Do you volunteer or do you have to be asked?

Do you volunteer to minister or do you have to be asked? Jesus commands us to go... to make disciples and to be "Jesus" to the world.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

We live in such a selfish world... it has truly become the "me" society. You want "me" to go and do... not unless I have to or I am asked or worse told to! What happened to the I will go "immediately" and not wait for someone to have to ask or tell me to go. The disciples stopped what they were doing and immediately followed Jesus.

If the world is to know us by our love... why are we so reluctant to show our love? Even in the church we are reluctant to show our love. Do you have to be asked to minister to your fellow believer or do you volunteer before being asked or told? If someone is in need of prayer do you pray or do you say you will pray? If someone is in the hospital and has a need do you have to be invited to go and minister or do you just so and be "Jesus" to them in their time of need. Ever heard the term Nursery duty" it's not a duty it's a ministry! You are touching the lives of those little ones!

There's a saying; "no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care". As Pastors, Sunday School Teachers, Elders and other church leaders you can preach and teach on Sunday morning and show how much you know but until your congregation and fellow believers know how much you care your knowledge is nothing more than empty words.

The next time someone needs a phone call, a cup of coffee, a hospital visit, someone to volunteer in the nursery or just someone to listen to them... don't wait to be asked - just go and be "Jesus" to them... after all that's what we are called to do!

Pastor John