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266 How to Serve Like Jesus: Embracing Service through Pain and Grace

Your Hope-Filled Perspective with Dr. Michelle Bengtson podcast

Release Date: 05/16/2024

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Episode Summary: 

In moments of pain and suffering, we often find the deepest appreciation for acts of love and care from those around us. It is during our pain when we are most in need and perhaps most receptive to when others serve like Jesus. But when the tables are turned, we may struggle to know what to do for others. Join me with Michele Howe as we explore how to embrace service through pain and grace, learning how to serve like Jesus.

 

Quotables from the episode:

  • Just as we are blessed, encouraged, and discipled by others, we likewise grow in grace and maturity when we use our gifts to serve others.
  • The whole principle of serving like Jesus means being on the receiving end of others God-given gifts and talents, while we serve others using our own.
  • God is faithful. He never calls us to a task without equipping us with everything we need to complete it.
  • Serving like Jesus requires intentionality, counting others higher than ourselves, and giving without reservation or expectation.
  • When we are on the receiving end of service as fellow believers obeying Jesus by using the gifts and talents given them by God, we are deeply impacted and can grow in wisdom, Bible knowledge, understanding, and application.
  • When we obey the Lord's command to serve others through his grace and strength, we in turn build up and strengthen our fellow believers so that the entire body of Christ can come to maturity.
  • We are called to serve--everyone of us, every day. There are no exceptions to this high calling.
  • We are saved by grace and in dwelled by the Holy Spirit, who teaches us, comforts us, chastises us, and compels us to serve.
  • Serving like Jesus means offering kindness and mercy to those who don't deserve it.
  • Before speaking the truth in love, bathe the conversation in prayer in order to help ensure that you approach the conversation with humility, grace, and compassion. 

 

Scripture References:

  • Philippians 2:3-8 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
  • 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
  • Galatians 5:13-14 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 

 

Recommended Resources: 

 

Social Media Links for Guest and Host:

Connect with Michele Howe:

Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

For more hope, stay connected with Dr. Bengtson at:

Order Book Breaking Anxiety’s Grip / Order Book Hope Prevails  /  Website  /  Blog  /  Facebook / Twitter (@DrMBengtson)  /  LinkedIn  /  Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube

 

Guest:

Michele Howe is the author of many books and has published over 2500 articles and reviews on parenting, women’s issues, and the empty next. Some of her books include Empty Nest: What’s Next? Parenting Children without Losing Your Mind, and Finding Freedom and Joy in Self-Forgetfulness.

 

Hosted By: Dr. Michelle Bengtson
Audio Technical Support: Bryce Bengtson