All creatures owe their Creator a ministry of service to him and to humanity. The example and teaching of Jesus Christ illustrate this. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
Praise the LORD from the earth, all great sea creatures and ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, powerful wind fulfilling His word, mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, crawling creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth,
At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
"Yes, in those days and at that time, when I restore Judah and Jerusalem from captivity, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning My people, My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations as they divided up My land.
Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed."
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows: "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: 'The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.
behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.
Then tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones that I have embedded, and he will spread his royal pavilion over them.
For he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God's servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.
This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God's servants, who devote themselves to their work.
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to the king as the supreme authority, or to governors as those sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.
And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites."
But you will be called the priests of the LORD; they will speak of you as ministers of our God; you will feed on the wealth of nations, and you will boast in their riches.
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with Him for a thousand years.
Aaron must wear the robe whenever he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he enters or exits the sanctuary before the LORD, so that he will not die.
But bring with you also your brothers from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may join you and assist you and your sons before the Tent of the Testimony.
But the man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen either to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, must be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.
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."
As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me."
The governor ordered them not to eat the most holy things until there was a priest to consult the Urim and Thummim.
When everything had been prepared in this way, the priests entered regularly into the first room to perform their sacred duties.
We have an altar from which those who serve at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
Now take action, because the LORD has said to David, 'Through My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hands of the Philistines and of all their enemies.'"
You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: 'Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
On that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will take you, My servant, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, declares the LORD, and I will make you like My signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the LORD of Hosts."
But this is not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?"
Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the Israelites had struck them down and given their land as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,
Now Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be spoken later.
So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: 'On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel.
Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail, for the LORD has done what He promised through His servant Elijah."
Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:
Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,
"Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He will not cry out or raise His voice, nor make His voice heard in the streets. A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope."
From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again.
And the LORD has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.
It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, just as He proclaimed to His servants the prophets."
The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your name, both small and great— and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
Additionally, they must first be tested. Then, if they are above reproach, let them serve as deacons.
The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
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;
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,
"Here is My Servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations.
"Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
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."
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."
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.
When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways."
In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.
as You stretch out Your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."
For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you.
where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
Now, however, Jesus has received a much more excellent ministry, just as the covenant He mediates is better and is founded on better promises.
"Then You are a king!" Pilate said. "You say that I am a king," Jesus answered. "For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice."
It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave— 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."
But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all. 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."
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. 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.
But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,
and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
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." 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." 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.
But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—
Remember the word that I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
Now about the angels He says: "He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire."
Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
So I fell at his feet to worship him. But he told me, "Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who rely on the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
But he said to me, "Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"