From Motivation to Ministry

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me not to 2

Corinthians even though we have been doing our verse by verse study. Today we're going to step away just for one week and look into 1

Corinthians looking at chapter 12 and examining verses 4 through 7.

The title of today's message is

From Motivation to Ministry. As Brother Andy was praying

I was struck with a thought and this is not necessarily in my notes.

It's not in my notes at all. It's not even necessarily a thought that directly is in the message but it's something that perhaps we should consider as we prepare to read the text.

In the first century Jesus had some of his most condemning words for those who were religious but not godly.

Who practiced an expression of faith but did not truly possess the faith of Abraham.

Jesus said those very words. He says you think you're sons of Abraham but if you truly were you would believe in me.

How often we get religious in our behavior but it is not motivated by the spirit of God but rather just by habit or by vain expectation, a desire to see or be seen, all kinds of things.

What made the Pharisees be the Pharisees? What made the religious hypocrites be who they were?

These are questions which just as I was sitting right there praying with Andy I was thinking why do we do what we do?

And while that's not the heart of today's message I hope that throughout today's message we will at least consider that question.

Why do we do what we do? So with that let's stand together and read 1st

Corinthians chapter 12 and we're going to read just verses 4 through 7.

The context here is the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 12, 13 and 14 is addressing the misuse of spiritual gifts among the people of God and expressing how they need to recognize the importance of their use but also the importance of their right use.

And so as we consider that context let us now read these words.

He says now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit and there are varieties of service but the same

Lord and there are varieties of activities but it is the same

God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

Let us pray. Father as I seek to give an understanding of this text and as I seek to remind all of us

Lord as we see the end of a year and the beginning of a new year of the importance of prioritizing our commitments to you and prioritizing the use of those things that you have given us for your service.

I pray Lord as I pray every time I stand behind this pulpit that you would keep me from error for Lord I am a fallible man and capable of preaching error.

I pray oh God that you would open the hearts of your people to the truth and that you would cause me to decrease and Christ to increase and that the spirit of God would be the teacher today.

And Lord where we need to repent give us repentance where we need to grow give us growth where we need to have wisdom

Lord give us wisdom your word tells us if any man lacks wisdom let him ask

God. So Lord we ask you for wisdom today be with us now as we open your word together in Jesus name.

Amen. What motivated you to be here this morning.

Don't answer out loud of course but in your mind I want you to think about the answer to that question.

What motivates you to be in church.

Is it a desire to worship. Is it a need to be with God's people.

Is it an opportunity to minister among God's people the gifts that God has given you and to be ministered to by the gifts that God has given to others.

Are you here out of some feeling of obligation. Did you come by no choice of your own.

Perhaps you came because your parents made you. Or perhaps you came because your children made you.

Every year on the day that is today

December 31st. Every year on this day people all around the world take stock in the year past and look forward to the year coming.

And this day more than any other of the year people tend to examine their motivations.

They examine their priorities. They reevaluate some areas. They see if there's changes that need to be made.

Are there things that need to be done to turn over a new leaf. And I want to clarify and quickly put away any concern.

I am not preaching a sermon intended to cause you to make a New Year's resolution.

Primarily because they are notoriously unsuccessful. Resolutions aren't bad if you if you're unfamiliar with Jonathan Edwards resolutions.

They were quite meaningful and you can read his resolutions that he wrote. But they weren't resolutions that were written for January 1st.

They were resolutions for his life. The first one being I will live for God. The second one being even if no one else will

I will. Now those are resolutions worth having and resolutions worth keeping.

But when we think of New Year's resolutions about a quarter of them are broken in the first week and less than 10 percent of them ever become actual lifelong habits.

So to call someone to a New Year's resolution is essentially calling them to something that is likely doomed to failure.

However I do want to address today a need. A need in this church.

And it is not a need that is unique to this church. It is a need that every church has.

But because we are one of every church we are one among many we can say we have this need too.

You have all heard it said that the church is not the building the church is the people.

And that's true. The church is the assembly. That's what the word church means.

People often want to argue that the word akalasia in Greek means the called out ones. Well the the etymology of the word is the called out ones.

But the meaning of the word is the assembly. It means to be called to an assembly.

And so the church is the assembly of God's people.

And the church is unable to accomplish what God has commanded us if we are not together.

Gathering together is a necessary part of church life.

A few years ago we realized how necessary it was. Because a few years ago for the first time in my lifetime and probably in many of your lifetimes as well.

For the first time ever we had a government that was willing to tell us not to gather. And what did the church do in response?

At least the churches of Christ that were standing firm. We gathered anyway. And why did we take such a stand?

Why did we say even if they say no we're going to gather. The reason why is because we believed that it was necessary.

It was the churches that fought back the strongest against the demands to stay sequestered and secluded.

Because we understood the need of being together. Even if we had to gather outside and preach in the field we did it.

Because we understood the church is not the church if we're not together. But why?

Why is the gathering of the body a necessary component of being the church?

Listen to this carefully. Because Christ has not designed his church to be a disconnected community of separated individuals.

I'll say it again to be clear. Christ has not designed his church to be a disconnected community of separated individuals.

Christ's church is to be made up of committed believers who desire to gather for the purpose of ministering to one another for the common good.

In fact maybe we ought to put that on a plaque and post it above the door.

Christ's church is to be made up of committed believers who desire to gather for the purpose of ministering to one another for the common good.

If we don't do that we're not a church. And in our text today

Paul explains how that looks in a local church. As I said in my opening 1

Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14 are all about the use of spiritual gifts.

And Paul shows how every person in the body of Christ is a vital person to the body of Christ.

And he stresses that everyone has a spiritual gift and if the gifts aren't functioning the body isn't healthy.

Two questions I want you to consider as we go through this text. Number one, do you know how

God has gifted you? And I'm not talking about some spiritual gift survey you took when you were somewhere in a church maybe a few years ago and they made you take a questionnaire or a

CT or a scantron. Remember the scantrons those of us who came up in the 80s and 90s where you had to check off all the things and you put it in the machine.

And it spits back out an answer up. You have the gift of prophecy and you have the gift of mercy and you have the gift of consent.

You know no no that's not what I mean. I'm asking do you know how God has gifted you uniquely?

And my second question is this. Is your gift currently being used within this body? Now I'm not here to lay upon you some form of pastoral guilt trip.

And I'm certainly not here to cause you to have consternation about something you have maybe failed to do in the past.

But I am saying this as I said a moment ago. Every church has a need and the need of every church is this.

Every church needs to be the church and being the church means ministering to one another as the body of Christ.

We can't do that if we're not together. And when we are together we should be doing that.

So the question arises then what is a spiritual gift? What is a spiritual gift?

We see this word. We hear this word. We know there's a entire subsection of theology that is devoted to this.

There's even a great divide within theological systems about whether or not someone believes in certain spiritual gifts and other spiritual gifts.

Whether certain gifts have ceased whether certain gifts have continued and all the debate that surrounds that. That's not my purpose to deal with this morning.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to debate with you whether or not we should be talking in tongues.

Or whether or not we should be offering up words of prophecy or whether or not we should be doing miraculous divine healing.

Those are the three that are typically the most debated. And let me tell you something of the spiritual gifts I would say those are the least that we should be considered.

Because the ones that I'm going to talk about today actually affect how we treat one another. And how we minister to one another.

So what is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift this is my definition. I didn't get this out of a book or anything. So if you don't agree you can tell me later or you go talk to Mike and tell him

I'll send you to one of the other elders Mike and Andy. But this is my definition as I've studied this subject at length.

I've written on it in fact in my book which is right here. I didn't have it up here for this reason but it is right here in my book on this on the biblically functioning church.

This is my definition of a spiritual gift and it's very simple. A spiritual gift is a Holy Spirit empowerment given to every believer to build up the body of Christ.

It is a Holy Spirit empowerment given to every believer to build up the body of Christ.

Now in the administration of the new covenant which is interesting because next week when we go back to 2nd

Corinthians chapter 3 we're going to go into a study of the new covenant because that's where we are next. But as a little preview for that let me just address something that we all should understand.

In the administration of the new covenant the promise is that every believer will have the

Holy Spirit in dwelling them and he is there with you forever. That is the great and wonderful gift of the new covenant.

In fact it's one of the reasons why I believe in eternal security. I do believe in what we call in Calvinistic terms the perseverance of the saint or some people call the preservation of the saints.

And the reason why I believe that is I believe when a person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ it's because the

Holy Spirit of God has regenerated their spirit and has made his home inside of them and his home is now permanently in there because he has sealed them unto the day of redemption.

The Spirit of God if you are a believer in Christ the Spirit of God entered you lives in you and is currently empowering you for some purpose in the body of Christ.

He's in there. Sounds kind of strange but he's in there.

He lives in you. Beloved we are so blessed to be a part of the new covenant.

We are so blessed to be part of this administration of the Spirit for in this administration of the

Spirit he regenerates us Titus 3 5. He unites us to Christ. 1 Corinthians 12 13.

He teaches us John 14 26. He helps us to pray Romans 8 26 and 27.

He seals us unto the day of redemption. 1st Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 13.

But he also empowers us for ministry within the body of Christ.

The Spirit of God lives within us to empower us to serve.

That is what a spiritual gift is. A spiritual gift is God's unique working.

God's unique spiritual empowerment that he has given to every believer for the common good to build up the body of Christ.

And by the way might I add something to that. It's not just something you're good at.

People will say oh my spiritual gift is and they'll name something that they are simply good at doing.

Well spiritual gift is not your spiritual gift is not just something that is a talent.

I use myself as an example when I teach this and I know Mike you took the academy class you heard me say this when we did the class.

But I use myself as an example because I say public speaking is not my spiritual gift.

I've been doing it since I was three. I've never been afraid to stand up on a platform and have my voice heard even when it was silly to hear it because I've never had a fear of that.

Speaking publicly is not my spiritual gift. It is how God wired me and in that case

I could say it's still God's talent that he has placed in my heart.

Not everyone has it. In fact it's the number one fear of the average person is speaking in public. I don't even know that fear.

Like you know I don't get it. I don't know why people are afraid. Just get up and do it. But I but I because I've never had that fear.

So speaking publicly is not my gift because I didn't get saved till I was 19.

And guess what you don't get before you get saved. You don't get the Holy Spirit before you get saved. Therefore you don't get your spiritual gift before you get saved.

Does that sort of make sense we start talking about the difference between the talent and your spiritual gift. Your spiritual gift comes along with your salvation.

And so what I have deduced from my time of study and really examining this subject is is that spiritual gifts are not so much what you're good at.

But rather your spiritual gift is what motivates you in your service to Christ.

So the same spiritual gift might be present in me and present in you. And we might have two very different ministries because while we may be motivated by the same thing that motivation may demonstrate itself in a different ministry.

And that's why this text and I want to go again to the text. It says notice the word that comes up multiple times in this text.

There are varieties of gifts but the same spirit. There are varieties of service but the same Lord. There are varieties of activities but it's the same

God who empowers them and everyone. What word comes up each time? The word varieties.

The word varieties. And so what I have written on this subject is

I have said this. When we think about what is the gifts, what is the service and what is the ministry or the

I'm sorry the gifts of the spirit, the service and the activities. I'm a sucker for alliteration.

So I redid it and this is the way I explain it. I say we have our motivation.

We have our ministry which comes out of that motivation.

And then we have our activity within that ministry that becomes a manifestation of the spirit of God.

And so this is how we see motivation becoming ministry and ministry becoming a manifestation of the spirit of God.

What's interesting that should have been the title. The title today is from motivation to ministry. It should be from motivation to ministry to manifestation.

But that was too long to go on the bulletin header. So we'll just leave it from motivation to ministry.

So let's look at the first one. And that's the subject of our motivation. The subject of our motivation.

What is it that motivates us? What do I mean by that?

Well if you have your Bibles open, turn with me now to Romans chapter 12. And it's interesting that 1

Corinthians 12 and Romans 12 are the two places in the New Testament where you find the most about spiritual gifts in the church.

Outside of perhaps maybe if you read through Acts you see the gifts in action. But ultimately the explanation of the gifts 1

Corinthians 12 to 14 in Romans chapter 12. Well in Romans chapter 12 when you get there we'll look at it.

You'll see in Romans 12 beginning in verse 3 the

Apostle Paul begins to describe the gifts in a list.

So let's look here at what he says. He says 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. Now that's very similar to what he says in 1

Corinthians 12. Because in 1 Corinthians 12 that's where he says the hand can't say to the foot I have no need of you.

And the eye can't say to the ear I have no need of you. Because if the whole body were an eye then where would be the sense of hearing. Or if the whole body were an ear where would be the sense of sight.

This is basically the same thing. He says don't think of yourself too highly than you ought to think. But also don't think of yourself too lowly.

Think of yourself with sober judgment. That's the point. Think of yourself rightly.

And this is where he goes into the next verse. He says for as in one body we have many members.

Same illustration that he uses in 1 Corinthians 12. He says 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. Isn't that interesting? There look with me.

In verse 5 he says so though many are one body in Christ.

And individually members. Now you would think he would say individually members of the body of Christ. That's not what he says.

He says we're individually members one of another. I'm just going to let that sit in the ether for a minute.

Are you part of the body of Christ? Yes. But you're also part of one another.

You're also part of the body here local. And because of that the body needs you and you need the body.

You ever see somebody have a severed like somebody working in a wood shop sever a digit?

What do they do? They take it, they get it put back on. Because if it gets cut off what happens? It's going to die and you're going to be one finger down.

You got to be part of the body to be alive. And if you're not part of the body the body is missing something.

Verse 6. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us.

And by the way in 1 Corinthians 12 Paul says it is the spirit who assigned your gift.

You don't get to choose. It's not like you walk into the Walmart and you get to pick this spiritual gift or that spiritual gift.

The spirit assigns the gifts as he wills, the text tells us.

So it says here, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

And here is the list. He says, if prophecy and in proportion to our faith, if service and 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.

So here we have a list and I'll put it up on the screen for you. Here is a list of several spiritual gifts that Paul outlines.

Now I want to jump to the bottom of my screen just for a moment and I want to say to you, I do not believe that this list is exhaustive or comprehensive.

What does that mean? I don't believe this is all the spiritual gifts someone can have.

And I don't believe that you can only have one of these in its particular category.

I don't think that's Paul's intention, but I think what Paul is doing is

I think he is giving us an exemplary list. Here are some of the things that are in the body of Christ.

Here are some of the gifts that we should see in the body of Christ. And he lists these out.

Now here is where I come to the conclusion that these are motivations. Why I believe the spiritual gift is actually a motivation.

And again I use myself as an example not because I'm exemplary, but because in this sense I can relate to myself and hopefully relate this to you.

I've always enjoyed talking before people. I've always enjoyed standing up. I've never had a problem speaking in audiences and crowds.

But only after I got saved did I have a desire to proclaim God's truth.

Only after God saved me was I motivated to stand behind the Word of God and proclaim the

Word of God and for me to decrease and Christ to increase. That motivation had to come from Him because that motivation wouldn't have been from me.

You see that's... And you say, well, wait a minute, are you saying you have the gift of prophecy? Prophecy does not always mean to speak future events.

In regard to prophecy, prophecy means to proclaim God's Word. And so preachers ordinarily would exhibit the gift of prophecy and often the gift of teaching.

But primarily what happens here on Sunday morning is the prophesying or proclamation of God's Word.

The proclaiming of God's truth. Now the others are service.

Some people are motivated by meeting the needs of others. Now I think we should all desire to meet needs.

I think we should all have that within our hearts because Christ came as one who serves and He gives us an example of service and therefore all

Christians should in their heart have some drive to service. But you know as well as I do, there are people who are always the first ones in and the last ones to leave because their desire, their drive in their heart is to serve others.

And they have a unique and I would say an exemplary gift of service that demonstrates itself within the body.

And we call that the gift of service. It's also, if you look at the word service in the

Greek, it's where we get the word deacon. So if a man hasn't the desire to serve and isn't gifted to serve, guess what office he's probably not qualified for?

The office of deacon. By the way, we normally don't go looking for deacons.

Deacons show themselves because they serve without being asked. They serve the body before they're ever given a title.

So that's what a deacon is. It's a servant. But you don't have to be a deacon to be a servant.

A deacon is an office in the church that has a position of leadership in the sense of exemplary service, but not everybody who has the gift of service has to be a deacon.

So the next one would be the gift of teaching, researching and clarifying truth. And I don't want to, I can't spend, and again, this isn't an exhaustive list anyway.

Even if I went through every one and went through every one very clearly, there may be one that you have that isn't necessarily on this list, but these

I think are at least exemplary examples. So we have teaching, which is researching and clarifying truth.

Exhortation, which is building up, edifying others. For years

I thought my wife's spiritual gift was mercy, but I don't think so anymore.

I think her gift is exhortation. My wife, and again, not building up myself or my wife or anybody, just knowing her,

I know that she has an ability to build people up. And that is a gift.

Some people do. Some people have that as a special part of who they are that God has gifted them, and that is a spiritual gift.

Gift of contributions. Now you might think that interesting, because aren't we all called to give?

Yes, but in this sense, the gift that is referred to here, someone who is motivated by holding everything he has with an open hand, and everything that he does, he wants to give and share and I would say particularly see the ministry flourish.

Leadership. I'll use somebody else for an example. Jack Bunning. Tremendous administration when he was an elder.

And continues to be an example of love and mercy and grace and good husband and father.

Grandfather, great -grandfather and probably great -great by now. But Jack administrated in this church for years that gift.

And I was thankful to serve with him. The gift of mercy.

The ability, the unique ability to hurt when others hurt in a way that is necessary and needful.

Beloved, as I said, this is not an exhaustive list, it's not a comprehensive list, but it's certainly a good place to get started.

Because we should ask ourselves, what motivates us? What is our motivation?

What is God placed into our heart? Are we motivated to proclaim truth? Are we motivated to meet practical needs?

Are we motivated to clarify and research the truth? Are we motivated to stimulate growth in others?

Are we motivated to share our assets to further ministry? Are we motivated to coordinate and delegate?

Are we motivated to identify and comfort those who are in distress? What drives you? What is in your heart when you think of the others in this body?

And by the way, might I say this. When Paul says that the hand can't say to the foot,

I have no need of it. And the eye can't say to the ear, I have no need of it. He's also telling us something about how we see our gift in relation to others.

Because what motivates me most may not be what motivates you most. But when we come together, we're all motivated to build up the body of Christ together.

But just because you're not like me doesn't make your gift less than mine. And just because I don't do things the way you do doesn't mean my gift is less than yours.

Because God has gifted you in a way to build up the body of Christ. Uniquely, who you are.

Sometimes I do think we get frustrated because people don't do the things we do the way we want them to do them.

Or in the order that we want them done because that's the way we would have done them. And I think one of the most destructive things in the body of Christ is when we get frustrated by others who aren't gifted the way we are.

What if we all were an eye? Paul says, where would be the gift of hearing? And what if we all were an ear?

Where would be the gift of sight? But God has so put the body together that all the needs are there and met because all of the gifts are present.

I can tell you something. I know this. While all of the gifts may not be functioning right now in this body, all the gifts are present.

All the gifts necessary to minister within the body of Christ are here.

Now I know we look around and a lot of people are out sick today so maybe they're at home today but I mean they're here in the sense that they're part.

And so if they're part of the body they should be functioning within the body.

So I ask you today first to examine what motivates you.

The second is how motivation becomes a ministry.

Our motivation becomes a ministry when we actually find a place within the body of Christ to apply what motivates us to others.

Ephesians chapter 4 says this in verse 11. It says, And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.

God has given the church certain designated ministries.

The ministry of the elder. The ministry of the deacon. We call those offices. Why do we call them offices?

Because they're the only place in Scripture that there are qualifications to meet. There are qualifications for an elder.

There are qualifications for a deacon. So we say those are offices in the church. And those offices have a function.

The function of those offices is to equip the body to minister. So even though they're the only offices in the church, they're not the only ministries in the church.

If the only ministry in the church is the ministry of the elders and the ministry of the deacons, then what are you guys doing? The Scripture says that the offices are for the purpose of equipping the body for ministry.

And the same gifts may produce different ministries. Two people may have the gift of service.

One become a deacon. The other a secretary. Two people might have the gift of mercy.

One may have a prayer ministry while the other become a biblical counselor. Two people may have the gift of administration.

One becomes a church treasurer. The other becomes a fellowship coordinator. You see, the same motivation can become two different ministries.

And that's why Paul says there are a variety of gifts. There are a variety of service.

And the word service is the idea of ministry. There are a variety of ministries. You all have a gift.

If you are a believer in Christ, you can't look at me and say you don't have a gift. Now you can say you don't know what it is or you say you haven't figured it out yet.

But you can't say you don't have it if you have the Spirit. If you have the Spirit, you have the Spirit's empowerment for the building up of the body. That is a promise from God.

The Holy Spirit has sovereignly and supernaturally granted you a gift and that gift should become some ministry because that's how we put our gifts into practice.

Now I'm not saying that this ministry has to be an official capacity of the church. Not everything that we do has to have a special, official thing.

If your ministry is that you go and you visit sick people and you pray with them, guess what?

That's your ministry because whatever your spiritual gift is that's motivated you to do that, that's become the ministry that you have.

And so the ministry that comes out of your gift is born out of that motivation. And here's the beautiful part.

Here's the part that I get so excited about. I know I don't look excited but I am because this is the part that if you understand this, it'll change your life.

And I don't say that lightly. I don't give TED Talks.

I'm not up here trying to be some Tony Robbins with a pulpit. But if you understand this, this will change you because our gift is our motivation.

Our service is our ministry and what happens in that ministry is called the activity.

That's the word Paul says. There are a variety of gifts. There's a variety of service. There's a variety of activities. And here's the thing.

When the activities happen, you will see a manifestation of the

Spirit of God. I didn't say that. Paul said it.

Look at it again. Look at what the text says. He says, There are a variety of gifts but the same Spirit.

There are varieties of service but the same Lord. There are varieties of activities but it is the same God who empowers them and everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

So what happens when your motivation is a ministry and that ministry starts being active in the body, you start seeing

God work. You start seeing the

Holy Spirit actually do things in the church and He is manifest.

I'll quote my friend Fred Zaspel. I call him my friend. We've had conversations. I really appreciate his ministry and I love his writings and this is what he said about this text.

He said, Just what is it that Paul is saying is manifested? What is made visible?

It is the Holy Spirit Himself who is made visible when your spiritual gifts are at work.

It's the Holy Spirit Himself who is made visible, who is manifested when

God's Spirit is working through you. Paul tells us that the manifestation of our gifts works towards the common good.

See, there's a common good that results. There's a common good that happens when the

Spirit of God empowers us to work among others and He manifests

Himself in that. Here's what happens though. We get caught in the middle.

We know what motivates us. We find some ministry but then we don't actually do the ministry.

How many ministries have been started and nothing happens? What ministry?

I am on the worship ministry. Okay, what are you doing with it? I'm on the evangelism ministry. What are you doing with it?

I have a prayer ministry. What are you doing with it? See, that's why it says there's a variety of service but then there's a variety of activities because we can stop at the...

I mean, it isn't like this anymore but I'm going to share a story from years and years ago. Years and years ago we used to have a lot of committees.

We don't have a lot of committees anymore and I'm not necessarily opposed to committees. I don't care what you call them. I don't mind groups getting together to want to do things but here's the problem with what happens in committees.

Committees meet to meet and then they don't do nothing else but meet but there's never a manifestation of the

Spirit. Therefore, there's no drive to continue the ministry because there's nothing happening from the ministry.

It's just a name. I'm part of the ministry but nothing happens. Beloved, are you seeing

God work? Are you recognizing

God working through you? I'll ask this question and again, seriously consider this.

When was the last time you believe you actually ministered your spiritual gift within the body and saw a genuine manifestation of the

Spirit as the result? When was the last time you believe you ministered your spiritual gift within the body and saw a manifestation of the

Spirit as a result? Is God working to build up the body through you?

He's empowered you to. He's given you the gifts to. Are you being obedient?

And I'll go back to what I said at the beginning. It begins with committed participation within the body.

We cannot have a consistent ministry if we're not committed to being together.

And maybe you have been lax in your commitment. Maybe, maybe life has gotten in the way.

You can't minister to one another if you don't see one another. We can't minister to the body if we're separate from the body.

So maybe today is a day where we all do need to recognize where our commitments really lie.

Where our priorities lie and perhaps consider whether there are areas where we need to reevaluate and maybe even repent.

Might not all have to do with sin, but it could. I've heard this years ago.

It says sin will keep you from the Word or the Word will keep you from sin. You ever heard that? Well, I think the same is true for the body of Christ.

Sin's desires will keep us anywhere but here and they will make us comfortable anywhere but here.

So maybe today is a day we could all recognize the need to reevaluate what's keeping us from here.

Now, I know a lot of people are sick today and probably sitting at home watching the thing right now saying, he's talking to me. I didn't know you weren't going to be here.

I didn't know you weren't going to be here. But I know this.

Consistency is so valuable and it's one of the things that we lack here. There are

Sundays where we can't fit everybody in the seats and there are Sundays like today where half the seats could be gone and we wouldn't notice. Can we have a consistent ministry if we don't even have consistent attendance?

Beloved, consider that. Consider the value of being together.

Please. Not just so you can see or be seen but that you can see

God using your gifts within the body of Christ and you can experience a manifestation of his spirit as a result.

Now some of you are here today and perhaps you're not a believer. I said earlier if you're not a believer you don't have the spirit of God living within you yet but the

Bible says everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will have the spirit of God given to him as a gift.

So I say to you if you've never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ if you're sitting out there I don't care if you're young I don't care if you're old

I don't care if you've been a member of this church for years and just now realizing you don't have Christ or maybe you've been attending church and maybe you just didn't realize where you were but if you were here today and you've never bowed the knee to the

Lord Jesus Christ you've never recognized that you are a sinner who needs grace and that grace is available through trusting in the

Lord Jesus Christ I would say to you today turn from your sin turn from your lawlessness turn from that which would keep you from him run to the cross and find there the forgiveness and knowing him alone and God will save you he will give you the gift of the

Holy Spirit and he will make you a part of his body Let's pray Father I thank you for your word

I thank you that even now you've given us an opportunity to hear your word again and I do pray

Lord that today has been heard with the spirit with which it has been given with a spirit of motivation for us to ask our question in our heart what motivates us and Lord to find a place within this body to minister according to the gifts that you've given us so that we may see a manifestation of the spirit among us

Lord I thank you for the men and women that are here and I thank you even for those Lord who are out because of sickness or for whatever reason ministering perhaps

Lord that you would bless them that they would hear this message Lord and that we would all seek to in the coming days recognize the value of being together and help us

Lord to trust in you when we consider what our priorities are and Lord may we also consider the fact that there are those among us who know not

Christ and we pray for them today Lord we pray that you would open their hearts to believe change their hearts to be conformed to Christ give them the gift of faith which leads to everlasting life and it's in Christ's name we pray