SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the First Prince Sermon Podcast, where each week we dive into scripture, wrestle with truth, and discover how faith intersects our lives.
SPEAKER_01: God's word meets us where we are, challenging, shaping, and calling us into something greater.
SPEAKER_01: No matter where you are on your journey, you belong here.
SPEAKER_01: And we're praying that this sermon might help you take a next step in faith towards Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, let's dive into today's message together.
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
SPEAKER_02: Come on.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I have to tell one thing about Tim, which I didn't say in the last time, but oh, I'm Nate, by the way.
SPEAKER_02: Um, grateful to be here.
SPEAKER_02: But you know, sometimes when people ask you a question, but it's not really a question, it's a comment.
SPEAKER_02: Tim did that to me one time.
SPEAKER_02: It was super helpful.
SPEAKER_02: So when he was here and I was discerning like what is next, I said, Hey, I think I want to go to like a real old established church with all the people and that's stuck and dying.
SPEAKER_02: I want to turn it around.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Nate, do you think you're patient enough to do that?
SPEAKER_02: Touche, Tim.
SPEAKER_02: I think I would have been in a body bag by now if I would have done that.
SPEAKER_02: So the other thing I said, I had the ADD moment in the first service when I sat in here, and I kept staring at the cross.
SPEAKER_02: And believe me, theologically, I get the cross.
SPEAKER_02: But it was an Easter morning, it was uh sunrise service.
SPEAKER_02: I was asked to preach it.
SPEAKER_02: All the lights were off in here.
SPEAKER_02: I was running around this stage, I don't know what I was looking for, but I ran as fast as I could into the side of that big wooden cross, hit me in the head, I fell down on the thing Easter morning, and kind of like like a fish, like doing this, knocked out by the cross in this very place.
SPEAKER_02: Special room.
SPEAKER_02: I had a little like, I remember it's a knot, and I'm like preaching about the resurrection of the Lord and going, oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02: That's what's wrong with me, if you're wondering who this guy is some pictures of my family.
SPEAKER_02: This is our crew.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Ruthie's my oldest, and she, I guess we lived here 10 years ago.
SPEAKER_02: She was nine-ish when we left.
SPEAKER_02: She's a uh sophomore at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, the other one, Ellie, on the well, Ruthie's like her mom, loves rules, pleasing, whatnot.
SPEAKER_02: Ellie, not so much.
SPEAKER_02: She's like her father.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then that's Kim and I, uh, my wife, and that's where we live, near a place called Baldhead Island.
SPEAKER_02: We're 48 years old, if you want to know.
SPEAKER_02: That is where we do church.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, used to do church for years at this farm with goats and sheep and honey bees and all kinds of stuff.
SPEAKER_02: And so that's an aerial shot of this Easter.
SPEAKER_02: And we do big pig pickings, if you know what those things are, uh, after worship.
SPEAKER_02: And this is the building that we bought six months ago.
SPEAKER_02: It was about to be a high-end restaurant or bar.
SPEAKER_02: And then the owner of it, who's not a Christian, said, I think it should stay a church, and said, Well, we do too.
SPEAKER_02: And so we've been in there, about ready to go to two services.
SPEAKER_02: It's in a real interesting part of town with the haves and the have-nots.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, so it's been a great joy.
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, people have asked me, how has the church planning thing gone?
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I always tell people, if you were here and you knew me 10 years ago, I had a full head of hair, I was six foot two, dark and handsome, six-packed, ripped, and now look at me, I'm bald, chubby, gray.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it's like to plant a church and raise teenage daughters.
SPEAKER_02: So I know I said in there, I love the robe because it covers a multitude of sins.
SPEAKER_02: When you wear I was real thin in that robe just a minute ago, but um this church has prepared me to do what God is using me to do right now, and that's uh what I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I'm so grateful that this church, as Tim said, sent us with finances, with prayers, friendships.
SPEAKER_02: Um and so I wanted to come back 10 years later and say thank you to this place that's meant so much and still means so much to our family.
SPEAKER_02: So thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Lord God.
SPEAKER_02: This this group does not need more uh wisdom from Nate Stratman, but we need your holy wisdom, infinite wisdom.
SPEAKER_02: God, may we be shaped by your word, by your spirit, stretch us.
SPEAKER_02: I think this morning there are people that need to feel comforted.
SPEAKER_02: God, by your spirit, may they feel comforted comforted.
SPEAKER_02: And I know there's folks in here this morning that probably need to be stretched.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray that your spirit would do that in our time together.
SPEAKER_02: We pray it in Jesus' name, and all God's people said Amen.
SPEAKER_02: That's my beard.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
SPEAKER_02: We good, Ben?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, the wares were back here and Ben's back there, and they're all in the youth ministry at one time.
SPEAKER_02: Great to see them serving.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, you're spending the summer in Romans, whether you know it or not, and Romans is Paul's magnum opus, I think, of all the letters.
SPEAKER_02: And chapter 12, I think, is the chapter of all chapters.
SPEAKER_02: I really think you could preach chapter 12 for six months.
SPEAKER_02: It's so much in Romans chapter 12.
SPEAKER_02: Um, the first half of Romans, I think, stretches the mind.
SPEAKER_02: It's robust theology.
SPEAKER_02: Paul uses those real big words, justification, sanctification.
SPEAKER_02: But if your theology doesn't grow legs and walk out the door, then it's not doing really what it was designed to do.
SPEAKER_02: And so Paul is reminding us in this text today that our faith in Jesus is not just a faith of the mind between the ears, but it is a faith of the feet and the fingers.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm going to read this metaphor of Paul's, that's a brilliant metaphor, the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: If there were first century TED talks, this would be the most incredible TED talk by Paul, because it really helps people understand Paul's saying, okay, you know the human body, you know how it works, that's how the church should work.
SPEAKER_02: And so it's a great image.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 3.
SPEAKER_02: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.
SPEAKER_02: But rather, think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
SPEAKER_02: For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
SPEAKER_02: We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.
SPEAKER_02: If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.
SPEAKER_02: If it's serving, then serve.
SPEAKER_02: If it's teaching, then teach.
SPEAKER_02: If it's to encourage, then give encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: If it's giving, then give generously.
SPEAKER_02: If it's to lead, do it diligently.
SPEAKER_02: If it's to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
SPEAKER_02: This is the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: It was 1988.
SPEAKER_02: I was 11 years old.
SPEAKER_02: We love the St.
SPEAKER_02: Louis Cardinals in my family.
SPEAKER_02: Baseball.
SPEAKER_02: Both sides of the family, big Cardinal fans.
SPEAKER_02: And everybody liked people like Ozzy Smith, who did the backflips, he was a shortstop, and Albert Puholson years later.
SPEAKER_02: But I always loved a guy that no one else loved and most people never heard of.
SPEAKER_02: And his name was Jose Okendo.
SPEAKER_02: Does anyone know who Matt Meister knows who's Jose?
SPEAKER_02: Three other people besides Matt know who Jose Okendo was.
SPEAKER_02: Um, in 1988, Jose did something really cool.
SPEAKER_02: He played all nine positions in one season.
SPEAKER_02: Pitcher, outfield, batter, he played all the things.
SPEAKER_02: And his nickname was the secret weapon, but he spoke Spanish, and so they called El Arma Secreta.
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't that sound cool?
SPEAKER_02: He was Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Utility, right?
SPEAKER_02: So if you're a coach and there's you had a need, you just call Jose, man.
SPEAKER_02: He'd play all of them gladly.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so when I was a boldly average baseball player at my high school in ninth grade, at the awards banquet, you know, they gave away those like loser awards like MVP and things like that.
SPEAKER_02: And the award I got, like, because they had to give one to every kid, but the one they gave me was Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Utility.
SPEAKER_02: And I had joy in my soul.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, that is the gringo version of Jose Okendo.
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's me.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I'm the Swiss Army knife of the Glendale Falcons, and I've just I wanted to feel useful to my team.
SPEAKER_02: Put me in, coach.
SPEAKER_02: Um, I desperately wanted to be of use, right?
SPEAKER_02: If you're gonna be on the baseball team, you want to play.
SPEAKER_02: I still want to be of use.
SPEAKER_02: My guess is that many people here want to be of use.
SPEAKER_02: You just want, don't want to go to church and just kind of sit somewhere and take something in, but you want God to use you.
SPEAKER_02: You know, Jim Singleton used to say that phrase that a lot of Presbyterians like to sit, soak, and sour.
SPEAKER_02: But that's not what God has called us to do.
SPEAKER_02: We want Coach Jesus to put us in the game.
SPEAKER_02: We want to be of use.
SPEAKER_02: But I think the question is like, really, right now, think about your life.
SPEAKER_02: How's God using you?
SPEAKER_02: In his kingdom, how are you of use right now?
SPEAKER_02: It has to be so much more than I just go to a church.
SPEAKER_02: And so I would say when you and I understand the unique way God has wired you and the gifts that he has given you, I will say that you will flourish.
SPEAKER_02: I really believe that.
SPEAKER_02: So what I want to do is for some reason, some of Paul's writings make more sense to me backwards.
SPEAKER_02: And so I'm gonna read this from the back to the front, and I want to start with these gifts.
SPEAKER_02: I think there's seven gifts he mentions.
SPEAKER_02: Look at verse six.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're a believer, that's you.
SPEAKER_02: God distributes these unique spiritual abilities to believers.
SPEAKER_02: There's roughly 20 mentioned in his different letters.
SPEAKER_02: Um, you don't have all of them.
SPEAKER_02: That's not how the game works.
SPEAKER_02: You don't try to like Pac-Man collect all the gifts.
SPEAKER_02: That's not how it works.
SPEAKER_02: There's not hierarchy of like Jeff Freyshog has this and I don't have that, and Tim.
SPEAKER_02: That's not how it works.
SPEAKER_02: It's not hierarchy.
SPEAKER_02: But it's this idea that we do in this church, in my church, need all of the gifts of the body of Christ in the same way, as far as I know, I still need all my body parts, or I feel like I do.
SPEAKER_02: And throughout this day, running back and forth and being slightly overweight and coming from zero elevation to this place, I remember thinking, like as a kid, why do I have eyebrows?
SPEAKER_02: You know, you go, what do you have eyebrows for?
SPEAKER_02: And then now, as a bald man who's been sweating all morning, I know why I have eyebrows, right?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, God's good.
SPEAKER_02: You know, he knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER_02: He makes him eyebrows.
SPEAKER_02: Catching all that sweat, I'm like, that's pretty smart.
SPEAKER_02: So praise Jesus to have eyebrows.
SPEAKER_02: I'm very grateful this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: If that's the only thing you hear.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I want to look at these gifts.
SPEAKER_02: Prophecy.
SPEAKER_02: Wait a second, we're Presbyterian, we have prophecy, but Paul's saying these are the people that boldly declare God's truth, the gift of prophecy.
SPEAKER_02: And the only people that have this are people who've been to seminary and have a master's of divinity.
SPEAKER_02: No, that's actually a lie that hurts the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: We believe that.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are really gifted.
SPEAKER_02: You have this gift of boldly declaring God's truth, doesn't matter when, doesn't matter where you do it.
SPEAKER_02: Is that you?
SPEAKER_02: Think about it.
SPEAKER_02: Is that you?
SPEAKER_02: Do you have that gift?
SPEAKER_02: Do you know someone with that gift?
SPEAKER_02: And whoever comes to your mind right now, I'm gonna say this seven times.
SPEAKER_02: So whoever comes to your mind right now, go tell them you see that in them.
SPEAKER_02: Serving.
SPEAKER_02: These are the people that find joy in meeting the practical and tangible needs of a community of faith.
SPEAKER_02: They're the saints that are faithful, deeply loyal.
SPEAKER_02: They are giving rides, they're delivering meals, they're stacking the chairs.
SPEAKER_02: They are the hands of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And often behind the scenes, a lot of this stuff is behind the scenes and in the shadows.
SPEAKER_02: And I will tell you, this church and my church, they do not function without these people.
SPEAKER_02: Is this you?
SPEAKER_02: Do you know someone?
SPEAKER_02: When you think of this, who's that person?
SPEAKER_02: Tell them.
SPEAKER_02: Teaching, these are the people that are gifted at making God's word clear and applicable applicable.
SPEAKER_02: I can't say that word.
SPEAKER_02: Applicable.
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know how to say it.
SPEAKER_02: I was educated at the University of Arkansas, so it's people who make God's word clear.
SPEAKER_02: These are people who are teaching our children.
SPEAKER_02: Uh they are teaching new believers, small groups, they mentor people.
SPEAKER_02: They love God's word and they want other people to love God's word.
SPEAKER_02: Is that you?
SPEAKER_02: Do you know someone?
SPEAKER_02: Tell them.
SPEAKER_02: I want to stop for a second.
SPEAKER_02: I've been noticing there's teenagers uh in here, young adults.
SPEAKER_02: And I just want to remind you that this is not adult speak, that young people who have faith in Christ have spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_02: You're not the junior varsity of this church.
SPEAKER_02: There's one team, and you're much deeply needed in this place and in the community.
SPEAKER_02: So can you tell I did some youth ministry in my day?
SPEAKER_02: But I really believed it.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, encouragement, verse eight.
SPEAKER_02: Are you the person who speaks life into others?
SPEAKER_02: Is that what you do?
SPEAKER_02: And do you do it naturally?
SPEAKER_02: The word edify is a great word in our faith.
SPEAKER_02: In Spanish, I think it's like edificio, like a building.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it is.
SPEAKER_02: You're building someone up in the faith.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, these are the cheerleaders of the church.
SPEAKER_02: They're the mouth of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Is that you?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if y'all know Steve Williams, but like he's the guy that, like, even when I feel terrible about my, he's like, Nate, you're the best.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I'm really not.
SPEAKER_02: But he's like, brrrrrr.
SPEAKER_02: That's all morning.
SPEAKER_02: I've been here with Steve Williams.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, man, you are a cheerleader.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know someone?
SPEAKER_02: If you know someone, tell them that you see that in them.
SPEAKER_02: Giving.
SPEAKER_02: These are the people that are just simply generous.
SPEAKER_02: And here's what I love about them: they don't just give out of their abundance to the needs of the community, but they do it with joy.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I should give to the church.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I should give some time over there.
SPEAKER_02: That's what Christian.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: They love it.
SPEAKER_02: They love to give, they love to support people with their abundance.
SPEAKER_02: They are the outstretched arms of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Is that you?
SPEAKER_02: Who comes to mind when you think about that gift?
SPEAKER_02: Tell them.
SPEAKER_02: And the last one, um, these are the people, the mercy folks, they act with compassion to the broken and the hurting.
SPEAKER_02: And I've shared this uh analogy throughout the morning.
SPEAKER_02: Some people got this, some people not, but I'm still gonna stick with it because I love it.
SPEAKER_02: But do you guys remember the commercial where Sarah McLaughlin, it was 20 years ago, so I'm dating myself, but she sang that in the arms of an angel.
SPEAKER_02: And it was like the starving dogs and cats, and they're like, you need to give money to save the dogs and the cats.
SPEAKER_02: And it was just like, oh, so if you were the person that boohooed at that commercial, you have the gift of mercy.
SPEAKER_02: And you be able to just change it because you don't like dogs and cats.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know, God will deal with you in his own way.
SPEAKER_02: But people with mercy are generous with their time.
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think about some of my friends here who are going through it right now, and I'll tell you, I showed pictures of my family.
SPEAKER_02: I know we look good on the beach, or most three or the four of us look good.
SPEAKER_02: You know that's not the full picture, don't you?
SPEAKER_02: Our Christmas cards, that's not the we show, you know, we smile and whatnot.
SPEAKER_02: But there's some real hard stuff going on in our family.
SPEAKER_02: And a lot of our friends here today, I know there's hard stuff going on.
SPEAKER_02: And so mercy is when you feel the weight of the world and it's on your shoulders.
SPEAKER_02: The merciful person comes underneath that friend, and they don't take that weight from them because you can't take it from someone.
SPEAKER_02: But you lift up a little bit with them, and that's an act of mercy to walk alongside them as they're feeling the weight of the world.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're wondering, do I have the gift of mercy?
SPEAKER_02: You're probably tearing up a little bit after I just did that analogy.
SPEAKER_02: Does anyone have the gift of who is that?
SPEAKER_02: If you know a merciful person that you have this gift, go tell them.
SPEAKER_02: So some Christians have sat in church their entire lives.
SPEAKER_02: And if I went, I've known a lot of you a long time, but if I went to you and say, Do you understand how God has wired you and put you together?
SPEAKER_02: I'm not convinced that everybody knows that.
SPEAKER_02: But when folks recognize that, I'm gonna say this again, when we recognize how God has wired us and uniquely put us together, I really think we flourish.
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's happening right now in my church with retirees and all kinds of different people, and it's like a puzzle piece, and I'm seeing all these spiritual gifts, and it's fun to use, watch them use their gifts.
SPEAKER_02: I've got this guy that I give nicknames to lots of people, and there's this guy named Shipwreck Steve in our church.
SPEAKER_02: And um, oh shipwreck, he literally had he was retiring, had a shipwreck, wound up in Southport, North Carolina, near us, came in, slammed a Bible on my desk, and said, I don't know how to use this thing, how to use this thing.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, let's talk about it, Steve.
SPEAKER_02: And so, new to face, finding his gifts, he is a servant, servant, servant, cares for the poor that sleep on our porch.
SPEAKER_02: It's just, it's incredible to watch people discover those gifts.
SPEAKER_02: And I discovered my spiritual gifts in this church.
SPEAKER_02: I had an idea, but I really discovered them in this church.
SPEAKER_02: And so when you think about where do you discover spiritual gifts?
SPEAKER_02: If you're thinking right now, like Nate, I want to know my spiritual gifts, where do I find them?
SPEAKER_02: Is it on an online quiz?
SPEAKER_02: Well, it is.
SPEAKER_02: You can pay$100 and find out what your gifts are.
SPEAKER_02: But I don't think that's the best way to figure out your spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_02: Do you know how you find out your spiritual gifts?
SPEAKER_02: In community.
SPEAKER_02: In community, as you serve together, walk together with people, and what happens is mature believers that did this to me when I was such a rascal and get in all kinds of trouble, but these saints of the church would look at a kid who's getting in trouble with the law and say, Nate, I see this in you.
SPEAKER_02: I don't see all this other stuff.
SPEAKER_02: I see a heart that God's given you for X, Y, and Z.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: Nate, you come.
SPEAKER_02: Do you notice, Nate?
SPEAKER_02: You come alive when you so I don't know if you noticed, after every description I gave this morning of those seven gifts, I said the same thing.
SPEAKER_02: Do you have that gift?
SPEAKER_02: Who might have it?
SPEAKER_02: Go tell them.
SPEAKER_02: And that's what people did to me.
SPEAKER_02: I see in you.
SPEAKER_02: Right.
SPEAKER_02: If you're a note taker, write that down.
SPEAKER_02: I see in you.
SPEAKER_02: I see mercy in you.
SPEAKER_02: I see teaching in you, I see leading, I see serving.
SPEAKER_02: You have a heart for the poor, man.
SPEAKER_02: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_02: You have I see it.
SPEAKER_02: You love God's word, you listen to people with great intention.
SPEAKER_02: You're creative, you love the arts, and you use your arts to glorify God.
SPEAKER_02: Those kinds of things, when we speak that kind of life into other people, and I'm not talking about kids, I'm talking about all of us, we're all kids, it changes the trajectory of our lives when people see how God is this.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the problem: even as a 48-year-old guy who's been to seminary, worked in church 25 years, I can forget who I am.
SPEAKER_02: And people remind me of how God has knit me and wired me.
SPEAKER_02: So I would also say this: as much as it's been a trend to figure out our spiritual gifts in some ways, it's deeply biblical.
SPEAKER_02: I really believe this, but I I think it's helpful to know what gifts you don't have.
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: So I go to a church, I've got gifts.
SPEAKER_02: I plant this church in Wilmington, North Carolina, and I'm very clear about the gifts that I don't have.
SPEAKER_02: For instance, there is the spiritual gift of administration.
SPEAKER_02: It's the people that like Excel spreadsheets.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know those people, and they're like blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_02: And so when you play in a church, you need those people.
SPEAKER_02: Like, have you looked at the projections?
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, no, I'll pray for the projections, but I don't look at the projections.
SPEAKER_02: And I've had to grow up and act like I understand church finances, but I would kind of lean to this one guy called Hundo, and I'm like, Hundo, good or red.
SPEAKER_02: He's like, so now I know red is bad, black is good with numbers, but I'm listening to these people use their gifts in these meetings.
SPEAKER_02: I'm going, and we raised all this money for this building, and builders and people in our church use and I'm going, this is so cool.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm just part of it, I'm not the whole thing.
SPEAKER_02: So here's the question: why does God distribute gifts to believers?
SPEAKER_02: It is to build up the people of God, it's to build up the church which glorifies God.
SPEAKER_02: Your gifts, whatever they are, they are for the common good.
SPEAKER_02: It's not like when you're a kid and you got a gift from your parents and you ran to your room to go play with it.
SPEAKER_02: So as you're thinking about whatever the gifts you are, think kickball, right?
SPEAKER_02: So when you got a kickball, a kickball by itself, just with you, is zero fun.
SPEAKER_02: What do you do with a kickball?
SPEAKER_02: It's cool for like three minutes.
SPEAKER_02: Who do you need for the kickball to be cool?
SPEAKER_02: You need the kids in the crew in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_02: You need the whole crew for that ball to be fun.
SPEAKER_02: But some of us kind of think about spiritual gifts like a harmonica, which is something you don't really want to share because that's gross, and you just kind of have it by yourself.
SPEAKER_02: But it's kickballs like God's wired me this way.
SPEAKER_02: How do I use it for the group to build up?
SPEAKER_02: Now let's go back to the very beginning.
SPEAKER_02: Verse three.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says this interesting thing.
SPEAKER_02: Don't think more highly of yourself than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment.
SPEAKER_02: Sobriety is what Paul's talking about.
SPEAKER_02: So when it comes to thinking about your gifts and the gifts you have, Paul's saying, be spiritually sober.
SPEAKER_02: And so when someone is under the influence of alcohol and they've drinking, drank too much alcohol, they lose their ability to think clearly.
SPEAKER_02: They don't believe they have, but they have.
SPEAKER_02: They can't see clearly.
SPEAKER_02: And this happens spiritually.
SPEAKER_02: Having sober judgment means this that you don't have a distorted or exaggerated view of yourself.
SPEAKER_02: You don't think too much this and too much this.
SPEAKER_02: But it also means you don't have a Distorted or exaggerated view of the people in your life.
SPEAKER_02: Or that you don't have a distorted or exaggerated view of God.
SPEAKER_02: You see them all from a sober perspective.
SPEAKER_02: You are spiritually sober.
SPEAKER_02: And so I think Paul is speaking to an inflated ego.
SPEAKER_02: I think we can be arrogant sometimes about our gifts.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we pastors can think we have more special gifts.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's true.
SPEAKER_02: And so I think there's other people, though, who actually don't think they have much to offer in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Me?
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that they'd use me.
SPEAKER_02: And so we've actually discounted ourselves when it comes to the gifts God has given us.
SPEAKER_02: Both of those are examples of not having spiritual sobriety.
SPEAKER_02: So here's a quick rabbit trail.
SPEAKER_02: I've been thinking about my church a lot.
SPEAKER_02: There are a lot of people in my church.
SPEAKER_02: We have all kinds of people, haves and have nots, that get drunk on all kinds of things, not just alcohol.
SPEAKER_02: But there are people that just this week have walked into my office, or last week, walked into my office, and were so drunk on fear.
SPEAKER_02: You know, when someone's drunk on fear, you can hear it.
SPEAKER_02: And everything you talk about, your kids, your money, oh, it comes out.
SPEAKER_02: People are drunk on anger in my church.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you can hear it.
SPEAKER_02: You can talk to me about anything you want to talk about, but that it'll come out when you're drunk on those things.
SPEAKER_02: Um, some people, there was a big old guy in my office who's like the most manly dude you've ever seen in your life.
SPEAKER_02: And he was so deeply under the influence of the opinions of others.
SPEAKER_02: And it was particularly a father that will never be pleased with him, and all he wants to do is to make his dad proud.
SPEAKER_02: And you can feel it.
SPEAKER_02: Um, there are some people that can't see clearly in this world because they're just so cynical and sarcastic or bitter.
SPEAKER_02: For me, it's it's it's comparison.
SPEAKER_02: Uh I can easily be under the influence of comparison.
SPEAKER_02: My church just has one service, and Tim's church has four services.
SPEAKER_02: His church had a security team that walked me up to the, you know, preaching.
SPEAKER_02: I don't have anyone that guards me, and blah blah blah blah blah blah.
SPEAKER_02: But in all seriousness, pastors do it all the time.
SPEAKER_02: We compare ourselves to other people.
SPEAKER_02: But God didn't make me Tim and God didn't make Tim me.
SPEAKER_02: We have different churches that have been used in the kingdom, but they're different, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: But I would say when we're under the influence of those other things, it removes our ability to be sober about ourselves and about our neighbors and about the loved ones in our life and about God.
SPEAKER_02: And so honest evaluation about ourselves has to start with our identity in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That's spiritual sobriety.
SPEAKER_02: Any other standard subjects yourself to the lordship of some other influence, and that will not lead to flourishing, I promise you.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to give you the example.
SPEAKER_02: Here's what I'm thinking about right now in my own life about uh sober judgment, spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_02: I'm 48, been to this church 10 years, called hope.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and there will be a day when I believe I have led that church in Wilmington, North Carolina as far as I can.
SPEAKER_02: And it's gonna be time to step aside for me.
SPEAKER_02: Like when people say, Are you gonna die in Wilmington?
SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
SPEAKER_02: But a new leader will be needed at some point.
SPEAKER_02: And my prayer and hope is this when that time comes that I am so sober-minded about who I am in Jesus Christ, that I realize the most important title I've ever received, it's not any of the titles I had at first press, of high school person, family person, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_02: I had all these titles.
SPEAKER_02: But the most important title I will ever have, it's not pastor.
SPEAKER_02: It is the beloved of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: When everything's stripped away, I'm still a son of the king.
SPEAKER_02: I'm the beloved of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And that is a sober mind when I think about change going on in my life.
SPEAKER_02: And I pray that I'd be sober minded about uh my physical limits, my gifts and abilities, they have limits.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not God.
SPEAKER_02: And as silly as that sounds, we can get in trouble when we start acting like God.
SPEAKER_02: And this is why Paul is emphasizing this sober judgment idea.
SPEAKER_02: And when you have sober judgment about how you've been called and wired, it is a gift to the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: I've probably done more damage in my marriage and my family when I function like I'm everybody part and like I'm the Messiah and I run around doing it all.
SPEAKER_02: I was never designed to do that.
SPEAKER_02: I was given specific gifts.
SPEAKER_02: And so I want to circle back to this idea of being useful for God.
SPEAKER_02: Are you useful for God?
SPEAKER_02: Am I useful for God?
SPEAKER_02: This idea that I just want to be Jose Okendo of ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And here's what I discovered that I think has changed my mind a lot in ministry.
SPEAKER_02: I went through a season of burnout during COVID, and I just didn't know what I was gonna do.
SPEAKER_02: And part of what I realized were some of these things I want to share with you.
SPEAKER_02: There is a difference between productivity and fruitfulness.
SPEAKER_02: Christians are really good at being busy.
SPEAKER_02: We do lots.
SPEAKER_02: I get so much done.
SPEAKER_02: Kim says all the time, you get so much done by 11 o'clock.
SPEAKER_02: I crush it.
SPEAKER_02: At three, I'm terrible, but because I eat a big lunch and then drink coffee.
SPEAKER_02: But I'm telling you, I get so much done.
SPEAKER_02: But when productivity is the end goal for us, we will feel frenetic, never-ending tasks.
SPEAKER_02: So fruitfulness feels deliberate.
SPEAKER_02: It's an agricultural term, right?
SPEAKER_02: It feels deliberate and earthy and slower.
SPEAKER_02: Fruitfulness feels like I'm being faithful to Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And it's helped me to think more about being fruitful than useful.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I still would rather be called Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Utility than Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Fruitful, but I would say fruitful is probably a healthier way to think about our gifts.
SPEAKER_02: And so fruitfulness is a result of simply abiding in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He's the vine, I'm the branches.
SPEAKER_02: And so that abiding looks like this: that we're soaking in the goodness of God, we're worshiping, we're praying, we're understanding the things of God, and it's coming through us, and we reflect it back to the Father and back to our neighbors and enemies.
SPEAKER_02: And again and again and again, that's the rhythm of the Christian.
SPEAKER_02: We are abiders.
SPEAKER_02: Fruitfulness is not about doing.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that forever.
SPEAKER_02: It's not about doing, it's about becoming.
SPEAKER_02: Productivity is about the things we want to achieve, but fruitfulness is about the person we're becoming in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see the difference in those two things?
SPEAKER_02: You can do a lot of stuff, but you're not really becoming someone Christ has made you to be.
SPEAKER_02: Who are you becoming?
SPEAKER_02: I don't care how long you've been a Christian.
SPEAKER_02: In this season, who are you becoming in Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_02: And then fruitfulness is spirit dependent.
SPEAKER_02: When I'm being super productive, I can tell you that it is Nate dependent.
SPEAKER_02: And I need things, I'll tell you, when I got to that point when I was at this church where I felt like I can do a lot of youth ministry things, but I will tell you when I drove across the country all the way to North Carolina, I went, oh God.
SPEAKER_02: But I needed that moment of going, no, I don't think I can do part of this, but I can't do all of it.
SPEAKER_02: I really need God.
SPEAKER_02: And that woke me up.
SPEAKER_02: It was like smelling salt to wake me up in my life.
SPEAKER_02: And so fruitfulness is spirit dependent, not on us.
SPEAKER_02: Religious activity doesn't mature.
SPEAKER_02: As some of us think we do a lot of religious activity and we'll get real mature in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: But if that were the case, then the Pharisees would be super mature.
SPEAKER_02: They did it all, but they weren't.
SPEAKER_02: It's by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit that we are matured and formed, and that our gifts continue to develop until the day we die.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna lay on the plane.
SPEAKER_02: Some of you are ready.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna lay on the plane.
SPEAKER_02: Time to eat.
SPEAKER_02: No Christian is self-sufficient, and no Christ follower is expendable in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: A huge amen should have happened right there.
SPEAKER_02: No Christian is self-sufficient, and no Christ follower is expendable in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: The body.
SPEAKER_02: Good job.
SPEAKER_02: Got a couple Baptists out there.
SPEAKER_02: God knit us in our mother's womb and with the idea that we would trust in God's sufficiency.
SPEAKER_02: That's that way we were made.
SPEAKER_02: That He has been, is, and will always be enough.
SPEAKER_02: And that you, as unique as you are, you're an integral part of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: So when you think member of the body of Christ, don't think Costco, don't think Sands Club, don't think the Broadboard, think finger.
SPEAKER_02: A member of the body.
SPEAKER_02: Body parts are members of the body, and each part is needed, even the eyebrow in Christ's body.
SPEAKER_02: And so God today, I want you to remember this.
SPEAKER_02: God has given you as a believer specific abilities.
SPEAKER_02: It's by design.
SPEAKER_02: You and I discover them as we serve in community.
SPEAKER_02: That's by design.
SPEAKER_02: You and I don't have all the spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_02: We probably just have a few.
SPEAKER_02: That's by design.
SPEAKER_02: And you and I are not the head of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That's by design.
SPEAKER_02: And not one of us is unemployable in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: That's by design.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray, Lord God.
SPEAKER_02: The privilege it is to have a God who doesn't really need us, probably didn't need the 12 disciples, but chooses us.
SPEAKER_02: Imperfect people that you put gifts in and abilities, and that you show your goodness and mercy and kindness and truth and justice and righteousness and all these things.
SPEAKER_02: You choose to do that through us.
SPEAKER_02: In our neighborhoods, while we're coaching soccer, while we're volunteering, most of the places that no one will ever see, but you see.
SPEAKER_02: God is a privilege, it's a privilege, it's a privilege to be a part of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And we're grateful.
SPEAKER_01: So in Jesus' name we pray.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Hearing God's word is just the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: What connected with you?
SPEAKER_01: What challenged you today?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's surrendering something, stepping into community, or simply trusting Him more deeply.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever it is, don't leave it for later.
SPEAKER_01: Act on it today.
SPEAKER_01: We're praying that this message moves you closer to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And we'd love to walk with you in that journey and answer any questions you've got.
SPEAKER_01: Connect with us by visiting firstprints.org.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, if today's message encouraged you, take a moment and subscribe so you never miss an episode.
SPEAKER_01: And share it with someone who needs to hear it.
SPEAKER_01: Check in next week and we'll continue to grow in our faith together.
SPEAKER_01: See you next time.