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger and
he who governs as he who serves.
In other words, Jesus was teaching that in
his kingdom, which will outlast all the kingdoms
of this world, eternal power, everlasting wealth, and
true status are all found at the bottom
of what this world offers, not the top.
In other words, in God's kingdom, the way
up is down.
Truly amazing.
You want to be great?
Find the lowest place, find the lowest seat,
find the lowest task, do it before God
with all your heart, and you will be
the greatest in the kingdom of God.
I want you to go with me to
John chapter 13, if you will.
John chapter 13, a phenomenal interaction where Jesus
is teaching his disciples a way of thinking
that is going to give them the ability
to literally bring the gospel into all the
known world.
Do you understand that?
He's showing them where power is found.
It's not found in wealth of this world.
It's not found in the status of this
world.
It's not found in the power of this
world.
He's showing them something that is foolishness to
those who have a carnal mind and a
carnal heart.
He's showing them something that those outside the
kingdom of God, they can't see.
They don't consider it to be powerful.
And in our case, if we're going to
see a spiritual awakening in our generation, the
reproach of this kind of thinking has got
to be rolled away from us.
Once again, John chapter 13, beginning at verse
three, Jesus, knowing that the father had given
all things into his hands and that he
had come from God and was going to
God.
So he's in total authority and he knows
it.
He has all resources and he knows it.
He has all status for all of eternity.
And he knows it.
Now nobody on this earth at this time
knows it, but he knows it.
He rose from supper and laid aside his
garments and took a towel and girded himself.
After that, he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples' feet and
to wipe them with the towel with which
he was girded.
Then he came to Simon Peter and Peter
said to him, Lord, are you washing my
feet?
And Jesus answered and said to him, what
I'm doing, you do not understand now, but
you will know after this.
In other words, I'm showing you a new
path for your feet.
It's a place that I'm leading you to,
but you don't understand it yet because you're
still arguing with your brothers about who is
going to be the greatest, but I am
teaching you something.
I'm showing you the pathway to power.
I am showing you the pathway to true
greatness in the kingdom of God.
You don't understand it now, but there's coming
a time Peter, where you will understand it.
Peter said to him, you will never wash
my feet.
Jesus answered him, if I do not wash
you, you have no part with me.
In other words, if you don't embrace this
moment, you will never know the fullness of
what I have for you.
You can claim to walk with me, but
you won't be walking with me.
You can lay claim to power, but you
won't have power because power Peter is not
found where you think it is.
It's found in what I am right now
demonstrating to you as the son of God,
as the one who has all authority, as
the one who has universal and forever status,
as the one who controls all wealth, not
only in the world, but in that world,
which is to come, I'm now showing you
the fullness of what I have for you.
Then Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not
my feet only, but also my hands and
my head.
Jesus said to him, he was bathed needs
only to wash his feet, but it's completely
clean.
And you are clean, but not all of
you.
Now in verse 10, this is a strange,
it's a strange verse.
In a sense, if you just look at
it, the way it's written, it means it
looks like to be saved.
You only have to have your feet cleaned,
but that's really not what it's about.
You see from the, from the moment mankind
sinned in the garden of Eden, what was
the sin?
The sin that the devil planted in the
human race in your heart and in mind
and every human being born is that in
yourself, you can be as God is you
can have wealth.
You can have power.
You can have status.
You can be as God.
You can determine your own course, your own
destiny.
You can, you can travel the whole circumference
of this globe.
And that's exactly what humankind has done for
thousands of years, searching for wealth, searching for
power, searching for status.
Isn't that what it's all about?
Isn't that what New York city's about?
Like how many people come here to serve?
How many people land on the shores of
New York?
So I'm just here to serve whoever, can
I serve somebody?
How many people walk around the street here
on Manhattan and say, Hey, can I help
you?
Can I serve?
Can I carry those bags?
Nobody.
Everyone is here to be served.
Everyone is here to get their slice of
the socioeconomic pie.
Everyone's here to push somebody else out of
the way so they can climb a little
higher on the ladder.
So Jesus said, he was bathed needs only
to wash his feet.
In other words, I'm going to show you
another path for your feet.
I'm going to take you on a clean
path.
The pathway of this world is dirty.
The pathway of this world leads nowhere.
It just goes in this endless circle where
people are never satisfied.
I had an opportunity once to speak to
a hundred of maybe top executives here in
America and in Canada gathered together in one
room.
And I spoke to them of the fear
in the human heart.
And most of these people were at the
second, third, or first rung on the ladder
of corporate success.
And I said, there's a, a deep abiding
fear in your heart that if you get
to the next rung or the next rung
after this, and it's no better than it
is now, then life is no longer worth
living.
And I remember a person in the front
row on the front table just began weeping
openly.
The thought of suicide, because nothing of this
world satisfies.
You push your way to the top.
If you want, you get a public office.
If you want you, you get preeminence in
the church.
If that's what you strive for.
Jesus said he was bathed needs only to
wash his feet.
But it's completely clean and you are clean,
but not all of you.
It's truly amazing.
When you think about it, God, where am
I walking?
This is what I started to, as I
was reading and studying this Lord, am I
a servant?
You know, it's easy to declare yourself one,
especially if you know the truth of it,
but declaring it and living it are two
different things.
And it requires an examination of the Holy
spirit of the heart.
Otherwise we'll all declare ourselves righteous.
If it's only you and I examining our
own hearts.
So when he had washed their feet in
verse 12 and taken his garments and sat
down again, he said to them, do you
know what I've done to you?
Do you know what I have done?
You call me teacher and Lord, and you
say, well, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and teacher have
washed your feet, you also ought to wash
one another's feet.
In other words, no more striving to be
on the top.
Every one of you, if you want to
know the power of God, it's found with
a basin and a towel.
It's found in saying, how can I help
you?
How can I serve you?
What can I do for you?
For I've given you an example that you
should do as I've done to you.
Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant
is not greater than his master, nor is
he who is sent greater than he was
sent him.
If you know these things, blessed are you,
if you do them.
Verse 18, he says, I did not speak
concerning all of you, for I know whom
I have chosen, but that the scripture may
be fulfilled.
He who eats his bread with me has
lifted up his heel against me.
In other words, Jesus washed the feet of
Judas, but Judas wanted nothing with the lesson
that was being taught him.
He wanted power.
He wanted money.
We know that because he was a thief.
He wanted status.
And when he couldn't get it through the
Christ that was before him, he chose to
betray him and get it the way he
thought it could be gotten.
And how many people today will lift up
their heel?
In other words, they will yield in a
sense in the moment.
And I'm sure he let Jesus wash his
feet.
But in reality, he was lifting his heel
against him and saying, you can do this
if you want, but I'm not going this
way.
I'm not going to be a servant to
anybody.
I'm going to be a Lord.
I'm going to be an authority.
People are going to know my name.
When I walk down the street, they're going
to watch me walk by.
I'm going to be famous and I'm going
to have power and I'm going to have
status and I'm going to have authority.
You say this is the way to win
the war.
This is the way to overthrow in a
sense, this dominant force, which was Rome at
that time that's come into our nation.
And in his heart, Judas must've said, you
are mad.
There's no way we're going to win this
with a basin and a towel.
And you're telling us that you want us
to come out of this relationship with you
and you want us simply to be servants.
That's not how wars are won.
Somebody has got to rise up and be
preeminent.
And I have no doubt in Judas's heart,
he felt I'm the one.
I'm going to show you how this is
done.
I'm going to rise up.
I'm going to be the voice, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera.
You wash feet if you want to Jesus,
but not me.
I'm not going in this pathway.
I have another view of greatness than what
you're setting before me.
And again, back in Matthew chapter 20, verse
25 to 28, Jesus called them to himself
and said, you know that the rulers of
the Gentiles lorded over them.
And those who are great exercise authority over
them, yet it shall not be so among
you, but whoever desires to become great among
you, let him be your servant.
And whoever desires to be first among you,
let him be your slave.
Just as the son of man did not
come to be served, but to serve and
to give his life a ransom for many.
You know, the way of the cross is
indeed foolishness to those who are perishing.
The way of the cross is indeed foolishness
to a religious age that has taught the
people that the way to change the culture
is through wealth and status and power.
But Jesus taught that the way to greatness,
the way to win the victory is by
being the least of these in the home.
For example, a lot of marriages are in
trouble because husbands, you don't love your wives
as Christ loves the church.
You don't give yourself for her as Christ
was given for you.
And that's why your marriage is in trouble.
You want to be Lord.
You're very quick to pull out the scriptures
wives submit to your husband, but very slow
to pull out the scripture that says, and
gave himself for her.
And that's why your house is in trouble.
That's why you have no authority of no
power in your home, because you want the
King's chair and not the servant's chair.
And you've raised your heel in effect against
the word of God and said, no, I
will do it my way.
I know how this needs to be done.
I know what this marriage needs.
No, you don't at work.
So many people who even profess Christ are
jostling and pushing and slandering and murmuring and
whispering and trying to work their way through
the system to get to the top.
Instead of just looking at somebody who's struggling
beside them and saying, can I help you?
Can I help you looking for everybody to
help us on our journey to the top
as it is, as we think it is,
but forgetting that the journey to the top
is in looking to somebody who's struggling beside
you, maybe new on the job is afraid.
They're not going to be able to finish
what they've been given to do.
And they have a family to feed.
They have a future before them.
And you and I as believers in Christ
have an opportunity to take a basin and
a towel and say, can I help you?
It might take an extra hour in our
day.
It might take a little time in the
community.
We can join the people with the placards
and we can start shouting and we can
get our bull horn and we can condemn
everybody for not thinking or believing like we
do.
But how many servants are left in the
community?
How many people would truly know where the
power of God is found in the church?
There's just no shortage of people trying to
push the preeminence.
That's there's no doubt about that.
And when they get it, they just, they
just hang on to it.
Like it's a bar of gold in their
hands, but how many are willing to be
servants?
And this is where the rubber meets the
road in my own life, because I really
don't know if I'm a servant.
I'm being honest with you.
I really don't know.
Only God can examine.
I try, but I don't know how much
of me as a, as a, as a
Lord and how much as a servant God
knows.
And so I'm asking him to examine my
heart.
I'm asking him as, as the disciples, as
Peter did, Lord, wash my feet.
If, if there's, if there's some filthy thinking
of this world has gotten itself into my
spirit, wash my feet, change my course, make
it, make it desirable in my heart to
be a servant.
I don't, I don't even know.
I don't know because God weighs it.
God, I can declare myself a servant that
can be a total farce.
God knows if it's true.
I want to be, I feel like I'm
in the seat beside Peter.
I feel like I'm saying as long, wash
my head and my hands, my feet, because
I really don't know.
I don't get the full lesson yet.
And, and I recognize that I can't walk
in this unless you do it through me.
I can't because in, in my humanness and
in yours, it's not in us to be
servants.
None of us want to be a servant,
our sin nature.
We all want to be God.
Only Christ in me, Christ in me, the
hope of glory can, can make me and
you a servant to one another.
Only Christ can get me out of my
own world and start realizing there's other people
around.
Only Christ in me can see the need
in your life and maybe stop for a
moment and have a word for you or
let you tell your story to me that
you feel you need to.
Only Christ can, can, can help this poor
heart to see what needs to be seen.
You see, one day I stand at the
throne of God.
One day, my name is going to be
called.
I would rather not be the third one
left in the room.
Jesus washed my feet.
It's the pathway to power.
If you were commissioning an army, as Jesus
was, that's going to change the course of
the whole known world.
And you're looking and saying, I'm going to
show you now how to do this.
I'm going to show you how we're going
to win the world.
I'm going to show you how millions of
people, even billions on continents, all throughout this
globe are going to hear the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
And he comes out with a basin and
a towel, and it looks like a ridiculous
plan, but it is the plan.
That's where the power of God is found.
It's where the resources is, it's where the
wealth is.
There's something in this that we need to
rediscover again in our generation, especially a generation
that just lusts for power, wealth, and status
and preeminence.
And we've even incorporated it into much of
the theology of our present church world and
made it sound like it's a good thing.
All it does is weaken us and leave
the nation in the condition it's in today.
Jesus washed my feet.
You notice people here today that you got
to start thinking about your marriage and say,
Jesus washed my feet, your community.
Jesus washed my feet.
Instead of pointing the finger out the window
at those kids on the corner, maybe I
could serve them and do something for them.
Maybe I could make them lunch.
Maybe I can just do some little thing
that shows them who God is.
In the church, instead of grumbling and complaining
because somebody's in my seat, how about
when you see somebody standing, say, here, have
my seat.
And it doesn't look like power, but it
is power.
That's the person who's the greatest, the greatest
in the kingdom of God, the greatest.
I'm not the greatest because I sit in
that seat over there.
Oh, you're right.
Thank you.
One time I asked the Lord when I
was young and I was pastoring and ministering
and I was in prayer.
And it was one of those like, Oh
God, you and me, we've done so much
together.
And I said, Lord, why did you choose
me to pastor this church?
Now this is back in Canada.
Okay.
You know, it's those days when you're young
and you're stuck on stupid.
And the answer I got, I thought it
was because there's something like in my heart,
you know, maybe the God saw.
And I was waiting for the answer.
And he said to me, because I already
had a door greeter.
I want you to think about that one.
So father, I ask you, Lord, to wash
my feet.
I ask you, Lord, for all of us
are gathered here together today.
We can learn these things, but your word
says in the last days, people will be
ever learning, but not coming to the knowledge
of the truth.
I don't want to be among that crowd.
I want it to be real.
I want it to be true.
I want it to be life.
And so wash my feet.
And Lord, I pray God that you told
us that if we would do this, as
you've taught us that we would be blessed
and happy.
So would you wash our feet as a
church?
Would you make us servants to the world,
the church world?
Would you help us Lord God in our
homes, our communities, in our workplace, everywhere, and
in the church to be servants and to
show us what that really looks like.
Not just a theory, but a practice.
And so Lord, I, I submit my feet
to you.
And I ask you to wash my feet,
teach me, guide me, help me, help me
Lord.
As you send me out and I have
a privilege of speaking in many places, Lord,
I pray that I never go as a
Lord, but always as a servant.
And only, you know, when that, when that's
a reality, I don't, you know.
God help us in this church, everyone, our
homes, our marriages with our children, everywhere we
travel.
If the pathways of this world are leading
us, then wash our feet of them and
bring us on the pathway of heaven and
teach us where true power is found.
Deliver us Lord from these voices that bring
us into weakness.
The voice of King Saul, who was so
distant from God, he was about to consult
a witch.
Offering, offering to anybody who would fight the
very things that he thought were of value.
God help us, each of us Lord, in
Jesus name.
We're going to worship for a few moments
and I'm going to give you an opportunity
if you want to respond and come to
the front of this auditorium.
Simply said, Jesus washed my feet.
North Jersey and the annex, you can step
between the screens, but those who are just,
you've heard it.
And as I've said to you today, you're
not quite sure if you are a servant
or you're not, but you'd like to be
and you recognize it's true.
So all that Peter did is he yielded
himself and he became a servant to the
body of Christ.
And he was willing to die for what
he had known of Christ.
He changed from a man who was guiding
and guarding himself to a man who was
living for the benefit of others.
That's where the power of God is found.
So we're going to stand in a moment.
And if, if, if that's the cry of
your heart, Jesus washed my feet, wash my
feet, Lord, even if you don't fully know
what it means, but God, I bear witness
that this is true.
We've just been in your word.
And this is where power is found.
This is the kind of a church that
God can use to transform a nation.
It looks foolish to us, but it's where
the power of God really is.
So roll the reproach of Egypt off of
us and help me, Lord, help me, God.
Like Peter, he didn't understand anything of it,
but he knew it was true.
And he knew somehow it was leading to
something that Christ was trying to teach him.
So today we simply yield in every facet
of our lives and make us servants in
Jesus' name.
I'd like you to pray for us as
leaders in this church, that, that we might
be servants to you.
You know, it's not that we know exactly
how to do that, but God will show
us, God will help us.
And that in turn, we might become servants
to one another in the church of Jesus
Christ.
And I believe that it will bring an
anointing like we've never seen in our lifetime.
If God can find a house full of
servants, there's an anointing available in this generation.
There's a joy, there's a power that only
comes from God, a power that makes no
sense to those whose spirit is the this
world.
But those whose spirit is the same with
Christ, there's a power that this country needs
to see again.
The city needs to see it.
Our homes, our families, our communities, they need
to see it.
Elder Ritchie, would you come?
The Lord puts you on my heart.
Would you just lead us in a prayer
of dedication that we might be servants?
Thank you, Lord.
Jesus, we're grateful that only you could take
us, Lord God, from the way we were
in our reprobate mind and bring us to
a place, Lord God, where we could humbly
bow before you and pray, God, that your
grace, O Jesus, would be upon us powerfully
in this leadership, O God.
Jesus, it's always been about grace.
Lord, don't ever let us say it to
grace.
Lord, we never want to change the gospel
of grace because it becomes something different other
than you've ordained it to be.
Keep us humble before you, Lord God.
I thank you, God, that only Jesus could
break the power of pride.
Father, in this generation, we want to be
an example for you, Lord.
There's nothing more in our heart that we
could cry out for is that we have
the aroma of God.
Lord, it would be a sweet aroma to
those around us, to the body of Christ,
to those around the world, Lord God, to
the online community, to the people in this
community.
Thank you, Jesus, for what you're going to
do.
Thank you for faith, God, faith, faith in
what Christ could do.
Each and every one of us knows nobody's
exempt, O God, but be with this leadership,
Lord.
We need you so desperately, Lord God, in
a very dark and dying hour in America,
Lord God.
Lord, raise us up as an example, Lord
God, worldwide.
We bless you, Lord, and we thank you,
God.
We're so grateful for what you're doing, what
you've done, Lord God, and what you're going
to do as we cling to your name,
to your greatness, Lord God, because it's in
you, Lord, that you make us great.
We honor your name today, Jesus, and we
thank you, and we bless you, Lord God.
Amen.
Lord Jesus, I thank you for all of
us that have come to this altar, believing
you, Lord, that this week you will wash
our feet, that we may become a servant.
Thank you.
You will not fail to do that.
Lord, we acknowledge how many times you have
in utter humility, our God, washed our feet,
and we are overwhelmed, so we know it's
possible, O God, to have a heart change.
We know it's possible.
If we will let you wash our feet
this week, we can be what you're asking
us to be this week, so thank you.
You will not forsake us or leave us
in this to ourselves to try, but you
will walk with us.
You will wash our feet and put our
feet on a different path, and we'll be
able to give you glory.
We'll be able to be a light this
week.
Thank you.
We don't lean on our own understanding of
what it means to be a servant in
our lives, but you will be faithful to
us to teach us and to show us
and to train us what that means for
each of us.
Lord, I thank you for the glory you're
going to get.
I thank you, Lord.
As we ask you to wash our feet
this week, a beautiful thing will happen in
us and through us.
To God be the glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.