Transcription
[Music] Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to join me to Romans chapter 12. We're gonna jump right into the message. If you're new today, welcome to James River Church. Great crowd on a spring break Sunday. Next week, we'll all be back and ready to go, but a great crowd today. And we are looking at Romans chapter 12, an earnest series on Romans. So, we're gonna jump right into the text, Romans chapter 12, and we're gonna look at the first couple of verses here.
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your..." and we saw this, a better word there is "logical" or "reasonable" worship. In other words, once you understand what God has done, the grace of God, the mercy of God, all that God did in saving you, and all that God is doing in sanctifying you, and all that God has for you in glorifying you, when you think of all that, to know all of that. In fact, let me just say this one second: in heaven, you'll be glad for every single thing you did on earth. One second in heaven, you'll say, "Oh my goodness, I had no idea." But I did what I could. Better to say that than, "I had no idea, and if only I'd had known, I would have done more."
So, the idea is, once you know the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship, your logical worship. "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." That's the principle. That once we know what God has done, we say, "God, here I am. Use me." And the Spirit of God, as we saw, is transforming us. We can't transform ourselves. All we can do is put ourselves in a place where the Spirit of God can transform us. And one of the first things He does is He changes the way we think. He renews our thinking. He begins to make us like Adam and Eve were before the fall. He gives us the kind of mind that can sense the presence of God, can perceive the voice of God, can understand the wisdom of God. It renews our thinking, it changes us, helps us to discern God's will.
And now, from verse 3 on, Paul is going to show us what the renewed mind looks like. A lot of times, people go to a more personal view of having a renewed mind, like, "You know, I've got a renewed mind, so, so that helps me be at peace, that helps me not be afraid, that helps me..." and it's all about me. But Paul's very clear that a renewed mind manifests itself in how we view ourselves relative to serving others, and how we get along with others in the church. All of that in chapter 12. In the world, chapter 13. Let's read a beginning in verse 3.
"For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."
Would you notice in verse 3, "For by the grace given to me," and then in verse 6, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us." In other words, what we're talking about is the operation of grace in the life of the believer in the here and now, physically relating to our lives, what we do, how we think. We've looked at grace reigning in our heart spiritually through salvation. We did that in Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8. Now, in chapter 12, it's intensely practical. And in this passage, it's how God's grace works, reflecting a renewed mind to affect how you and I think, and how you and I serve.
I want you to notice two things, if you're taking notes. First of all, God's grace determines how we think about ourselves and how we think about others. Look at it in verse 3. Interesting. "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober thinking." The translators use the word "judgment" because there's a lot of "think, think, think, think," but that's Paul's point. Remember, He's renewed your mind. And now, in the original, He's saying, "A renewed mind thinks differently." If you've been renewed, it will change the way you think. "But to think with sober thinking, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned."
A renewed mind thinks differently, energized by the Spirit of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, renewed by the Spirit of God. It thinks differently. When, when a person has a renewed mind, watch this, what happens is they don't think of themselves more highly than they ought. In other words, when a person has renewed thinking, they're not self-centered, they're not proud, they don't have an exaggerated view of themselves, they don't have an exaggerated view of how God is using them, or how they are ministering, or what kind of gifts they have. The person with the renewed mind is thinking soberly. They have sober thinking. That's sober, not in the sense of the opposite of drunk, although it could be. They're not insane. They're not out of their mind. And they're thinking, "If you think of yourself more highly than you ought, if you really think you're something, if you have the idea, 'You know, when God got me, He really got a peach,' or you have the idea, 'Boy, look what I can do. I'm I'm a little more spiritual than everybody else,' that's insane." Because you wouldn't be anything without Christ. Jesus said in Matthew, or in John chapter 15, verse 5, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." So, sober thinking recognizes it's all the grace of God. It's all the work of God. It's God working in me. So, you don't think more highly than you ought.
But let me also say this: you don't think. Sober thinking also means you don't think less of yourself than you should. You know, there are some people who have the idea, "Well, you know, I'm nothing. I can't do anything. I don't have any gifts. God can never use me." Can I suggest to you that's as insane as the person who thinks too highly of themselves? It's illogical. It doesn't make sense. "You don't have gifts?" Are you kidding me? That the God of the universe would create you, He would save you, and not gift you? Impossible! Are you kidding me? Is that the God of the universe would gift you and then not empower you? Impossible! God has a gift for every single person. He's got more gifts than He's got grace that empowers the gifts. That's Paul's point.
So, if you're thinking too highly of yourself, or you're thinking with this inferiority complex, you're demonstrating you don't have a renewed mind. Because when a person has a renewed mind, they have a correct assessment of God's grace on their lives. And here's the way it works: "The Lord has given me certain spiritual gifts. They are not mine, they are His. And apart from Him, they have no power to operate effectively in my life. God has given me these gifts not to build me up, but that I might build others up in His church." As I use the gifts under the anointing of His Spirit to help and serve others, that's renewed thinking.
So, we're to view ourselves humbly, depending on the Lord, saying, "God, what gifts have You given me?" You know, I think it's a bit ironic, on the one hand, certainly not coincidental that today in Grow Track, the session is on discovering your gifts. If you've not been in Grow Track, you need to get in Grow Track because you're gonna learn. Because some people, as we're talking about gifts, things, "I wouldn't have any idea what my gifts are." Gifts are different. They can be similar to natural abilities, but they're different than natural abilities. And God has gifted you. If Paul says, "If you have a renewed mind, you're gonna understand God's will for your life." And His will for you is to be building the church.
So, Paul starts with how we view ourselves. Let me just say this: this is not the most important thing, but it is very important. Because if a person doesn't view themselves correctly, it will ruin their ability to minister to others. If you go to your life group, and you're really thinking you're something, and you're thinking you, you're just a little bit more spiritual than everybody else in the room, can I just tell you, people will be turned off by that. They will sense that. Furthermore, God resists the proud. That is, He holds them at arm's length, as the literal picture of that. He gives grace to the humble. So, if He's resisting the proud, what happens is His power will not be working through you. You'll be trying to empower yourself, which will be really irritating to everybody watching you.
Romans 12, verse 3: "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober thinking." Now, watch this: "each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." It's a very interesting phrase. I mean, one of the things that happens, especially when you start talking about gifts, there, there can be that tendency to compare ourselves with other people, which, which is tragic. Because on the one hand, either you feel you're doing better, and then you're you're struggling with pride, or you feel you're doing worse, and then you're struggling with inferiority. But especially if you have gifts that are similar, people can have a tendency to make comparisons. So, for example, you have two people who have the same gift, let's say, for example, their gift is preaching. And one's preaching gift results in them preaching to thousands. And another's exercise of the preaching gift results in them preaching to tens. Or people can compare themselves to someone who has a totally different gift and they can start thinking, which again, this is insane thinking, this is not sober thinking, is to say, "Well, I wish I had that gift. I don't like my gift. I don't want it. I don't want to function in this gift. I want to function in that gift."
Romans 12, verse 3, says this: "each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." Who has assigned it? God has. You don't pick your gifts. I don't pick my gifts. Nor do I get to pick the measure of faith that has been given to me in the exercise of my gifts. You say, "Well, what do you mean?" Well, let me clarify a couple of things. When we're talking faith in the Bible, there's more than one kind of faith, and everybody's got to understand this, or you get confused when you're reading different portions of scripture. Essentially, there's three kinds of faith. Number one, there's saving faith. And we saw that in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of God." Faith for what? Faith for salvation. They're saving faith. What we're looking at in Romans 12 is serving faith. Romans 12, verse 3, "each according to the measure of faith God has assigned." So, as we're serving the Lord, God has given each one of us differing measures of faith.
Then there's supernatural faith. 1 Corinthians 12:9, one of the gifts, gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:2, "another faith by the same Spirit." So, this is faith to believe supernaturally in that moment for a miracle. I don't know whether you've ever had that experience where, when, as you were praying, instantly you had faith that was beyond faith. You had great faith. You didn't know where it came from. You didn't know why it was there. You weren't working yourself up. You just had this, this, "It is done in Jesus' name." That's supernatural faith.
Now, we're talking about serving faith. When it comes to serving faith, everyone has different measures of faith. It varies from person to person. It is assigned by God. You say, "Well, I don't think that's very fair. I think everybody..." I mean, you know, and so we live in this society where everything's got to be fair from our vantage point. What, what God has done is God, in His wisdom, has determined what the body needs, where it needs it, how it needs it, and He's provided that for that through both gifts and through faith. Remember in Matthew chapter 25, there's the parable of the talents. And in this king giving out talents, he's going away on a trip, and he says to one, to one he gave five talents, to another he gave two talents, to another he gave one talent. The person with the two talents couldn't say, "Well, you know, I didn't get five talents, so what's up with that? That's not right. I'm not gonna use it if I don't get the same measure as that guy with five." No, that's not. You're faithful with what you have, and you're blessed and given more. This is the principle: you're faithful with what you have, and when you're, and then you're blessed and you're given more.
Paul goes on then to talk about that's how we view ourselves. So, let me, let me just say this: whatever you have from the Lord, whatever your ability is in the Lord, praise God. Don't get a big head about it. If you feel you don't have a lot, I would suggest that you're probably underestimating the grace of God that's already in your life. I would say this, that there are many times people have gifts in them, abilities in them, that only surface over time as they're faithful with the gifts that God has given them that were obvious to them. For example, I look at Debbie, and to watch what Debbie's doing now in her leadership, in her writing. If you'd asked me ten years ago, "Do you see that?" I would have said, "Never in a million years." If you just showed me how to said that, I just can't see that happening. I don't know the Debbie sod. But as she's stepped out in faith, often feeling completely overwhelmed, almost always feeling inadequate to the task, but saying, "The Lord has opened a door here." And having been faithful in the little things.
I can remember when we were in the little blue building on the hill, and I can remember at that time, our nursery was crammed with children in it. And Debbie, because she, we had the choir, she loved singing in the choir. She could ask Debbie, "What do you want to do?" She just said, "All I want to do is sing in the choir. It's all she wanted to do." But the need was in the nursery. And Debbie came home one day and she said, "I went to the nursery, and I'm gonna be in the nursery." And I said, "How'd that go?" She said, "I, I found myself almost fighting back the tears because they could hear the choir singing. I wanted to be in there, but I knew this is what needed to be done." You see, when you're faithful with a little, God puts you over much. When you say, "It's not about me, but it's about strengthening the church. It's not about, 'Well, I want to be and what I feel I want to do,' but it's about what needs to be done and about getting in there and lifting and helping and serving and building the church." When you do that, your measure of faith changes.
Paul says this in chapter 12, verse 4: "For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function." Now, so Paul's gone from how we think about ourselves to how we now view those around us. And there's some principles there. There's one body, many members. So, Paul is picturing the church like a human body. He does this extensively. We won't look at it in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. You can read that on your own, or maybe with your life group. You would reference that because it's very, very colorful what he says, very imaginative. But the church is like a human body. Every person, if this is your church, you're a part of this body.
Second, would you notice? Each member has a unique and valuable function in the body, and the members do not all have the same function. Everybody's got a unique function in our bodies. Every cell, every tissue, every nerve, every fiber, every muscle, every ligament, every bone, every organ has a purpose. It's valuable. You might not see that nerve, but if that nerve stops functioning, your body will know it. The body will be weakened. Listen, in this church, and this is critical, because here's what happens. "Big church, it's all being done. Big church, they don't need anybody." Yeah, that's all. You know, and so what happens is, you're not thinking right. First of all, to think somehow there's not a place for you to serve, or because the church is big, you don't need to serve. That's not renewed thinking. That's fleshly thinking. Everybody's got a place. God's designed it that way. If God's brought you here, anyhow, then this is, this is the body you're a part of. This is the body of Christ that you're a part of, and you have a purpose in it. You're needed. Without your involvement, the church is weaker than it would be if you were involved. You're important. Without your involvement, this church, as wonderful as it is, as it is, is not as healthy as God would desire it to be. We don't all have the same function. You have, you have gifts and grace unique to you that this church desperately needs and God desires to use in this church.
Romans 12, verse 5: "So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." This is a very important verse, and you're going to see this as we get later in the chapter, start talking about, "As far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people." How we interact with one another. This is kind of a bedrock verse, not only for how we use our gifts, but for understanding how we relate to one another. Because essentially, what he's saying is, he's saying, "Our connection to Christ means that we're connected to one another." For all members of the body of Christ, we're all members of the same body. We're all connected to one another. It's the reality. You don't, we don't make it the reality, it is the reality. We are connected to Christ. Consequently, we are connected to one another.
You say, "Why are you making a big deal about this?" Because here's where the rubber meets the road. Nobody in this room can say, "Well, I don't need that person. I don't want to be around that person. I don't like that person. I'm not connected to that person." Nobody can do that. Because if you cut yourself off from another person, what have you? You've cut yourself off from Christ. You can't have it both ways. If you're a part of the body of Christ, and we're all members of the body, if you cut yourself off from a person who's joined to the body, you've cut yourself off from what? The body. So, God's grace determines, I mean, how we think about one another. Listen, we need one another. We're connected to one another. We love one another. We serve one another. We're in this together, like it or not. We're, we're, we're one. You're a part of the church. We're together.
That leads us to the second thing I want you to notice. God's grace not only determines how we think about ourselves and others, but it directs how we present our bodies. You know, Paul said in Romans 12, verse 1, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice." We talked about that last week as an act of worship. "Lord, here I am. You've done so much for me. I give You all of me. It's the least I can do." Now, if you've said that, and you should have, if you understood what God's done for you, then the issue is, where are you going to present yourself? You're going to present yourself first to Him, serving in the church. And there's nobody who gets a pass card on this. Nobody can say, "Well, I don't need to." Nobody can say, "Well, I don't want to." You can say it, but you're living in disobedience. Because we all have gifts, and all the gifts are necessary.
Look at it, verse 6: "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given us." So, here again, it's kind of like the measure of faith varies, and the grace varies. "Having gifts, let us use them." It's not, "If you have a gift, it's not, you know, what if you really feel like doing something, be sure and do it." Having gifts, you have it. It's there. You say, "I don't know what it is." Get in Grow Track. Having gifts. Some of you know what your gifts are. You know, use it. "Let us use them." And what Paul does is he gives us a list of seven gifts. Now, let me just give you some, some general principles regarding these gifts. And we won't bring them on the screen. I'm just gonna list them off real quick.
First of all, this list in Romans 12 is not exhaustive, so it's not exclusive. So, you have other gifts that are mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 9 through 11. You have other gifts that are mentioned in Ephesians chapter 4. You have other gifts that are mentioned in 1 Peter. So, there are differing gifts. Second, as we look at the individual gifts, we have to keep in mind that often God combines gifts in a person. So, we are a mix of several gifts. Maybe you've taken one of those personality surveys where it says, "Well, you're, you're strong in this area, but you're, you're not as strong, but fairly strong in this area, not as strong over here." So, there's a mix of strength in your personality. This, this would be very similar to that. So, you could have exhortation and teaching as your gifts. You could have generosity and faith as your gifts. So, there's a mix.
Third, the gifts are given to strengthen the church. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is very clear on this. "The spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other." It's not given so you can feel good and you can feel fulfilled. Though, as you use your gift, you'll feel good and feel fulfilled. The reason why you use your gift is to build the church and to serve others. Because, newsflash, it's not about you. Now, that, that plays contrary to our American spirituality where everything's about us. It's how we feel, it's what we perceive, it's what we need, it's what we want, it's what we get. Church is not about what you get. It's about what you give. Do you get something? Absolutely. But you get something as you give something. Remember the old song, "Jesus and Others and You"? What a wonderful way to spell joy. I mean, put Jesus first, minister to Him, minister to others, and then you'll find yourself being filled with joy. A lot of times, what causes people to, to not feel good, is they get it backwards. And they have "yeowch," and "yeowch" is not the same as joy. Some of you have a terrible case of "yeowch." It was just because you got it backwards. That was not in my notes. I don't know where that where that came from. Okay.
The gift of prophecy. Let's look at it. Romans 12, verse 6: "If prophecy, in proportion to our faith." There it is. Is everybody with prophecy going to prophecy in the same way? Absolutely not. Because some people have a faith that helps them not only hear from God. Because I'm going to suggest to you that faith is a part of the way in which we hear from God. It's like tuning in our antenna to what God is saying. We're believing God, we're walking with God, we're pleasing God. So, consequently, we hear more from Him in that moment. Some are just learning. But you have the gift of prophecy. What is the gift of prophecy? When a, it's when a person gives a public or a personal message from God. So, you go up to somebody and you feel impressed from the Lord, "Hey, I feel like the Lord is telling me to say this to you." That's, that's a gift of prophecy. Or in the church setting, "I feel like God is, is telling me to say this to you." That can happen either through a service, especially on Wednesday night service, James River, or it can happen at times in the preaching of the word, either, either when I'm preaching or somebody else is preaching. You ever have times where you feel like, "This is the Lord giving a word to the church uniquely?" So, in the midst of a message, a specific message, that's prophetic. And Paul puts a great premium on this in 1 Corinthians 14. He says, "Follow the way of love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." So, if you're going to desire something, desire that. And Paul says, "When you do it, do it in proportion to your faith." Now, let me say this: I think that, I think that brings up the whole matter of stepping out in faith, building your faith, exercising your faith. Faith is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. If you don't have a lot of faith, stretch yourself in the area of your gifting. Step out. It's the idea, and watch your faith become strong.
Number two, the gift of serving. "If service, in our serving." It's the word we get our word "deacon" or "deaconess" from, "diakonia" in the Greek. In the strictest sense, what it means is waiting on tables. The church needed people to help. The apostles said, "You know, we need to devote ourselves to the ministry of the word and to prayer. We need people to help us." What do we need? We need really good waiters, really good servers. And so, there's a huge need for serving. And we, and we have a tendency to depreciate at times this gift and elevate other gifts. But when the apostles needed the church, the one thing that kept the church unified in Acts chapter 6 is people who had a ministry of service. Without them, the church would have imploded. This is a critical, critical gift. I mean, it's in a very general sense, serving the Lord in the church. But it could be serving, helping serve the meal at the New People's Party. It could be driving and bringing somebody to church. It could be serving as a host out, out on the front lawn, at the Connect Center, at the door, in the auditorium. It could be helping check families in. It could be helping serve in the early childhood area, in the elementary area, in the youth area. I mean, there's all kinds in the tech area, all kinds of needs. It's serving. It can be helping somebody repair their home, cleaning, stacking papers, caring for children. But the idea is not just that you do it randomly. The idea is you're doing it as a part of the ministry of the church. Let me say this: everybody should be serving. But some have the gift of super service. Have you ever met somebody like that? Man, is like they're like a super server. I mean, it's like they are serving all the time. It is so awesome to see. You say, "Well, they just have this gift of serving." That is incredible. That is unique. That blesses people.
Number three, the gift of teaching. "The one who teaches, in his teaching." You say, "How does that differ from preaching?" Well, teaching is really the analyzing, the systematizing, the instructing. You could be a teacher, not necessarily be a public proclaimer. You might teach one person, you might teach two people, you might teach a small group of people and never be what you would think of as a public speaker.
Number four, the gift of exhortation. This is better understood as encouragement. The gift of encouragement. What a great gift, because God is the God of all encouragement, right? So, when you have the gift of encouragement, what happens is you have the ability to come alongside somebody, to advise them. It could be almost like a counselor in some ways, not exclusively, but you advise people, you strengthen people, you encourage people, you comfort people. It could be encouraging them in the sense of encouraging them to overcome sin in their life. It could be encouraging them in the sense of comforting them in trouble, or or finding somebody who's weak and encouraging them to be strong in the Lord. Strength. It's a, it's a very broad thing. I mean, there's some people who are just great at comforting the bereaved, those in sorrow. And others are very, very good at infusing strength with the weak. They just have an ability to take someone who's struggling and to bring them to a place of strength.
Number five, the gift of giving. Romans 12, verse 8, says, "The one who contributes in generosity." The word there for "gives" or "contributes" is "metadidomi." It's in this "metadidomi." In other words, major contributing. The person who has this gift of giving, they have an ability to super give, to give. They can give. And honestly, while a person may have a lot of resource and be a super giver, a person without a lot of resource isn't excluded from being a super giver. Have you ever seen somebody, and they're just like the most giving person you've ever met? They give the shirt off their back. They would do anything for you. Give you anything they had. And they don't necessarily have a lot, but they got the gift of giving. Paul says, "When you do it, do it with generosity." And really, that word is best understood as simplicity. In other words, don't do it with dichotomy or division of motive. Don't do it, don't be giving with a motive behind it, like to get recognized, or so like people say, "Oh, wow, what a great person they are. They really gave." Or so you get noticed, or so you'll get, you'll get a place in a, you know, you get a place on a committee, or or people will say, "Wow, they really get it." It's not that. You just give because you just love the Lord, and you're giving only for the glory of the Lord. You're not giving for anybody to notice. You're just a super giver.
Number six, the gift of leadership. "The one who leads with zeal." The word "leads" means to, to manage, to be in charge, to oversee. Literally, the idea is to rule. The ability to organize, to administrate, to make something happen, to, to get people to gather, to mobilize them, and get them moving and accomplish the job. And would you notice? When a person has it, they're to do it with zeal. In other words, don't be standing around. Get on it. The idea is they lead with an intensity. They're there, they're highly motivated. They have an energy to lead. That's the idea. The church has to have that. And then number seven, the gift of mercy. And this is the last of the seven. "The one who does acts of mercy." So, we know what mercy is. Showing kindness, showing compassion, showing empathy to those who are going through a difficult time, a miserable time. Maybe they're downtrodden, maybe they're in prison, maybe they're very sick, maybe they're impoverished, maybe they're in pain. It's a beautiful gift. Do you know people like that? Probably. They're involved in, and you've seen them helping people, and it's like they have this, this grace, this heart for the disenfranchised and the outcast. And would you notice? It says this, that they're to do it with cheerfulness. "Kalaros" in the Greek is the word, with hilarity, with joy, with over-the-top joy. I mean, the last thing a person needs who's going through a really difficult time is another person who says, "Yeah, I get it. Yeah, I'm really going through..." You might be, but if you have the gift of mercy, you understand what they need is not your hard-luck story. What they need right now is they need some joy. They need some life. They need some happiness. They need, they need somebody who's gonna lift them, not somebody who comes in and says, "Well, I've always found misery loves company." No, that's not your gift, then, is it?
You know, when everybody's doing these gifts, and all the other gifts, what happens is the church becomes stronger and stronger and stronger. You know, James River is a strong church, but it's not as strong as the Lord wants it to be, and it's not as strong as we need to be if we're gonna do all that God has called us to do and make the most of the opportunity. You know, people ask me at times about, about the church, and certainly I believe in vision. But as strongly as I believe in vision, I believe even more so in stewardship. You say, "What do you mean?" I've always thought of my role in leading the church as being a good steward. In the words of Paul, Ephesians 5, "making the most of every opportunity." Can I just tell you, we are, we are on the edge of some incredible days. We've seen great days, but the best is yet to come. God is working in the church. God is advancing the church. God is helping the church. And the Lord has more than He wants to do in and through this church, and He's going to do it. Not through me, for you. He's doing what He can do through me. But if the church is gonna go farther, faster, stronger, it's not like, "Oh, John, run harder." It's like, "No, no, no. We got it. We got people." God loves you. You're attending the church, but you're just not serving in the church. And that is a spiritual disconnect. If it's your church, you should serve in the church. If it's your church, God has given you a gift, a grace gift, "charisma," "chara's mata," a charisma. So, with what the word is, He's given you a charisma. You know, we look at people who say, "Oh, they've got such charisma." It's like they're just so good in that setting and doing whatever it is. You have that in you because you have the Spirit of God in you. And there are certain things that when you do them, there is a charisma about you. There's a grace about you. I'm just telling you, the church needs you.
And this all comes together in a really great time. Comes together on this third week of Grow Track when we talk about gifts, discovering your gift. Some of you need to jump right in and go figure out what it is. Next service, head on over to Grow Track, find out what it is. You can jump in right there. We're gonna be next week talking about vision. And I'm telling you, there are many things we would do if people who I know are in this church have the ability to do it, would step forward and say, "How can I help? I want to be a part of this. There's something like God is calling me." I'm telling you, the opportunities are greater than they've ever been. But we can only say yes to, and we can only do what we have the people resource to do. I'm just asking you to present your bodies a living sacrifice because God's done so much for every single one of us. And I'm asking you to let the Spirit of God transform you, to bring the glory He put in you when He saved you. Let Him manifest it on the outside. Be transformed. Be "metamorpho." Let Him renew your mind so that you think differently about the church, not just as a place to receive, but a place to give. And in giving, you do receive. And you'll see God grow you like you never imagined. And you'll see this area change to the glory of God, an area that's desperately in need of the grace of Christ in new ways. Tens of thousands of people who don't know Jesus. Tens of thousands of people in severe need. If the church will rise up with people doing these gifts, if we didn't have any of the other gifts, just had these seven, it would radically transform Southwest Missouri. I believe God has more. I believe God wants to do more. And I believe you're the beginning of that, as you present your body a living sacrifice.