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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 301 to 350 of 542 articles
Day 55, Acts 16
As I'm sure you realized, Paul had Timothy circumcised, not because he believed Timothy couldn't be saved otherwise. Rather, it was because Paul knew that Jews would not be receptive to an uncircumcised man who was bringing a message about the Jewish Mess ... read more
Day 56, Acts 17
How interesting it is to read of the varying receptivity of those to whom Paul preached as he journeyed in Madedonia and Achaia, what is now modern Greece. In Thessalonica, after initial success, the persecution from unbelieving Jews grew so intense that ... read more
Day 57, Acts 18:1-17
Corinth was the capital of the region of Achaia, today part of southern Greece. It was a strategic location, a commercial center through which people from many places in the ancient world passed. Once Jesus' church was established there, the gospel would ... read more
Day 58, 1 Thessalonians 1
As I previously pointed out, Paul penned his letters to the Thessalonian believers while he was settled in Corinth for 18 months. He had established a church in Thessalonica some months before, but because of Jewish persecution (17:1-10), he didn't stay a ... read more
Day 59, 1 Thessalonians 2
You may recall from what we've previously read in Acts and Galatians that Paul did not begin his apostolic ministry the day he was born again. He did, however, begin to preach the gospel, first in the synagogues of Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and later i ... read more
Day 6, Matthew 6
Everyone knew who Jesus was referring to when He spoke of those who blew trumpets in the marketplaces prior to their distributions to the poor, who prayed on street corners, and who advertised their fastings---it was the scribes and Pharisees. Remember, J ... read more
Day 60, 1 Thessalonians 3
I'm reminded again how helpful it is to read the epistles within the chronological context of the book of Acts. In today's chapter, Paul recounts a time period that we just read about in Acts a few days ago.
Remember that Paul and Silas may have spent ... read more
Day 61, 1 Thessalonians 4
Two decades after Jesus commissioned His disciples to make disciples, teaching them to obey all that He commanded, Paul was not developing "Pauline theology" that could be scrutinized in seminaries. Rather, he was making disciples, teaching them to obey a ... read more
Day 62, 1 Thessalonians 5
In today's chapter, Paul writes of "the day of the Lord," a phrase that is found four other times in the New Testament and fourteen times in the Old. It always refers to a final day, one of cataclysmic wrath and terrible judgment, when God will punish the ... read more
Day 63, 2 Thessalonians 1
It is assumed that Paul's second letter to the Thessalonians was also written when he was settled in Corinth for 18 months. Paul elaborates on some of the same issues as he did in his first letter, so this second letter may well have followed the first by ... read more
Day 64, 2 Thessalonians 2
If you've always heard that believers will be raptured well before the antichrist is revealed, you now know that what you've always heard has been wrong. Just as we learned in 1 Thessalonians 4-5 and in Matthew 24:29-31, today's reading again affirms that ... read more
Day 65, 2 Thessalonians 3
If you've ever wondered what is a good way to pray for evangelists, apostles, and missionaries, today's reading offers some insight. Paul requested prayer "that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified...and that we may be delivered from p ... read more
Day 66, Mark 1
Our unique reading plan is designed so that we journey through the New Testament chronologically, with the exception that we are reading one of the four Gospels every quarter. Hopefully, it has been helpful to know that after two decades of the church's e ... read more
Day 67, Mark 2
Let us imagine what must have occurred as we consider Mark's short rendition of the story of the paralytic in Capernaum.
First, the paralyzed man's four friends must have discussed among themselves what to do when they heard that Jesus was back in town ... read more
Day 68, Mark 3
It would seem that Jesus' healing of the man with the withered hand should be classified, not as a healing, but as a creative miracle. The man's hand was not diseased, but disfigured. Bones and flesh were created as he obeyed Jesus and stretched out his h ... read more
Day 69, Mark 4
We, of course, read Jesus' Parable of the Sower and the Soils in Matthew's Gospel three months ago. Let's consider it a little more closely today. It is not a parable about heaven-bound Christians who are more or less receptive to their pastor's sermons. ... read more
Day 7, Matthew 7
Jesus' prohibition against judging was not what many think it is. He was not forbidding the moral appraisal of other people. We absolutely must appraise other people morally if we are going to obey Jesus' commandments not to "give what is holy to dogs" an ... read more
Day 70, Mark 5
We also read about the Gerasene demoniac in Matthew's Gospel, but I didn't comment then knowing that Mark's Gospel contains the most detailed report. Matthew reported two demon-possessed men (Matt. 8:28), whereas Mark and Luke reported only one. Keep in m ... read more
Day 71, Mark 6
From Capernaum, Jesus walked about 25 miles to the town where He grew up and where His family still lived, Nazareth. We learn that He had at least four younger brothers and two younger sisters, and He was known in Nazareth as a carpenter (6:3). According ... read more
Day 72, Mark 7
Mark mentions how the Pharisees observed "the traditions of the elders" (7:3, 5), one of which was the requirement to wash their hands carefully before eating, and another of which was cleansing themselves after returning from the marketplace. Those tradi ... read more
Day 73, Mark 8
According to John's account of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus first asked Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, that these may eat?" (John 6:5). John then comments on Jesus' question, saying, "This He was saying to test him; for He Himself knew what He was ... read more
Day 74, Mark 9
Peter, James and John, Jesus' inner-most circle, were quite privileged to see Him gloriously transfigured as He will appear in His kingdom. If they had any doubts about who He was before then, all doubts were erased, especially as they heard God say, "Thi ... read more
Day 75, Mark 10
The issues of divorce and remarriage are ones that have been hotly debated within Christian circles. As you seek for a true understanding, let me encourage you, first of all, to consider all that Scripture teaches on the subject. If our interpretation of ... read more
Day 76, Mark 11
It wasn't just Jesus' closest disciples who believed that He was about to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem (Luke 19:11). The crowds who lined His way from the Mount of Olives also believed it, and they gave Jesus a king's welcome. But His triumphal entry w ... read more
Day 77, Mark 12
Since I mentioned some of today's reading in my last commentary, I think I'll mention some of our last reading in today's commentary! Specifically, I would like to consider Jesus' words about forgiveness in Mark 11:
Whenever you stand praying, forgive, ... read more
Day 78, Mark 13
Jesus' foretelling of the destruction of the temple was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Roman Legions besieged Jerusalem. His disciples, upon hearing His prediction, naturally wanted to know when such an unthinkable demolition would occur. Jesus, however, n ... read more
Day 79, Mark 14
It seems incredible to think that someone who lived with Jesus for three years, who heard Him teach and witnessed His miracles, could turn against Him. Yet in one sense Judas is not so uncommon, because God performs continual miracles before all of us eve ... read more
Day 8, Matthew 8
About one-tenth of all the verses in the four Gospels tell us something about Jesus' healing ministry. That's significant! Those many records of Jesus' healings all demonstrate His divinity. No historical figure has ever come close to Him when it comes to ... read more
Day 80, Mark 15
Seven-hundred years before Christ, Isaiah wrote of Him:
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth (I ... read more
Day 81, Mark 16
Although Jesus repeatedly told His disciples that He would be killed and rise from the dead after three days (see Mark 8:31, 9:31, 10:34), they never got it. Even when Mary Magdalene reported to them on Sunday morning that Jesus was alive and that she had ... read more
Day 82, Acts 18:18-28 & 19
It is nice to be back into the book of Acts, even if only for one day. I almost wish I had designed our chronological study so that we would not be interrupted by one of the Gospels each quarter, but I wanted to space them throughout the year rather than ... read more
Day 83, 1 Corinthians 1
We've started reading 1 Corinthians now because Paul wrote it during his three-year sojourn in Ephesus. Concerning his ministry there, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "A wide door for effective service has opened to me" (16:8). Having just read about his v ... read more
Day 84, 1 Corinthians 2
You may recall that when Paul first visited Corinth, he had just come from Athens where he'd spent time reasoning with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, experiencing mixed results (Acts 17:16-34). I suspect Paul had endured his fill of human wisdom---of w ... read more
Day 85, 1 Corinthians 3
It is from this chapter that the modern doctrine of the "carnal Christian" has been extracted, which promotes the idea that one can be a true Christian but be "carnal" (or "fleshly" as the NASB translates it), and thus be completely indistinguishable from ... read more
Day 86, 1 Corinthians 4
What began as a relatively benign letter now grows somewhat passionate. Obviously, if there were factions in the Corinthian church, there were leaders of those factions. And those that were claiming to be "of Peter" or "of Apollos" rather than "of Paul" ( ... read more
Day 87, 1 Corinthians 5
Why didn't Paul instruct the Corinthian believers to follow Jesus' three steps of church discipline---which we read in Matthew 18---regarding the man in their midst who was living in a sexual relationship with his stepmother? The reason is because those a ... read more
Day 88, 1 Corinthians 6
Many of us have thought that it is wrong to make a moral appraisal of anyone since Jesus told His followers not to judge. Yet we're learning that we've been quite unbalanced in that regard. Jesus once told a crowd, "Do not judge according to appearance, b ... read more
Day 89, 1 Corinthians 7
Obviously referring to males and females who were not married to each other, the Corinthians had written to ask Paul, "Is it good for a man not to touch a woman?" Paul answered in the affirmative. That is the safe standard to prevent any sexual immorality ... read more
Day 9, Matthew 9
It is so obvious only a theologian could miss it! Today we read four major stories about people who were healed by Jesus, and all were healed through faith (Matt. 9:2, 22, 29; Luke 8:50). Apart from faith they would not have been healed, even though it wa ... read more
Day 90, 1 Corinthians 8
Paul turns his attention to a second question from the Corinthians---about the lawfulness of eating meat that had previously been sacrificed to idols. Before he tackles that issue, however, he first warns of a venom that often poisons those who possess kn ... read more
Day 91, 1 Corinthians 9
This chapter continues the theme of the previous one, that of making sacrifices for the sake of others, which is the essence of love. Paul uses himself as an example.
Paul possessed the God-given right to make his living from the gospel, that is, to be ... read more
Day 92, 1 Corinthians 10
It is sometimes debated what Paul meant in the last verses of chapter nine regarding his fear of being "disqualified" if he failed to "discipline his body and make it his slave" (9:27). Reading those words within their context of the first part of chapter ... read more
Day 93, 1 Corinthians 11
Unlike most other days, today I'm glad I'm limited to 700 words, which will be my excuse for not engaging in a lengthy commentary on women's head coverings! Paul's words are not as clear as I wish they were on this subject. So I will limit myself to a few ... read more
Day 94, 1 Corinthians 12
This really isn't a chapter about spiritual gifts and various ministries. It is a chapter about preserving unity among all the diversity in the church, a chapter about love! The manifold work of the Spirit should not divide us, but be appreciated as being ... read more
Day 95, 1 Corinthians 13
It is fun to read this famous chapter, so often recited in sermons about love, within its context of the entire Corinthian letter. It appears that everything that Paul wrote to define love has some direct application to a situation in Corinth, where love ... read more
Day 96, 1 Corinthians 14
The early church gatherings were not characterized by the majority passively listening to a trained clergyman. Rather, there was participation among everyone who shared what the Holy Spirit gave him. Thus it could be said, as Paul did, "When you assemble, ... read more
Day 97, 1 Corinthians 15
Note that Paul's gospel was something by which one could be saved if one "held fast" to it (15:2). Paul did not believe in an unconditional eternal security.
Notice also that the part of Paul's gospel that was "of first importance" was that "Christ die ... read more
Day 98, 1 Corinthians 16
It is going to be difficult to restrain myself from writing the truth today, so I think I will just throw caution to the wind. If you've stayed with me four-and-a-half months, there is probably little danger of losing you now! So here goes!
I can't tel ... read more
Day 99, Acts 20:1-6 & 2 Corinthians 1
It is helpful to know something of the occasion of this letter in order to understand the letter itself. Everything, however, is not so clear. I suspect that Paul had no idea that his letters would be studied for hundreds of years by future Christians, ot ... read more
Dear Pastor, Will You Repent With Me?
The greatest crisis I faced during my two decades as a pastor was not the result of a disagreeable deacon, a financial deficit, an egocentric worship leader, or a church gossip. Rather, it was due to an encounter with the Holy Spirit and God's Word.
It ... read more
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