The Dead Sea gets its name from the fact that it sits roughly 1300 ft below sea level. And that it gets its name, the Dead Sea, not because nothing flows into it. Because it primarily receives water from the Jordan River. Yes, the Jordan River from the Bible, Jordan River. So it's not its name because nothing flows into it. It gets its name, the Dead Sea because nothing really flows out of it. And so at such a low sea level, the water from the Jordan River flows in with all its salts and minerals, but then because of the heat of the desert evaporates and nothing flows out. And so it just gets denser and denser and denser to the point where hardly anything, if anything at all, can survive in that sea. And it's so dense, so thick that you've maybe seen pictures of people pretty much sitting on the water. And experiencing that. Well, here's my fear and then my prayer. My fear is that churches today across this nation are filled with Dead Sea Christians. And what I mean by that is that you continually receive, receive, receive, but you've never have an outlet or a flow of God's blessings from you to others, and that you find yourself in a place struggling to grow. And so my fear is that we have Dead Sea Christians instead of a living church body of believers. And my prayer is that God's gonna work through not just our church, but through churches in this valley and beyond, that we can be the hands and feet of Jesus, and that the movement of God does not stop with us, right? We don't want to be the cul-de-sac on the street of faith, where the blessing just comes and stays here. That really every generation is one generation from the relinquishing of faith, or from the launching of revival in a movement. And so it's my prayer that that revival will break out in this valley. In this community and in this church that it starts here and that it starts with us. This morning's message is entitled Grow in Calling. Grow in Calling. Where we are studying here in the month of August, Romans chapter 12, 1 of the most transformative chapters in the Bible. And last week, we took a look at Romans 12:1-2, and we studied the fact that the seed of transformation grows in the soil of commitment. That Paul writes in view of God's mercies and all that God has done for you. That it is a reasonable and spiritual act of worship to present your body as a living sacrifice for him. And that when you do that, when you understand that we are no longer called to be conformed to the patterns of this world, but to be transformed by the daily renewal of our mind through His word, that we will be able to test and approve and know the will of God in our lives. And so Paul passionately pleads with the people of the church to not only have personal faith, but what we're gonna see today is to have public faith that we were called to serve together. See, the same writer of Romans wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus, and he wrote these words in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 and 5. He says, but God, being rich in mercy, so very similar to how Romans 12 starts. So it's because of the great love with which he loved us. I love that he includes love twice, because you've noticed the diff the subtle difference. It's one thing to have great love. It's another thing to actually love with that great love. Right? He doesn't just have great love, that he actually shows us great love. Says there in verse 5, that even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. We often quote Ephesians 2:8 says, for you've been saved by grace through faith. And that is very true, but I want you to notice the key phrase here, that we were made alive together. That you were saved to be a part of the body, to be a part of a community, that we were made in his image. Do you understand that there's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? That God in and of himself is in community, creates us in his image to be relational beings, to have a relationship with us, and then also for us to have relationship with each other, that no one person will have the fullness of God in them, but rather, collectively together, we can represent the image of God. That we've been made alive together. It's not about bad people becoming good. It's about dead people becoming alive, that we don't want Dead Sea Christians. We want a living body church. And because he is alive, we are alive. That you've been made on purpose with a purpose, because a few verses later in Ephesians 2:10, it says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So if you're taking notes, I encourage you to write this down today, is that grace is the gift that keeps on giving. Grace is the gift that keeps on giving. I say that because of two reasons. First, Grace keeps on giving because we need grace every single day. It's not receive grace for salvation, and then I've got it from here. No, grace not only saves you, grace also sustains you. Like there are many of you in this room that sinned already this morning. Right? Did anyone's already sin this morning? If you're not raising your hand, you just lied. OK, so, so now we're all sinners here on the same page. You need grace every single day. That's why it's a gift that keeps on giving. But the second reason grace keeps on giving is because gifts aren't for storage, they're for service. It's not supposed to just simply come to you, but to flow through you to impact others. If grace is a gift. Right. What good is a gift unless it is opened? Right. Imagine gathering the family, a big family like Hallmark movie Christmas, right? Like you got presents even above the trees. You gather everybody together. It's a great experience. Uh, the kids are all excited, right? Parents got their coffee, right? Everyone's in their PJs. It's Christmas morning. Everyone's excited. And the kids are like, OK, can we open them now? Whoa, whoa, not yet. These aren't presents for opening. These are look at presents. Wait, what? Yeah, we're gonna sing about the presence. We're gonna, we're gonna talk about the presence. We're gonna tell people about the presence, but we don't actually open the gifts. Your kids are gonna go crazy, right? How many of us have received the gifts of grace, the gift of Of how God made you intentional design, and you have this gift placed in you and before you, and yet all we do as believers is sit there and we sing about it. We talk about it, but we never open the gifts that God has given us. That you are made on purpose for a purpose. What are spiritual gifts? Well, spiritual gifts are God-given abilities, empowered by the Holy Spirit, given through grace to serve and to strengthen others. They're God-given abilities, empowered by the Holy Spirit, given through grace to serve and to strengthen others. What are the purpose of spiritual gifts? There's more. There's a lot of pur there's a lot of reasons why we're given spiritual gifts, but let me share three of those reasons with you. The first reason for spiritual gifts is that we are to glorify God with them. It is a way to bring glory to God. The word glory. Really, in its root really means like heavy or weighty reputation. You can think of it this way, to glorify God is to make God famous or to make God obvious. So when you glorify somebody else, that's why we have celebrities or things that are where they are known out to the world of who they are and what they've done. Whether they're a musician or athlete or actor or actress or politician, we hold people up. And we, and they are known. So to glorify God is to make God known to the people around you. To glorify God is to make God obvious by what you say and what you do. And so we're gonna see here this discussion around the gifts of the spirit. Notice it's not the feelings of the spirit. It's the gifts of the Spirit that God has placed in your life, designed you to have in order for you to open so that you can glorify God with your life. Peter writes this in 1 Peter 4:10 and 11. He says, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. There's that word again. Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. In order that everything God, uh, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belongs the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. So the first purpose of spiritual gifts is to glorify God. The second purpose of spiritual gifts is to serve others. That when we serve others, we are loving people the way that Jesus loved us. Jesus said these words in Mark 10:45. He said, even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many. That if anybody had an excuse or reason not to serve, it would be God. But God used his power, his authority, his identity to serve others. Not only did he give his life. For the disciples, for believers, to take on the weight of God's wrath and the sins of the world. Not only did he sacrifice an entire life, what did he do the night before in the dinner with his disciples, before he was gonna lose it all. He washed his disciples' feet. That the savior, creator, Lord, King, Jesus. Washed feet. If he served church, we are called to serve. Paul writes this to the church in Galatians, Galatians 5:13. He says, for you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. Yes, you can do what you want. Live how you want. But understand that freedom was given so that you can freely love and serve others. It's one thing when the loved one in your life. Response is something that you asked them to do or commanded them to do. It's another when the person does something unprompted, right? And you're like, oh wow! It's amazing. Why? Because they use their freedom to bless somebody else. What's the purpose of spiritual gifts? To glorify God, to serve others. And the third reason is that it builds up the body. It builds up the church. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, he says, now there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but the same God who empowers them all and everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. In other words, gifting is not reserved for the quote unquote spiritual. Gifting is reserved for every single person made in the image of God. That puts their faith in God, and the Holy Spirit empowers them to serve others. In Ephesians 4:11-13, it says for the saints, um, oh, that he has given the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Grace is the gift that keeps on giving to glorify God. To serve others and to build up the body. But here's the thing I think we miss. Not only does it build up others, serving is actually what builds your faith. The best way to discover your spiritual gift is to serve. Right? That some of us have a Dead Sea faith or maybe like a muscle of atrophy because we haven't used it. Right? That when we serve, when we make a difference, when we help others. Right? And not only strengthens others' faith, it actually strengthens your faith. Some of the times that I've grown the most is when I prepared to teach a lesson. Some of the times where I've been blessed the most is when I've been stretched the most. And then if you ask anybody who's been serving for a long time, they're gonna come back and say, you know what, uh, God's worked so much more through me than anything that I've given out to others. Why? Because spiritual gifts build the body, including your own faith. Because grace is the gift that keeps on giving. Now, let's go ahead and use this and and jump into Romans 12 together. Again, last week, we talked about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice before him. Today, we move from the personal ministry to the public ministry, from, from not just our commitment, but now to our calling to each other. So we continue reading here in verse 3. It says, 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 judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now let's pause here. Isn't it interesting that when he talks about the gifts before he even goes into what some of those gifts are, he starts by saying, hey, hey, hey, hey, you need to be humble. Why? Because as soon as we get to gifts, the natural response of a human heart is to then brag on our gift. And if we don't brag on our gift, what we do is that we compare. If you wanna squash your spiritual growth faster than anything else you have in this life, simply compare it to somebody else. Cause here's what's gonna happen. You're always gonna find someone who you think is better than you in a given area, and you're always gonna find someone that you think you're better than. And in both cases, they're not healthy. Because if you, if you try to use or exercise your gift, and you see somebody else who you think has more, then you're like, why am I even trying? But then at the same time, if you look down, and you see somebody else who you think is worse, you're like, well, I'm, I'm good enough. I don't need to stretch myself. At least I'm not that person, right? Like we do that, we do that all the time. You do that as sports fans, right? Like as a Bears fan and a Cardinals fan, football season's like, man, I'm not super optimistic right now, but at least I'm not a Jets fan, you know, and like you fill in the blank with the team or vice versa, or you're like, man, I'm not that great, but I'm not that person. You know what I mean? Like, we do that as parents, we do that in marriage, we do that at workplace, right? We go through and comparison will kill the growth of your spiritual gift. And the other thing that's gonna kill your spiritual gift is compulsion and just an impulse. That's why I think it's important here that he says, hey, think with sober judgment. Here's a simplified illustration that still lands 2000 years later, because what's the opposite of sober? Drunk? Think clearly. Think humbly. So each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now, there's some discussion and debate among commentators and scholars, what exactly Paul meant when he said measure of faith. But two things that a majority of scholars do agree on when it comes to this phrase, is that number 1, it measure of faith means that God assigned it, that God gave it to you, right? It's, it's God-given. It's not earned. But then number 2, it was given so that you can use it. Right? If you've ever uh enjoyed baking or cooking, the recipe requires different ingredients, but also requires different amounts of the ingredients, right? So you need to measure different things and to follow different things. So there's a big difference between a 1 teaspoon and a tablespoon, right? Anyone ever mixed that up? With things. If you've if you've needed something, you need a certain amount of it. Well, what I love about this passage is that God will give you the measure of faith that you need for the task at hand. In other words, he gives you what you need to do what he's called you to and who he's called you to be. That he's not gonna gift you beyond the measure of faith required to exercise that gift. He says you need to be humble, you need to think soberly, you need to have a measure of faith, understanding that all gifts come from God. We continue reading verse 4. 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, there's that word again, to us. So let us use them. And here he's gonna share 7 examples. He says if prophecy in proportion to our faith. Now, prophecy. In an extreme or what we think of prophecy is like these bold predictions of what God's gonna do. And I've actually seen examples in people's lives, where people say, hey, I think God gave me this word. Does this mean anything? I think God called you to do this, right? And then it happens, and it's amazing. Now, sometimes people go a little far with that, right? But I've seen way too many instances where people have prayed for people and had specific names come to mind or specific things come to mind that God uses other people in the body to speak directly to someone. Maybe somebody's wrestling through with an issue. And someone comes in and says, hey, God told me to say this first to you. Does this mean anything? And all of a sudden, it's the exact thing you've been praying for. It's that gift of prophecy. But more than just that or predicting the future, if you will, is actually this a prophet is a bold declarer of truth. It's a truth teller. Does someone's family have a truth teller? Right, truth tellers aren't always liked, by the way. Right, in the workplace, right there, right? Someone who just like passionately, no, this is right. Right? That's someone within that gift gift set. OK, let's continue. It. If service, 2nd 1 here. In our serving, what's the gift of serving? It's meeting the needs of others. It's the people that just see a need and meet a need. It's an innate desire, I've got to step in and do something. It's one thing to be like, oh, that's sad. It's another thing to be like, no, I need to do something about it, right? And then it continues on. The one who teaches in his teaching. The gift of teaching is used to explain or to make things clear, to take a complex subject and to put it in a way that can help people understand. And it's tied to, but a little bit different than the next gift, which is exhortation, the one who exhorts in his exhortation. So teaching helps bring clarity to an issue. Exhortation gives you the courage to do something about it. Right? So to teach on an issue is to explain it, so you go, oh, OK, that makes sense. To exhort somebody is then to motivate them, to give them the courage to then take a step in obedience or in that direction. Continues on to the one who contributes in generosity. And we're doing all of this exercising our gift. I want you to notice here too, that in some way, shape or form, all of us are called to these things. Right? You can't just say, oh, I'm a teacher, so I don't have to be generous. Right? Or I, you know, uh, if, oh, I'm generous, so then I don't have to exhort anybody. No, we, we need all of these gifts and all of them are a reflection of God. It's just that some people are wired differently or by default mode to be more apt to give, to share, to teach, to explain, to call out truth, right? Or the next one here is uh the one who leads with zeal. Do you lead with passion, guiding with integrity? Right? There are some people who are like in a group, like, yeah, I'll meet a need. I'll connect with the heart. I'll encourage you. I'll write a note, but don't, don't put me up there leading a group. I don't want to be in charge. Right? There are people who have different gift sets. Another one here, the one who does acts of mercy. May they lead with um cheerfulness, right? And I would say mercy is a little different than even service, because mercy has this sense of vulnerability to it. Right? In people's lowest moments, right? To connect heart to heart. Right, to see somebody's burden, and then you, you carry that burden, right? We need these gifts. That we need each other. But I don't think it's just the gifts in and of themselves. I think the actual, the key verse in this passage is verse 6, because he says in here, he says, having the gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. In other words, open the gift God has given you. And share Right, if you ever in school, if you ever made the mistake of opening a pack of gum or sharing one piece of gum, right, or mint and be like, ah, and next thing you know, you got the whole lunch table, whether it's candy or gum or mints or whatever it is, right? Like I'll bring enough to share, right? God say, look, open the gift. And use the gift. I've given it to you on purpose and for a purpose. We've already highlighted some of the other passages, but there are 4 main passages or chapters in the Bible that talk about spiritual gifts. So there's Romans 12 that mentions 7 gifts. There's 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that actually mentions 17 gifts and more depending on how you interpret it. Are they combined or not? And then there's Ephesians 4 that mentions 5 gifts or offices, right? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, teachers. And then you have 1 Peter 4, that we already read, that only highlights two gifts. There's like the the teaching and then the serving side. OK, so which is it? Is it 2? Is it 7? Is it 5? Is it 17? The answer, I think, is yes. Because they come at it from different angles. For example, in Romans chapter 12, there's actually emphasis of the gifts coming from the Father. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it's saying the gifts of the Spirit. But then you find yourself in Ephesians 4, and saying that it's from your calling to Jesus Christ, and for the buildup of faith in Jesus. See, even in the Trinity itself, the different approaches to gifts, it comes back to the fact that you've been given a gift, every person, every believer. And you've been called to use that gift for what? To glorify God, to serve others, and to build up the body. And when you build a body, it actually grows and strengthens your faith as well. So I think we get caught up in this idea of, well, which gift do I have? Is it this one? Is it this one? Is it this one? I mean, we have assessments to help you with that. In fact, Pastor Kurt's got a whole series of next step classes that we encourage people to take. Those will be coming up in September. To help identify those giftings, right? But also the reality is many of us know, generally speaking, right? Like if you're not a mercy person, you. You probably know you're not a mercy person, right? Right, I'm one of those people, right? But like I love compassion. That's the weird thing. Like I can be like, like, if you want me to explain something and have it alliterated and through scripture and I'm passionately do something about it. I'm your guy. But if you're walking through the hard things of life, I'm sorry, I have like the default like blank face. I've been told this. Like they'll share news with me and like, I was like, yeah, I, I do care. I do. And I, in my heart, I do, but my, I just, my heart doesn't tell my face that I care. And so apparently, I don't, I'm not the most merciful. So if I've hurt you in the past, I apologize. But you need those gifts like we need a little bit, like I need to be merciful, right? But I understand how God made you and how God uses that to impact that we need each other. That the different gifts represent different portions and descriptions and pictures of Christ, that together we can collectively help every man, woman and child experience Jesus. And that God designed you. Intentionally, so that your gifts can contribute to the world. Into the church That you might not save the entire world, but you can change somebody's world. With a piece of encouragement, with an act of service, with a heart of mercy. With, with an exhortation and encouragement to do something. All these different gift sets used. To make a difference. If you picture those tapestries. That you see in museums and things that depict our history, and these interwoven threads, that if you have one thread or one string by itself, it doesn't seem that great. And if you look on the backside of a tapestry, it just looks really messy, right? It can look tangled. It, it almost feels like back when headphones had cords. Right? It didn't matter how neatly you wrapped your cord, as soon as you put it into your bag, it goes and it comes out like the most knotted thing ever. Anybody relate to that? Like how, like, I couldn't intentionally tie as many knots as would come in. Like, I don't know how the the string moves, and it's just, and you find yourself like listening to one bud and then just this tangled mess. And it just kind of, OK, maybe it's just me. So sometimes it can feel that way, right? Like you're a string by itself, like, OK, what difference does this make? Or you look at the messiness of the church, right? And you're like, ah, I don't look great. But you have to understand, not from the earthly view, but from the eternal view. Right, we get just the tiniest little glimpse. Like imagine going to the Sistine Chapel. But watching the whole Sistine Chapel, and taking a tour of the building through like one of your vision test things. Where all you can see is like a dot and you're like, wow, this is great. I don't see anything. 00 beautiful. It's a dot. But if you could just take one step back. From this current moment in time. And think about all that God had to do to bring you to this moment. To put you in this seat. Think about all that God has brought you through. Challenges, valleys, loss, betrayal, mistakes, brokenness, all this to set you up in a place to be in this position to impact right now. And this beautiful tapestry that if you flip over, that I'm so excited. One of the things I'm excited for in heaven is to take a step back and to see God's plan in eternity, like, wow! That really was beautiful. That my thread mattered. The gifting mattered. Walking back through this passage, just to keep it real practical here is. We see from Romans 12:3-8, 3 keys to living out your calling. Three keys to living out your calling. First thing we talked about today is that you have to be humble in your faith. It says, as soon as you receive the grace, understand that that grace is not about you. It's about God. That you have to be humble in your gifting. They can't be compulsive and you can't be stuck in comparison. Can I free you of something? Do you know you're not going to be held accountable for somebody else's gifting? You're not gonna be held accountable for somebody else's marriage. Somebody else's job. You are held accountable for who God has called you to be and what God has called you to do. In the parable of the talents, the blessing was not based on the amount of talents given, but on what you did with them. The only one that got scolded was what? The one who buried what was given to him in the sand. You will only be held accountable for who God's called you to be and what God's called you to do. We have to be humble in our faith. Second thing we see here is that we have to be hopeful in our function. It's so incredible to understand that God made you on purpose with a purpose, that he can use you and your personality, and your gifting and your quirkiness and your mistakes and your past and your future to make a difference in someone's life right now. There is hope for you. And I'm grateful that we're not all the same. We would not be effective as the body of Christ if we were all like a kidney or the right kneecap, right? Like we need each other and I'm so glad. The Last thing is, is that we have to be helpful in our fellowship. Not to just be spiritual consumers, but to be spiritual contributors. To make a difference That we are stronger and that we are better together. And he gives 7 examples. There's more gifts than that. But he gives 7 examples that in all those things, however God's wired you, however God's gifted you, are you using that gift? Not just in this building church, but in your workplace, right? On your teams, in your neighborhood, are you using how God made you to make a difference, to be the light and salt in the world that desperately needs it? So let me ask you then What step can you take today? What step can you take today? I'm gonna borrow language from Chris Hodges at Church in the Highlands and he says, It's time to discover. To develop and to deploy your gift. If you want an assessment, spiritual gift assessment, you can talk to Pastor Kurt out in the lobby. We got a class coming up. We can also get that connected to help you discover what that is. But I also have a feeling that many of you in this room kind of have an idea of what you like doing, how God wired you, how God made you. So the next thing then is, are you developing that gift? Are you growing in how God made you and who God made you to be? Because then the best way to develop that to grow in that gifting is to then to deploy that gift into the body and into the community, that you can use those gifts. Maybe not to change the world, but you can change somebody's world. I want to end with a story of 3 people. The story of three people. Who changed evangelical Christianity. In world history. Here's what I mean. 1934. It's a little tent revival in Charlotte, North Carolina. When a preacher named Mordecai Ham was bringing the word. Night after night was preaching. The gospel So there's one gentleman, Mordecai. There's another guy named Albert McMain. Albert Mac Macon, he was the local farmhand. He invited a teen that he had met to come to this revival. McMacon would go ahead and start McDonald's. I was just kidding, he didn't actually do that. That'd be cool though, right, if he did. Now, there's a farmhand, Albert Macon, probably never heard of him before, right? Invites a teen to come. The teen comes with his buddy, goes to the revival. He's people talking about God, kind of intrigued, but it's crowded, doesn't see a seat, starts to walk away. Third person in our story. We don't even know his name. He was an usher at the event. There's an usher at the event, sees two teens walking away from the tent. He says, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you going? We got a seat for you. Shows grace, shows hospitality. User encourages them to come in. And through the invitation from Albert, from the preaching of the word from Mordecai, and the hospitality of that usher. Billy Graham accepted Christ that night. And go on and become. The greatest evangelist of the last 200 years. Preaching the gospel to millions and millions of people. Who knew that day? God did. When the body comes together. You can make a difference. Will you pray with me, Dear Heavenly Father. I pray that we can just be challenged and changed by your word. Thank you for giving us the gift of grace and making us in a way that we can use our gifts to glorify you, to serve others and to build up your body. It would be salt and light to the world. And start using the gifts to get out of ourselves, to bless others, and to help every man, woman and child experience the gospel. May you encourage us to step into our measure of faith and to use how you've made us to make a difference today. We love you. It's in your son's name we pray. Amen.