We’re in a message series called “Four Priorities for Life. Last Sunday, we talked about Loving God through Worship. I hope that you grew in learning to worship God throughout the week. Last week, three of my boys and I attended an Assemblies of God Faith and Science conference in Springfield. We learned from a number of eminent scientists from around the world, how God’s greatness is seen in nature. From remote galaxies to the genetic codes in our cells, God’s incredible design was seen. God’s handiwork was a great opportunity for worship.
Today I’ve entitled my message “Loving God by Serving Others.” This message is going to show how two of our priorities for life are interrelated. In the future, we’re going to be talking about the priority of Loving God’s People. Today, we’re going to talk about how we can express our love for God by serving those in His family. Of course, serving is an expression of our love for people.
Jesus told a parable in Matthew 25 about what is going to happen on judgment day. Jesus will sit on His throne and divide people into two groups that He calls the sheep and the goats. The sheep will go into eternal life with Jesus, whereas the goats will go away to eternal punishment. How does Jesus say that He will decide who is a sheep or a goat? To the sheep Jesus said …
Matthew 25:40 (NIV) “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
This summer we’re in a message series called “Heroes of Faith.” What is a hero? The dictionary defines a hero as “somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character.” A hero is a remarkably brave person. A hero is someone who encounters a dangerous or difficult situation and who then exhibits great courage or strength of character. So, in order for a hero to be born, there is a necessity of an enemy of what kind or another. In order for faith to be proven, there is a necessity of a challenge to that faith. 
Today, we’re going to continue looking at the theme of hope in our message series “Messengers of Hope.” Last Sunday was Easter and we talked about the hope we can have because Jesus was raised from the dead. The resurrection gives us hope because it shows that God can do the impossible. More importantly, the resurrection gives us hope because Jesus is alive today. Jesus is the ultimate object of our hope. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, the coming Messiah and said …