WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:32.159 We're going through Romans, and I took a study break in June, so I've been in and out a little bit, but we're back in Romans 12. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:45.280 And what I shared last week, I'll just emphasize again this week, and that is that Romans chapters 1 through 11 are the most doctrinally strong, theologically deep passages in all of the Bible. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:01:01.280 And it was through Romans 1 through 11 that Martin Luther in 1516 came to the conclusion that the just shall live by faith, that faith is the key to salvation, not works of righteousness, but faith that leads to works of righteousness. 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:02.719 But it begins with faith. 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:09.200 And so here we've gone through some 27 sermons on chapters 1 through 11. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:17.040 So we've laid the groundwork for the rest of the book, the last five chapters, are very, very practical. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:31.200 And this particular passage we're looking at today is Romans 12, and it's so stacked with practical application that we could really spend the next year just in Romans 12. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:40.959 And I was looking back over some of my notes when I was at Mountain Springs years ago when I taught this, 2008, and I did spend a lot of time in chapter 12. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:42.799 I call it the Romans 12 Christian. 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:50.000 What I'm going to say, it sounds a little audacious, but I think it's a good title, is what kind of a church would Jesus attend? 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:54.079 So if Jesus were here, what kind of a church would he attend? 00:01:54.239 --> 00:02:02.560 And I believe Romans 12 is as good a description of the kind of church that God blesses as any place in all of the New Testament. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:14.960 So here in the New Testament, we have this beautiful passage about how to walk in authentic love, how to have a relationship with each other where we're very diverse and we're very different. 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.240 So I'm calling it building a church Jesus would attend. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.439 Wouldn't you like to be in a church where Jesus attends? 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:23.280 I think that's a pretty good place. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.919 Okay, I don't think Jesus attends every church. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:27.039 I just don't. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:35.919 Maybe you've been in churches and you go, well, um, I attend, but I don't know that the Holy Spirit ever shows up here. 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:38.000 And that can be true, you know. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.879 I want a pastor church that I would want to attend if I wasn't the pastor. 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:52.879 So when we build the foundation, the DNA of the road, we try to build it around honor, covenant of harmony, where we work out our problems. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:14.159 Because my thesis is that whether it's a home, whether it's a church, whether it's your job, and many of you are not owners of your own company, so you you kind of walk into the DNA of that owner's uh fabric of how he set up that company. 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:15.199 You have to deal with it. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:24.000 But to the extent that you have control over certain aspects of your life, don't we want it to be a place that we enjoy? 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:26.000 It's a place we look forward to being in. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:30.000 Because you spend so much time with your wife or your husband. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:44.400 You spend so much time with your family, and I'm not saying that people in your family don't do things you disagree with, but I'm saying as far as you having control over your environment, wouldn't you want it to be an environment that Jesus would like to hang out with you at? 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:48.000 So that's kind of what I that's the perspective I'm I'm coming from. 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:57.039 So we did verses one and two, the last two times I spoke on renewing the mind, the transformation of the night of the mind, um, the refreshment of the mind. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:01.039 Now he goes into verse three, and this becomes very, very practical after that. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:16.160 He says, For I say, through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.079 So the word sober is balance. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:19.439 That's what it means in Greek. 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:20.240 It means balance. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:25.759 And I always think in terms of if you get pulled over by a cop, he's gonna have you walk the line. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:30.399 I know they got the breath thing now, but as soon as they still, you know, they still make you walk the line. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:38.240 So are you walking the line soberly in how you view yourself? 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:43.519 Do you know your strengths, but do you also know your weaknesses? 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:48.720 Because where we get in trouble is where we over-emphasize either side. 00:04:48.879 --> 00:04:59.680 Some of you struggle with such a negative view of yourself that you're always hanging your head, and that's that's that's something to remember. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:06.639 If you regularly are looking at the floor, you've probably got an inferiority complex and you're insecure. 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:17.199 If you tend to puff out your chest and overwhelm people constantly, and you have a need to do that, then you probably have a struggle on the other side of being a little bit arrogant and prideful. 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:20.720 I think God wants us to have good posture, okay? 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:28.079 And I've had to learn this through my chiropractor, but to have good posture, but to have God confidence, not self-confidence. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:32.160 And God confidence only comes through a sober view of yourself. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:36.399 Because we need to know, hey, I'm I'm gifted in this area. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:42.079 I am, and I've seen guys show up when I do this, and I believe God's anointing me in that way. 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:47.439 But to also know you're not indispensable, that God doesn't need you. 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:53.519 Um, he's fine, and if and if you mess up, you know, he can take and use somebody else. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:06:02.399 So you're not indispensable to the body of Christ, but you are unique, and God does want to mightily, supernaturally use you. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.000 In a mighty way, isn't that exciting? 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:06.879 I mean that's kind of exciting to me to know that God still wants to use me. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:15.600 No matter what our age, no matter what our mental acumen, no matter what our physical abilities or mental abilities are, God wants to use us. 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:35.040 And in 1 Corinthians, Paul says it this way: now, these things, brethren, I figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one another against the other. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:36.639 So here's the first quality. 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.240 Quality one is a church of humility. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.560 God calls us to be a church of humility. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:50.240 And it's the great foundational quality of soberness. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:07:03.920 Because if you don't need God's power and you're increasingly dependent on your own power, then you're not going to get God's power to the level that you could experience it. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:08.399 So humility is realizing you don't have all that it takes. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:09.759 You don't have everything. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:11.519 You need God's power. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:16.800 It's a humble person that lays the foundation for God to mightily use them. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:20.399 And that's pretty important because this is the kind of people that God uses. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:33.360 1 Corinthians 1 says, For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:40.319 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:47.759 And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.360 So some of you are not very smart. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:55.759 Some of you might be on the meter dumb. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:00.240 Or you may not have done well in school. 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.759 Or you look at your life and you see failure after failure. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:14.000 Some of you have been shamed by so many people as you grew up that it's gotten on you and you walk in shame. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:15.519 Well, guess what? 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:20.639 If that's you, then you're a candidate for God to mightily use you. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.199 Because he likes to use people who aren't very smart. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:25.519 He likes to use people that have a lot of shame. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:38.399 He likes to use people that are contemptible by the world's standards, because then his power flowing through them makes everybody take notice and go, how in the world did that idiot do that? 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.480 I mean, really. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:49.279 So God is in the business of an upside-down kingdom. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:52.720 He takes people who are available. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:57.120 We used to say in my days in the mission field, fat people. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:01.919 God likes fat people, faithful, available, and teachable. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:02.720 Fat. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:04.320 Faithful, available, and teachable. 00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:10.720 If you're faithful and you're available and you're teachable and you're a fat Christian, God can mightily use you. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:12.399 And don't listen. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:26.159 You start letting get busy with what God's called you to do, helping others, loving others, and the anointing of the Spirit of God will increase incrementally over time. 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.399 And you'll begin to experience his joy and his purpose in your life in any way. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:32.720 So humility is the foundation of a church. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.399 Humility is the foundation of growing in Christ. 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:38.080 Well, he continues. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:52.320 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:53.840 So here's quality number two. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:58.240 Quality number two is a church of diversity with unity. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:03.360 A church with diversity with unity. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.120 Folks, we were made for connection. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.080 We were made to need each other. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:13.679 You're not created by God to be a Lone Ranger. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:18.480 You're not created by God to have all that you need all wrapped up in you. 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:29.679 And we men struggle with that because we're taught kind of that John Wayne, Clint Eastwood kind of mentality that you're your own man, you're independent, I don't need anyone. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:32.799 And that is very unscriptural. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.960 And God's in the business of making us men understand that we need each other. 00:10:37.039 --> 00:10:41.360 That's why we have wholehearted men on Tuesday mornings, and you're at a table. 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:48.480 And at that table, some of the guys are super mature and some of the guys are very immature. 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.240 And that's beautiful because the immature need the mature, and guess what? 00:10:52.320 --> 00:10:53.919 The mature need the immature. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:11:04.080 Because it's good for us to have to level our heart to where people are at, to minister to them when nobody was ministering to us back in our days. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:09.919 Now we can mentor and minister to them, and it does something in our heart by caring about others. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:11.360 And so we need each other. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:13.279 The body's very diverse. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:15.840 Your body is very diverse. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.000 So I have this big toe. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.000 I don't know what it is. 00:11:22.399 --> 00:11:23.840 Any doctors in the house can help me. 00:11:23.919 --> 00:11:26.159 I haven't seen a doctor in 15 years. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:28.960 So you have doctors have to come to me. 00:11:29.039 --> 00:11:30.159 I never go to them. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:33.279 But I've got this, it's like a bone spur. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:35.519 The only way I can describe it's probably like a bone spur. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:41.120 And I'm limited in how much I can bend this right foot compared to my left foot. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:46.720 And it's probably from the pounding of all the years of gymnastics back when I was younger. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.279 But I feel it, it affects me a little bit, not a lot, but it does a little bit. 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.639 So if you ask people, well, you know, what do you want to be in the body of Christ? 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:56.000 I want to be a big toe. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:57.759 I mean, nobody says that, right? 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:02.000 It's smelly down there, it's stinky down there, and it's a it's a toe, okay? 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:04.639 But that toe is crucial if I was a runner. 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:07.679 I'm not a runner, but if I was running a lot, that would be pretty crucial, right? 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:17.919 So every part of the body matters, and sometimes it's those that are in the hidden places that no one notices that are the most important. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:20.159 They're the most valuable. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:26.639 And I know when you walk in this place, you've got a vacuum carpet every week. 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:38.000 You've got a beautiful, that floor out there is shiny and clean, and let me tell you, my team will tell you, that is like the worst floor to have to clean. 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:40.000 That acid stained floor. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:41.600 But it's always nice, isn't it? 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:43.360 And there's always everything's set up. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:45.840 That's the facility's team under Andy Popovich. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.559 I mean, they do that, and you don't even know who they are, probably. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:55.919 But it's um Samira, Kenny, Joey, Fletcher, Amy is Andy's wife and his assistant. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:57.120 These guys work hard. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:04.879 I mean, they work eight, ten hours a day uh throughout the week because we foster so many different ministries, so many things are happening. 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.519 This is a very, very busy building. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.480 Okay, and these guys are always cleaning up after you guys. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:11.600 That matters, right? 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:16.559 Who likes to go into a church that stinks and dirty and yucky? 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:17.519 You notice that. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.480 And if you haven't noticed that here, it's because it's not there. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:33.279 And so if you come on Tuesday morning, you man, Ricky, Ricky Bobby's in that kitchen with about 12 guys, and they get up at 2.30 in the morning and they've already been doing it for hours before that, smoking the meat, and they do this spread. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:38.639 And then Wendy is in there with her team on Sunday morning, and they're full of joy. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:40.080 We need that, right? 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:44.399 See, those are the those are the base things that people don't notice. 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:50.639 We notice the worship team, you notice me, you notice who our pastors are, but a lot of times we miss that. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.799 And yet they make our lives so much fuller, so much better. 00:13:54.879 --> 00:14:00.799 They're the toes, you know, on the feet that move the body so that it stays healthy. 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:03.440 Now, don't miss this. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:04.480 It's really important. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.200 If you take your notes, write this down. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.440 A spiritual immune system. 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:14.720 A church needs a spiritual immune system. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:18.559 You and your family need a spiritual immune system. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:21.440 You that are married, you need a spiritual immune system in your marriage. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:22.399 Here's why. 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:29.039 Because when you have a strong immune system, unhealth is noticed quickly. 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:40.159 When you and your spouse are communicating on a regular basis in a positive and fairly joyful way, when something comes between you, you notice it quickly. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:41.759 That's an immune system. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:47.200 Well, then what the immune system does is it goes after the cancer and it deals with it quickly. 00:14:47.440 --> 00:14:55.600 And we've been a church for nine years, and we've probably had a dozen situations, what I would call a cancer. 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:02.480 Where we've had cancers in the church that were trying to divide us, and we and we noticed it quickly. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.159 And our philosophy is what I'm about to read. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:07.120 This is from Titus 3. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:08.960 Don't have to turn there, let me read it to you. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:19.120 Avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:24.240 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:28.240 I'll tell you, we've given people a lot of rope to hang themselves on. 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:28.879 Okay? 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:33.679 But sometimes you've got to go and we call it a covenant of harmony. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:36.799 And what we mean by that, all the staff have to sign a covenant of harmony. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:44.960 That means if we have anything between us or anybody in the church, we go to that person and we follow what Matthew 18 says and we deal with it. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:50.080 And we have, from time to time, we have situations like that that come up and they're not fun. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:52.080 I don't like them. 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:53.919 But I always like the result. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:05.200 Because in every case, except for two situations, the person is always repentant or willing to talk, and we become actually closer friends as a result of it. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:08.639 It's rarely involving me, but it's involving other people in the church. 00:16:09.279 --> 00:16:15.279 But then sometimes it comes to me, and I say, look, then you follow the covenant of harmony, or here's how you do it, go and work it out. 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.559 That's a spiritually strong immune system. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:19.919 A church needs that. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:20.799 You need that. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:23.200 And you have to you have to eat right. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:25.919 You got to be eating the right truth. 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:32.799 You got to be eating truth, growing in truth, and then you'll have a spiritually strong immune system in your life. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:34.639 Now look at verse 6. 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:41.360 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:51.039 Now, what he's going to do here, 6, 7, and 8, is he's talking about attitudes with spiritual gifts. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.480 Now, this is not complete. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:17:00.559 If you want a more complete list of spiritual gifts, you can go to 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14. 00:17:00.799 --> 00:17:03.039 So this is almost like, here's some examples. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:03.919 That's what I think he's doing. 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:10.880 He's saying, here's some examples, and he starts off with if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:17.039 So he's saying with the gift of prophecy, there's a level of faith, and there's different levels of faith. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:19.279 Now, prophecy is one of those confusing ones. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:22.240 I'm going to actually take some time to define it just a little bit. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:33.039 So some of you come out of more Pentecostal backgrounds, and you see prophecy is a prophetic word during the service where someone gives a word, a word of knowledge for someone. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:34.880 And that's certainly prophecy. 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:40.000 Some of you come out of churches that are really into eschatology or in time. 00:17:40.160 --> 00:17:45.759 So you have a prophecy conference, and you know it's about who they've identified this year to be the Antichrist. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:57.440 And it's always something about the Middle East, and then it passes, and the things they said didn't happen, but then we go to another one. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.200 So I'm not into that. 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:00.640 But anyway, some of you might be into that. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:01.119 That's great. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:02.000 God bless you. 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:05.680 But that's also another form of prophecy that's kind of popular in America. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:08.480 By the way, it's really only popular in America. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:11.039 We're a very unique country in that regard. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:12.799 But here's what prophecy means. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:15.200 This is what literally it means in Greek. 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.240 It means foretelling or forthelling. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:21.759 It means foretelling or forthelling. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.279 So when I'm preaching the word, I'm the prophet. 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:32.400 When I get in front of the pulpit or behind the pulpit in front of you, I'm forth telling truth. 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:35.519 That's the main gift of prophecy in this church. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:39.920 So when people say, you know, from time to time people say, Well, who are the prophets in the church? 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:41.599 I say, Well, I'm the main one. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:45.519 And sometimes they think they're looking for people to give words of knowledge, which is okay too. 00:18:45.599 --> 00:18:46.640 We have a lot of people like that. 00:18:46.880 --> 00:18:55.519 Matter of fact, I had a man come up to me after the first service and say, I've got a word for the second or the third service, I don't know which. 00:18:55.680 --> 00:19:03.119 And that is, and I'm going to give it right now, that someone here is contemplating suicide. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:09.279 That someone in this room is contemplating suicide. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:16.160 And so when God gives a word like that, it means that God's got your number. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:25.200 And he loves you so much that he wants to identify you to get prayer so you can be set free from that suicidal ideation. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:27.839 So let's just take a moment right now. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:29.839 Everybody just get real quiet. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:32.400 And let me pray. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:49.119 So, Father God, if that word is for someone in this room, or maybe more than one person, that you would give them now the courage at the end of the service to come up and get prayer and get set free. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:51.200 In the name of Jesus we pray. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:52.000 Amen. 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:53.680 So that's a gift of prophecy. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:54.880 That's another way of giving. 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:58.240 So it's forthelling and it's also foretelling. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:19:59.279 He continues. 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:05.440 Or ministry, verse 7, let us use it, use it in our ministry. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:13.200 So he's not using ministry here in the sense of being in the ministry. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.200 He's talking about the word diakonos, which is where we get the word deacon. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:18.799 It's the idea of serving. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:24.960 So ministry could be say, or in serving, use it in serving, is what he's saying. 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:35.279 He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:40.160 He who leads, that's my main gift, I believe. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:42.319 My main gift is leadership. 00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:44.720 I should lead with diligence. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:46.319 Don't become lazy. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.400 Don't miss opportunities to be the leader God's called me to be. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:52.640 He who shows mercy with cheerfulness. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.480 So he's talking about attitudes here. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:21:04.960 And what I think you could you could kind of sum it up over the whole, put a rubric over all of this, and that is whatever it is that God's gifted you in, use it. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:09.359 And I heard someone say years ago, you know, use it or lose it. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:10.880 Now I don't know about that. 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:22.160 That seems a little bit like preacher hyperbole, but let's say this if you don't use it, you won't develop it. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:32.319 So if you feel like God's giving you a gift of prophecy, the first one, if you want to see the proportion of your faith grow, then you've got to use it. 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:42.079 So sometimes you might be in a room and you know something about someone, or you think you know something about someone, and that's a prophetic word of knowledge. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:57.680 It would be you got permission from them from the pastor here to say this to you that you should go up to that person and say, Look, it could be the pizza I had last night, it could be the indigestion I got from the hot sauce, I don't know. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:07.200 But when I was when you walk in the room, I got this, I thought, I got this word that you're struggling with, da-da-da, or I got this picture of you, da-da-da. 00:22:07.440 --> 00:22:08.880 Does that mean anything to you? 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:10.799 Now, what that does, it does two things. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:13.920 One, you're practicing your gift, so you're going to get developed in it. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:24.960 Secondly, if you're totally blowing it, which you may 50% of the time when you're learning, it's okay because you're saying, I could have missed it. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.640 You mean you're giving yourself an out. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:31.839 But then here's a third thing, this is really important, and that is this that it honors the other person. 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:37.599 We don't say at this church, thus saith the Lord. 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:43.680 Thus saith the Lord, that woman that you're dating right now will become your wife. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:49.839 And then the woman that you're dating is looking at you and going, I don't want to be your wife, man. 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:51.200 Hey, no way. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:51.759 You know? 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:53.839 And then it seems like you're disobeying God. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.359 So be careful with that stuff. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:57.200 Thus saith the Lord. 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:01.039 But we can say things and frame things in a way that are honoring each other. 00:23:01.279 --> 00:23:06.720 And in ministries like that, you want more anointing in serving others, then serve. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:11.200 You want stronger power in your teaching, then teach. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:14.400 If you want to grow in exhortation, then exhort. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:20.559 If you want, usually with the gift of giving, there's a gift of making. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:26.000 How many would like the gift of giving if with the gift of giving comes the gift of making? 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:28.319 The rest of you are liars, I know. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:36.640 So the gift of generosity comes to people who make a lot of money in most cases. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.359 And I'm talking about the gift of giving financially. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:45.920 There's other ways of giving, for sure, but you can't give anything if you don't know how to make anything. 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:59.279 So a lot of times you become a conduit for ministry through the gift of giving, and that means that the more you give, and this is not amazing. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:01.519 Oh, Steve's a prosperity gospel guy. 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:03.279 Well, I am in one sense. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:05.599 Because I think this is so biblical. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:10.480 That when we give what we've been given, God gives us more. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:14.400 Pressed down and shaken together is what the scriptures say. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:19.680 And I know Liz and I have tested that for over 35 years. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:23.839 Giving, tithing, and we are so blessed because we do. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:31.119 So if you're having trouble giving because you ain't got nothing, then why don't you start giving and then you'll have something? 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:36.480 Because God will give you more because you're now becoming a conduit of the kingdom of God. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.039 Now, this next part's interesting. 00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:51.839 Verse 9 to 21, the rest of chapter, I'm calling authentic love, and that's what I would say is the third quality of a church that Jesus would attend is a church of authentic love. 00:24:53.039 --> 00:25:02.319 And I don't think there's any passage in all of Scripture that's more practically descriptive of what authentic love looks like. 00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:09.599 Now, we all at our weddings, and I've done so many weddings through the years, everybody quotes 1 Corinthians 13. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:10.880 That's a good passage. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:14.799 I mean, it's poetic and everything, but I don't know half of what it means. 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:19.200 But but I'll say it if you want me to at your wedding, I'll say it. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:21.759 But I'm not gonna teach on it because I don't know what it means. 00:25:22.000 --> 00:25:24.559 Um I know what this means. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:26.319 I know what he's saying here. 00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:31.519 I'd like to see somebody, anybody who's planning on getting married, I'd like to see someone use this one. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:35.039 Because if you're living this, you're gonna have a happy marriage. 00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:38.079 And um and it's not that flowery. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:42.319 It's like right down to practically how you do love. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:47.519 Okay, isn't it interesting that 1 Corinthians 12 is about spiritual gifts? 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:51.440 1 Corinthians 14 is about spiritual gifts, and what's right in the middle? 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.279 1 Corinthians 13. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:25:54.079 Love. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:25:58.160 Here, Romans 12, he's talking about spiritual gifts, and what does he come to? 00:25:58.400 --> 00:25:58.880 Love. 00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:01.200 Because that's the covering. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:03.920 You guys, that's the rainbow. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:09.839 That should be the rainbow over the road is authentic love. 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:16.240 The purples and the reds and the yellows and all the beautiful hues should be authentic love. 00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:20.160 And here's a little bit of what it looks like. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:24.480 Let love be without hypocrisy. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:27.039 That's why I'm calling it authentic love. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:31.200 Let love be without hypocrisy because we can fake it. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:34.400 We can be posers, we can be pretenders. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:37.839 Church is the worst place in the world for posers. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:40.319 Posers gravitate toward church. 00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:45.759 And the reason they do is because you can fake it that one hour a week or an hour and a half if you're at our church. 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:49.279 You know, you're there and everything's, hey, what's happening, bro? 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:50.400 What's going on? 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:53.599 Yeah, man, it couldn't be better, yeah, couldn't be better. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:55.039 That's full of crap, man. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:00.240 It's like, I don't think, you know, when we come here, let's be authentic, let's be real about it, okay? 00:27:00.319 --> 00:27:04.240 So he says, without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:18.400 Be kindly affectionate to one another, husbands, towards your wives, wives towards your husbands, affectionate toward one another, with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:28.240 So we've talked over the years on the staff team at the road about an honor code. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.640 So we have an honor code. 00:27:31.200 --> 00:27:42.559 And in that honor code, everybody signs off on that when they come on staff, because we honor each other through practical things that we do under certain circumstances. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:51.200 So if I were thinking in terms of values, the values of authentic love, it would be honoring each other. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:28:11.759 Think what would happen if in Congress, in Congress, you went before a judge, maybe a Supreme Court judge, and you held up your right hand and you had some kind of an honor code that you had to follow in Congress toward those on the other side of the aisle. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:13.440 Wouldn't that be amazing? 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:19.599 I think that's what we're longing for, because everything's so vitriolic now. 00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:27.200 And um, so to honor each other means that we have brother love, what's he say? 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:29.359 We give preference to the other. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:38.640 Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. 00:28:39.599 --> 00:28:49.599 It's exciting to see that not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit means we're serving the Lord. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:57.599 So sometimes we think of service as being something we do for somebody else, but actually it can be a spirit that we have about us. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:06.720 We serve the Lord by being diligent in love, by being fervent in our spirit in love, and then serving other people. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:09.279 Rejoicing in hope. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:12.720 Patient in tribulation. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:16.240 Continuing steadfastly in prayer. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:19.440 I think verse 12 is so practical. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:23.519 You continue steadfastly and read it the opposite. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:24.559 This is what I do. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:35.680 So if I'm steadfast in prayer, then I tend to have patience in tribulation because I'm rejoicing and hope that it's gonna all work out. 00:29:36.559 --> 00:29:37.839 Isn't that exciting? 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:52.400 So during my study break, when I was rewriting the book coming out, strong and courageous, I'm not saying you should ever do this, but this is what I did, is I love history. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.480 And so I read the book, JFK and the Unspeakable. 00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:58.319 Anybody ever heard of that book? 00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:00.240 Okay, not many of you. 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:01.680 JFK and the Unspeakables. 00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:06.799 And it was a it was a New York Times bestseller, I'm gonna say ten years ago. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:14.960 And what it is, it's the most comprehensive work ever done on what happened to the assassination of John F. 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:15.839 Kennedy. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:19.839 And I mean, it has got 700 footnotes. 00:30:20.160 --> 00:30:21.519 And that's my kind of book, by the way. 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:23.279 I know it's weird, but that's the way I am. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:26.960 But it's got source material about that. 00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:37.519 Now I'm not gonna tell you the kicker in it, but I'll just tell you, after reading 650 pages, or whatever it was, it gets pretty depressing. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:40.799 So I probably shouldn't read it. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:44.319 Um but I read it because I want to be informed. 00:30:44.400 --> 00:30:46.559 I'm a truth seeker, and I tend to go after things. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:31:00.319 If you think the deep state is something recent, you know, you need to have another cup of coffee because um I'd say the deep state's been growing in America since World War II. 00:31:01.200 --> 00:31:06.000 And uh so the surveillance state that we've created has been there a long time. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:19.599 The difference is the first 20 years to 25, 30 years after World War II, it was it was more toward the values of what we would consider what we believe in in America, but there's been a shift. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.400 Okay, there's been a shift, and so now we don't like it. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:24.799 It was fine before, but now we don't. 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:29.279 Because we're now, the conservatives are now in the bullseye. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:31.680 We're more in the crosshairs of what's happening. 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:35.599 So it's kind of dis it's kind of discouraging. 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:40.799 It's way bigger than anything you can believe, how it's infiltrated everything. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:52.960 So if you don't become a person of prayer and a hope that God's gonna bring a kingdom of God revolution in our time, you can get pretty discouraged. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:55.359 Well, I'm not gonna get discouraged. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:05.920 I'm gonna have to renew my mind with things that are noble and wholesome and pure and right, and believe that God is more powerful than the CIA. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:15.359 God is more powerful than the FBI, God is more powerful than the deep state, and that he's not done with America yet, and he wants to bring a kingdom of God revolution. 00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:16.240 That's through us. 00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:17.279 It's people like us. 00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:26.240 It's God showing up in this church in a revolutionary, powerful Holy Spirit revival that touches our city and makes an impact. 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:29.359 You're more powerful than you can imagine. 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:37.359 You carry the Holy Spirit, the creator of the universe, the kingdom of God is within you. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:40.559 Believe it, walk in it. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:41.440 That's what he's saying. 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:46.799 Authentic love is an expression of the kingdom of God within. 00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:49.839 Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation. 00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:51.359 This is under Nero. 00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:58.720 He's writing this with the worst emperor Rome ever had in power. 00:32:59.359 --> 00:33:01.279 He seems to be pretty happy. 00:33:03.519 --> 00:33:09.279 Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:13.200