Skip to content We Need Each Other's Contribution - The Humanity of Christ, Part 4 Apr 7 · 43 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:32 Here's the title. We need each other's contribution. We need each other's contribution. Now you may not believe this about yourself, but God does. You0:43 have something to offer. You have something to live for. In God's grace and in God's economy, every person0:55 is valuable. Every person matters. And most importantly, every person has a function. Now we've been talking about this since week 1, the the1:07 body of Christ, the church is a community. You're made for community. And all series long, I have been challenging you, and and this is my final appeal in this series 1 more time. Get1:18 connected to life groups. Get connected to what we call life groups. They're either small groups where you gather at homes or at coffee shops or e groups where you gather online and you zoom1:30 together or or action groups where you go out and you serve the community together because there is no greater joy in your life than to have a community of people1:42 who believe in Jesus, pray with you, love you, support you, and then you can love them, pray with them, support them, and the body of Christ functions together as each member realizes that we1:54 are made for connection, and in connection we find our greatest joy. Here's here's what I have found over the course of my life, and I think that a lot of people, if if we had a chance to do this, people could2:06 stand up across every location of Waters Church, and they could all testify to this. There is a tremendous joy in my life when I experience 2 things. 2 things that will2:17 bring utter joy and fulfillment to your life. Number 1 thing is when you experience God ministering to your2:29 life through another person. To know that someone cares about you, to feel connection, and not just human2:41 connection, but divine connection. That's number 1. But but here's number 2, and here's where I think a lot of you need to get to. Not not just feeling2:52 God connecting to you through somebody else. Here's the better 1. Are you ready? This is so good. Feeling God using you to connect to somebody else.3:04 My friend, there is no greater joy in life than to sense that God is using you to change someone's3:16 life. I read the other day that America right now is sitting on 210000000003:29 unused dollars. Americans, you're richer than you think. 21000000000 dollars is right3:40 now sitting in Americans pockets unused. Some of you are like, stop me. I don't know who he's talking about. That's not me today. Okay. Let me let me unpack a little further.3:52 According to a website called credit survey I'm sorry. Credit summit, they did an estimate. They did a report based on sales and redemption of4:04 gift cards. Americans currently have a surplus of 21000000000 dollars in unused gift cards. Think about this,4:17 Unused gift cards. What do you do when you don't really know what to get somebody or you're like me and you're just too lazy to think about it? You get them a gift card. And I think about4:28 myself, and and and here's an opportunity for us to raise our hands maybe without shame. Do you have an unused gift cards? Push your hand up. I got I got 4 sitting in my car4:40 in the center console right now. I got 4 unused gift cards. I like to cherish my on you on my gift cards. I do. I'm weird like that. I think, okay. That's just an in case an emergency. If the apocalypse happens, I can I4:52 can go somewhere and purchase this thing? Of course, that the apocalypse probably would destroy the store, but nonetheless. Anyway, 21000000000 dollars. Think about this. 21000000000 dollars of potential use in the form5:03 of gift cards. Tragedy. That's a tragedy. There are things you could buy. There are places you could go. There are things you could spend, and you don't even have to have money out of your pocket. It's just sitting in5:13 the card. Here's a greater tragedy, the unused gifts in God's house. The unused gifts. I think it's far more than5:24 21000000000 dollars worth. I think it's far more valuable than the hundred dollar Chili's card or the hundred dollar Best Buy card or the hundred dollar Visa gift card, whatever it is.5:35 Your gifts are meant to be tapped, are meant to be used. And hear me, you're meant to be used and contribute5:48 to the body of Christ. Paul the apostle writing to the Corinthians in first Corinthians chapter 12, The last verse we just read. You are the body of Christ and individually5:59 members of it. Now this is a common theme in Paul's writings, that the church is not just an organization of of people who gather in a room and listen to6:11 someone or watch singing. Paul repeats this theme in almost every letter that he writes. He writes about 1 third of the New Testament. In almost every letter that he writes, he refers to the church as the body of6:23 Christ. Now I thought about that. Why? Because every single 1 of us has a body. Every and so this is a very personal illustration. We can all relate to this. You have a body. I have a body. And so every day we wake up,6:35 we look in the mirror. We may not like what we see, but the fact of the matter is we are a walking illustration of what the church is supposed to be. Every part functioning in connection with each other using their6:46 gifts, talents, their their their their their particularities so that the ministry of Christ can be a gift, a blessing to the community around6:58 them. So I thought about this. Some of you, and I'm talking to the stubborn ones, you still haven't signed up for LifeGroup. You still haven't gotten connected. You're still just coming to church and doing the routine,7:10 and I thought this is the illustration. What is a hand that's disconnected from the body? You know what a hand disconnected from7:22 the body is? It's gross. It's dead. It's useless. And some of you, this is you. Oh, you7:34 think just Jesus and me, my personal Lord and savior. I love my bible time with the Lord. I don't really wanna get too connected because the church might hurt me or people might, you know, confront me about7:46 my sin, or they might ask and expect things of me. I'm not really into that, but, man, I love I love Jesus and me and my podcast and my songs on my, know, Spotify playlist, and and I that's my7:58 stuff. No, man. You're gross. You're gross. And most importantly, you're useless. That hand will sit there all day and go nowhere because it's not connected.8:09 And some of you, that's where you are. You're sitting there. You're going nowhere because you're not connected. You are a member of the body of Christ. The only question is, are you acting like it? So write this down so8:19 I know you're getting it. If I am the body of Christ, I am part of the ministry of Christ. Write that down because it needs to be embedded into your psyche, into your spirit, into your conscience.8:32 You're a minister. People say, who are the ministers of Waters Church? Every person that contributes. Every person that is active. Let me put this away because it's kinda gross. Every person that is8:43 involved let me put it even further away. Every person that is involved in this church, from those who serve as life group leaders or apprentices, to those who minister to8:55 our children, to those who serve the community in the name of Christ, and even beyond the organizational structure of this particular church. When you go into the workplace and you love your9:07 neighbor and you serve them and you minister them because you've come to Watershed, and you've been filled up with the Holy Spirit. God has ministered to you, and you have ministry to give. My friends, don't you9:17 understand that you are involved in ministry? You are a minister in Jesus' name. Now now here's what Paul says, and this this has to be part of what we get, what we9:28 capture. First Corinthians chapter 12 20 verse 12, he says, for just as the body is 1 and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are 1 body, so it is with Christ. For9:40 in 1 spirit, we were baptized into 1 body, Jews and Greeks, slave or free, all were made to drink of 1 spirit for the body does not consist of 1 member but of many. And and what he's emphasizing here is we are all9:52 1, but we are all individually parts of the 1. Christianity is a human endeavor that brings the ministry of10:04 Christ through our individual functions. Understand? You've got somebody to serve. More importantly, you've got someone's life to10:15 change. All the time, we hear reports from those in our life groups of people being saved from suicide ideation, from depression,10:27 anxiety, and loneliness. Their marriages healed. Their children brought back to the faith because they're engaged in life, in the ministry of the body. And10:39 Paul wants us to con connect together, build each other up, love 1 another, serve 1 another so that we come together and show the world this is what humankind is meant to be.10:52 Now I felt in my heart that I needed to share with you a personal story because some of you are feeling as if you11:03 can't contribute to the body. This is what keeps you back. And I've got 2 things for you to write down before we get to the main points. I call them the enemies of contribution. And enemy number 1 is11:15 inferiority. Inferiority. I have nothing to offer. I have nothing to give. Or11:27 maybe some of you are like, well, I I just got saved. I I just found the Lord just saved me a couple months ago. I'm not able to do anything. Okay. That's not true, and11:39 I need to tell you a personal story to make sure that you get it. I wanna tell you the story of how I fell in love with my wife, Cheryl. And11:51 everybody said, aww. This is this is a true story. I was a single young man living in a 2 bedroom apartment, and I'll tell you, man, that is the12:02 life. At least it looks like it. It gets pretty boring after a little while. And I was dating Cheryl at the time, and I was working at a bank, and she was working at us a waitress, and I remember we're very young.12:14 We're in her early twenties. I woke up 1 morning as any other morning, and I got into the shower washed, got out, towel dried, still a little bit wet. You all know how that is.12:26 And I had to get dressed, and I took and I pulled out a pair of underwear in my drawer, and I bent down, and I lifted, I'll never forget, this leg right here to put the first12:38 leg in the first loop. And in that moment, a shock like an electric, but a bad electric. Bad electric shock ran up12:49 the small of my back, right up into my neck, and right through my body and out to my hands, and I collapsed on the floor. On the13:01 floor. I was horrified. I didn't know what's what's going on. Of course, immediately, I try to pick myself back up and get couldn't do it. I would just be like I I would just try to pull myself, and I just13:13 fall again. No capacity to stand. Immediately, thoughts start rushing through my head. What's happened? Is this my future? Am I permanently stuck like this? I don't know what's going on. I had nothing, no13:25 recourse. And back in those days, we didn't have these fancy phones right next to us to call. So I had to literally crawl on the carpet to what we used to use. They were called wired telephones.13:37 They were plugged into the wall. It was horrifying young people. And I had to come and crawl myself to that phone, pick it up, and I called. I never forget the first person I called was my boss. I said, I I don't think13:49 I'm coming in today. I cannot walk. And then the next call that I made was to Cheryl. And I said, Cheryl, I don't know what happened, but I cannot walk. I am on the floor. And then I14:01 called my aunt, my sweet aunt. She's with the Lord now. I said, aunt Linda, I cannot walk. I don't know what's going on. And and I then I just waited it out. I managed to pull on my underwear and get a, you know, shirt14:12 on, but I was just on the floor. And I'll and I'll never forget that the first person to show up at my apartment was Cheryl. And she comes and she helps me. And I just wanna show you because this is how14:23 helpless I was. This is how helpless I was during that experience. I had an office chair in my in my in my apartment that looked kinda like this, and I'll never forget that for an for14:35 the next week, this is what I did to get around to get around my apartment. I literally had to wheel myself from14:47 room to room for an entire week. And Cheryl came over, and she brought me to the doctor, And it was excruciating to get into the car. She helped me into the car. She helped me out of car, helped me into the waiting14:58 room, brought me she waited with me in the in the doctor's office. And and the doctor, I'll never forget, he just said, here's what happened, Tim. And I'm like, what happened? Is this my future? Am I am I paralyzed? I'm15:10 not gonna work anymore. He said, you have pulled a small muscle in the middle of your back. The muscle is very small, but the pull is15:22 very bad. And I've got nothing for you. How many have ever heard that from a doctor? I got nothing for you. You're just gonna have to wait it out and let it heal.15:34 Friends, in that moment, 2 things happen. Number 1, I fell in love with Cheryl Amen. Now Hatch. Cheryl Hatch, not Cheryl15:46 Amen Hatch. I fell in love with my future wife because she cared for me. She ministered to me. She served me, and it wasn't anything supernatural. It was just wheel your15:57 boyfriend from the living room to the kitchen and back again. I mean, that was it. Then the second thing that happened was God gave me a very personal illustration16:09 of the fact that every part in my body matters. And let me tell you this right now to every person16:21 listening to me. You might think you are small, you are unseen, and you're not really doing anything significant. And what I want you to know and what I want you16:33 to hear is that you might be right here on the body of Christ. And if something happens to you are you here are you hearing this? If16:45 something happens to you, the body cannot function. Don't let inferiority, just because you're not seen, just because you don't16:57 have what we call stage gifts, like the people who are up here on these stages. Oh, look at them. They look so spiritual. Look at them. They're so gifted. I could never do that. You are probably you might not be17:08 called to do that. And what I hate about this stage, much as it's necessary to present the word and worship, what I hate about this stage is that sometimes it it casts a shadow of inferiority17:20 over the people who are so essential to the body. Look, the people who are up on the stage don't get to minister to anybody if we don't have people at the front door welcoming people in. If we don't have people17:32 ministering to kids. If we don't have people going into the marketplace of this country or the or or our communities and inviting people to come in the church. Let me just tell you, it's very boring to preach to no17:44 people and sing to no people. My point is that anybody who's up here needs to understand that everybody out there has been contributing to making sure that up here can happen. Every part of the17:55 body matters. So Paul says in verse 15, he says, if the foot should say because I am not a hand, and that's some of you. Well, I'm not a singer. Well, I'm not a preacher. Well, I'm not gifted.18:07 It doesn't mean you're not part of the body. Verse 16, if an ear should say because I'm not an eye, that would not make it any less part of the body. And notice that the the the the parts of the body that Paul has18:18 speaking here are a foot and an ear. Because if you think about it just naturally, your foot might feel like it's less significant than your hand. Your hand does a heck of a lot more things than your foot18:30 does. But if your foot can't catch you to where you need to go, your hand can't do anything. Likewise, an ear I I mean, I think we all can agree with this. I'd rather not be able to hear than not be able to18:42 see. So we might feel like the the ear is a little bit more of an inferior part of your body, but that's not true. Your ear is essential to the full functioning of your body. And so18:53 Paul is begging the church in Corinth, and I believe still to this day, do not exalt people 1 over another just because of where they are in the body.19:06 Every part matters and some of you it's time to wake up to the reality that you are that small muscle in the lower back of this church and without you we19:18 collapse, without you we fall apart. And some of you, we are not even accomplishing as much as we could because you have yet to connect to the body of Christ. And I just wanna eliminate this enemy right19:29 now. Do not let the enemy whisper an inferiority complex into your heart because that's exactly what he does. In fact, I thought about19:41 this. Sin comes into the world in Genesis chapter 3 through inferiority. Did you ever think about this? The first words the devil says to Eve is, God19:53 doesn't want you to eat that because he knows if you do that, you'll be like him. And the implication is, you're not as good as you should be. You ever think about that? So20:05 many psycho psych psychological realities fit into the first temptation. You will be like God, meaning that you're not good enough right now. Meaning God is, you know, keeping from you. Another psychological reality. But20:16 that 1 never I never saw it, but I saw it this week, that the devil was literally saying to Eve, you need more. You're not as good as you should be. And her feeling of inferiority caused her20:27 to to to eat the forbidden fruit, to forsake the word of God. And by the way, since that time onward, every human, and I mean this with every fiber of my being,20:39 every human has struggled with some measure of inferiority. All the Bible heroes had inferiority complexes. Did you know that? Did you know that? Did did you know that Moses had an20:51 inferiority complex? He comes to the burning bush, and God says, go and let my tell Pharaoh to let my people go. He's like, no, not me. No, somebody else. Who am I? I can't speak. I did you know that Gideon had an21:01 inferiority complex? When God shows up to Gideon, he's a mighty warrior. No, he wasn't. He was hiding. He was threshing out his wheat in a cave, trying to hide his food from the Midianites. And God said, the Lord is with21:12 you mighty warrior. Deliver the deliver the Israelites from the head of Midian. He says, who am I? I'm the least in my father's house. Who am I? I got nothing. Do do you understand even Saul when he was called to be21:22 king? The Bible says he hid among the baggages. He didn't wanna be found. And then, of course, Peter's first words, when Jesus finds him on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he falls at his feet at Jesus' feet. He21:34 falls on his face at Jesus' feet and he says, Lord, depart from me for I am a sinful man. I am not worthy to be near you. My friends, if you're suffering with inferiority, I got good news. I21:46 got good news. You're not alone. Everybody struggles with it, and the people who accomplish things get over it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Because listen, every part matters.21:59 I was watching and I shared this at a first Tuesday a couple of months ago. I was watching Arnold Schwarzenegger's biopic, his biography special on Netflix the other a couple months ago. And, you know, Arnold22:11 Schwarzenegger, man, he was the man for for us Gen Xers. Everyone wanted to be like him, muscle laden, handsome guy, leading roles in movies,22:22 beloved. And and and then at the and I'll never forget this in the special. He says that at the top of his game, he had already won several Miss Olympians, mister Olympians. He'd already won several22:34 competitions in muscle building, and this is what he looked like. Let's put this picture up. This is what he looked like in his prime, and he says this in the special. He says,22:46 I couldn't understand how anyone could look at that crap body, he doesn't say crap, he says another word, could any that anyone could look at that crap body and22:58 give it an award. My friends, really? Like even even he at this point, there's not a23:10 stitch of fat on him and even he wrestled with inferiority. We could take that picture down because I'm even feeling inferiority looking at it right now. Okay. Alright.23:22 This is my point. If you don't feel worthy, welcome to the human race. But don't let that23:34 stop you because it's the devil's aim to keep you from experiencing the joy that could be yours in serving God's purpose, in23:46 seeing God flow through your body to touch somebody else's life. Here's the second enemy. Write this down. Superiority. Superiority. Now this 1 is23:57 the flip of the other 1 because there's also a problem in the church, and maybe you've experienced this where some people just feel like they're better than you. And and and and let us not ever let that happen on our24:08 stage because that's where often happens because the stage can elevate us and it makes feel like we're more important than we are really are. But that that's such an a lie from the from the enemy as well. The flip side24:19 of the you're not good enough, Eve. You need to eat the fruit message of Satan was also that you will be like God. You will be superior. And and this is also something that humans wrestle with, that we are24:31 better than other people, and we don't need other people. And here's how Paul impacts that in verse 12 21. He says, the I cannot say. Can can somebody say, I cannot say it?24:43 Yeah. I hope you got it. I cannot say it. The I cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. Nor can the head say to the feet, I don't need you. In other words, it's impossible, church,24:55 for you to do this on your own. It's impossible for you to feel like you and Jesus are enough. That's just not true. James describes this attitude in25:07 James chapter 3. It's worldly wisdom. He says in verse 14, if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition, that's the word I wanna focus in on, selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and25:19 be false to the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down comes down from above, but it is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. This sense of that I am better than other people. I I have more important25:30 gifts. We have a rule. It's it's kind of unspoken in our church, but and I don't want you to take this wrong way, but I don't want you to feel like you have to call me pastor Tim.25:42 Like we don't obsess about that. I I'm I'm Tim. I'm I'm I'm mister Hatch to your children or pastor Tim. Your your children have to call me pastor Tim. I get really annoyed25:54 when your kids call me Tim or they can call me mister Hatch, but but I think that should be a general rule for all children. But when it comes to us fellow believers and brothers and sisters, man, we're members of 126:06 body. My position does not have to give me some sense of, you know, value and and worth that's higher than you. I can't pastor if I don't have the elders with me. The elders can't lead if the deacons aren't doing26:18 ministry. The deacons can't do what they're doing if other people aren't serving their ministry. Every part matters. Every part is connected, and every part functions because it's connected to the other parts. He says26:30 in verse 22, on the contrary, the parts that seem to be weaker are indispensable. In other words, the parts that seem to be less worth worth less than they are, they're actually indispensable members of the26:41 body. We've got people in every location that wake up earlier than anybody else on Sunday, and they get to our locations, and they clean it, and they26:53 straighten chairs, and they prepare the facility so that you can come in and hear me yell at you for 45 minutes. I thank God for those people. And without27:05 them, nothing gets done. Oh, I said 2 enemies. There's 3. The third 1, carnality. Write it down. Carnality. This is the idea that you think that27:16 that there are plea people in the body. You gotta hide because we we gotta play this game where it's about how good I look and how important I look. And and and Paul addresses this in first Corinthians chapter 2. He27:28 says, I couldn't I couldn't address you as spiritual, but as carnal because you are carnal. You have these divisive attitudes. You have these these ambitious attitudes. You look so self centered. This is a spirit27:39 that is coming to the church. I call it the Instagram spirit. The the the idea that is only about my presentation that is important. And and it's just an27:51 anathema to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here's what he says in verse 23. On those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we we bestow greater honor. Now the translation here is a little bit difficult. He's28:01 saying there are parts of the body that we think they're they're not as presentable, so we we kind of cover them up. We we bestow honor could almost be a word for it. We cover them up. We shield them away. He says, and28:13 our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. He says, look, you're acting like the world. When you're getting into this attitude of, oh, I I don't wanna28:25 I don't wanna let this person be seen. I don't wanna let this this gift in me to be seen because it's not as important as others. Surely, there's somebody else. The Moses mentality. Surely there's somebody else. No.28:36 Don't play that game. The church is not built on Instagram. The church is built on the great I am. And the great I am makes you28:48 who you are. And if he made you, he made you significant in who you are. And everything about you is the design of God minus the sin, so that you can function29:00 as part of the living, breathing humanity of Christ on this earth, and you matter. So 3 confessions, and then we're done. Number 1,29:12 God put me where I am in his body. K? We've dealt with inferiority. We've dealt with superiority. We've dealt with carnality. We're not gonna play that game. Now let's surrender our29:24 lives to the sovereignty of God in his positioning of our lives. God put me where I am. Look at verse 24. But God has so composed the body giving29:36 greater honor to the parts that lacked The answer is God is in charge. I'm where I am by divine design, and the people around me,29:48 listen, are there on purpose. You you might not like the people that you're around. God thinks that that's where you belong. Again, he does this repeatedly30:00 with several heroes of the Old Testament and the New. He sends Peter to the Jews. He sends Paul to the Gentiles. He sends Moses to Egypt. He sends Gideon to30:12 the battlefield. He sends David to Goliath. People encountering people at the place that they are, not where they want to be, so that they can fulfill the purposes that God has mapped30:23 out for them. And here's the good news of this. Oh, I want you to get this in your spirit. You are not an accident. Your life is not a disheveled mess. You are not on the wrong30:35 path. God has put you where he wants you. He's put you there on purpose. Here's number 2.30:47 God put me where I am for the sake of others in his body. Now this 1 is where we actually realize that the gifts that God has put us put in us are not30:59 actually for us. Okay. Back to carnality, gift measurement. How big is your gift? How much can you do with your gift? What is your gift? How visible? How should you be? How that's just31:11 a stupid, foolish game that I think only American Christians can afford to play. Here's how God sees it. It says in verse 25, that there may be no division31:23 in the body. He's put you where you are on purpose by design, that there be no division in the body, but that the members may have the, underline these 2 words, same care for 131:34 another. The ultimate aim of God putting you where he has you is for the people around you. So back in the nineties, I remember there was this31:46 huge movement in the church, finding your spiritual gift. What's my spiritual gift? I and and we would do these assessments and these tests, and we would, you know, do bible31:58 studies, and everyone what's my gift? What's my gift? What's my gift? And and and and it morphed in the early 2 thousands and into the 2000 tens, and it morphed from finding my spiritual gift32:09 to finding my personality. What's my personality? I'll take this assessment. I'll do the disc. I'll do the enneagram. I'll do the And so we can isolate, and I What I hate about these things,32:21 what I absolutely hate about these things is that what happens is we start to think that it's all about what I am inside that matters, and discovering myself is what32:33 matters when God actually says it's the exact opposite. It's the exact opposite. Here's how you discover who you are. Look at the people God has surrounded you with.32:46 Hear me. We will never do a finding your spiritual gifts class because here's how you find your contribution, your gift to the body of Christ. Look at the needs of the people32:58 around you. There's your gift. Some of you are surrounded by people who need regular verbal encouragement. Guess what that means? You've just been given the33:10 gift of encouragement. You say, I don't have that gift. Oh, yes, you do. In the Holy Spirit, all the gifts of God are resident, and the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in your body. The great I am has put all he33:22 is inside of you for potential life change in those around you. Some of you are surrounded by people going through marital trouble, and you're just like, what's going on? You might be called33:34 into a marriage ministry. Some of you are surrounded by young people who are depressed, and God has maybe he has called you to serve in that capacity. And it might be necessary33:45 for you to take classes or get some kind of degree or or some kind of licensing so that you can do that more more more visibly and and structurally and all that. I I don't know. I'm not here to map it out for you, but33:57 what I am trying to ask you to see is that your gifts and your assignment are not determined by what you feel inside. It's but it's determined by what's on the outside around you so that you see34:09 others' needs and you meet them. You see others' wounds and you heal them in Jesus' name. That's the body of Christ being the body. Just34:20 imagine if my hand just decided to be my mouth today. Nothing would come out. My hand can't decide to become my mouth. It can't. It can't say, well, you know what? I did34:32 this disc assessment, and I'm actually a speaker, and so here's what I'm no. It's ridiculous. The hand has to look at, oh, I'm connected to the wrist, and the wrist is connected to the forearm, and34:43 the and the and the upper arm, and the shoulder. And so my job is to function in concert with the connections that are near it so that I can complete the ministry work of my body34:55 to accomplish the tasks for the day. Friends, get out of this mindset. This worldly mindset that says you've got to dig up what's inside of you, when really what you got to do is look outside of you and35:07 see how you can help those around you. Or as Philippians chapter 2 verse 3 says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than35:19 yourselves. You're where you are by God, and you are where you are according to the plan and purpose of God. And I just wanted to give you some theology35:31 here. Christ, write this down, is the head of the body. This is submitting to the sovereignty of God. He's the head. He's in charge. He knows what he's doing. He directs every part where35:43 it needs to go. Colossians chapter 1 18, he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn, then that in everything he might be preeminent. In other words, your gifts and your callings, your35:54 position, your placement, and even the needs that you're surrounded by have been ordered by the head who is Christ. Find yourself36:06 in serving outside of yourself, and watch and receive the joy of the Lord as God works through you. Last confession, and it's quick.36:18 I find purpose and development in contributing to the body of Christ. I find purpose. Now here is something that is desperately needed in this generation.36:32 This past week, it a story blew up from the free press. The title of the article that was also submitted to the New York Post is, quote, physically healthy Dutch36:44 woman 28 decides to be euthanized due to crippling depression. This story just broke me. Her name is Zoraya Terbeak. She lives in36:55 a small village in the Netherlands near the German border. She's scheduled to have a doctor come into her living room and put her to death in May. The reasons?37:08 She lives with depression, anxiety. She's worried about climate change, social media, all these other issues, and these struggles are overwhelming to her, and37:20 and she senses that she has no point in living. My friends, I hate to get dour with you, but this is what we're dealing with when people37:32 are so utterly focused on how they're feeling inside and what's going on inwardly that they let the crippling, debilitating inferiority37:44 complexes of the sin nature literally pull them into the grave. I mean, I pray for her. I don't judge. I pray she needs Jesus. She needs the Lord. But37:55 how many more people are out there that they're not there yet, but they're on the way there because they just don't sense a purpose for living. I think that we've gotta show the world38:07 as the body of Christ that the only way we really find joy is when we start contributing, when we start giving ourselves to other people.38:19 Here's what Paul says in verse 27. You are the body of Christ and individually members of it. Write this down. Christ nourishes his body. So you're going to get fed the word38:31 of God on Sunday so that you can go out on on the street corners, on on the marketplace, in the office, at the school, and you can give your what God has given you to other people. Colossians 2 18. Let no 1 disqualify38:42 you insisting on asceticism or the worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head. Look at this. From whom the whole body nourished and38:54 knit together. Christ the head nourishes us and knits us together through its joints and ligaments. You grow through connection. Understand what Paul's saying. You grow the hand operates and grows through39:06 connection to the rest of the body, And it says this, and grows with a growth that is from God. And then write this down, the last thing. He says, it says here, Christ grows me through participation in the body. Now I39:16 don't know if you ever thought about this, but some of you say, I wanna grow as a Christian. Okay. Get busy. I wanna grow. How do I grow? How do I grow my faith? How do I develop? Grow growingShow more
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