To live beyond yourself means to throw yourself into serving other people—to share life’s load with those who need your help, hope and encouragement. For those of us who are Christ followers, we are God’s gifted originals—to accomplish His dream for this world—to serve others by doing good.

Let me offer you two examples of God’s gifted originals.

1. He was born the son of a Lutheran pastor in 1875. He became an acclaimed organist and worldwide authority on Bach by the time he was 30. Later he earned doctorates in theology and philosophy. In 1905 he enrolled in medical school. In 1913 he and his wife moved to French Equatorial Africa to build a treatment center for impoverished Africans. He stayed there the rest of his life. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. He died at 90 years of age in 1965. Who is he? Dr. Albert Schweitzer.

In 1950 she rented a house with her own money so that people who were dying in the streets could be transported there and die with dignity. She was one of the earliest pioneers of treating AIDS before the disease even had a name. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. She died a household name in 1997. Who is she? Mother Theresa.

These two individuals are still household names to us and probably will be for our great-great grandchildren for the simple reason that they did so much good in our world. They aren’t going to be remembered for their wealth, power, or corporate titles. These two individuals just decided that their daily job description was going to be to "do good." They put their work gloves on every day and "did good" until their last day. That’s God’s dream for you and me.

Will we ever again see the likes of those two individuals who set new levels of goodness in our self-absorbed world? I think so because according to the Bible, all sincere Christ followers are challenged to do what is good by taking up their towel and serving others just as Jesus did.

Our series "Jump" has focused on a simple question: Is there a way to live that gets us past our self-absorption, enriches the lives of others, and brings blessing to us? Yes, there is. As Christ followers, we are to live beyond ourselves by living the way Jesus lived. Our goal is to become people who do so much good from being filled with the kindness and love of Christ that we might even reach Jesus’ levels of kindness at times.

One of God’s greatest delights is seeing us pour out dump truckloads of goodness on this world that He has planned, prepared and equipped us to do. We are God’s masterpieces, made with a designer label, so we can enrich His world. What God wants to do, He does through people like you and me. Which is why Mother Theresa said, "We are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ."

Once you cross the line of faith and receive God’s forgiveness and eternal life in heaven, why doesn’t God transport you immediately to heaven? Why are you still sucking air? Because Ephesians 2:10 says there are good works that God has prepared for you to do between this line (salvation) and your last breath (heaven). If you can hear me, it’s because God’s got more for you to do. It’s your destiny—it’s why you’re still alive—to do His good works.

Remember the story? A guy is walking down the road and gets mugged and left for dead. Two religious leaders, who you’d expect to stop and help, walk on by, not wanting to get involved. Then a third person walks by—a Samaritan—and he decides to do something good and cleans the guy up, loads him on a donkey, takes him to a hotel and pays for his care.

When you pull out of the parking lot and you hit your first 4-way stop, be good to someone. When you’re around your home today, do good. Say kind words to your spouse, kids, and your parents. When you’re out and about in the neighborhood, do an act of kindness for a neighbor. When you walk into work on Monday, do some good along the way. When you eat out this week, be good to the people who serve you. When you come to church, do good here. Fill out one of those yellow First Serve cards and do something good for God and others. On the back of your outline is a list of unique "do good" activities. Try some and live beyond yourself.

One of the awesome things about being a Christ follower is the mystical, guiding, whispering, prompting power of the Holy Spirit. Throughout your day, the Spirit is going to nudge or prompt you to do something good. You just need to be listening.

Recently, this happened to me. The mom of a friend of mine had died and the funeral was held about 1.5 hours from here—out in la-la land. I’m thinking that’s three hours of driving. I only had time for the visitation because I had to be back here to perform a wedding. I also had a graduation party to attend. It would have been easy to say no, but God was nudging me to go. I told Jean, I have to go. I can’t explain it, but I’ve got to go. And I did. It was in God’s heart for me to show up and encourage my friend. God wanted me to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

So how do you do good as you leave this place? Listen to God, the Holy Spirit as He nudges and directs you. You’ve got to listen to Him throughout the course of your day.

Last week British mountaineer, David Sharp, 34, was found dead, huddled 1,000 ft. from the peak of Mt. Everest. As a solo climber, he apparently succumbed to oxygen deficiency on his way down from the world’s highest mountain. Tragically, dozens of climbers hiking up Mt. Everest ignored Sharp in order to pursue their quest to reach the summit. Having paid $75,000 to make the attempt, these climbers didn’t want to get bogged down helping someone out.

Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first man to conquer Everest in 1953, was horrified that Sharp was left to die. He said, "It was wrong. I think it was the responsibility of every human to try to help. Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain."