SPEAKER_01: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_00: Please take your Bibles and open to Ephesians chapter 4.
SPEAKER_00: Continuing our walk through the first 16 verses of this chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And I'd like to read, even though we're only going to look at a portion of it, I'd like to read verses eleven through sixteen, so we get the bigger picture here.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in verse eleven, it says, And he, that is, referring to Christ, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you have ever watched a new home being built?
SPEAKER_00: Ground up.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Good number of you.
SPEAKER_00: It's a mesmerizing process.
SPEAKER_00: That is, unless it's your house being built and then it turns into a giant headache, so I've been told.
SPEAKER_00: For those of you who have had who have not had the privilege of watching the construction process, I want to take a few moments to describe it.
SPEAKER_00: The process generally begins with an architect drawing up blueprints, generally with input coming from the builder, perhaps even from the future homeowner.
SPEAKER_00: Those blueprints then must be submitted to the city or the county who will review them, require adjustments or corrections, and finally approve the prints for use.
SPEAKER_00: Over the course of weeks and months, the appropriate permits are applied for.
SPEAKER_00: Contractors are lined up, the material orders are placed all before any actual building takes place.
SPEAKER_00: Then, once the building begins, the area for the foundation walls and the basement are dug out, forms are put in place and the concrete is poured.
SPEAKER_00: Before or just after that, depending on the area of the country you're in, the beginnings of the plumbing connections are brought within the foundation walls.
SPEAKER_00: Then the slab or the basement floor is poured, the foundation walls are sealed and waterproofed.
SPEAKER_00: Floor joists are then brought in and laid in place on the foundation, and the first floor is then installed.
SPEAKER_00: Then the outer walls and the inner walls can be formed and raised, and then perhaps a second set of floor joists brought in, and then more walls on top of that.
SPEAKER_00: Rafters or trusses are hoisted and placed on the top walls and secured in place.
SPEAKER_00: Then the walls and the roof are enclosed with sheeting, and sometimes a moisture wrapping, a barrier, plastic moisture barrier is wrapped around the outside.
SPEAKER_00: Now at that point a host of activity begins.
SPEAKER_00: Some are working on the outside of the house and some are working on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: Those on the outside are putting up siding or brick or stone.
SPEAKER_00: Others are working on the roofing.
SPEAKER_00: Inside there is rough plumbing and electrical work taking place.
SPEAKER_00: And then sheetrock covers the walls and the ceilings, followed by mudding and taping and sanding.
SPEAKER_00: And only when all of that is done can the real fun start.
SPEAKER_00: I say fun because that was part of my work in the past.
SPEAKER_00: The finish work can begin on the inside with cabinets going in, flooring and painting and appliances and a hundred other things.
SPEAKER_00: There are dozens, if not hundreds, of other small parts to that process.
SPEAKER_00: Each and every component is brought in at the right time to accomplish the goal of having a completed, properly constructed dwelling place.
SPEAKER_00: But all of that, that entire picture pales in comparison with the work God does in building his church.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has been bringing in millions and millions of people, molding them together into one new body, a temple for God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Now we've seen in our study of Ephesians 4 that God's people are fit into a unified whole.
SPEAKER_00: He takes those parts, each one of us, and fits us into a unified whole.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to continue looking this morning, the end of verse 12 and 13 and 14, and we will see that unity continues to be a major factor in the Lord's desire for his church.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's shown to be an integral part of growing up in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But let's start, if you would, at the end of verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: For the building up of the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: There's an important word there.
SPEAKER_00: It's a small three-letter word, for, telling us that what he's about to write indicates the reason or the purpose for something.
SPEAKER_00: And in this case, it goes back before that.
SPEAKER_00: What we're about to see is why the saints have been equipped for the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Now that's why Jesus gave gifts, we heard.
SPEAKER_00: He gave gifts to every single believer in Christ so that we might be equipped for the work of the ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Well, why did that happen?
SPEAKER_00: What's the purpose of it?
SPEAKER_00: What's the reasoning behind that?
SPEAKER_00: Why or for what reason does God equip us?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is to build us up.
SPEAKER_00: To build us up.
SPEAKER_00: For building up the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is a construction term.
SPEAKER_00: It's often used in the construction of buildings in ancient literature.
SPEAKER_00: And most of us can imagine building something.
SPEAKER_00: Even if all you can visualize is building something out of Legos.
SPEAKER_00: I've constructed many, many buildings, fortresses, towers, and vehicles out of Legos.
SPEAKER_00: I still love to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you that every individual part is needed to make up the final project.
SPEAKER_00: If one part is missing, then something's wrong with my building, my tower.
SPEAKER_00: The same thing is true of Christ's church.
SPEAKER_00: Each of us is needed.
SPEAKER_00: We are distinct materials, distinct parts of the body brought together to construct, to build up the church.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus takes each one of us and builds us into a whole, into a unified, united whole.
SPEAKER_00: This idea of building is very important in the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, look back again at chapter 2, the passage that Webb read for us a little bit earlier, verses 19 through 22.
SPEAKER_00: We see this term building a couple of times in verse 20 saying that we are built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21, there's a similar term, being joined together.
SPEAKER_00: Then in verse 22, you also are being built together.
SPEAKER_00: So we have different materials being used.
SPEAKER_00: There are strangers and aliens and saints and members.
SPEAKER_00: There's the process being described.
SPEAKER_00: There's a cornerstone, there's a foundation, there's joining parts together, there's being built together.
SPEAKER_00: The finished product is revealed to us, a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: The means is described to us, in whom?
SPEAKER_00: In him that is in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So the big picture here is Jesus is bringing in materials, people from all over, different kinds of materials, masterfully building a home for God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 4 then, verse 12, that describes the means by which Jesus constructs the building.
SPEAKER_00: He uses the apostles and the prophets to lay the foundation, and now he uses evangelists and pastor teachers to equip all of the different people he's brought together to do the work of service.
SPEAKER_00: And as we all do our part, fulfill our function, we are built up into what Jesus desires us to be.
SPEAKER_00: A building that He inhabits.
SPEAKER_00: Later on, next week in verse 16, we will see the necessity of working together.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see at the end of verse 16 it says that this makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
SPEAKER_00: When we serve and work together properly, the work of building continues.
SPEAKER_00: Implying, if we don't do that, the process becomes stunted or halted or delayed.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look more at that next week.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29 of chapter 4 also mentions building up as being important.
SPEAKER_00: And he says that there that there are things that we do that can disrupt the construction process.
SPEAKER_00: But let's go back to verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: The saints have been equipped for the work of service, for building up the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Each one of us is equipped to serve in Christ's church.
SPEAKER_00: If you feel insignificant or insufficient or feel like you are unable to serve in some way, that is just your feeling.
SPEAKER_00: It is not reality.
SPEAKER_00: The reality is the Lord Jesus Himself has gifted you, has enabled you to serve a purpose, to play a part in His church.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the responsibility of the evangelists and pastor teachers to ensure that the whole body is equipped, is ready to go.
SPEAKER_00: On the other side, it's the responsibility of each member of the body to serve as God has enabled them.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have come to faith in Christ, the cornerstone, he has equipped you.
SPEAKER_00: If you belong to him, having been saved by his grace, then you have been gifted to serve.
SPEAKER_00: And it's your responsibility to exercise that gift of grace.
SPEAKER_00: You can imagine the result if a single part of a brand new home did not function properly.
SPEAKER_00: I'd be irritated.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: Now the language here is collective, or we might use the term corporate, referring to us together.
SPEAKER_00: It's not speaking of each of us as individuals, but all of us coming together.
SPEAKER_00: As we serve together, collectively, corporately, exercising our gifts in service to Christ's body, Jesus Himself will ensure that we are built up properly.
SPEAKER_00: The implication there is that if we refuse, we do not serve, if we present ourselves as a poor building material or poor servants, the building process will be interrupted or even halted.
SPEAKER_00: God equips us so that the body might be built up.
SPEAKER_00: Well, to what end does God equip us?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we see here three goals of his equipping, and the first one is the unity of the faith and knowledge of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he says.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here again we have that word that speaks of oneness or being in harmony together.
SPEAKER_00: But pay careful attention to the time indicator.
SPEAKER_00: Until.
SPEAKER_00: That tells us that we've not yet arrived.
SPEAKER_00: We aren't there yet.
SPEAKER_00: Tells us, though, that we will arrive at some point.
SPEAKER_00: And in the meantime, we are to keep at it.
SPEAKER_00: That is, we are to keep being equipped, keeping on serving until such time as we arrive at our destination.
SPEAKER_00: The destination being the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: That until part might be hard.
SPEAKER_00: It may be painful.
SPEAKER_00: It may be laborious.
SPEAKER_00: But the good news is that the Lord is building his church, the Lord will build his church, and the Lord will finish building his church.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore we keep at it.
SPEAKER_00: We keep going.
SPEAKER_00: So there's sort of a now, but not yet, factor involved.
SPEAKER_00: There is a unity that automatically exists in God's church.
SPEAKER_00: We see that back at the beginning of the chapter.
SPEAKER_00: Telling us that there is a unity of the spirit in the bond of peace that we are to maintain.
SPEAKER_00: We don't start it, we don't begin it, it already exists.
SPEAKER_00: We simply maintain it.
SPEAKER_00: Because of the one who created this body.
SPEAKER_00: There's a unity within the Godhead, within the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: There's a unity present in His body that He's creating.
SPEAKER_00: We are called to maintain that.
SPEAKER_00: So that's now.
SPEAKER_00: At the same time, there's a not yet factor.
SPEAKER_00: We have not yet reached the extent of family unity that we are to have.
SPEAKER_00: Until that happens, we are to strive to be in greater unity of the faith than we currently are.
SPEAKER_00: We're to pursue that by serving one another and Christ selflessly until we arrive.
SPEAKER_00: There's some objectivity that's put in here as well.
SPEAKER_00: This is not unity of a faith.
SPEAKER_00: This is not unity of some faith, but unity of the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Telling us that this is referring to the objectiveness of our faith, the content of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Not the expression of our faith or the use of our faith that we walk in on a daily basis, but what we believe in.
SPEAKER_00: We are to keep growing up in the unity of the content of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: So knowledge is then connected to unity.
SPEAKER_00: We are to keep growing in the knowledge of and a depth of understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's why our vision statement on the front of your bulletin begins with declaring the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are to grow up in unity.
SPEAKER_00: That growing up in unity is deeply connected with knowledge, with understanding who Christ is, what he has done, taking the truths of the gospel of salvation and applying them to our hearts and living them out, continually seeking to know Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is a taking of the truths of Scripture and wrestling with them until we understand them as fully as we are able.
SPEAKER_00: Becoming filled up with Scripture and with Christ so that we become more and more like him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember when Jesus met the disciples, the unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection?
SPEAKER_00: They were walking along and somber.
SPEAKER_00: Just depressed, we might say.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus died.
SPEAKER_00: They did not yet know that he had risen.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus asked them, Why are you so sad?
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Where have you been?
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Hey, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you know your Bible?
SPEAKER_00: And it says, beginning with Moses, it's beginning with the very beginning of the Old Testament, he began to show them Jesus again and again and again.
SPEAKER_00: He taught them all about Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we have much to learn, much knowledge to gain about the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are to pursue that until we arrive at the place that God wants us to be.
SPEAKER_00: Where is that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that is a place of maturity, of spiritual maturity.
SPEAKER_00: Here in the English Standard Version, it describes it as mature manhood.
SPEAKER_00: This spiritual maturity is gained as we strive and struggle and serve together in the body, working toward the unity of the spirit and knowing Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Mature here is a term that was used in the ancient world for an adult male, a full-grown, fully mature man.
SPEAKER_00: It's not referring here to a particular age, but to the contrast with children or infants in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: We are no longer to be children, but full grown adults, mature adults.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of the contrast between immaturity of children and infants and the maturity of full grown adults.
SPEAKER_00: And again, it's important to notice that the we all in verse 13 applies here until we all arrive there.
SPEAKER_00: We are to pursue this growing up, this maturity together, because it's part of the construction process.
SPEAKER_00: It's part of Christ's process of building his church.
SPEAKER_00: As we are built up together, we grow in knowledge and understanding of who Christ is, and it's through that that we become more mature followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how mature do we need to be?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's the third goal, and that is to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Maturity is seen and becoming more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure that most of the kids here this morning, and maybe many of the adults have stood against a wall when you were a child and had your parents mark your height on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: Today they make posters for that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a wall in your home with all kinds of markings on it, from your children, maybe from your grandchildren, tracking as they grow taller and taller.
SPEAKER_00: As Christians, our measuring stick is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: God is making us into his image, into the likeness of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And as we grow up, as we mature, we become more and more like him.
SPEAKER_00: And we are to be filled with him, overflowing with him.
SPEAKER_00: That is the picture of complete, full growth, of maturity in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we are pursuing, and we pursue it together.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus enables us, he equips us to serve him and one another, thus providing all we need to grow up.
SPEAKER_00: There's a time for infancy.
SPEAKER_00: We all come to Christ as infants.
SPEAKER_00: We grow up.
SPEAKER_00: Some grow slowly, some grow more rapidly.
SPEAKER_00: But there's also a time to be a toddler and a teenager.
SPEAKER_00: But our goal is to become mature adults in the image of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And none of us are left out.
SPEAKER_00: Each child of God here is called to maturity.
SPEAKER_00: We are called to serve the body in unity and growing in the knowledge of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: All of us, every single part is involved in that.
SPEAKER_00: As one author has stated, there is no room in Christ's church for drones.
SPEAKER_00: Only for busy bees.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's how we grow up.
SPEAKER_00: Well, we need to ask the question why?
SPEAKER_00: Why does God do that?
SPEAKER_00: Why does God equip us in that way?
SPEAKER_00: It's very simple.
SPEAKER_00: To grow up.
SPEAKER_00: He wants us to grow out of childhood and into spiritual maturity.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we see in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: So that, here's the reason, here's why Christ does all of this.
SPEAKER_00: So that we may no longer be children.
SPEAKER_00: The implication there is that at some point we're going to be children, right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we still act like children.
SPEAKER_00: But the idea is to become mature.
SPEAKER_00: And the illustrations here have been in the forms of contrast maturity versus immaturity, adulthood versus infancy, growing up versus remaining children.
SPEAKER_00: Just as the building up of the church is necessary, growing from spiritual infants to spiritual maturity is also vitally necessary.
SPEAKER_00: It's necessary because children do not have the maturity needed to live in a safe way, in a proper way, or as an adult should.
SPEAKER_00: There are three areas of spiritual struggle that come to those who are spiritually mature.
SPEAKER_00: These are areas in which we all need to mature and begin to develop some stability.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 14, This is so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, in deceitful schemes.
SPEAKER_00: So we see first here that we must develop stability in doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: Children are pictured here as being infant like, laying in a boat, all by themselves in the middle of the lake, in the midst of the storm.
SPEAKER_00: At the mercy of the wind and the waves.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if they are infants alone in the boat with the wind howling and the waves mounting.
SPEAKER_00: They are taken wherever the wind drives them and the waves carry them.
SPEAKER_00: Could be hundreds of miles away, or it could even be capsized in the raging sea.
SPEAKER_00: When thrown suddenly into a trying, confusing, or uncertain situation, the spiritual child is unlikely to have the maturity necessary to go through that well.
SPEAKER_00: And the idea is directed here towards doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: A spiritual infant is not knowledgeable in all the areas of doctrine and proper instruction from Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: So whenever a new teaching comes around, their ears are perked up, and they're more likely to buy into it.
SPEAKER_00: Or whenever an old but wrong teaching is resurrected in some new and fashionable way, they are unable to distinguish it from proper doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: And it carries them away.
SPEAKER_00: By growing up, though, we learn to distinguish right and wrong teaching, right and wrong doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: As we further mature, we are even able to take it a step further than that and to discern the difference between what is right and what is almost right.
SPEAKER_00: Children and infants are not able to do that.
SPEAKER_00: As a result, when we grow up like that, we're no longer tossed around like a baby in a tiny boat on the ocean waves.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, we're secure, we are stable in our doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: And it happens in our community of faith, in our body.
SPEAKER_00: This maturity takes place together as we serve and grow in knowledge and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: It's not an independent growth or maturity, it happens corporately.
SPEAKER_00: That means we need each other.
SPEAKER_00: We need each other to mature.
SPEAKER_00: We need each other's presence in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Maturity doesn't happen via television church or YouTube church or live streaming church.
SPEAKER_00: It's through togetherness that this stability happens.
SPEAKER_00: And it's through our working and growing together that we then develop stability and discernment.
SPEAKER_00: He says that children are tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, even by human cunning.
SPEAKER_00: Paul uses a word here from which our English word cube is derived.
SPEAKER_00: It literally meant dice.
SPEAKER_00: Dice.
SPEAKER_00: And it came to refer to the craftiness or the trickery that could be used in throwing dice.
SPEAKER_00: In our context here in Ephesians 4, it speaks of people who are seeking to deceive others by means of craftiness or trickery.
SPEAKER_00: They may use smooth speech or big words or personality to trick a young believer into following them.
SPEAKER_00: A spiritual infant is not discerning enough to see through the cunning plans of people out to deceive others.
SPEAKER_00: A mature believer, while they still may fall prey to that occasionally, are generally much more discerning, because they have developed a stability and wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: They can identify craftiness and deceitful schemes.
SPEAKER_00: Similar to the previous statement, but maybe with a touch more evil.
SPEAKER_00: This craftiness means well, put it simply, rascally.
SPEAKER_00: Designing evil schemes, evil activities.
SPEAKER_00: This is the person bent on deceit through evil schemes.
SPEAKER_00: And the young, immature believer will be more likely to fall prey to that kind of scheme.
SPEAKER_00: But the mature believer will be able to see through those deceitful schemes.
SPEAKER_00: They will be wise to the ways of the world and the ways of sinful people.
SPEAKER_00: And that maturity, beloved, does not happen because we are consistent in our own private devotions.
SPEAKER_00: Not saying that's a bad thing.
SPEAKER_00: Saying that's not how it happens.
SPEAKER_00: It's not happening because we say our prayers each night.
SPEAKER_00: This happens because Christ has equipped us to serve Him and one another, and we all then actually do serve within the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Together, then, Christ builds us up into a spiritual house.
SPEAKER_00: He develops greater maturity within us, maturing us in knowledge, understanding, discernment, and wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: We grow up in Christ by means of our ministry to one another in the context of following Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is why a deep connection to a local fellowship of believers is so extremely important.
SPEAKER_00: God has designed it.
SPEAKER_00: He wrote the blueprint to be a vital part of your spiritual growth.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the point of this text is very simple.
SPEAKER_00: We're called to grow up in spiritual maturity, understanding, and wisdom by serving Christ and his church as Jesus faithfully builds us up.
SPEAKER_00: Now there are times in the life of the church when it becomes very clear how mature the body is.
SPEAKER_00: And that clarity will either point to maturity or to immaturity.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine that it's your home that is being built.
SPEAKER_00: You have dreamt about this home, you've helped design it.
SPEAKER_00: You've picked out all of the details.
SPEAKER_00: You've spent months and months working through the construction process.
SPEAKER_00: And then the day comes when you move in, and on that day, it's that day, the move-in day, that you finally discover that 20% of the parts of your church, of your new home, don't work.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: I probably wouldn't call the builder, I'd be searching him out.
SPEAKER_00: Saying you need to fix this now.
SPEAKER_00: You would be incredibly frustrated and you might demand it be done immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Bullava, Jesus is building his church, and he has employed each of his people not only to be a part of it, but to function as a part of it.
SPEAKER_00: What if, what if only one, two, or maybe fifty parts don't function in his building?
SPEAKER_00: What happens?
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you it's not good.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's designed us to fit together and serve together so that we will mature together.
SPEAKER_00: That means I need you.
SPEAKER_00: And you need all of us.
SPEAKER_00: There will be moments when we show our immaturity.
SPEAKER_00: And there will be times when we demonstrate maturation.
SPEAKER_00: But if we continue and if we commit to obediently following Christ in service to Him and one another, in love with grace, we will not only be built up in Christ, but we will grow up in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we encourage you so often to take the step of membership.
SPEAKER_00: It serves to connect you more deeply to this local fellowship that you need.
SPEAKER_00: It's why we encourage you to be a part of a life group and a Bible study, because God uses these things to build us up toward maturity together.
SPEAKER_00: It's my prayer that you will join us in that.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our Lord Jesus, we come and bow before you, recognizing that too often we don't function as our part.
SPEAKER_00: We ask for your forgiveness in that.
SPEAKER_00: But we also ask that your spirit would anoint us in a unique way.
SPEAKER_00: We ask, as Elisha asked, that you would give us a double portion of your spirit, each one of us, to function well.
SPEAKER_00: Not just to be a part of this building, this body that you are constructing, but to be a well-functioning part.
SPEAKER_01: Because we want to grow up and please you.com.