In this sermon, the speaker begins by sharing a personal experience of a young brother leading the worship and setting a powerful tone for the gathering. The speaker emphasizes the importance of young people in the body of Christ and encourages them not to underestimate their role. The speaker then transitions to discussing the work of the Lord among the youth in recent months, highlighting the marvelous and unexpected ways in which God has ministered to them. Finally, the speaker focuses on the servant heart of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospel of John, emphasizing that Jesus came to serve and not to be served.

It's so good to be with you, brothers and sisters here in Richmond. And when I come to Richmond, it's really like coming home. And so I'm so glad that Kenny did not introduce me as a guest. Let's just bow our heads and look to the Lord for our time together. Father, we just want to commit our time to you. Together, we are at your feet. Lord, for you to speak to our hearts. We do desire to hear your word. We do desire to respond to your word. And Lord, we cry to you that we need your help. Thank you for the indwelling Holy Spirit who is our help. We worship you. Thank you for our time together. We ask and appreciate the Lord Jesus. Amen. First, I want to bring greetings to you from the Saints in South Jersey. And also extend our invitation to you. Anyone of you who would like to come for a visit, please do let us know. We'd love to have you. But before I share what's in my heart, I just want to share a little bit about those brothers and sisters who happen to be a little bit younger than we are. You remember that tape that we heard from the Richmond testimony of the young people? I think it was Mack. We don't call them young people. They are just younger brothers and sisters and the Lord just happens to be a little bit younger. So I just want to share a little bit about the youth, the young people, what the Lord's been doing with them within this last few months. The Lord indeed has done a great work. It was marvelous in our sight. It was beyond our expectation. Something I personally never experienced before. I've been to many gatherings in various countries and meeting with young people. But this time this year, through the Toronto Conference as well as the Richmond Conference, the Lord has done such depth in their lives that I never experienced before. Just listen to their testimony. When I listened to their testimony, I wept. And I listened to the testimony of young people in Richmond. That tape I listened to at least twice. I listened to the young people in Toronto, the youth testimony, as well as our local New Jersey young people's testimony. This time what the Lord has done with these young people is something seems to last. There's something that's lasting. It's not transient. An excitement just for a matter of days or weeks. But this time the Lord seems to have done a very permanent work with these young hearts. I'll just give you a few examples. About four weeks ago, in our New Jersey worship time, we do it more or less like you here in Richmond. A person, a brother will give a brief word to bring our hearts before the Lord. And then we begin our worship time. And four weeks ago when we were together worshipping the Lord, the person who opened the time of worship was a young brother. Usually it's one of the older ones. But this time it was a young brother. And I tell you, it's just through that young brother's ministry to the body in worship, in praise, set the whole tone for that time. And we were so liberated in our spirit. And there was such a flow of love and worship unto the Lord. I just want to let you know, young people, don't underestimate your place in the body of Christ. You have a vital part. You have a vital contribution to make in the body of Christ. Then the following week we went to Toronto. And also it was during the worship time. Now Toronto, there are a lot of older folks. And a lot of them, they were immigrants from China. And the young people, they just have very small young people. And the language they use during the worship time is mostly in Chinese. So English is not all that, it's only limited to the young people. But the most amazing thing is that during the worship, it was also young people. So a young person, a freshman in college, he opened that time to worship. It really touched my heart. Because it was last summer at the Young Youth Conference, this young man came to know the Lord in a very real way. And this time we were in Toronto, this young brother opened the time with worship and praise. And I was just so encouraged. The young people are now coming to prayer meeting. Since last summer, the prayer time, our prayer meeting, the people that come to prayer meeting has been doubled. And most of them are young people. Sometimes the whole family comes to prayer. And God knows the Lord is doing something. Thank the Lord for what he's doing. Now in that light, if you don't mind, I'll just say a few words from my heart to your hearts, especially those young parents with children, whether they're small or they're big. We feel that we are living at the end time. And the most precious gift the Lord has given you as parents are your offspring. So we feel very deeply, at least myself, my wife, we have to begin to invest on our children. We have to invest spiritually. We have to invest them with the things of the Lord. Time is short. They are our most precious treasure. And we have to invest spiritually on our youngsters. So I just want to, before I share with you my heart, I just want to share a few thoughts about Samuel. We often dwell on this boy called Samuel. But we fail to see that behind Samuel there was Hannah. You cannot study Samuel without studying Hannah. It was because of Hannah there was Samuel. So brothers and sisters, as parents you play a very vital role. So if you don't mind, just turn to 1 Samuel with me for a few seconds. And I trust that you parents and grandparents will go home and read 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel again and again and ask the Lord to speak to your hearts. I want to call your attention to verses 22 to verses 24. Just those few verses. There is a mention four times. This weaned mentioned four times. Weaned. This word mentioned four times. Brothers and sisters, now I'm not going to interpret what it means by this weaning. You go back to your home and be before the Lord and ask Him to reveal the meaning of this word weaning to you. It's very significant. Four times it was mentioned. Weaned. To prepare this young boy to live in the house of the Lord and to minister to the Lord, we need weaning from things so that we can be utterly for the Lord. So I just leave that with you. You go before the Lord and ask the Lord to speak. What does it mean by weaning? That chart. Now, if I want you positively, I want you to call your attention to chapter 2. Chapter 2. Verse 18 and 19. Verse 18 and 19. These are just a few thoughts to sort of more or less reinforce what Dan Boyer was just sharing and what we talked about yesterday. Chapter 2, 1 Samuel 18 and 19. Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord as a boy wearing a linen ephod. And a mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer that yearly sacrifice. Now I want you to pay attention to this ephod that Samuel wore. And year after year, the mother prepared a new one, a little bigger one, to bring to Samuel for him to wear. Now, brothers and sisters, to me, as mothers, that preparing the ephod, that is your greatest ministry. That is your greatest ministry. For that robe, for that young child to wear. Now the meaning of that ephod, that robe, is prepare that boy to live in the house of the Lord. A pleasant blessing, the house of the Lord. Prepare him a place in the house of the Lord. Secondly, is prepare him to stand before the Lord. To inquire of the Lord. And to hear of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, that was the mother's responsibility. Hannah prepared that robe, that ephod, for Samuel. So mothers, you have a vital role. And to me, that is your primary role as a mother. Preparing that ephod for your child to wear. Now how about her husband? There's not much about her husband. But Hannah was such a wonderful wife, that the husband was 100% behind her. What a beautiful picture. You read it, you read the account. The husband was 100% behind her. Why? Why? Because Hannah's heart was set on God's interest, not on her personal interest. Because her mother's heart was serious about the Lord. She produced a Samuel whose heart was also serious about the Lord. And for instance, at the end time, we talk about what we should minister to young people. Brother and I, we talked yesterday. Yes, we need to minister to our young people. But the most needed area is the parents. May the Lord help us. The parents are simply the fruit of reflection of what we are as parents. And may the Lord recover the role of the parents spiritually, and they'll invest spiritually on their children. As a mother, prepare that ephod for the one you love. That is your greatest ministry. And brothers and sisters, it's when the Lord gains your child, you gain that child for yourself. If the Lord does not gain that child for yourself, you'll lose him. You'll lose her. The Lord must come first. So that's just a brief thought to share with you brothers and sisters, especially parents, grandparents. It's about time. We are very serious about the main interest of the Lord, and bring our youngsters into the good of it. And the Lord will bless. Okay, now I want to share what's in my heart. And let's trust the Lord will give us time to share. The Lord seems to place in my heart the servant heart of the Lord Jesus, as we find in the Gospel of John. Now we know in the Gospel of Matthew he was portrayed as king, but actually if you read it, he was a servant king. He came for one purpose, to serve, not to be served. When you come to the book of Mark, he is the servant of servants, the perfect servant, model servant. When we come to the Gospel of Luke, he was a perfect man. Perfect man, but also he was a perfect servant. But when we come to John, he was portrayed as the son of God. But even in that position, we find that heart, that perfect heart to serve was there, and so beautiful. And just to look through the eyes of John, the service from the divine aspect. And so if the Lord willing, we'll just touch a few things. So let's turn to God's Word and read a few portions. Let's first turn to Mark. Maybe we'll just touch a few verses here and there. We may not have time. Chapter 10 of Mark. And we'll read verse 42 to verse 45. And now let's turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22. A few verses from there. And we'll read verses 24 to 27. And he said to them, And lastly, let's turn to John 13. And we'll just pick a few verses here and there. Let's read verse 8. Peter said to him, Never shall you wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with me. And let's read from verse 13. You call me teacher and Lord. You are right, and so I am. If I then, the Lord and the teacher, wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I give you an example that you should do as I did to you. Truly, truly I say to you, A slave is not greater than his master. Neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. Now before we go to John, and just share a few glimpses as to the servant heart of the Lord, and just give you a little background as to this servant heart of the Lord Jesus. You remember at the age of 12, in Luke chapter 2, when his parents brought him to Jerusalem to the feast, and on their way home, somehow they parted, and the parents looked for him. And then they looked, and on the third day they went back to Jerusalem, and they found him in the temple. And you remember the Lord's replies to his parents. Now that's very familiar. He said, Don't you know that I should be in my father's house? My place is my father's house. Now JNW translation, he said, Don't you know that I should be about my father's business? Occupied with my father's business. So at the very outset of our Lord Jesus' life, he knew what he came for. First he told his parents, he said, My purpose for coming to this earth is to be in my father's house, and there I am to be about his business. So no wonder his parents looked here and there everywhere, and they couldn't find him. Finally they came to the temple and they found him, and he made that declaration. Those were the words young Jesus uttered. From his birth to the age of 30, all these years, this phrase we find in Luke 2 are the few words that are uttered by the Lord Jesus. So they are very important. Those are the first words recorded of the utterance of the Lord Jesus. So he told his parents, he said, I came for one purpose, to be in my father's house and to be occupied with his business. And it was, I came to serve a servant heart. To serve. To serve my father's house and serve his business. That was his purpose for coming. And then later at the age of 30, you remember at River Jordan when he was baptized by John the Baptist, and there he properly declared, symbolically, by going into baptism into the water of Jordan, baptized by John, he was declared even to the unseen world, as well as the visible world. The reason for which he came to this world is due to the will of him who sent him. Because in baptism he had the cross in view. Because he knew down deep in his heart the cross was the will of the Father for him. And he declared openly, that I came as a sent one to do the will of him who sent me. So you see that this servant heart really did not begin at the age of 12. This servant heart did not begin at the age of 30. This servant heart, the Lord Jesus, began in eternity. That's why John takes us back to the beginning where there is no beginning. He began there. So in eternity past, the Lord Jesus already had this heart. To do all things to please his Father. And when he came to this earth, he declared openly. Now in the Gospel of John, we know there are many I.M.s. At least seven I.M.s. And there are other I.M.s. You recall toward the end of chapter 8 of the Gospel of John, and when he was talking to the Pharisees, and the scribes, and they were wondering who he really was, and he uttered that beautiful phrase. He said, Before Abraham was born, I am. He was the first. He is the first. That's why in Revelation he said, He's the first, he's the last. So he said, Before Abraham, I am. The I.M. that revealed to Moses in Exodus 3. The Almighty One. The I.M. I am God. And there's no others. I am. I am. Now this I.M. is now incarnate in the person of Lord Jesus. This great I.M. is now in flesh and blood to do the will of the Father. So I just share the three first I.M.s we find in the Gospel of John. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. And I am the door. Now brothers and sisters, in the olden days, in the old country, who puts food on the table? If you are a well-to-do person, who puts food on your table? Servant. Who lights up the house when it's dark? A servant. Who opens the door when you come in and when you go out? It's your servant. And so we find in this first I.M., the Lord Archangel in the Gospel of John chapter 6, I am the bread of life. First he was our great I.M. And this great I.M. became food to us. To give his life as a ransom. To be food to sustain that life that we can grow. Brothers and sisters, we as sinners, we have no way of coming to him because he is a holy God. We have no way of reaching him. No way. But this great I.M. in his mercy, he can reach us. And he came to us. And he became food to us. Life to us. Bread to us. He is forever ministering to us. You know, J.M. Darby has a little booklet that says Jesus Christ is servant forever. If you can get hold of it, it's a very moving little pamphlet. He serves us forever. Now I just want to encourage our hearts together. You know, yesterday we had a planning session for the Richmond Conference and we were talking about this coming one will be the 19th one. And as you look back, those of us who were together for all these years, 20 some years, how we've been fed by the Lord. You look back. We were richly fed by the Lord. And when he feeds us, he gives us the finest of wheat. You look back. You just look back those 19 years, 18 years, how faithful the Lord has given us bread of life. He knows what we need. He knows when we need it. And the amazing thing, as we look back those 18 years of Richmond Conferences, at the inner conferences, each conference we always discover there's an overflow. There's always 12 baskets full left over. That is my experience. How he ministered to us. How he ministered his life, his bread to us. We are all satisfied. And there's much, much left over. As I look back into our New Jersey Conference, Harvey's Theatre, we have five conferences. And how the Lord has blessed his word to us. How he ministered himself to us in such a living way. And brothers and sisters, thank God for his faithful ministry. He feeds us. Because we are the sheep of his pasture, he feeds us. He knows what to feed us, where to feed us. Now you say, how about those brothers and sisters, we call them response brothers, they minister to us. Brothers and sisters, thank God for those brothers who minister to us. The reason why they can minister to us is because the Lord first ministered to them. Whether those who are speaking, or those who are receiving, brothers and sisters, we are all there ministered by the Lord. Because we are all his sheep. So if you think about the faithfulness, and even your local situation, I'm sure in Richmond, as in South Jersey, week after week, Lord's Day after Lord's Day, how the Lord ministered his word to us. Where would we be today without his word? Where would we be? And thank God for the ministry, the faithful ministry of the Lord Jesus. Give us breath of life, daily, weekly, and yearly, that we may grow in him. Now here's the light of the world. Now if you look at 2 Corinthians 4, this light is God, God is light, and this God's light shines, no one else but the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may know him. Because Jesus Christ is the only beloved son of God. He's always shining upon him. He can only look at his son. Because his son is the one who really satisfies him. He cannot look at anything else. If he looks at anything else, judgment is there, because sin. But the only one who really satisfies him is his own son. So 2 Corinthians 4, we find God is light, he is the one who shines that light on the face of his beloved and Lord Jesus, so that we can see him. Now brothers and sisters, is that true with us in this past 18 conferences and locally? The Lord has given us light. Not just to see many, many things, but to see his son. To see Jesus. To come to love him and come to appreciate him. Brothers and sisters, light is for us to see his beloved son. God's light given is for us to see his beloved son. And I'm so thankful our brother shared this one, we see Jesus. We see no one else. We see Jesus in one another. The church is an expression of the Lord Jesus. And brothers and sisters, whatever we do, we have to have the Lord Jesus in view. In our fellowship, in our worship, in our local meetings, we always have him in view. We cannot have meeting for meeting's sake, ministry for ministry's sake, just preaching for preaching's sake, we always have him before us. And how he guides us, how he gives us light to see him. And we need light. We need more light. We need to see him, we need to see more of him. More light to see more of him. Because he alone is worth our seeing. Now the danger is that we see a lot of negative things around us, in our country. Brothers and sisters, you don't have to look for negative things, they're always there. Since creation. There's nothing positive since creation. The only thing positive is in the Lord Jesus. You turn your eyes away from the Lord Jesus, everything is dead, dark, and negative. So my encouragement to you brothers, don't pay attention to the negatives. Look to Jesus and you'll be liberated. Then there's a hope. That's what life is for, to see the Lord Jesus. And then I'm the door. What an open, heavenly experience when we come to the Lord Jesus. He is that gate to heaven. When we come to him, we discover treasure. We never discovered it before. When we come to his house, we discover something of the heart of God. For instance, when we see something of what is in God's heart, and what is after, we are spoiled for good. So he brought us in, into the door, into the secret place, so that we can discover something of his heart. What is really after? Now, I'll just touch on a few things that will just encourage our hearts together. You remember the ark that Noah built? And thank God there's only one door. And whether it's a huge animal, or a small animal, that door fits all. Fits all. It fits an elephant, and it fits a little, whatever you call those tiny things. It fits. And the amazing thing is that when all the animals went in the ark, and then Noah and his family, who shut that door? God shut that door. Now, when God shut us in, do you think we are in the dark? No. He opened. The window is above. We have an open heaven, and that door is above, not on the side, to see what's in God's heart, and to really know what is after. And we know, brothers and sisters, what God's after is the place of His Son. The place of His beloved Son. In the church, in your life, in my life, in my family, your family. Eventually, the whole creation. That first place must begin somewhere. We have a wrong conception in this country. We keep thinking that first place has to be somewhere in the world. How come they didn't do this? How come they don't honor the Lord? We have to begin here in our heart. We can demand what they don't have. They don't have the Lord Jesus. They don't know, but we have. How about His place in us? In my life, in your life. In my family, in your family. God wants to begin that work in you and in me. His absolute place. And then the Lord will expand that place for you. Eventually, in this world, and eventually the whole creation, has to begin somewhere. And brothers and sisters, that is the work of the Holy Spirit. To bring the Lord Jesus Christ real in our lives. Individually, in our lives together. That is the open door. We want to see Him. His place. As the Fathers would have Him in your life, my life. The third chapter of Revelation, you know, the letter to the book, the letter to the church in Philadelphia. It says, He who opens the door, no one can shut. And he who shuts the door, no one can open. And then he'll say, but you have a what? An open door. Many people have a door. The Lord opened that door for all to come in. What a loving heart. All either are happy or lazing. Come, come, come. The door is always open. The heart of God. And yet, thank God, once we are in, He shut us in. Now believe that, brothers and sisters. That is full salvation. Once we are in, He shut us in. And we can never get out again in Christ forever. And we have an open door to behold Him, to worship Him, and to appreciate Him. And what a ministry of the Lord Jesus. He gives us food. He gives us light. He gives us an open door. That is His ministry. His service to us. He came to be a man, to serve, to make all this possible. And just for the last few minutes, you know, in the Gospel of John, John chapter 6, the Lord told the people, He said, unless you eat of Me and drink of Me, you have no life in you. Because He is the source of life. Peter said, we are begotten by the Living Word. That gives us birth. That is the source of life. He came to give life and to give life more abundant. Life. And we all have that life. Now brothers, is that enough? Is that enough? Or we are still in the world. We'll be contaminated. Defiled. And that's how when it comes to John 13, the Lord came to Peter, wanted to wash Peter. Peter said, no. No. Peter said, no. You know, I mean, Peter really loved his Master. He loved his Lord. And seeing his Lord washing his feet, Peter just couldn't take it. Just couldn't take it. So he refused. But the Lord uttered those beautiful words. He said, unless I wash you, Peter, you have no part with Me. And that phrase, that phrase, unless I wash you, you have no part, it's been lingering in my heart for many weeks. Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus, when He came to this earth, He died, buried, crucified, buried, ascended. He gave us life in the presence of the Holy Spirit. But today He is the glorified one, sitting at the right hand of our Father. What His ministry, I believe, is washing our feet so that we'll be fit to be His bride. Because He's holy. He's pure. We have life, but we're still in this world. So if He's defiled, and He's still washing our feet through His Word, through fellowship, through the working of the Holy Spirit, purifying us, washing us. To make us fit. Brothers and sisters, whenever there's a defilement, we are not fit for Him. When there's a little bit of dust or dirt in our life, it's not fit for Him. He cannot stand it. He cannot stand it. He wants to make us so perfect, so pure like Him, that He can look at you and me, and He says, you are the bone of my bone, the flesh of my flesh. And He's preparing us to be that way, so He can look at us and say, you are the bone of my bone, the flesh of my flesh. And brothers and sisters, I believe these last days, the intense ministry of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit is washing us and fitting us for that day of His soon coming. Now brothers, as you look back, what a perfect servant. He will not leave anything undone. He said, those who come to Me, I will love them to the very end. What a servant. He said, the good work I have begun in you, the service I have begun, I will serve until you are complete. He cannot rest until we are like Him. And He's watching us every day. He's forever serving us, ministering to us in love, in mercy, in patience, in long endurance, because how difficult we are for Him to work on us, to purify us. But yet He's faithful. He's a faithful servant. Now in Matthew 6, the Kingdom Life, we cannot live that Kingdom Life without the life of Lord Jesus. As I meditate on this servant of the Lord Jesus, we find in the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus, He's the only servant who knows what it means a man cannot serve two masters. He's the only one who knows. He's the only one who knows. You recall, after He was baptized by John, and He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted. And that temptation in the wilderness for those 40 days and 40 nights, that was a very decisive time. Because at those 40 days, whose will to be served was settled right then and there. His hunger was real. And Satan's attempt was to move Him away from that servant heart. Serving God's interest, Satan moved Him away so that He can serve His own interest. And His need was legitimate because He was hungry. Satan's attempt to move Him away from that servant heart. But the Lord Jesus refused. He resisted. Because the will of the Father is more precious to Him than His own life. So He knows. He's the one who knows that we cannot serve to a master. He knows. He was tempted to draw attention to Himself. He refused. His focus was His Father and His interest, not Himself. And Satan tried to offer Him the dominion and glory of this temporal world, of the kingdomless world. And He resisted and He refused. He would only take what is offered to Him from His Father and His way. Not His own way, but His Father's way. It means the cross. Yes, that means the cross. And how do we fit in? How do we fit in? If God's purpose is to be realized, brothers and sisters, in our generation or in the next generation, it's not by our knowing God's eternal purpose. It's not by our talking about it, but by our having His heart as our heart, the mind of Christ as servant. Then His purpose will be realized. Brothers and sisters, we talk about restoration, recovering, but we need to recover the Lord's servant heart in our hearts if His will is to be done. And lastly, turn to 1 John 4, 1 John 4, verse 17. 1 John 4, verse 17. By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment. I want you to pay attention to this last phrase. Because as He is, so also are we in this world. As He is, so are we in this world. Not that we shall be, but we are because we have His life. And why cannot life, the Lord Jesus, live on this earth? Even though He was Son of God, His heart was a servant heart. And brothers and sisters, sing with us, we are all children of God. We always think about the enjoying of the thing. We always think about blessing. Just enjoy, it sounds to enjoy all the goodness, the blessing of our Father. But Jesus Christ, He was the perfect Son of God, and yet His heart was the heart of a perfect servant. And we need that. Thank God, on one hand we enjoy Him, we are His sons and daughters, but may we also have the heart of the Lord Jesus, a servant heart, so that His will will be done. Brothers and sisters, I am so convinced, with us, we know so much about God's eternal purpose, what the Lord is after, what He has longed for, but we don't have that servant heart, He shall not get it. It is when we have that servant heart, then He will get it. So may the Lord recover the Lord's servant heart in each of us, in our hearts, individually, and in us corporately. And thank God, we cannot do it, but He is in us to minister that servant heart to us. He can do it. It is about it. Father, we just want to commit these few words back to You for Your safe keeping. Lord, of You, use it for Your purpose. Use it for the fulfilling of what is in Your heart. Lord, we cry to You. We cry to You. We are so unlike Your Son, the Lord Jesus. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. Lord, that we may be as You are when You are on earth, conscious of only one thing, that we are here to be in Your house. We are here to be about Your business. We are here to do Your will. Have Your mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord. And You will be done. We thank You. We thank You for the perfect ministry of our Lord Jesus. And He who has begun this good work, He will surely finish. We give glory to You, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.