Spiritually Gifted for the Good of Others

I'm excited to be back in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 to be exact. This week was a lot of kind of back to normal, at least in my own life. All of our kids, well, minus the little one, the little one goes to kindergarten. It'll be the first time we have no kids at home throughout the week in our house. But the three older ones all went back to school this week, so it was back to normal, back to rhythm. I love the boredom that can happen over summer, but I think our family thrives with just at least a little bit of structure. So it was nice to bring some structure back to things.

We were back in sports this week. I was voluntold that I'm coaching middle school football. So, yeah, some of you were like, ew. Some of you were like, ew. That's kind of where it's at. It's kind of like, eh, we'll see how this goes. So far it's been great. I played a lot of sports growing up. I was more of a team scorer. I was more of a sport guy.

Tennis is like it's just you against someone else, and it's like it's up to you. Golf is kind of like it's up to you. There's some other sports, you know, it's all track, you know, it's up to you. I appreciated the team thing because it wasn't all up to me. I think it taught me a lot about life, you know, kind of love and appreciate the guy right next to you doing his job. I played a lot of football growing up, a lot of baseball, a lot of hockey. Tried basketball. Turns out that's not the sport. For me, apparently I'm too violent for that kind of game, so that didn't work out very well. You can't use your hands.

This sport's dumb. Not doing it. So I played a lot of other sports growing up, and it was fun to just learn, man, who can play what position, and the importance of doing your job and doing your job well, and kind of the accountability of, man, I need you to do your job next to me, and I'm going to do my job, and the guy next to me is going to do theirs. It was just fun to see, guys. Guys kind of come into their own and learn and grow and get better at their different positions. It was fun to see this week. You know, some kids come up to me and be like, hey, coach, do you think I'll be a linebacker?

I was like, well, you're 2 '4", so probably not. Or a kid who's taller than me, 13 -year -old kid, taller than me. Coach, do you think maybe I could play tight end? You're probably playing tight end, bud, whether you like it or not. That's probably going to be where you end up. And it's just fun to see kind of people find their place and flourish and kind of the skills and the gifts that the Lord's given them. There's a reason I'm talking about this, by the way. I'm not just talking about the week that I had. You're kind of like, where's this guy going with all this? I love team sports. I think my favorite team sport of all is this, the team sport of Christianity.

Christianity is a team sport, by the way. Each and every one of us have a position to play. Each and every one of us have a job to do. Each and every one of us have an objective. What's the objective? Reach the world with the gospel for the glory of God. That's what we talked about last week, that we will be a church who is witnesses of Jesus Christ here, near, and far. Here with our own church family, here in our state, near in our country, and far all over the world. And where we happen to be in 1 Corinthians 12 speaks just to that. What is my position?

What is the part that God has called me to play? Am I a part of it? part of it? Am I a linebacker? Am I a tight end? What's the spiritual gift God has given me for the purpose of God's people and for the glory of God? Let me read it to us. 1 Corinthians 12. We're in verses 1 through 11 this morning. If you don't have a Bible, there should be a Bible and a seat back in front of you, by the way. If you do not own a Bible, we would love to get you a Bible this morning at Info Central after service.

1 Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 11 say this. Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.

Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all and everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit, for the common good.

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit. To one, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. To another, various kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by the Holy Spirit. All these are empowered by the Spirit. All these are empowered by the Holy Spirit. Spirit. All these are empowered by the one and same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Let me pray for us once more.

Father God, we come before you recognizing, oh, it's my voice that's been heard. It's your word that's been spoken. And God, today that we pray that you would help us align our life to your word, that we would submit our life to your word. God, both your word who became flesh, the living person of Jesus, and then also your written word here that's found in 1 Corinthians 12, 1 through 11. God, by the power of this spirit that this book talks about, I ask that you'd open our eyes to see you. God, you'd open our ears to hear, our minds to truly know and understand, our hearts to truly believe and love. And God, that you'd open our mouths to go out into the world to live on mission for your glory and your glory alone.

God, everything we do in this place is for your glory. We submit all things to you, ask you to have your will, your way in us and through us. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Amen. If you're new to 1 Corinthians, man, I'm super glad that you're with us this morning. Maybe for the rest of us who've been in the study, let me catch us up to what's brought us to this place. We are in the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is a letter written from a man named Paul to a church in Corinth. To a church in Corinth. Corinth was a pretty interesting place. You could chalk it up to, it's kind of like Las Vegas or better yet, if you've seen Pirates of Caribbean, it's kind of like Tortuga.

That's kind of what Corinth is like. It's this melting pot of the Mediterranean. Every culture collides in Corinth. Every religion comes to Corinth. Every social status, every class comes to Corinth. Corinth was this melting pot of people that was a good representation of the entire world. God sends a man by the name of Paul, the guy who wrote this same exact letter to preach the gospel and the church in Corinth, Corinth begins. When Paul writes to this church in Corinth, he says, essentially, hey, dear church, which is why we're calling this whole thing dear church. Church, the Greek word for church is this fancy word, ekklesia, which means a community of called out ones. So from the start, we see that God's goal for this church is for this church to be different from the culture in which they live, which is the same goal for us today, that God's church would be different than the surrounding world around us.

Here's the problem with the church in Corinth. While God called them to be different from Corinth, too much of Corinth made itself evident right back into the church. So this book of Corinthians, it deals with all sorts of issues, many of which are still hyper -relevant for us today.

There's two main sections within this book of Corinthians. The first section is Paul responding to the reports from Chloe's people. Who is Chloe? We're not entirely sure. What did she report? We have a good idea, because that's all the content from like the first half of the book is Paul just dealing with what he's heard about this church. There's a second part of the letter of Corinthians. It's Paul, he says this. He says, now pertaining to the matters of which you wrote. Apparently, the church in Corinth wrote Paul a letter just listing out all of these questions they had. One of these questions must have been pertaining to spiritual gifts.

So we open chapter 12, verse one. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I don't want you to be uninformed. Maybe the church wrote something like this. Hey, Paul, what's the deal with spiritual gifts? Do we really gotta care about those things? Which maybe matches our heart a little bit today. Can't we just fix our eyes and follow Jesus? Absolutely, we should fix our eyes and follow Jesus. That's what he calls us to.

But sometimes that saying, ignorance is bliss, not always true. Paul says, now when it comes to spiritual gifts, listen, brothers, sisters, I don't want you to be ignorant. We ought to know kind of what's going on with this, at least the best we can. I don't know if we'll ever have like clearly defined, perfect boxes to fit exactly how everything theologically goes on. I don't know if we'll ever be that clear and that concise, but we should have an idea. What do we believe when it comes to spiritual gifts? He says this, you know that when you are pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.

See, this is exactly how we come to faith in Christ. When we come to faith in Christ, it's an act of the Holy Spirit drawing our hearts to the Lord. I don't know about you, but even hearing these stories of transformation, I feel the spirit moving in my life, drawing me into the presence of the Lord. Sometimes sitting in a service like this, listening to one of my friends preach, I'm drawn into the presence of the Lord. And it's almost like maybe you've experienced this moment, which is sometimes a little annoying in church. It's like, whoa, why is Kevin talking to me this morning? Right, it sounds like Bob wrote a sermon just entitled, Dear Thomas, Here's What's Wrong With You.

That's the spirit of God moving in our heart. This is how we're brought into relationship with the Lord. It says, no one can say Jesus is Lord apart from the spirit of God working in their life. That confession, Jesus is Lord, by the way, is like the foundational confession for Christianity. If we go to Romans chapter 10, Paul says this, it's with our mouths that we confess Jesus is Lord, and with our hearts we believe and we are saved. This word confess is interesting. It just means to agree with, to agree with God that Jesus is Lord. You've probably heard this word, word, the saying in church, have you made Jesus the Lord of your life?

Have you heard that phrase before? Here's a quick reminder. You don't make Jesus anything.

We only submit to him as such. We recognize and we confess. We agree with God. You know what, Jesus, you are Lord. You are Lord. I am not. Submit myself to you.

But it goes on. It says, confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and it's not just lip service, and believe in your heart. That God raised him from the dead. Biblical belief is not just this like, okay, I'll give you that one. I believe in God. It's not just, you know, I acknowledge Jesus existed. Biblical belief is faith and trust.

We confess with our mouth. We yield. We agree that Jesus is Lord, and we trust in our hearts that he did in fact live for us, died for us, and rose again. That if we'd place our faith in him, then we could be saved. saved. That is the foundational confession of Christianity, and people only come to it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's where he starts, by the power of the Holy Spirit. And then Paul moves very quickly from, now that you're saved, now that God has brought you into relationship with you, he also does these things. The Holy Spirit gifts us on this team, this team sport of Christianity. God gives us a role to play. Then not only does he give us a role to play, but he empowers us to be able to do the work he's called us to. So in verse four, here's what we're gonna pick up. We're gonna pick up four aspects of spiritual gifts. Four aspects of spiritual gifts from verses four through 11. He begins here. Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit.

The first thing we see is the giver of these spiritual gifts. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. There are varieties of activities, but it's the same God who empowers them all and everyone. It's the same God who empowers them all and everyone. It's the same God who empowers them all and everyone.

And it's God, the Holy Spirit, who brings us these gifts. Now you could ask me, hey, explain the Trinity. People have been asking that question for like 2 ,000 years now. Explain the Trinity. And we do our best. What's the Trinity? The Trinity is the God we serve, that God is one. He is one person, but he is three, three in one. That God is Father, God is Son, and that God is Holy Spirit. And people say, you know, God's kind of like an egg,

Which is offensive. If you told someone, you know, Thomas, he's kind of like an egg, I'd be like, eh, that's not very kind, right? You know, he's shell, he's the white part, and he's the yolk part. You know, God is three, yet God is one. I think it falls short. God is like water, you know, and it can exist in a liquid. It can exist in a gas. It can exist in a solid state. Like, I understand what we're trying to do, but still falling a bit short.

But it speaks to God, the Holy Spirit, here. The Holy Spirit is, I think we treat him sometimes like that cousin who shows up to the family reunion that you really like to avoid, right? Because when they show up, stuff gets weird. The rest of the family dynamic you understand, and we've got everyone in their clear lines and boxes, and we, you know, we know what everyone does. We know what everyone brings to the table, but when Cousin Larry shows up, like, oh boy.

I understand Father. I understand Son. The Holy Spirit does some weird stuff. One of those things the Holy Spirit does is gift us for ministry. You could go to John chapter 16, and it talks about, okay, who is the Holy Spirit, and what does he do? Jesus, before he ascends to heaven, speaking to his disciples, he says, hey, it's actually good for you that I leave, because if I leave, I will send the Helper, the Holy Spirit. And when the Helper comes, this is what Jesus says in John 16. He's going to do three things. He's going to convict you of your sin. He's going to convict you of your sin. Secondly, he's going to guide you into all truth.

Thirdly, he's going to help you glorify Jesus. And then, fourthly, what we see in 1 Corinthians 12 is he gifts us for the purpose of ministry, for us to be God's witnesses here with our church family, here in our state, near in our country, and far all over the world.

That's the game we play on the team's sport of Christianity, save the world. And God's gift to you. He's going to lead each of us to do that. Beginning in verse 7, there's a second aspect of spiritual gifts. That's the purpose. What's the purpose of spiritual gifts? He says this, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for common good. This word common good is interesting. It's the word , which is the same word we use when we talk about a symphony.

Symphonies are beautiful when everyone plays the part they're supposed to play. Symphonies don't sound so great when there's some holes. When people are playing the wrong stuff, when people are playing the wrong song, symphonies are beautiful when everyone shows up and plays their part. And he says that's the purpose of these spiritual gifts. What's the purpose of the gift that God's given us? The purpose of the gift that God's given us is for us,

For the family, for the good of the team. So when God gifts someone, here's some examples, with the gift of generosity, the goal is not God's made me generous, I'm making words up again, this is fun.

God's made me generous for me. I give a lot of things away to myself. Like, well, I don't think you understand what generosity's for, nor do I think you understand why God's blessed you the way he's blessed you. You know, God's given me a gift of knowledge. God's given me a gift of discernment. It's not so you can just be a know -it -all.

God gifts each and every one of us by the power of his spirit for the common good, for the good of the people around us. Take your Bibles real quick. I'm gonna turn to 1 Peter chapter four. You can join me there if you'd like to, or you can just listen as I read.

1 Peter four, this is Peter talking about sin. He's talking about spiritual gifts. It says this, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's grace. What's it mean to be a steward? It means God's given you something. He's entrusted it with you. How are we gonna choose to use it?

The spiritual gifts that we have been given by God are meant to be stewarded, and he says right here, for the good of other people. That we would use our spiritual gift for those around us. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace. Whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything, get this, that God may be glorified.

So what's the purpose of our spiritual gifts? The purpose of our spiritual gift is for the good of the people around us and for the glory of God. That's why when you're walking and you're gifting and some great things happen, it's why the first thing you ought to do is say, praise God. Praise God, one of my greatest examples in my life of that practice has been Bob Wade, Pastor Bob, who's been here at Highlands for 20 years this year, by the way. 20 years faithfully serving one congregation. And if you go out after service and you say, hey man, thanks so much for serving us, you know what he's gonna say? Praise God. He's not gonna tell you, you know what, I'm awesome.

Y 'all were lucky to have me. No, you laugh because you know that's not who he is.

If he preaches and after a service you go tell him, hey Bob, thank you so much for that today. God really used it in my life. Do you know what he's gonna say? Praise God. Praise God. Because that's the purpose of our gifting, the good of God's people and the glory of Jesus.

Praise God. Why does God give us spiritual gifts for the people around us and for the glory of the Son? There's a third aspect, the varieties of spiritual gifts. Paul lists nine of them in this book. book. In this passage, there's four other passages throughout scripture where more gifts are listed. I'm not sure why he only addressed these with the church in Corinth. Maybe these were the ones they needed most guidance on.

Let me remind you, because I was reminded of this yesterday as I was walking through, okay, nine spiritual gifts. When it comes to things that divide churches, that divide people from one another, it's stuff like this, right? Disagreements over spiritual gifts, disagreements over how God does the thing. Can God do this thing? Do you believe God can still do this thing or do those things no longer exist? What about this? Can God do this? I disagree with you, therefore, we can no longer be friends.

Relationships are broken over stuff like this. Entire denominations have been started over spiritual gifts lists like this. What's interesting to me, if we take our book of 1 Corinthians and go back to chapter one, the very first thing Paul instructed this church on, do you remember what it was? Unity. That was his first point with this church. Chapter one, verse 10, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

See, we approach a passage like 1 Corinthians 12, especially when it comes to these lists and we're so quickly to draw lines where Paul's greatest and first instruction to this entire church, unity.

No divisions. So here's what I would love for us to be as a church. I'd love for us to be a church that says, you know, we don't agree on everything. We don't see everything completely eye to eye. You believe this gift works like this, you believe this gift works like this. What would be awesome is if Highlands could be a place who pursues unity instead of being right.

Wouldn't that be cool? If we could be a church who says, dude, I disagree with you because of these 17 different passages, but pass the cheese, we're still friends, whatever.

I think it'd be such a miss for us to approach a text like this when it comes to spiritual gifts and find reasons, find more arrows for your quiver on why you support your view on spiritual gifts the way you do. You shouldn't be uninformed. Ignorance is not bliss, but the pursuit should still be unity above all, amen?

The varieties of gifts, he mentions nine of them here. The first is the utterance of wisdom. The other is the utterance of wisdom. The first is the utterance of wisdom. The other is the utterance of wisdom. This isn't just like good advice. Like we've all got good advice people, but maybe you have that person in your life that when you go talk with them, it's almost like talking with God

Because there's just a different element of wisdom. There's just some kind of understanding that they have that other people in your life don't. One of the people in my wife and I's life that we appreciate so greatly is her mom. Her mom has a gift of wisdom. She is incredibly wise. So when Mary has something she's working through, it's not just going to mom, which is great. Go to mom, it's awesome. But it's more than that.

There's this gift of wisdom. There's this insight and clarity, especially in complex or just challenging situations. She has this ability to navigate through it. Next he mentions is an utterance of knowledge. An utterance of knowledge. And this isn't just like you read it, right? You read a lot, study a lot, you know a lot. This is one of those things where it's like, you know some things you probably shouldn't know.

Like the Lord just gives you insight into someone's life that previously you would not have on your own. And none of this makes sense. Right, you're like, why do I know that about this person?

It's interesting, my wife and I, we get to do a lot of pre -marriage counseling, which is a lot of fun. And for whatever reason, I never have to ask the question, like, are y 'all ready to go? Are y 'all sleeping together? Because I just know.

I just know. Now that would be an awkward place to start pre -marriage counseling. Like eventually we get there, but it's just this knowledge. Like I didn't ask, they didn't tell. There's just something. It's a gift of knowledge. Faith, one of my friends, my friend with the greatest gift of faith that I know is my good friend, Tyler McGrath. Tyler's probably sitting over there. It's annoying how much faith he has. faith he has. It's annoying how much faith Tyler has.

Like the world could be on fire and he'd be like, this is fine. This isn't just like saving faith, but this is that kind of like faith and confidence that God's got it. It could be so far fetched and everyone else could be freaking out. But it's this faith of like, no, we're all good.

We're all good, God's got a plan. Gifts of healing, we experience this in different ways. You know, in the New Testament, we have gifts of healing. we have gifts of healing. In the New Testament, we see like laying on of hands and blind people seeing and lame people walking and all sorts of just truly miraculous things happening. And I hear a lot of stories about that. For whatever reason, all those stories I hear are mostly like in other parts of the world and not as much here.

Not sure why, I mean, I wish that could be my Christian experience is seeing God restore sight, bring hearing, it just hasn't been my experience. I have experienced as a professor in seminary, I've had a lot of experience of getting to see the Lord and praying had a lot of experience of getting to see the Lord and praying over a student in our class that the Lord would heal his back. And from that day on, never dealt with back pain.

Gifts of healing, whether it's through laying on of hands or through prayer and God deciding to heal, I'm not entirely sure, but it seems like it still works. Working of miracles, casting out of demons, still happens today. Prophecy, now we're getting into stuff where we're like, what's he gonna say right now?

I believe a gift of, okay, I believe. This is the church, nope, this is just Thomas. I believe the gift of prophecy is still around and active today. What I don't believe is that God is revealing new information. I think canon's closed, don't add to this book or God will add the plagues described in this book to your life.

I think a gift of prophecy today looks like someone encouraging me with exactly what I need in the moment with what God has already spoken. Speaking the words of God from scripture.

Distinguishing between spirits, the ability to know, like is this a godly thing, is this a worldly thing? Test the spirits, discern the spirits. The eighth one, various kinds of tongues. Some people would believe in a private prayer language. I don't, and if you do, that's great. Let's be friends.

Let's pursue unity, not uniformity. God doesn't call us all to be the same. God doesn't call us all to believe the same. He doesn't call us all to do the same. Team full of tight ends doesn't win football games. I'm interested in winning, which is why we need each other.

What's a gift of tongues that I believe, the way tongues works today, is people speaking in known languages for the purpose of the gospel going forth to unreached peoples. One of my friends who is a pastor on staff was preaching in a country not here, one of these third world countries, and as he was preaching, just stopped using his interpreter, and everyone else heard him speaking a language he's never spoken before. I think that's a gift of tongues.

That's what we see similar at Pentecost, God's spirit being poured out, and people speaking known languages, and people hearing in their own native tongues so they could hear the gospel and be saved. I think God still does things like this today. Interpretation of tongues, the ability to understand and communicate the meaning of those kinds of messages.

I think all of these are still happening. And I believe God has given each and every one of us some kind of gift, some kind of position to play in this team sport of Christianity. As we go out and seek to be a church that's witnesses of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he's done here, near, and far, each and every one of us ought to embrace the gift, embrace the role, and go live out the life that God's called us to. That's the varieties of spiritual gifts. Fourth and finally, the individuality of spiritual gifts. All of these, in verse 11, are empowered by one in the same spirit who apportions to each one, and this is individually as he wills.

So no gift is better, no gift is worse. I am the way that I am, created on purpose, for a purpose. No accidents, no mistakes. God has gifted and designed each and every one of us that we would get in the game. And contribute the way that God's called us to contribute for the good of his people and for the glory of God.

That's where we're at this week. Next week, let me just read verse 12. For as one body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of the one spirit. Friends, we are united in Christ through his spirit. Would we not pursue uniformity? God doesn't call us to be the same. He's actually made us different from one another.

And invites us to be a part of this team, a united team pursuing this mission to see God's gospel message go forth. And let me ask you a couple of questions this morning. Has God called you to be a part of his family? Have you felt the Holy Spirit moving in your life, inviting you, stirring you, poking you, prodding you, pushing you, pulling you, pushing you, pulling you, pulling you into relationship with Christ? If that's you this morning, I'll ask two things of you. The same things the apostle Paul asks in Romans 10. Confess Jesus is Lord.

Agree that Jesus is the Lord of your life. Don't make him. You don't need to. He already is. Would you confess him to be Lord? And then secondly, would you believe in your heart that God truly did send him to live for us, to die for us, to raise again, that if we place our faith in him, we'd live with Christ forever?

Secondly, for those of us who are in Christ and Christ is in us, do you know your gift? Are you walking in your gift? And let me say this. If you don't know what your spiritual gift is, one, you can hop on Google and Googleize spiritual gifts test and you'll find one of 14 kajillions. Some of them are trash, some of them are really good. If you'd like our opinion, shoot us an email. We'll point you in a good direction for how you might be able. It's kind of like a personality test, but a spiritual gifts test. Even better than that, let me encourage you, join a small group. For the next four weeks in small groups, this is what we're talking about.

How has God made me? Why has he made me this way? And how can I contribute to the team? How can I use my gift for the good of God's people and for the glory of Christ? And then third and finally, let me encourage you, you'll be grabbing one of these on the way out of service. This lists 130 opportunities where right here, right now, you could plug in with your gift, and serve your family here at Highlands Church. I believe our gifts are meant to be used in our home. I believe they're meant to be used in the community God has called us. I believe God has meant them to be used here near and far as we live as his witnesses.

And I absolutely, 100 % believe he's also called us to use them with our own church family. So my ask of you this morning, maybe you've been on the sidelines watching the game play out. Let me promise you, the game is way more fun when you're on the sidelines. It's a lot more fun when you're on the field.

Would you get connected this morning? Would you find out, man, what's my gift? How might I be able to plug in and use my gift for the good of my church family and for the glory of Christ alone, amen? Let me pray for us. Father God, thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit.

God, sometimes it's hard to wrap my head around the fact that it's actually better that you're gone. Jesus, it'd be great to walk hand in hand, side by side, with yourself, it's good for you that I go because then I'll send the helper. Father, thank you for sending the helper because Lord knows that we need help.

We need help discovering, God, what's the purpose for our life. And God, once we've discovered it, we need the help and your empowerment to actually go and fulfill it and do it. So God, I pray this morning that we would be a church who accepts the gifts you've given us, that we would be good stewards of them, that we'd use them for your glory and for the good of your church.

Father God, yet again, I say, we love you. We thank you, we praise you. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Church, our prayer team is down front. They'd love to pray with you this morning. Maybe it's a prayer of celebration, maybe it's a prayer of mourning, whatever it is, they'd love to come alongside you and minister to you that way this morning. Out in the lobby, you'll see this morning a whole bunch of tables representing all of the different ministry areas of the church, opportunities in which you can plug in and use your gift, and walk in the lobby. I want you to walk in obedience, but also in a way that's just rather fulfilling, to walk in the calling that God has on your life.

I'd encourage you, if you can, don't just run out. If you gotta get your kids, get your kids, and then come back and see maybe how they'd be able to plug in and serve as well. But they'll be out there in the lobby. They'd love to chat with you, answer any questions you may have about what it looks like for us to use our gifts here for the glory of God and the good of his people, amen? Don't forget, service isn't over until you love somebody. Love somebody well. Then go out into the world, and you'll see them. you'll see them. And live on mission for the glory of Christ and Christ alone. We love you guys.

God bless you. We'll see you next week. Bye -bye.