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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 201 to 250 of 542 articles
Day 2, Matthew 2
Today we can glean two very important lessons about God's guidance. By means of a star, God led the wise men from the East. They likely traveled for months as the star led them westward towards Jerusalem, the logical place to find the newborn "King of the ... read more
Day 20, Matthew 20
At first, it might seem unfair that the laborers who worked twelve hours were paid the same as those who worked only one hour. But several important facts need to be considered. First, those who worked all day were paid a fair wage, and a wage they agreed ... read more
Day 200, John 3
Generally speaking, the Gospel writers portray the Pharisees of Christ's time as hard-hearted hypocrites. So it is nice to read about one whose heart was soft. Nicodemus, a prominent Jewish teacher, visited Jesus secretly, and humbly confessed his certain ... read more
Day 201, John 4
We are apt to picture John the Baptist delivering fiery, convicting messages of righteousness, but picture Jesus quietly teaching small groups of disciples. That picture, however, is unbalanced. Jesus' message was identical to John's: "Repent, for the kin ... read more
Day 202, John 5
Obviously people were genuinely being healed when an angel periodically troubled the waters of the Pool of Bethesda: Otherwise there would not have been so many sick people waiting for the waters to move. I am of the persuasion that God, who periodically ... read more
Day 203, John 6
Jesus' words are not always easy to understand, and today's reading is proof. What we want to be careful of is that we don't take any of His words and extract a doctrine that contradicts the rest of Scripture. Those who are always attempting to persuade o ... read more
Day 204, John 7
For a second time in John's Gospel we read of Jesus making reference to the fact that His time, or hour (as in 2:4), had not yet come (7:6, 8). He obviously didn't mean that His time hadn't come to attend the Feast of Booths, because He ultimately did att ... read more
Day 205, John 8
It seems that the naked partner of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery "somehow" got away from the scribes and Pharisees. I wonder how? I also wonder what Jesus wrote with his finger in the dust before that crowd of hypocrites. Some speculate ... read more
Day 206, John 9
Did God preordain that this man of whom we read today be born blind so that Jesus could one day heal him? That seems to be what the text is saying in 9:3-4.
There is, however, one other possible interpretation. There were no capital letters and periods ... read more
Day 207, John 10
Jesus' shepherd and sheep analogy was much more understandable to His contemporary audience than to those of us who are unfamiliar with shepherding in general, and particularly to shepherding in Israel 2,000 years ago. So here is a little help:
First, ... read more
Day 208, John 11
It is interesting that when John first mentions Mary in today's reading, he identifies her as "the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair" (11:2), an incident that hasn't occurred yet in the chronology of John's Gospel ... read more
Day 209, John 12
Jesus lived about 33 years on the earth, yet almost half of John's Gospel focuses on His final week. In John's thinking, that week was the most significant week of Christ's life and of human history. It began with Jesus and His disciples coming out of the ... read more
Day 21, Matthew 21
We're certainly not reading about American Jesus today. American Jesus is never angry. He's full of love and patience for everyone. Not true, however, of Bible Jesus. What Matthew recorded was actually Jesus' second cleansing of the Jerusalem temple, the ... read more
Day 210, John 13
Jesus said that the greatest person is the servant of all (Matt. 23:11), and so we should expect that Jesus, who is the greatest, would also be the greatest servant. Today's story of Him washing His disciples' feet certainly confirms that. However, Jesus' ... read more
Day 211, John 14
The eleven were naturally fearful of what was about to happen and confused. Those of us who know the end of the story can hardly appreciate the tension of the moment. The disciples only knew that Jesus was about to depart from them, which was cause for he ... read more
Day 212, John 15
As with all analogies, Jesus' analogy of the vine and branches is imperfect, as grape vines and vinedressers are not wholly analogous to a believer's relationship with Jesus and the Father. Yet Jesus obviously saw some characteristics of grape vines and v ... read more
Day 213, John 16
Once again, it is difficult for those of us who know how the story ends to appreciate the disciples' confusion over what was about to occur. They were full of sorrow (16:6, 20) when they should have been rejoicing, believing that Jesus was going to His Fa ... read more
Day 214, John 17
Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, as it is often referred to, is Jesus' longest recorded prayer in Scripture. All of His other prayers found in the Gospels are very short, and it is interesting to me that this longest of His prayers is also quite short, requir ... read more
Day 215, John 18
Only John records the fact that Jesus' captors fell backwards onto the ground when Jesus identified Himself by saying, "I am He" (18:6). Note that in many translations that word He is italicized, indicating it was not part of the original text. So Jesus l ... read more
Day 216, John 19
Pilate declared Jesus' innocence three times (18:38; 19:4, 6), yet he caved under the pressure of the Jewish leaders. He hoped after seeing Jesus scourged they would be satisfied that He had suffered enough. Still they insisted on His crucifixion, and Pil ... read more
Day 217, John 20
When Peter and John arrived at Jesus' tomb, it was light enough for them to see inside, unlike Mary's first visit. Remember that Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea had wrapped Jesus' body in linen cloths along with myrrh and aloes weighing about 100 pounds ... read more
Day 218, John 21
Peter was obviously full of regret that he had let the Lord down, having denied Him three times. Jesus did not hate him for it or end their relationship permanently, but loved him, and gently confronted him to ultimately encourage and restore him. It bega ... read more
Day 219, Hebrews 1
As we read through the book of Hebrews, it becomes clear that it was written to fortify Jewish Christians who were under fire from Jewish non-Christians. Not only were these Jewish believers being assailed with arguments designed to persuade them to rever ... read more
Day 22, Matthew 22
If the parable of the wedding feast teaches us anything, it teaches us that it isn't God who determines who will be in heaven, but rather, it is people themselves. The king in the parable sincerely invited scores of people to his son's wedding feast, but ... read more
Day 220, Hebrews 2
Today we are introduced to the author's primary concern for his Hebrew Christian readers. He did not want them to "drift away" (2:1) from the truth they had embraced about Jesus. So he returns to his comparison of the old and new covenants, endorsing both ... read more
Day 221, Hebrews 3
Moses was and is, of course, revered among Jews, as he is the human agent whom God used to deliver Israel from Egypt and to convey the old covenant Law. So you can imagine what non-believing Jews would say to Christian Jews who had abandoned the ritualist ... read more
Day 222, Hebrews 4
Citing truth from the old covenant Scriptures, the author of Hebrews once again focuses on his greatest concern---that his readers might ultimately fall short of "entering God's rest." As in the previous chapter, he again references Psalm 95:7-11, where G ... read more
Day 223, Hebrews 5
The priestly ministry was woven into the fabric of Jewish culture, as it was the God-ordained means under the old covenant for obtaining forgiveness of sins through animal sacrifice. Jewish believers who stopped participating in priestly rituals naturally ... read more
Day 224, Hebrews 6
We gather from the last four verses of chapter 5 that the author of Hebrews was not pleased with the slow spiritual progress of most of his readers. They had become "dull of hearing" and should have been teachers by that time, but they had need for someon ... read more
Day 225, Hebrews 7
Melchizedek is mentioned only twice in the Old Testament, within just four verses (Gen. 14:18-20; Psalm 110:4). Yet what is contained in those four verses emboldened the author of Hebrews to declare the end of the Levitical priesthood, a thousand-year-old ... read more
Day 226, Hebrews 8
The promise of Psalm 110 that God was going to appoint a perpetual high priest after the order of Melchizedek rather than Levi (highlighted in the previous chapter) implied the ultimate abolishment of the Levitical priesthood. This, in turn, implied that ... read more
Day 227, Hebrews 9
Without any doubt, the old covenant tabernacle and its furniture, coupled with the continual ministry of the priests, all served to reveal important spiritual truths. But the most significant truths they revealed, namely, concerning the ministry of Christ ... read more
Day 228, Hebrews 10
God may have accepted the death of animals as a token means of atonement, but something much more was needed to ransom us forever, not only from the penalty of sin, but from sin itself. No animal's death ever atoned for every sin that a person may have co ... read more
Day 229, Hebrews 11
Only after reading the first 10 chapters of Hebrews are we properly prepared to read Hebrews 11. Now we understand its important context. The author's intent was to encourage persecuted Jewish believers, who were being tempted to waver, to imitate the exa ... read more
Day 23, Matthew 23
The scribes and Pharisees were Israel's spiritual leaders, having "seated themselves in the chair of Moses," a special seat in each synagogue from which the Old Testament scrolls were read. That is why Jesus told His audience to do all that the scribes an ... read more
Day 230, Hebrews 12
Our earthly spiritual journey is comparable to a runner's long-distance race. We're being cheered on from the grandstands of heaven, as it were, by those who have run before us, the heroes of faith (12:1). Knowing that spurs us on. Moreover, Jesus is stan ... read more
Day 231, Hebrews 13
The final admonitions of this letter are just as applicable to us as they were to the Hebrew Christians of the first century. First and foremost, "love of the brethren" should characterize our lives (13:1). That love is the defining mark of true believers ... read more
Day 232, 1 John 1
This letter is thought to have been written around AD 85 or 90, making it one of the final New Testament epistles to be penned. Most, if not all, of the original apostles had been martyred, with the exception of the aged apostle John, who reportedly spent ... read more
Day 233, 1 John 2
Throughout his first epistle, John repeatedly returns to three different tests that validate authentic conversion. The first is moral: Are you practicing righteousness and keeping God's commandments? The second is social: Do you demonstrate unselfish love ... read more
Day 234, 1 John 3
John continues to focus in this chapter, first on the moral test, and then on the social test of authentic conversion. The application of both these tests disqualify multitudes who claim to be born again.
John begins by reminding his readers that those ... read more
Day 235, 1 John 4
John centers today on the theological and social tests of authentic conversion. With a warning about false prophets, he begins this chapter with the theological test: Any person who denies that Jesus came in the flesh is not from God (4:2-3). Apparently, ... read more
Day 236, 1 John 5
Today's chapter begins with yet another restatement of the three tests of authentic conversion. God's true children believe that Jesus is the Christ; they love God's other children; and they obey the commandments of their Father (5:1-2). John reminds us t ... read more
Day 237, 2 John
This short letter, obviously penned by the elderly apostle John, was cryptically addressed to "the chosen lady and her children" (1:1), which was either a Christian woman and her spiritual children or more likely a church and its members. "Your chosen sis ... read more
Day 238, 3 John
John's final epistle is addressed to Gaius, probably a leading member of a local church and one of John's own converts, as he referred to Gaius as his own child (1:4). Just as in his second letter, John mentions the treatment of itinerant teachers, only t ... read more
Day 239, Revelation 1
I tend to greet with skepticism anyone who claims to understand everything written in the book of Revelation. So please don't expect me to unravel every mystery about it over the next four weeks. My fundamental premise is that if God wants something to be ... read more
Day 24, Matthew 24
Although the idea of Jesus returning to rapture God's children to heaven prior to worldwide tribulation is popular among many modern professing Christians, there isn't a hint of that in Jesus' Olivet Discourse, half of which we read today. Quite the oppos ... read more
Day 240, Revelation 2
What a hair-raising chapter! Jesus, the Great Judge, speaks from heaven, directly addressing four churches in modern Turkey. Did you ever wonder what Jesus would say to your church? Pondering that some years ago changed the entire direction of my life and ... read more
Day 241, Revelation 3
Why did Jesus address just seven specific churches in Asia, among hundreds that could have been addressed at that time in the ancient world? Some speculate that these seven churches represent seven consecutive ages in church history, and that we are now i ... read more
Day 242, Revelation 4
This chapter begins the third of three natural divisions in the book of Revelation---when John begins to record what will take place “after these things” (compare 4:1 with 1:19). He was apparently transported to heaven to witness the scene around God' ... read more
Day 243, Revelation 5
As I mentioned yesterday, it is generally better to simply be awed by the glorious scenes which John describes in the book of Revelation rather than attempt to comprehend everything that he mentions in those scenes. In today's reading, John witnessed what ... read more
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