Welcome And Ephesians Roadmap

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Everyone, if you're here and you're a guest or a visitor, I want you to know my name is Michael. I'm just one of the pastors here. Grateful that you all are with us today. Now, I also want you to know we've been walking through the book of Ephesians. And when I say walking, I mean it because we go verse by verse. You know, Bible is in our church name, Coppel Bible. And we like to go through the Bible, how the Bible was written verse by verse. So that's what we do. So we've been taking some time, and last week we really got into chapter four of Ephesians. Now, this is kind of a big deal in the book of Ephesians because the way Paul writes any of his epistles, let alone the book of Ephesians, is it's really two gigantic parts. The first part, chapters one, two, and three, they're all these beautiful truths about you if you're in Christ. There are these truths that you can identify with, and he wants you to live from. And when you get to chapters four, five, and six, he begins to talk about how to live from those truths.

Walk Worthy And Guard Unity

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So literally, last week we jumped into chapter four of Ephesians, verses one through six, and Paul really challenged the church with one thing. So he's just getting into the practical how to live this out. And he starts out by challenging the church to do this: walk worthy. He says, walk worthy of the call of Christ. And some of you are like, that's great. I've always wondered what my calling was. He doesn't mean vocation when he says this, he means a general call for you as a believer, as a follower, as a disciple of Jesus. That there is a way that you should live your life. So walk worthy of that. Now he begins to go a little bit deeper into like another little element here. So what's a way we can walk worthy? He says, keep the unity. That's the first thing he talks about when he's addressing the church. Walk worthy, you individually, but know that you need to keep the unity that Christ created. Meaning the church is not made up of one ethnicity. Church is made up of one type of person. You know what type of person the church is made up of? A sinner saved by grace. That's what the church is made up from. And you may be here, and guess what? You may be a sinner, and you may think, no, I'm not. The Bible would contradict that. It says all have fallen short of the glory of God. But it also goes on to say, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So the difference between you or me, if you're not in the family, is that I've been saved by grace and you just haven't received it yet. We're all sinners. So if you're here and you're like, yeah, I was just checking it out today and you're coming out of the gate swinging, I am. Look, because I want you to be someone saved by grace. And the grace is here for us to receive. So I hope that happens to you. And if it hasn't yet, maybe today's the day.

Three-Part Plan For Church Growth

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So now as we get into our text, though, about how this group of people that are sinners saved by grace are supposed to function in the church, Paul's really gonna show us the process of that happening. He's gonna talk about three different things. He's gonna come out of the gate talking about how you have a spiritual gift that Christ gave you. The second thing he's gonna talk about is how there are leaders in the church. As part of their role, it is to develop that gift that Christ gave you. And then the third thing is the outcome. What happens when you walk out your gifting that Christ gave you and leaders are developing it? What happens to the church? And we're gonna see that the body, the church, matures. It becomes who it was created to be. And this is the way God created the church and Jesus created the church to function. So if you have a Bible, open it up to Ephesians chapter 4. We're gonna be getting into verse 7 to begin.

Roommates In The Same House

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But before we get there, let me tell you a little bit about my home life right now. Uh, the first service, my new number four child, sweet Juliet, was here, and she didn't like the preaching because she started wailing about 10 seconds in. And if you know her, she goes from zero to pterodactyl in no time. And so you got it, she doesn't cry, she shrills. And so Allie looked at me and I just said, Yes, yes, I know it, yes, walk out, please. That'd be great. And she did, and they watched it in the nursing mom's room. And uh four weeks ago we brought her in, child number four. Now I gotta tell you, our house is full. It's full, full of estrogen, okay? And we have Allie, my wife, Jubilee Joy, Jovi, Juliet, got a female dog named Maple and a female rabbit named Fluffernutter. And all I'm trying to do is keep testosterone afloat, okay? So if any guys want to have WrestleMania and eat steaks, it's due. Like my house, I'm ready. Just tell me when, all right? Show up, I'm in. So it's been a little chaos. Um, but here's the deal outside of a newborn baby coming, our life is already busy. It's just like you. Some of you I know because we have our kids do volleyball together, or soccer games, and soccer practice, or extracurriculars like Jubilees in Taekwondo and about to get a black boat, which is wild. And they're doing all this stuff. And life is hectic and crazy. You know what Allie and I have realized in our almost 15 years of marriage? This has happened a lot. If you're newlyweds, get ready. You may think you have perfect everything. Let's go work out. This is going to be true of you too. We've realized that we can live in the same house, but not be connected. We've realized that we can be roommates instead of soulmates. And that's not good. Now adding a four-week-old in, we can bump into each other at 2:30 in the morning and be like, who's this? Oh, it's you. Okay. And we aren't together though we're in the house. And Paul is going to address us today, those in the house, and he's going to encourage us to get connected, to be a part of what God has created and what God is doing. And one of the ways you can do that is through your spiritual gift. See, Julia, she's four weeks old. She she can only receive. She can't give anything. Now she tries. It's called poopy diapers and spit up. And she can, you know, that's all right. She's four weeks old. She's supposed to do that, but she's not supposed to stay there because she's supposed to grow up. And at some point, every member of a family has to grow up. They have to go from being in the house to functioning, becoming a part of what's happening in that house. And I just wonder, are there any of us doing that in this house here at Coppel Bible? That we are here, we showed up. We're singing songs when it's time to sing. We got a Bible open and we'll read the screen here in a second when the scripture's on there. But we're not actually connected to what God wants to do here at Coppel Bible. Now, look, I'm not throwing stones. Um, in fact, I've talked to some of y'all even this week, talking about this very thing without y'all knowing this is what we're getting into. And y'all have said, look, I actually don't even think the Lord's giving me an ability to do anything beneficial at the church. Like, I don't think I can bring anything to the table of the church. And here's the deal: you just haven't been told otherwise. Because that's simply not true. We're gonna see that today. But also, I'm about to tell you otherwise, so you have no excuse after today. There's a second group of people, though, that you may know you're gifting. You may know what you could bring to the table here in this house. You could you know how you could connect, but you maybe just don't know how to get that process started.

Are You Connected Or Just Attending

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We're gonna talk about that today. And then there's a group, and I think it's a very minute group here at Calfel Bible, because we have data to back up the fact that so many of y'all are connected and serving. But there's a group here that knows how they could bring something to benefit and bless and build up the church, but are just choosing not to. So Paul's gonna address that. He's writing to a church, not a seminary. He's writing to a church of people from different backgrounds, from different places in life and different ages and stages, called them to walk worthy, called them to walk in unity, has given on spiritual gifts and calls them to grow up in the church and to use them. So he's writing to people just like what we have here. So as we get going, I want to start by answering this question. Did you get a spiritual gift or did you get gypped? Are you like, I don't know. I think the Lord was like, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, next. And you think you're one of those that just missed it. You drew the short straw on spiritual gifts, but that's not true. What we're gonna see in our very first verse this morning is that Christ gave.

Every Believer Receives A Gift

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This is what he does. This is in his nature, by the way. He gave. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7. This is what Paul says. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Did you catch it? Each one of us, this isn't just a pastor thing, this isn't just a leader thing, this isn't just, hey, you were part of the select group of people thing. This is an everybody thing. In fact, the apostle Peter affirms what Paul says in 1 Peter 4 10, he says it this way, as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another. So each one, Paul says it, Peter says it again, not a leadership thing, it's an everybody thing. So if you're in Christ, you're in the family of God, and you are in this house, then you have a spiritual gift to use in this house. The word he uses here is given, which means it's a done deal in the past. You didn't have anything to say about it, you didn't get to pick it, you didn't get to choose if you wanted it or not. It was given to you already done. Now, you may be going, I still don't think I have anything to bring to the table. Like the spiritual gift thing, never been told I had one, no idea how to find it if I did, and I still just don't think I do. What Paul's about to do is so cool. I love when Paul does this, and this might be one of my favorite uh times. He he takes what he's trying to convey and he jumps to the Old Testament and he uses something in the Old Testament, and this is prophetic, what he's about to use, to prove a point that he's making right

Christ The Victor Who Gives

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now. He's gonna double down on the fact that Christ gave something to you, and he's using a conquering king image to do that. He's quoting Psalm 68. Psalm 68 is a psalm of victory. It's a psalm of what happens after a king is victorious. And the people Paul is writing to would have known this image well. We'll talk about it in a second. Let's look at what he says in Ephesians 4, 8 and 10 when he's quoting Psalm 68. Therefore, he says, and here it is, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to men. Now, this he ascended. What does it mean? But that all that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. The Ephesian people would have gone, Oh, I get this, I can see this picture. In Rome, in a Roman-occupied territory, when a general came back from war, they didn't just go into their house and not show anyone. You you know what I'm about to say, because you've seen it in movies. They would ride victoriously through the city. Imagine the general on his horse, army soldiers behind him. They are victorious, probably also prideful and want people cheering for them. But people would line the streets as if the parade and processional would happen because of something important. See, you would have the spoils of war and of your victory. Now, a general would pass those spoils down to his soldiers and to the army. And it could be silver, gold, it could be artifacts, it could be uh uh slaves. But what they would do is they're going through town as people are lying in the streets, and we do it now, it's just candy. We wait for them to throw out candy, but in their day they might have thrown out some coins, some silver or gold. And so people are ecstatic, the conquering generals back, and he's giving what he got, what he won, away to the people. And this is what Paul is saying here. This is the picture he's painting he's painting. But here's the deal: imagine the greatest triumph in all the universe. This is what he's talking about. He's not talking about a Roman general, he's talking about Christ himself, the king who stepped out of heaven, put on skin, walked into enemy territory, defeated it, not even close, and then walked out of his own grave. Forty days later, he ascended on high to go be with the Father. Our king was victorious, and he did what every great king or conqueror would do. He gives things away. What Paul is trying to get us to understand is Christ gave. But he did not give silver and gold, he gave spiritual gifts. Now you may go, wait a second, can we reverse that? Can I get some of the silver and gold? I'd rather have that than my spiritual gift. Can I trade? Can I send it back? Look, um, Jesus says himself, do not lay up treasures for yourself here on earth where all where moths and rust destroy. Instead, think eternal impact, think heavenly. Lay up for yourself treasures in heaven where moths and rust can never touch that are infinitely better than anything finite here on this earth, like gold or silver. Jesus knows that. So he didn't give you gold or silver, he gave you something with eternal impact. And he calls you to not just know what it is, but to use it in the church. Now, um, nobody got gypped in this. You have a gift given to you by God. The question is, how do I find out what it is? And then once I find out with it, what am I supposed to do? Is it like getting off an airplane and you just put the gift on a piece of paper and hold it up in front of everyone to just show people what your gift is? Is that what we do here? Find people with like gifts and connect with them? Look, this is what he's about to tell

Leaders Equip Saints For Ministry

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us. Christ didn't just give you a gift, he gave the church leaders who are called to develop that gift in you. Look at what he says in verses 11 and 12. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of you, the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Now, in the New Testament, there's really three passages about spiritual gifts. You have here Ephesians 4, obviously, then you have 1 Corinthians 12, and secondly, you have Romans 12. And there's some other verses like 1 Peter 4, 10 and others that are thrown out. But the book of spiritual gifts are found in those three passages. Each one of them tells us something pretty unique and special about how God Almighty gifted his church and the functions that he created for the church to live out. When you get to 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, they are lists. You can just read it. And in that, there are certain abilities that he gave people in the church to serve the church. It's things like administration, exhortation, mercy, discernment, faith. Again, just abilities he gave you people, me, in order to uh use in the church. But here's what's interesting in Ephesians 4, he doesn't list abilities, he lists people. He lists people. So he didn't just give you a spiritual gift, though he did. He gave you somebody to develop that gift that he gave you. He put people around you to develop what he put in you. This is the role of leadership, one of the roles I should say of leadership at a local church. So who are these people that Paul is saying the Ephesian church has around them? Well, he lists these roles. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Now, some of them are foundational and specific for the early church. That's apostles and that's prophets. They had a specific role for a specific time. You could go back a couple pages in Ephesians. We've already studied this in Ephesians 2.20. Paul lays the claim that prophets and apostles were there to build the foundation of the church, that the church is built on them alone. Now here's the deal. They are no longer needed as Paul sees them because you don't build a foundation twice. You build a foundation once. So he includes the foundation layer here, but he also includes ongoing roles. And you can see these. These are roles like evangelists or pastors and teachers. The idea is these are shepherds. And a shepherd does a few things. And that doesn't mean numerical, though that's part of it, but it's internal growth, this spiritual growth. Now, no matter how you look at these lists or what you think about the roles in the list, here's what I want us to notice. They all have in common this single thing. They're people, they're not abilities. This is very important for us to know. Christ gave me the role, Barkheft the role, Nathan the role, calling, I should say, Nicole the role, Langley the role, Ben the role, Marla the role, Trish the role, Donna the role, the elders of the church, the role and the responsibility to look at the people in the congregation and know that Christ puts something in you. And you maybe aren't yet walking in it. You don't even maybe know what it is. You don't even know how to live it out. And even though life is crazy and busy, what we tend to do is put so much stuff in front of that. Our role is to get in there and start pulling all that stuff away, find that gift, pull it out, develop it, and let you use it for the building up of the church and the glory of the Lord. This is what the word equipping means. You know, equipping is not a seminary word, it's basic. It is a fishing word. It takes the idea of a net that has been used and is now torn up and needs to be mended so it can be put back to the way it was created and then used as that. And he's saying that's what we're to do for y'all. That leaders are to develop the spiritual gift in you so you can do what you're made to do. Here's the important thing. Now, I I love hard work. Uh it's just in my DNA, I love it. But this verse I'm so thankful is in the Bible, because this doesn't say the leaders at the church are the only ones who're supposed to do the ministry and y'all are just consumers. It says y'all are the producers of the ministry at the church. That the leader's job at a church is to equip and grow you in your spiritual gift so you can now be the one producing, not just consuming. And part of that, you know what that is? That's gonna be growing up. That's how that works. It's like little Juliet, four weeks old, can't give anything yet. She's gonna grow up and then she'll be able to give. It's the same for us in this spiritual church.

A Real Example Of Equipping

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Now, there's someone in this church, someone on staff, who I think does this really, really well. You know this person, and I think you all would agree with me that Nicole Rosson over here, it does this perfectly. Okay. Here's why I say that. Three years ago when we hired Nicole, we were like, she's a gifted, unbelievably gifted communicator of God's word. She takes sometimes super hard, confusing texts and makes them understandable, digestible, and pertinent to your everyday life. This is what she does. And we're like, she is gifted, she needs to be on staff. So we hired her, we brought her on staff. She was just teaching on Wednesdays, right up here on the second floor in Summit. And um, there was like 21, 22 ladies, 23 ladies. And that was great. But guess what? Just this past Wednesday, three years later, they're not up in Summit. They're down here twice on a Wednesday, two different sessions, and instead of 23 people, there's 130 people. Now I say that because it's not just that Nicole's communication is what grew that group of people, though it's a massive part of it. What happened was as she's upstairs and she begins to see all of these ladies coming, she goes, I can't do the ministry all by myself. That's what Paul says, by the way. She goes, I can't do that. But I see these ladies in the women's ministry, and I know that I need to pour into them so they can do this ministry. And so what happened is she created a content guardian team, literally a team of ladies whose role, part of their role, is to look at what content that they're going to be speaking on, teaching about. And I think right now they're looking a year and a half out, even. So they're dedicated to grow that, to make sure whatever they teach, it aligns with God's word. And then secondly, she created at each of the tables, it's round tables, she created a table leader. Someone at that table who acts as the leader of the table, literally to disciple the ladies at that table. So, so Nicole perfectly personifies this text and what how Christ created the church to work. And so, Nicole, grateful for you, love you, glad we're on staff together. Good for Nicole because she really is awesome. She doesn't ever, we never get the chance to tell her in a big group setting like this. But she is a perfect example of equipping under her charge. And the result of that, by the way, isn't just the numerical growth of 23 to 130 in three years. It's the internal growth, it's the spiritual growth. It's through Nicole's ministry. Some ladies in this room have grown up spiritually. They have matured. Now, here's where Paul's going to go next.

The Goal Is Fullness In Christ

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When we walk in our spiritual giftedness, are equipped, decide to play our part in the church, the whole church is going to grow up. The whole church is going to mature. This is what he says in Ephesians 4.13 as we kick off this last section. He says, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature, the fullness of Christ. This is the end goal. This is the final destination. This is what we all should look and want to attain, that we grow up together into the fullness of Christ. Now, let me just do a little bit of uh just some questions to ask. And I'm not, again, throwing stones. But are you someone that let's just hypothetically say you go home right now after church and you open up your phone and you see some news headline and you're moved spiritually? And I don't mean that in a good way, like yeah, come Jesus, come way. I mean in a way where you're you feel lost. You feel confused, blindsided, and it messes with you so much that the rest of your day is thrown off. Are you someone who is still shocked when life gets a little bit hard? When something happens, the world shifts under your feet, you begin to wobble a little bit, and instead of standing on what you know is true, you begin to get nervous and fearful and don't know what to do. I'm gonna throw Paul under the bus real quick because he's the one that uses this word. I'm just gonna say it because he's about to tell us. That's called spiritual childhood. That's Juliet at four weeks old. That's not where we're supposed to stay. We're supposed to grow up. Look at how he says we should grow up and what's gonna get in the way of that maturity in verse 14. That we should no longer be children. That's how he starts this out. But look at where he goes. Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. What he is saying is the church and you individually need to grow up to a place where you are a big, sturdy boat, literally a ship cutting through the waves, the current of culture that comes in and hits. You're not gonna be swayed by that. You're gonna cut right through it. But so many of us are acting like a little boat that's just getting slapped around. Like we've allowed that to be the case. We don't have anything we're anchored to. We we know we should, but we're choosing not to. And so we get slapped around in rough water with no stability and no direction, and just literally going wherever the culture or the headline or the war takes us next. We're just tossed all over the place. Now, here's what this looks like in

Spiritual Childhood In A Headlines Age

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2026. I'll tell you what spiritual uh childhood looks like in 2026. You open up God's word twice a week and you open this up 400 times. And then you say things like, Well, I just don't know why I don't feel close to God today or recently. Okay, let me just let's step aside. Whew, that hurt. Let's step aside, let's talk about something else that might hurt a little bit. Um you decide to eat a horrible diet all week long, and at the weekend, you're like, Well, how do I feel sick? And like, it's your diet. It's pretty simple. This plus this equals this. It's not that confusing, it's the same spiritually that if you are someone and you feel like you're getting slapped around by all the craziness of the world, and you don't feel like you're standing on the solid rock on the cornerstone, Christ Himself, then you gotta grow up. Wouldn't you want to grow up? It's not fun being slapped around. Well, okay, and he tells us, he gives us a little insight. He he says, Don't miss where this current is coming from. There are people. By the way, do you know the world is ruled by the prince of darkness? There are people, Paul tells us, that are behind trying to keep you in this immature place. And they are people that are cunning and they are crafty, and they are actively scheming, and their whole goal is to keep you as a child. Why would they want you to stay a child? Because unstable people are easier to move. Is that you? Look, he's calling us all to grow up, and here's what's um beautiful about this text it's relative to everyone in this room. Because some of you maybe are grown, but you don't fully grow up and then you just coast. All of us have growing to do, but where are you at on that spectrum? Do you feel like, man, I've been able to, like I've been swayed by this argument, swayed by that, and all you're doing is this, going, man, it's just swaying me everywhere I go. And you're not doing this that anchors your soul? Look, this is for me as much as it is for you. Gosh, I get caught up in I I don't really, I don't get into the social media arguments, but I sure like reading the comments of them. I like seeing where people are coming from, I like seeing what's being said out there, but then it starts to affect me, and then I'll be in a bad mood. And I'm like, why am I doing that? Look, I'm supposed to be in the world, but not of the world. And if I'm acting like the world, I'm not growing up. And God calls me, he calls you, he calls all of us to grow up. We cannot be people who are swayed by trickery of men or by false doctrine. You're not made to spend your whole life as a seasick child in a boat. Let's grow up. So the question is, how do we do that? How do we help other brothers and sisters, even if we can see that maybe they're going down a place where they're getting slapped around or they're in a place where they're not growing up? How do we handle those conversations? That's tough. Like, should we just go to the pastor and dump it on me and then I have to go deal with it? No, no, no. God's gifted the body to do this, to figure this out together and to work alongside each other. And he's going to tell us how we are to do that, how we are to have that conversation, how we're to grow up in these last couple verses. In

Speaking Truth In Love

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Ephesians 4, verse 15 and 16. Look at how he starts this section. But speaking the truth in love. May we grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effect of working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This little phrase here in verse 15, the beginning of the verse, speaking the truth in love. I believe this is the environment where maturity, spiritual maturity, needs to happen. This is why he created it, that's why he's saying it. We've got to be a church that can speak the truth to each other in love. So, what does that mean? That you are committed enough to say the right thing, but you're gentle enough to say it the right way. Committed enough to say the right thing. Not because you're like, I'm gonna tell them. Because you know, because they're not growing up, the church isn't growing up. And we're all called to play our part individually and grow up together. And so if I see that something's happening over here that shouldn't be happening, I gotta, it's hard, right? You're like, oh, this is relational awkwardness, and man, I feel social awkwardness, and how am I supposed to do this? And my heart's beating. Look, you speak the truth in love. You say what needs to be said, but you say it the right way. Look, Allie and I, we we've talked about this in our marriage. Um, we we got told one time, or we heard one time, that if what you say is right, but the way you say it is wrong, then what you said is wrong. And I was like, no, it's not. Allie was like, Yes, it is. Okay, but it's true because that becomes a pride thing where I just wanted to get my point across. This is about relationships. Remember chapter four, verse one through six? Keep the unity that Christ created. And if you're not keeping the unity, you're actually tearing the body of Christ because he's the bond that holds it all together. And so we handle these types of conversations, this type of growing up and calling each other to a higher standard spiritually needs to be handled in

A Youth Pastor Says Grow Up

SPEAKER_00 31:03

love. Let me tell you how this happened to me in high school. When I was in ninth grade, I was on um, I was a sixth-day school in Oklahoma, and I was on varsity football, started on varsity. And here's what's crazy the school was kind of growing, or the town was kind of growing so fast that the ninth grade was in the middle school. It was seventh, eighth, and ninth grade because they couldn't build a building fast enough. And then the high school was 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. And so I was a freshman in high school, but in the middle school, but playing on varsity football. And so I started hanging out with these kids I never saw at school, juniors and seniors. And I thought I was hot stuff. And I wanted to be like them. And now every parent knows, right? Like the parent radar goes up, like Michael's acting different. I don't know. It was something about my attitude, no idea what they're talking about. You know how it is with a 15, 16-year-old boy. It just didn't work out. A couple months later, you remember back in the day when you actually pushed a little button and you had an intercom thing in the classroom and you could say something from the office and it would go to that specific classroom. Nowadays you just get texts about it. But over the intercom in the class was like, um, is Michael Hewitt in class? Yeah, he's here. And I was like, oh boy, it usually means I'm in trouble. It's like, hey, someone's here to take him to lunch. And I was like, Okay, I'm in, I'm hungry. And I walk in the office, and it's my youth pastor, Kurt Gourtney. And I was like, uh Hey Kurt, here we go. Look, I by the time we got to where we were eating lunch, before we could even order our waters, before the waitress even came up, Kurt looked at me and said, Michael, I love you too much to let you live this way. Grow up. He literally said that. And you may go, ooh, that's harsh. Look, he knows that I'm like a let's not peel the onion back layer by layer, like let's get the world's largest axe and cut it in half, and there we are. And so he was speaking right to where I was at. And he said, Look, I love you too much. You need to grow up. There was no anger in his voice. In fact, I was convicted because I knew it was true. But he said it with just enough love and just enough backbone that I listened. Now, here's the deal. I have no idea if I would be right here if it wasn't for that conversation. Don't know what the Lord would have done. But I can tell you that when I look back, that really set a different trajectory of my life that I needed to go when I was in middle school or high school. And so I'm forever grateful for Kurt Gourtney. That's not conflict that he was bringing to me, that's discipleship. It's the body of Christ, and he called me to a higher standard. So for us, let's imagine we have a friend drifting in their marriage, and you know about it and you see it. How do you have that conversation in love? What about someone you see, maybe a uh friend flirting with compromise at work in some way? You heard about it, and they're brothers and sisters in Christ, and you just feel like that's not okay. Look, have just enough backbone to say the right thing. And to say it in love, say it the right way. That's what you're called to do, by the way. That's how we all grow up together, by the way. Now, you look them in the eye and you can say what Kurt, you can steal this line, say what Kurt said to me. I love you too much to let you live this way or to watch you live this way. Grow up. See, mature churches aren't churches with no hard conversations. You you think unity is easy, it's just naturally here. That's not the case. There are hard conversations, but they're hard conversations where after the conversation, love is still in the room. You ever had a conversation that turns to an argument and love's gone? It's not what needs to happen at the church. We've got to be better than that. We've got to be above that. But the only way to do that is to grow up in our faith spiritually. And when that happens, when truth and love are actually operating together, it doesn't just change you, though it does, doesn't just change the person that you're having that conversation with, though it does. It changes the entire body of a church. The whole body begins to grow up. In fact, here's the most beautiful part of it. He goes on to say that every gift is deployed, every joint is supplying, every part is functioning, and the whole body begins to look like something different. And that is Christ, the head of the church. What a mighty call for us all to try to live out. And we together can look like Christ. Now, the body will mature, it'll start to look like Christ. What impact does that have? Like you're growing up great, but I need you to know about the impact that could have for a local community.

How Mature Christians Change Culture

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Not only mean Coppel Bible, I mean Coppel or Grapevine or DFW or Texas or America or the world. Because you may think, well, how what does this actually look like if it's played out and lived out? History tells us. History tells us. Now, the Roman Empire is considered one of the greatest empires. A lot of people would say it's the greatest, but it's definitely one or two or top two or three greatest empires of all time. And what they were trying to do after this, after the Bible, is stop Christianity. So they persecute, they do all these things, uh, they blame Christians for stuff. I mean, it was pretty hard times. And they were trying to thwart quit Christianity, but guess what? It just kept blowing up. It's kind of funny. Whenever persecution happens, the church grows. When persecution is not happening, the church doesn't grow, that's because it's not feeling pressure and it feels like, oh, I can be complacent. We're not making an impact in the world. But when we begin making an impact, the world doesn't like it because the world's ruled by the prince of the air. And all of a sudden he comes in, he starts persecuting, trying to stop, but he can't stop. It only grows. It like fuels the fire of Christianity. And that began to happen. And all of a sudden, in 130 AD, so the second century, a Roman official writes to a man named Mapetus and says, What's going on with these Christians? Like, how are they growing? We are persecuting them. I need you to go literally study the Christians and report back to me. So he does. And what he tries to do is explain to this Roman official what he sees with Christians. This is what he writes. For the Christians are distinguished from other men, neither by their country nor language, nor by customs which they observe. They neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. What he's saying is they didn't just become Christians and go, all right, world, we're out. We're going to go be monks over here in our little holy huddle and not affect the world around us. What he's saying is they stayed right where they were, and they were going to be Christians right where they were, and they were going to do this together. He goes on. Nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of merely human doctrines, but inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according to the lot of them is determined, they follow the customs of those places of the native cities and countries, and they follow it in respect to clothing and food and the rest of the ordinary conduct, and they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. What is he saying? They honor where they're at, but they are different where they're at. Listen to how he says they are different. They dwell in their own countries with these people, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if they're foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They are sojourners. Anybody ever read Hebrews 11? He calls them sojourners. He writes, it says, We are sojourners just passing through. Where? To our heavenly home. That's how these great people of faith in Hebrews 11 live their life. And this guy is writing back, going, Wow, all the Christians are doing this. Look what he says next. He says, They marry, as do all other people of their countries, and they have children, but they do not destroy their offspring. This is very important. In Rome, abortion was have a baby, you don't want it, lay it on the stones outside and let it die. That was a form of abortion. But we believe, we are pro-life. Christians have always been pro-life. We believe in the sanctity of life. We believe every from conception, everyone's made in the image of God. And literally what started happening was these Christians would see these babies left to die and they would adopt them. They would scoop them up. They go, this isn't okay. We've got to make a mark here. We've got to do something about this. And instead of going, hey, Pastor, you need to do something about this, they just said they would do it. And so they begin scooping up these kids and raising them as their own. He goes on and says, they have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. Meaning, that lady that I'm married to is not my property or possession. She's my bride. And they can't even fathom it. The guy's writing it going, this doesn't make any sense. That's not how it works in Rome. You can sleep around with whoever you want, and you have this lady, she's your property. And you're like, no, no, no, not in the kingdom of God. That's not how it works. The last thing he says is, they pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time, they surpass the laws just by the way they live. They love all men, and but they are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned, they are even put to death, yet some restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich because they lack in all things, but they abound in all internally. They are dishonored, and yet in their very dishonor they are glorified. They are have evil spoken about them, yet are justified. They are reviled, yet they bless. They are insulted, but they repay the insult with honor. They do good, they're not punished as evildoers, and when punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life. They are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, persecuted by the Greeks, yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred. And the last thing he says is this. Okay. That's how Christ created it to work. 250 years after that letter was written to the Roman official, Christianity became the religion of the greatest empire in the history of the world. 250 years later. Start with Emperor Constantine converting to Christianity in 312, and by 380 it got adopted as the religion of the Roman Empire. It didn't happen through power, it didn't happen through politics, it didn't happen through anything other than ordinary Christians growing up and living as Christ has called them to live. No, it has to be politics. That's the only way to affect change. No, you get people in power, and that's how you do it. Look, there's some truth to that. Those things can affect change. None of that happened, and the greatest empire in the world was swayed. This is what Paul's after in our text this morning. That when we together, individually but together, grow up in our faith, every joint is being supplied. What you are doing is helping supply the next one and keep them intact. And what they're doing is helping you. And we're all in this together, and every part's functioning. And we're not just in the house, we're connected in the house using the gifts, talents, and abilities God has given us for the building up and the edifying of the church and ultimately for the glory of the Lord. And what happens when a watching city starts seeing something it can't explain is it's not looking at you. It's looking at you, I should say. But it's trying to figure out I know you. It doesn't look like the you I know. And it's because it's not the you they know. It's Christ. It's Christ in you, the perfect one. And we'll begin growing up and looking like him. That's the whole point. So here's what I want you to do as you walk out of here today.

Three Next Steps And Challenge

SPEAKER_00 43:25

I want to give three specific um to-dos depending on where you're at. The first is simple. If you're in this house, but you're not connected in this house, whether it's because you don't know your giftedness or you don't know how to get connected, you need to go to starting point. You're as do the announcement for it every single week almost. You need to go to starting point. And what starting point will do is not just tell you about our doctrines and our beliefs in this church, though I think it's important and that stuff will be shared. It tells you about you. We we get into your life experiences, we get into some. Spiritual gifts tests. I mean, we figure out who you are, not for the sake of going, ah, I got another one to deploy and just come, hey, I need you to go do ministry. So come on. It's to find the perfect place for you to serve so you can play your part in the church so the church can grow up because that's what we're called to do. So I would encourage you, sign up for that QR code there behind the seat. You see it. Come talk to me. You can go to our website, whatever. You need to sign up for a starting point. The next is if you're already connected, I think your application is this. Keep growing. Go deeper. You don't cap your growth. You understand until the Lord calls you home or the last breath leaves your lungs, you're still here for a purpose and God has a purpose for you. So continue exploring that. Grow deeper in that. Maybe there's someone that you need to have a hard conversation with, but you could do it in love. Maybe it's a place where you're like, I need to serve again. I have another Sunday. I'm free. And I just been thinking about serving on a Sunday again or serving a different Sunday, another Sunday, and I'm not done it. Maybe it's time for you to do that now. Maybe it's to help out Nicole and women's ministry on Wednesdays with Bible study. Maybe it's Billy Sewell and these other men who go to Men and Nehemiah and help out these men who've been addicted to drugs on Tuesdays. These are the things we have going on. And so we find a place for you and want you to go use that giftedness. So if you're if you are connected, go deeper. Be the joint that actually supplies, uh supplies what the body needs. And the last one is the easiest. And it's for someone who showed up today being like, I'm just trying to check out church and I don't know what just happened. Here's what I'd encourage you with come back next week. That's it. Let me just tell you the simple fact that you're here means God's moving in your life. I mean, I believe that, but it's true. And so don't stop it. Come back. So those are the three things God is stirring in your life. And I don't want any of y'all to walk away from whatever that is because we're all called to grow up. And as we do, as we grow up in Christ, then we'll become like him. Because Jesus gave you a gift. He didn't get gypped. You have it. I'm looking at it. Gifted people. The pastors are here to help develop that gift. The Holy Spirit is here to help empower that gift. And this church needs your gift. So the question is, will you use it? Will you play your part? Will you grow up?