You Are Called to Serve Others, Not Yourself

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES What On Earth Am I Here For?

You Are Called to Serve Others, Not Yourself By Rick Warren — Oct 1, 2015 “Each of us will give a personal account to God.” (Romans 14:12 NLT, second edition) At the end of your life on Earth, you will stand before God, and he is going to evaluate how well you served others with your life. The Bible says, “Each of us will give a personal account to God” (Romans 14:12 NLT, second edition). Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others. At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: “I was too busy” or “I had my own goals” or “I was preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement.” To all excuses God will respond, “Sorry, wrong answer. I created, saved, and called you and commanded you to live a life of service. What part did you not understand?” The Bible warns unbelievers, “He will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves,” but for Christians it will mean a loss of eternal rewards (Romans 2:8a). We are only fully alive when we’re helping others. Jesus said, “If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live” (Mark 8:35 TLB; see also Matthew 10:39, 16:25; Luke 9:24, 17:33). This truth is so important that it is repeated five times in the gospels. If you are not serving, you are just existing, because life is meant for ministry. God wants you to learn to love and serve others unselfishly. PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over What has been the effect on you when you serve others? Why does God want us to learn to love and serve others? What does that say about him? What service has God called you to that you didn’t think you had enough time or energy to do? Our Gift: The Purpose Driven Life, Expanded Edition Hardback Book PLUS 3 What Is the Purpose of My Life? booklets Since its release The Purpose Driven Life has been translated into 85 different languages and has become the “Bestselling non-fiction hardback book in history” according to Publishers Weekly, all because of the Christ centered approach the book takes to answering life’s most fundamental question: What on Earth Am I Here For? LEARN MORE Complete Audio Series (Purchase) Includes all complete sermons from the Rick Warren What On Earth Am I Here For? teaching series. LEARN MORE Series Summary Message 1: The Call Is For You Message 2: ​​​​Called To Be Loved Message 3: ​​​​You Are Called To Belong Message 4: ​​​You Are Called To Become Message 5: You Are Called To Bless Message 6: I'm Called To Be Sent Message 7: Why God Made You! PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST

Pastor Rick Warren

Enjoy today's Devotional? Listen instantly to the full radio message at Daily Hope Radio. Did someone forward this devotional to you? Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional. This devotional is based on the current Daily Hope radio series at rickwarren.org. Rick Warren has helped people live with hope and on purpose for more than 40 years. He’s the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of several books, including "The Purpose Driven Church" and "The Purpose Driven Life," read by more than 100 million people in 137 languages. He created the PEACE Plan (plant churches of reconciliation, equip servant leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, educate the next generation), which is used by churches in 196 countries. His radio teaching and daily devotional, Daily Hope, is offered across America. This devotional © 2015 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. You can unsubscribe at any time by changing your e-mail preferences. Update your preferences  |  Unsubscribe