By the Mercies of God, Present Yourself
First B Jackson
2016-09-04

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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I think we are on. Good morning, everybody. Hey. Happy Labor Day weekend. As you can see, Ray and I dress for the occasion.

Don't let that distract you. Hey. Would you like to stand up? We, we came here. There's breath on our lungs.

God is good. He's our creator, our maker, our sustainer. He deserves our praise. So what do you say? Should we give him praise?

That must be a yes. Alright.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements. Actually, this is the time of the year y'all when everything is starting back up. So, we got quite a few announcements this morning and several will be helping to make those If you don't know or can't remember these things, your bulletin has all of this stuff in it and it is chock full because it's fall.

All of the seasons stuff is starting up. So, nursery is available downstairs for kids zero to five if you want to take em down. There's a new nursing room downstairs too. See Bailey Morley if you're willing and able to volunteer. Old Bills Fun Run.

Do y'all know what this is? Okay. Y'all been hearing me say it for weeks. I actually took the week off last week. I was on vacation.

I'm glad to be back. Appreciate it. It's all Bills. I'm going to ask Chuck if he would come up. Chuck, that should be on and ready.

On and ready. Anyway, I'm Chuck. I'm from the Good Samaritan Mission. Every year, I go around and visit all the churches to let them know that there's still a mission in Jackson Hole. The mission now has got a new kitchen.

We have new windows on the building, new paint on the outside. We've got all kinds of stuff inside the building, outside the building. God has really blessed us. The Rotary Club's really helped a lot. Old Bills last year helped a lot.

One third of our total support comes from Old Bills. And, you know, we've got a lot of things going on outside the building. Last year, we did 16,000 meals at that place called the Good Samaritan Mission for the hungry, hurting homeless in our community. We've got 30 beds for men and five for women. We do breakfast and dinner seven days a week.

That's how we did the sixteenth that we do lunch on weekends. That's how we did those 16,000 meals. You know, but all that all that building, all that place, all that is just so we can have a place for people to come and have their lives changed. That's what it's all about. Let me tell you a little story about Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, when he came to the mission about, oh, I'd say five months ago, he came from the reservation. Jeremiah is 26 years old now. He was 14 years old when he started drinking and doing drugs because that's what you do on the reservation. That's all he knew. And so he came.

He got he got married while he was on the reservation, had a couple of kids. They got a divorce. His children are now with his mom. Well, before coming to the mission, he never supported them. He didn't know how to.

All he did was do drugs and do alcohol. He came to the mission. He's been clean and sober now for over four months. He reads his Bible every morning. His boss right over here at Snow King took him out to lunch about four weeks ago, and he says, Jeremiah, we're gonna put you in for employee of the quarter.

He looked at me and he said, Chuck, that's never happened before in my life. He's sending money home to support his family now. That's his mom says that's never happened before in his life. He's never had a chance to support his own kids. That's what the Good Samaritan mission does.

It changes lives. It helps people who are drunk become sober. It helps people with no place to go to have a place to go. It helps people to move forward. The three programs that we have, one program says that it's for alcohol and drugs.

And if you're really in a having a problem in that area, we tell you not to work for thirty days. We put you in the program, and then you learn how to read the Bible. You learn how God has loved you so much that he gave his life for you. And once you learn that, then you can become the person that you can after thirty days, I'm bugging you. Now you gotta go get some work.

Because God says, you don't work, you don't eat. That's part of the Bible. And everybody else that comes in the mission, right now, the mission's a 100% employed. That means everybody that's in there is working. 30 beds for men and five for women.

If you don't work, you don't eat. We have two nights emergency stay for people that are coming in off the highway. I think we've got two beds open right now, and they're both for women. The men is filled up on the men's side when I left on Friday. That could change.

So what I'm saying is we're there, but we're there to help people move forward. But to do that, we need your help. Old Bills is coming up next next Saturday to if you're gonna give through Old Bills, give to the Good Samaritan Mission. I would appreciate it. One last story.

We told you I told you about those 16,000 meals. Well, our cook, he came from the hospital. He was in detox when he came out of detox to the Good Samaritan Mission. That was two and a half years ago, and now he's our cook, clean, sober, focused on God. That is so wonderful, and it's just it's just neat to be part of helping somebody to move forward.

So, thank you and thank you for all your support. Thank you for cooking the meal. If you if you'd like to cook at the mission, there's a a team within this church that goes over there once a month and cooks at the mission. There's people from this church. Russ used to teach there.

He taught Bible study for many many years teaching people how to stay clean and sober there and was a wonderful asset to us. So, thank you, church.

Thank you, Chuck. Thank you very much. We have coming up, Fall Afresh and I think Nancy wants to talk about this one. There you go.

I think it's in your bulletin so all the information is there but on September 14 from ten to 11:30, community wide women's event here at our church. We're hosting it but we're joining with other churches to just kick off women's ministries for the fall. It'll be really great because we'll have all the tables in the back full of different Bible studies that are happening around the community for women particularly. So, you can come sign up for studies on that same note. Our first B women's studies, we're having a lot of small groups happening in homes this year and in the church along the back wall are all the flyers and sign ups.

So, definitely check that table out today and start signing up.

Thank you. Perfect. Also, what's next? There is a seminar on creation. Is that Alan Galbraith in the house?

He is not? Are you there's Jennifer. You wanna stand?

He's an old faithful

Christian race.

Okay. He is here with Dave and Mary Jo Nutting, the founders of Alpha and Omega Institute, are coming, and they're gonna examine the evidence from science and the Bible, and they're gonna present that. It's next weekend on Saturday and Sunday for sure. Check your bulletin and see if it's on Friday too. Saturday and Sunday for sure in the evening, Saturday and Sunday night.

So if you wanna be a part of that. Monday night, September 12, Awana is kicking back off, starting back up. So, that is not tomorrow night but next Monday, Awana starting back up. Solid Rock Student Ministry starts September 15. So, that's the Thursday night middle school, the Rinses feeding frenzy with Rinsey will start next Friday for the kids who'll come to that 07:30 the next morning.

What in the world is this? Monday nights. Monday nights at first b. Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Those fish look surprised.

Just like I was seeing this but actually Monday nights, it's Labor Day tomorrow. Go have fun with your family. We're not going to do Monday nights at First Meet tomorrow night. It's not going to happen tomorrow night on Labor Day. For all the other announcements, you can check your bulletin.

There are tons of them in there. I know Renzi made fun of how many of them there were last week, but that's because it's ridiculous. How much is going on? But it's all good stuff. So if you would grab a bulletin on your way out, stick it up on your refrigerator, and you'll know more.

Diane, did I forget anything? Really? Okay. Would you stand up and greet one another? Give a hug, a high five, a handshake.

Plentiful. Your shames of abundance flow, that's in being there. Yes, it'd be your name. And I found Blessed be. Everlasting, you pour Adam turn back to praise.

And you are the fullness of the beauty I see. You are. You are.

And you are the healer of unbroken and weak. You are. You are. Can we sing that verse again?

You are the fullness of the beauty I see. You are. You are. And hold these safe. This is my life.

I'm not ashamed on Jesus Christ. I will stand you all the same. This is my life.

We're to

not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed on Jesus Christ. I will stand and saved. This is my life. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

I'm not ashamed on Jesus Christ. I will stand with won't these saved. This is my life.

From Romans one sixteen, it says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it's the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. God, I thank you for the good news of the gospel. It truly is good news, and it truly is a life changer. I thank you, God, for your spirit in us, through us. I thank you, God, for sanctifying us.

And I pray that that would just be your continued work in us, but we would allow it. And when as we sing the song, Holy Spirit, you're invited here. We truly mean that. The Holy Spirit, you're you're really invited in this place. You're invited to dwell in us, to work in us.

And I pray that we would truly sense that you you're loving us, that your presence is is with us. In Christ's name. Amen.

When my shame is

God, I do thank you for your presence and thinking about all the benefits of just knowing you or being known by you, the peace that we have, the joy that we have. And God, some of it's material and I thank you for that and we thank you for that as we enter here and worship through giving, just giving a portion of of what you give these monetary gifts but even more than that, God, I thank you for for blessing with every spiritual blessing that you give. It truly is and and it's hard to it's kind of hard to explain sometimes just how wonderful it is to feel your presence, to be in your presence, to to have the hope and the joy and just to be filled up by you. But I guess in a small way, God, I'm just saying thank you and we thank you as a church. Would you use these gifts, God, so that others may know you and know this gift that comes from you.

And we pray this in Christ's name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Lorraine. So, I get to preach again. This is great. Every time that I'm out of the saddle for about a week though, it takes me a second when I get up here.

I know what I'm gonna say is from the Bible and I I know that and I know that I can trust in that but I I start to question myself after a week away. So, pray with me this morning. God, thank you for deep bench around here. I thank you for Carl and for the sermon last week and for the foundation that lays for this week. God, I pray that your word would touch heart.

You've been stirring me for the past couple weeks with this passage and I pray that that same kind of stirring happens throughout the room today. Would you fill us all up to the point of overflowing? With your mercy and your grace, lord. May we extend it to a world that is in desperate need. In Jesus name, lord, I pray.

Thank you. Center us on your will and your word. Amen. So, very quickly, Carl's sermon last week, I got a printed copy of it. I have not heard the actual what he said but it was wonderful.

Thank you, Carl. He started off with 121122. I urge you brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. He went on and said, Romans one through 11.

Basically, Romans one through eight is about what to believe. It's theology. It is the ground level architectural stuff then chapters nine through 11 which I have my goodness painstakingly for the past few weeks covered is about the problem of Israel. What happens to Israel? Israel past Israel future but that's a parenthesis and then 12 through 16 is how to behave.

Because of what you believe on this grounding, what should you believe? And how should you behave? The outworking of God's righteousness and the conduct of believers. That was what his sermon was about. He asked these three questions.

What is God calling me to do? Why should I do that? And how does that happen? And those three are fairly general questions but what is God calling me to do can be very specific. So, today, I'm going to work from the general towards the specific.

I try to always just present what the word says which can come across as a bit wide and a bit like, I'm not even sure which shoe I should put on. I feel like that fits in some vague way but I'm going to share from general to specific, hopefully, today. So, what is God calling me to do? He said, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. Amen.

That's exactly what Paul says. He goes on in the passage we're covering today to flesh that out a little more. What is God calling me to do? Why should I do that? In view of God's mercy, that's the grounding upon which it should happen and how does that happen?

It happens by the renewing of our mind and that is something that God does. We have to avail ourselves to him, allow him in our lives to do that. Allow him to do it, to renew our mind. So, those three important questions. I look at this and I see this, in view of God's mercy and proper worship.

I'm not re preaching, Carl, but I'm going through for grounding today, okay? In view of God's mercy, the OKJV says, by the mercies of God, by the very mercies of God and Carl did a good job last week of expressing what Romans says some of those mercies are. You are deserving of death, hell, and the grave but God has graciously given you mercy and that's good. So, by the mercies of God, considering that, keeping that in view, and by the mercies of God. You ever watch old movies where they say, by the power of so and so or by Odin's sword or one of these kind of things.

It's a strange oath but it's by something. I had a nerdy friend when I was in elementary school that loved He Man. You know what He Man is? He loved it. The He Man cartoon.

He just loved it and he got dumped in the trash can upside down one day and he rolls out of the trash can. He stands up. It's over his head and he screamed out, by the power of Grayskull. That did not help his nerdiness. It's a cartoon.

For those of you who are not getting it. By the mercies of God, he's putting this up. This is what your grounding is. This is what your foundation is. Considering the mercies of God, present yourselves as a living sacrifice.

That is your reasonable service. That other one said, your proper act of worship. It's your reasonable service. If you consider the mercies of God, it is reasonable for you to do these things and we'll get into that a little more specific. So, in view of God's mercy, this is your proper worship.

Don't conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I wanna add something. Do not be conforming. It's a progressive action thing. That makes a difference.

It's an everyday. When you get up, your cultural milieu will carry you along. The stream of society will carry you along if you are conforming to it. Do not be conforming to the pattern of this world but be being transformed. It's a passive, present action verb.

That's something that God does. God is the one that is transforming you but you have to be willing. You have to be willing. Be being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Amen.

Just for a second, consider what is the pattern of this world. What is the pattern of this world? Now I could go specifically to Jackson, but I think it's kind of the our world. It's pretty individualistic. Right?

Most of y'all are Americans. We are incredibly individualistic. We don't think in terms of common community society as much as say Asian cultures or maybe some African cultures. We don't think like that as much. We're very individualistic.

Are we self indulgent? Have you read Facebook lately? Just checking. Self sufficient, self centered, greedy, defensive, proud. You know, xenophobic is?

Afraid of the other? Yeah. That's the pattern of this world. Do you agree? Okay.

In view of God's mercy, by the renewing of your mind, do not be conforming to that. This is a, then you'll be able to test and approve. Now, test and approve. You might not know what your spiritual gift is. You might not know how it is that God wants to use you.

You might be incredibly willing but afraid. He's saying right here, in view of God's mercy and renewing your mind, get over that hump of not knowing what it is and not being sure. He says, then, you'll be able to test and approve. You can test it. Try it for crying out loud.

Try it. Test and approve what God's will is. It's good, it's pleasing, and perfect will and that's twelve one and two. That's Carl's sermon last week. It is the grounding for this reasonable service sermon and I don't do how to sermons very often.

This one is a how to be presenting yourself as a living sacrifice. It this has an actual let's do something. Instead of just let's believe something, doing follows being and the first part of Romans is all about the being a Christian. This is how it happens, the theology behind it, everything else but how to be presenting yourself as a living sacrifice. Willingness is incredibly important, incredibly important.

Willingness presenting yourself. Generally, then specifically. So, here we go. Generally, for all Christians in all ages, Paul says, he answers these questions, I should say. What is God calling me to do?

Present my body as a living sacrifice. Now, I know at least one of you and probably several others that are thinking back, hey, we we've seen this word before, present. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness resulting in further lawlessness, so now that you're a Christian and you're a believer, so now, be presenting or present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification. Okay? And when we were going through that, I said, present is a very active sounding verb, present and it's a military term, present for orders.

You're presented as willing and ready. You're yielded to the commands of your commander. Ready, willing. The old King James says, for just as you have yielded your members, servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, even so now, yield your members. That's the only imperative in that whole chapter back then was to yield to God's righteousness.

So, yield to righteousness unto holiness or sanctification. So, why should I do that? Carl answered. It's my reasonable service in view of God's mercy and how does it happen? Allowing God to be transforming me by the renewing of my mind.

So, that's general. Yielding to him. Remember the yielding. It's important. Now, if you feel the tug of the Holy Spirit on your life to be doing something and you quash it and quench it and push it back.

You don't understand the blessing. You don't get the blessing of actually having done what he prompted you to do. Do you get that? I mean, much less the person that you are prompted to bless. Yield to him.

Okay, test and approve. You might go out of bounds. You might but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? Go for it for crying out loud. Go for it.

For by the grace that is given me, Paul says, for by the grace given me, I say to everyone of you and I see grace there and I think, by the mercies of God, the beginning part and then it says, now, by the grace that's been given me and I think, well, what's the difference? Mercy and grace. At the intersection of mercy and grace, what's the difference? What's the difference in mercy and grace? Well, grace is getting and I I say or giving.

Something good that is undeserved. Heaven is grace, pure grace. We don't deserve it yet God offers it and he gives it to those who believe. Grace is getting or giving something good that is undeserved. Mercy is not getting or giving something bad that is deserved.

Some sort of punishment, some sort of just desserts. Okay? Grace and mercy. Those figure heavily. Paul says, for by the grace given me, I say to everyone of you.

Now, he had experienced mercy but when Christ met him on the road to Damascus, what was he going to do? Persecute the church, persecute Christians. He was going. What did he deserve? To be struck down, smited, smoked, whatever.

Right there, on the road to Damascus. Yet, by God's mercy and grace, he forgave him of his sin and he graciously gave him. Actually, he had graciously been giving him a really good understanding of Judaism and of pagan Greek culture. He gave him a lot of things that he didn't deserve but by the grace given me, he was a teacher. He was an apostle.

For the grace given me, I say to everyone of you, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith that God has distributed to each of you. That sounds a lot like Jesus, doesn't it? All of Pauline thought is grounded in the medical tradition, Jesus tradition. Don't think of yourself more highly than you ought. Esteem others as better than yourselves.

Rather, think of yourself with sober judgment. Don't self aggrandize. Don't boast. He comes up with this over and over and over again. Think of yourself with sober judgment and since all of this is gonna be followed with spiritual gifts, you might not have one that you really really want.

Okay? You might not have one of the ones that you really really want to have but think of yourself and admit it to yourself. If you're not an evangelist and I'm actually not an evangelist. I will present God's wording and it changes people's lives and I have prayed the sinners prayer with lots of people but it's not my total wiring. Gary is.

Gary cannot help it. I just hate to out you there, Gary but you're an evangelist. You just can't help it. I'm a mercy gifted guy and I think I'm a a teacher. I think.

In accordance with the faith that God has given me. I think that he's distributed to each of us. For just as each one of us has one or just as each one of us has one body with many members and these members don't all have the same function. So, just that way, in Christ, we, though many, form one body and all each member belongs to all of the others. So, he's making this body analogy.

Again, we've run across it before. We ran across it in first Corinthians twelve twelve through 14, just as a body. The one has many parts but all its many parts form one body so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body. There's diversity in that unity.

Different parts, many parts, one body. For just as each one of us has one body with many members and these members don't all have the same function. So, in Christ, we, though many, form one body. Each member belongs to all the others. Now, that is corporate and that is communal and that is dare I say socialist?

No. Anyway, it is it is not what we are in our society at all. To think about being part of a body, to think about being pulled together in our society in general. We would rather actually separate. Can you all see that?

We might be one over here and one over here, but we're not one in the world. But he's saying don't be conformed to that. Be transformed, pulled together. Each member belongs to all the others. I love this.

This is the reverend doctor Martin Luther King Junior. He's used this in several sermons that I could find, some of them more extensive than others less so. I like this. In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality. Now, you might hear that and go, oh that sounds like Kumbaya.

It's all bigger than the whole church. He was preaching to just everybody, the whole world. He wanted to bring us all together and sing a song together. He was writing this to pastors. He being a pastor, he's writing it to the leaders of churches in their congregations.

It was from letter from a Birmingham jail. One of the best things I've ever read. It's good and it's available all over the internet. This is the interrelated structure of reality. It's the interrelated structure of the church.

You and I are linked together. So, we have different gifts according to the grace that's given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. Now, prophecy, I will say right here, prophesying some people in accordance with my faith, I'm much more comfortable with the foretelling of what God has said than the foretelling of what will come to pass. The measure of a prophet in the Old Testament is the truth of their prophecy.

If they forecast something that does not come to pass in the Old Testament, they were to be stoned, okay? So, I'm a little skittish about saying what's gonna come to pass. Throwing things is one thing. Throwing stones, my goodness, that's another but forth telling what God has said is a part of prophecy. 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's to lead, do it diligently. If it's to show mercy, Chuck, do it cheerfully.

Spiritual gifts list from Paul. This is the one we're on right now. Prophecy service, teaching, exhortation, or encouragement, giving, leadership with OR, leadership, mercy, In first Corinthians 12, we have wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, discernment, tongues, interpretation, apostleship, helps, administration. In Ephesians four, we have evangelism and pastor, teacher. We actually have apostleship in that list too.

Apostleship could be thought of as a grouping of the other gifts that are good for spreading the gospel in places it's never been before. I like the spiritual gifts lift in Peter. Do you all remember this? Peter says, speaking, gifts of speaking, and gifts of service. That's the differentiation.

Tanya and I are missionaries in Mexico for seven years. Y'all know that and primarily, our gifts there were service. We didn't do a whole lot of public speaking at that time and coming here, that whole banana sermon, that first sermon that I did was about that set of verses right there about going from being a service primarily oriented missionary to being somebody who primarily did speaking. It's a tough transition. First Peter four ten through 11 and it says, each of you and that means each of you, everyone of you Christians, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in all its various forms.

The gifts, the charismata, our gifts of grace. God has given gracious. He's given grace. Thank you, Carl for the mercy that you're extending to me. Put this over here in the corner.

Sorry about that. Heavens. Edit edit that part out. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength that God provides.

So that in all things, God may be praised and that right there is what the church is for, right? That's what we do so that God may be praised through Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, I'm going to go back through em a little slower this time. I want for you to pray.

I want for you to think about it. I want for you to consider what it is God is calling on you to do because we all have different gifts according to the grace that God has given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. I thought of this immediately because I I was just working a normal job. You know what I mean?

I was just doing finding my own business and Amos, when he was called on by God to be a prophet, Amos is telling the story to Amaziah. He had gone and he had prophesied exactly what the Lord had said. He told the guy, he told him to tell and he says, and Amaziah was saying, I don't really want to accept that prophecy. I reject that. I'm not going to accept that and Amos answered Amaziah and said, listen, I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet.

I was a shepherd and I also took care of sycamore fig trees but the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, go and prophesy to my people, Israel. Now, hear the word of the Lord. You see the transition right there? There was an immediacy. There was a yielding.

He could've said, no, it's it's sycamore fig season. God, who's gonna tend my sheep? Who's gonna deal with things the way that they ought to deal with things? It says, the Lord said, go prophesy to my people, Israel. Now then, hear the word of the Lord and he told Amaziah again, what do you come to tell him?

Praise God. So, if your gift is prophecies, forthtelling the word, tell it, okay? Tell it in accordance with the faith that you've been given. If your gift is serving, then serve. Now, that's broad.

I know that. I told you I was going general to specific here today, right? So, this is general but serving takes lots and lots of forms. Anybody want to throw one out there? Working, cooking at the mission.

Thank you, Chuck. That's a good one. Surrendering your life to a call to missions. That's another one. I see Steve's face back there.

Actually, every face that I see in this whole room, I could think of different acts of service that they might be willing to do. According to the grace that's been given them, the gifting that God has given. If your gift is serving, then serve. If your gift is teaching and we have tons of teachers in this congregation, some retired, some active, some studying to be. If your gift is teaching, then teach.

Those who can, teach. Okay? If your gift is teaching, then teach. Does that need any more explanation? No.

James says though, not many of you should become teachers. My fellow believers because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. So, there is some kind of caution that the Bible throws into these different things but he says, go. Teach. If you're, if it's teaching, test and approve.

If you test it and nobody listens, you probably aren't a teacher. Okay? You could be a prophet because nobody listens to the prophets. You can hear that all throughout the Old Testament. If your gift is to encourage, then give encouragement.

Y'all remember Scotty? Scotty, the body, Eichen. Scott Eichen was an encourager. He can't help it. He'll send me a text every few weeks and say, man, I just thought of you.

You're a great blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever it is on his heart, on his mind. He cannot help but tell people. Carl is actually the same way. He's an encourager.

He just is. If your gift is to encourage, then give encouragement. Praise God. Are you getting the picture here? It's not that difficult.

If your gift is giving, then give generously. Now, that one, I am gonna go for a Greek word here. If your gift is giving, then give generously. Generously. It seems like an opportune moment for a pastor to pass the plate again, right?

Like, if you don't know what your gift is, then you're probably a giver. Give generously. Here it goes again. Down now. The word right there is haploteti, haplontes is the word.

And what it means is simplicity, sincerity, purity. Actually it's an integer. It's that kind of thought, oneness, uprightness, frankness, and they add graciousness, but it's not found anywhere else. In all of ancient Greek literature, Koine Greek. Now there are tons of places in the Bible that say, give generously.

Absolutely. By all means, give generously but on this verse, what it means is give in sincerity, not with duplicity, with simplicity, with oneness. Give as you've purposed in your heart. Give without expecting anything in return. You remember how often I say prosperity gospel is hogwash?

This is one of the places where I see this and I go, you do not give in order to receive. You give because God has placed it on your heart to give. With simplicity, just like that, purity. Now, there are some folks who are gifted with more resources and those folks may or may not be gifted with generosity. They've definitely been gifted with resources.

Okay. If your gift is to lead, do it diligently. You see that that doesn't say if your gift is to lead, then lead. There's a diligence to leadership that is required. And if you lapse in leadership, it's a bad, bad thing.

And it happens all the time. If your gift is to lead, then do it diligently, plot day by day leading. Another one, if people are not following, that may not be your gift. Leading. Your gift is to lead.

Do it diligently. Do it with diligence, okay? If your gift is to show mercy, then do it cheerfully. A begrudging gift, a begrudging gift to a homeless person. It's not what God is asking for.

It's nice. I have a quote. It's not there though. I'll get to it in a minute. If your gift is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

God loves a cheerful giver. I love that this church is very merciful. I love our old bills fund is for local benevolence. You know that. I got a picture from a buddy yesterday.

I didn't have time to get it into the slideshow but it was a picture of an office door of a church and it had an eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper and about 18 font. It said, no in capital letters, handouts. No handouts and it didn't say it big enough so you could see it from the street but when you got to the door, it was like, ugh. I praise God that our church here is very very merciful and very cheerful in their mercy and they give generously and simply to that and I'm thankful that we can say yes when people are in need. So, thank you for that.

If your gift is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. I love it. I absolutely love it. It's one of the bright spots in the day. For me.

So, if your gift is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. So, what's the pattern of this world again? Whether you like it or not, we live in a consumer culture. Do you agree with me? Mean, capitalism, yes, consumer whatever.

Consumer culture. Would you agree that we live in a consumer culture? Consuming is not on any one of those spiritual gift lists. I think Carl mentioned last week off script you said about Diane's experience of sitting in church and she was sitting there and then all of a sudden she realized, oh, this is talking about me. I'm not a sponge just to absorb but I've gotta be squeezed out too and consume not consume only but actually act on the gifts that God has given me.

Consuming, not on that, on anyone's list. In fact, I can go a step further, it's not on the slide. But what do you call, since we're using a body analogy, what do you call a cell that only consumes resources but has no profitable purpose? It's cancer. That was a hard one.

It's cancer. If all you do is consume resources but have no outflow, no practical purpose. It's cancer. God has given a spiritual gift. He has.

There's no doubt about whether he has it. Multiply it over and over by Jesus, by Paul, by John, by James, just as each one of you has been given a gift, it says. So, specifically for Christians who are here right now, prophesying and proclaiming God's word. We have elders that are all able to teach and they do and thank you for last week. I love what I do.

I have got this by God's grace not because of deserving it for sure but I'm amazed by that. Serving. We have people here who serve. Not all of us are serving right now. Teaching, there is a need for teachers.

We have lots of teachers in this auditorium right now. We have lots of teachers who are teaching every day and school starts this week. So, on Tuesday, some of you teachers are going to be teaching. Do you have to be teaching God's word? No.

It's as if your gift is teaching, be teaching. Encouragement. Praise God. It's an encouraging place. Giving, leading, mercy.

Leading, we have an elder board and we have a board of trustees and they take their roles very very seriously. So specifically right here and right now, we have the positions filled in each one of those places for leadership and they have made, we have made, I should say, some decisions about how to move forward for this time, for this place, and some of those things and leading, it's happening. Mercy is happening. One of the ways that we show mercy is our local benevolence. One of the ways is by having meals available with most things that go on here.

Monday night meals, having a place that feels like home. Gary had a story the other night at the elders meeting about a fellow from where? He's a fellow from China that works with Gary. He'd invite him to come in and when he left, he said, the thing that I found the most amazing about the places I felt loved, they don't know me at all, but I felt loved while I was there. They were encouraging, merciful, and giving.

Didn't ask anything in return for the meal, music, or the message. Right now, the the place that I feel after having been away for a while thinking about this for a while, I feel like in my heart, I feel like, God, this is a healthy body. Thank you for putting us in this healthy body. Those are the places that I feel like we lack. Serving and giving.

Now, there are a bunch of people who are serving. I I say there's a there's a group of people who are serving. I'm reminded of what another pastor used. He said that sometimes the church and service is like a football game where there are eighty, zero people who are watching 22 people, eighty, zero people are desperately in need of some exercise and 22 people are deaf desperately in need of some rest. So, serving.

There are ways to serve. Do have any specific ideas? The nursery. That's one. We've mentioned it a couple of times, mentioned a bunch of times actually.

It's fun. The people who do it love it but you feel like you're going to be hooked in for life if you say yes. I understand that. That's one practical way. I heard somebody with an idea a few weeks ago.

He said, I think we ought do an automotive clinic. Every few weeks, maybe every two weeks or every month, we offer to people who are in need to do the little minor maintenance and repairs that they can't afford on their cars. That's a great idea. Serving. That person is probably going to be leading that.

I pray that they'll be leading that and I'll be glad to work on it. I I I do that stuff. We do that stuff here quite a bit. Serving and giving. Now, in our bulletin, we started putting it in there again.

The budget and how much we are ahead of or behind and we are a little behind right now for where we are in the year. Kevin, do you know what that is right now? $16,000 behind for the year. So I'm getting really specific. I don't usually do this, but here it is.

$16,000 behind on our general giving. And we also are just about as leadership has made the decisions. We are about to undergo a kitchen remodel so that we can love others. Our motto is loving God, loving others through Christ. So, we are going to be going into a time of a capital campaign to raise money to fix the kitchen.

That's going to be between 150 and $200,000. 175 ish, okay? So, that's a lot. Pray about that. If your gift is prayer, by all means, praying about that.

If your gift is giving, do it with simplicity, okay? Serving and giving are the two places right now that I feel like we could do better. Serving and giving. Alright. Is that it?

Okay. No. It's not it. We've got a couple more verses. So, love must be sincere.

I want for you to do it because you mean it. I'd I'd rather have I'd rather have you like the widow's mite. Give a little because you mean it than give a lot that you don't, okay? Love must be sincere. Oh, this is my quote.

Amy Carmichael, great Protestant missionary to India, said, you can always give without loving but you can never love without giving. Amen. Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, what is duplicitous, what is wrong with the world. But cling to what is good.

God has made a way. In his mercy and his grace, he's made a way. Be devoted to one another in love which is countercultural in our society and honor one another above yourselves. Amen. I think that's it.

Would you all stand with me? And let Carl exercise his gift right here in leading in music and would you sing with us? I saw light. Amen. And that southern song just inspires the Ray McDaniel version.

And think about it this way, though. That right there, that's a story of a changed life. That's a story of Romans 12 impacting somebody going, man, God has made such a change, such a difference in my life. You know, I can't help but sing about it. Amen.

So think of it in terms of that way, will you?

Amen. And so the Ray McDaniel version of that first Peter passage, just as each of y'all has received a gift, it's definite. Sure. Just as each one of y'all has received a gift, you should use it to serve others. As good stewards of the variegated, many forms, manifold, grace of God.

If anyone of y'all speaks, do it as a very oracle of God as if you're speaking divine communication to someone. If anyone of y'all serves, then do it with the strength that God is present tense, supplying so that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. Amen.