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Today's scripture reading is from Ephesians 4, 7 through 16, and it's page

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1006 in the Bibles in the back of the pews. Now grace was given to each one of

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us according to the measure of Christ's gift. For it says, when he ascended on

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high he took the captives captive. He gave gifts to people. But what does he

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ascended mean? Except that he also descended to the lower parts of the

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earth. The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the

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heavens to fill all things. And he himself gave some to the Apostles, some

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prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the

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work of ministry to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity in the

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faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, growing into maturity with a statute

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measured by Christ's fullness. Then he will no longer be little children, tossed

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by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with

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cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us

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grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ. From him the whole body

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fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes

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the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working

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of each individual part. This is God's Word.

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Imagine that you step into a workout gym, a fitness center for the first time.

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Now this may be hard for some of us since we haven't darkened the doors of a

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gym in quite some time, but just imagine for a moment you're stepping into a gym

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and you're surrounded by mirrors and weights and and machines. Each are

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designed for a specific purpose to build up muscle, to enhance your endurance or

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deepen your breathing capacity or improve your overall physical health.

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Every piece of equipment from the simplest dumbbell in this gym all the

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way to the most complex cardio machine has its role in this grand scheme of

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bodybuilding. And each muscle group on your body requires special consistent

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attention in order to achieve and to maintain its strength and size. Don't

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skip leg day, right? Because it just looks weird. It just looks weird. It looks

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unbalanced. It looks like the guy's about to topple over and neglecting even one

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muscle or in this case quite a few muscles will lead to an instability. It

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will lead to imbalance and even injury is possible. This guy's about to fall on

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his head wherever he went. Every muscle is interconnected and needs every other

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part of the body to function, to grow and to mature. You don't get muscles except

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that you have veins and arteries that move blood from one place to the other

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and you don't get muscles except that you have a respiratory system that

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supplies the blood with oxygen or a brain that acts as that command and

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control center directing all of the actions of the body and so on. Well our

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scripture today out of Ephesians chapter 4, some have called God's bodybuilding

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program. God's bodybuilding program. And to catch us up, last week we looked at

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the idea that we only experience the fullness of God's love in Christ

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together with all the saints. That was a part of Paul's prayer in chapter 3. God

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is making one people, one family of faith out of many people and in his glorious

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wisdom the way he ordained to bring and keep them together in unity from many

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backgrounds. A lot of you guys are weird and strange, you eat different things, but

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he wanted to bring a people together in unity, fit together and the way he

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ordained that was to empower them to love and to care for each other and this

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would knit them together as one and would become a powerful witness to the

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world of God's amazing work. You can't go it alone and expect to experience the

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fullness of God in your life. The reformer John Calvin said this, no member

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of the body of Christ is endowed with such perfection as to be able without

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the assistance of others to supply his own necessities. No member of the body of

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Christ has it all. No member of the body can go with lone wolf. And then Paul

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issues a call in verse 1 of chapter 4 where he says, therefore I as a prisoner

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of the Lord urge you to walk worthy of the calling you've received. You're a

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part of this now if you're in Christ, you're a part of this body building. So

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step up, don't back down and don't take it lightly. The faith isn't just about

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good feels and an awesome show put on on Sunday morning, it is a calling to keep

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this unity through active love and care for one another. And so verse 7 then

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says, now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's

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gift. That word now can actually be translated and maybe in some of your

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versions is it can be translated as the word but in contrast to what he said

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before. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of God's

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gift and it is this contrast that maybe what Paul is trying to draw out here

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that we need each other and it is only together that we can accomplish this but

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together is made up of parts. Together is made up of parts and every part needs to

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be fit for their duty and when every part is fit for their duty they are able

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to interface with and supply the body with whatever part or contribution they

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have so we are only together able to experience the fullness of Christ but it

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is together many parts together. You aren't going to wire a human heart into

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the carburetor of a 1967 Pontiac GTO and expect it to perform right? It's not fit

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for that body. Each part must be fit for its appointment. Down in verse 15 we read

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but speaking the truth in love another way to read that too I don't have this

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in my notes but another way to read that is truth thing in love because it says

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speaking but it actually has a little bit more of a robust meaning. It's

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speaking and acting so truth thing in love let us grow in every way into him

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who is the head Christ and from him the whole body fitted and knit together by

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every supporting ligament promotes the growth of the body for building itself

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up in love by the proper working of each individual part by the proper working of

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each individual part. God's bodybuilding program is that we would grow into the

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head which is Christ. This is what we mean to become more Christ-like and

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particularly in our loves that we would replace our worldly self-seeking love

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and in its place we would become more like Christ in his self-giving love to

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one another and then from the head Christ directed we would be fit and knit

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together building the whole body up by the proper working of each part. So another

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version says as each part does its work. Each part doing its work strengthens and

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helps the other parts grow. Each part is interconnected with the other parts

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until we are mature and complete. So how do we become fit for the body? This

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passage tells us it is grace. Grace allows us to be fit. Now grace was given

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to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Grace. Grace

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fits us for the body but what does that actually mean? Well grace is always

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undeserved favor or an undeserved gift something we did not earn we could not

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perform in order to receive it's something that was given out of the free

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will of God the mind of God grace and Ephesians says that we're saved by grace

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through faith but grace doesn't stop in salvation alone. The grace of God

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continues to give to each one of us. Specifically the Bible tells us that he

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gives us what are called gifts of grace. Gifts of grace or spiritual gifts. In

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verse 8 there's this little kind of side bar quotation of Psalm 68 that Paul

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dives into he says for it says when he ascended on high he took the captives

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captive and he gave gifts to the people but what does he ascend and mean except

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that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth the one who descended

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is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. Paul's

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drawing from that text in Psalm 68 and the he that Paul is referring to is

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Jesus Christ and he is the one who ascended on high after first descending

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to the earth even to the lower parts of the earth another way of saying to the

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grave where he accomplished God's redemptive plan where he defeated the

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enemy the devil where he defeated the enemy sin where he defeated the enemy of

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mankind death and what did he do in doing that? Well he took captives

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captive it's another way of saying we were all bound up in captive slaves and

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he came and he opened the gates and instead of being captive to sin and death

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and the devil we became captives of this king who came and rescued us and we went

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back I mean this whole Psalm 68 is this very much so imagery of that

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time of a king going in and taking captives and then those captives would

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be paraded through the streets and Paul's tweaking it a little bit from

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Psalm 68 if you go and you'll read that you can see it he's tweaking it a little

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bit and he's saying God took captives captive he rescued the captives from

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their slavery and from their sin and their death and he brought them out and

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what does he do once they're out is that enough? Is by grace you've been saved

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through faith is that it? No he gives good gifts he gives gifts to the people

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he adds on top of his grace more grace so what is a spiritual gift? A spiritual

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gift is a special ability and strength that is given by the Holy Spirit to

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Christians to be used for the purpose of building up the body of Christ it is a

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special ability or strength given by God by Christ through the power of the Holy

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Spirit at work within every believer to be used for the purpose of building up

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the body of Christ which is his church and here's the awesome truth about it

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for everyone in this room God has given at least one spiritual gift to every

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single believer every single person in this room who has put their hope and

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faith in Christ he has given a spiritual gift and he has given the measure of

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faith to use it less though that we think that it's all about how great we

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are and how awesome captives we are that he would do such an awesome thing for us

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it's not it's all about Jesus Jesus is the one who is filling all things to the

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fullness and yes he is talking about captives and gifts that he gives them

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and this is but this is all about Jesus we're talking about his body this is

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Paul one of Paul's favorite metaphors to use he loves to use the metaphor of the

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body and it is a metaphor for the union of Christ and his people or his people

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to Christ and how this union of his people to Christ was the mystery for all

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ages that has now been revealed for the maximum glory to God the Father from all

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creatures great and small spiritual gifts are supernaturally given abilities

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and strengths to be used in love for the building up of God's new people in Christ

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now to illustrate this Paul lists here in Ephesians some roles and positions of

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grace that God has given to the church he himself Jesus gave some to be apostles

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and some prophets some evangelists some pastors and teachers to equip the Saints

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for work of ministry to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity

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in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son growing into maturity with a

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stature measured by Christ's fullness all gifts are necessary for building up

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the body and it is so that Christ has supernaturally empowered some people to

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fill roles in order that the Saints might be equipped to use their gifts for

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the work of ministry this passage says that the Saints may be equipped for the

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work of ministry ministry another word for ministry is just service it's what it

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means for the works of service if you're interested and you want to explore more

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deeply the list of spiritual gifts first Corinthians chapter 12 is a place you

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can go as well as well as Romans chapter 12 and I want you to listen to what

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Romans chapter 12 reads says for by the grace given to me I tell everyone among

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you not to think of yourself more highly than he should think it's not about you

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it's not about how you look or how this makes you feel important instead

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thinking sensibly as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one now as

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we as parts have many parts in one body now we now as we have many parts in one

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body and all the parts do not have the same function in the same way we who are

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many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another

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remember last week we said that we belong to each other we belong to one

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another in Christ we belong to each other we're not our own we were bought

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with the price we're captives set free he took captives captives we're not our

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own according to the grace given to us we have different gifts if prophecy use

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it according to the proportion of one's faith if service use it in service if

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teaching in teaching if exhorting and exhorting giving with generosity leading

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with diligence showing mercy with cheerfulness so you believe that by

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God's grace he has gifted you for service in the body of Christ what do

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you do how how do you know how and where to serve how do you know what gift or

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gifts God has given to you I'm gonna walk really quickly through four points

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the first one is serve with love or serve in love how do you discover the

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gift of grace that God has given to you you start serving in the body in sincere

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love any way possible serve one another you don't just find out you don't just

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find out the name of a gift you know the look you go to the chart over there in

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first Corinthians or in Romans you look through and you go I want that one and

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then you take it you start to do that no you don't start there you start

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serving you start serving and then you will begin to see where God has given

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you special strengths and abilities others will see it too and together you

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will be able to provide greater focus to where you serve and how you serve and

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express those giftings but not if you're waiting on the sidelines doing nothing

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going well until I get the word tell you the name badge that says John Richards

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with my title underneath it I'm not doing anything get off the sidelines

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Russell Moore has a quote where he says in the New Testament we don't find our

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gifts through self-examination and introspection and then find ways to

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express it instead we love one another we serve one another we help one another

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and in doing so we see how God has equipped us to do so we find it out in

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the trenches we go find it out by doing you're not going to find it out by

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waiting get in the game start running I had the opportunity the privilege to

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spend 20-25 minutes on the phone with my dear sister Kathy yesterday for those

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you know Kathy's story she has had many years of fighting a battle with cancer

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how many years six years six years and many of you have been a part of that

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journey you've heard as the testimonies have come and and the the monument stones

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have been set of God's faithfulness throughout that but we were talking and

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we were talking a little bit about what was going to be talked about this

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morning and you know Kathy had expressed I hope it's okay for me to share what

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we talked yeah I had asked her on the phone too she said yes I just want to

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confirm it in front of you guys so no one's nervous they're going he's

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sharing a phone call she'd express how she's in a season where she's found a

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family in you guys here and how she loves you and it just so happens to be

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the season where she can't do a lot but she wants to and so she'll get emails

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and she'll get she'll know what's going on but she her heart wants to be here

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but she can't be here because her body won't allow her and and it and and and

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she was not bemoaning this fact she was she's going it's a mystery of God what

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why maybe one day I think she said I don't know why but then she said but you

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know there's been times a couple times that I found myself in the hospital

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laying on a bed either hooked up to a machine or going through I think she used

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some hyperbole a million tests and I'll hear the doctor giving a diagnosis or

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prognosis or whatever you call it to the patient next door and it's not good and

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something in me moves to get up out of my bed and I think in one case go lay in

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the bed with the other patient and just say I'm here or to go and hold a hand I

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think once she's connected to machines and how do I get over there I don't know

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if I can get I'll figure out a way she gets over there to hold a hand and pray

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with someone and they're bawling they're crying their eyes that's exactly what I

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needed the Lord met me here in this place Kathy's not waiting around in the

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hospital hooked up to machines in pain and she's going Lord how can how could

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you use me here if I can't be where I want to be I can't be doing the thing I

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want to go to team nights I want to be there for this I want to be that I want

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to be out there serving in some way use me some way and he's put opportunities

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in a hospital and she got up out of bed and she took them that's extraordinary

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that's extraordinary for many you know we talked about a hospital bed getting up

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from Netflix would be difficult getting my shoes on to go to church to be with

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the people of God to serve I don't know where I put those and so I'm just gonna

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stay I just think it's inspiring to hear that wherever you're at and and

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whatever way and one of the things that she said is is she shared with me is is

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that what you might in your head you might go you know what that's probably

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just who Kathy is she's always been that way and she's like no that's not me I

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don't get out of beds and crawl into bed with other people strangers that I don't

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know I don't do that the Lord moved with a special ability a supernatural

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empowering to allow Kathy to get up out of bed and to go do some ministry to

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someone who needed it serve in love don't wait around for a title don't wait

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around for a category you can check your name button to or another category you

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can be envious that you didn't get you know and vibe for that just start

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serving in love number two submit for equipping it says that God gives gifts

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to everyone but he has given some roles some people to move into roles for the

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building up of the body the equipping of the Saints so that we can move toward

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maturity God gives the gifting and he has called some to equip you for service

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to help you to identify your giftings and to direct you to best use your

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giftings for the building up of the body these people that he has given during

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this season the Lord has put me in this place as the primary voice on Sunday

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morning to teach I don't know why I stand in my office every morning going

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man if you don't get me out of that door and onto that stage I don't want to go

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you guys just you don't know me from before I'm I'm very introverted when I'm

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not feeling the power of the Holy Spirit I'm probably walking aimlessly to try to

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find a corner I can hide in away from you guys but then something happens the

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Lord is faithful I don't take it for granted every week I call it panic you

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might call it faith there is something about Lord come through Lord speak if if

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I get up there and I put what I just put down on paper and I give it to them it

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ain't gonna be very good but if you're there and you're strengthening and

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empowering and you're speaking to your people to build up your body it might be

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something and I'll go I'll be the fool but Lord you gotta you gotta you gotta

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do the thing they instruct us they teach us they correct us in order that we

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might remain in love because later in 1st Corinthians in chapter 13 Paul talks

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about how anything done outside of love is worthless so it's not just about

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having a great gift but it's about having a great gift and using that

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gifting in love you could do all sorts of things to serve one another

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selfishly you know that right we serve others selfishly all the time what did

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we get out of it how does it make us feel all sorts of things 1st Corinthians

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says it must be done in love otherwise it's worthless whether it's shepherding

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or pastoring or teaching it isn't about doing all the works of the service we've

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talked about this last week the pastor does not shoulder those things biblically

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the pastor shoulders the weight to equip the Saints to do the work of ministry to

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do the work of service that's the shouldering of the pastor that's what he

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carries that's what the teacher or the shepherd carries according to Ephesians

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so you begin to surf you step out you start the race Lord I don't know where

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I'm going but I'm gonna start running and I want to do it for you and somewhere

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along the way he starts to show and piece things together and then he brings

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people into your life like shepherds and teachers who can help hey I see this in

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you and wow that really came out of you and the Lord seems to be using that in

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your life that might be something for you to think about or consider or maybe

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we could move you to this ministry because you'll be able to use that

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gifting in this ministry best people come alongside of you to champion you

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and to cheerlead you and give you high-fives and say go go go go go number

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three then you must steward it with passion you must steward the gift that

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God has given you with passion and zeal you have to remember Paul's words at the

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beginning of Ephesians 4 that said walk worthy of the calling you have received

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don't walk out of here and walk away from it walk worthy of the calling you

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have received this is no small thing church Christ doesn't give gifts to be

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wasted but he gives gifts to every single believer which means it's

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probably being wasted Christ doesn't give these gifts to be squandered he

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does not give them to be used for selfish gain God also doesn't give gifts

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to be envied by others as if one part of the body is supposed to be in

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competition with another part of the body this is his church his people his

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bride and his bride is precious to him who she is and who he's making her into

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be you may not believe it but people can take their gifting from God and go rogue

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there's a passage that Jesus talks about it's probably one of the scariest

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passages ever Lord Lord did we not cast out demons heal the sick supernatural

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things things that if they actually didn't do someone could go no you didn't

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and Jesus doesn't say no you didn't what does he say depart from me I never knew

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you depart from me I never knew you we don't know the motive of their heart but

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we can start guessing selfish gain there's some evidence of that in the

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book of Acts as the ministers are going along encountering folks who want

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supernatural power for selfish gain you have to steward it with passion you

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can't go rogue you can't get arrogant or independent with your gift I'm gonna

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decide how and where and when I use this gift it's not what it says says God gives

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gifts and they're for the building up of his body and they're in the context of

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his body and there are caretakers along the way like teachers and pastors and

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shepherds who come alongside of you to help champion those in you but you just

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can't go rogue I'm just gonna go to the streets and love people I'm just gonna

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go out to the street and love people that's not God's bodybuilding program

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Galatians 5 25 and 26 reads this way if we live by the spirit let us also keep

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in step with the spirit let us not become conceited provoking one another

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and envying one another you guys remember the parable of the talents in

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Matthew chapter 25 a master gives a set of talents to servants each according to

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their ability and he goes away and he expects that they would take that town

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whatever a talent was a form of currency take that talent and use it for his

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purposes for his kingdom advancement for the expansion of his household by

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investing it and growing it and servant after servant said yes I took your

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talent and I went and I I did that and it multiplied and and here's what I

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here's what I did with what you gave me to do I give it back to you and the

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master says well done well done good and faithful servant and then one comes

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along he received the least and he says man I knew you were a hard man you know

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reaping where you did not sow and I was scared man if I lose this one thing he's

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gonna be mad so I went and I buried that one little talent in the ground and I

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sat on it and I waited for you to come back and here's that one thing you gave

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to me and that master in that parable says you wicked lazy evil servants at

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least you could have put it into a bank and earned a little bit of interest but

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you buried it in the ground depart from me I never knew you depart from me be

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gone the parable of the talents is about this idea of stewarding what God's

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given and we were talking about spiritual gifts here we could we could go

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into all areas of life God has given everything that you have some things he

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has given you are supernaturally empowered to accomplish the building up

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of the body don't be like the one servant who did nothing with what was

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given and when the master returns and wanted an accounting there was a price

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to pay Romans chapter 12 after the list of gifts in Romans chapter 12 in in the

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verse 11 it says do not lack diligence in zeal do not lack diligence in zeal be

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fervent in the spirit serving the Lord do not lack diligence and zeal be

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fervent in the spirit serving the Lord we're to steward what God has given us

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with passion and zeal not to lay it aside and I'll get to that some point

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not to let it get dusty but today in and day out week in and week out to show up

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and say God I I know who you are and I know what your kingdom demands I know

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that you are good and I know that I'm your child and I know all the promises

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that make me feel really good but I also know who you are and what you're doing

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and you are doing something here among your people that I can't just set on a

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shelf and walk away from to attend to my own life and my own way and all the

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things that I want to give my attention to only to come back at the last minute

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on my last breath or when I'm on a ventilator and say now God I'll pick it

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up every day day in and day out that whole block of parables right there in

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Matthew 25 around Matthew 25 are about he's coming at one point you don't know

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when and he's gonna ask for a reckoning and accounting from each one of us for

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what he gave us and that should sober us shouldn't scare us it should sober us

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steward the gifts that God has given you with passion there's a Latin word

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solely day o Gloria that's our final point solely day o Gloria listen to what

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first Peter chapter 4 verse 10 says just as each one has received a gift just as

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each one has received a gift use it to serve others as good stewards of the

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varied grace of God if anyone speaks let it be as one who speaks God's words if

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anyone serves let it be from the strength God provides so that God may be

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glorified through Jesus Christ in everything to him be the glory and the

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power forever and ever amen what's the end of all these gifts what's the end of

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this spiritual empowering and strengthening to build up his body God's

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glory solely day o Gloria is Latin for go glory to God alone glory to God alone

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what God has given us whether considered great or small is not for us to boast in

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our own giftedness but that God might be glorified through Jesus Christ in

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everything look look what God is doing see what God is doing among us look how

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he has given each and every one of you every one of his children both here and

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abroad apart to play in how he's going to reveal himself to all of creation

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he's given you a part to play in that how he intended from before time began

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to show himself reveal himself to all of creation and his eternal power is

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through made manifest through the church through you and I knit together we are

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we're blasting we're like a speaker blasting to all of creation glory to God

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alone look what God is doing what on earth next week's the Super Bowl two

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teams I hate but what on earth could be more exciting what on earth could be

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more thrilling or joyous or wonderful humbling exalting and worship provoking

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than the reality that through his gifts deposited into you and me knit together

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he could build up his body to blast out to creation look who I am look who I am

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look how beautiful and glorious I am look how wonderful and marvelous and

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majestic I am look how I am from before and I will be after look look at what I

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did with this rag tag bunch of weirdos I brought them together I made something

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glorious out of these jars of clay yeah I had to deposit something pretty

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precious in them and I had to tend to it and make it grow and and make that light

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shine brighter and brighter and knit them together fact I had to do it all

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they did nothing but they put themselves on the altar and said Lord

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solely day of Gloria glory to you alone

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it all comes from him it works through us back to him

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final thing I'll say is to answer our question who serves serving is your

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calling every one of you serving is your calling