Gear up for the Journey

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

In our culture, we have made stories of heroes. Recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has given us a handful of these heroes. One of the more dynamic, multi-faceted heroes that we've seen lately is Tony Stark, also known as the Iron Man. Now forgive me, this is your first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Iron Man Tony Stark, just as an introduction, he starts out as a weapons manufacturer. He embodies pride, lust, greed. He either sees it from British, he's a playboy, all of it. And then, as his story progresses, he goes through a series of mere dad experiences. And on the other side, Tony really comes out a different person, both physically and emotionally and psychologically. So, physically, and you'll see on the left, physically Tony has this electromagnet in his chest that keeps track of all the way from his heart. So without that thing in his chest, he's going to die.

It's an electromagnet in his chest. But emotionally, emotionally he is way more aware of his own mortality. And so in this way, what Tony receives is actually, it actually shows the kind of person that he's becoming, right? So he has this sort of mind that he's going to die right there in his chest. But he also becomes more aware of his own mortality. Eventually, Tony comes to view all of these things that have happened to him as a gift. In fact, he says in the original movie, Iron Man, he says, I shouldn't be alive unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy. I just finally know what I have to do. And I realize it's just a movie. I know that. It does illustrate very well many of the things that we receive in our own lives. Sometimes they are unwelcome, sometimes they are not. Sometimes we receive these things at birth. So we'll call these things flaws, traits, tics, quirks, things that we receive. Maybe we're short,

Maybe we're tall, maybe we're overly competitive. Maybe we're super perky at 6.30 in the morning, okay? Just everybody's different. Sometimes we just receive that at birth. Sometimes we receive things later. We call these scars, lessons, near death experiences. Things that shape us, that change our perspective. Maybe it's an accident, an illness, a betrayal that really changes how you see life, how you live. And what we see in Iron Man, what we see in Iron Man is that these things that we receive, they are identified in Scripture and they are called gifts. that gifts, the things that we receive either at birth or in our lives, that these gifts define and shape our lives, both individually and corporately. There is a church in Fort Worth called Wedgwood Baptist Church and 20-something years ago, maybe longer. I'm getting the dates wrong now, maybe 30, 20.

There was a shooting in their church. That shooting in many ways defined the next 20 years of how that church was going to grow and what they were going to talk about. And they were all of a sudden, that whole church was way more aware of their own mortality. They were way more aware of God's sovereign choice in putting them there as a church. It just changed everything. It was a tragedy. Nothing to be celebrated. But the Lord still used that as a gift in a very strange way. In fact, they actually did a commemoration, I guess it was the 20-year commemoration. They erected like this little monument and everything, and it really did change. Everybody talked about how it was horrific, but the Lord used it for his glory and our good.

There are many real life, or many, excuse me, not real life, I just use the real life, when many examples in literature or in movies of this same kind of thing where there's a gift that's given and it changes everything. So in Lord of the Rings, Frodo receives the ring of power. And that ring radically alters Frodo's whole life. Even in Star Wars, Luke receives his father's lightsaber and that kind of begins him on this whole journey. And it's something that they receive that then kind of, they didn't ask for it necessarily. They weren't, they were looking for something like that, but they received it and it changes them forever. I believe that all these movies, all these stories are reenacting something that what we, it's what we call the journey, the spiritual journey, right? Believe everybody's journey, everybody's spiritual journey is so ingrained in humanity that we can't help

but make movies about it. We can't help but put a ring in Frodo's hand or an electromagnet in Tony's chest, we can't, how it just comes out in everything that we create, that we write, that we make movies about. This is what we've been discussing for the last three weeks is the journey. It's this idea that following Jesus, that being a Christian is not just a one-time event, but that it's a long journey, and that it is full of weird and wonderful things, things that we don't expect. And what we've been doing to really understand it, we've been breaking it down into different parts, into different, maybe things that you would have on your journey. So we talked first week about Passport.

And the Passport, we receive our Passport when we commit to following Jesus, when we establish an emotional connection with Jesus, what the Bible calls believing in your heart. Jesus gives us our passport and we begin our journey with him. We also looked at the compass, okay? So the compass we talked about a few weeks ago, it's how we make progress on the journey. God puts his spirit inside of us to lead us like a compass.

He's changing our desires to change our actions, not the other way around. So this compass actually works inside of us to change us from the inside out. So we pray in the spirit to ask for direction discernment. We move forward as we pray, it's our compass. And then last week we talked about a rope and we looked at Ephesians four, one through six. And we talked about how there was this ingrained unity in being a Christian, that as people on this journey, we are tied to one another, whether we like it or not. We are a part of the same family. And when we remember that the journey is treacherous, we feel the rope, right? So we talked about this ingrained unity. Today, what we're gonna be talking about is a backpack. Today we're onto the backpack. And we find it as we continue to read in Ephesians chapter four. So we're gonna be in Ephesians four today, if you wanna turn there.

And again, last week we were in verses one through six. Today we're gonna be in verses seven through 16. Ephesians 4:7 starts out this way. It says, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Now, if we're just picking up this verse here, but if we would have just read the previous six verses, remember in verses four through six, we have this refrain of one, one, one. There's one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one calling. All those things, one, one, one. But now in verse seven, we're taking a left turn and we're saying, but to each one, We go from the rope of ingrained unity, and now we're into talking about the individuals within the United Body. So it's talking about each one of us individually. And he's saying in verse 7, grace, these grace gifts are given to each of us according to Christ's measure, according to the measure of Christ's gift actually.

So we are one body. As a church, this is a metaphor that we take very seriously. We are one body. Jesus is our head and we are the body of Christ. And so we live and move and have our being in Him. So we are one body. However, we all are gifted differently. We are gifted according to the measure of Christ's gift. Okay. So in other words, we're gifted differently. We're gifted in different measure. We're all different than one another. But also there's this really interesting thing in verse 8. And every time I hear this preached, here verse seven and then they skip to verse 11. So I'm going to, because eight and nine and 10, frankly, can just, it just feels weird to people. However, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to read eight at least. And it's the eight. It says, therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men. So this picture that we get, it doesn't seem to

be connected to gifts necessarily, although it says gifts there. This picture that we get is a king returning from victory. So in those days when kings would return from victory, they would be all followed by the spoils of war. So whoever they took over, there would be priceless things kind of walking behind them. And so Jesus then, the metaphor it's using here, the way we see it, Whenever Jesus goes and defeats sin and death, he comes back in victory. He comes back with a gift or with gifts prepared for each person. So when Jesus comes back from victory, he doles these gifts out in commemoration to the fact that he has just punched or killed sin and death. And so Ephesians 4 then is setting up a picture of Jesus

Enabling and preparing gifts for everybody that follows him So that they can follow him on that journey, right? So so Jesus then is handing out backpacks Okay, he's handing out backpacks. They're full of gifts. They're full of your gifting Jesus has a backpack For you for this journey and this works out a few different ways The first thing I want to say about this backpack is that it is very complex. It's not some ratty backpack that you just pick up from the Dollar Tree. And if you have a backpack from the Dollar Tree, I didn't mean to offend you, but it's not that kind of backpack. This backpack is the kind that you see that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars and it has like hidden pockets, it's got extra features, it doubles as a tent, it like shoots rocket grenades if you needed to. I mean, this is the coolest backpack that you have ever seen.

My wife, Kristi, recently, we recently got a car and God was so gracious. We had a great deal in this car and it had the highest trim package, which I've never owned a car with the highest trim package, just confession time ever. And neither has my wife. You know, we grew up, you know, man, middle class and we got the deal car. And so it was so nice that Christie actually, she was like, I shouldn't drive this. I don't want to drive this, right? What are the neighbors going to think? We're made of money? And so she gets used to the idea. But after she gets used to the idea, she starts exploring this car. And she's like, Drew, this car has a wireless charger. Drew, here's what she's so excited about. Did you know, Drew, that when you put it on cruise control, you can set it to be a certain amount of distance behind the person in front of you, and the car will actually change its speed to match the person.

She's like, that's amazing. She, I mean, that blew her mind. It was pretty mind blowing to me too. She didn't know all the bells and whistles that this high trim package came with, and it was cool. It was like it made her want to explore it further. The backpack that you receive from Jesus is very similar to that. It's got these hidden things to it, these compartments, these bells and whistles that you honestly, it just takes time to discover them. They run so deep, they're so complex, it takes time to discover them and there's a lot of joy in the middle of that discovery. And before we go on, I need to stop down and say this one thing. Some might confuse what we are talking about right now with a cheap personality assessment, right? So you get on Facebook and you're going to find out which Harry Potter house you're in or which Disney Princess you are.

That's adorable, but this ain't that. This is not what we're talking about. When we talk about how Jesus gave you an individual set of gifting and we're kind of going to give that a metaphor with a backpack. Don't be confused. This isn't just like fun and games. We're talking about something that Jesus has given you in the legacy of his victory over sin and death, right? We as a church, we live and move and have our being in the stubborn fact that Jesus has won the victory on our behalf. So when we discover and use our gifting, then we are opening our backpacks and we are learning how to fight spiritual battles with that gifting. So this isn't just like, oh, I'm perky in the morning, and that's my spiritual gifting. No, no, no. This is something different. And this is in commemoration of a victory won. This does have to do with battle. It has to do with more than that,

but it has to do with battle. And so, just as a recap, we're one church, we're gifted differently. All the gifts point back to Jesus's victory, And we're not discovering which Disney princess you are, we are discovering and using gifts and learning how to fight. So with all of that established, let us skip to verse 11. Gotta go ahead and skip it anyway, nine and 10. Skip to verse 11, it says in Ephesians four, and he gave Jesus, he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, okay. There's a lot of teaching on this verse, on these five gifts.

It's sometimes in some circles, it's called the five-fold ministry. I don't exactly subscribe to that, but I do see when I look at this, when I look at scripture, what I see is Jesus giving or gifting five different directives or roles, if you will, to the church. They are specific directives within the church body. And if you're familiar with spiritual gifts, let me just say, this isn't like Romans 12, this isn't like 1 Corinthians 12. It's not like those lists. And we can, I have a whole thing we can talk about for that. But it is enough to say that these work out as five main directives within a church body. So let's get into them. The Apostle Directive. The apostle directive, if you are gifted in kind of the apostleship role, then you find new opportunities for ministry. You extend the gospel. Okay? So this is, bear in mind, this is lowercase A, apostles.

Okay? Capital A apostles established the church and wrote scripture. That's not this. Okay? This is lowercase A, apostles. And that's what the word Apostle means. It means to go out. It means to extend, to kind of find new opportunities. So on the journey then, people that have the apostleship backpack, they blaze new paths for moving forward. Okay, so they got the machete, they're blazing the trail. As a church, listen, we are going to encounter obstacles. We're going to encounter enemies. And what we need to do is we need to think on our feet. We need to be able to find ways around and through whatever is presented in front of us. We need, the apostles are the ones that do that, lowercase A. They're the ones that do that. They extend beyond those issues. They push into new places of ministry. Second is the prophet directive. Prophets, they remind us of God's,

of the truth of God's word and God's presence. So on the journey, the prophets are the ones that are pointing to our compasses and saying, look, look at where the compass is telling you to go. Look at that. They warn, they rebuke the prophet gifting. They're not always like, you know, the life of the party, but they are very much warning and rebuking and saying, look at the compass, look at where we're going. as a church, our tendency is to stray from the Lord, because we're sinners and we're a bunch of sinners in this room. The Lord has given the directive to the church and has gifted people specifically to warn people to say, Hey, what's the Lord say about that? Hey, what's the scripture say about that? Hey, are we being true to scripture? Are we remembering these things about that the Lord has said? I call my wife a little tongue in cheek. I call her a prophetess because I believe that she's kind of gifted this

way that she has a sense of when things are off, and she doesn't mind saying that, at least to me. She doesn't mind saying, hey, something's not right here, something's not right. Third, the evangelist directive. The evangelist directive makes the gospel obvious and plain. So on the journey then, and we're going to find out a little bit more about this next week, but on the journey, evangelists build campfires to welcome others. Okay. Evangelists are thinking about adding people to our journey as a church. Listen, as a church, we have to find ways continually because culture is always changing. We have to continually find ways to express the gospel, to explain the gospel, to teach the gospel, to demonstrate the gospel in ways that are relevant. Okay. I'm not going to, so I'm going to be here for Tuesday night, whenever we have national night out. And when I'm, if I get the chance to explain the gospel to somebody, I'm not going to use a horse and buggy as an illustration.

Because it's not the 1800s. Because we live in a day that is different. And so because of that, I need to be able to explain the gospel in terms of TikTok, or, you know, the internet, or BLM, or I need to be able to explain the gospel in terms of, you know, identity politics, okay? I need to be able to do that if I'm going to engage culture with the gospel. Not everybody's going to be super great at it, and that's okay. That's why we're gifted differently, okay? As a church, again, we've got to present the gospel clearly. If all we do is point out evil in the world. We're not really doing our job. Like we're just not. We're saying bad. Okay, great. Bad. I don't disagree, but what are we going to do about it? We've got to engage it for the gospel. Four, shepherding directive, caring for the needs of the family. So on the journey, the shepherding directive, those shepherds that are going to ensure rest, hydration, that you're

geared up, that there's settling conflict, right? That's what shepherds do. Shepherds are the ones who kind of make sure that we're all good. As a church, there's a time when you can't walk it off. There's a time when rubbing some dirt on it is not enough. You've got to be able to stop down and say, OK, I have a pretty serious wound. And I should do something about it. I should dress it. I should tell people about it. We need to understand the fact that as Americans, we are way prone to pull ourselves out by our bootstraps and just keep going. And although that is a fine quality, it does have its limits. And so if all you're ever going to do is that, then you're not really going to experience the grace of God through his church. and his church is intended on helping shepherd you.

We must care for everybody, old, young, immature, mature, Republicans, Democrats, independents. We gotta love everybody. We gotta care for everybody. We need to make sure that we are together as a body. And that variety sometimes is going to build conflict. Shepherds are there to address it and to work it through. Last, teacher directive, instructing and developing people. Excuse me. On the journey, the church is going to teach other people about the journey itself. There have been people on the journey longer than you.

Those teachers are gonna say, like, here's how you handle this. Here's how you fight this sin. Here's how you intercede for somebody. Here's how you have a quiet time. Here's how you memorize scripture. Here's why it's important. The teaching directive is important because we need to pass on, right? With the next generation, always coming, always coming. And we need training.

So people then, and those are all five, people in our church are equipped for these directives in different measure, okay? So in other words, the idea that, you know, like I'm a shepherd and I'm nothing else. That's not really what we see here. What we see is that there are five things that a church needs to do together, and we'll see kind of what it's going to accomplish. But what we're going to do is we're going to look at all these in depth on October 13th. So you get that data in your head. We're going to start the journey in depth. That's actually in your worship guide. The journey in depth is going to be on a Wednesday night, And it's where we are going to, over four weeks, gonna do kind of a deep dive on a lot of this stuff. And one of the first things that we're gonna understand is how we are made, how we are gifted, what we should be doing in terms of making disciples.

I say this all the time, and I probably need to say it from the front more, but as a church, we need to be able to put people to put people in front of everybody and say, these people are worthy of honor. These people should be imitated. So that's why we're recruiting deacons right now. It's part of the reason why we have deacons and pastors, right? So that we can say, imitate these people, imitate their way of life. These are people that are good, that we respect, that are there. If all we have as a church, if all we have is me, then spiritual maturity just looks like preaching. Spiritual maturity looks like being six-five and loud. There's more to spiritual maturity than me. I can say that's a line blue in the face, but when I show you other people, when I show you a spiritually mature woman who is quiet and short, don't raise your hand. When I show you that, though, what that helps you understand is that spiritual maturity looks

different, even between two people. That's helpful because not all of you are gifted the same, but when you have somebody that you can look at and go, them, I like them, for some reason I connect with them and I want to be like them, I want to... That's the church. That's what we're supposed to do. But if we aren't holding up people that are different from one another as leaders and as worthy of imitation, then we are really doing ourselves a disservice. We're doing the future generation a disservice. For now, we should just understand that these gifts are five different kinds of backpacks, okay? And what I want to talk about right now is kind of what they have in common, what's in all these backpacks, and there's three things in every backpack. And we're going to keep reading Ephesians 4 and to learn a little bit more about Okay, so Ephesians 4 12 through 13

So it says that these he gave these gifts he gave the Apostles prophets of Angela Shepherd's teachers to Equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. There's a couple of things there I just want to say this we are gifted to equip the The saints for work the saints would be the church

Okay, so the gifting you have is for ministerial work You are gifted for church work Pastors lead pastors actually don't do all the ministry. Okay? To be a little crass about it. That's not what you pay me for Okay, you don't pay me for that. You don't pay me to do all the ministerial work. It is my job to lead our church in all five of these directives so that all these gifts are working together to equip the saints for the work of ministry. The body, when all these gifts are identified and empowered and put to use, what happens is that all of you start doing the work of ministry. Ministerial work. I mean, I'm not just talking about something that our church has said, hey, we need people to clean, you sign up to clean. That's great. And we need that. What I'm saying is that when these gifts are happening, ministerial work happens in your life and in the life of our church, and it happens through the Spirit spontaneously.

It doesn't have to go through a program or a committee or a leadership council or anything like that, it just begins to happen. People are ministered to. We'll look at this in a second because it means that if you're gifted for work, then your backpack has tools. If we're gifted for work, your backpack has tools. And to see those work together, I want to use one situation. I want to pretend that our church all of a sudden sees an influx of low-income children. There's no rhyme or reason to it. All of a sudden, we have 20 teenagers from low-income homes, most of whom are single-parent low-income homes. OK? When that begins to happen, our church needs to adjust. We've got to figure that out. So let me kind of walk you through what the gifts would do in that situation. Prophets the prophet gifting is going to remind us of our command to pass on things to the next generation

And to care for those that are less fortunate to care for the vulnerable Prophets are gonna be kind of beaten that hammer, right? We've got to do something I know when I'm hearing a profit gifting because it's it's really intense It's very black and white and it's something like we've got to do something We've got to do something about these hurting people around us. We've got to do something about it, and that's that profit gifting. And they're prompters, man. They're just, they're pushing, okay? So then, so then the evangelists gifting, right? What they're going to do is they're going to form a connect group that invites more of those kids and their families to play on our fields. Maybe pick up soccer, maybe pick up basketball, whatever they want to play. They form, those evangelists form a connect group to establish relationships begin to make the gospel plain. The Apostle, gifting, finds ways to connect our church to

an after-school program that's already working. It's already with maybe even with another church or maybe they're a nonprofit, but they connect our church with that church and they say, hey, we've got to get these kids in that program. It's a good program and we can work together. The teacher, they begin to develop leaders to care for kids well. Listen, if If you just kind of go out there and start trying to play with kids and stuff, trust me, you teachers know there's a lot of holes to step in. You've got to do that the right way. You've got to be trained. You can't just kind of just willy-nilly go out there and be like, oh, the spirit will take care of it. It's cool. I mean, I get that and I love that spirit, but we need training. We need to know how to do that well. Teachers are going to do that. And then the shepherd, so the shepherd is going to work through these long-term care

needs that come up whenever you are dealing with low-income households, right? Going to begin to just kind of absorb some of that, just some of that care, right? I am your lead pastor. That is true. But our church corporately needs to shepherd one another and be a shepherd to the community. Okay? That's true regardless. Part of what we're going to be doing, just, man, I hope, I pray that we have a bunch of low-income kids that just, like, just invade our doors and we have no idea what to do with them. That would be the best problem in the world to have. I would love that. I believe that the Lord is going to be doing things like that. I'm praying for that. I hope that you are praying for that. But when that happens, you're gonna see these giftings kind of come out, okay?

So our backpack has tools so that we can do work, but it has more, so let's keep reading Ephesians 4:14. We are gifted to maturity so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried out by every wind of doctrine, human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes. I want you to notice the protective tone here, okay, so that we may no longer be vulnerable children, able to be taken captors, right? You're captive. You're gifting works to fight off predators, bad leaders, people that are toxic. And this is fighting spiritual battles, right? And this means that your backpack not only has tools, but your backpack has weapons. Your backpack has weapons. Let me just give a, not example, but let me just elucidate on each gifting with shepherds. Shepherds are going to notice and investigate evil. They're going to spot it typically before most people will,

and they're going to investigate it. Apostles find dark places where light can shine and extend ministry into those places, maybe where people are forgotten. Prophets warn and rebuke against sin head on. They see sin in your heart. They're going to lovingly tell you, bro, you have to quit that. And it's going to be kind of a shock. But eventually you're going to be like, oh, that was a blessing. I'm really glad they did that. Those prophets. Teachers, they're going to call out falsehood and they're going to train other people to call those things out too. evangelists are gonna actually go into dark places, put people on their shoulder and carry them out, right? That's what evangelists are gonna do. They're gonna fight against all these things that are seeking, all this darkness that is seeking to take people in. Our church is made to fight back evil and sin slavery,

not by passing laws, not by voting a certain way, but with our gifting, with our gifting. Our gifting is for the work of ministry, it's for fighting, so we have tools, we have weapons. And then in this last part, it's a great picture versus 15 and 16. I want you to just, as we read this, I want you to just kind of see South Burleson as we read this. It says rather, speaking the truth and love, We are to grow up into every way, into him who is the head and to Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow. We see our whole church body growing stronger, becoming healthy, growing into Jesus, growing into his likeness. gifting, as we work, as we fight, we grow into Jesus's likeness. We grow into health. We don't get healthy by doing nothing. We get healthy by working and fighting together. And we grow into

Jesus's likeness. When this is happening, the whole body makes the body grow, which is really interesting. So in verse 16, it's really clunky in English, but it's really beautiful in Greek. But the idea is that the body, and then you have all these, you have these two long clauses, but the whole body makes the body grow. So the body then grows, the church body, our church body grows in a self-sustaining way as we work, as we fight, as we work toward healing, as we as we confess sin, as we are praying for the losses, we're doing all these things. We, self-sustaining way make the body grow. It's not to take any glory away from Jesus. It's to say that this is how Jesus created our church to work in a self-sustaining way. Much like, you know, when our kids grow up and get bigger, we want them to be self-sustaining adults contributing members to society. If I'm

still feeding my kids three times a day and they're in their 20s, I'm doing something wrong. At least I hope so. Doing something wrong. So our backpack then has nourishment. Our backpack has nourishment. It has tools to work, it has weapons to fight, and it has nourishment for health. This means that we help each other, right? So then it means that shepherds befriend and give counsel to apostles. It means that prophets correct evangelists. It means that evangelists help teachers better reach the next generation. It means that apostles help shepherds extend into new ministries. And it means that teachers develop prophets to discover and use their gifts, right? It means that we're all working with each other. If you notice, if you notice on each of these, the apostle, apostle, prophet, evangel, shepherd, teacher, that the apostle and the evangelist tend to be real outward focused.

Like, let's go get them. Like, let's start 15 new ministries this year. It's going to be great. Okay. And that the shepherds and the teachers are going to be a little bit more like focused on, Hey, how are we doing? Are we healthy? Are we okay? Right? The, the point is not to vilify either one of those. It's to say we need both. Those things work together and the prophets make sure we're working it together. That's prophets. So this is, this is the backpack that Jesus gives freely to us. This is how we work it out as a church. I know I've just skimmed the surface, but I do want to pull it back and to say this, that what we are supposed to be is a reflection of the love and the grace that Jesus has for us. That none of this is possible without the desire From Jesus on our behalf to grow into maturity to be more like him

Jesus desires a relationship with each of us Where we are growing into his likeness not where we're just kind of saying yes, sir And and you know, how high should I jump? Those things are good. We need to obey Jesus But what Jesus desires from us is not just simple obedience, but really a relationship where obedience begins to pour out. I want to encourage you, if you have not thought about this, or if you are in a relationship with Jesus where you just think it's about following rules, my encouragement to you is begin to picket that scab, begin to investigate, begin to dive in on that. That's not really what Jesus is calling you to. He's calling calling you to a relationship. So today, as we pray and as we think about it,

I want you to be reminded of a few things. Number one, we are intended to work together for the work of ministry. So that means even if we're having a time of invitation, that you're praying for people. Even whenever we are worshiping, if you're having trouble worshiping, this works for me all the time. If I'm having trouble just singing to the Lord and just worshiping my whole heart, I just watched somebody else who's just having a ball and worshiping the Lord. And that is such an encouragement to me. And that really is a picture of what our church should be. There's some songs I'm sure that you don't love or some songs you do and all of that. But when you look at other people and they're worshiping, man, I mean, that should cut you to the quick and be like, that's why we're here. Let's worship, I can do that.

Also, I want you to make plans to come on Wednesday, October 13th, where we do a little bit more of a deep dive into this. We need to know as a church how to do this. There's gonna be some things where we need to know how we're made and how Jesus wants to use us in a specific way that we just weren't able to cover here. And lastly, I think it's worth it again, just the beauty, right? How Jesus wants our church to function together, how he created us, not just to be free agents who happen to be in the same building, but to be at church.

And that is why the Lord moved me and my family here a year and a half ago, and that's why I've seen the Lord do some amazing things in this church body, because he's growing a family. He's knitting us together. Today, if you wanna be a part of that family, if you have some spiritual questions, you just want some prayer, I'm gonna be right up here as we sing. We're gonna sing one last song as Dan comes up. Let me pray for us. Jesus, we ask for you to speak to our hearts,

help us to know that you were calling us to great things, to ministry in your name, to work together as a church, and to illustrate who you are to a lost and dying world. Lord, I ask for anybody today that is thinking that through and just to know where they are with you, just unsure about their relationship. Maybe he has never had an emotional connection with you that they would make that decision today. Which means that we pray.

life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting He passed and we followed Him there Over us in no more dominions The more than conquerors we are Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dead, In the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail, you be promised Believe Him and all will be well Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of his glory and grace.