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 David Servant ( - )
Read freely text sermons and articles by the speaker David Servant in text and pdf format. David Servant is the Founder of Heavens Family, helping the least of these world-wide. David Servant has been serving in ministry since 1979 as a church-planter, pastor, teacher and missionary. When David Servant read the results of his high-school vocational aptitude test, he laughed. The results told him that he was best suited for a career in ministry or in entertainment. At the time, David's future goal was to live in a log cabin in the wilderness and live off the land for the rest of his life. The Lord, however, had different plans for David Servant. God didn't intend for him to run away from the world, but rather to play a part in changing the world by building God's kingdom. David received his call to ministry during his (reluctant) freshman year at Penn State, and one year later was enrolled in Bible School.
David Servant is the author of eight books, including Forever Rich, and the The Disciple-Making Minister, a 500-page equipping manual that has been translated into more than 20 languages and is being distributed to tens of thousands of pastors.
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showing from 151 to 200 of 542 articles
Day 154, Luke 18
As always, it is important to consider context when we interpret Jesus' parable of the unjust judge. Remember that in Luke 17, Jesus was talking about the end times and His return to judge the earth, a time of great persecution for His followers. They wil ... read more
Day 155, Luke 19
Did you notice Jesus didn't ask Zaccheus if He could stay at his house? God doesn't need to ask to visit anyone's house. He's God! Here's one more proof of Jesus' deity. If He wasn't God, He was arrogant and intrusive.
Zaccheus may possibly have liquid ... read more
Day 156, Luke 20
Isn't it interesting that the common folks in Jesus' day were more spiritually in tune with God than were the Jewish religious leaders---the chief priests, scribes and elders? While the common folks held to the belief that John the Baptist was a prophet s ... read more
Day 157, Luke 21
The little story of the widow who gave her two small copper coins contains a big challenge to us. God measures our sacrifices, not by how much we give, but by how much we still possess after we have given. And by that measure, many who give very little ar ... read more
Day 158, Luke 22
If there ever was an example of someone serving mammon over God, Judas' betrayal of Jesus is it. Note that Judas took the initiative to secretly visit the chief priests, and "they agreed to give him money" (22:5). He offered them his services for pay, and ... read more
Day 159, Luke 23
The Sanhedrins' charge against Jesus was blasphemy. They found God guilty of claiming to be divine. But their powers were limited by the occupying Roman government, which did not allow them the right of capital punishment. Needing to persuade governor Pil ... read more
Day 16, Matthew 16
Jesus is not only the Messiah, Son of God, and Savior. He is also "Mr. Metaphor." It seems He hardly spoke a sentence that didn't include at least one figurative word, and when He did, even His closest disciples sometimes misunderstood Him. People have be ... read more
Day 160, Luke 24
Wow. What an inspiring story! We've read and heard it so many times that we often don't appreciate our privilege of knowing it. Billions of people living on earth have never heard it once. May the Lord help us to change that.
Had Jesus' body not been b ... read more
Day 161, Ephesians 1
We're back into our chronological study, now around AD 61, the time when Paul penned his letter to the Ephesian believers while he was incarcerated in Rome (or perhaps Caesarea). Along with Colossians, Philippians and Philemon, the book of Ephesians is on ... read more
Day 162, Ephesians 2
It is sometimes argued that, because Paul wrote that we were formerly "dead in our trespasses and sins" (2:1), his statement somehow proves that it would have been impossible for us, even under the drawing of the Spirit, to repent and believe in Jesus. "D ... read more
Day 163, Ephesians 3
Paul continues today with his previous theme of the Gentiles' inclusion into God's kingdom, first by making reference to the divine source of his revelation (3:3-4). The Gentile inclusion had previously been a mystery, but not because it was never foretol ... read more
Day 164, Ephesians 4
Generally speaking, this entire chapter is about holiness. God's call to the world to repent and believe is obviously a call to holiness. It is a call to make oneself ready to stand before King Jesus to give an account. It is a call to be prepared for fut ... read more
Day 165, Ephesians 5
Here is yet another chapter that is all about holiness, and which Paul begins by admonishing his readers to imitate God (5:1). There is no better role model. If we do imitate Him, our outstanding character trait will be unselfish love (5:2), of which Jesu ... read more
Day 166, Ephesians 6
Paul quoted one of the Ten Commandments as if he believed it was binding upon new covenant believers, and he also obviously believed that those believers who obeyed it would enjoy the promised blessing (6:1-3). Children who obey their parents will natural ... read more
Day 167, Colossians 1
This letter is very much like Paul's letter to the Ephesians---who lived just 100 miles from the Colossians in modern western Turkey. In fact, Paul wrote this letter around the same time that he wrote his Ephesian letter, during his house arrest in Rome. ... read more
Day 168, Colossians 2
Paul's greatest concern for the believers in both Colossae and Laodicea was for their spiritual understanding, and rightfully so. False teaching can be potentially damning. Clearly, false teaching had infiltrated the churches in Colassae and Laodicea, app ... read more
Day 169, Colossians 3
Following the same pattern of his Ephesian letter, Paul also wrote about all that God has done for us through Christ in the first half of this letter. In the second half, he writes of our appropriate response to what God has done. Notice the word "therefo ... read more
Day 17, Matthew 17
Jesus' promise in Matthew 16:28 that some of His disciples would not taste death until they saw "the Son of Man coming in His kingdom" was fulfilled just six days later when He was transfigured before Peter, James and John. They saw Him as we one day will ... read more
Day 170, Colossians 4
Because today's chapter in Colossians is a little sparse in content compared to the previous chapter, I'd like to begin today by returning to something Paul wrote in chapter 3:
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching an ... read more
Day 171, Philemon
It has always been a mystery to me why this tiny letter of Paul's, written to one person for a very specific reason, has made it into the Bible, while other letters that Paul wrote to entire churches, such as his letter to the Laodiceans (Col. 4:16) or hi ... read more
Day 172, Philippians 1
Note that Paul addressed this letter to "all the saints...in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons" (1:1). He did not write to the leaders only, or for that matter, to the leaders first. He wrote to every believer in Philippi, and just to make sur ... read more
Day 173, Philippians 2
As we have now read Paul's letters to the Galatians, Thessalonians, Corinthians, Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and now half of Philippians, would you agree that he was supremely interested in the lifestyles and behavior of his readers, who, for ... read more
Day 174, Philippians 3
Philippi was not off the radar for Paul's old nemeses, the Jewish legalists, who wanted to line up Gentile believers for circumcision and put them under the Mosaic Law. Thus Paul admonished believers in Philippi to "beware of false circumcision," and remi ... read more
Day 175, Philippians 4
Anxiety flees from a heart that trusts God. But who among us finds it easy to trust the Lord when our circumstances are tempting us to doubt? So we must do something to overcome our worries and doubts, and Paul offers some great advice in that regard.
... read more
Day 176, 1 Timothy 1
It is commonly thought that Paul wrote this letter to Timothy after his trial before Nero and his subsequent acquittal, which means it was written after the events recorded in the final chapter of Acts. If so, Paul and Timothy would have been closely asso ... read more
Day 177, 1 Timothy 2
Should we pray for "kings and all who are in authority" (2:1-2) even if they are unbelieving, corrupt politicians? In light of the ungodly character of those in governmental authority in Paul's day---of whom we read about in the book of Acts---the answer ... read more
Day 178, 1 Timothy 3
When we read, just a few days ago, the opening sentence of Paul's letter to the Philippians, we learned that the early churches were served by overseers (Greek: episkopos) and deacons (Greek: diakonos), the latter of which is more literally translated "se ... read more
Day 179, 1 Timothy 4
Paul's words, "In the later times some will fall away from the faith" (4:1), clearly indicate that it is possible to "fall away from the faith." In order to fall away from the faith, one must first be "in the faith." If I said, "Mr. Smith fell away from h ... read more
Day 18, Matthew 18
Children are generally not proud, but humble. Because God promises to resist and humble the proud, and because He promises to exalt and give grace to the humble (Luke 18:14; 1 Pet. 5:5), children serve as excellent examples of the kind of people who are g ... read more
Day 180, 1 Timothy 5
You don't have to be putting churches in order to benefit from the wisdom in today's reading. It is always wise to treat those who are older than yourself with due respect, even if you have been given some authority over them. Thus it is foolish to "sharp ... read more
Day 181, 1 Timothy 6
The "double deception" that deludes so many professing Christians is this: First, they believe that they are saved when they actually are not; and second, they believe they can never lose what they actually don't possess. Their doom is doubly sealed, ofte ... read more
Day 182, Titus 1
It is thought that this letter was written some time after Paul's trial before Nero and his subsequent acquittal, perhaps around AD 66, which would place it after the final chapter of Acts. Paul obviously continued traveling and ministering just as before ... read more
Day 183, Titus 2
The world is watching to see if there is any difference between us and them. They are watching for two reasons. Some observe us because they are sincerely searching for some meaning to life, and they wonder if we have something that they don't. Their hear ... read more
Day 184, Titus 3
Once we've been walking with the Lord for a while it is easy to forget that we were once walking in darkness and enslaved to sin, and our forgetfulness breeds disrespect for those who are living as we once did. We should, however, guard ourselves against ... read more
Day 185, 1 Peter 1
Scholars often place the date of Peter's writing his first epistle between AD 60 and 64, the latter of which is the assumed time of his martyrdom. Peter wrote to persecuted believers who were scattered across modern Turkey, and he reminded them from the o ... read more
Day 186, 1 Peter 2
Today's chapter continues Peter's emphasis on holiness. Obviously, believers are capable of committing the sins of malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander, otherwise Peter would not have felt a need to admonish his readers to put them all aside (2:1). ... read more
Day 187, 1 Peter 3
There is just no getting around it. The New Testament teaches wives to be submissive to their husbands. We read it today from Peter and we've read it before in Paul's writings (1 Pet. 3:1-6; Eph. 5:22-24; Col 3:18). Of course, both Peter and Paul have ins ... read more
Day 188, 1 Peter 4
Who wants to suffer? Not me! Who may want me to suffer? God!
Why is that? He wants me to be holy, and "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the wil ... read more
Day 189, 1 Peter 5
Some modern biblical scholars debate if Peter is actually the author of this epistle. They doubt that an unlearned fisherman could write in such an urbane, cultured style of Greek. They seem to forget that Peter retired as a fisherman about 35 years earli ... read more
Day 19, Matthew 19
In Jesus' time, many Pharisees believed that it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just about any reason, all based on a very liberal interpretation of what was meant by the word "indecency" found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Among other things, findi ... read more
Day 190, Jude
When Jude wrote this short epistle---assumed to be some time between AD 66 and 90---he was quite alarmed over a certain heresy that was creeping into the churches. The very gospel itself was being subverted by false teaching, and so Jude wrote an appeal t ... read more
Day 191, 2 Peter 1
Praise God that "grace and peace" (1:2) as well as "everything pertaining to life and godliness" (1:3) are ours by means of "the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (1:3). Note that Peter stresses not just knowledge about ... read more
Day 192, 2 Peter 2
If Peter wrote his second epistle near the same time as Jude wrote his epistle, then there is little doubt that Peter would have been equally horrified over the heresy that was infiltrating the church then, a heresy that "turned the grace of God into lice ... read more
Day 193, 2 Peter 3
When reading the New Testament epistles, I am often struck by the stark contrast between what was emphasized by Peter, Paul, James, John and Jude, and what is emphasized in contemporary "Christian" culture, specifically in churches, "Christian" bookstores ... read more
Day 194, 2 Timothy 1
Paul's second letter to Timothy could be considered his last words, as he knew that "the time of [his] departure had come" (4:6). He wrote from Rome during his final imprisonment there, apparently during a second trial before Nero. Church tradition tells ... read more
Day 195, 2 Timothy 2
The biblical principle of discipleship is well illustrated at the beginning of today's reading, as Paul writes to Timothy:
The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teac ... read more
Day 196, 2 Timothy 3
Although Paul apparently believed that he would not live to see what he refers to as "the last days," he obviously believed that Timothy might live to see them. Therefore, he wanted him to be ready for the difficult times ahead (3:1).
Although sin has ... read more
Day 197, 2 Timothy 4
It is difficult not to think that we are living in the time that Paul describes in this chapter, when those within the church "will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordan ... read more
Day 198, John 1
The other three Gospels were probably all in circulation by the time that the apostle John wrote his account. Most scholars suggest a date of sometime between AD 90-100. John would have been an elderly man by then, and Peter and Paul would have been in he ... read more
Day 199, John 2
John's Gospel consists of twenty-one chapters, of which the first eleven cover about three years of Jesus' earthly ministry, while the last ten cover just the final week of His life. So John's Gospel is heavily focused on what was the most significant asp ... read more
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