In 1883, 2 friends graduated, graduated from medical school with two very different visions uh for what they wanted to do. One gentleman's name was Ben. He wanted to go to the East Coast, because in the East Coast, that's where the people were, that's where the cities were, and ultimately, that's where the money is. Well, his friend Will actually had an opposite vision for his medical practice, that he wanted to go to the Midwest, he wanted to go to the rural communities, and really just wanted to make an impact where there wasn't as much medical uh technology yet, but also even practice and, and practicing physicians in that area. So as much as he could, Ben tried to convince Will to join him on the East Coast, because at that time, physicians really had this, uh, gilded mentality, meaning that when you become an expert, you hang on to those skills because the more you are seen as an expert, the more you get paid and the more patience you can have. Well, Will didn't share that same mindset. Instead, he wanted to pursue an open door policy to medicine to where he can come and if he learned how to do something, he invited anyone who wanted to learn other physicians in to learn that practice. Not only would he invite people in to learn his, his practices, him and his brother Charlie would go and travel the country and try to learn the best practices from different places from around the country. And so what started out as kind of a crazy idea. To serve people in the rural communities, to have an open door policy for physicians to come learn, as well as to teach new practices in medicine, has really turned into something that is still lasting today. And so Will Mayo and his brother opened up the Mayo Clinics back then, that now today, the Mayo Clinics across the country see over 1.3 million people annually. You see, Will and his brother Charlie started with the mindset of helping and serving and sharing. And the reality is, is that all of us in this room have been gifted with something. But the gifts that God gave you weren't actually yours to keep. It's actually yours to share. But if we've all been given gifts, we've all been given abilities. Why is it that we're hesitant to serve and share more? I think there's 4 reasons why people are hesitant to serve. I think, number 1, I think people think they're too busy. Right, well, the schedule's full. Number 2, I think we're afraid to serve, right? We're afraid to not sure how people are going to receive us. What if we mess up? What if it doesn't go well to put ourselves out there? Number 3, I think people don't serve because they don't know how. And then number 4, I think people are hesitant to serve because we don't know where. Right? I want to make a difference. I just don't know where to make that difference. But we have to remember that as we think, OK, as my title goes up, as my reputation goes up, as my schedule and calendar get full. That our model for ministry is Jesus Christ himself. And Jesus, savior of the world. With the greatest title and the biggest mission and the busiest schedule. Actually, in Mark 10:45 says that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and repeatedly found ways to bless those around him. And so we're in this faith journey here with our series entitled Transformed, becoming more like Jesus. And in week one, we shared that every disciple starts with a seed. Now there's 4 types of soil. The seed is the word of God, it's the gospel, and that sometimes that seed lands on hardened soil, meaning people aren't ready to hear the word of God. Sometimes it lands on shallow soil. People that like the word of God, but then when times get tough, they let go of their faith. And then other times it lands on divided soil. People who want to follow God, but they also love the world and all the pleasures and riches that it promises. But then there's that 4th type of soil, the receptive soil, that when God's word is planted in a receptive heart, that it brings back a harvest 30-fold, 60fold, 100 times, that when one change life for Jesus happens, it doesn't just change that person's life, that it alters the legacy of generations to come. And then in week two, we shared that once the seed takes place, we understand that deep roots produce obedient disciples. Deep roots really take hold and then, and provide the way for us then to follow Him. That as believers, we don't just acknowledge Him with our head, that we follow Him with our lives. And that we are called then to establish the roots in our lives so that we can grow stronger in him. So while those are the 1st 2 weeks, our journey continues today, and we're gonna spend the next few minutes talking about this truth. Healthy disciples produce fruit that benefit others. Healthy disciples produce fruit that benefits others. We spent all summer talking about the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And that fruit really isn't created by effort as much as it is evidence of your relationship with God. They we're called to abide in Him. But today we want to build on that idea when we realize that fruit is actually for others, right? Apple trees, like, don't, don't eat apples, right? That yes, the fruit holds the seed that then leads to multiplication, but fruit does a couple of things. It identifies the tree, right? Oh, apples, OK, that's an apple tree. Orange, that's an orange tree. Grapes, that's a grapevine. Right? It fruit also shows that the tree is healthy, that when it's in due season, that it produces the fruit. And so it shows what health really looks like. Fruit then attracts and then ultimately nourishes others. That's how God designed his creation. And so as we develop the fruit of the spirit in our lives, that should lead to the growth and the benefit in our relationships in our lives. And so we see that grow. And so we had this chart we're working through, talking about the discipleship or the transformation journey. And in week one, we saw that when the seed goes out, that's for the seekers, people who are seeking God or just seeking for truth, seeking for meaning. That the hope is that they would, that person would engage with the gospel and ultimately lead to belief in Jesus. You believe that he's Lord, you believe that he's savior. Well, the seeds aren't just planted in the ground to stay there. They start to take root. That's the next stage. And so the roots are for the followers of Jesus. And we shared that the word Christian is only used 3 times in the New Testament, but the word disciple is used 269 times. And so what is a disciple? A disciple is somebody who follows Jesus, who fellowships with other believers, and then fishes for people. And that fish. For people was just this imagery since his first disciples were in fact fishermen. He's saying, no, I'm going to take what you think your purpose is. I'm going to give you a new purpose. And this good news isn't just meant for you. It's also meant for the world. And so the hope for those in that rooted stage is to establish biblical foundations, but not simply head acknowledgment, but rather obedience-based discipleship in which our lives are starting to shape and look more like Jesus every day. And so if you follow the natural progression of the growth of a plant, you have the seed, which then takes roots. And then as it starts to grow, it starts to produce fruit. Now the fruit leads to the next stage for us, which is for the worker. This is for the worker that now you are invited into the ministry itself. And the hope for the worker is to then be equipped for life in ministry, that we grow in maturity. That we grow in maturity, and that the key there is that we abide in Jesus, that we don't leave behind the call of Jesus in our lives. You know, think of it this way, that if you have little babies at home, right? It's cute when they're eating food for the first time. Right. And, and all baby food just tastes awful, except for the apple sauce. That one's on point. But have you ever tried the other stuff? It's, it's not good, right? But just imagine, right, you come in and you got to convince the baby to eat the food. You're like, here comes the airplane, right? That's cute when they're little. OK, if you're married, And you're having dinner with your spouse and you're like, here comes the airplane. OK, like someone's got to mature a little bit, right? In the same way as Christians, as believers, we're called to grow and mature. But you don't have to wait till you're mature to serve. Rather, God matures you through serving. See, we spent all summer talking about the fruit of the Spirit and breaking down this passage found in John 15:4-5. In which Jesus says, abide in me, this idea of dwelling, making your home, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. That's so important for the Christian life because sometimes we think that salvation starts with God, and now growth is all dependent on me. Well, no, you were saved by grace, saved with the new identity that comes with the Holy Spirit working in your life. So that as you grow, the job of the branch isn't simply just to try to force fruit, but rather stay connected to Jesus, that the more your connection grows, the more your life starts to look like his. And so today we're gonna spend some time in the book of Ephesians, taking a look at another passage about what a maturing church, what a maturing Christian looks like. But before we read Ephesians 4, let's talk about some of the context, because Ephesus was a real city. You can visit the city today. And so in Acts chapter 18, Paul goes to the city of Ephesus. It was a major trade city in the area. And actually one of the seven wonders of the world, the temple Artemis, or the Roman goddess named Diana was there. And so this pagan worship, this trade city, that it wasn't just their religious practices, but it was also the economic engine was coming in, and they would literally sell souvenirs. And so Paul comes in, he's like, hey, by the way, you don't worship God's built with human hands. Right? You don't buy a God at the souvenir shop, right? That's not the real thing. And so he stayed, decides to stay for 3 years developing leaders. But then there comes a time where he has this presentation at an amphitheater that you can still visit today that holds 24,000 people. To give you context, the Phoenix Suns Arena holds about 18,000 people. So he's at this amphitheater that holds 24,000 people, and he's standing up before and says, oh, your God is not God. And so he starts telling them who Jesus is and calling people to repent other sins, and they literally are starting a riot. And I think Paul's channeling, uh, channeling his inner Elijah, because he knew the Old Testament really well. Like, look, I don't care if there's 24,000 people, me plus God is majority. Let's go. Uh, he's like rolling up his sleeves, and like his friends are like, hey, that's cool, but you're going to be a better service to the church if you're alive right now. So they escort him out. And so he continues on planting churches. Now, about fast forward about 10 years later, so now we're tracking around 60 AD 60 to 62 AD. Paul is in prison for preaching the gospel, and he's writing back to the church of Ephesus, and it's seen as a circular letter, meaning several churches in the area are to pass this letter around to encourage them. And Ephesus is kind of the who's who of uh church leaders. People that served there include Apollo, Priscilla, Aquila, Paul, Luke, John, Timothy. It's kind of like if you go uh to Like a famous uh bar where this musician played here or this musician played here or a restaurant where they have a photo with the celebrity and they have a signed photo of like, oh yeah, this person was here. Ephesus was, oh, this church leader was here. And so this is an incredible area, but they're being persecuted. They're being attacked, and Paul himself was in prison for preaching the gospel. So he writes this letter. Now, it's just a straight letter. We added the numbers for, for reference later, so we can go back to it. Like, it would be cool though if we still had like scrolls that we'd open now. Open your scroll to Ephesus. OK. Anyway, so we added the numbers later, but how this breaks down is that the first half of his letter talks about what God does for you. And then in chapter 4, he switches and he says, now here's what God's gonna do through you. So this is where we pick up our story because in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, it says this. It says, there, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. And I love this picture. I love this description, because there's two words for calling here, and I've shared this before, but it's just fun, so I'll share it again, that the word crisis and Cleo is used here. And so crisis is this idea of receiving an invitation. Right? Think about a wedding invitation, right? Those are more formal, right? If wedding invitations were left to the guys, it would be like a text message. Hey, what are you doing tonight? Like we wouldn't even send it out till the morning. But when you have like the frilly, like really fancy wedding invitations, right? Because it, it, it's supposed to match the importance of the occasion, right? OK. And then the second word, Kaleo is to be sent out by God. In other words, you are the messenger sent out with a message on behalf of the King. And so you are sent out to be representatives of God or to bear the name of God. So when you include that, what this verse says is that, therefore, as I'm in prison for preaching the gospel, walk in a manner worthy of receiving the divine invitation to bear the name of God. Isn't that cool? It's like two heads that nodded, but it's OK. We'll pray for the rest of you. I thought it was cool. Anyway. So he gives this like, OK, first, let me tell you all that God's done for you. Now we're gonna say, here's what God's gonna do through you. And then in verse two, he talks about walking in character and he actually references the same verbiage that we see for fruit of the Spirit, to walk with humility, gentleness, patience, to bear with one another in love. Then in verses 3 to 6, it talks about living as a body here in unity, not uniformity, meaning we don't look all alike, but rather unity. Well, what are we unified in? unified in one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so here's this idea. That we are to walk in a manner worthy of bearing the very name of God. We have received grace, so let's walk in grace. We've received forgiveness, let's walk in forgiveness. We've been received these gifts and abilities. Let's walk in those abilities. And so he talks about how we're unified as a body, but then we get to verse 7. And it says, but grace was given to each of you according to the measure of Christ's gift. That each person has been given gifts from God. Same mission, different gifts. So he doesn't use the word fruit, like we talked about this summer in the series, but rather, he's showing us what a fruitful life looks like. That what God produces in you eventually will be produced through you to for the benefit of the people around you. So this is where we pick it up here in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11. And now I'm gonna read through this, and there's some churchy words in here. That's OK. We're gonna read through it and we're gonna break it back down together to understand a little bit more what it means for us in modern context. Verse 11. And God gave the apostles, the prophets, and the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. For the building up of the body of Christ. Until we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him. Who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. This is one of the strongest pictures of understanding the purpose and the functions of the church. Now, he starts out talking about how God has given gifts and his gifts are people. And notice the people that he used to describe the leadership in the church, that even itself is diverse and has a variety. So he mentions five things. And so, uh, in church study circles, they talk about est, which is just apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherd, teachers. So what are these functions? They all have different roles, but they're all needed. So the apostle, think about the apostle as somebody who is a pioneer. This is the sent one. This is the entrepreneur for Jesus, right? This is someone who sees an empty field and says, yep, we can go there. This is someone who looks into a dark chaos and says, yep, we're going to bring light into that space. You need people to go first, right? Keeps the church on mission. But then you also have the prophets. Now, we tend to think of prophets as the people who predicted the future, but the most common practice of the prophets in the Old Testament and then in the New Testament is that they are the truth tellers. They are the truth tellers. They are the people that call people back to the faithfulness of God. They keep God's voice and His covenant a priority. Now, along with this, you have the evangelists. The evangelists are what we call the connectors. The connectors are the people who are social. They, they welcome outsiders, they share the gospel, they make a difference in that way, right? They walk alongside people, like we need these people. But then you also have the shepherds. The shepherds are really seen as the caregivers. They care for people and they cultivate community. Right. And then last, you have teachers, and teachers are really seen as the instructors, or they explained truth to deepen biblical understanding. Now, some commentators note that maybe uh shepherd-teacher was combined, kind of referring to pastors and, and elders in that way. But whether you think of it's 4-fold or 5-fold, notice the difference and notice how we need them all, right? How are you wired, by the way? Do your heart resonate with one of those five? Because you need it and you need each other, right? Have you ever been in a group and you have the truth teller, but you don't have the nurturer caregiver, let me tell you what you need to know, right? If you're wire like, yeah, that's what our world needs. OK, well, it might be on the profit side of things. The entrepreneurs, they look into the vast nothingness and be like, yep, we're going there. But then you also need the, the connectors, the people that, the one on one, the ground game to go and share with people and love on people. Then once someone comes in and hear the gospel, we need people to be taken care of, and then help them to grow. And you see how all of these pieces are needed. I know for myself, I'm tend to be wired more like apostle teacher in the sense of, like, I love taking risks. I love starting things from scratch. Uh, I wasn't the greatest, greatest employee, just being transparent with you, right? And, and if you're an entrepreneur, you get it, right? You don't like working for people who are like, let's go. Let's, and like you see nothingness, like, yeah, we can do it, right? You need everybody else too, right? And then I love the instruction and trying to breaking down what the Bible means and help with understanding. But that's why as a team, we need all 5. As a church, we need all 5. But then notice the variety of giftings was all designed for what? For equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. In other words, the job of church leaders is to train and love people so that collectively we're all doing ministry together. That this is not one of those things where you pay an entry fee and you go watch professionals compete. Right. There's, uh, I'm excited for fantasy football, be open with you. I, I love the nerdiness behind it. Uh, I embrace the fact that people make fun of it. Um, but I love you, you're drafting people hoping that their stats, plus this person's stats are better than your friend's person's people's stats, right? It just seems kind of crazy if you think about it. Like, can you imagine if there's like ministry fantasy football? Like, oh, I got, I got, um, I got Wendy. OK. Her, her hugs per Sunday is up there. It's going to really get some points. You know, and then I got to watch John's slightly offensive, sarcastic jokes. That's gonna, that's going to take some stats down, right? Like, like there's no fantasy church, OK, of that. There's no leader. But if it's not sports, OK, we do that with movies, right? We do that with concerts and musicians. We do that in theater and plays. Like church is not designed to sit in just simply an audience and then watch a few people do things. But rather, church is the huddle in which we gather collectively together, get the play that God has called us to and go and execute. In all my years watching SportsCenter on ESPN I've never seen top 10 huddles, right? They're all plays, right? It's important that we gather. So don't get me wrong, the gathering is really important because we are collectively spurring one another on to the good works, and then ascribing value and worth and worshiping God together, that when your life becomes in tune with the heavenly Father who created you, our lives become in tune together, that there is a standard, there's a hope, there's a love that comes. There's something about being in the room together. But understand that it doesn't stop there. See, consumer Christianity says that the church exists to minister to me. And I get it. That's how most people start with church. I always say, that's OK. That's your first experience. What do you have for me? Right? And, and I say that because you want the church to be good, right? You, you should be welcomed. You should be loved. We should have programming. You want the music to sound good, like, we're like, oh, the, the church is showing. Well, do you want it to sound bad? Like, you know what I mean? Like it's like, does anybody love going to a 4th grade band concert? Like that's love too, but I don't think we want recorders up here rocking out hot cross buns. So it's fine to understand that you walk in with one perception. But as you grow, you understand that that changes. You're like, oh, actually, I have a part to play. There were many negative things, um, of the global pandemic years ago. Um, obviously, I, I don't want to make light of anything. I do want to let you know of, of one positive for me at the time was my wife and I had booked a cruise. And so they had limited how many people could go on the cruise, but they kept everybody employed. And so the boat was only 25% full. There were 4 workers for every passenger. It was awesome. Everywhere you went, you were catered to and loved on and and given stuff and upgrades. I was like, this is awesome. OK. But life doesn't function like that. And we know that in our humanity, right? Like, you understand, like when a baby is brought into the world, you don't bring them in and go, time to pull weight. Better get a job I know you can't eat yet, but food, but you need to go to work. Right? No, like, you learn and you take care of and you nurture. But as you grow, it's part of the maturing process to contribute to the family, to understand that life is greater than yourself. That life involves serving and helping and blessing others. And ultimately, you want that person in your home to not just contribute in your home, but to contribute to the betterment of the world, right? Same is true with the church because consumer Christianity says the church exists to minister to me, but rather biblical Christianity actually says Christ equips his church to minister through me. The church is not meant to be a cruise ship. The church is better served to be an aircraft carrier. Like the aircraft carrier, everyone's aligned on the same mission. And that when you come on board, The members on board are nourished or trained or taken care of, and the airplanes are fixed and aligned and ready to go. You're you're given your mission and then you go. We are called to storm the gates of hell for the glory of God. The only way we do that is when we switch our mindset from consuming to contributing, that everyone has a part to play. Two thoughts on this. One If they didn't do that, you would not be here today. And all the testimonies that I've heard, the one thing they have in common is that every testimony involves another person. Another person who shared, who loved, who prayed, who showed, who came alongside me. So what happens if that person didn't step up? Then would you be here today? I mean, I was blessed to grow up in a home with parents who loved me and, and shared Christ with me. But there were people who impacted my journey along the way. Right? I think of just the awkward middle school self and showing up when we moved to a different part of the country. And, and I remember being encouraged by a couple of couples who stepped in to be youth leaders. I think of the Pyles, the Kensingers, the Wallaces, who stepped in and didn't know me, but showed me Christ's love outside of just my regular home. I think it's so fun to think that our current youth intern and, and director Kate Gaiman was in my youth ministry. And now it's so fun to think about when I, when I step back and realize now here is someone who was in my youth ministry that now is ministering to my own kids. Right. Who is it that ministered in your life? See, if they didn't step out, you wouldn't have been reached. You could be that for somebody else. Now, the pushback is, OK, John, I, I, I don't think God can use me. Let me, let me give a rebuttal to that. Mark chapter 5. Jesus is ministering to people. They come across a demon possessed man. who no change could break him, so he was living in a graveyard and, and tomb, like filled with tombs, running around fields naked screaming. OK. And we know he's naked because Jesus cast out demons. And they go leave the guy going to pigs. Pigs run off the cliff. I mourn that a little bit. That's lots of bacon. But anyway, and so you have there, this man is demon possessed. And it says, here he is in his right man, right mind and clothed. Finally, this guy put some clothes on. And he's not crazy OK. And so this man is saved. He's like, wow, like my life has changed. And so Jesus gets in the boat with the disciples to go to another town. And so this man gets in the boat with them. He said, whoa, whoa, wait a second. No, I want you to go back to your hometown. Jeezus, uh, hear me out. Like, thank you. First of all, but like, I don't remember what I did back there. But they remembered what I did back there. You want me to go back? It's like, yeah. I'm gonna use the person. That felt like they weren't good enough, weren't smart enough, had a past, had issues to go back and bring others saying that there is hope and peace and grace available for all people. Jesus did this over and over and over again. The Samaritan woman at the well. The reason this woman was at the well at 120 in John 4 because here she was rejected by the people who are already seen as the most rejected people group. And yet God uses this person who is afraid to talk to anybody. To be the mouthpiece to bring about revival in the village. Another example in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus walking through the crowd, notices Zacchaeus up in the tree. One of the most hated men in the village who is profiting, becoming wealthy off the backs of his fellow Jews. encounters Jesus, his life is radically changed and in turn gives back the money, uses his wealth to bless the community and beyond. And if you're sitting here like, I don't think God can use me, If God can use the demon possessed man who ran around naked for years, I think God can use you. He wants to use you. It's part of the process. You don't have to be mature to serve. God will mature you through serving. But we gotta have biblical Christianity, not consumer Christianity. So American society says, OK, what does the church have for me? What can I get out of church? Or the Bible says, You know, Christ equips his church to minister through me. What do I have that I can give and share and add to the team, add to the community, add to the family, contribute. We're not consumers, we're contributors. He continues on in this passage and shares three outcomes of ministry. What happens when we step up and serve? Yes, serve here in the body, but it's also serving in the circles around you in the community and beyond. First thing we see is Christ likeness. There in verse 13, it says that we were to mature manhood or to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we become more like Jesus when we serve. Like, OK, but I am too busy. Are you busier than Jesus? I have important things to do. More important things than Jesus. Yeah, he found time for the demon possessed man, the woman at the well, Zacchaeus in a tree, washing the feet of the disciples. I mean, he is hours away from dying and excruciating death on a cross, and he spends his last meal washing the feet of the disciples, including Judas, who was gonna betray him. See, when we serve, we become more like Jesus. Why? Because serving is not about filling a spot. It's about forming your soul. Now, like a month from now, we're going to have some, like a volunteer fair and we'll have all the needs that we have listed out in the lobby where you can step up and serve. But I wanted to separate the two and have this today because I'm not just trying to hard sell you emotionally so that we fill a spot on a team. We have needs, it's great, but understand that you serve not simply to fill a spot, you serve to form your soul. That God will grow you. Mature you as you become a contributor more than just a consumer. So we become more like Christ when we serve. Number 2, we grow in conviction. It says in verse 14, it says so that you may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine. The world is coming at you. Everyone is being discipled by something. So are you being discipled by the scroll? Are you being discipled by the book? As about it technically it was scrolls initially, that would be cool. We could have scrolls and say, OK. Biblical scroll. OK, anyway, I'll stop. If you don't believe me that the culture keeps changing, just look at trending clothing. Just look at hairdos. They change decade to decade, don't they? Some people who are bald in the room started touching their heads. I was like, at one point there was here, there, OK. The trends change. The winds change. We live in a culture that says truth is subjective. Well, if you believe that you've eliminated all foundations for reality, because now it's just this person's claim versus this person's claim. How you spend your money, sexual purity, parenting, relationships, value, meaning, all that's up for grabs. But when you serve and you connect, what happens is you take the word of God, and it starts living out in your life and now you have your own experience. Too many people are living a religious borrowed experience. That's what happens. We culturally say, oh, well, I'm this or I'm that. People say, oh, I'm Catholic, or oh, I'm Baptist, or I'm this, and we fill in the blank with and we're just acknowledging where our family came from, but it doesn't actually sink into our heart and into our lives. But if you serve, if you live out these words, what happens is you see the life of Christ coming in the spirit, his spirit coming into your life, and it starts to change. Some of the happiest, most humble. Most generous people you will ever meet are the ones who live out this word. Why? Because they're not tossed to and fro by the waves and winds of the culture, because they have an anchor for their soul, Jesus Christ himself, and they've experienced it personally. So when you serve, you grow in Christlikeness, you grow in conviction. And then third, you grow in cooperation. That's a team sport. It's a team sport What do I mean by that? Spiritual gifts are not toys. They're tools to build the kingdom of God. Right? How many of us work so hard to get our kids that toy, the thing that's in, only for them to discard it a week later? Right. It's not a toy. It's a tool. I remember when my boys were younger, we had those little construction sets, you know, a little helmet, a little hammer. It's like this big. I mean, I love that we give little kids plastic things. I don't want, I'm not saying give a toddler an actual hammer. Now, in a couple of months, we're taking a group down to build a house in Mexico. It's gonna be really cool. It's an awesome trip. You'll hear more about that next week. But can you imagine showing up to build this house alongside the family, and you pull out the little Fisher-Price hammer? Honkyk like it has a little squeak in it, right? It'd be silly, but we kind of treat our gifts that way. Like they're toys to play with or put away or it's no, it's a tool used to build the kingdom of God that everything matters. That you have a part to play. No one is going to the symphony to listen to only the 3rd clarinet. That you need all the pieces, melody, harmony, the stringed instruments, the wind instruments, the percussion that together create this magnificent sound and music glorifying him. It says that under the head of Christ as the body, we grow together. Uh, it, kids are funny growing up. I, I love, I know, I know every kid is beautiful, um, and we always say that. But have you ever seen some kids who've got a little uniqueness to them? I, I know you can't say that out loud, but you know what I'm talking about. You see a little baby, but the head is like 5 times the size. Looks like a little bobblehead. You know what I mean? Or maybe they're growing and you get to middle school. And maybe this is you personally. Anyone get to middle school and this their legs grew before any other part of their body? You know what I mean? Or you got a kid who's like just decided, oh yeah, their ears are going to become adult size at like 9. We look awkward growing, we do. But eventually we grow into what God's called us to be. OK, as a body, if we're gonna grow, let's all collectively grow together. Every joint, every bone, all under the, the head of Christ as his body maturing together, serving one alongside another, each using their gifting. If it's communicating, we're teaching, if it's ministration, right? We're helping with organizing and planning and the details. This morning before you came, we had everything from windows being cleaned, to carpets being vacuumed, to the musical instruments being tuned to the slides getting ready, the lessons being shared, coffee being made, all these people presented in a way so that we can collectively experience God together. So, understand that through it all, you have a voice, you have a gift. You can make a difference. And you're ready. We have to stop thinking that I'll serve when I'm old enough, good enough, smart enough, have enough. Now you can serve now. Start where you are, using what you have, doing what you can. And you could be the difference maker in someone else's life. Because healthy disciples produce fruit that benefit others. What do we do now? I want to challenge you this morning, 3 things. Number one, I want you to discover how has God gifted you? How has God gifted you? How are you wired? Now we have spiritual gift assessments. We can give that to you if you want the spiritual gift assessment, Philip, just write it down or ask the question on that connect card. We'll, we'll get it to you. We have classes, those type of things. But you don't have to wait for that. Just try to match up these three things. What am I good at? What are my skills? Where's my passion? Or what burdens? You ever, you ever get really burdened about something that other people don't seem as burdened by? Maybe it's because God asked you to step into that, right? And then where's the need? What am I good at? Where's my passion? Where's there a need? If you can match those things up, man, there's no telling what God can do. Discover your gifts. Second, develop what God entrusted you. Right? Mature, grow in it, get better at it, be excellent at it. The reason the music sounds good is because everyone practices, right? I'm glad we don't have little recorders up here. Like, Develop the gift God gave it to you, Maximize it. Yeah, I think you have fun doing it too, by the way. And last thing then is to deploy the gift for the good of someone else. We need you here. And you need others here too When you discover your gift. Develop the gift, deploy the gift. There's no telling what God can't do. To bring about growth in this community, fruit in your life, and revival to this world. So there's a world that desperately needs it. Let's not be consumers. Let's be contributors to his name, for His glory. Will you pray with me? Dear Heavenly Father, We know that Paul's vision for the healthy church is not that a handful. Do things while everybody else watches, but rather every gift is used. Every person is engaged, every part is working together. Because God, we don't grow the church. Jesus, you grow your church as each of us embraces our part to play. Help us to allow the word of God to be planted in our lives. Help us to have the roots. Go deep and intertwined together, so that ultimately we can go strong and and develop the fruit and the gifts that you've given us, so we can be a blessing to those around us for your glory, God. May we remember that healthy disciples produce fruit that benefit others. May we start serving now, not just simply to fill a spot, but to form our soul. To walk as you walked, to live as you lived. And you serve, so may we serve for your glory, God. In your son's name we pray. Amen.