WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:08.720 The sermon text reading for today is First Corinthians nine chapters nineteen through twenty-seven. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:16.879 You can find this passage in the Sanctuary Bible on page seventeen forty-one. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:22.320 Please listen as I read God's word. 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:32.880 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:36.719 To win as many as possible. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:41.200 To the Jews, I became like a Jew. 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:43.759 To win the Jews. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:49.840 To those under the law, I became like one under the law. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:53.359 Though I myself am not under the law. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:57.200 So as to win those under the law. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:05.359 To those not having the law, I became like one not having the law. 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:11.760 Though I am not free from God's law, but am under Christ's law. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:16.879 So as to win to those not having the law. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:20.959 To the weak, I became weak. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.120 To win the weak. 00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:33.840 I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some. 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:38.879 I do all this for the sake of the gospel. 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.799 That I may share in its blessings. 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:48.640 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run? 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.599 But only one gets the prize. 00:01:51.599 --> 00:01:56.640 Run in such a way as to get the prize. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:02:04.079 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:08.159 They do it to get a crown that will not last. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:13.599 But we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:20.319 Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:25.840 I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:26.719 No. 00:02:26.719 --> 00:02:32.479 I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:42.159 So that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:09.599 It's good to have uh a Sunday morning with you all. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:11.840 Glennis, thank you very much for reading. 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:16.400 If you are new to the room or if you're watching us online for the first time, my name is Dave. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:21.199 I am uh I get to serve as a director of Next Gen Ministries here at Elmwood. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.520 Let me be another voice that says, Welcome. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.360 It's good to have you here with us. 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:34.479 As a part of my role as a director of Next Gen Ministries, one of the things I do is I get the chance every once in a while, as we all leave the sanctuary. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:39.680 Uh, we gather with the the kiddos and the students that stay in the room here during the sermon. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:46.960 We go down to classroom B and we we have a conversation, we debrief the service and specifically the sermon. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.280 We call it our next gen sermon debrief. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:04:01.520 Two weeks ago, after John's sermon, we we went down and we did a recap of the sermon for the youth who were serving in children's sermon time and the nursery because they wanted to know what John was talking about. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:07.680 We told them that we were back in 1 Corinthians, otherwise known as this week on how not to run a church. 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:22.160 And we said John had talked about the fact that it was important to give up his rights as a free man and free men or women in Christ, and instead engage in radical self-giving love. 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:30.240 I explained that John had asked us to maybe consider our schedules might be a little too full. 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:38.399 And out of love, we may need to remove things from our schedule for the purpose of giving yourself to someone else so that Christ might be formed in them. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:43.439 The question he asked was, What am I willing to lay down so that Christ may be formed in others? 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.480 And the eruption that I got to watch in the room. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.959 Hey now, hear me out. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:51.040 It's not that bad, I promise. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.879 It might have been my daughter. 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:56.240 Uh I was not picking on her. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.759 John wasn't picking on me when he said that sermon. 00:04:59.759 --> 00:05:03.439 John was identifying something that's true in our culture. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:11.600 It's true that we we run at 1,500 miles an hour as fast and as hard as we can. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:20.639 We fill our schedule full of anything everything, and then we try to downshift super fast so that we can connect with people around us. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:24.959 Luckily, those people are also flying at 1,500 miles an hour, so it's okay. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:26.079 Kind of. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:37.680 But then we try to slam in there into our schedules somehow, some time with Jesus, and we end up praying prayers like Lord Jesus Christ, risen Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:38.399 Amen. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:40.399 Okay, what's next? 00:05:40.399 --> 00:05:42.160 It's a good prayer. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:47.920 If that's the sum total of your relationship with Jesus, you're gonna end up with problems. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:53.360 John's sermon two weeks ago hit me between the eyes as I looked at my schedule. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:06:03.600 I know it probably hit some of you between the eyes as well, but I bring it up because this week's passage is kind of a continuation from the thought from that passage. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:15.040 The passage we read that week could have ended, or the sermon from two weeks ago could have ended with to be continued, or Paul will return in exploring the life-giving way of Jesus. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:20.720 That week we talked about emptying our schedules and laying down our rights for the sake of others. 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:36.000 This week, as we look at our passage today, we're gonna see the life-giving way of the cross on display once again in the way that Paul fills up his life in a new way to live, and also how God uses that new life. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:39.120 Before we dive in, could you please pray with me? 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:45.199 Lord, your word encourages us to value others above ourselves. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:52.160 Tells us to look after the interest of others and to ultimately have the same mindset of Christ Jesus. 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:56.240 Jesus, we know this is hard. 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:59.920 And so we ask you once again for help. 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:08.800 We thank you that we have this chance to interact with one another and to be your hands and feet to each other as we journey on this life. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:14.319 Father God, we ask you, please prepare our hearts and minds to worship you as we listen to your word. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:19.920 Holy Spirit, I ask, convict us today once again of our need for you. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:28.399 God, thank you for showing us your love by sending your son, the second person of the triune God, to die that we may live. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:34.879 Lord, empty me, fill me, use me. 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:37.680 We love you, Jesus. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:38.720 Amen. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:47.439 As I alluded to, we're kind of in the middle of a sermon series looking at the letter we call 1 Corinthians. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:56.000 It's a letter from Paul, who was an early church planter in the Jesus movement, a follower of Jesus, and it's sent to the church in Corinth. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:02.879 This is not the first letter that was exchanged between these two, but is the earliest we have in the Corinthian correspondence. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:05.600 The letters between Paul and this church. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.720 This letter always gives me so much hope. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:15.199 It gives me so much hope because I'm a sinner in need of saving by God. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:19.279 I'm a sinner in need of God's grace, and I still mess up. 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:28.480 And when I read this letter, and I start reading this letter, and it starts with Paul and our brother Sosthenes to the church of God in Corinth. 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:32.720 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:38.320 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:46.639 Paul goes on to name some incredibly ugly sins that are present in this community, but he starts by thanking God. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:51.919 He starts by wishing them grace and peace. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:53.600 I may be a mess. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:54.960 We may be a mess. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.080 We have a ways to go before we catch up with Corinth. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:04.720 But one of the things that is true is that if God Paul wrote a letter to us, he would start by thanking God for us. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:14.000 And he would desire for grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to be made manifest here in our church and in our cities. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.720 And so it gives me hope. 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:24.480 It gives me hope because in some way that that church in Corinth is going before us, boldly going where no one's gone before. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.039 And so we can learn from their mistakes. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:36.960 We can learn and say, oh, we can we can join the life-giving way of Jesus because Paul is helping them, and the way that Paul helps them, in some way, he's helping us as well. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:45.120 Now, uh anyone who's spent any amount of time uh in ministry with me knows that I like my two-word phrases. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:51.600 I like my two-word phrases here at Elmwood, better together, gospel witness, ordinary obedience. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.080 You hear these uh week after week from me. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:09:57.519 Even uh, what is it, being with God, that's the fourth one. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:00.399 It sounds like three words, but it's really two, right? 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:01.600 Being with God. 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:02.559 Uh two? 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:03.279 No. 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:05.360 Uh those are for church. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:08.559 In marriage, there's super important two-word phrases. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:12.320 We've got I do, yes, ma'am, I'm sorry. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:13.840 Marriage set. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:14.960 Gentlemen, take notes. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:15.759 That's all you need. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:16.639 Ready to go. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.720 Uh, in Bible study, you get God is, I am, I will. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:21.759 That's all you need. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:23.200 You got Bible study down for you. 00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:26.000 There's a pattern with this Dave that's standing up here. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.639 Uh, I need to keep it simple, sweetie. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.360 Like I need, I need some simpleness in my life. 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:34.399 I need two word phrases to help me. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:40.320 And as I was studying this passage that we're looking at today, I was looking over and reading it again. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:45.440 I found uh it kept reminding me of a simple prayer that I'd heard recently. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:58.960 Often as we we hear songs and hymns and listen to the prayers of others who've gone before us, or as we read the scriptures, those songs and hymns and prayers will come to our minds because the people that wrote them were reading the same Bible we are. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:04.480 And the prayer that kept floating into my mind has been made famous by Mother Olga. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:11.120 She's the founder of the daughters of Mary of Nazareth, and a person who some are calling our generation's Mother Teresa. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:13.440 The prayer is simple. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:15.759 God empty me. 00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:20.399 God fill me, God use me. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:21.840 Amen. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:31.440 If I could sum up John's sermon from two weeks ago, the one I already talked about, I would use the phrase, empty me. 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:35.519 Don't trample over each other as you exercise your rights. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:37.840 Allow yourself to be emptied. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:44.559 Follow the pattern of Paul, who follows the example of Jesus, who emptied themselves for your sake. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:50.639 What does Dave need to lay down so that Christ can be formed in others? 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:53.120 How does Dave need to be emptied? 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:55.919 It was a call for me to downshift. 00:11:55.919 --> 00:12:10.720 You got it? 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:11.759 Thank you, Kevin. 00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:13.519 See, this this totally works. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:15.200 We just needed a downshift. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:16.799 Get out of the rat race. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:18.799 We don't need everything to be perfect. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:23.440 We need to see our brothers and sisters for whom Christ died. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.120 So we need to slow down. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:32.480 We need to see that our neighbors are chasing after Jesus, even though they may not know it yet. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:39.039 We need to see the way that our frantic pace of life is affecting those closest to us. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:47.519 We need to turn off the afterburners and be emptied of ourselves so that God can do something wonderful with us. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:49.440 Seriously, the sermon was wonderful. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:50.639 Go listen to it online. 00:12:50.639 --> 00:12:52.720 I highly encourage you. 00:12:52.720 --> 00:12:55.120 But think, empty me. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:00.960 This is where Paul jumps in this week to guide us on the way to follow the life-giving way of Jesus. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:05.360 Once we've allowed God to empty us, he starts to fill our lives back up. 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.080 God empty me, God fill me. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:18.639 The example Paul sets before us, the example of someone following Christ, is once we're emptied by God, he fills us with an incredible love for him. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:23.120 And out of that love flows a love for our neighbors. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:29.039 So that the process of reaching out to them doesn't feel like a burden, but rather it's a privilege all of a sudden. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:33.039 Paul talks about this process in this way in verse 19. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:39.600 Though I am free, I belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:42.240 Paul undertakes this incredible task. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.240 He tries to adopt the cultures and practices of others around him. 00:13:46.240 --> 00:13:54.720 He commits himself to being filled with these new ideas, this new way of life because of his devotion to Jesus. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:14:04.720 Paul then goes on to name somewhere between three and five groups, depending on how you count them, that all need to know about King Jesus, all need to know about a new way of life. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:14.159 The five groups that I count, the Jews, those under the law, those not having the law, those that are weak, and then in the end, Paul just does everyone else. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:26.480 Culturally speaking, uh it those who do not have the law and those who have the law, those those who have read the Hebrew scriptures and those who have never read the Hebrew scriptures are gonna be pretty different. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:38.720 They're gonna be different, and yet Paul found a way to study their way of life, their practices, and become like them for the sake of spreading the good news about Jesus. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:45.600 In order for us to just consider how do we maybe apply that for today, we're gonna do a little story time with Dave. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:50.639 That's I I would invite you all down for a children's sermon, sit down on front, but you can stay in your pews. 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:51.919 I'll stay standing. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:53.840 My knees hurt a little bit too much today. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:14:59.440 Um I grew up, story time with Dave, I grew up in West Bloomington. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:07.759 Uh it was it was not prestigious West Bloomington, that was the other side of the park, but I grew up in West Bloomington in an upper class, middle suburbanite home. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.639 I was born in New Jersey, yes. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:16.159 For those of you that know me, there's a little East Coast in me, but I grew what Bloomington was my home. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:21.200 As I prepared to plant a church in my late 20s and thinking, where does God have me? 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:26.320 Where does God want me to reach out to to help people know and follow Jesus? 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.159 I realized I wanted to reach a different people group than I had known while I was a kid. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:43.919 I wanted to reach blue-collar workers in northeast Minneapolis, was where we landed, and I knew I was gonna have to fill my way of life with something new in order to reach this new, different group of people. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:49.600 And so I ended up with a job at UPS in Northeast Minneapolis working the midnight shift. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:51.360 I learned the ways of the city. 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:55.120 My wife and I had bought a house in South Minneapolis just off of Lake Street. 00:15:55.120 --> 00:16:00.480 At UPS, I learned the ways of a union shop and also how not to ever sleep again. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:04.399 Those of you that have worked the second or third shift know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:12.320 I picked up some language at the union shop that I'm sure would not communicate the same ideas to back in my hometown. 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:17.360 I tried my best to pick up the cultural practices of people I was trying to reach to the UPSer. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:19.679 I became like a UPSer. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:26.799 I gotta tell you, when I planted my church in Northeast about a decade ago, I was nowhere as near as good as Paul is. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:28.480 Let's just be clear. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:31.440 But it doesn't really matter how good of a job I did. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:39.759 Each of us has people in our lives, in our spheres of influence, that they do life, they have slightly different cultural practices than us. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:46.320 They do life slightly differently, but through those people you can reach out with the love of God. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:53.120 But in order to, we need to spend time getting to know them and how they interact with the world. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:56.960 To the people of Arden Hills, become like one from Arden Hills. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:00.000 We need to be filled with their culture in some ways. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:03.840 To the people of Columbia Heights, become like one from Columbia Heights. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:07.920 We need to consider their ways and how they're different from our ways. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:11.359 To the people of New Brighton, we need to become like people from New Brighton. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:14.160 We need to learn their language and their daily rhythms. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.279 To the people of Roseville, become like one from Roseville. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:21.119 We need to be curious about the people around us. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.640 To the people of Minneapolis, become like one from Minneapolis. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:27.759 We need to be close to the lost people in our lives. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:31.920 To the people of Fridley, become like one from Fridley. 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:36.799 We need to meet people where they are and not expect them to come to us. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:38.000 To the people of St. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.119 Anthony, we need to become like one from St. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:42.240 Anthony. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:49.039 We need to figure out how we can become like them so that we can witness to them about King Jesus. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:52.960 Doesn't matter if you're living in Blaine or in Spring Lake Park or in St. 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:54.000 Paul, even. 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.559 As a Minneapolis person, that hurts a little bit. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:57.359 But even the St. 00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:00.000 Paul people in the room, I love you. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:08.960 To the people of wherever God has planted you, become like those people so that you might save some. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:26.640 We need to be emptied by God so that we can be filled by Him with the love for our neighbors, so that the process of learning their ways of life doesn't feel like a burden, but rather it's a privilege. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.519 Let's be clear. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:39.920 Just because we may be filled with God's love for our neighbors who live differently than we do, that does not mean that the process of being filled with this new way of life is going to be easy. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:47.519 Paul talked about the process of becoming like others to communicate the good news of the gospel to them in the language that they would understand. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.039 He uses language that's intense physical training. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:56.880 He talks about runners and boxers and strict training and striking blows to his body. 00:18:56.880 --> 00:19:06.640 Any runner in the room will tell you that physical pain that they have when they tie up their shoes for the first time after way too long of not going out on the trails. 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:11.839 Even in youth group, we'll have people at the beginning of track season, oh, my legs hurt so much. 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:28.000 While runners might be able to enter a zone eventually where they're doing more meditation than running, there's an incredible amount of ice and time and energy and consistency and self-discipline that it takes. 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:30.640 And it's not for this faint of heart. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.759 The other example, boxers. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:41.039 I have to be honest, I don't completely understand boxing or uh MMA or jujitsu or sumo wrestling. 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:42.000 I understand the rules. 00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:42.640 I get it. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:43.759 I understand the rules. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:49.440 Um I have all the respect in the world for people who engage in those sports. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.440 Uh they're doing something and that they train for them. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:54.240 They're doing something that I know I can't do with my body. 00:19:54.240 --> 00:20:01.759 It's impressive and awe-inspiring, but uh the thing I don't get, why are we beating on each other until one of us has a traumatic brain injury? 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:05.359 It just doesn't, it doesn't quite make sense to me. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:10.319 But I know those athletes are engaging in something incredible. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:16.240 They're in control of their bodies in ways that are awe-inspiring. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:19.039 They know exactly what they should and shouldn't eat. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:24.880 They know exactly how many push-ups they should do, how many hours of jump rope they need to engage in. 00:20:24.880 --> 00:20:30.000 They know exactly how to position their bodies in order to survive and win. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:33.920 Do we have that same kind of purpose? 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:40.319 That same kind of resolve as we try to reach people with the greatest news we've ever heard. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:45.359 Paul had a certain dedication to his craft. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:47.039 Do we? 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:52.400 Paul trained himself to share the good news. 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:55.359 He emptied himself of his rights as an apostle. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:14.799 He allowed God to fill him with love for those who are culturally different from him, and then he reached out and has allowed his life to be changed and filled with a new way to be human, loving others by adopting their cultural practices so that he could tell them the good news. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.759 Guys, you're a sinner in need of saving by God. 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.880 Are we there? 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:35.039 All with the goal that others might be saved. 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:38.160 He wanted to be used by God. 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:47.200 If you're the kind of person that underlines things in your Bible, uh, I want to suggest that you go ahead and underline 1 Corinthians 9 22. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:22:02.079 The passage says, I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some, so that by all possible means I Might save some. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:15.119 All that cultural study, getting ready to enter into life with a different group of people, becoming like the other people that were wildly different from Paul and how Paul grew up was for the other people's sake. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:24.319 He saw people running straight at a cliff and then ran to join them and beg them stop, turn, follow Jesus. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:38.240 Paul heard the good news about Jesus and then was transformed from the inside out and wanted to be used by God for the rest of his life so that by all possible means some might be saved. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:48.240 Now, when I talk about evangelism and I talk about reaching out to people with this good news, there are some of you in the room that might be a bit intimidated by that concept. 00:22:48.240 --> 00:22:55.599 You may have experienced a way of doing evangelism that uh some might label more arguing people into the kingdom of God. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.799 I don't know if any of us have experienced that in the past. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:01.599 That's not what we're talking about at all. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:09.359 We're talking about the kind of evangelism that is motivated by kindness and love and the mercy of God. 00:23:09.359 --> 00:23:27.759 Paul's letter to Titus, one of his proteges, says, uh, says this in chapter three When the kindness and love of God, our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:50.559 The righteous things we do, all the emptying, the filling, all of the learning other people's cultures, the becoming like a UPSer to save UPSers and to tell them about Jesus, the early morning Bible reading, the hours spent in prayer, the volunteering at a church to the serving, the widows, the orphans, all of our actions do not save us. 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:53.839 God saves us because of his mercy. 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:58.799 He extends to us grace that we do not deserve. 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:03.200 He loves us even while we are still sinners. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:11.680 And it is out of a heart of gratitude and an excitement for his love and grace that evangelism flows. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:29.599 While there might be some that were have been intimidated by evangelism for seeing the arguing into the kingdom of God, I know there are our souls, those of you in the room, that as I say, as I say things like, empty me, fill me, use me, there's there's a way that your heart resonates with that song. 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:38.000 There's a way that you can feel a stirring within your chest as the Spirit of God vibrates a chord. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:44.079 It it gives you this energy and this passion that you can't quite ignore. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:48.400 And it only the only way to explain it is to say it was a spiritual moving. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:56.160 I learned from King Jesus, my Savior, that out of an overflow of my heart, my mouth will speak. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:08.000 I learned from a guy named Dave Lindy, who's a leader in the Evangelical Free Church of America, that oftentimes uh the overflow of a full heart will pour out through the tears that fall from your eyes. 00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:21.200 If you've been filled with the love of God, if your heart has truly been changed, I encourage you, out of an overflow of your heart, speak the good news to others. 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:34.079 If your heart's singing as God works in you, allow the tears of gratitude to flow from your eyes so that the world can see our good God that is changing you. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:45.599 Every single one of us is called by God to reach other people with the good news that God demonstrated his love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:48.960 Every single one of us has a different part to play. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:57.119 Every single one of us has a way we can interact with our neighbors to tell them about who Jesus is. 00:25:57.119 --> 00:26:01.519 And so I'm not going to stand up here and say, This is exactly what you need to do. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:03.200 This is exactly what you need to do. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:05.039 This is exactly what you need to do. 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:07.039 Because all of us are different. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:18.240 But I will invite you to join with the rest of the Elmwood family that we might invite all people into the life-giving way of Jesus so that some might be saved. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:28.160 And I'll encourage you that maybe, maybe the first step in the process is likely found in something somewhat of a simple prayer. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:33.680 It might be found by praying a prayer as simple as, Lord, empty me. 00:26:33.680 --> 00:26:37.359 Lord, fill me, Lord use me. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.319 Amen. 00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:41.359 I actually I want us today. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:45.200 I told you I wasn't gonna tell you exactly what to do, but I want us today to practice. 00:26:45.200 --> 00:26:47.039 We're we're gonna do a little practice today. 00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:49.920 Uh, we're gonna do this together in the next gen ministry world. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:53.839 We use the phrase, our our hands we fold, our heads we bow. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.200 So we can talk to God right now. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:58.400 This is this is how we do. 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:00.559 This morning, I'm gonna, we're not gonna do that. 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:02.559 Uh sorry guys, I apologize. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:05.200 I know, keep it simple, but we're gonna do something different. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:09.039 This morning, I want to invite you to take a slightly different posture. 00:27:09.039 --> 00:27:17.440 I'm gonna invite you to close your eyes and bow your heads, but I'm gonna invite you to hold your hands open on your laps. 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:28.160 There's nothing special about this posture of opening your hands, but sometimes what we do with our bodies, they help remind our minds what we want in our spirit. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:38.400 And so please, everyone, now I ask you, please just close your eyes, bow your heads, and open your hands and pray with me. 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:41.839 Lord, empty us. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:45.200 Lord, fill us. 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:49.039 Lord use us. 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:52.720 Amen. 00:27:52.720 --> 00:28:00.799 Before I invite you to communion, we uh I want to share some incredible news. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:04.079 Uh we just prayed a really, really big prayer. 00:28:04.079 --> 00:28:06.480 Like that prayer, that's gonna change things. 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:11.759 I know, and I don't know what it is, but it's super exciting because we prayed a really big prayer and we have a really, really big God. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:20.319 Uh, so the best news that I could ever share with you right now, the best thing that I could ever tell you is this news, you're gonna mess it up. 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:24.480 Yes, yes, thank you. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:26.480 Yes, this is the best news. 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:32.880 As you try to be emptied, try to be filled, try to be used by God, you are going to make mistakes. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:43.279 The reason that I'm telling you that you're a sinner and that's the best news you could ever hear is that I know a God who loves and saves sinners. 00:28:43.279 --> 00:28:54.319 The elements that are at this table, they're a physical representation of the broken body of Jesus, broken so that broken people can be made whole. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:29:08.319 The blood of Jesus shed for the forgiveness of the sins of sinners who are trying to be emptied, trying to be filled, trying to be used and missing the mark over and over and over again. 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:16.000 This morning, as I invite you to the table, don't let any sin in your life stop you from coming. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:24.720 Instead, let the grace and the mercy and the love of God invite you to the table because he has overcome your sin. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:28.319 And he has called you his child. 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:57.599 Each week we come to the communion table as a physical demonstration of our empty state before God, as a way to remind ourselves that we need to be filled by him, and as a way to commit with our feet as we walk down the aisle, as a way to commit with our hands as we receive the element, with as we commit with our very bodies to be used by him as we head out back out into the places where we live, work, learn, and play. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:09.200 And so, as I invite you to the communion table, let's take just a few moments of silent confession and reflection as we prepare our hearts to worship God through communion.