Serve God Where He's Placed You

This past Sunday, Pastor Chuck Locke preached a message from Joshua 24 entitled Staying on Track. I wanted to take some time today to share a few of my personal reflections from the message as well as combine them with some lessons God has been teaching me. I hope you find these thoughts helpful as you start your week.

What do you want your epitaph to say long after you have left this earth? In his message, Pastor Chuck made the point that if I am heading toward my epitaph saying anything other than “Broxton Gannon: Servant of God,” then I am off track and need to do whatever I can to make sure I get back on track.
This statement got me thinking… What does it really mean for me to be a servant of God? God actually began to answer this question for me before Pastor Chuck even asked the congregation on Sunday. Last week, I was reviewing my notes from one of Pastor Ray’s recent messages, Victorious Changes. You can watch that message here on our YouTube channel or here on our website. Here’s what stuck out to me from the message:

"Spiritual change in my life should never undermine the mission of God."

If you are reading this today, I want you to know that you have been called to serve God. When you have left this earth, you should want your epitaph to describe you as a servant of God. We all have the “big picture” calling to serve God, but He has specific plans for how we serve Him individually. Sometimes, though, we can become discouraged if God has not yet revealed to us the big picture mission for our lives.

If that is where you find yourself today, allow me to encourage you. There are so many small ways in which you can serve God and have confidence that you are operating within His will. For example: God hasn’t called me to move overseas to minister to people of a foreign nation like He has called others to do. But He has called me to be a Godly husband to my wife and He expects me to love her like He loves His Church (Ephesians 5:25). He also expects me to work hard and to do my best every day as a minister here at Ridgecrest (Colossians 3:23).

We all have our different vocations… Husband, wife, father, mother, student, employee, leader, etc. Thankfully, Scripture speaks to the duties of each one of these vocations. God might not have given you the full picture of His plan for your life yet, but He has called you to be a faithful servant of Him in some specific vocations.

So, how do you need to recommit to the Lord today?

How can you get back on track to making sure your epitaph describes you as a servant of God?

I hope you will spend some time today asking God to show you how you can faithfully serve Him in the “small” vocations that He’s given you.