I Serve at the Pleasure Of

By Pastor Bob Rasmussen

Good morning everyone and hello to those watching online – Christian World Media, Facebook, YouTube and our website. Welcome everyone.

Prayer – include the President and our armed forces

Well, there are a lot of things that are going in the world, to say the least.

With the attack on Iran, which was an evil regime, the world is pretty crazy.

I saw the initial message from our president on the attack on Iran.

Diana and I have been rewatching a series on Netflix, it’s called The West Wing. Probably one of the best, well-written series out there, and I would put it on my top 10.

When we saw the news on Saturday Morning, I recalled the phrase that was mentioned in that show, “I serve at the pleasure of the president.”

That is a loaded statement with a lot of weight in it.

It means that the person is not about serving themselves, but rather the president.

It means that the agenda of their leader is their agenda

When serving in that office, they have the authority of the office of the president

I think of the men and women serving under our current president, Donald Trump, and they are in his administration because they were appointed by him

And their work reflects on the office of whoever appointed them

That phrase, “I serve at the pleasure of the President,” is quite a statement 

It is a statement of purpose, identity, and a mission

Praise the Lord, for us it is something different – it is a higher purpose, filled with greater authority and a much greater Leader.

We do not serve at the pleasure of an earthly president or king, we serve at the pleasure of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega, the Great I Am. We serve the one who sits on the throne of Heaven itself.

Every single thing we are – our gifts, where we serve, our ministry or ministries, down to our last breath – is in service to Jesus, who redeemed us and who commissioned us.

We live in a republic. If you want to learn more about that, I encourage you to read brother Kim’s blog. Magarock.wordpress.com

We are to elect people to represent our interests in this country.

Not so with God.

·      John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

I take great comfort in this because I am not an accident. My assignment in this life is not random; it is given by the Lord Himself. I am choosing His path and not my own, for His glory.

·      Psalm 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

Praise the Lord and amen

When someone utters the phrase “I serve at the pleasure of the President,” they imply that their authority comes from someone in a higher position.

We can say something else.

·      Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

 Choosing to serve in the capacity of serving Jesus changes every aspect of our lives. It will change how we live our lives. It changes how we can love others.

It may impact what kind of work we do. It certainly changes how I treat others because people are messy!

My wife, Diana, has been applying for some positions as she is being led, and one thing many of them want is her resume.

She had to update it and polish it up, as many of us have done in our lives.

But for us, our calling is not based on a resume; it is based on the Grace of God.

·  Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We have our resume written by God, we have the job description in His Word, and we have His authority through Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit.

·      Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

We do not go into this life in our authority. I do not preach in my own authority. We pray not just for things; we pray for shifts here and in every realm.

We go, we do, we pray, we speak in the authority of the One who sent us.

·     Matthew 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done,

We are not just repeating those words, we are to live them. When we speak the Word of God, there is weight there. When we serve, it is Jesus Himself we are representing.  The heart of Jesus is revealed through the love we share in the world.

Forgiveness? When we forgive, we are showing people the character of Christ.

·      2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.

The definition of an ambassador is this: an authorized representative or messenger

An ambassador does not represent their own wishes or desires, their own wants – they submit to their mission.

·      Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Our life is not our own. The authority we have is not ours; it is His. It’s about His message, not about us. And our mission is to pick up our cross daily, knowing it may mean laying down our very lives.

Jesus said something very important.

·      John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

If Jesus said that was what he was going to do and did do. Should we not do so ourselves?

But what will that look like?

 We may have to give up our plans. We may know what we want to do and even set up milestones and goals, but in an instant, He changes that.

The reason that this church, this very moment, here in this group of believers, was because a man yielded to the will of God, even though he did not want to. My brother and pastor Jeff said yes when the flesh said no. God’s plans were more important than Jeff’s plans.

There are times when we have to be uncomfortable, and that has consequences. What we do and how we live can be contrary to our friends and family. When I finally said yes to Jesus, I said no to many doors that had been open in my life.

They kept calling, but I knew the call on my life was greater than answering that phone.

We may have to end relationships, but our purpose is higher, and that might not make sense to them, but in our heart we know that it is right, amen?

·      Proverbs 19:20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. 21 There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.

I do like the Amplified version of this proverb

·      Proverbs 19:20 Listen to counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction, that you may be wise in the time to come. 21 Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand (be carried out).

I have learned that the plans of God are always better than mine. Sometimes I have found out the hard way. But through that process, I have found that His plans sometimes lead me to blessings. It has also led me into battle, and there have been casualties – not only have I lost friends, but the connection with a family member. But I choose to stay on His path, not my own.

And if you trust Him enough, he will lead you to unexpected places. I met my wife, I found my voice in worship, and I have even stepped into something that seemed completely improbable.

Many years ago, when I was at Midwest Christian Center getting my life together, a little girl said Hi, preacher. She was a small thing, blond hair -that is all she said. It was something about the way she said it. It weighed on me for years.

I was very resistant; it was something I did not think I could do, it seemed impossible, but here I am this morning, doing just that. Preaching the Word of God.

The thing that I have learned is that there is always a purpose to His plans if we stay the course.

·      Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

As I was meditating on this scripture, with the world the way it is. With the absolute visibility of evil growing in our world and in our culture, it is becoming so apparent to me that this scripture is saying that sometimes serving God will not be comfortable.

It is also absolutely clear that serving God in this culture is going to be more challenging as time goes on. More and more people are being put in power who are imposing policies on us; the pressure to comply will grow.

In the age of Instagram and X, it shows there needs to be less of us and more of Him.

But fear not, unlike serving a president, we serve Christ the King

·      Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

This means that no matter if I am feeling alone, I am not.

When I am in some spiritual battle, I do not fight alone.

When I pray, He hears me.

That should encourage us to step into ministry, to walk into service, to reach as many people as we can – unlike this world, He has unlimited resources, His Spirit is with us speaking to us, encouraging us in all that we do. And our Lord sees everything that we do and what we do not.

When I was in college, I considered studying political science; it was intriguing to me. I, of course, only thought about the positive things, working at the highest echelons. Then I started seeing the reality of what it was, which was a lot of broken promises, false promises, which is another word for lying, and I gave up on that idea. I did not see much satisfaction in a world of politics.

I am glad I did not pursue that, and a I am eternally grateful that now I pursue the Lord, instead.

·      Psalm 100 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

People who do not know God will never understand this. Why cheerful, why gladness? Because we know who we serve. Because we know why we are serving.

They may not understand why we keep trying in a world that openly rejects the very same King who came to save them. Why do we keep sharing, teaching, preaching, and serving a King who they say is invisible? Who only exists in our imagination, or worse.

One would think that with the invention of the Internet, allowing access to all sorts of knowledge and resources, it would be the opposite.

 One of my favorite resources for technical support is Reddit. But can I say, I have seen some of the most hateful and evil, downright nasty language in there when it comes to Jesus.

And honestly, it is all around us. SO why keep doing it, why keep serving, why keep trying to reach a world full of skeptics and hateful people?

·      1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Amen, amen, and amen.

There is a very big difference in serving at the pleasure of the president and serving our Savior.

One of the inferences in serving at the pleasure of a man or a woman in power is that if you do something, anything really, you can be terminated. You can be let go for any reason because it is merely a political appointment.

But with God, it is our whole life that we serve him with. Not just four years. When we receive Him as our personal savior, it is for this life and for the next.

I am not trying to paint a rosy picture here. There may be times we are tired. There may be times we are feeling discouraged.

Honestly, there may be times you are fully frustrated, because people are messy. And you may feel like quitting.

But we must remind ourselves, we serve because He has called us. We serve with His authority and purpose. We keep pushing and serving through His strength and not our own strength. We persevere because He loved us first.

·      1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

 So this morning, will you serve at the pleasure of your Lord and Savior? Will you keep pushing through the good times and the bad?

If you have never served Jesus before, have you asked Him? I would encourage you to pray about it to see if there is something or somewhere He wants you to do.

I do not know about you, but I am trying to live my life so that when this race is over, I want to hear the words “well done, good and faithful servant.

·  Acts 2:38

“38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”