Sunday Service in Manila
On Sunday morning, Matt, Erin, Ethan, Miriam and I had the opportunity to play alongside the Sampaloc Bible Christian Community worship team in Manila. We played for both of their morning services. It was so amazing that we could partner in worship together singing praises to the Lord.
For the first service we got to hear a sermon in Tagalog from one of the SBCC Pastors, Pio Edillo. He taught on Matthew 20:25-28, where Jesus teaches his disciples that in order to be a leader, they must first learn to serve, and how the Son of Man did not come into the world to be served, but to serve. Additionally, true greatness is not found in material possessions or status in this world, but in servanthood.
For the second service, we got the privilege Mariam sharing her testimony of coming to faith in Jesus, and the struggles she has faced in moving from country to country. Her journey of trusting the Lord and eventually finding peace through all the ups and downs of her life were so powerful.
Mike Arzie taught this second service and also gave a message on serving. He focused on Philippians 2:5-8 where Paul lays out how we must imitate Christ in how he lived and died. Humbling Himself, and becoming a servant and obeying God to the point of death.
Mike gave multiple points of what service to the Lord should look like:
We are called to serve.
Serving is to be joyful.
We don’t mind serving others until we are treated like a servant ourselves.
Service is to be motivated by forgiveness, not guilt.
We are to serve one another through love.
I think the whole church left feeling really encouraged including myself with a refreshed perspective of what serving should look like, and when we serve where our motivation comes from.