Sermon Transcript:Thank you all for being here. We will be in first Corinthians chapter 12 as we continue on in our series. In first Corinthians. And I trust you've gotten a lot out of it as we continue, really another difficult passage this morning, but it's really all about kind of helping us to understand how we're to conduct ourselves in worship, in our personal lives, as it relates to how we go about our ways. And so Paul is always answering kind of a series of questions, and he's really entering a time here of spiritual gifts, as you're going to see that in chapters 1213, and 14. He does this in such an endearing way. So we'll begin first, Corinthians, 12, beginning in verse one. Now, dear brothers and sisters. Now he calls them that because they're brothers and sisters in Christ, Regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. So he tells us what he's going to address, which is abilities or gifts of the Spirit, capital S, Holy Spirit gives us. I don't want you to misunderstand this. You know that while you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So he's saying, listen, we've we've all been there. We've all done stupid things. We've all been a part of something that we knew wasn't right. And so he's telling them, you remember, just like you have idols of things that aren't real, he's saying we know that you participated in that. That's who you are, that's what you used to do. So now I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So what he's laying out for the people and for us, right, all these years later, is what is going to be our foundation for understanding the topics that he's going to address to us this morning. And really the number one thing is the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We understand what lordship is, or what Lord is. And so that is what's going on here, is he's saying that that you need to come up under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's going to be the foundation for all that he's going to say. It's very similar to what Jesus said when he talked about that all sins will be forgiven, except for blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What he's saying is that if you deny Jesus as Lord, you'll miss everything else. Same concept here that Paul's bringing up to the Corinthian church. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all, capital S, the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways. So do you see the Trinitarian things? What's going on here? Father, Son, Holy Spirit, God, Lord spirit. That's how the scriptures work. That's how our understanding of who God is. That's how He revealed Himself to us, that we pray to God, the Father, that we're able to do that by the blood of Jesus, Christ, and who he was, and that we do that by the very spirit of God. And he's saying right here, that there's different kinds of ways of serving the Lord God works in a mysterious ways or different ways, but it all comes from the same God who does the work in all of us. Right? Because we understand that when we become Christians, that the very spirit of God lives in our hearts, a spiritual gift is given to each of us so that we can help each other that's going to become key later on. Why is the gift given to each of us so that we can help each other? To one person, the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice to another. The Spirit gives a message of special knowledge that's interchangeable. We understand knowledge and wisdom sometimes go together. The same Spirit gives great faith to another and to someone else. The one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, to another, the ability to prophecy or prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or another spirit, lowercase s still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, some translations say tongues, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. Is the one and only spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. First point I want us to see this morning is a spiritual gift is given to help one another. They are a gift right now. You understand what a gift is. You can't earn it. When I give gifts to my children, it's not something they earn. They can earn maybe money or something where they do chores, but if we're going to give them a gift, it's being like, Hey, this is freely yours. You didn't do anything to earn this. Deserve this, but it is given to you. We often talk about giving gifts at holidays or birthdays or anniversaries, so we understand that spiritual gift is first and foremost what it's given to us.By what? But the spirit. I want you to see that capital S all over this passage, the very holy spirit, the very spirit of God. And it is not for show or self that's become so important, because you and I are going to have questions about, How do I know if someone has the gift of healing or has the gift of being able to perform miracles, or has the gift of prophecy, or has the gift of interpreting other languages or being able to speak in other languages. And the question the foundation will always be in what way is it being used? How do you see it being performed, and how do you see it functioning, both in the church and outside the church? Is it all about self? Is it all about show? Well, then that's not from God, but is it there for the edification, which just means lifting up, building up, encouraging of the people around them? Is it to really say, as this verse does, I told you in verse seven, to help one another, that's where I got this application from, straight from these scriptures. So again, I know you're going to have questions about what these gifts are, and I'm going to come back around and hopefully talk about that further on in this passage. But I think this, this foundation, this first point, needs to be kept in mind. Alright, he's going to keep going. He's talking about the the body. Okay, so the human body has many parts. And I love how Paul, he's going to make this so clear, so applicable to you and to me, the human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body, obviously, right? So we have a head, hands, heart, feet. So it is with the body of Christ. So he's, he's, he's equating the two. He's saying that we can use this as illustration to understand how the body of Christ, the church, works. Some of us are Jews, some of us are Gentiles, some of us are slaves, and some of us are free. Okay, so we come from all kinds of different backgrounds, right? We talk about this all the time. Some of us are from New Mexico. Some of us are from Mexico, some of us are from Texas or Tennessee or Alabama or Mississippi or Washington State or Connecticut or wherever, anywhere around the world. Some of us are from Russia. Some of us are from all these different places, whoever we are, wherever we come from, we have all been baptized into one body by what capital S, spirit. And we all share the same spirit, Spirit of Christ? Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says I'm not part of the body because I'm not the hand, that does not make it any less a part of the body. If the ear says I'm not part of the body because I'm not an eye, would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many different parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would it be if it had only one part? Yes, there are many parts but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you. The head can never say the feet I don't need you. In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary, and the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more audible parts do not require this special care. So what's he talking about? He's talking about the the private parts, right? So God has put the body together, so it's an extra honor, and care are given to those parts which have less dignity. This makes for harmony. I want you to remember this verse, because it's going to come back later in our second application point, this makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. And if one part is honored, all parts are glad. All of you together are Christ's body in each of you is a part of it. Boy, that's such good news to see what, really what church membership is all about or the the one anothers, and what we have here at our church is what's called a church covenant, where we come together, not just as we listen to a sermon or worship, but that we're saying we covenant among one another, that is between each other, and it's between God and so that's what is going on here, as far as we can't help but to all be together, even though we're so different, that we have unity. That's what I love about Life Church, is we have unity in the midst of diversity, because we are so different. We come from such different backgrounds. Not only do we look different, but we conduct different. We like different things. We come from different parts of even the world, Burma, all kinds of places. And so second point I want us to see, though, is the goal is to be so in sync. Okay, not the group, just in sync that care overflows, right? So you got a space there. This is the proper English term of in sync that that the word here used in the.Scripture. If you remember, I told you to note it is harmony, which is a great sort of musical term that we sort of sort of whimsical. I love that word harmony, but I think NSYNC really sort of helps us to see that this togetherness, that we're moving in the same direction together, that our aim is Christ. And you can hear it right if you come to life church, you can hear it in our prayers, you can hear it in our worship, and hopefully you can hear it in our teaching. So that's why we had a guest worship leader today. I'm so thankful for Josiah to come in and give some of our lead worshiper leaders a break. But what you saw was what you saw the same gospel. You heard the same words, the same praise, the same Exaltation of the same God. Boy, that's such good news. He comes to us by way of Phoenix, but really he comes to us by way of Kansas City. I'm just saying. We all have those kind of stories around the room. The goal is to be so in sync, so now wherever we come from. Because again, it is effort, and it always takes effort for you and I to sort of move together when we have different parts. He talks about that even with our own physical bodies. But you and I know this practically. When we try to do family reunions or we try to do anything as a group, some of y'all loved group projects. Other of y'all cringed at them, because you know how difficult it is to get everybody in the same direction, to get a team to do what they need to do. But as a church body, as we think about that, we are members of one another, the goal is to be so in sync that sure we're going to have all these different backgrounds, all these different diversity things about us, even right now as we stand together, but we have our aim as Christ, so that what overflows, so that care overflows. That's so important, because, again, we're going to ask all kinds of questions and maybe what this looks like, and I'm going to try to give some guidance on that. We're going to maybe have some biblical questions, not only on this chapter, but in 13 and 14 and those that follow. But what we're going to see right now is if that we make our aim, and we understand that as we are so in sync and as we're so united in our diversity, that people will see that that will be winsome and that they will be cared for, it will just overflow, because everything's working together. If you want to see dysfunctional teams, if you want to see toxic environments, you can go and find that anywhere. But we want to be a place that not that we have sameness, not that we all look the same and do everything the same way, but that we have this unity in the midst of our diversity. Why? Because we know who we are. We know whose we are, so we're able to be in sync. We're aiming that as our goal, that we move together to accomplish what God has for us. And then that's how kid life works. That's how student life works. That's how it works when we go out of here and we function in our different jobs and schools, and we go into our homes that have very different traditions and even socioeconomic backgrounds and where we're at and where we're heading, but it doesn't matter, because you will feel loved, right? That's what you want. You want to be a part of a church that if you find a lifer, a Life Church, person that you feel cared for. No, I felt loved. I don't know why I was at the dealership, but I felt loved. Oh, okay, that person that go to Life Church or I was out at school, and why? Why did they have such respect for the teacher, and Why'd they show up on time and have their homework ready and all their ducks in a row, because they care and try to honor the Lord in their doings and in their going about. You see how care will just overflow as you and I are united together in Christ, good things will flow from that all of a sudden, care wherever our hand and our heart touches will occur, because we are together in the main things. Alright, I want to address some of the things that come up, because he's going to list out these sort of gifts, and that's why I've saved a lot of time at the end to really sort of walk through these to help us understand maybe what these mean. So he says, Here are some of the parts God has anointed for the church, he says, first and foremost are apostles. So let me talk about that one for a minute. So what is an apostle? So quite simply, that the easiest way to understand what is an apostle, or apostleship, is it's it's someone who's been commissioned by God first and foremost, you and I don't self declare ourselves to be an apostle be commissioned by God, but the big one that you see over and over again in the scriptures is an eyewitness to the resurrection. That's so important, as we think about why do we listen to Paul? You know, almost 2000 years later, because he tells us, I was an eyewitness to the resurrection, an apostle in undue time, I met Jesus after all the other guys had walked with him on Earth for three years, I met him on the road to Damascus. And I really met the Lord Jesus Himself, and He commissioned me as a apostle. You also see.Um, not only I went to the resurrection, but the commissioning. So I would argue that the sort of Office of apostleship has gone away. Why? Because the scriptures are closed. All the words that we have in our Bible were completed. Scholars sort of put the latest stage that you can sort of think of as 90 ad that makes sense in 33 ad, these guys may have been as young as 14 or 16 when they first met Jesus, and he he called them to Himself, and so if they lived to be older, which is the only one that we know who lived to be older by tradition, is John himself, as he was exiled on the island of Patmos. The rest of the disciples were martyred to death in the first century. And so we see that the Office of being an apostle, as we understand it, I think, in the scriptures, has been complete. Now you will every once in a while find people who take the title of apostle and Bishop and man. They have to define those things in their own way. I do think sometimes people take the gift of apostle and take it well, that just means someone who's an entrepreneur or someone who has sort of city favor or community leadership, fine, but I don't think that's what's going on here. Those may be apostolic giftedness. Those may be gifts of someone who was an apostle. But I think that the actual office, as we understand it, was limited to those two things. Second, are prophets. Now, in the Old Testament, you know, had a prophet as someone who speaks for God. The New Testament hadn't even been written yet, and there were only parts of the Old Testament. So a lot of times when you met a prophet, you sort of keyed in, because you're like, Whoa. This is one, a prophetess, female Prophet, male, who speaks for God. Now, I think, as you look into the New Testament and how prophecy is used, and this isn't all that we're going to say on it's going to come back again in First Corinthians 14, but I want to give you sort of a taste of what I think the office of a prophet is, it's one who's a truth teller. A prophetic word is someone who says a word to you, whether it's from a stage like this, or a one on one conversation or a group conversation that pierces the heart because it's true about who God is and his nature or character, or true from who he is from the scriptures. Let me say it a different way, when you find yourself asking, Did I just receive a prophetic word or a revelation? Lowercase L, not not biblical, not authoritative, but someone who just says, Man, I think God has shown me this, or he's revealed this to me to share with you. Or I think this may be something you need to consider, or I have an inkling, or I have a hunch, that this is something you ought to think about. You may be engaging someone who's trying to give you a word, a word from God. Now here's what's great about prophecy, so that you don't get all weirded out about it. It has to coincide with who God is in the scriptures. So if you feel like, whether it's a communicator, a preacher up on stage like me, or someone on a one on one setting, and you ask yourself, man, I'm not sure that's from God. Number one, you can just ask yourself for anyone, is is that true about who God is in the scriptures? Is there a verse I can go to that pretty much says the same thing? Well, then that that's that maybe, or probably, is from God. Or you just ask Council of wisdom of people you trust, who you know are Christ followers. Hey, someone said this to me, or I heard this. Do you think that sounds right? And then by that, you can test to see if those prophetic words are true. So that is what I think is the gift of prophecy. It's the ability of an individual to proclaim truth in such a way where it resonates, it hits you in your heart, it it scratches where you're itching, so to say. But it can all be tested. None of us are sort of in that age where we're like, Hey, I'm going to tell you something I just heard from God. You can write this down. It's like whoa, unless you're about to quote Scripture, we don't, we don't talk that way, we don't think that way, because that's not how God has given people prophecy in our day. Third, our teachers, I think that's a little bit more self explanatory, but those who have the ability and the gift to be able to make things in the scriptures, understandable, clarity, all those kind of things, and so you can have teachers at Sunday school level, or what you would call small group level, or from the stage level. Then those who do miracles. Again, I take it from the scriptures that we're reading the scriptures because we believe things still occur. Things are still around remnants of even from the first century on forward. Of course, there's miracles. I mean, we've, you've heard, you know, testimony already of something that man that can't be explained scientifically. If a doctor says, Listen, you, by all scientific means, should either be in great pain or dead, but we cannot explain it. We don't under.Standing, but somehow you're healed. Somehow you're okay. Somebody was praying for you, somebody came by and said a word, somebody came by and even touched you like Jesus would touch to heal. And so what happens is, is that there is still around the gift of healing, or miracles. I think I've already just kind of explained the second one as well. Those often go together. When people have questions about miracles, they often have questions about healing. Again, it's not going to be for show. So if you see things on TV where people are zapping people, or they're falling over or it's a big show, that's not how these things work, any of the spiritual gifts, because we're going to get into one that I'm sure you have some thoughts on here in a minute, on the area of tongues and but I would say in all these what is called, often the charismatic gifts. And charisma just means by the Spirit. So I'm not afraid of that word, but different denominations, Pentecostals and others, have sort of taken it to mean something that I don't think it means. We're going to talk about why I see it that way. But right from the get go, we're not the people that say, Listen, healing and miracles aren't around anymore. Oh, they very much are, but they're done in the quiet places. They're done not on stage, not as a show, but to say, man, look at what the Lord's doing. Look what he's doing in my life. Look what he's doing in your life. That is nothing short of a miracle, and I experience it, you know, on a weekly basis, on things that should not be so, right? If you kind of have that idea, it's like there's a favor of God on your on your life, or on someone's life around you. And you're like that can't be explained by natural means. All of a sudden you realize that that God is doing something in the life of maybe yourself or those around you, miracles, healing. Next verse, it says, Those who can help others, that's just the gift of helps, right? Um, it's the only time it's mentioned in the Scripture, but I think it's a great understanding of those who come alongside those who have the gift of leadership or administration, again, those are real gifts, right? People who have the ability to sort of put things together and lead others towards a goal. We can look at this both historically biblical and extra biblical, and understand that those occur. But he's saying in this special way, these things are given to us by the Spirit to lead the church. And you can have one gift, you got many gifts. And this can also be talked about talents. Jesus talked about them. And then finally, this phrase here that I'm sure some of you have questions about those who speak in unknown languages, or what is often called the gift of tongues. So I want to talk a little bit about that. I want to take a pause. And I don't know how many of y'all are interested in this, or kind of want to know what I think the scriptures sort of say about this one. Well, here's, here's my best shot at trying to explain it. So first and foremost, let's just look in the Bible, when you go back to Acts, and you understand how was the gift of tongues originally, sort of expressed, and it's so clear that at Pentecost, right the day that Jesus goes up and Holy Spirit comes down, and you see the whole idea of like tongues of fire and all this stuff going on Acts chapter two, what is going on there? And what's going on there is that someone is addressing a crowd, and all of the sudden people begin to understand what is being said in their own language. And so all of a sudden we understand this to be a miracle. But what is going on there? It is a known language that the people are all of a sudden hearing from whatever platform or stage they had in the first century there in Jerusalem. So it seems to me that what's going on there, for sure, is this sort of language that is known now. You see here that similarly, you have people gathered who, by somehow miraculous, by the Spirit of God, can speak a language that they haven't been trained in,and because there are other people who maybe don't speak that language in the crowd you have an interpreter with them. So be real clear. I think it's very clear in this passage. Now I'm going to punt for First Corinthians 14, where we talk about, maybe that idea of utterances and and what about things that aren't understandable, but in terms of a public platform and those that other people are hearing and listening. It seems to me that what tongues is is an unknown language by the person who is there who all of a sudden speaks in such a way that if you're of a different language, that you can understand it. You can understand that tongue. Now the one caveat I was going to say is that there may be sort of a utterance, some sort of language, some sort of prayer language, some sort of private prayer language that that God gives people when they are so overcome by the spirit that that all of a sudden what comes out isn't clear.Right? That may happen, that may occur. I'm not sure if that's tongues or not. We're going to talk about that further in First Corinthians 14, but I think that may occur. That's not what's going on here, because what's going on here is a sort of orderly public way to do ministry. It's very similar to what we talked about in the last chapter, right? That whole idea of, here's how we do worship, decently and orderly. Make sure people are are cleaned up. They're right before God, before they before they lead others, I think, in similar way that we don't want to find ourselves sort of speaking something that that has no understanding to most of the people or everybody, but we're, all sudden, speaking in what is often called by charismatics or by Pentecostals tongues, where you might have a whole congregation just bust out inall these utterances that nobody understands. I don't see that anywhere in the scripture you always have one person, maybe orderly, saying something that someone else then interprets for them. And so so we as a church don't practice that. Now, the other thing to know about that historically, if you're interested at all, is as we understand the Pentecostal or charismatic movement that has swept through a lot of I know understand Hispanic culture and even South America and across a lot of America, that did not exist until early in the 1900s early in the 20th century. So that's something you consider historically that was never really understood as tongues. That was something that occurred in those days under that tradition. So if you don't that's not a full enough explanation for you. We'll readdress that when it comes up in First Corinthians 14, are we all apostles? So now he's going to ask this question of whatever you think about the spiritual gifts, or whatever you think about these different offices. He's saying, We can't do all this anyways. He's actually asking some rhetorical questions, almost sarcastically, are we all apostles? Are we all prophets? Are we all teachers? Do we have the power to do miracles? Do we have all the gift of healing? Do we have all the ability to speak in unknown languages. Do we all have the ability to interpret those unknown languages? Of course, not exclamation point. So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all. Sounknown languages do have? Yeah, okay, so that's the same thing. It's just giving just giving the reference there. So thirdand final point this morning, put yourself in a position of love for others,and you'll be the most helpful.So again, wherever you land, and thinking about these different spiritual gifts, which we believe God's given them to us, we think that God, who's the same in the first century. Is the same today, but put yourself in a position for love for others, and you'll be the most helpful. I don't know what you what you think about what Paul was doing there. At the end, he says, I'm going to show you a better way. He's teamed up to the next chapter next week, which is that great love chapter, First Corinthians 13, that's often read it weddings, that whole idea of love is the greatest of all, and that's really what we're aspiring for. So he's teeing that up. And but before we get there, I think this is the point. Put yourself in a position of love for others, and you'll be the most helpful I get that from that last verse. So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. How is it that God has wired you and me? Let's lean into that. And if you don't know what that is, start somewhere. Right. Start somewhere. That doesn't mean everyone can do anything, right? I'm not about to to say that, because some of us are better at some things than other, both naturally and supernaturally. So. Again, it's very hard to divide sort of natural giftedness, which can be learned and taught. You guys know people who are communicators, who are speakers, who have nothing to do with the Spirit of God, but I do think what God loves to do is he loves to use our wiring, which your wiring consists of, both your your your upbringing and your environment, right? So leaders aren't just born, they can be formed and shaped and made, right? So he loves to use that, along with the very spirit of God inside you and me to make something beautiful and great. So it doesn't mean that you and I can do everything, but we can put ourselves out there and loving others and good things will come to them and to yourself. I don't know if you've ever thought about this in terms of serving.When you think about loving others and serving, I mean this in the most small ways, whether it's a spouse or a roommate or someone you live with, family member or otherwise, or I mean this in the way you do this in your work environment or school, and of course, I mean this in the way you do your your your serving in church.It doesn't work the way we think, because what we naturally probably think is, man, I don't want to get up and serve them because just.Make me tired, or I don't really want to, I don't really feel like it, or they're going to ask more of me. Or we even go even further. We're like, man, they don't really deserve it. Why should I take that paper off the copier to that employee? He or she never does anything for anyone else, or, you know, why should I make my boss look good? He doesn't give the opportunity to make me look good, and so we just don't want to serve. And what we're doing when we do that is we're doing the opposite of love, which is we understand this is being selfish. But here's the cool thing is, if we'll just lean in to figuring out, okay, I'm going to help. I'm going to help. God help me to know where you want me. Help me to know where I can be used. Help me to know where I can love. I'm just going to step into that by faith. You can dip your toe in. That's fine. We're not asking you to to dive in or jump in head first or feet first, or whatever. But what you'll begin to see is they get the blessing, right? So if you're good to roommates, spouse, family member, bring them something, do something for them. Again, it's not based off of whether they merit it or deserve it, they probably don't, because they're a sinner, just like you and me, but they get the blessing. Now here's what's cool about the way the kingdom of God works, then all of a sudden you get the blessing, right? Because you feel better about yourself because you've done something for someone. Why? Because you're doing it for God's glory, if you're doing it all for self, you and I will always have some sort of exchange, tit for tat, right? Just that whole idea of like, you do this for me, I'll do this for you, and somehow we'll do this exchange, and we'll be both better off for it. Those are transactional relationships. We often have those at work environments and all that. I mean, I'm not saying to do away with those, but I'm talking about loving and helping, expecting or knowing you're not going to get anything in return, but you really will, because they get the blessing. You get the blessing. And who gets the glory? God? And I don't know if you've ever thought about this before, but our acts of serving in love and helpingis a way for God's glory to be made much of and for us to be satisfied, for us to feel like man, like God, you're doing something in me. You're You're the hope of glory. The very spirit of God lives inside you and me. So obedience and your happiness are not at odds, right? That's another reason why sometimes people kind of stay away from church, because they'll be like, if I go to church and I get cleaned up, I'm going to, you know, lose all my fun, or something like that. It's like, that's not it at all. Your life's really chaotic and a mess. You thought you were okay, but you and I really weren't. But all of a sudden, as we step into what God has for us and we're we're faithful to just serve and love, just a little bit more obedience and our happiness are not at odds. They tend to go together. People who are faithful in the same directionthat is good and honoring to God get the good things that come with us, selfishness, which is what really a lack of love, it kills yourself and those around you. Have you ever noticed that love snowballs into more love in your environment? If you start doing this at your at your home or at your workplace or at your church, it'll snowball into more love, but also the the reverse is true. If you and I have lack of love, and we're the ones perpetuating selfishness and lack of love in our environment, that'll snowball itself and it'll kill yourself and those around you, do you want to rob yourself of blessings? Do you want to rob others of the blessings of yourself if you're if you're doing what God has you to do, not in a showy way, not in a look at me way, but just in a way. He says, Man, this is what God's put in my hand. This is what he's given me, and I want to share it and give it to others as much as I can. And so we just get out there, and we put ourselves in a position of love in our home and our sphere of influence in our church. We're about to enter a time of interim leadership at our church, we haven't been there before. We never have been there before. In this church, we had the founding pastor, and then I came in right after the the founding pastor, five years ago. Now I want you to know that there's a plan and there's a process, but those plans and processes are dependent on Life Church being the church, being us that that lean in and serve and love this church, because, why? Because we're all members of one another, that we're all interdependent upon one another, and God loves us, and that if we'll just step out and love and be a blessing and serve, not only will those around us get that, but then we'll get that in return. I want to say it again, God's glory and your satisfaction and happiness, whatever words you want to use, are not at odds.What would make me the most happy is in the months to come that if I could, you know, somehow round the corner of kid life, or you round the corner of kid life, student life, or maybe a worship meeting before the service, the greeting team gathering before the service, and all of a sudden, everybody's just doing their own thing. That I'll be I'll be gone months from now, but everyone's just doing their own thing. They're doing what they're they're just loving each other, they're just smiling, they're just shaking hands, they're just leading worship. They're just taking care of the kiddos, the little ones among them. They're praying for our students. They're engaging with our students and.All these kind of things. They're just being a member of the body, as we just talked about, because we all need each other. We're all interdependent on each other. We're loving others. We're serving God. We're being happy in the process, in helping others as well. That would be amazing, because that's all that this is about. Anyways, it's never about me or any main leader, communicator, speaker up here. It's about God and His glory, and God's glory rests among us, because God's glory, the hope, is where it's in you and it's in me. And that's a great thing and a comforting thing and a hopeful thing. So yeah, we'll move into time. We'll maybe be sad to depart, but it's to what is to see each other again, if not in this life, in the life to come. Let's pray, Father. We, thank you for your word. We, thank you how you teach us to help one another and serve one another. I pray for Life Church right now that we would just be men and women who lean in, lean into what you have to for us this day and all the days of our life. We love you, Lord. We ask these things in Christ's name and for His glory. Amen 

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