I wonder what comes into your mind when I say the word gifts? Do you think of Christmas gifts, birthday gifts? Maybe you think of gifts, that's my love language. I like gifts. Right? Well, when you say gifts in the church, all of a sudden, it becomes very controversial, very confusing. What do you mean? What are these spiritual gifts that I hear about? Well, when it comes to gifts, scripture has something very clear to say: We all have gifts, and we need to use them for the glory of God. And I want to invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 12, verses 6 to 8, where we're going to hear about seven different gifts of grace. And we're going to hear how you've got them, and you can use them. So please, if you'll open your Bible and turn to Romans 12:6-8 with me. We're going through Romans 12; it's taken us eight weeks. And we're learning how we need to be the church, both be sanctified, not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our mind. And we need to do it together as one body. And now we're going to see that we all have different gifts. And I'm really hoping you'll be encouraged to go and do something after this service. So, once you're there in Romans, chapter 12, please stand for the public reading of Scripture. And as I read these verses, I want to encourage you to give this your full and undivided attention because this is the word of God. Romans chapter 12. Start with me in verse 6
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
That's the reading of God's word, please go ahead and grab your seat. And there is a handout if you want to take some notes and go through all seven of these different gifts that are given to us here. But you can see we pick it up right there in Romans 12:6, where it says we are all having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Now, this is the second time he's talked about grace here in Romans chapter 12. If you go back to Romans 12:3, if you were here last week, maybe you remember that when he introduced how he was going to say, “some of us think too highly of ourselves.” And we need to think of ourselves as one body in Christ and members, one of another. He began that by saying, “For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you,” when we found out that when he's referring to the grace that he's received, he's actually referring to a specific calling or gift that he was given that he was called to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus, that Jesus sent him out to the Gentiles. He was one of Jesus's special chosen sent ones, the apostle, and so he was speaking with authority. But now in verse 6, he says, we all have gifts. It's not just that Paul's an apostle, no, everybody has a gift, and the gifts, they're the same, and that we all have them. But the gifts differ according to God's various grace. So, if you are a Christian, if you are my brother or sister, who also believes in Jesus, I'm telling you today, we all have gifts, a part of what happened when you received grace. And God was so good to you to save you, and you repented of your sin, and you believe that Jesus died and rose again, and God saved you by grace through faith. What came with that grace when you were saved? If you were gifted, you were given a unique gift, a particular gift, there is something that God has given you, that he wants you to use it, he wants you to do something, he has given you a gift of grace.
So, let's get this down for point number one, if you're taking notes. Point number one: “Don't waste God's grace.” Don't waste God's grace. God's given you a gift and he expects you and I to hide it in the closet, not to keep it to yourself. God wants you to use the grace that he has given you, a gift to build up his church, to be the church, to be the people that he's called us to be. There are other people who need to benefit from the gift that God gave to you. And God wants you to use it. Now, in the Scripture, in the Greek scriptures that tell us how to be the church. We reference four different passages that talk about these gifts. And if you've ever heard of Partners, our one-on-one discipleship study that we do. There's a little workbook called Partners, and we have ten different meetings, one-on-one. Chapter eight is all about these gifts. So, if you're taking notes, write down 1 Corinthians 12. That's another passage that Paul writes, where it talks about how we're one body, many different parts, and all the different parts have different gifts, different roles to play. So, we're all the same, that we all have grace in Christ. But we have different gifts that we need to use.
1 Corinthians 12 really gets into that of beacons for verse 11, talks about apostles and prophets and evangelists and Pastor teachers, shepherd teachers, different people that God gives as gifts to the church. And then there's another one, 1 Peter 4:10-11. 1 Peter 4:10 and 11 also refer to these gifts. And so, they don't always say the same gifts, or the same exact thing about the gifts, but it's clear that we have these gifts. And we're supposed to do something with these gifts. You have a gift, and you are expected to do something. Look at 1 Peter, chapter 4. Let's go to that last one that I just mentioned, 1 Peter, chapter 4, verses 10 and 11. And you're like, well, I don't know if I have a gift. Well, listen, let's just think about this very clearly. The only way that you could not have a spiritual gift, is if you are not spiritual. That's the only way Okay, so this is how it works. And you may not have known this, when you got saved, you might have just been so excited about your sin being forgiven, or the fact that you can have eternal life, a new life and abundant life in Jesus. But one of the things that happened when you get saved is God’s grace is with you. When he puts his Spirit inside of you, you now are getting a gift by the power of the Spirit, by the grace of God.
So, if you are a Christian, you have a gift, and something particular that God has equipped you to do. Look at how it says here in 1 Peter 4, where it's talking about loving one another and showing hospitality to one another. Peter is writing in a very similar way to Romans 12. And then he says this in verse 10, 1 Peter 4. Each has received a gift if you're a Christian. Do you have a gift? Let me hear it, everybody. Do you have a gift? Yes, I have a gift, I'm gifted? Yes, you are, as each has received the gift, it says here, use it to serve one another, use your gift by God's goodness for the goodness of other people as good stewards of God's varied Grace. God didn't grace you with this gift so you would do nothing with it. No, be a good steward of it, use it. And then it says this, verse 11. Whoever speaks, if you're here to speak to other people, well speak as one who speaks the oracles of God; speak the very words of God to people, be God's mouthpiece, and one who serves. Well then, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. If you're here to serve, well God's given you strength to do it, “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.” And everybody said, amen. Hey, you've got something to do. If you heard the stat before that 20% of the people at church do 80% of the work. Who's ever heard that before? Right? You hear that all the time, that a church, this is the expectation in the American culture, that the people who work at the church are some of the committed leaders of the church, they're going to make church happen for the rest of us. That is not how the Bible says it. Everybody here, if you're the church, you've got a gift, how are you using your gift to build up the body of Christ, to bring glory to God? He's given you something by his grace, you’ve got to use it.
Now, go back to Romans 12. Because to get more specific, he dives right into seven things. And we're going to try to clarify what these seven things are. And the purpose of understanding these seven things is not so you can have paralysis by analysis and go spend the rest of your life trying to figure out which one of these things am I. The purpose of looking at these seven things is so you can go and do them. You don't even need to wait till tomorrow, go and do them today. So, the point here is he's like, hey, if you've got this, do it like this.
The first one he gives here is prophecy if you've got prophecy in proportion to your faith. If it's service, get out there and do some serving. If you're the one who teaches, let us hear it in your teaching. So, the point, the emphasis here is not on which gift do you think you have, but what are you doing with the gift that you have? And so, let's start with number one. And we'll throw all seven up here on the screen. We'll go through them and we'll try to do it in space and time so you can pick up your kids on time here in a minute. Okay, so number one, yeah, some of you are concerned already. Here we go. Prophecy is the first one. I find it very interesting that prophecy is the first one. What we're trying to say today is that everybody who's a Christian, we all have gifts, but we don't all have the same gifts. And so, what’s one of the ways that people talk about the gifts that is wrong is when they put pressure on you to have a particular gift. I don't know if you've ever experienced this before, where somebody kind of looks down their nose at you like, oh, you don't prophecy? Like, what's your problem? Are you not that spiritual? Okay, so let's just make that very clear. Do you have a gift? The answer to that is yes. Do you have every gift? Do you have every possible gift? The answer to that is, it's okay if you don't have all the gifts.
Let me just tell you the story of what happened. I was driving home one day after a long day. And I kind of lost my focus when I was driving, which is not a good thing to do. And I bumped into the guy who suddenly stopped in front of me. Totally my fault, right? I don't know if you've heard this. But I guess you know, most of the accidents happen within a mile of your house. Have you ever heard that one before? That's what happened to me. I was just excited to get home, I lost my focus. I bumped into this guy, didn't hit him that hard. I'm wondering if there's any damage. I come out. I'm like, bro, I am so sorry. That is all my fault. Will you please forgive me? And he's looking at his bumper. And he's like, well, I don't even know if it's anything. How about we just exchange information? And if I need to do something, I'll let you know. And I'm like, okay, so I pull out my card where it says that I'm a pastor at Compass Bible Church. You've just been hit by a pastor, God Bless you. A very embarrassing moment. All right. Like, I'm so sorry, man. And he? And he says, Oh, you're a pastor. Are you doing some prophecy at your church? Are you laying hands on people and emailing them at your church? Do you speak in tongues at your church? Those are the three things he said, I'll never forget it, right there on the street outside my house. And I said, well, this was not a good day for me, right? I was like, well, actually, I've never done one of those three things at my church. And he came right at me. And he's like, you don't even have the Holy Spirit at your church? So, when he said, you don't even have the Holy Spirit at your church, I was like, what do you mean, I don't have the Holy Spirit at my church? Everything that happens at my church is by the power of the Holy Spirit. Anytime we opened the Bible, that was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Anytime we understand what the Bible is saying, the only reason we're getting it is because the Holy Spirit is illuminating our understanding. Anytime I'm able to do what the Bible tells me to do, it's because the Holy Spirit is causing me to walk in God's ways, and be careful to obey his commands. What do you mean, we don't have the Holy Spirit at my church? But I was told that because I don't prophesy. See, I wasn't very spiritual. And this is something that people are doing with the gifts. That is messed up, where they're putting pressure on people to have a specific spiritual gift. And if you've ever felt that pressure, if someone's ever judged you for not having this gift or that gift, I just want to say I'm sorry, because that's not that the way we should ever be talking about these spiritual gifts. In fact, prophecy that it's the first one here, it says prophesy in proportion to our faith, the word for proportion there in the Greek is analogia. So, proportion or written ratio to our faith and measure to our faith. We already saw a line like that. Look back at Romans 12:3, where he talked about how we're supposed to think rightly of ourselves, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. See, we're supposed to think of ourselves consistent with our faith in Jesus, well, you're supposed to prophesy now, in proportion to our faith. Analogia gives the only time the word is used in the Greek scriptures. “ana” means like by. It's a prefix. “Logia,” we kind of understand words by the word of faith.
What is prophecy? I mean, I think even the kids could answer this. I think that the Junior High and high schools, I think everybody has prophecy. I know what a prophet is. A prophet is a guy who speaks for God. A prophet is a guy who receives a word from the Lord. That's what prophecy is. I mean, there's no deeper secret meaning to prophecy. You know, if you prophesy, well, it's the same way. It's been all the way from the beginning of Scripture, all the way to the end, when God wants to speak to us. He speaks oftentimes through the mouth of a prophet, through a prophecy, and a lot of times prophecy even includes what? A telling of the future before it happens. Now that it's not all of prophecy, but it's often included. So go with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, where it mentions prophecy in another one of Paul's letters, and it's another place where there's rapid commands towards the end of one of Paul's letters. This is how he wrote. He gave us some theology, some doctrine, and then he said, go put it into practice, you’ve got to go do something in your life in Christ. And here he's giving a lot of commands towards the end of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And he says, here in 1 Thessalonians 5:20, a specific command. Do not despise prophecies if God gives somebody a word from the Lord. Don't despise it. Don't look down on it. Don't mock it. No, don't despise prophecies. And that's what it has been implied to me, not just that one time I got in an accident, but many times in my life, people have implied that I'm despising prophecies, because I personally do not prophesy. Okay, well, but then look what it goes right on to say here in 1 Thessalonians 5:20. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast to what is good, abstain from every form of evil. When somebody says, I want to prophesy, and then they say, here's a word from the Lord. And then what they say after that is not true, is that prophecy. That's what we call false prophecy. And a lot of what people are saying is prophecy these days is actually false prophecy. A lot of people when they say I have a word from the Lord, somebody in here is going to do this, or you have this secret sin in your life. And then you're like, wait a minute, I don't have a secret sin in my life. Well, you should stop saying that you're saying the word of the Lord, when you're saying something that's not true. Because every word of God proves true. Can I get an amen from anybody on this?
So, what has happened particularly with prophecy is we've decided in our modern day, we can change the definition of what prophecy actually is. And now when you prophesy you can be wrong. I forget that passage where it took the prophet like five times to get it right. Does anybody else forget that passage, too? No, it seems like when God gives you a word from the Lord, you say what the Lord says, and you're there for saying truth. And so, this idea, I'm not I don't want to despise prophecies. But when you give me a prophecy, like it says, right here in 1 Thessalonians, 5:20, I'm going to test what you say. And if what you say, I got a whole book of prophecy right here, and if you give a prophecy, well, I'm going to make sure it's consistent with what God has already spoken through the mouth of the prophets. And if you say something that doesn't pass the test of what God says, well, I'm not going to listen to you claim to be a prophet. I'm going to actually avoid every form of evil, I'm going to abstain from every form of evil, and false prophecy is a form of evil. If somebody tells you they're speaking from God, and they're speaking something that's not true, have nothing to do with that person. Don't be like, well just keep giving them chances to get this prophecy right. That's not how prophecy works. Okay. There's this idea that's crept into the church, that I can prophesy, and I can be wrong. That is an extremely dangerous idea. And if you're here and stuff like that, you need to get away from it. Back in the law, when someone gave a false prophecy, what did they do to that person? They killed them. That's how seriously they took false prophecy. False prophecy is ultimately going to lead to a guy who's doing signs and wonders and miracles and leading the whole world astray. The Anti-Christ is all about false prophecy. So do not ever let anybody tell you, well, I'm a prophet, or I'm speaking prophecy, and then when they tell you something that's not true, watch out for that. Abstain from every form of evil.
Now go with me to Acts chapter 11. Because there's a guy named Agabus. And this is the guy that gets slandered where the whole idea that you can be a false prophet. A lot of people I've heard at this church say it's okay to get prophecy wrong, because of Agabus. And Agabus, I don't know if you know this guy from the book of Acts; he's a prophet. There we’ve got prophets here in the book of Acts, and Agabus is one of them that we get to know by name. And here in Acts 11:27, we get introduced to this guy named Agabus. And it says here in Acts 11:27, “Now in these days, prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus, stood up and foretold.” So, he has talent now, something about the future before it happens, and look what he's doing. He foretold. Notice how it says it by the who everybody? The Holy Spirit, also referred to as the Spirit of truth; the spirit is not giving people words of prophecy that are wrong. That's not how the Spirit works. And so, the Spirit gives Agabus a foretelling that there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. And look, the disciples aren't like, well, how do we know if Agabus is right or Agabus is wrong? They're like, no, Agabus just gave us a word from the Lord, there's going to be a great famine. So, the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so in fact, they had Barnabas and Saul take a bunch of money and go down to Jerusalem to help the brothers down there, or I shouldn't say go up to Jerusalem because you always go up to Jerusalem, the city on a hill and they took the money there because there's a famine coming; Agabus prophesied. See, they didn't act like well, is Agabus right? Or is Agabus wrong? We don't know. Let's see how it plays out. They're like there's a famine come in, we better help the people who are in need.
Go over to Acts 21. And this is the controversial passage that people try to throw Agabus under the bus. If you get into a lot of prophecy conversations, and I have here in Huntington Beach, I've been on here almost ten years now trying to tell people about Jesus’ prophecy, something that people talk about prophecy that comes up. And if you hear about it, somebody's going to throw Agabus under the bus for what he says right here in Acts 21:10. There is a scene now where Paul's on his way to go up to Jerusalem. And because the Spirit has given him a mission to go to Jerusalem, and everybody else is saying, Paul, the Spirit is telling me you're going to get arrested in Jerusalem, it's going to be bad in Jerusalem. And so, you get to this really interesting moment in the book of Acts, where there's this tension created, because the spirits, telling Paul, he's got to go to Jerusalem, but the Spirit is telling everybody else, what's going to happen to Paul in Jerusalem. And somewhere in between Acts 19 and Acts 21, when he's on his way to Jerusalem, is when he writes the letter to the church in Rome that we're studying. And so, look what happens in Acts 21, starting here in verse 10. He's staying at Philip the Evangelist’s house. Philip, the Evangelist, has four daughters who prophesy. “And then while we were staying for many days,” that would have been cool to hang out at Philip the Evangelist’s house. “While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus, came down from Judea.” Why? Because you always come down from Jerusalem; it's the city on a hill. “And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands and said,” underline this everybody, circle this, write this down under prophecy, thus says the who? The Holy Spirit. Is the Holy Spirit about to say something that's wrong? Do you realize that if people accuse Agabus of being wrong, they're actually saying the Holy Spirit was wrong? That's intense. That's like we don't want to tolerate people acting like the Holy Spirit can be wrong in the church. And so, this is how the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And then it goes on from there. And the argument is that when the Jews arrest him, they don't really bind him, like Agabus says, and also when they hand him over to the Romans, that's not really how it happens. And so Agabus got parts of his prophecy wrong, therefore, it's okay to be wrong in prophecy. That's the argument that is all over Southern California right now. And when you read through the book of Acts, the same word that Agabus says bound bind, is later used to describe Paul being arrested by the Jews and given to the Romans. The same word delivered that the Jews delivered him to the Romans. Paul uses that same word to describe what happened to him later on, in the very book of Acts. And so, this is not a prophet who got it wrong. Paul went to Jerusalem, Paul was mobbed by the Jews, he was arrested, he was handed over to the Romans. They literally uses the word of bound to say that Agabus got his prophecy wrong is to slander the Prophet Agabus. That's never how prophecy works in the Scriptures. You're not giving a word from the Holy Spirit that is wrong. So, I just want to say that we've changed the definition of prophecy. If someone's going to speak a prophecy, they're going to speak a Word from the Lord and we'll be able to compare it to the Word from the Lord that we have. And we'll be able to see if it's false, and if it's something that we should stay away from, or whether it is good and whether it is true. And if you're trying to tell me that you have the gift of prophecy, and you say wrong things when you prophesy, you don't have the gift of prophecy. That's not what prophecy is. You have a wrong definition of prophecy, Agabus is telling us the future before it happens. And people when they hear Agabus prophesy, they're like yes, that is what's going to happen. It's not a wait and see. It's not fifty-fifty. It's not a maybe it's right. Maybe it's wrong. That's not prophecy.
Now let's go back to Romans chapter 12. But because along with that redefinition that's happening of prophecy, no prophecy is going to be a word from the Lord, often including a foretelling of the future. That's what prophecy is, but that's just the first one and then it continues right here in number two with when it talks about Serving. So now we're into verse Romans 12:7, and we got two of them here in verse 7. And the first one is Serving. And the Greek word here is diakonia. And diakonia is sometimes translated service, sometimes translated ministry. So, let's get that down for our second dash here. Serving or Ministry. And you may be when you even hear the Greek word diakonia, you know, that's where the idea of deacons comes from, or deaconesses, people who are officially recognized as servants in the Church of Jesus because they have proven themselves. Okay, so the reason I think it's so important that we write down Service and Ministry is because the “konia” can imply both like a task that you might accomplish, but also in interaction with other people. Sometimes in English, maybe this is just for me, maybe not for YouTube. But when I hear the word service, sometimes I just think of doing something. But when I hear the word ministry, I think of interacting with other people. The word diakonia has both of those ideas. And it might be something that you're doing for the benefit of other people. Or it might be you're just going and greeting people. It could be you're out in the parking lot helping people get in here. Or it could be you're just welcoming people as they come in, it could be a practical thing that you're doing, or just an interpersonal thing that you're doing. But some people are really good at meeting the needs of others, and really caring for other people and figuring out what we’ve got to do. So, all of us can get in here. That's Service and Ministry. And see, this brings up another very key thing about these gifts. Maybe you think why I'm really loving serving; I love ministering to other people. Maybe you're like, bam, that's one of my gifts right there. Or maybe you're thinking I don't know, if I'm really that good at serving or ministering. Like, I'll go, and I'll tear down with the rest of the guys. I can tell there are some brothers that are more blessed in the teardown ministry than I am. I don't know if you've ever felt that same way. So, some of us when we see a gift, you might think, oh, I'm not gifted at that. I'm not good at that.
But go to Ephesians 4:11 with me. Everybody, turned over to Ephesians 4:11. This is another one of the passages that we mentioned about the gifts, okay. And this is a very important concept about gifts, even gifts you don't think you have. Look at what it says here in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. And he “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of,” what does it say there everybody? That's our word diakonia, for building up the body of Christ. Okay, so this right here says that “apostles, prophets, evangelists,” and then this other last fourth person there, pastor, teacher, shepherd teachers. That’s somebody like me, okay? What are these people here for to equip the saints? Who are the saints, the saints are everyone who has been sanctified, everyone who has been saved, everyone who's been set apart from who you used to be, and you've got a new life. You're one of the saints. So, who's supposed to do the work of the ministry? The who? Okay, what do we think in America? We think, who does the work of the ministry? Well, the pastor does. The teacher does. That guy does. He does the work of the ministry of Scripture says that actually, the pastor teacher equips the saints and everybody in the church does the work of the ministry. So maybe you think, okay, service/ministry, that's one of my gifts. well, use that gift. Maybe you think service/ministry, that's not one of my gifts, here's what we're going to see. Even if you don't think you have the gift, you're still commanded to do some of these things. Okay, so some of the gifts you're not expected to do if you don't have it, but some gifts, you are expected to still do them, even if you're not particularly gifted at them. And the serving, doing ministry, meeting the needs of other people, caring about the other people around you in the church. We're all supposed to be equipped to do the work of service, the work of the ministry. So, if you've been thinking, well, I go to that church. No, no, no. I attend that church. No, no. You are that church, and you need to do the work. And maybe you feel super gifted at it, maybe you feel like you're not that good at it. This is something we're all here to do, which is to serve and minister to one another. So, this is something you’ve got to look for because some of the gifts, you will still be commanded to do them, even if you are not graciously gifted in a unique way at that thing.
So, we're all supposed to be doing something to meet the needs to build up the body of believers in Jesus. Okay, so go back to Romans chapter 12. That service and ministry very broad thing could include a lot of different things that you could do to serve or to minister. You could be gifted at it. We're all supposed to be doing the work of the ministry. We're here right now. This church doesn't stop when we gather together like this and get hot, this is just the equipment so that we can go and really do what it means to be the church. Now the third one it gets to here is Teaching, okay? And notice there's a little shift in the way that it talks about it. It says, if your gift is prophecy, do it in the word of faith, or do it in proportion to your faith. If it's service, we'll do it by your serving, by your ministering, but then now it kind of says, will the one who teaches do it in his teaching? Okay, so just a little shift in the language, not referring to the gift, but the one who now has the gift. And here the gift is teaching. And maybe some of you are like, finally, one I don't have to worry about this one. This is nice. Well, actually, it may surprise you that teaching is one of the ones that even if you are not particularly gifted in teaching, everyone here is commanded to teach. Just think about what it means to make disciples in Matthew 28. We have the great omission, go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And then what are we supposed to do with these disciples, everybody? teaching them to keep all the commands of Jesus. So, if you're going to make disciples, then you need to be a mature believer who keeps the commands and then you will have to teach someone else how to also. I mean, disciple means learner. That's what disciple means. disciple is someone who learns from the rabbi, the master, the teacher, a disciple is someone who's learning to walk the way of Jesus. And if you are like, well, I've learned to walk the way of Jesus, I've grown in Jesus, I'm mature in Christ. Well, if you're mature in Christ, guess what you're expected to be then? A teacher to show others how to walk the way of Christ. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 5, he rebukes those people because he says, by this time, you guys have heard the Scripture for so long now. You've been going to church for enough years. Now, by this time, you ought to be teachers, okay? So actually, if you're a dad, you're commanded to teach the Bible at your house. If you're a mom, you're commanded to pass on what you know to your kids. If you're a mature believer, you might be teaching somebody one-on-one. In fact, you could write down Colossians chapter 3, verse 16. It says, “Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you.” So, you can be teaching and admonishing others. So, all of us are actually going to have an environment where we're called to do some teaching, whether it's in our home, or whether it's in a one-on-one or a small group here at church. We’ve got women teaching women, we’ve got men breaking it down one-on-one with other men. We’ve got people teaching the kids, people teach in the youth. There's a whole lot of teaching that goes on at church, besides just the teaching when we all gather together and open God's Word on a Sunday morning.
Let's go to 1 Timothy chapter 3, no one should be preaching or being a pastor at church unless they are able to teach. That is the requirement here in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, and this is something else. First Timothy 3 describes overseers. Sometimes the Bible calls them overseers. Sometimes it'll call them the group of them. The elders are the word we use the most is what it said in Ephesians 4, the pastors are the teachers, okay. And no one should be one of these elders at the church without being able to teach. That's what it says in 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 1 is saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. If you want to be one of the pastors at the church, that's a great goal. It's a good goal. “Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.” So, that's talking about the particular gift of grace that is teaching. Okay, so you had to be one of the elders you have to be able to teach and the church in America is kind of moving away from now. You can be a pastor of digital media these days. I don't know how you're going to go teach technology, maybe AI is going to get saved. I'm not sure how that's going to work. But we start acting like you can. We'll call you a pastor because you're doing this or you're doing that. No, we’ve got to define things the way the Scripture define things. And the Scripture defines things as pastors. Pastors, these elders, this group of men who are husbands have one wife, they are the ones who will be able to teach.
And so, go over to Titus chapter 1, and you'll see this same idea that, hey, we’ve got to raise up these guys, these men. We need elders in every church who can teach the Word. And so, they're seeing churches get started, but you can't have churches without elders. So, you would make sure that every church has elders has a group of men, a team of men who are equipped to lead the church. And look at what it says about those guys in Titus 1:9, “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” And then they need to stick with the teaching of the Scripture, so that they may be able to teach; he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, he can teach people what is good and right and true. And then also to rebuke those who contradict the sound teaching of Scripture. So, he's teaching in a positive way, and a correct way. You need to get elders like this in every church on the island of Crete. So, we are going to have some people who have the gift of teaching, and you have to have that gift of teaching to be one of the elders of the church. And churches need elders to teach everybody the way of Jesus Christ. So that's teaching. You don't have to be an elder to have the gift of teaching. There are a lot of different ways that we're teaching here at the church. But if you're going to be an elder, you have to be able to teach so go back. We've got verse 8 now in Romans chapter 12. All right, how are we doing? We're halfway there. We're doing great. We're going to make it everybody. Romans chapter 12. We're now in verse 8. Oh, good. We're already on the third verse. Yeah, but this one has four different gifts in it. All right. So, then it says, “The one who exhorts in his exhortation.”
Let's get that down for our fourth one right in the middle there. Encouragement. Let's call it encouragement. It's the Greek word parakaleo: Parallel to, call alongside of, to speak into. So sometimes when somebody's going through a hard time. Parakaleo will be translated to comfort. Mostly, it's translated to encourage sometimes, like here in Romans 12, verse 8, it's translated to exhort, like sometimes you’ve got to say something tough to somebody, you’ve got to speak the truth and love to somebody. You’ve got to tell somebody something they may not want to hear, but they need to hear. And so, I'm saying this to you, because I actually really care about you. Sometimes we’ll refer to that as an exhortation. But usually, if you see comfort, encourage or exhort, sometimes even when Paul says, I urge you, or I appeal to you, it's all this same word, parakaleo. Okay, do you know anybody at this church that they will send you a text message when you see them, they'll speak to you. And when they speak into your life when they call alongside of you. It's so encouraging. It either challenges you or it comforts you, it builds you up, you'd love to hang out with this person. You love to talk to them because when they speak, you feel stronger. That person that you're thinking of right now, they have the gift of encouragement. They have the gift of exhortation or comfort. That's a gift when God gives you something to say and you come alongside of somebody else, and you speak into their life, and you build them up, you don't tear them down with your words, but you take the grace that's been given to you. And you give that grace to those who hear you. And what a gracious gift to be able to speak with grace to other people, and it builds people up, and it encourages them. Like, I know people, sometimes I'm feeling down, I'm having a hard day, they say something to me and the world's a more beautiful place. See, that's somebody who's encouraging me. And then some people, they're particularly gifted at encouraging the people around them. They write these nice cards, and they give them to you, or they send you these meaningful thoughts, or they'll come up to you and they'll spend time with you and they'll build you up in your life.
Go with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 talks about this idea of encouraging one another. This is another one of those gifts that even if you don't feel like a Winnie the Pooh, you feel like you're an Eaor, you're not a Tigger, you're an Eaor. Alright. I'm not a very encouraging person; you don't understand, pastor, I'm an introvert, you don't understand how hard it was for me to get here today. All these people around here, you don't understand. I don't go talk to other people. That's not what I do. I totally understand that. That might not be what you do. But let me tell you, you have been given grace and you have the power of the Spirit. And you now have grace to share with other people around you. You are more than just you and Jesus Christ. Am I speaking to anybody right now? The amount of people that have told me Oh, I don't do groups, especially the ladies here at the church. I don't share my thoughts with other ladies. I've had ladies say that. I'm pretty sure one of them was teaching at the One-Another's night on Friday. Were any of you ladies there? I remember this lady telling me a lie. Don't talk to others. Ladies like that. I'm not going to share that with anybody. Yeah, that's how you were until you met Jesus. Now, you're speaking to one hundred ladies on a Friday night, what happened to you, sister, you know what I mean? I'll tell you what happened to you. Grace happened to you. See?
So, you might not have the particular gift of encouragement, but if you're going to be the church, guess what? You are all commanded to do? A quote it says here in Hebrews 10:24-25. It says, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good words.” We're supposed to be thinking about the people at church before we even come to church, we're considering that we're thinking about them. And “stir up” here is like, how can I cause a response? How can I provoke an action? I mean, I might have to say something tough, I might need to say something comforting, like what could I do to help them be loving? To help them with good works? How can I spur them on is the idea here. And then it says this, look at verse 25, “not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another.” And all the more as you see the words just say there everybody the Day with a capital D, what day is it talking about that is drawing near and hastening fast? The day of the who, everybody?” The Lord, the end of the world as we know it. The Day of Judgment is coming. And so, we're supposed to encourage one another, even more as the day is drawing near. So, the church right now should be the more encouraging church than the church has ever been. Because we can tell the day is near and hastening fast. Now, this verse gets used as like one of those Bible verses people use to slap other people in the face. Have you seen those Bible verses before? Oh, you didn't go to church? Hebrews 10:24. Bam. Have you ever seen that happen before? I've seen it happen. I've been going to church a long time. Hey, where were you on Sunday? Hebrews 10:24, and smack. Smack a brother in the face with the Bible. That's what people do sometimes. Right? But I just want to highlight that this is not saying, did you hear the sermon on Sunday? This is not saying Did you sing the psalms, hymns and spiritual songs on Sunday? This is actually not even referring to Sunday. It's saying, did you go and encourage the one anothers. That is what it means to see we have this idea of going to church that we need to delete from our mind. Being the church is actually what the Scripture says. This verse is talking about assembling together – synagogue – getting together, coming together like this, but it's actually not saying, did you hear the Word? It's actually not saying, Were you there? It's saying, did you encourage one another? Church is not to be something like a movie theater that you can sneak in and sneak out of, and I hope they keep the lights down, so nobody can see that I'm there. Church is not like a sprint to your car after the service. Church is a team sport. It's a community of souls. And we're here to build up and give grace to one another. You can't do church without encouragement, without parakaleo, without calling alongside and speaking into. If you're just coming and consuming the word, if you're just coming and consuming worship, and you're not sharing it with other people, that's not church. We have to consider our one another's, we have to encourage one another. If you're particularly gifted at this, we're so thankful for your encouragement to build this up. And if you're not particularly gifted at this, we're commanded to take the grace that we receive and give it to one another. we're commanded to be an encourager.
You could write down Hebrews 3:13, which says, we should “Encourage one another every day.” It's not meant to be weekly. It's meant to be daily. “Encourage one another every day, so that you don't get hard in your heart, so that sin doesn't deceive you.” Watch out. People get caught up in the world, people fall away. So, encourage one another every day now. When I realized that I could say things to other brothers in Christ, that would encourage them so they wouldn't fall into sin, so they wouldn't get hardened in their heart. Wow. That's when encouragement became such a powerful concept that God could use me to speak to somebody else to keep them going in their faith. Like the words that I say could make a difference in somebody else's day. I want to do that. I want to be an encouragement to you, take that seriously, that you're here not just for yourself, but to encourage one another. That's what church is not, just did you go to church on Sunday? It's Did you encourage one another, is really the question that this verse is getting to because we're all expected to be building up the body of Christ. So, is that a gift that you've got? Can you tell that God graciously enabled you to encourage or is that just something that God wills by his grace, enable you to do as you seek to obey the commands of Jesus Christ. Either way, we're all called to go and encourage somebody today.
Make sure that's a part of what your definition of church is. It's not just hearing the word. It's not just worship. It's not just doughnuts after the service. Church is most definitely other people. And you, you need to see church not as a place you go, but as people that you love, and you want to encourage them. Go back to Romans chapter 12. Okay, because now in your serving, teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, but now, it says the one who contributes, and then it says a different word here. So, the last three, they say, here's the gift, and then here's how to do it. And the one who contributes here, this is the idea. We'll put it down like this giving: Giving is the idea of contributing or giving. Another way, you could even say it if you want to, another way this word is often translated, is sharing. And we're talking here, specifically about financial resources. So right now, just a little warning, everybody, I'm going to start talking about money in church for a moment, because that's what it's talking about. In fact, look down at verse 13. Just a heads up, just a friendly FYI here, everybody in verse 13. Romans 12:13. “Contribute to the needs of the,” who does it say there? “The saints,” that's all of us. We're all supposed to be contributing, which is talking about giving money to one another's needs. I'm just telling you; we're going to get to that verse in five weeks. If you don't want to talk about money in church, you might want to plan a vacation five weeks from right now. Okay? We will be taking an offering at the end of that service. If you're not giving money to help other people, you will feel guilty after that message. I promise you. Okay, if so, I'm just telling you, contributing, giving, sharing, I don't hear people talk about this enough. And I understand. I understand why. Because money in church, there have been swindlers, there have been false teachers, there have been people who are not in it for the souls, they're in it for the money. And that has become very well known. That has become very common. I mean, even I would say, there are not people who are getting rich, they're just getting a paycheck. And that's what they care about. So, there are a lot of people in the Bible who warned us that there would be false teachers. The Bible says clearly, that if you're being an elder for the money, you shouldn't be an elder for the money, you shouldn't be in it for that, you should be there for the people, for the souls. So, I understand why we have a bad view about money at church.
But Go with me to Ephesians 4:28 and see if this is a refreshing thought. See if we need more of this in the world today. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 28. And I'll try to save some of this for the sermon in five weeks. All right. But just look at this. I mean, I hear so much about people making money and people wanting to have a career and people wanting to save up to buy their house to have their retirement. And there's a lot of wisdom in financial planning. But I don't hear enough people saying things like what Ephesians 4:28 says, when it says, “let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor.” Let him work, “doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share,” something to give for anyone in need. How about that? Man, I want to go work a good job, I want to go work hard at my career, because someday one of my brothers, someday somebody that I know they might fall on hard times, they might be in need. And on that day, I want to have enough to be able to bless somebody else. I'd like to hear a lot more of that, a lot less about getting more from me and mine. And a lot more like I want to be prepared to give to others who are in need. That's what it says. And that verse Ephesians 4:28 is not just for some people who have the particular gracious gift of being generous and being ready to give, that verse Ephesians 4:28 is for all of us. So, giving is something that some people are especially gifted at, but as expected, for all of the believers to contribute to the needs of the saints, to say I want to go work and I want to make sure I have more than what I need, not so I can just have more than what I need but so I can be in a position to share when my brothers and sisters are in need. When that person I know is in need, I want to be ready to be generous to them. And that word that's translated generous there in Romans 12 is also translated many times as sincere. Right? This is what God's looking for. God loves a cheerful giver. God loves it when somebody wants to give just because they want to give. Is this something you've ever experienced? Do you know the joy of giving when you're expecting nothing in return? So, you see, I don't know if everybody in the room really understands how sincere it can be, how it really just one of the great things you can experience where I can tell this person has a need. And I also know I have the means to meet this need. And this isn't alone, I'm not expecting you to pay me back. I'm not expecting anything for myself. I can just see that you need it. And I have it. And so, I want to give this to you, for no other reason than God has been so good to me. I want you to know his goodness. Have you ever known that joy? To be free from greed, to be free from selfishness, to be free from living for the material things of this life and to just be like, it's not even mine. He gave it all to me, and I'm happy to share it with you, my friend. Do you know that joy? See, some of you are particularly gifted in this way to be a sharer, to be generous, to be a giver. But all of us are commanded to contribute to the needs of our one anothers, to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
I was talking with a guy last night. I mean, the guys had a very difficult situation. The guy had a situation in his life right now where it looks like he might be at end of life care for his wife. And you can just see this brother feels overwhelmed with his love and his care for his wife, even financially. How is this all going to work out in the idea that is common in our day and age? The idea comes up, well, hey, let's start a GoFundMe for our brother. Hey, can I just make this very clear? We already have a GoFundMe here at this church. The contributions have already been made, it's already happened. When the brother or sister is in need, we are here to meet that need. I had to go say to that bro. You don't need a GoFundMe, you have the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're going through this, we're all going through this bro. We got your back, be wise, be responsible. We're going to be there to help you meet this need. Let's do it together. We're in this together. See, it's a way that we share life, we share, we fellowship even through our financial resources. Is that something God's put on your heart? Has God gifted you to do that? Hey, be generous. There's a lot more we want to do here.
We want to plant a church in Long Beach. There's a lot more we want to do here at this church, to minister to our children, to keep developing things around here. Hey, if you've got the gift, be generous, share, feel the joy of knowing God gave it to me, so I could pass it on to his people.
Go back to Romans chapter 12 because the next one is the one who Leads with Zeal, the one who leads with zeal. Okay, so let's get this down for number six dash there. Leading. Some people have the gift of leading. The word here proestime. It means literally kind of “Pro” is before, “estime” is to stand. So, to stand before you, to stand in front. It's the idea that the leader is the one who is in front, maybe standing before you like I am right now or perhaps leading by example. I love this word zeal here. The word zeal has the idea of haste. It has the idea of earnestness, like you can't do half a job. Lead and you’ve got to be all in, and everybody's got to know that you're going and you're doing it from the front, you're leading by example. You're going at it. You're like, hey, everybody, come with me. Let's go. That's how we're supposed to lead. Maybe you've got the gift of leading, and maybe you're like, I'm so glad I don't have the gift of leading. This is great but I don't want to stand up there. I don't want to lead these people. I just want to sit here in this comfortable chair. Maybe you're feeling that right now. Well, guess what? If you don't have the gift of leading, then you have the privilege of being led. How does that feel? Oh, you want to sign up for that? We're not really about being led here in America. That's not really how our constitution works. Thank you very much. We get to elect our officials there by the people there for the people. They serve me. Thank you very much, right. This is the American dream. You don't have to have a boss. Nobody can tell you what to do. You can do your own company. You can lead your own family however you want. You get to decide who the elected officials are in America; you can get this idea that I don't have to submit to anybody. I don't have to have a leader. Well, that's interesting that we would think that way because in the church, it says one of the gifts is leading and one of the ways that it specifically says the church is structured is that everybody's supposed to have a leader you need to have a leader who is keeping watch over your soul. So, if you don't have to give the bleep Day, if you're like, Well, I'm not ready to stand before people, I'm not ready to be the person out front leading by example. If that's not you, guess what that means? That means you need to be ready to be led. And you will have a leader for the rest of your days in the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of Jesus Christ is not a bunch of free agents deciding whatever they want to do. The Church of Jesus Christ has coaches that Jesus raises up to lead his people in the way he wants them to go.
Go with me to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Okay. So maybe you've got the gift of leading, and there's ways you could probably be a leader without being one of the elders. But definitely, as the guy who's standing before you right now, I can tell you that the gift of leading is a challenge these days, and I get it. There have been so many bad leaders in the church, there have been so many leaders who are in it for themselves, so many leaders who have fallen into sin, so many bad leaders, maybe in your family, maybe in your employment, definitely in your government. There have been so many bad leaders, that you might be done with leaders. And then, the Scripture is going to teach us to think this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are,” what does it say here, everybody? “And are over you in the Lord and admonish you.” And you are supposed to with these leaders to esteem them very highly in love, because of their work. That's what it says. Under leaders you can write down 1 Timothy 5:17, which talks about those who labor at preaching and teaching. You can write down Hebrews 13:7, which talks about “consider your leaders, consider how they spoke the Word of God, consider the way they live,” decide if you should follow them or not. And then Hebrews 13:17, actually, it says this in the Scripture, “obey and submit to your leaders who give watch over your souls. Don't make their job a burden, make their job a,” what does anybody know what it says? Make “their job a joy.” Okay, if the church today keeps treating all the pastors, like they're bad pastors, we're going to wear the good pastors out. Okay, so I just want to encourage you, if you don't have the gift of Leading, are you understanding that to be the church of Jesus is to be led by somebody else? And are you willing then to follow leadership? Or are you just a free agent deciding whatever it is you want to do with your life? Or do you have leaders that you're actually going to follow with your life? America is definitely against leaders. And the church is saying, we should have leaders. There's a conflict there. And I can tell you, as someone who has been a leader in church for all of my working adult life I have been working at church as a leader, the level of disrespect towards leaders in the church these days is out of control. And I'm not talking about what the world thinks. I'm talking about what people in this room think. The regular disrespect esteemed them very highly in love. That's rare these days. So, there's meant to be leaders in the church and Christians are meant to be led by these men that God appoints to lead the church. It's not just did you go to church on Sunday. See, these are the real questions. Who are your elders that you are listening to their teaching and being led by? Who are your one anothers that you're serving, and you're encouraging? See, it’s not what church do you go to? Oh, I go to Compass. No, no, no. Who are your elders? They're specific people who are your one another's, they are specific people. That's what should come to your mind when you think about church. You're following leaders that God is raising up, or you're being called to be one of those leaders yourself, if you have that gift.
There's one more and I love this one. If you can look at Romans chapter 12:8, I love this last one, especially here in the book of Romans. When I read this, you know, I try every week, I spend time in the original language of Greek, not just reading it in English and studying in English but trying to understand it in the original language. And when I read this Greek word right here, the one who does acts of mercy, the word just jumped off the page. The one who does Mercy. Wait a minute, because we just went through Romans 9, where God will be merciful to whoever he wants to be merciful to. And we looked at how we all deserve judgment, but we have not yet ever received that judgment every morning that we've woken up. We haven't been judged for our sins, and said, all we've ever known every morning is mercy. Everybody here is doing better than you deserve. And I was like, wait a minute, when it talks about the mercy to the Gentiles, and God giving mercy to whoever he wants. This is the word. This is the word usually use about God being merciful not to judge people as they deserve, but to give them his mercy. Instead, in his kindness, God is so good to us, to not treat us as we deserve to be treated, but to treat us mercifully. And now this idea that because God has been merciful to me, a sinner, and because God has not given me what I deserve, now I could go, and I could do an act of mercy, and I could treat somebody else better than they deserve. That's what this is saying here. To give someone an act of mercy, that's divine action. That's a God action. The only way that you could be one of the merciful. Blessed are the merciful. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, the only way that you could be one of the merciful is you've actually received mercy from God yourself. So, you're taking love and you're taking forgiveness and you're receiving that grace from God. And then guess what you're doing? You're passing it on, you're giving it to somebody else. To give somebody mercy, man, this person, they've never, they've ignored you. This person has never gone out of their way to greet you. They've never come up to you. They've never reached out to you. And here you are smiling, here you are reaching out your hand. Here you are welcome to church. My name is Bobby, I'd like to get to know you. You're not doing that because of the way this person has treated you. You're doing that because of the way God has treated you. It's to give acts of mercy. All of us are commanded to love one another in the same way that Jesus loved us. Some of us are particularly gifted to be merciful, to care to show kindness to other people. I'm so thankful for the people who show mercy here at this church, and look how it says to do it, to do it with cheerfulness. It's like the idea. And in 2 Corinthians 9:7 of being a cheerful or “a hilarious giver.” Like, why am I coming and giving you mercy, you don't understand, because I deserve to be judged. I deserve to be in hell, I deserve to be condemned for what I have done. But I'm out here having another beautiful day in Huntington Beach because God has been merciful to me, and so welcome. And you can do it with cheerfulness, you could do it with a real radiant pure joy. Because I had a debt I was never going to pay. And I deserve to pay it in a way that was terrible, a way of judgment. And this debt was such a burden on my life, this debt, it was overwhelming. And Jesus paid that debt. He paid it all. And I'm so overjoyed that Jesus would die for my sin and I can be forgiven, that I want to pass that mercy and forgiveness onto you, even if the person's wronged you, even if the person has mistreated you and spoken ill of you. You can go to them today, and you can show them acts of mercy with cheerfulness, not because of how any group of people anywhere in the world can scratch each other's back. The church is set apart to love people who will stab us in the back. Because we're the servant who has been forgiven much. And now we can pass on that forgiveness. Remember when Jesus told that story about that servant who got forgiven this great debt? And then that servant went to another servant and said, give me what you owe, this small amount compared to the great debt that they have been forgiven? And Jesus in Matthew 18:33, he says, “What are you doing you wicked servant? Why could you not show mercy? For you had received mercy. Why could you not give it to someone else?
So, these are seven different gifts. Okay. And unlike Christmas gifts, unlike birthday gifts, these gifts are not seasonal. One of the main things you hear at church these days is well, I'm in a season of my life right now where I can't really serve. That's not what Romans 12:6-8 says. Says. If you don't serve, because there's an occasion you don't serve, because of the external circumstance, you serve because God, in his grace, by the power of his Spirit has given you a gift in your soul. God, when he saved you, he gifted you to do something and you don't serve because it's this day or you don't serve because at this time, you serve because you have been gifted by God to do so. And don't waste God's grace. There's something here for you to do.
In fact, if you flip your handout over, you can see that the first thing to do is “circle which once you have these gifts.” It could be one, it could be more than one, which of these gifts do you think you might have? And how are you going to go do them? We want to talk about that in our groups. How do you think God has gifted you and what are you doing about it? Remember, don't just focus on which gift you have. What does that gift looking like? How are you using, doing it by God's grace and doing it for his glory, then look down at number three on the back here, “pick one of these gifts that you don't have.” Are there any gifts in here you don't have? And yet you're still commanded to do them? What's that going to look like? So, I know I'm not particularly gifted at this, but I know I am commanded about this. What is that going to look like then, in your life. This is not a sermon out of many kinds of sermons we've had in the book of Romans; this is number 61. From the book of Romans, it's not something to go, just think about, this is something for you to go and do today, right now, this week. God has put his gift within you, use it for his glory. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, we come before you now in the name of your Son, and we're so thankful for your grace, we're so thankful that you've saved us, that we could be your people for your own possession. And Father, I pray that you would make us as Ellis, for these good works, the seven things, the seven gifts that you've given us, whenever we can see, yeah, that's me. That's something that God's gifted me to do. Let us go and do it with all of our hearts. Let it make sense to us that if Jesus gave his life away for us, we should go and give our lives away; offer ourselves to you and to your people. And we should be here not to be served, but to serve. So let all those who have the gift of service go and do it. Let all those who have to give them encouragement go and do that. Let all those who have the gift of acts of mercy, go and do that. Father, let us go and be the church. Father, we do want to be living sacrifices, we do want to offer ourselves in response. Father, we think about the debt that we owed, and now we walk around, not burdened, but forgiven, not condemned, but saved. Now all our debt has been paid. Now we have an abundance of riches of the heavenly places. Now we have more blessings that we can even count. We're free people. So let us go now and share that mercy that you've given us with somebody else. Let us go now and encourage one another. Father, just as you sent your Son and he gave his life for us, at the end of this worship service here today, we give our lives up to you, we offer ourselves, we say take my life, Lord, let it be set apart for you. I just don't want to keep living from my desires, my dreams, my wants. I want to give up the gift that you've given me. I want to live for your people. I don't want to save that money for myself. I want to save that money to give it away for them. Please, let us be the church. Let us not hang on to our lives, but let us truly lose our lives, so we can find them in the end. Let us be your people. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.