Slaves of God: Being called to serve outside of our comfort zone

This is episode 8 of our first series. Last time we saw that Biblical worship is very different from contemporary 21st Century Church worship. Biblical worship involved offering your body as a living sacrifice, as a slave to God.Today we are going to look as some Biblical examples of the Slaves of God. I have to warn you, it’s not pretty.The slaves of God in Scripture did not act because they "felt" like it or because they had the "heart" for it. Instead they acted simply because God commanded it. Indeed in most cases, if they had followed their hearts, they would not have acted at all.Slaves-of-God are not asked if they would like to “help” God out. Slaves-of-God are not offered choices. They are not always given ministry tasks that fit their spiritual gifts or their heart story. Slaves-of-God are simply told to do something, and they are not always told why. See:Moses – Exodus 1:1-4:20Philip – Acts 8:26-40Ananias – Acts 9:10-19Peter – Acts 10Paul – Acts, 2 Corinthians 11:23-38Being a Slave-of-Christ surely means being called to serve outside of our comfort zone, like Philip and Peter; being in vulnerable positions, even physical danger, like Ananias and Paul; being rewarded for obedience like Peter; being extremely difficult and frustrated as Moses leading the rebellious Hebrews though the desert for forty years; and in still other situations, we are called to act like Philip but not given a lot of information why. See also Philippians 2:5-11.And yes, some like Peter and Paul are called to follow the example of Jesus, being martyred for their obedience to the faith. We are called to be Slaves-of-God, men and women such as these. But count the cost, it’s not pretty.