Many times over the course of my time here in Ocala, I have had church people come up to me and say, “I’m excited to be a part of Good News Church! If there is any kind of thing you’d like me to do to serve God, just let me know.” 
 
I love that attitude! These people are great. And God can and will use them mightily. 
 
However, I would guess that sometimes these people may be disappointed with me because I often don’t have anything specific to tell them. 
 
What I mean is, as a church, we have already announced what we’d like people to do at Good News. We don’t micromanage each individual life that is associated with our church, but we’ve made the general idea of what it means to minister as a part of Good News quite apparent. Here is a recent example from a few months ago:

In fact, I’m not sure that we could be more clear on this particular topic.  Not only have we said this in newsletter articles, and in Sunday morning announcements, but we’ve also mentioned it in sermon after sermon. In fact, here’s a list I made of just some of the more recent sermons (these are all from the past five years) where we got as specific as we could regarding what we’d like the people of Good News to be doing: 

Haha! Wow. This topic has not been neglected.
 
It seems to me that some people can hear messages like the ones above and still not know what specific things they ought to be doing. And that is understandable. Sometimes, we might know a general direction to walk in without knowing precisely what to do next.   

In some cases, it almost seems like people think that Good News Church might be on the verge of implementing a somewhat secretive project or mission and that the only missing ingredient is that we are waiting for a person who would be willing to take on this special project. However, that is rarely the case. I mean, there may be uncommon occasions when, say, the drummer in the band moves away at the same time that a new person with the skill of drumming walks in the door. But, aside from those moments of perfect timing, we generally are not sitting around attempting to accomplish something with a program that has a gaping hole in it - one that is perfectly shaped for the next person who shows up with an interest to help out.

So it is fairly normal that people will come to me asking for a particular ministry that I don’t have to give out. I hate to disappoint, but I often don’t know what specific thing they ought to do (to serve God) any better than they do. The details of how you serve God truly are things that are between you and God. And in most cases, God has already equipped you to figure it out even better than I could figure it out for you. After all, you know you better than I do.

All I know to do is point you in the correct direction generally.  Feel free to listen to the list of sermons (above) if you’d like 9 or 10 hours of teaching on this topic. But let me also summarize them just in case you don’t have that kind of time this week: 

You are to spend your life honoring God, loving and serving the other believers in your life, and loving and proclaiming the gospel to the unbelievers in your life. Different people will do this in different ways because of the way God has shaped them. Some of you are good leaders and therefore you are extra responsible to use your leadership skills for God. Some of you are very compassionate and therefore you are extra responsible to show mercy for the glory of God. 
 
One great way to start (if you have no clue where to begin) would be to simply join a community group and look for needs in people’s lives and then fill them. And then go to work (or school or wherever) and look for needs there, too. God will not hide His will in such a way that you are unable to serve Him. So, go for it.