how long the equipping continues: until we all attain unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God to maturity
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
the body is one with many parts, all baptized by one spirit, various parts cannot say they have no need of one another
12 For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot would say, “Because I’m not the hand, I’m not part of the body,” it is not therefore not part of the body.
16 If the ear would say, “Because I’m not the eye, I’m not part of the body,” it’s not therefore not part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the smelling be?
18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.
19 If they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now they are many members, but one body.
21 The eye can’t tell the hand, “I have no need for you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need for you.”
22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
23 Those parts of the body which we think to be less honorable, on those we bestow more abundant honor; and our unpresentable parts have more abundant propriety;
24 whereas our presentable parts have no such need. But God composed the body together, giving more abundant honor to the inferior part,
25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.
26 When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
varieties of gifts but the same spirit, listing specific gifts including wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, tongues
1 Now concerning spiritual things, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are various kinds of service, and the same Lord.
6 There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all.
7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all.
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit;
9 to another faith, by the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, by the same Spirit;
10 and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of languages; and to another the interpretation of languages.
11 But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.
not to think more highly than one ought, gifts differ by grace, each should use them properly in serving
3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.
4 For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
7 or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, their deeds will follow them
13 I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor returned to Ephesians 4:11-13 this week, focusing on verse 12 and what it actually means for the people sitting in the room. He had covered the passage the week before but felt the practical weight of it deserved a closer look.
What was said
The sermon centered on three clauses packed into one verse: "for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ." The pastor worked through each one in order, treating them as distinct but connected ideas rather than a single phrase to move past quickly.
He started with "equipping," pointing to the Greek word behind it, which carries the sense of fine tuning or exact adjustment. The image he kept returning to was an old analog dial being brought into precise focus. His point was that the gifts given to the church through apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers are not meant to produce uniform Christians. Different people are wired differently, and the Spirit already knows that. Recognizing each person's particular fit is part of what equipping looks like in practice.
He then spent time on the word "saints," pushing back gently on the tendency to settle for the label "sinner saved by grace" as a permanent self-description. In Paul's letters, saints simply means the people who belong to Christ, declared holy by what He did. The pastor's point was that the people doing the equipping need to see the people they serve that way, because it changes how you approach someone when you believe the work has already been done for them.
"Building up the body of Christ" brought in the Greek construction term behind it, which pictures raising a structure fit to be a home. He connected that to the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 about the body having many parts, none of which can be written off as unnecessary. He named people in the congregation who were suffering and others who were celebrating, and used the body image to say that what happens to one part registers everywhere else.
The third clause, "the work of ministry," became the longest section. The word behind ministry is the same root as deacon, and the pastor traced it back to its plain meaning: people who kick up dust and get things done. He pointed to the bereavement ministry that had served Ed Wigg's funeral the day before as a straight example, and to Ed himself, whose decades of helping people get sober he described as ministry as real as anything done from a pulpit.
From there he moved to the spiritual gifts passages in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, walking through the variety of gifts listed and pressing on the point that every person in the room has one. He was careful to say that being called on to do something outside your gifting is not unusual, and that sometimes a new gift surfaces exactly that way. He also noted that the gifts are not only for the body's internal health, but extend outward for the common good of the community around the church.
He closed by bringing in Ephesians 2 on good works prepared in advance, and a line from Revelation 14 about deeds following a person after death. Work, he said, was given before the fall and will continue into eternity. Whatever someone does every day, whether paid or not, in a church role or in a completely ordinary job, is the "ergon," the work God put in front of them, and it counts.
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Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The pastor described the word 'equipping' as fine tuning or exact adjustment, meaning the gifts given to the church are meant to help each person find their specific role rather than everyone doing the same thing. Where in your own life have you seen that kind of fine tuning at work, either in yourself or in someone else?
The pastor said that calling yourself 'just a sinner saved by grace' can actually sell short what God has declared you to be, because a sinner saved by grace is a saint. How does thinking of yourself as a saint, rather than just a sinner, change the way you approach your life and your place in this church?
Oh, Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. All kings. Who rules the nations with truth and justice shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. The king of glory, the king above all kings. This is amazing grace.
You're I think you are. You're fine. There are, like, five different ways you can do it. It's It's different. Like, the Okay.
It's also the offer. So
Okay. Right.
Yeah. We'll be fine. And even if not, they'll figure it out.
That's okay.
Surprise.
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to first b. We're glad you're here. We're gonna start with a verse in Romans five Romans five eight. But God showed us his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Let's stand and and sing about it. And as we're singing, we're we're just praying to God. These are prayers to God. So sing now.
Can keep us apart so remember your people remember your lead the strong of your salvation and all your people
Can I have a seat?
Good morning, everybody. It's time for announcements. We did it. We made it to church. You did it.
Congratulations. Well done, everybody. Hey, Awana is back on. It's almost about ready to wrap up for the season. So bring the kids on by tomorrow, 05:45 to 07:30PM.
It goes into May, but that is coming quick. Believe it or not, the gear swap is coming up for the kids, and that's on May 2. Check that out. If you have extra stuff for kids that's new or gently used, bring it to that, please. It's a great way to to pass that on to a new generation of people.
Or if you need to pick it up, scan that QR code and the information is on the website. My Sister's Closet is a women's clothing exchange coming up on May 30. Please don't bring any items in until the week before, and we'll store those in. You can shop from 10AM to 12:30, and Casey McCooey is right here and she would love to meet you and be able to sign you up to be a volunteer because it's amazing how much stuff just shows up at the last minute. She needs people to help put things on hangers and fold and and arrange.
And so talk to her. It's it's a super big event. And the lost and found is ready to be found. If you have items, we're do it. We're great at the lost part of this, folks, but we're not great at the found.
It's back here. There's a coat rack with stuff on the top and below. We like to cycle that stuff through. So lots of kids jackets back there, lots lots of Bibles, and coffee mugs. So if you if you've been missing your caffeine fix, it's probably back there, and it might need to be washed out.
So check that out. VBS sign up is up there. This we have a new QR code for child and volunteer registrations and one for donations. People love to donate to VBS, and we just want you to donate donate the right thing if you would. Sign up on there.
You can also click the link on our website if you don't use QR codes, or just talk to us and we'll get you hooked up with that. Is a blast. It's it's June 22 through June 25, And that's all that we have too. There's more information on the website. There's tons of Bible studies, tons of events coming up.
Check it out, connect with people around the valley. We would love to get you plugged in in some way. And have we missed anything? We did it. Okay.
Alright. Well, we're gonna bring you back with music. Would you stand up and greet one another? Make a friend today. Say hello to somebody you haven't met before.
We'll bring you back with music.
You can have a seat. Call the ushers for. We're gonna do a time of worship of giving, time of the service, and we're gonna sing an old song, blessed assurance. Hopefully, it goes okay. Ray, would you pray for us?
Lord God almighty, thank you for this day, for this gathering in your name, lord. It's a beautiful thing. So, lord, we ask that you would teach us something this morning that we may not have considered about you, about us, about how you want to use us. And lord, I pray that you would use these offerings, the resources, whatever is put in these plates figuratively, literally, Lord, I pray that you'd use it to advance the gospel. The good news that Christ has finished work that only he could do, but that there is more work that you have designed for us to do.
So in Jesus name, we pray that you would strengthen plan a. Lord, there is no plan b. Would you use us in the way you want to, your will, your way. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
Blessed
perfect submission all his at rest I am my savior and happy and blessed watching
church. And how about every heads bowed and every eye closed moment? Is that alright? I don't ever do this. Every head bowed and every eye closed, really.
Whoever has the BMW x seven, it's parked in the neighbor's driveway. Would you all go and move it? So he just came over and asked. Alright. Thank you.
It's a black x seven back here. So thank you very much. Chris Chris and Heather love this church, but sometimes he said it's kind of of the essence. It's a moment where I gotta get out of here. So here we go.
Last week, I reserved the right to come back and do this one again. Okay? Not because I felt like I didn't do it service, but it was a longer passage. And I said what it said. But what kept pursuing me is just this slide, four eleven through 13.
It's kinda where the rubber hits the road for the church. And so this is the 11 I covered last time when I went into apostles church, church, capital c, church, last week. And it says that he, God, has given apostles, ones who are sent out, and prophets, those who proclaim either foretelling thus saith the Lord, this is gonna happen in the old testament. That's the way it was. And even in the new testament, it was and maybe today.
Okay? For the unity body, I'm not gonna say it can't happen. But apostles are sent out ones, prophets are ones that foretell or foretell thus saith the Lord. He has said it in his word. Right?
And then evangelists are those who are primarily concerned about the state of souls as it relates to Jesus. So they carry forward the gospel. The gospel is always on their lips. They're it's always in their mind. They're always seeking for the hearts to see if does this person know Jesus or not?
What have what are you gonna do with Jesus is the evangelist question. Right? And then there are pastors and teachers, and I think I fit into that last category. The pastors and teachers are the same group of people, I believe. So that's where I find myself in that role.
We talked about that fairly extensively last week, the four giftings that were listed. Given to the church are these, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor teachers. But the next is for the equipment of the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ. Now, put that all in green because that's what I wanna cover today. It's mainly verse 12 that we're covering.
And then it says, how long are we gonna do this until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Have we gotten there yet? So we keep on going. And of the knowledge of the son of God. That's what he prays for him in the very beginning of this book.
Hey, I pray that you'll be filled with the knowledge of God. And it won't just sit within you, but it'll carry forward. Right? So until we all attain to that kind of knowledge of the son of God to maturity to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. So we've got a ways to go.
So I'm going back to this though. For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, and I wanted to do just a straight up sit it in your laps. This is what it means for you, and I think I'll do that before this is over. But would you pardon my pedantic presentation as a teacher to begin with? There are three clauses here.
For the equipment of the saints, for the work of ministry, and for the building up of the body of Christ. And I covered them last week, but rather hurriedly to get on through verse 16. So we'll start with the first one, for the equipping of the saints. And I'm gonna do the old Greek word thing because for me, it helps. If you look at it and you kind of bear down, it really helps to see.
So to begin with, for the equipping. Equipping in Greek, The accused of masculine singer for the three of you who care. Now equipping, it's a gerund form. It's a noun form. It's only used one time in the Bible and in the New Testament, it's right here.
The verb form is used in second Corinthians, which we'll hit before it's over. But equipping, perfecting, fine tuning. I like that. Do you remember radios? Do you remember televisions?
Do you remember televisions before they started clicking where it's on a channel? No. It's like fine tuning or exact adjustment. If you are dealing with like a micrometer or something and you're working and you get close to it, and then you have the little screw that gets the fine adjustment in there. That is what this word means.
It's the fine tuning, which enables the individual parts of the body to work together in correct order. I like that. I think that that's really helpful. To me, seeing fine tuning or exact adjustment, that helps because it is a spirit gift that we're given, because it is spirit that has brought us into the body of Christ and knows us. There's a lot of this stuff that Jesus handles immediately.
Right? But the apostles, prophets, and evangelists, and pastor teachers, the the job is the equipping of the saints, and the equipping is the fine tuning. So it would be presumptuous for me to think, oh, everybody ought to do blah. That's not really true. I mean, there are some things everybody ought to do, sure.
All of y'all, please pray, you know. But there are some jobs. I don't want all of y'all visiting the hospital. Okay? There are some of y'all that need to speak truth in a room full of Bible study over here and just challenge what's being said.
But but hospital, bless your heart. Please don't go to the hospital. Okay. And I'll tell you individually. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. The fine adjustment on that is like, that's funny. But you all know who you are. You know who you are. That's that's it.
Equipping, perfecting, fine tuning or exact adjustment. That helps me because I think it would be presumptuous to just say everybody's the same. We all ought to do this the same way. There are some of y'all who are actual mystics that you just can't help it. You see God in a different way than other people see him.
There's some of y'all that are so good with the word that you're thinking chapter and verse as you're having a conversation all the time. Praise God. That's wonderful. Both are necessary in this body. Right?
Both are necessary in the body of Christ. So they equip and perfect and fine tune. For the pastor teacher, I think part of that is shepherding is knowing the person, knowing the sheep, knowing the individual sheep, and seeing how they can best be fine tuned, I think. That's where I see it. So this is equipping right there, It's used in second Corinthians, For we rejoice when we ourselves is weak, Paul says, as a, I don't know, evangelist and pastor, teacher, and apostle, he's saying this.
We he and Timothy and he and his other running buddies, we rejoice when we ourselves are weak and almost depleted because but you are made strong. This we also pray for that you be made complete. That's the same word. Okay? That you be fully equipped, that you be fine tuned or exactly adjusted.
I think that's good. And you know the tenor of the New Testament books, they're different. Thessalonians is very different, both of them, than Corinthians. Sins hardly even mentioned at all in Thessalonians. Corinthians is all over the place.
Right? Exactly adjusted is for such a time and a people as this. So there we go. For the equipping, okay, we've handled equipping pedantically. Now, saints.
What is saints? The words for saints is Hagion, that's a plural of Hagian. Hagian, like the Hagia Sophia, you all know what that is, the Hagia Sophia in The Middle East is the holy wisdom. Holy is what this means, but means holy, but it also is sacred. Physically, it's those who are pure.
Morally is those who are blameless. Religiously and ceremonial, it is those who are consecrated, but the best translation is saints. Now, if you come from a Catholic tradition, you know, you gotta go through quite a few hoops to get to be called a saint. You gotta do a miracle, and you gotta do this, and you gotta do that, and you gotta be dead. But when Paul writes to the letter to the Ephesians, he's writing to the saints at Ephesus.
And so it's everybody who has put their faith in Christ. Whether you feel like it or not, physically pure, morally blameless, religiously ceremonially consecrated. If we maintain the mindset in our head, and this is okay for humility sake, understand. If we maintain the mindset, well, I'm just a sinner or I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Yeah.
But a sinner saved by grace is a saint. Do you wanna sit with that for a minute? You are called holy ones if you believe in Jesus by his reputation, by his walking it out, by his words, by his works, by his deeds, by his cross, by his blood, you have been made pure and blameless and consecrated and holy. Dude, saints. And I say this, for those of us who are responsible for equipping or building up or equipping the saints, fine tuning the saints, we need to recognize y'all are saints, that Jesus has done the work for you.
It's work that I can't do for you. Right? Anyway, that's the saint. For the equipping of the saints. Beautiful.
For the work of ministry. Let's put a pin in that one. I'm coming back to that. Okay? This is the main point that I believe God wants us all to thoroughly understand the day.
This is about as close to a topical sermon as I get. That's the main point. We'll come back to that. For the building up of the body of Christ. Now last week, I said this in two slides.
I said, is that quantity or quality? And the answer is yes. If you're talking about the evangelist and the apostles, yeah. Absolutely, yes. Yes.
It's the building up, adding to the number daily. You know, the spirit is doing it, but generally, the people carrying the word forward are apostles and evangelists. And then quality, fine tuning adjustment, I think that's oftentimes on the prophet who's willing to say, listen, thus saith the Lord. Amos saying, I hate your religious assemblies. I hate the fact that y'all get together and you act like you're paying attention to me, and the truth is you're not paying attention to me.
That's what Amos says. He's a prophet. Right? He lays it out there, and that affects us in quality. The quality of our hearts has changed when we're challenged by God's word, what God has said.
So yes, it's quantity. Yes, it's quality. And pastor, teachers, hopefully, there's some fine adjustment that's going on there to say, have you considered with a gentle pat on the back. Have you considered? Sometimes people need a swift kick in the behind and I will be glad to send them to somebody to do that.
I don't usually do the kicking in the behind myself. There are plenty of guys that can do that. And it's not because I'm scared to, it's just that's not the way God wired me. I I was wired with mercy gifting more than justice, just the way I am. I'm glad there are lot of y'all justice people out there.
God is both perfectly. He uses us differently. So for the building up so that sounds a lot like equipping. They use a different word in English for it, so maybe it's a different word. It is.
It is a different word for a construction guy. For construction guy, I like this one. This one is straight up construction term. It is for the building of the dome. The building of the dome.
Orkos is a house dome. Basically, Orkos is a home, but it is the building up or the edification, the edifying, the upbuilding, the construction, if you will. OICA domain, accuse of the feminine singular, doesn't matter. Properly, it is the construction of a building to serve as a home. And figuratively, I think they nailed this one and got it right, that constructive criticism or other instruction fine tuning that builds a person or group up to be a suitable dwelling place for God.
Ain't that sweet? A place where the Lord is at home. We know individually it says that our bodies are a temple, and we need to think of it that way. We are making a place that is suitable for or building up a place that is suitable for the Lord. But collectively too, we want not just within the walls of this church or just within the role of this church, but within the church at large, we want to make it a suitable place where the Lord is at home.
What Jesus prayed for is unity, and so that's what we are praying for too. That's the building up of the body of Christ. Now, if you're thinking, where do we get that term, the body of Christ? Well, it comes up in Ephesians, it comes up in Corinthians, it comes up in Romans, it comes up a lot. It's a good analogy and we're gonna share some of those.
This is first Corinthians 12. For just as the body is one and yet it has many parts. In all parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. Okay? So that's leaning towards it, but then he gets to for by one spirit.
We just had that last week earlier in Ephesians four. One spirit, one body, one baptism. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we are all made to drink of one spirit. There's unity, unity, unity, unity in the body of Christ, for the body is not one part, but it's many. If the foot says because I'm not a hand, I'm not part of the body.
I'm rebelling. It's not for this reason any less a part of the body. It's still in there. If you're baptized in, if you're if you're brought in to the body of Christ, and I mean baptism figuratively, yes, it's great to do it really too, but if you're brought into the body of Christ, you are a part of the body of Christ, and you will be. And so you can say, don't like my gift.
Well, you're still a foot. That's what this is saying. Right? You may have not figured out how useful a foot is at this point, but you're necessary. Because I'm not a hand, I'm not a part of the body.
It's not for this reason any less a part of the body. If ear says because I'm not an eye, I'm not a part of the body. It's not for this reason any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body just as he desired. And let me remind you, he is almighty God, and he is all knowing, and he understands. And when he calls us to anything, he's already figured our stupidity into it. If they were all one part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, but there's one body.
And I cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, it's much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are really necessary. And those parts of the body that we consider less honorable on these, we are saying we need to bestow greater honor the behind the scenes stuff that's going on. And our less presentable parts become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable parts have no need of.
We already are giving them honor, but God has so composed the body, given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. The body heals, do you know that? Most people that get hurt and they say, I've got church hurt or whatever. A lot of times, we get hurt in community. Dealing with people is the way that people get hurt.
It happens a lot. Right? How do people get healed? In community. God has composed the body, given more abundant honor to that part which lacked when so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.
Sometimes when one of our senses is lacking or one of our parts that we have to limp on and put extra weight on other parts. Right? I'm looking around the room seeing all the health care professionals. Everybody I look at is like in this business, and that's good. And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it.
To know what folks are going through here with us, what Carolyn's going through, what Yvonne's going through, and to be able to pray with and strengthen and do the best we can for them, for that. For Sheila in her grief right now. When one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it. If the part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it. So we're also celebrating with the ones who are celebrating.
Now you are Christ's body.
He says it flatly. Y'all, by the
way, that's plural. Y'all are Christ's body. And individually, you're parts of it, but you gotta think collectively too. We are part of the body of Christ. So I put the pin in that other one.
I think equipping of the saints is pretty clear now. Building up of the body of Christ is clear. The work of ministry, for the work of ministry, two terms in there too. Each one of these has had two terms that I feel like I wanted to define first. For the work of ministry, the work is ergon.
Ergonomics, right? Steven, you know all about ergonomics, don't you? Occupational therapy and figuring out how to get this to work. Ergon is the word. So the did I just that's it?
That's it. Didn't make the slides. Sorry. We'll go on to ministry. How about that?
I'll come back to work. For the work, Ergon really didn't go in there? Didn't go in there. Ministry. Diaconias.
Diaconias looks like deacon. Right? And if you're familiar with the office of deacon, most Baptist church have a deacon board. The deacon board is made up of people who are officially on right now for handling the matters of the church. When I grew up, that was the temporal matters and the physical the spiritual matters and everything.
We have an elder board here and a board of trustees here, but I'm gonna step back from the office of it for a moment. Okay? So that's good. That's the official officials that are officially doing this officially. Okay?
But Diakonias actually comes from kicking up dust. The folks who are kicking up dust and getting stuff done. That's what deacon ministry is. When they see somebody is hurting, they do what they can to help. When they see somebody who needs help and is asking for it, they help.
We did a funeral yesterday. That's what the flowers are here for. Ed Wigg's funeral was here yesterday. And Ed helped thousands of people get sober here in the valley and beyond, but here for the last, I don't know how many years. And he sat right there, right next to where Stacy Digman is this morning.
That's he'd come in early and listen to the whole soundcheck because he loved the music. He told me, open that window. I don't want that window closed. If they can't sit there because the sun's in their eyes, then sit somewhere else. Right?
His he wanted to be a minister. That's what he wanted to be. That's what when he was earlier in life, after he got to know Jesus, he really wanted to be a minister. But what he ended up doing was helping people get sober. If that's not ministry, I don't know what is.
Right? So ministry or service or serving or mission or preparation, the folks who showed up to do the bereavement ministry yesterday and the day before to get tables ready and flowers ready and all of the stuff ready. Relief to run-in after there's disaster, personal or collective or storm or whatever. It's active service that's done with a willing or voluntary attitude. For the believer, it specifically refers to spirit empowered service guided by faith.
The Lord's in birth persuasion. And part of that in birth persuasion is believing that what I actually do, what I do matters. And if you get paid for it, that's okay. It's not separate. Okay?
I'll go back. I hope I put work in here somewhere, but if I didn't, I'm gonna go back to Ergon in a minute. Okay? It's very closely related to spiritual gifts. And so we're gonna go to Corinthians for that, and Romans for that, and Peter for that.
First Corinthians 12, this is just before the passage I already read from first Corinthians 12. It says, now there are varieties of gifts. I mentioned the hospital thing. Some people you want playing the music and singing and keeping time. Some people you don't want keeping time.
You don't want me keeping time. Trust me, I'm the bass player for crying out loud. I'm keeping up with somebody else, I promise. No gracias. But there are varieties of gifts, but there's the same spirit.
And as we join together as a band, it's really good just like the body, you know. It's a really good thing. If every it's there's a difference between playing together and playing at the same time. As a church, I want for us to be playing together, not just playing at the same time. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit.
Peter says the same thing. Just as each one has received a special gift. If you say, no, I have not, then you are disagreeing with Peter and with Jesus and with Paul. And there are varieties of ministries. This is the.
This is that word and the same lord. So just as each one has received a special gift, employ it because there are different ministries. But to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. And just like God causes his rain to fall on the just and unjust, it's not just for the body of Christ. It is for the upbuilding of the body of Christ, but that extends beyond us into the community around us.
It is for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom, that's a gift, through the spirit, wise, sage person that has been given that by the spirit. And to another, a word of knowledge, they just seem to know everything according to the same spirit. Peter says, employ it how? In serving one another as good stewards of the multifaceted grace of God.
We don't all get a clear picture of the wholeness of the grace of God, but it's been given to us to see this aspect. Praise God. Use that. Find someone who sees this aspect and y'all pull each other towards the middle. By another, faith by the same spirit.
Tanya said, I had to quit going to the mission meetings. We're on a missions committee. Tanya and I are both on the missions committee officially. She said, I had to quit going because everybody in the room seems to have the gift of faith. Y'all don't get that.
The gift of faith is believing something that you can't see from the facts. Right? Tanya says, like to look at the facts. And I look at it and I go, man, that makes me nervous. What they're saying, I think we ought to double the missionaries.
What? Wait. Wait a second. How do you see that? She said, I'm I'm that's not my gift.
Now she's got all kinds of other gifts. But another, faith. It's by the same spirit. Gifts of healing. As I look around and
I see the all of the health
care professionals in the room, that's you. Okay? The effecting of miracles is it for today. Argue it over if you want to, but I've seen things that I can't explain. I pray for them every single day.
I hope you have. To another prophecy that again, that is either foretelling or foretelling, to another distinguishing of spirits. Do you know somebody that just has incredible discernment? By the way, that's Tanya. She's really, really good with seeing what's going on.
Instantly, she's really good at it. To another, various kinds of tongues. For some of y'all, it's easier to learn language, for some of y'all, it's next impossible. Being in language school, I saw parents come down that could not get it. Their their kids had to order form at Burger King, you know.
And the kids standing there and said, mom, she says, do you want a whopper or what, you know. The interpretation of tongues, getting it. Yeah, glossolalia is out there. And yes, that's something that I don't generally do. And I don't understand, but I'm not going to bind that.
I'm not going to tie somebody's arm behind their back and say, no. It's not the way I see things, but I'm not saying it's not ever possible. We know that they were confused because they understood at the day of Pentecost in the Bible. Right? Okay.
But one in the same spirit works all these things, and he distributes to each one individually just as he will. Please don't argue with him. If you haven't understood and accepted and come to know this is where I think I'm gifted, just keep on trying. Keep on trying. Keep on employing to help, and there will be something that fills you up and is affirmed by the rest of the body.
And that's probably it. You know? Even the ones of you like Timothy, I think from all the scripture, the old New Testament, we can see Timothy is a pastor teacher. But when Paul leans and says, listen, Timothy, to start out with, you're planting a church. Do the work of an evangelist.
You might be called upon to do some stuff that's not of your gifting too. That's fine. And you might find that you got a new one. We were service missionaries for seven years when I came here. All of a sudden, I'm the guy up front speaking.
Like, holy Moses, what in the world just happened? I I felt comfortable with that. This is a little weird. But over the years, I've come to be like, thank you, Lord. Romans 12.
For through the grace that was given to me, Paul says, I say to everyone among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. But to think so as to have sound judgment. Be sober about it as God has allotted to each a certain measure of faith for just as we have many parts in one body and all the body's parts do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ. And individually, we're parts of one another. If you are suffering and and you haven't let anybody know about it, that's hard for you and it's dangerous.
There's a certain bit that we don't don't know what's going on with a part of our body. And so I'd say, find somebody that you can confide in and trust, somebody merciful to to talk to about it. We're one body. We need to be in communication like a body. However, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace that God has given us, each of us has used them properly.
If it's prophecy, in proportion to one's faith. If it's service, in the very act of serving, just be kicking up dust and doing it. Or to the one who teaches in the very act of teaching or the one who exhorts, do it in the work of exhortation. The one who gives, do so with generosity. The one who is in leadership, with diligence.
Don't slough it off. The one who shows mercy, do so with cheerfulness. That is the worst thing to see. Oh, crap. These people need help.
I guess we gotta help them. It's just we tend to say yes. So no. No. No.
It's like, absolutely. What else can we do to help with cheerfulness? Oh, gracious. That's the benediction. I didn't put work in there anywhere.
You know what? Absolutely, every one of y'all has a spiritual gift. Absolutely, every one of y'all has work that God has for you to do. So when we say that we are saved by grace through faith, that's not of ourselves. It's the gift of God so that no one can boast.
We all have one. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared for us in advance. Work is work. Okay? Where where you are at work is work.
You can do that for the Lord. In Colossians, we get, hey, obey your masters, work as if you're working to the Lord. If you're an accountant, actor, aerospace engineer, agricultural architect, equipment operator, banker, banker, but I've I've got an alphabetical list here. It's every one of us every day. Have you all ever met a grocery store employee that you thought, wow, I came away from that feeling blessed?
Yeah. Have you ever had a teacher that you felt like, wow, that was a blessing? Yeah. Have you ever had somebody working on your house that you thought they brought an amazing amount of light into this place? Yes.
It is possible in every one of your job jobs and in any of your retirements to bless, to carry whatever it is that God has gifted you to do. You're probably thinking about some stuff that I would never think about doing. Be doing it. Be doing it. This is cool.
It's not really the benediction. But think about this, and I heard a voice in Revelation 14, and I heard a voice from heaven, John says. And it says, write this down. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit, so that they may rest from their labors for their deeds will follow them.
Ain't that interesting? Work was instituted before the fall in the garden. Take care of this place. It's work. Now after the fall, it got harder.
And I know I got witnesses all around. Work is hard sometimes. Yeah. But it still was instituted before the fall. It's divinely blessed by God and it's a gift that he has given that will continue into eternity future.
Right? So it's all the way from the garden all the way forward. Your work goes with you. And so I say, therefore, this was the benediction last week, encourage one another and build each other up. I'm looking around, I'm seeing faces of folks that I know, and I'm seeing them like, oh, what a gift.
Oh, what a gift. Oh, what a gift. You know, what a gift you are to the church and what a gift you are at work. And I pray that the ergon, whatever it is that God has given you to do, whether you like it or not, honestly, as far as your occupation, it's alright if you get paid to do. I get paid to do this.
Don't know that? I do. Encourage one another and build each other up just as you are also doing. Would you stand with someone? Invite the band back up.
Lord God, the first person in scripture that you say you filled with the spirit, that you tell us explicitly, that you filled with the spirit was a builder, an architect, a designer. There are so many in this church right here that that's what they do. They consider foundations and plans and load bearing walls, and then there are others who build them, Lord. And there are others who decorate them. And there are others, Lord, who are just so conscientious about taking care of them, taking care of the landscape outside, taking care of creation.
Lord God Almighty, there are so many people here who take good care of people and animals. A divine inspiration for handling whatever work you have given, put right in front of us, that we'll do it with with great joy and that you would produce the results. Lord, Would you put us where you want us and would you use us right there? In Jesus name, would you sing with us? Amen.
Okay. Y'all are all standing and this is normally the benediction. I'm gonna invite Jeff and Sheila to come forward. This is all standing coming into the church officially. Now, Jeff's been working for us for a while.
Sheila has been a very effective nurse for Turning Point Compass. Jeff's been ministering in this valley for the same amount of time I have been here fourteen years. Right? Yep. And they are loving and caring souls.
And there's a faithfulness in these two that I can attest to that they have just kept on going. And they've taken care of people that were wounded and hurt. And she's been taking care of her mom for the last two years who's been in hospice. And she has recently passed her funeral this coming Friday. And I just wanna affirm them, but I also want to ask them, do you feel that God has led you to come into First Be as members?
Yes.
I know that you know Jesus, but I'm gonna ask you again. Do you know Jesus? Yes. In Jesus name, they come and they wanna be a part. In Jesus name, do y'all say, we want you to be a part.
Yes. Amen. Well, We're here together, unified in the body of Christ. And so I wanna pray a prayer of benediction and acceptance in Jesus name. Lord, thank you for Jeff and for Sheila for the various gifts that you've given them.
Some of them overlap and some of them Lord are very, very unique in this valley. So Lord, I pray that you continue to use them and their family. I pray that you'd comfort Sheila's family and her dad, pastor of so many years on the loss of his life, of his wife. In Jesus name, Lord, I ask that you'd make them one with this body in a way that affects all of the community around him. Thank you.
