Latest / Chapter and First- Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church / How God Uses You to Empower the Body of Christ - Pastor Greg Addison - March 3, 2024

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How God Uses You to Empower the Body of Christ - Pastor Greg Addison - March 3, 2024 · Chapter and First- Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church

• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Casey, for sharing that.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: What an incredible, uh, what an incredible truth for us and an indication that, man, that's why we pray because God's already been there, battle's already won, and he's bringing us in line with that victory he's already lined up.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great message for us as a church family as also we pray through uh the presentation and the discussion that we started last week as a church family as I presented a proposal uh for us to uh approve a plan to develop a campus in the Chaffee area.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: So let me just remind you of a couple of those points.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Next Sunday morning, we are going to vote in the morning service on that strategy.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: And this it's the strategy of it.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's not a building yet, there's not a staff guy yet, there's not, we do not want to get ahead of you as a church.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: We want you to take this journey with us and be a part of it.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: So what we have is a strategy to develop a First Baptist church, Chaffee Campus.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: Understand, this is not a church plant, them or us.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: That is us.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: We are, it's just like if here back in the day when we used to have two services, we just had two First Baptist services in the same building.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now we're going to have two First Baptist services at roughly the same time in two different locations.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: They are us, our DNA, all of that.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so that is who we are, it is what we do, and we are going to reach our entire community.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: That's our prayer.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So I had some questions this morning as we went to Sunday school classes, and I was asked to make sure we clarified that.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is one church, First Baptist Church.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: When you go to a website, you're going to go to the First Baptist Church website, and you'll see there you can choose from the downtown campus or the Chaffee campus.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: One church.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you'll run through those bullets for me so I can work through those.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: It is a full-blown church and worship service in that sense out there.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: So if you visit the Chappie campus, there'll be live preaching, there'll be live worship, nursery, or what we call extended sessions sometimes.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So when you go to church, families can go to church, you're going to church.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so we'll have uh two staff people that we'll be looking for as a part of this if we if it is approved, a a pastor to lead worship out there, and someone to carry a lot of the preaching load.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: We will also assign uh Jared Farley will be out there as a campus pastor for us there as well, helping us with visitors and uh assimilating new members and people get saved and all of those things that happen uh on a Sunday morning.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: He'll be helping us do that as well.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: I will also preach in a rotation at that campus as well as here.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: So my primary preaching will be here once a month, once every five weeks.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'll go out there to that campus and preach live.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: And uh and that way everyone knows we're one church, and so we're together and it keeps us connected.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I told one of the Sunday school classes I went to this morning, we have plenty of guys on staff that can preach here if I'm preaching out there.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Every single time Matt Passmore preaches, y'all come and tell me to travel more so Matt can preach more.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you get your wish, okay?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that that's but we have great guys that can carry that here.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna rent a facility out there.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about breaking ground on our property yet.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're still working through the process of that.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to rush that, we want to do that properly, and we can believe find a rented facility.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have put together an estimated budget of about$550,000, and that should be covered or the vast majority of that covered through the sale of our mission house and uh through this year's Faith Forward budget offering.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that offering will take place in April after Christmas.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: So you guys did an incredible job with that last year.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's helped us in our renovation.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Next Sunday morning, we'll have three of our Sunday school classes over here in their new Sunday school classes.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Praise the Lord for that.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's exciting.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: You see that the exterior construction is well underway and moving forward, and so we're excited about that.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: So that is the sort of the structure of that proposal.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: We have not filled in details like rent this facility or whatever, because we didn't want to get ahead of the congregation.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: It will take all of us to do this project.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: We want everyone to be involved.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: We want you to know where we're going and what we're doing.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have stopped at the point where we can give you a plan and a strategy, and then we bring everyone in and we start to move forward and begin to fill in the details.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: One of the questions that I've gotten was how many people are going out there?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we're looking roughly in the neighborhood of 50-ish because whatever facility resent we rent is probably not going to be huge.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: There are not a lot of huge buildings out there to rent necessarily.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so if we sent, you know, 150 of you out there, we wouldn't have room for all the visitors we're trying to reach.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so we want to make sure we send a strong core that's who we are and can do church very well, and we have a core of that.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now it doesn't mean that you can't go visit and stuff like that, but we're doing church right here too.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're reaching people right here, and so we're moving forward here as well.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh we'll work through that.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: How are those 50-ish going to be chosen?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, if God has called you to go, we want you to be a part of that.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've already had a list of people who have said, Pastor, we want to go, we're ready to go.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's exciting to see that kind of response from people in our church that are very excited about being a part of that.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'll have we'll work through some details of we need maybe some deacons out there, we need some Sunday school teachers, we need Sunday school teachers to stay here.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: We'll work through those details and pray through that together.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Then I had a couple of great questions this morning.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: And somebody said, Well, are you only wanting young folks to go out there?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a great question, and the answer is no.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: That is First Baptist Church, it's going to look like us, and we want it to look like us.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so I told somebody we don't want it to look like the aftergame party of a little league baseball team.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Even that group has grandparents there, right?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so not everyone that lives out in the Chaffee area is 30 years old.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of people that look just like us and look like the breadth of our church.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so we want to make sure that we are reflective of our church family and we are reflective of all the people that we're connecting with out there.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so you are not too young or too old to be a part of that uh of that piece of First Baptist that is out there reaching the people who live in that area.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: And again, to remind you, there's over 14,000 people that live within a 10-minute drive of the property that we own out there.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: Over 14,000 people that are there, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of family dwellings that are currently under construction that that doesn't even that number doesn't even reflect.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: There are neighborhoods and homes and multiple apartment complexes, this complexes that are being built, and so that is only going to continue to grow with the amount of development out there.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing I want to remind you is what I want you to get in your mind as you pray this picture.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: The first Sunday we get to praise the Lord because we are baptizing here and there on the same Sunday.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we do everything.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: Amen?
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's because we are wanting to reach people with the gospel.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so we are going full on in both campuses to reach as many people as we can.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Again, multi-site churches are a very uh appropriate, common, um, developed strategy that show great fruit, and they're very confident in how to do that.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the most important factors when you begin to move into a multi-site deal is that your church knows who you are and your DNA is established and set.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a blessing that we have and a strength that we have as a church.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: We have a very clear and strong heritage, foundation, root system, and DNA.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so we are in a great place to be able to expand our reach in the River Valley and to reach more people as First Baptist Church.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you again, continue to pray.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: I want to encourage you, continue to ask questions.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: If we can help you with any of that information, we are here.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: We are ready to answer.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: We'll walk through any of that with you.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: The only bad question, as you've heard it said, is an unasked question.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so ask and talk through it with us, pray through it with us.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_01: Next Sunday morning in the morning service, we'll be voting.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's another trick to that.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's time change Sunday next week.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you need to be here to vote.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: And so we want you to be a part.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: You want to be here that day, and so make sure you set your clock, make sure you get to Sunday school, make sure you get here because you're going to want to be a part of this church family moment next week as we take that boat.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is that good?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: We'll give you some more information about that next week.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: But we want to make sure you're on track.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: We want to make sure we're answering questions.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: We want you to be a part of that conversation, and so please ask us if you do.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, one of the things that I talked about last week was our three challenges.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of the questions is how quickly will we start doing things?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: How quickly will we see a service begin out there?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: And there are three things I talked about, three ways that will stretch our triangles as a church, our faith journey as we grow to be like Jesus.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: And those relate to three timing factors that will be important.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: The first timing factor is that we are all involved as a church family.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: That means we're giving, that means we're signing up for organizational meetings and we're praying through am I going to be a part of the core team?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: That means we're all jumping in this together.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_01: It also means that we're a part of things like in April when we have a meeting with our folks that live in Oklahoma, like I talked about last week, because we want to reach more folks and find out ways to do that.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: You're coming, you're a part of that, you're helping us learn how to reach folks.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of those, a lot of those types of things.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: It determines on how involved we are.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: It determines on how much we're giving.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: Are we giving faithfully?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we talked about last week, 80% of our church family gives in person when they come, which is great.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's fantastic.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: But we have a lot of times, if because of weather or something, people don't come, they don't send their tithe, they don't make up.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so we had some of that at the beginning of the year.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna ask you in the month of March to catch up in your tithing.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get too far behind for this year.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm just gonna ask you to catch up.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: So money will determine that to some degree.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then the third thing is finding a place and finding these staff guys, especially the second worship pastor.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the timing how that will work.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so we can't determine those things.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: God's in charge of a lot of those.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: But we will, after the vote, begin to start looking, especially right after Easter.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: We'll start looking for a place.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: We'll start praying through, finding some of those staff guys.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: We will begin having organizational meetings where you can come together and find out what it means to be a part of the core team and how to get involved in those strategies and all of that.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: So those things will begin very quickly after Easter, but it will be some time before those things begin to take hold.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so that leaves us back to that area of three ways it's going to challenge us as a church.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about prayer, and you guys are doing incredible.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Man, folks have stepped into our prayer force.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: They're still stepping in to pray.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Man, we are galvanizing prayers.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Last week in our triangle podcast, I interviewed uh Jared Farley and Brad Richardson and Jake Zludicki, and they talked a little bit about the impact already that they're feeling of when they're in these key evangelism moments to know that there is a specific prayer cover over them.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: You ought to listen to that here.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So thank y'all for being a praying church and being a part of that.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um we talked about giving just a minute a moment, but the third part is serving.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Serving.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: It is being a part of making us the army of God, if you want to use that illustration.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: It takes everyone to reach people.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: It takes everyone to reach an area the size of the river valley.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: It takes everyone to grow Sunday school classes and to disciple new members and new believers.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: It takes everyone to reach young families because they bring kids and all of that.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: It takes all of us to do that.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: God has made the church to be supernaturally powerful.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to turn with me to Romans chapter 12, and today we're going to talk about how God uses you to make the body strong.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: How he empowers us as a church.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is what makes a dynamic church.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's everyone using their spiritual giftedness under the empowering work of the Holy Spirit.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_01: And when we are all allowing God to work through us, and people everywhere are bearing spiritual fruit, God has a freedom to do incredibly powerful things.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: The church does not grow because of the preaching.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: Let me say that again.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: The church does not grow because of the preaching.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: Everything that is good that happens in the church, it happens because Jesus did it.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: He is the one.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, I, I, Jesus, will build my church.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so the activity of a church that grows, the activity of a church that sees people saved, it happens because Jesus is at work in that church, and there are multiple ways that He has created that He works in the church.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: And one of those is supernaturally empowering the people in the church with spiritual giftedness.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want to talk to you this morning about what we talk about when we say spiritual gifts.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: If you've been in church any amount of time, you've heard that term spiritual gifts.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Read with me here in Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 1.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what the Bible tells us.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Now there are multiple passages of Scripture that deal with spiritual gifts or spiritual giftedness.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I've chosen this one because it is a solid base foundation and it allows us to understand and make clear these principles that we're talking about today.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And he's using the picture of the Old Testament Jewish faith when they would literally sacrifice animals, kill them on the altar, and their blood, that blood sacrifice would represent, for example, Jesus who would come as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So he's literally talking about sacrifice.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Not sacrifice, we use it in American culture, where we'd say, Oh, I really sacrificed for that, you know.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I spent money that I would have spent on something else.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or we think, well, I really I really sacrificed uh for my family.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I bought the lower level of Mustang, not the GT Mustang.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I sacrificed.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: I sacrifice by letting my wife cook Brussels sprouts in the house and stink up the house and all.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's a sacrifice because I'm dying on the cross for my wife, right?
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like sacrifice.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: We got this word sacrifice.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is scripture, and the word sacrifice picture the high priest killing the lamb on the altar.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: It dies to show the death that Jesus died to pay the price for our sins.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's not your life anymore.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's Jesus' life because he died for it and paid for it.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: Holy, that means set apart.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: Pleasing to God.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is your spiritual worship.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot worship without worshiping from a sacrificed life.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, we don't look like the people that we're walking around in life with.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: We look different from them.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: By definition, we are different.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: And what does that will look like?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: For by the grace given to me, I tell every one among you.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand if you think you're not a part of every one among you.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Every one among you, not to think of himself more highly than he should think, instead think sensibly as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's every single person being singled out.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way, we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, there is one body.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: There's a big toe, and there's a ring finger, and there's an ear, and there's a nose, and there's an MCL and an ACL and an ankle bone and a backbone and a vertebra, and there's all that stuff, but it's one body and it functions as one.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we talk about the body of Christ, we talk about Jesus reaching the river valley, it's Jesus through his body, and it is the body that is doing that.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying we are empowered this way.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: If prophecy, use it according to the standard of one's faith.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: If service, in service.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: If teaching is your gift, then you teach.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: If exhorting is your gift, then you use it in exhortation.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: If giving is your gift, you give with generosity.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: If leading is your gift, you do it with diligence.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: If showing mercy is your gift, with cheerfulness.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then he goes on over the next several verses to talk about how we are to love one another, and we do that through these gifts.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: And so this spiritual giftedness, what he's saying is every one of you were given one of these gifts, and it flows out of the Holy Spirit in your life from a sacrificed life, and the body of Christ is empowered through all of these parts, doing this supernaturally impassioned a gift.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: This is a this is an integral part of who we are as a church, and it's a part of our DNA.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: It is a part of our foundational thought theology as a church.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Let me give you two statements.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's a wonderful document that we have as a church that I think is incredible, and we need to refer to it on occasion.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: Today's a good opportunity.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: This is, if you go on our website, it says what we teach.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is lifted straight out of what we teach, how it describes this spiritual giftedness.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: The first comment is this the Holy Spirit, this comes from the section on the Holy Spirit, administers spiritual gifts to the church.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit, he's the actor in this, glorifies neither himself nor the gifts by ostentatious displays.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, you're not showing out how good you are as a teacher, so everybody goes, Oh, you're a wonderful teacher.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is empowering you in the setting that he's put in for you to elevate Jesus, and that's what happens.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: But he does glorify Christ by implementing his work of redeeming the lost and building up believers in the most holy faith.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: And you see the scriptural foundations.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, here's a statement from the church.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: This again is From what we teach.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: The church is to cooperate with God as he accomplishes his purpose in the world in reaching the river valley.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's why Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, and that's what we're doing.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: To that end, he gives the church spiritual gifts.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: One type of gift, he gives men chosen for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then he talks about the people and the saints and how they're equipped.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: He also gives unique and special spiritual abilities to each member of the body of Christ.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_01: That's who we are.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's our DNA.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so how are we going to reach the river valley?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to do it through the empowering of the body of Christ through all of us learning to let the Holy Spirit flow through us and express that giftedness so that the body is equipped and gifted to do all those things.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes folks will ask in this conversation of the last two weeks, Pastor, do we have enough people to do this?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: That right there says, absolutely we have enough people to do this.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because when we're functioning that way, I mean, Jesus can accomplish anything and everything He came to accomplish.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: So let me give you a couple of truths here to help you process what this means.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: We've been talking over the last few weeks about our identity and our spiritual triangle.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: We refer to that often here.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's a shorthand illustration of how we grow to be like Christ.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's made up of those three components and it grows as an equilateral triangle.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about our identity in Christ for a couple of weeks, and I want you to see as that identity leg and that ministry leg meet, if it grows as an equilateral triangle, then your identity in Jesus and your Jesus-empowered ministry are inextricably linked and grow together.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Ministry is not ministry if it's not rooted in our identity in Christ and pointing other people to Jesus.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: It is his empowering in us and our being obedient to what he does.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Also, your identity as a believer is rooted in the ministry that you do, and it is, you cannot get away from that because the Holy Spirit literally built an ability in you to do that that you cannot get away from.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to see these principles again in this passage of Scripture.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, he says this brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, for this is your spiritual worship.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Why is that our spiritual worship?
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is who we are.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus died for us.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: The gospel is very simple.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: I was a sinner.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: I did wrong.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody in the room, for the most part, you're old enough to know you've done things wrong, that there's guilt in your life, things you have to be forgiven for.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: We can't forgive ourselves, we can't fix ourselves.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible says that that guilt has a cost to it.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: For the wages of sin is death.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: That is eternal separation from God.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: Your sin, there is a price to be paid for that sin, and we all pay that price.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because God is holy, he has to judge that sin.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: But because he is also loving and merciful, he sent Jesus out of heaven.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus as that sacrifice, that Lamb of God that had been pointed to all throughout the Old Testament time, Jesus became that once and for all Lamb of God.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: He went to the cross, he died in our place, he shed his blood for us, he paid the price for our sins, he took the full wrath and punishment of God for that sin.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then on what we call Easter, we'll be celebrating in a few weeks, he rose again, conquering death and sin.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And when we come and we give our life to him, literally, I take all of my life and I give it to him.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_01: Everything I've been, I am, and everything I ever will be, I give it all to Jesus.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: It is all his.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you have an invitation or somebody will catch me after service and they'll say, Pastor Man, I need to get it spiritually right.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: God's working, I'm ready to go.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna give 98% of my life to the Lord.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: What's the first question that Jesus asks?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: Where's the other 2%?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: Living sacrifice.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: Then we are in the process of being transformed.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Once we're saved and he's removed that sin and he's stepped into our life and the presence of the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us, then what happens?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: He begins to transform us.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: So he says, don't be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you're being transformed in the image of Jesus.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's as your identity in Christ grows, as your relationship with him grows, as you begin to serve the way he serves, your triangle grows.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's just a way to illustrate, you're being transformed in the image of Jesus.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot be transformed to the image of Jesus without being a servant the way Jesus was a servant.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's just impossible.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you're going to look like Jesus, then you have to look like Jesus.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus served.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's what he came to do.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 2.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_01: He did not think it robbery to be equal with God.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: He knew he was, he knows he's God.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: But he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death on the cross.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: He served.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus described himself in Luke.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've come to seek and to save the lost.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_01: We saw the example of Jesus when he washed the feet of his disciples.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then he said, You I command that you love one another as I've loved you.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: It is our identity.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: We have to serve.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: If we're being transformed to the image of Jesus, then we have to be involved in ministry.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: It is our identity.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: It is his empowering gift.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: Again, he says, I tell every one of you, don't think about yourself more special than you ought to think, but you need to think wisely and spiritually.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: God has distributed to each one of you a gift of faith.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, according to grace given to us, we have different gifts.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: You have a gift that came into your life the moment the Holy Spirit came into your life.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now listen to me.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what the Bible teaches it teaches it in Romans chapter 8.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: You'll see it over there in a few moments.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: In the moment that you get saved, you got all of the Jesus and the presence of God and the power of God in your life that there is.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: When you give your life to Christ, the indwelling presence of God in the form of the Holy Spirit comes in, lives in your life, and He is now seeking to direct your life.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: There is no moment later on you get saved, and at some point down the road somewhere, oh, you get baptized with the Holy Spirit, or you find the Holy Spirit, or you get the Holy Spirit, or some kind of a deal.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: When you got saved, the Holy Spirit came and he became an indwelling presence of God in your life.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: He sees everything, he knows who you are, he knows what you're doing.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: He brought all of who he was in there, he brought his wisdom in there, he brought his leadership in there, he brought his comfort in there, he brought his presence in there, and he brought a gift in there that he is going to employ through us, each and every one of us.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so ministry is a part of our identity because it literally came into your life in the moment that the Holy Spirit came into your life when you gave your life to Jesus.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And it is also part of our life because we are inextricably linked.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_01: We are supernaturally linked as a body.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: What he uses this illustration, and almost every time he talks about spiritual gifts, he gives the illustration of a body.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: As we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: How in the world are we going to serve the river valley?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to be all of you that are hands and feet going out to serve.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's how it works.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's all these pieces of the body, and he gives all this description, and everybody has a spot.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: And the body is a beautiful illustration because there are so many things and so many intricacies in our body, and it all works together in a way that they really don't understand.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: They still don't understand.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a reason that they call it practicing medicine, right?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're still trying to figure out what they're doing.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: I offended all the doctors.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: You guys should have laughed if you're not a doctor, right?
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so you think about all these incredible pieces in their body.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's a muscle right here at the base of your spine in your body that I discovered when I turned 50.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't know it was there until then.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: It isn't, it is inextricably linked to everything I do, let me tell you.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: There are times when I get out of a chair that it looks like this.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: And some of y'all know exactly what I'm talking about.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_01: You feel everything.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: There is a condition called plantar fasciitis.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: I have it in my right foot.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's a bizarre little thing.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's some little muscle that comes right through here, and it's what attaches to your heel, right?
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: My entire body is aware of that one little muscle.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: I guarantee you.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: It hurts and it makes the whole thing.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I'm walking around, and here's what you do.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: One little muscle affects my whole body.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're with me?
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's you cannot escape this illustration.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let me also show you what happens.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: My brother the other day, he's a woodworker, he's doing all kinds of woodworking, and he cut off the end of his finger with a saw.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what happened?
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: His entire body knew what happened.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, his body still functions very well.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: He's only missing about that much.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: But what happened to that piece?
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_01: It died.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: It died.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's no longer attached to the body.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a lot of Christians who have amputated themselves from the body.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: You hurt the body.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's hurting my whole body.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's slowing me down because I can't do what I normally do when I step out to do that.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it hurts the whole body.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you amputate a thumb, you hurt the body.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: You slow down the body, but the thumb dies.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: And your spiritual life, it dies if you're not attached to the body.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: The body is hurt.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're less because of that.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: But you die.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Why am I so strong with that?
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: If you're being transformed to the image of Jesus and you're not where you can serve the body, when Jesus' command was a new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I've loved you, then your spiritual life is deeply atrophying and going to shrivel because it is detached.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's a similar illustration in John chapter 15, if you do the vine and the branches and all of that.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's just our identity.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: So now let's talk about what that gift is.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: If our identity is serving and our identity is wrapped up into this gift, how does your giftedness work?
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the first thing you see is He designs this gift for you.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: You don't get to pick what gift you have, God picks it.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: He says, as God in verse 3 has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, according to the grace given to us, we have different gifts.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: In 1 Corinthians, in that passage, it talks about according to the sovereignty of God.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: So you don't get to pick what gift you have.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: God picked it because he has designed you.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, Ephesians chapter 8, chapter 2, verse 10 says this we are his workmanship, created, designed, structured, and built in Christ Jesus for good works that he has prepared beforehand for us to walk in.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: One of the ways that he has crafted us in Jesus is the Holy Spirit brings this gift and he gives us his giftedness.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: And it says that we are prepared for good works.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: And he is going to empower through your walk with Jesus Christ and your surrender to the Holy Spirit.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to empower you to do that.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: And he's got a plan for you to do that.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: So every one of you, man, God has a plan for you in the body.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're doing that, the body is muscled up and powered supernaturally because all of these gifts being empowered by the Holy Spirit, surrendered to the Holy Spirit, are flourishing and bearing fruit.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: Boy, what an incredible picture.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's awesome when you begin to see people flourishing spiritually, flourishing spiritually.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why one of the ministry strategies that I employ is constantly trying to bring us back to that triangle deal.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Man, when you're flourishing and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and you're flourishing, and they're all bearing fruit, man.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: The church is bearing fruit.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: God is opening doors for things that are happening.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this is an ability.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: This is a skill.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: This is a talent that God births in you.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Look at the way he describes these.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Prophecy.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_01: That is truth-telling.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: That is seeing the truth and direction and speaking that.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: What is service?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_01: That you sometimes is called hospitality in some things.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it is this idea of I am just building people up through serving them.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: I am serving everywhere.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: And man, if the church needs people, it is people who are servants and have a servant-heartedness.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Teaching, that is understanding how people grow in the Lord, understanding Scripture, connecting the dots, helping them to grow in Jesus.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: And exhorting, what is that?
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: That is exciting people, pointing them in that direction, putting a hand in their back, encouraging them, holding them accountable, cheering them on.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: It is exhorting them to do that.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: What is giving?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: We know what that is.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: But it's a generous heart of giving.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then what is leading with diligence?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: That is that ability to see and understand and hear from God and guide the body.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_01: And then what is mercy?
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: We know what that is.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: That is the ability to step in and to minister to people who are hurting, take on their hurts, take on their burdens, connect with them and carry that burden with them.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_01: You see how those are actual skills and abilities.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: Those are things that God empowers.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_01: And when you put all those together, we look like the body of Christ, right?
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_01: Ministry comes together and happens when those pieces are happening.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_01: We are greater than the sum of our parts when everybody's functioning because there is this synergy that comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in God's people following and flowing through the Holy Spirit.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: And it is God's design for us.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you have natural abilities as well, right?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: So you have natural abilities.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: There are things that you naturally do.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: Those are not your spiritual gifts.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Those are God designed you.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: The Bible says in the book of Psalms, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: He knew you before you were forming your mother's womb.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: He gave you that skill, and that skill is important, and it is a part of how he has designed you to serve.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: But it is not the only thing that happens.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: When we think of your natural abilities, those need to be surrendered to the Lord so he uses them for his good.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then in our walk with the Holy Spirit, our spiritual gift comes out as we follow his guidance and as he directs us.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: And so they're different.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_01: They work together.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're the same, sometimes they're not.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they connect together.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: My spiritual gift, I believe, the more I grow in life and all of that is this leading, administration, it's that kind of a deal.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just think that's what it is.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have a natural ability to stand up and talk to people.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_01: I can talk to people in an ugly way, I can talk to people in a way that's relying on the strength of Greg, or I can talk to people in a way where I have surrendered that gift to the Holy Spirit and He's using it.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: When you put them together, talents, spiritual gifts, I'm a pastor.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: So the question now for you is how do you understand what your spiritual gifting is, and how do you follow that?
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that is the Holy Spirit working in you, and so you've got to follow him because he finds a place for you.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: He calls you into that place.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_01: What ministry is he calling to you in the church?
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then he empowers you and uses you in that place.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: So you take the gift of mercy.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can use the gift of mercy in all kinds of places.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: You can use the gift of mercy in the nursery and love on kids and all of that.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_01: But you can use the gift of nurse of mercy by working in the nursery, and your focus is when moms and dads bring their kids, and you have an empathy and an understanding if someone is struggling, and you see that and you recognize things that people don't see.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: How are you doing today?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: What can I do for you?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, our nursery area has moved into becoming the body of Christ, and it's not childcare.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because people are using their gifts.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: God is flourishing that gift as it moves through.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so, what your thing is, you've got to figure out is how do I understand by surrendering myself to Him, by going into that place He's called me, and how is He going to use me in this place?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, here's the process.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what it looks like.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this week, we're recording the next topic on our Triangle Podcast.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we're going to talk about more about each of those spiritual gifts, what they are to help you understand them.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we're even going to link a spiritual gift test.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: There's a test.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_01: Some churches will use that.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be careful with that because it's not the defining truth of what your spiritual gift is.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit is as he expresses it through.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of people, it's good for us to have a handle to pray our way through and walk our way through.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll talk about that more.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: But all of that process is going to follow these commands right here.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: Scripture is very clear in this.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: If it is given to us by God, if it is the empowering of the Holy Spirit in us, if it is going into the place that he has called us, he made me the muscle that connects the arch of my foot to my heel.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's my job.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: I've got to figure out how to do it and do it there.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: Then all of that is being led by the Holy Spirit.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_01: And it is listening and understanding as He transforms me and grows me.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_01: So here are the commands.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_01: Look at the commands in this passage of Scripture.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: The first is present your bodies a living sacrifice, or submit.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: So we are in a constant state of submission.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: I am submitting myself to the Lord.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, this is your life, it's not my life.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus paid the price for my life, and thank you for saving me, and now it's yours, and what are you going to do with it?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_01: I am constantly submitting to that.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that every time God calls you to say, I hate it when Pastor uses illustrations of going work in the children's ministry because I know he's poking me about going to the children's ministry.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: And every time the pastor says that, it stirs up the Holy Spirit beating on me and like, can we hurry up and get out of here and go to lunch so I don't have to listen to that anymore?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_01: That is a submission deal.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: That is, God's called me into this.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm submitted to him.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm following what he says.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_01: The next thing is renew your mind.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_01: We did a sermon series on that last year, on that process, and basically it is investing myself in the truth of Scripture.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: It is seeking Jesus.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is allowing that to impact my thought process.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_01: And when I hear his commands, I step out and keep them and I obey them.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: That is the renewing your mind process.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you think about the relationship leg of the triangle, prayer, Bible study, faith choices.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm doing.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm learning to think like Jesus and see what he says.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: I can't take that illustration of the nursery.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: That person with a gift of mercy, you may not ever want to change a diaper ever again in your entire life.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_01: And God may call you to the children's ministry.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because he has a place where he's going to express your gift, and it may not be what you think it is.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so he puts you there, and all of a sudden, your mercy gift, you become a part of Touching young families' lives and encouraging moms and dads and creating ministry opportunities because you are, with your gift of mercy, being led by the Holy Spirit, expressing that, and God is using you to connect and impact those folks.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: And so you have to get your mind to listen and follow and hear and not push back because you are letting the Lord speak to you and guide you where you go.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: Then he says in verse 3, for by grace given to me I tell every one of you not to think of himself more highly than he should think.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, think sensibly as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: We get two responses to this.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: The first is, oh, I can't do that.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_01: Would you pray about teaching something to school?
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I can't do that, Pastor.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_01: I can't do that.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's either laziness or false humility.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_01: If God called you to do that, he's the one empowering you to do that.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: And you may have a gift of teaching that you didn't realize you had, and until you stepped out in faith, you don't understand that.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we are thinking about, oh, I just don't want to do that.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's driven by me and what I think, not by I'm evaluating myself in light of what God is trying to do in my life.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: The other answer you get is, well, I'm kind of past that in my stage of ministry.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just kind of above that now.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: I have one of my friends, he preached here two years ago before I started.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: He's the president and uh chief executive officer of Love World Finding, and he shares this testimony.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: He had gotten saved and gotten on fire as a young man, and he was a leader.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: He was one of those, you know, leaders under 30 and all that kind of that.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so he goes to the church, and as he tells a story, he goes to the associate pastor and he says, Brother Bob, I'm ready to serve.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: Put me to work, I'm ready to go.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: And he's thinking he's gonna get some place of leadership because he's a leader and he's gonna do all that.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so the associate pastor puts him on the baptismal committee.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: And as he tells the story, he's kind of like, uh, yeah, really?
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like wet towels, and that's all I'm gonna do, and what is that, you know?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the associate pastor knew he needed to be humbled and prepared for service, and he needed to learn what his gifting was, and you can't do that outside of serving, and so he just needed to serve.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then, as my friend shares that testimony, he served there for years and years because it turned out to be one of his favorite ministries in the church, because he was meeting with people who were excited about this moment.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: They had given their lives to Christ and they were being baptized.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_01: He was encouraging people who were worried about the size of the church, and that was intimidating to them, but they were still excited and wanted to be obedient, and he was walking through that moment with them, helping them have that experience, and then he has now become one of the best soul winners that I know.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: He is leading people to Christ individually all the time, and he'll point back to that time that God stirred in his life.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_01: Man, you're with these new Christians and you're seeing this, and you want more people to have that.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he starts telling more people about Jesus because of what God did in that moment when he is serving.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so we approach these things and we go, well, I can't do that, or well, I just really don't want to do that.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sort of above changing diapers or whatever kind of thing we think.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_01: When the Bible says, you're not supposed to be thinking whether you're good enough or not good enough.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: You're not supposed to be asking what you can do for God.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: You're supposed to be finding out what God has planned to do through you.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so he says, Listen, I need you to think and evaluate in terms of what God is doing in your life and find out what God has distributed in your life and find out what is he doing.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that means dying to self, it means opening up to new areas, it means listening to the Holy Spirit guide us in that.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then you step in and minister as he leads as if you are surrendered as a slave.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: Look at what he says.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love this.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a leader, then you do it with diligence.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a giver, then you do it with generosity.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_01: If you are, uh if prophecy is your gift, if that truth speaking, of that, of that speaking into those moments and bringing that godly wisdom and pointing people to Jesus in that, then you use it according to the standard of faith that God has given you.
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's not whether you think you've served enough or not, it's whether you have met the standard of Jesus in your life, is when you can stop doing that.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so when you serve, you find that spot and you express that gift and you give it everything that Jesus has given in your life to give.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_01: In football, you'll hear this phrase.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_01: We play to the whistle.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of times you'll get young guys and they like to hit or they don't want to get hurt or whatever, and here comes a running back, and I'm a linebacker, and I hit him, and I just trust that he's gonna fall down.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: I don't go through the whole process of tackling.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe I'm blocking and uh and the and the running back goes around me and he gets ahead, and so he's now, and I just stop.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: But the play is still going on.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: If you're that lineman and you're blocking, you knock your defensive tackle down, and then you go find somebody else to knock down until they've taken your running back out.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_01: If he's still running, you're still running, and you play until the whistle blows the play dead.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: That illustration makes sense?
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: And what the Bible says is we're supposed to play to the whistle.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: If my life is sacrificed, then I'm going where Jesus tells me to go, I'm doing what he tells me to do, and I'm giving everything that he has given in my life to give out of my life.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: I'm leaving it all out there.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: Pastor, I don't have that much to give.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you're right, you don't.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: But that's why you go back to we have been given the gift.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: As God has distributed, according to the grace given to us.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: You don't, but again, the question is not what you can do for God.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_01: The question is what God is going to do through you.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: And he's given you everything you need to give everything to him.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you are submitted, your mind is right, you're understanding what he's trying to do in your life, and you're following where he calls you to go.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: Over the next two weeks on our triangle podcast, we're gonna unpack that some more, and I hope you'll listen to that, work through that process of what your spiritual gift is, because God has given you one if you're saved.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: But if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, man, this should be exciting to you to see one of the many ways that Jesus steps into your life and makes you his and gives you a place and a family, and you become a part of a body that misses you if you are not there.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: It is incredible what happens when you are adopted into the family of God and you become that part of God's flourishing and empowering in your life because you've given your life to Jesus and you are bearing fruit and you are making the church greater and bear more fruit because of what God is doing in your life.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, I've come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a part of what the abundance is.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is God using you, making your life have incredible impact, greater than you could ever imagine.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_01: Ways that God would use you and work through you the intimacy that you have with him to feel him as he impacts somebody's life through you, and you feel like God used me to do that, and I am so humbled that God would use me to do that.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_01: I am so in awe that he loves me enough that he would give me that spot because I don't deserve to be that person.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_01: This is so exciting because I'm seeing what's happened in that person's life, and Jesus did that through me.
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's what it means to be saved, to be his.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_01: People are gonna stand and sing, we've got ministers here at the head of the aisles.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you're at home, contact us right there where you are.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can pray to be saved.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, respond to him this morning.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, we thank you for the incredible truth of what you do in our lives when you come in.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I pray this morning, if there's anyone who needs to be saved, that you will give them a picture they never imagined through this beautiful teaching in your word.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is in your name we pray, and all God's people said.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.