"Remember today what you have learned about the Lord through your experiences with Him."  Deuteronomy 11:2 (TEV)

II.  Remember what you have learned:

      1.  About God

          “Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him." Colossians 1:16 (Msg)

      2.  About life

          a.  Life on Earth prepares you for eternity

             “God has planted eternity in the human heart”  Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)

          b. We are put on earth for 5 purposes:

              *Planned for God’s pleasure       Worship
              *Formed for God’s family           Fellowship
              *Created to become like Christ   Discipleship
              *Shaped to serve God                Ministry
              *Made for a mission                   Evangelism

      3. About our mission

          a. People are hungry for spiritual truth

“Look around you! Vast fields of human souls are ripening all around us, and are ready now for reaping.” John 4:35 (LB)

         1. Start living what you’ve learned!

             "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”  John 13:17 (NIV)

         2. Grow through fellowship

             “As iron sharpens iron, so people can improve each other.” Proverbs 27:17 (NCV)

         3. Pass it on

            “Now I want you to tell these same things to followers who can be trusted to tell others." 2 Timothy 2:2b (CEV)

1.  Introduction

2.  What keeps us from using our spiritual gifts to serve God?

     a. Partially committed

Romans 6:13 (NLT)  "Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life.  And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God."

Deuteronomy 10:12 (NCV)  "This is what does the Lord God wants you to do: Respect the Lord and do what he has told you to do.  Love him. Serve the Lord your God with your whole being."

Matthew 6:24 (NIV)  "No one can serve two masters.  Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and Money."

            i) Letting go of something (Proverbs 10:17)

               Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)  "Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress."

            ii) Putting first things first (Luke 10:40-42)

       c.  Lack of motivation

2 Corinthians 5:15 (NIV)  "He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."

Romans 12:1 (GW)  "Brothers and sisters, in view of all we have just shared about God's compassion, I encourage you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, dedicated to God and pleasing to him.".

Why should we serve?

1.  It demonstrates our love for each other (vs. 1-2)

2.  It shows that our security is in God. (vs. 3-5)

Luke 22:26-27  “But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

Mark 10:45   “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Phillipians 2:5-7a  “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant.”