Sunday, August 10, 2025 - 9am Contemporary Service, Guest Speaker Mahendra Singh
August 10, 2025 · Mahindra Singh
Scripture referenced 6 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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John 13:1-3 Read aloud as the main scripture passage, introducing Jesus washing the disciples' feet
1 Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God,
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
John 13:4-7
Continued reading describing Jesus rising, taking a towel, and washing the disciples' feet
4 arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5 Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.”
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John 13:12-17
Read aloud, Jesus asking if they understood what he had done and giving the command to wash one another's feet
12 So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13 You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.
14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.
16 Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither one who is sent greater than he who sent him.
17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
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John 3:16
Cited as the basis for the Crossroads saying of loving people until they ask why
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
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John 3:17
Cited alongside John 3:16 to show God did not come to condemn the world
17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
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Romans 5:8
Quoted to show God demonstrated his love toward us while we were yet sinners
8 But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Mahindra Singh, who leads Crossroads Ministries in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, brought this message from John 13, the account of Jesus washing His disciples' feet. He drew from over thirty years of hands-on ministry work to describe what he called the essence of authentic ministry. The through-line was simple: genuine ministry flows from a servant's heart, not from impressive works or titles.
What was said
Mahindra opened with the scene in John 13. Jesus, on the night He would be betrayed, already knowing who would hand Him over, got up from the table and washed His disciples' feet. That act, Mahindra said, crystallizes everything about who Jesus is. All of His ministry, from leaving heaven to walking the earth, was about stooping beneath. The disciples had seen miracles, but Jesus gave them this as their clearest example.
The first mark of real ministry Mahindra pointed to was that Jesus drew God into everything, including the most ordinary and menial tasks. He argued that preparation for ministry is not primarily about what you know, but about time spent on your knees. It takes God's power not only to do miracles but to produce a genuinely servant heart. Without that, Mahindra warned, it is easy to love ministry without loving God.
The second mark was that Jesus ministered supernaturally in the ordinary. Mahindra pushed back against a habit he sees often, always chasing the spectacular while missing what God is doing in everyday moments. He told of a man who stepped in front of his truck while Mahindra was praying alone, asking him to hold church in his house. That man came to faith, passed away six months later reading from the book of Job, and a congregation of thirty-five women grew from that single unplanned encounter. Ministry, Mahindra said, cannot always be arranged ahead of time.
He then described what he called the thousand-block project. Women in the community where that first man had lived learned that they could pray directly to God rather than through their ancestors. When asked what they needed, all eighteen said their houses had been washed away in floods. One woman knew how to make cinder blocks. They pooled their own money, drew water from the river, made the blocks, and Mahindra's team built the houses. By the time he left for Jackson, house number eighteen was underway. He said the women had nothing except their love for God and their neighbors, and that was enough.
Mahindra tied this to character. He said our response to ministry reveals who we really are, and the people Crossroads works with are watching. They are not initially looking for God because they do not know who God is. They are looking at the people in front of them. He said the communities he serves have told him, after coming to faith, that they are grateful for the chance to know who God truly is, and that those conversations only happen because someone was willing to be seen clearly.
He closed with what he called the Ollie Ray effect, named for his granddaughter Olivia, who wears a onesie that reads "love is my superpower." He said the love of God is exactly that, a superpower, and it is the one thing every person in the room already carries. At Crossroads, he said, "We love people until they ask us why." He cited John 3:16 and 17 and Romans 5:8, noting that God did not send His Son to condemn the world, and that those who have tasted that love have no business condemning anyone either. The people sitting in the room, he said, are carriers of that superpower.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Mahindra said it is easy to love ministry but not love God. What do you think that looks like in practice, and have you ever caught yourself there?
- He described Jesus washing the disciples' feet as a picture of everything Jesus is, saying that all of His ministry is about reaching down beneath. What does that kind of downward movement look like in the ordinary rhythms of your week?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,321 words
Good morning, church. Will you please stand up and let's worship the Lord? If you are here this morning, that means almighty God wants to tell you something this morning. Will you please pay attention to that whisper of the Holy Spirit? I am sure.
I am 100% he's gonna say something to you this morning. With that in mind, let's worship. I'm thankful that we have Lisa on the piano, pastor Ray, as always, on the bass. Maria, she sings so beautiful, and Aaron helps me to stay on time. Let's worship the Lord.
Amen? Amen.
And we have a few announcements. We'll see what they are. I've got a few of them that I know about, but let's go through these first and see what's happening. So if you feel like you need more space, there's more space down the hall. If you're looking for an easy way to serve, there is there's overflow room down the hall.
If you wanna go down there, somebody says, and write on the tables. I mean, write on paper on the tables, but, you know, that reminds me of children's church. It's happening today. Children's church is downstairs later on. I'll announce that again.
Before I get too far gone, I usually forget this. There will be two collections today. And let me say, it's not because you didn't give enough the first time around. Okay? It's just because we have a missionary that's gonna be speaking this today.
And I'd like to give you a chance to listen to him first and just kinda see what's going on, see what's going on there. But Mahindra Singh is a very good friend of mine. We met in 2010. Both of us were stewards at the Lausanne Convention in Cape Town, South Africa. I was sent by the seminary, and they met made a call out for locals, people from South Africa to come help out.
So there were like maybe 300 stewards, and we were helping with this large gathering. And he and his buddy Bob and me and my buddy Sean got together, and we worked long shifts. They they had about half as many people as they thought they would have doing our job, so we worked double shifts. And got to know them quickly in the three weeks we were there. And then four years later, I didn't know I was gonna be a pastor here when I met him the first time, and we had a missionary that was serving from here, there.
And she lived less than ten minutes from him. And there's a time when she needed a soft place to land, and I called my buddy. I knew two people, literally two people in South Africa. One of them in one city and one in another. And when I called Mahindra and said, hey, could you offer a soft place to land to a missionary?
He said, tell me more about this missionary. And that person ended up working with him for four years. And it was a blessing to all all of us. So I'm very very thankful for him. He'll get a chance to speak today.
That's happening. That's what the two collections are. And I'm gonna invite these folks forward. Dustin Flueckiger and his family, if you would come forward. So there's gonna be a meet and greet gathering so that you can see these folks and actually get a chance to talk to them more.
He came in and preached, I think, actually, when we were visiting Mahindra the last time. And this is Dustin and Callie, and I'll let you introduce the rest of the family.
Alright. Hey, y'all. Welcome. Hey. Good to see you.
This is Callie, my wife. We've been married for fifteen years. And we have Rose, who is 10. Gonna be 10 in a couple weeks. Isla, who is eight.
Jude, the dude, who's six. This is Elle. She's four. And then little Opal is loud in ten months.
So really, really, really great to be with you. We will
be at the connect hour after this service.
Yep. So so after this service, and to be at the beginning of the second service, they'll be here. But I just want you know, Dustin is a candidate for the associate pastor position. We're meeting him and getting, if you wanna ask him hard questions, ask him hard questions. If you wanna ask him about family stuff, ask him family stuff, and along with the along with Callie and with the family too.
But I wanna pray for them, and then we'll see what the rest of announcements are. God, I I pray that you'd show us all your will and your way that you do things the way that you do them, Lord. We that you bring you bring, Lord. Order out of chaos. And so I ask that you do that.
In Jesus' name, I ask your blessing on this family and the way that you will use them into the future. I pray for the life of this church too, that you would show us all your way and we would proceed forward in great unity and harmony. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it. So and there's also a meet and greet this afternoon. That's what the slide says. At the Yates family home down in Melody, 4365 Balsam Lane. If you wanna go this afternoon from one to four, drop in and you can hang out, get a little bit more time there.
There is a mission trip going to Guatemala with Hope of Life international, Here comes Mike. He's gonna tell you more about it.
Guys, I'm hi. My name is Mike Demetrius. I'm the youth pastor here at Firstbee. We've taken three or four, Ray's probably been a whole handful of times, down to Guatemala. We partner up with a team out of is it Michigan?
Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania and Michigan pharmacists. And we Hope of Life hosts us and then we partner with another organization called Hands and Feet. And essentially what we do is we just meet needs on the ground in very practical ways. Hope of Life has an orphanage, a hospital, a school, an elderly or like a senior living facility all on-site.
They have a farm on-site and they go into the communities where they're the deepest needs and they rescue kids and they bring them out and they punch wells and they build schools and we build houses. And it is a remarkable ministry. We haven't been there since COVID hit, and we're excited to be going back this year. If you would consider going with us, we're taking a team and we're partnering up with another team on the way. It'll be seven days and it will change people's lives.
And one of the person's life it will change would be yours. So I hope that you would consider prayerfully if you're to be on this trip because it is really really a special time. I'm looking forward to it. I'm gonna be helping host Ray and Tanya. We'll be helping host this trip as well.
So consider it. Guatemala, October.
October 11 through the eighteenth. That's Saturday to a Saturday, and it's a it's a great organization. We've been going since, yeah, since 2012. We've been a lot of times. Tanya's been a couple times a year.
Engine room is a Sunday morning prayer group that meets downstairs starting between eight and 08:30, and they just begin praying for what will happen here today, primarily about Sunday services and for blessing on all who would enter. If you wanna be a part of that, that's good. Seeking truth in your twenties. This is the last time of the summer. It's my understanding that they're gonna be doing this.
So if you are in your twenties, if you're graduated from high school all the way up through your twenties, this is the seeking truth in your twenties college aged group. Sunday nights at 06:30 out at the McCooey's house off of Zenith. Free entry. All kinds of fun stuff going on talking about scripture, authentic conversations, live music, food, fun, games, all that sort of stuff too. And it's been really well attended and good, and it's a good place to be.
So this is the last one for this time frame, I think. That's good. JH Women's Community Bible Study is meeting September tenth through the twenty ninth. This time, they're gonna be meeting at PCJH on South Park Loop. So that's ten to noon on Wednesdays.
They'll be covering the book of Genesis. Old Bill's season is happening right now. There are lot of announcements today. Old Bill's season is happening right now. That's that's a way of amplifying giving.
If you want to give, say, to the Good Samaritan Mission, or if you wanted to give to Compass Women's Care, or if you wanted to give to any other organization, and we have lots of them there, several hundreds on the list, because of the community foundation, they will amplify giving. So a dollar to say, First Bees Benevolence Fund through the community foundation usually reaches the Benevolence Fund at about a dollar and 0.5. So that's happening. Season is now August 15 through September 12. Hey, that's the last of the announcements.
This says, if you QR code that, it'll just take you to our website, firstbjackson.org. Most of the rest of the information you need to know about what's going on here is on there. Did I forget anything or anybody? Okay. I got two very confident nos.
Alright. Would you stand and we're gonna bring you back together with a song right now.
Amen. Praise the Lord. Lord, almighty God, thank you for giving us the privilege to be here, lord. It's great to be here and to worship your name. Lord, as I said at the beginning of the service, would you please whisper something to our hearts, lord?
May we know your will better in our lives, and may we follow you with all our hearts. Lord, it's not easy. You know it's not easy. Jesus, you went here and this you you you lived here, and you know it's not easy. But with your power, with your strength, we continue to serve you and praise your name.
In your precious name, I pray, amen. Amen. So I practice with Carl a lot. This song, there's no way I'm gonna play like him. And with this occasion, wanna say, Carl, if you watch this service online or thank you for all you have done in this beautiful valley at church.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve here. And I do what I do right now because you invested in me. I love you, Carl. Thank you. I cannot play like Carl.
There's no way.
You brought me out of darkness. You have filled me with peace. Giver of mercy, you're my help in time of need.
Praise the Lord. It's good to be here. It's good to feel the church alive and worship the Lord. Amen? Amen.
Although I pay attention to the lyrics, believe me, I do pay attention to you all, and you are on the same page with me. So I'm I'm thankful for that. Cape of five. That's very important. Amen.
Praise the Lord.
It's alright.
I invite Lisa and miss Judy at the piano.
Lord God, we ask for your peace. We ask for your peace to descend. Lord, we ask for you to superintend and to take care of our hearts, of our minds, of our bodies. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask for your healing presence right now. Thank you, Lord.
Thank you for this body that's gathered in your name, this little representation of the body of Christ. May we be continuing the work, Lord, that you have set out for us to do. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask your blessing on this offering. We ask your blessing on each family that's represented here, that it would extend up in the generations, Lord, to the to the seasoned ones. And, to the smallest baby in the room, I pray your blessing would rest, Lord.
In Jesus' name, I'm thankful for being here this morning. Overwhelmed by your goodness and your grace and your love and your continuing faithfulness. In in Christ's name, Lord, we want to be spreading the news of the gospel to the very uttermost parts. Would you, Lord, do your will and your way here among us this morning and through us as we go forth from this place. Amen.
Thank thank you, Judy. Thank you, Lisa. And the new piano. Wow. Beautiful.
Thank you for doing that. I don't wanna keep on introducing him, but Mahindra is gonna come on up. Church. Yay. Thank you very much.
Children's church is happening right now. It's time for it. We'll give them a second to get out of the room, and I I Mahindra has been involved in Crossroads Ministry in KwaZulu Natal for the last thirty one, maybe thirty two years. So I've known him for fifteen. He's been doing this a long time.
He's a practitioner, somebody that's really putting the gospel to into the highways and the hedges as it were. But I'm gonna just sit down and enjoy it. I love you. Amen.
Can you read that scripture?
Oh, I should do that. I told him I told him I would read the scripture. Now, before the feast of the Passover, this is John 13. We're gonna go a ways into this. John thirteen one through three.
Now, before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he would depart from this world to the father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon to betray him. Jesus, knowing that the father had handed all things over to him and that he had come forth from God, and that he was going back to God. He got up from supper and actually in the new American standard version, when you see that little asterisk, it's an historical present. It's a storytelling device that brings you into the scene like nothing else.
So basically, says, knowing that the father had handed all things over to him that he had come forth from God and he was going back to God, he gets up from supper. He lays his outer garments aside and he took a towel and he tied it around himself. And then he pours water into the basin and he began washing the disciples feet and began wiping them with the towel which he had tied around himself. That's up through verse seven. We're gonna skip eight through 11 for right now.
And then 12 says this, and then when he had washed their feet and taken his garments and reclined at the table again, he said to them, do you know what I've done for you? Y'all call me teacher and lord and you're correct for so I am. So if the Lord and the teacher wash your feet, you also ought to be washing one another's feet for I gave you an example so that you also would do just as I did for you. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master nor is one who sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you're blessed if you do them.
Amen.
Thank you, pastor Ray. It is such a privilege and an honor, but a great responsibility and I thank you for trusting me with this opportunity. I always thought I was busier I was the busiest person on the earth till I came here. And, unfortunately, I had to be tagged along. He didn't know what to do with me, so I was tagging along.
He passed away wherever I go. And, you know, we're stopping and repairing cars and he's at an elders meeting at 08:30, he's doing a wedding. I'm like, what is going on with this guy? And so but all through all that, it's such a to be able to see Ray, Pastor Ray and Tanya. We had great privilege of having her come down with us.
The first time my buddy and I, Bob Naidu, so passed away in Durban, Cape Town, I mean Cape Town, South Africa. I said to Bob, doesn't he look like Kenny Rogers? Hey, listen, I come from a small town and so lots of what we see is on TV. So, I mean, what do I know? And so, when I shared it with my wife, Lynette, she said, yeah, I think so.
And, he can sing. Yeah, it was really cool. We we missed his life, him and and his buddy. We missed his life. We we'd work till like close to midnight when we were in in Cape Town.
And then we take them for the best food on earth. In Indian food. Apparently, Indian food is going to be the food in heaven. I don't know. So, those of you who don't like Indian food, you better start enjoying it.
Let's get back to what's important. I'm not going to do justice to the scripture and I know pastor Ray does such a great job and I don't even know why I'm preaching. I would love to hear him preach. And I listen in to the sermons when he preach and I absolutely love the depth of which this church is enjoying. I had an opportunity of sharing with a group yesterday as I was, you know, gate crashed, a party again.
And I was sharing about the power of God's word. The power to transform a life. And, this morning as we we hear in front of in front of this scripture, John chapter 13, you know, it always brings tears to my eyes when I think about it because I I think I'm like the disciple. I think I would I would I would have done the same thing. Jesus Christ is at this point at the end of his ministry, and the Bible says he he knows his time has come.
But the other thing is he knows one of his disciples are gonna betray him. Yet, the scripture says, he loved them till the end. And if you, you know, read throughout the gospels, these guys were just jockeying for power, saying dumb things, You know, I'm sure they were like kids pushing each other to get one wants to get in front. And John, I love when John says in his writing, the disciple Jesus love, like, come on. And then also, you know, in a time when they run into the tomb, John mentions, I outran Peter.
And and yet and yet Jesus is here now. You know, he's probably thinking, what am I gonna do with these guys? Somebody should wash somebody these Jewish boys know this. Somebody should have washed feet. But they all know.
They because if somebody went, you know, went beneath, then the other guys will go, so you are the servant. And the Bible tells us, Jesus Christ took out the garments, took out his outer garment, took a towel, and began to wash feet. I think this epitomizes all of who Jesus is. A man who reached down beneath. All of his all of his ministry is about washing feet.
He left heaven, came to earth to wash feet. The scripture is saying to us, and as I begin to look at this, and as pastor Ray said, pray and preach, I'm saying, God, what want do me to say? So today, whatever you're going to hear from me is things we practice at Crossroads for the last thirty one years. Going on thirty two. We just feel this is the way we do ministry.
And I know you know this, but I'm going to say it anyway. When I refer to ministry or minister, all of us are ministers of the gospel and the grace of Jesus Christ. So we're not referring to a group of people. And I'd like to if if I wanna give this my sermon a title, I wanna say the essence the essence of two of authentic ministry from my point of view as I look at the scriptures. You know, there's lots of ministries, there's lots of forms, there's lots of things going on in in the area near your basement.
I was so surprised how many things go on in the basement downstairs. And I must say though, possibly, I don't know if you want me to, if I lived here, I'd come to Fursby. Because I just feel the warmth of people here. I don't want to sound intelligent, but the cononeer. The fellowship and the connection.
So if we talk about ministry this morning, I'd like to give you some identifiable marks that what, you know, Jesus Christ stood down and said, what am I what am I going to do with these guys? And then he said, let me give them some examples of what real ministry is about. Remember, these guys seen it all. They saw Lazarus raised from the dead. They saw a blind man.
They saw, you know, a woman touched as Jesus touched the garment of of of the woman with an issue of blood. They've seen it all. So the idea is Jesus is saying, okay, what can I do to crystallize all of this into one more thing? And I always thought he'll do another miracle because these guys really enjoy those things. But yet, he said, I'm gonna do the greatest miracle.
It's I'm gonna teach you to be a servant. Because what you don't know, Jesus is saying, what you don't know is all of your life from Yale onwards is you're gonna have to reach beneath. And you're not gonna be somebody that's on the pulpit all the time. So let's quickly dive into. Like I said, we have six points.
I wanna hit it quickly. I know I have limited time. The first thing that that reminds me of real ministry is Jesus drew God into everything. Jesus drew God into everything. And by doing so, he made the most menial and monotonous chore a holy experience as well as a faithful service done to God.
He took the so g you we know that Jesus had took a lot of time to pray. Why? Because he realized he realized that his strength and his power comes from the father. So preparation of ministry is not about how much you know walking, but how much you do on your knees praying. Because that's where the direction and the success comes from.
And Jesus did it all the time. Jesus took the most menial Sorry. As we can see, we see here in the in the book of John chapter 13 verses two and four, says, the evening meal was being served and David had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and he was returning to God. So he got up from the the mule, took off his outer garment, wrapped a towel and poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with a towel that was wrapped around him.
I've learned in ministry, it takes all of God's power in us to do the most menial and commonplace things in his way. We think we need power for healing. We think we need power from God to do mighty works for him. We need God's power to be able to provide us with a heart that is that is a heart of service. Amen.
We see we see it so often that Jesus Christ was teaching these guys that greatness in the kingdom of God will not be measured by how high you rise, but how low you stoop. Not by what your fellow man says about you and the praise he gives or in the value he finds in your work, but in what the master says about you and the value he finds in your work. It's the father who's who's giving me the nod. Jesus Christ is saying to his disciples, guys, you need to understand this. The the lower you stoop, the higher you are in the kingdom of God.
And so many of us, you know this, and I I've seen it in pastor Ray so often this week. So often we we feel that we need to be rushing to it from point a to point b because God's got something for us. And you know what what we forget? We miss the in between times of God. I remember in my when I first started, I said to God, Lord, please, because I'm not a person that's good with detail.
So when I'm seeking the face of God in the morning, I'm saying, help me stop long enough to see what you have for us. Don't allow me to rush so far rushing to do your work that I forget about you. I believe in ministry. It's so easy to to love ministry, but yet not love God. And that's a big that's a big thing for us.
The second thing I'd like to like to bring to your attention is Jesus Christ taught us that the supernatural comes and goes, but it is in the trenches of ordinary day living that our grasp on God and his on us is demonstrated. Ray, I was supposed to move this, isn't it?
Here
we go. Oh, Yeah, yesterday, here. Yeah. I'm not as smart as him. You can see.
Where I come from, we don't have these fancy stuff. My church is just in a little hut. Jesus told us that the supernatural comes and goes, but it is in the ordinary daily living. And friends, one of the things I'm I'm I'm main point, beware of any work for God that enables you to evade concentration on him. And I don't put that put that up lightly.
I'm the first one. But what actually happened is I'm so busy looking for supernatural. I'm so busy looking for great things for God for God to do in in our lives as ministers. And I forget that in my busyness, I may not be effective in God's kingdom. Sitting in the kingdom of God this morning, sitting here are people that carry I could call them torchbearers.
You hold within you the the the power to affect a life. And you know what the saddest thing is? So many of us, you know, we're taught that. Look for the supernatural. Look for the supernatural.
And one of the best ways of it is, you know, pass through, we can keep going there. One of the things I realized, sorry, just go one way. One of the things I realized, as a very little boy, we had I grew up in a Hindu family, know, destined to be a priest in the Hindu temple. And it's a very it's a a it's a wild story, I'm gonna keep it as short as possible. My sister was very unwell and my mom and dad, my had laid her out, you know, laid her down on the floor because she was passing away.
There's nothing anybody could do. But my my oldest sister my oldest sister came to my mom and dad and said, listen, they she was going to a wayside Sunday school or vacation Bible, whatever. And she at this point of our our deepest need, my eldest my eldest sister came to my mom and said, you know, the Sunday school teacher says, Jesus heals. You know, my I think my dad was because we come from such a high class Hindu family, destined to be, you know, whatever. My dad said, you know, sure.
Because she's going to pass away anyway. Long story short, the pastor comes to our house, prays a very short prayer because he's sitting amongst, you know, very huge Hindu family. He prays the simplest of prayer and he leaves. The next morning, my sister was up and running, completely healed. And I say this because oh, let me add this.
My dad said to us said to us, my sister, who loves to go to church, you go into church, you just that was raised from the dead, you go to church. And me, I was like six or seven, you take them to church. I'm like And I say these stories because we start I started my my Christian life with the supernatural. We saw the power of God happen in front of us. But you know what I realized?
Once I became a Christian, once I joined the church, once I joined Crossroads, it's in the ordinary days of my life, the drudgery of life where God is revealed. And so my admonition to you, be careful that we're only looking for supernatural. Be careful that we may invade concentration on God and not see success in what God wants to do. God wants to use every one of us every day. All we have to do is walk into the opportunities he provides for us.
So many of us, you know, would say, God, I'm not really in 'm not that kind of guy. I'm not pastor Ray. I'm not Mike or any of the other guys in the church. But, friends, let me say this. God wants to work through you.
Amen. But you know what's what's so good about God? He works in you before he works through you. So the question is, are you willing to walk into that opportunity he gives you? This is another great thing that I realized.
Ministry can't always be arranged ahead of time because it depends upon the opportunity which avails itself. This morning, I will tell you another another account. Jesus ministered supernaturally in the ordinary. Jesus ministered supernaturally in the ordinary. And, you know, his disciples really they knew him to be supernatural.
They saw so much go on with him, but yet they failed to embrace the day to day ordinary. There's power in this room. Power not because of, you know, we could call down heaven on earth, it's because heaven is in us on earth. You have the power to do so much. You have the power to change your life.
And this this gentleman, his name is we call him Baba Yohannes, which is Baba in Zulu means father. I was so one of the big things for me to do as as the in Crossroads is when we go into new areas, I would I would drive around. I'll be praying for what we call the man or the woman of peace. Why are we here, Lord? What is it that what is what is it that you want from us here?
I was driving. Nobody knows my prayer because I'm praying alone. I was driving along, and this gentleman jumps in in front of my truck. And you can see the shadows, window is pulled up. And he says to him, drop your window.
I load my window and he says to me, come and have church in my house. What do you mean? I don't even know him from a bottle of soap. I'm praying. He doesn't know.
Nobody knows. And God says to me, God says to him, through some intervention, come and have church in my house. A man that didn't know God from anything. Okay. So, what I because I just told you that ministry can't be arranged ahead of time, always.
It happened in an instant moment. The question is like I just said, are you gonna walk in that moment? Okay. You know, for for a couple of seconds, forgot I was praying, and God brought somebody. And what what actually happened later, there's another picture of him, he later developed cancer.
Six months into it, he passes away. Before he passes away, he gets his family to make him stand up, he opens his Bible and starts reading from the book of Job. Six months ago, this man was going to hell. Six months ago, God came in. And it blows my mind, guys.
I'm so deep in the bush. Tanya didn't know it, and very so deep in the bush. Okay? And our loving father heard a prayer of a man in that bush. Because why?
God is already orchestrating ministry every day. It may not be something you'll prearrange, but if you are walking in tune with the spirit, this is what happens. We have service in his we start church in his house. He passes away. We have 35 women now join the church and accepted Jesus Christ.
The church is running in the community and why? Because somebody heard God. Ministry, it can't be arranged ahead of time, always. Jesus never, you know, orchestrated the surroundings or selected the most advantageous sites for his ministry. Instead, Jesus ministered supernaturally in the ordinary.
He took what what came his way and transformed it into an encounter with God. Ministry that impresses God, him, is done through a servant's heart. Jesus is looking for people whose hearts are tender to walk below, to to go beneath. And when we do things that are beneath us, we are demonstrating a servant servant heart and attitude. Now, Jesus has told his disciples, I've given you an example.
And that's the bad thing about what what Jesus do is give us examples of everything he does. Okay? So there's no excuse to say, oh, you didn't do it. I why must I? If God's done it, why don't you?
And so, the best story I can give for you is what we call the thousand block project. The thousand block, the same guy, Johannes, in the area where you planted a church, we had the opportunity of speaking into ministering to the women in this community, and we were teaching them the power of prayer. We were talking about how now you can go straight to God, you don't have to go through your ancestors. Long story short, every one of them around the table, 18 of them, what do you have needed, what do you have And 18 of them needed a house that was just because their house got washed away in the flood a couple of months ago. Long story short, we started That's one of the houses we replaced.
And so at the end of the prayer, we prayed that God would give each one a house and then one of the ladies said to us, you know, I can make blocks. I know how to make cinder block. And so we said, okay. We started making they started making a thousand blocks and they put their own money, went down and got water from the river, made the blocks, they give us a thousand blocks. I would come in with a building team from a local from the local community, and we build these houses.
On my way here, we are actually at House Number 18. What has this got to do with the story? I realized women that have absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing, the only thing they have is their love and heart for God and their love and heart for their neighbors. Because of this this servant attitude, because of what they want to see happen, they make it they made it happen. And now, as I said, 18 houses are done.
That was one of the this was the first house
that was a house that was transformed. Why? Because people believed that in following Jesus Christ example of being a servant, they can do so much more. That's the inside of the house. She's the oldest of the lot, and that's the inside of a house.
One more. Here we go. And the interesting thing about her was, I was excited with first house, I was more excited than anybody else because I didn't believe. I'm preaching it, but sometimes I don't believe all of what I think in my mind. And so when I asked her, what is the best thing about this house?
I'm thinking, new house and all that kind of thing. She looked at me and said, for the first time in my life after eighty one years, I have a door that locks. I'm like, we require to have a servant's heart. Example, he said before us, Jesus did it. The Bible says he died, you know, he died for us out of the book of Isaiah.
He wasn't even a great sight to look at. Why? Because Jesus knew the investment having a servant's heart will bring great fruit, just like this woman. One of the big things about Jesus, about God, is character. Now, if you know me, I behave like a character sometimes, but I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about genuine character. Jesus revealed to us that our response to ministry exposes our genuine character. It really tells us who we are. And
You want to go to the next? Yeah.
Know, I might and I and I this and I don't I don't say this lightly. In our ministry, people just they're not looking for God because they don't know who God is. They're looking at us. They're looking at who we are so that we can point to God. And so many of of the people we we work with, you know, they yes, they're poor.
Yes, they have nothing. But after they've been introduced to God, after they've been introduced to the real God, so many of them look to us and say, you know what? Thank you for the thank you for the opportunity we have now to know who God is. And we have such great potential as men and women of God because the Bible reminds us that we have tasted the love of Christ. We know what the what the love of Christ is.
The question is, are you willing to lay lay down your life so that somebody else would know Jesus Christ? Lastly, Jesus oriented our understanding of success, reminding us that genuine godly values lies in who we are and not what we do. The Bible is all and pastor Ray mentioned it a couple times this week, it's not about the doing, it's about the being. Daily in my life, I realize that this is reversed. Why?
We think that the performance is greater than the character, and that's not true. God God looks for character. And if I had time, we'd go to Matthew 25 and speak about the sheep and the goats. Remember what Jesus was saying? So so this this this morning this morning, are you with are you do you feel like you're more important than than what God what God is doing around you?
I and I don't want to say this to embarrass anybody. So often, our success we think our success is in what we do. And that parable where Jesus first time called a man a fool, he says, you fool, today I'm going take your life. Today I'm going call you back home. What are you going to do with what you have?
And then lastly, that's my granddaughter. Isn't she beautiful? Her name is Olivia Reagan. We call her Ollie Ray. She was born a year ago, but if you go to the next slide, Ray, pass it right.
That's isn't she beautiful? I'm talking about my wife now. Just just in case she's watching, I better say it. Okay? She she bought she bought Olivia a onesie that says, love is my superpower.
Okay? So today, I'm going introduce you to the what I call the Ollie Ray effect. It's not in the Bible, there's no scripture for it. It's the Ollie Ray effect. One more.
Love of God is our superpower. When this child came into our lives, she enveloped all of our time. You know what my favorite song is now when I'm walking in the corridors of my office? Wheels on the bus go round and round. Even Jesus is worried like, not worshiping you anymore.
On my belly, on my belly, there's a belly button.
And the guys in the office are like, what is going on with you?
Grandparents, you know that. And she's my first grandchild, so we are so excited. And, you know, I was carrying her when she had that onesie on it. I was carrying her. And I looked down and I saw that.
Love is love is my superpower on that. But I'm saying the love of God is a superpower. I really don't you don't need to know all of the formation of ministry. You don't even need to know you know, we teach, you know, how to reach people in Roman Road, we teach all of that. But I realized from our ministry, all you need to do is love.
And we have a saying at Crossroads, we love people until they ask us why. We love people until they ask us why. And scripture for that is John three sixteen and seventeen. For God so loved the world. John John three seventeen, he didn't come to condemn the world.
And we have both. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. We don't need to condemn anybody. Why? Because the father looks down and lavishes his love to us.
And yet, hence, gives gives us the superpower, which is love, the love of Christ. Romans five eight says, but God commanded his love towards us. While we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. Sitting in this room are carriers of a superpower, and that's the love of Christ. Let's pray.
You're such a good God to us, father. You look down upon us and you lavish your love to us. So many times, Lord, we don't don't feel like we deserve this, but we thank you for your sacrifice through your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you've given us so many opportunities to share your love. You live in you live inside of us, and, father, every time we open our mouth, the aroma of Christ should come through.
Bless this congregation, Lord. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I
mentioned I mentioned a little bit earlier that we're gonna pass the plates twice.
This one
is for Mahindra for Crossroads, from Mahindra and Lynette Crossroads Ministries in South Africa. But would you sing along with us? And as the plates pass, would you stand with us and sing because he lives, we can face tomorrow.
Amen. Praise the Lord.
Amen. And don't forget that the connect hour is happening down there. Hang around and talk to Mahendra if you would afterwards with Dustin, with Callie, with the kids, and may God bless you as you go forward into the mission field from the moment you leave this sanctuary. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
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