Bob Dylan once wrote these lines in one of his lesser known songs: You may be a construction worker working on a home, You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome, You might own guns and you might even own tanks, You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks. But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed You're gonna have to serve somebody, Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you're gonna have to serve somebody. We all serve someone or something. We often serve ourselves. Or we may serve some idol such as ambition, relationships, money, peer opinion, etc. “When a servant comes in from plowing or taking care of sheep, does his master say, ‘Come in and eat with me’? No, he says, ‘Prepare my meal, put on your apron, and serve me while I eat. Then you can eat later.’ And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not. In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’ ” (Luke 17:7–10, NLT) Overall, the Bible teaches that being a servant includes: Action, doing – it is not a philosophical concept, but a role to be lived out Obedience to the master, not disobedience Trust and dependence on the master, not self-reliance Submission to the will of the master, not doing our own thing or rebellion/disobedience Those who have trusted in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation are not just free from God's judgment - free to do as they like. They are freed from sin in order to do good, to live righteous lives, to be holy. “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” (Romans 1:5, NIV-84) “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.” (Romans 6:15–18, NLT) Followers of Jesus can find fulfillment and joy in serving God, willingly and from the heart. We should not seek so much for God to serve us, but for us to serve him, which is an inestimable privilege. A life of service to God, in whatever role, job, or situation we find ourselves in, is a great blessing now and will be even better in eternity to come.

Pablo Mandresa (from Hope Fellowship North Belfast) preached to us on the topic of ‘unity’ from John 17.

The only ground of God’s love is his love. The ground of God’s love is only and wholly in himself. There is neither portion nor proportion in us to draw his love. There is no love nor loveliness in us that should cause a beam of his love to shine upon us. Thomas Brooks (Puritan) “The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the LORD rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:7–8, NLT) “For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the LORD, who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:10, NLT) “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.” (1 John 4:9–11, NLT) “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.” (1 John 3:1, NLT) “For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”” (Zephaniah 3:17, NLT)

God cares not just for those who already follow him, but also those who don't yet have a restored relationship with him: ““For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NLT) God rejoices when just one person turns to him. God and the angels are overjoyed when people turn to God through faith in Jesus. They are overjoyed not just when many people turn, but when each individual turns to God. “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” (Luke 15:1–7, NLT) God doesn’t just call you to turn from sin to do good. That’s what the morally superior group of people had done in Romans 2:1-16. And judgment was still on them because they were not perfect. Turning away from sin is not enough. We need to turn away from self-reliance too, and rely on God’s grace and mercy, not our own self-righteousness. We need to trust in Jesus Christ, and be accepted by the Father through faith in him. “But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” (Romans 3:21–24, NLT)

Depression is a terrible thing. Just like a physical illness can cripple a person, so too depression can affect people’s live greatly, even to the point of not wanting to keep on living. Yet, the Bible teaches a lot that is relevant to depression and mental illness, even if it is not packaged with a chapter titled 'Depression'! Depression is a terrible thing. Just like a physical illness can cripple a person, so too depression can affect people’s live greatly, even to the point of not wanting to keep on living. Yet, the Bible teaches a lot that is relevant to depression and mental illness, even if it is not packaged with a chapter titled 'Depression'!

“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:6–8, NLT) The cross is the greatest example of God’s love, of any love. “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16, NLT) The gospel message is not simply a message of present and future blessing for anyone who trusts in Jesus. It is a message of present and future blessing for anyone who trusts in Jesus, because he suffered and died a terrible death on a Roman cross, because of our sin. The gospel is not just good news – it is good news because it solves the problem of the bad news of our sin. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”” (Romans 10:9–13, NLT)

Pride keeps us from coming to Jesus. Pride keeps us from following Jesus as we ought to. But humility is essential to be forgiven. And humility is essential in the Christian life Jesus told this parable (Luke 18:9-14) to people who were self-righteous, and who scorned everyone else. There is a real problem for some religious people, because they look down on others. But, humility should be a way of life for the Christian. We are called to be nice, loving people. But we don’t have it naturally within us. We can only be so by the strength of the Spirit. Let’s not walk in the flesh, but in the Spirit, to produce the fruit of the Spirit, true love, true joy, true patience, etc. Jesus came to serve: “Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:27, NLT) Jesus humbled himself to come as a child, and to die on the cross. Paul writes to the Philippian church: “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:3–11, NLT) Have you trusted in him? If not, do so now. Are you trusting in your own niceness, or instead in Jesus’ righteousness by faith? Are you following his example? If not, commit to do so now.

“So we can say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:6–8, NLT) We should therefore not fear what people can do to us, because we have a helper – because we have a reliable helper in Jesus Christ. He is as reliable today and into the future as he has been in the past. Trust him, he will never let you down. Say it “with confidence”. “The LORD is my helper, so I will have no fear.”

Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, NLT) This is in contrast to the other leaders of the people in the past who were bad leaders/shepherds (Ezekiel 34:2-4). However, while many people like to be comforted by the words of Psalm 23, the blessings outlined in it are conditional. Just like the sheep follow their shepherd, so too those who want the blessings from the Good Shepherd must follow him. Just like in Jesus' time, so too today sheep respond to the voice of their shepherd. One person recounts: “...seeing many flocks mingled at a watering place. When one shepherd was ready to leave he simply walked away, making a certain sound. Immediately, his sheep separated themselves from the others and followed him. His sheep followed him because they knew his voice.” (Herschel H. Hobbs, My Favorite Illustrations (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1990), 157.) The blessings of Psalm 23 are clear and comforting. But in order to experience them, we need to be followers of Jesus: “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,” (John 10:14, NLT) To have that relationship with the Good Shepherd, to start to follow him, we need to place our trust in him for forgiveness of sins, and for eternal life. Jesus gave up his life for us, and we ought to believe and trust in him. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11, NLT) “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NLT)