Serving others

²⁶ But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.

²⁷ For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves.

The greatest among you shall be your servant.

³⁵ Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.”

³⁶ Then He had a little child stand among them. Taking the child in His arms, He said to them,

³⁷ “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes not only Me, but the One who sent Me.”

⁹ As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intent of every thought. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.

¹⁰ Consider now that the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it.”

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.

⁷ They replied, “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

¹⁰ As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.

¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁴ Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

¹⁵ But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”

¹⁴ So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

¹⁵ I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.

¹⁶ Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

¹⁷ If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

²⁶ It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

²⁷ and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—

²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

⁴³ But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

⁴⁴ and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all.

⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

⁵ What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.

⁶ I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds.

²³ As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way.

²⁴ Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked.

⁷ They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

¹¹ And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

¹² to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,

¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.

¹⁰ “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.”

¹¹ And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

¹² Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.”

¹³ But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”

¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.

¹⁸ If I say to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ but you do not warn him or speak out to warn him from his wicked way to save his life, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood.

¹³ For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

¹⁴ The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

⁷ Which of you whose servant comes in from plowing or shepherding in the field will say to him, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?

⁸ Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’?

⁹ Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told?

¹⁰ So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

⁴ So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.

⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.

Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹⁷ So the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me have a little water from your jar.”

¹⁸ “Drink, my lord,” she replied, and she quickly lowered her jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

¹⁹ After she had given him a drink, she said, “I will also draw water for your camels, until they have had enough to drink.”

²⁰ And she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran back to the well to draw water, until she had drawn water for all his camels.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”

¹⁶ Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.”

¹⁷ Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.

He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

¹⁴ “I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.

¹⁵ But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

²⁵ Every skilled woman spun with her hands and brought what she had spun: blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, or fine linen.

²⁶ And all the skilled women whose hearts were stirred spun the goat hair.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.

¹¹ Then Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the king’s palace, to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

¹² Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, “Put these worn-out rags and clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,

¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number.

¹⁵ Then the LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

¹⁶ You are also to anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.

So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

¹ As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you:

² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but because it is God’s will; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.

For they themselves report what kind of welcome you gave us, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

⁹ A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, the wife of one man,

¹⁰ and well known for good deeds such as bringing up children, entertaining strangers, washing the feet of the saints, imparting relief to the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work.