Service

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The Servant

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The Servant

Dave Riddle - 09/01/19

Key Passages: Colossians 3:22-25, Ephesians 6:5-8

doulos (Greek: δοῦλος): a slave, bondman, man of servile condition

The Command? Obey

  • hypakouō (Greek: ὑπακούω) - listen, used of one who, at a knock on the door, comes to listen for who is there (duty of a porter). To listen to a command, to obey, be obedient to, submit to.

The Way of Obedience

In All Ways

  • Colossians 3:22 - ...obey your masters in all things.

With the proper attitude

  • Ephesians 6:5 - ...obey ...with respect and fear

At All Times

  • Ephesians 6:6 - obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you.

      • Emphasized again in Colossians 3:22

With the Right Heart

  • Ephesians 6:6-7 - ...doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly.

Committed to Excellence

  • Colossians 3:23 - In all the work you are doing, work the best you can.

Having a Spiritual Focus

  • Colossians 3:24 - you are serving the Lord Christ.

Maintaining a Kingdom Perspective 

  • Colossians 3:24 - Remember that you will receive your reward from the Lord.


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Spiritual Formation Pt. 2

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Vitals - Spiritual Formation Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 07/14/19
Key Verses: Philippians 3:10, Galatians 4:19

ginōskō (Greek: γινώσκω) - to know by experience, in contract to an intellectual or intuitive type of knowledge.

  • it’s one thing to know what sunburn is, it’s another thing completely to ‘experience’ sunburn.

symmorphizō (Greek: συμμορφίζω) - to receive the same form as; to be conformed to.

  • Luke 6:40 - ...everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

  • We are being transformed, not by our own power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Practices & Rhythms

  • Not obligations, but invitations!

Study

  • Philippians 4:8 - “...dwell on these things”

  • Repetition, conversation, reflection

Meditation

  • Psalm 63:6 HCSB): When I think of You as I lie on my bed, I meditate on You during the night watches

  • On scripture, on the works of God, on the things we see happening around us.

Prayer

  • “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life. Of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the most central because it ushers us into perpetual communion with the father.” -R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Fasting

  • Luke 4:1-2 - Jesus fasted.

  • “More than any other discipline fasting reveals the things that control us.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

  • Matthew 6:16 - not a requirement, but it does appear to be an expectation. “when you fast”

Solitude

  • Mark 1:35

  • Solitude =/= loneliness

  • Let him who cannot be alone beware of community... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone... Each by itself has profound perils and pitfalls. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and the one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation and despair.” - Bonhoeffer ‘Life Together’

Simplicity 

  • “The central point for the discipline of simplicity is to seek the kingdom of God and righteousness of his kingdom first and then everything necessary will come in it’s proper order.” - R. Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’

Submission

  • To God, to the cross, to scripture, to our family, our neighbors, to the needs of others, to the body of Christ.

Service

  • John 13:15 - "For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you. "