MK040 Sermons
Serving1 (Audio)
Well, this past week in our office, we had one of those situations that occurred that doesn't happen very often, especially with things being remodeled, but it does happen from time to time. What occurred in the office is almost not quite simultaneous, but pretty much one right after another. Everybody kind of came out of the office, out of their offices, stuck their head down the hallway and said, "Did you lose your internet connection?" And it just kind of happened to all of us, and all of us simultaneously were like, "Yeah, it happened to me. It happened to me. It happened to you." "Oh, no. What happened?" We were like, "Okay, there's no wind outside, there's no ice storm. What happened?" We dropped the internet connection, and then we also realized that we didn't have access to our servers. So you don't have internet connection, you don't have access to the server. You kind of can't do anything. You just might as well sit there and totally your thumbs or go home, and it was early in the day. We weren't ready to do that. So came over to the computer room here and tried to reset the router and take the steps we knew that, didn't do any good. Then we called our internet provider and got hung up one and got put on hold forever, and we weren't getting anywhere on that process, and so called one of the guys from our church who has helped us with a lot of our IT needs, and he was having to be working from home that day, and he's close by, so he said, "I'll be there in a few minutes." So he comes up, and right before he walked in the door, I happened to go downstairs for something. As I went downstairs, I saw all the lights were out, I thought, "Why are all the lights out downstairs?" I wonder if we tripped a breaker, so I went over and pushed that button, and everything came on, and magically we were connected just like that again, again. But you realize how quickly that connection was lost, but when you see that connection lost, you also realize how important that connection is, how important it is. Just think about what things you said and did last time you lost your internet connection. We won't take for a time of confession here in church this morning, but you may need to do that about what took place when that occurred. Because of the frustration, because of feeling helpless that takes place when that occurs, and how critical it is for us and our culture and our world today to be connected to everything else in our lives, that connection is vitally important. When you think about that connection in your life, it's vitally important in other arenas as well, because that connection is not only important for you to stay connected to the rest of the world, but connection is important in relationships as well. One of the things that we have come to learn is how vitally important, having a sense of being connected, if you are married to your spouse is, because if you do not feel connected to your spouse, you can't tackle anything that's in front of you. You feel isolated, you feel sometimes abandoned, you feel all alone. And so one of the things we actually are training people, training couples to do, is how can they move from times of feeling far apart and disconnected to be connected with one another so that they can tackle the challenges, whatever those challenges are, that are right in front of them. And so it's important relationally, it's important for how we function in this world, but it's also important in our relationship with God. And this morning, we're going to talk about something that Paul writes about being connected and how that happens. And it might surprise you how this connection, what he's going to talk about this morning, gives you a sense of feeling connected. If you haven't been with us over the last several weeks, we started the new year with a series entitled Next Steps. And the reason we started that series is I wanted for us to explore what is the next step that God is calling you to take in your spiritual journey, in your relationship with him. We talk about next steps all the time at CCC, because we don't believe God asked you to go from A to F, he asked you to go from A to B, or from C to D, or from E to F. And so part of that journey for you is to acknowledge and say, "This is where I'm at right now, this is where I'm at, and what's the next step that God is asking me to take?" The next step he's asking me to take. And we began talking about the next step in following Jesus. What is the next step in following Jesus look like for you? No matter where you're at, no matter if you're just here checking out CCC, if you've been away from church, you decided, "Hey, I really should do this, I really should get back to church. I haven't been there in a while. Been walking with Jesus for a long period of time. What's the next step that he's inviting you to take?" And then last week we talked about what's the next step in being involved in small groups and being involved in relationships. And we talked about what that next step looks like for you to be a safe person. If you weren't here with us for last week or eat those weeks, you can go online, listen the messages, and get connected, get caught up to where we are. So we talked about that last week. And one of the things that we're going to be doing next Sunday is an event called Plug Then. And Plug Then is an opportunity for you to meet other people that are interested in being part of a small group. And we'd love to have you sign up, you can go to our website, you can sign up online about that, and it's an opportunity to be connected in a group of people here at CCC. One of the key components to our small groups are our leaders. Because as a staff, one of the things we would love to do is care for and be involved in everybody's life here at CCC, but we don't have enough hours in the day and in the week to do that. And so one of the ways that happens at CCC is through our small groups. And so people in our small groups are leaders, they are shepherds along with us to care for the flock or the church here at CCC. One of the things that we learn in small groups is they have seasons of life, they have stages and small groups go through seasons and groups begin and groups function and there's a great experience and sometimes groups come to a close. And it's a time for a new season of what God has for them. And when that takes place, one of the things that we try to do is we try to honor the leaders who have been in that season with us. And so one of our leaders who is here today, that I want to ask to come up, Matt and Michelle, come on up here, Matt and Michelle have been leading small groups for I think Matt said nine plus, something like that, eight, oh now you're down to eight, you reduced it. But Matt was one of those guys that somebody convinced him to lead a small group. I think that was Jerry. Didn't Jerry convince you to do that? And Matt didn't really know what he was getting into, but he died in and he and Michelle poured themselves into the people that were a part of that group and so we just want to thank them for serving our church and for the, our church community in this way. So would you join me in just thanking them for their faithful service? So thanks guys very much. Thanks Michelle. I don't see Ben and Liz Earhart here this morning because they were the other ones I wanted to recognize, but I don't see them here so we'll get them next week. One of the things that we want, we're going to talk about is this whole area of serving. And I think sometimes when you think about serving, it's just well, there's stuff that has to be done. But Paul gives us a very different perspective about serving that I hope you catch this morning. If you have your Bibles, if you would turn to 1 Corinthians 12 is the passage we're going to be in. 1 Corinthians 12, if you don't have your Bibles, our guys have some and they'll pass them out to you, 1 Corinthians 12. The Bibles that they're passing out the page number is going to come up on the screen there for you to, to follow along. The book of 1 Corinthians is one of Paul's letters to a church in the 1st century. This was a church that he established on one of his journeys. He lived in Jerusalem and he went, sent out from Jerusalem to all parts of the known world at that time and he started churches in all these little towns. Corinth was one of those cities that he started a church in. And after he started this church in, then he would get reports from people they were passing through and they would send information back about how's the church in Corinth doing. And Paul would write letters to them and he actually wrote four letters to the church in Corinth. We have two of them that are part of our Bible. And so this first letter that's known as 1 Corinthians is a letter in which Paul is writing essentially about problems that were happening in the church. But most of the problems, we don't really know what was going on. He just says, this is what you should be doing. I'm like, okay, what is he telling them they should stop doing? In some cases he tells us, 1 Corinthians 5, he's very clear, this shouldn't be happening, this is what you should do instead. But not in all of them. So there's a bit of surmising on our part to say, what is it that Paul's really talking about? What was the problem here that we should pay attention to? Now I don't think, and we'll see that you'll see this more as we spend time looking at this pastor's scripture. I don't think the specific problem that they were dealing with is the same exact problem that we're navigating through. But I think there's some valuable lessons and truths that we can walk away with from what Paul has to say in 1 Corinthians 12. So look there and if you're in 1 Corinthians 12, let's begin in verse 12. Paul says this, just as a body, the one has many parts, but all of its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Paul is using a picture, an analogy, if you will, to describe the church. And the analogy to use is the human body. And this is probably one of Paul's favorite or most often analogies that he uses in the Bible is the picture of the body. Now when Paul talks about the church throughout the New Testament, he's often talking about the church in two different arenas. The first picture that he's talking about when he's talking about the church, he's talking about every person alive today who says I'm a follower of Jesus. It's called the universal church. Every person is alive to this. There's a couple places in the New Testament, not very many, where he's referring to every person alive at this moment in time who says I'm a follower of Jesus. Paul also talks about the individuals who are a follower of Jesus in a specific geographic location, and that's called the local church. And I believe this is what Paul's talking about in this passage. He's not talking about the universal church, he's talking about the local church. And then this picture, he says the local church is just like the body. He says think about your body. He says there's lots of parts in your body, right? Lots of parts. There's lots of bones in your body. Anybody know how many bones are in your body? You may want to take a guess. Tell us. Say it really loud. Close. 209 is what I found. So you know. So that's pretty good. That's pretty good. So anybody know how many muscles are in the body? Muscles. Over 600 muscles, somewhere in that ballpark is how many muscles. So you think about that, and the majority of them all have a unique, distinct function. Paul says when you think about a local expression of the body of Christ, when you think about a local church, I want you to think about your body. He goes on to describe it in the next verse, verse 13. He says for we are all baptized by one spirit, so it's the form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles slaves are free, and we're all given the one spirit to drink. He's talking about this idea of baptism, and I'm not going to spend time on that because we're going to actually talk about that next week. So the thing I want you to focus on is his description. He first of all says whether Jews are Greek. He says it doesn't matter your religious affiliation before you came. It doesn't matter. He uses a Jew in Greek because that's what it was in that context. In our setting, we might say it doesn't matter whether you were Catholic or Baptist. It doesn't matter if you were Mennonite or Presbyterian. It doesn't matter if you believed in God or didn't believe in God. It doesn't matter when you become part of this local body. He then says whether slave or free. He's talking about their economic status. He says it doesn't matter if you serve at the counter of McDonald's or you run the McDonald's. He says it doesn't matter. He says it doesn't matter if you're the person on the factory line or if you're the manager of the people on the factory line. He says it doesn't matter if you run your own show or if you manage dozens of people. He says it doesn't matter. He says we're all baptized by one spirit. What he's talking about there, he's talking about what happens when you place your faith in Jesus. He says the local expression of the body of Christ, it doesn't matter your theological background. It doesn't matter your economic status. If you are a follower of Jesus, you're all part of that one body. Then he goes on to talk about it in verse 14. He said even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many. What's he talking about? The body not made up of one part. He says a body can't be just one part, can it? A body has many, many parts. When you think of the apostle Paul, you don't normally think of the apostle Paul as someone who is kind of humorous when he tells things. He's kind of this, you kind of think of him in a revered, serious way, deep theological truths that sometimes are hard to understand. But this next section is really kind of a humorous section of the Bible, one of the most humorous sections that Paul wrote about. Look what he goes on to say in verse 15. He says now if the foot should say because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. I mean, Paul's trying to give us an analogy here and a picture he said, can you imagine your foot and your hand having a conversation with each other, can you imagine? And he said, it's kind of humorous when you think about it. Can you imagine your foot saying, I'm done with you, I'm going to go be a foot to somebody else's body, I'm done with you, or your eye and you're having a conversation saying, I think I'm done here, I'm just going to move out and go get connected somewhere else. People say, that's kind of crazy when you think about that. Now remember, he's saying these things because of a problem that's happening in that church. So what's the problem that's happening in that church? Someone's saying, I don't want to be a part of that group anymore. I was a part of this group, but I don't want to be a part of that group. I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to move on. He goes on in verse 17 to give us another picture. He says that the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be, if the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? Now before monsters ink, we couldn't imagine the whole body being an eye, but now because of monsters ink, we can imagine the whole body being an eye. But you can imagine a big monster's eye. And he says, if the whole body were just one part, some functions that are needed would be missing, because all one, some functions that were needed would be missing. You say, what's the problem? Well, there could be a couple of different problems. One could be they were trying to make everybody be the same. Everybody was supposed to be the same, and some of you have come from religious backgrounds and experiences where one of the priorities was for that church to make everybody the same. Everybody had to look the same, act the same, sound the same, do the same things. And Paul says that's not the way it should work, because something's going to be missing. And the same way he says there, in the second half of that verse, he says, if the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? If you're a monster's ear, something would be missing. Why is Paul telling us this? Because he wants us to know and grab hold of what's in this next verse. He says in 18, "But in fact, God has placed the parts of the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be." But this truth that comes out of this verse, I think when you think about it, you're like, yeah, that's true. But most people, when they're thinking about the church they're going to go to, they're thinking, well, what's this church going to be like, and does it have things for my kids, does it have things for my students, and am I going to like the guys up front talking, am I going to like the music you decide, do I like enough of these things for me to stay here? And we kind of have this grocery list. We've got to go down through and check it off. And you know, am I going to stay or am I going to not going to stay? And Paul says, do you realize God's the one that decides who's going to be here? God's in charge of that. Now, God made direct through your child who comes and says, Mom and Dad, I want to go back. And you're like, well, my kid wants to go. I should really go. We're going back, you know. And God can direct through you and say, that was really a meaningful service and experience that had challenged me and encouraged me. And it was so God can work through us. But Paul says, it's important to understand that when God puts on local body, God puts the ones He wants there. He's the one in charge of making that happen. Verse 19, if they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. Paul wants us to understand that for the body to be what God designed it to be, each part is important and each part has a place. And I have to imagine that as I think about this church in the first century, there were some that they thought were more important than others. I'm going to see that in a minute. Some that decided I don't think I want to be here anymore. Because I thought about this choice of who I'm with, who I'm a part of. I realize that when we're younger, you don't really get a say in what you're a part of, do you? I mean, you don't get a say in which family you get to join. You're stuck with them for life, right? You're born into them. You don't get to say which class you want to be in in school. You're just stuck in that school, in that class, and you get stuck on a team, somebody puts you on a team. You don't get a say. But think about it, as you get a little bit older, you get a say, right? Well, as you get a little bit older, you might say, I'm not going to play on that team. I want to play on that team, because I know that coach, and I know the way he coaches and that's the team I want to be, and if you get to the professional, you actually get to decide who he's going to pay you to be on what team, right? And think about that, as you get a little bit older, you're kind of stuck in the school because you live in the school district, and that's where mom and dad live, so you don't really have a choice of where you're going to go. But you get a little boy, you can decide, am I going to live in this neighborhood or this neighborhood? Am I going to live in this school district or this school district? And you get a choice about where you live. And you get a choice about your job, am I going to work for this job? I don't really like the way they treat their employees. That's not a good company. I'm going to move from here over to here. And Paul says, when it comes to the church, God's the one deciding who's going to be here. And in our independent, I'm in charge of my life, kind of Western mindset. It kind of takes us aback, a step back, because we're so used to decide where I'm going to be and who I'm going to be a part of and what I'm going to be involved in. And really, what Paul says is, God's actually the one in charge of all of this. And he's the one deciding who's going to be where. And each part that he brings here that says, I'm a follower of Jesus and this is my church community, God has a purpose for you in this place. I think about your body for a moment. Are there some body parts that you can do without? Yeah, there's some you could do without, but not a lot, not a lot. And if you do without them, your quality of life certainly is limited or may go down. So God says, every one of you is a part. Every part is important. Every part is valuable and every part has a place. These next couple of verses, he kind of dives into it in a little bit more detail. Look in verse 21, he says, the eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you or the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you. Any in that setting was saying, you're not needed around here. Somebody in that setting was saying, you're not important. I don't know if you've ever been told that, the company's downsizing, hey, we just don't need you any longer, that's tough, that's tough. I mean, maybe in a relationship, someone says, I don't want to be with you, I don't want you anymore, that's agonizing. And Paul says, that's not the way the church works, the church doesn't work like this where someone can just decide I don't need you and you're out, it's actually very different. Look what he says in verse 22, on the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor. Now, think about it, when you think about your body, and there's certain parts of your body that you can probably function somewhat effectively, even if you were without them, if you would lose a finger, you could function without that. You could even lose a limb and you can function without that. I mean, we see more examples of that today than we probably ever have because of the men and women who've served our country and they've sacrificed physical parts of their body to serve our country. And they come back and because of the modern, the marvels of modern science, they are able to get, you know, prosthetic limbs that allow them to function as part of our society. You know, you could lose an eye, could you function, yes, you can use your sense of smell like I have and can you still function, yes, but it's kind of dangerous in my car if the engine's burning up, you know. So you can function with certain parts of your body, and Paul says there's some parts of the body that you can function without, but he says the weaker parts are indispensable. Think about the parts that are on the inside, the parts that you can't see. Can you function without your lungs? Wow, that would be pretty hard. Without your heart, you know, about your liver, you know, start to think about these parts of the body that are unseen, that Paul says these parts of the body that are unseen, they are, what is he describing? They are indispensable, indispensable. And he says those that are not seen, they deserve special honor. Why? Because those that are seen, they get plenty of honor. You say, what is Paul talking about there? What he's talking about is those of us that are in roles that are visible like myself and our staff and those people that are up on stage, those people that you see, we get plenty of honor. You talk to us, you tell us things that are valuable, meaningful, you say affirming things to us. But I'm pretty confident the majority of you in this room have no idea who our cleaning team are, who every week come here and spend several hours making sure this building is warm and clean and inviting as we come through the doors. I would imagine unless you have a very small child, most of us have no idea who the individuals are who sit in a room with crying babies for an hour so that you can sit here and hear the truth that's being communicated. Most of you probably don't know who the individuals are that we call when something breaks and we say, can you come fix this? And they make their way over here and fix it because they're really, really amazing and good at those things. Everyone else is, every part is important and those parts that you might not see, they are vitally important, vitally important and they deserve some extra honor. That's why for me, when I leave the office on Tuesday afternoons, I always walk through this building because our cleaning team is here and just thank them because nobody sees them, nobody knows them and nobody really thinks them. And they don't say, if somebody doesn't thank me, I am quick tomorrow, they don't say that. They don't say that. They love to serve and they love to do what they're good at doing and it's an amazing gift to all of us. The Paul says, every part is important and it's not important just to look at the visible parts and say, I can't do what those visible parts can do and so there's not a place for you. Paul says, every part is important and for one part to say other parts are not important or not needed or not necessary is prideful and arrogant and it's not the way my body, the body of Christ is to function. You see, the body of Christ is every part is important and the body of Christ is where is your place and what can you do to make a difference? That's what the body of Christ does. The body of Christ values those parts that are unseen and gives them a greater level of honor because of the roles that they play. It's one of the things that we try to do here, especially as the staff and elders, the people that are behind the scenes, that aren't seen, the volunteers that come in and spend time cutting and folding programs and response cards and getting things ready here, nobody sees who those individuals are but they serve in a valuable way. Paul concludes looking verse 25, look at the middle of 24, but God has put the body together giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it so that there should be no division in the body but that this part should have equal concern for each other. He can't say this enough that God's put the ones here that need to be here and the ones who are here, he has a certain purpose and plan for them. And as I think about this whole idea of serving, one of the things that we talk about all the time here at CCC is that following Jesus and living our lives for him, worship, spending time with God in his word, serving, we want that to be a one to not a half to, a one to not a half to. You see, when we're having to do things that we have to do, we get tired of it after a while. And just take for a moment and think about writing with your opposite hand, your non-dominant hand. Can you write your name with your non-dominant hand, yes or no? You can do that, right? Yeah. Break your hand, you have to do that, right? But if you had to write for several hours with your non-dominant hand, what would you be? You would be exhausted because it's not what comes natural to you. It's not who you are. And so part of what we want to do here at CCC is we want to help you figure out what is it that God has designed you to be and designed you to do. You know, if you're one of those individuals that you love your kids, but you're glad when your kids get a little bit bigger and when you're around other people's kids, you're kind of like, okay, I'm going to try to be nice around these other people's kids, but oh, we're done. We're done. You know, we can move on. We're going to tap you on the shoulder and say, would you come serve in Studio 252 and Mogoland? You know, if you're someone that's a little introverted and you're not comfortable moving towards people and you're okay if people move towards you, but you don't just kind of step towards people. We're probably not going to ask you to be a greeter at the front door, you know? You know, if you hurt yourself when you use tools, we're probably not going to ask you to build something around here, okay? If you would humiliate yourself badly on American Idol if you tried to sing or play, we probably won't ask you to come up here on the stage, you know? But we know and we believe that even if that is not what you are wired to do, there is something that God has wired you to do. There is something that God has wired you to do. And that's what we want to help you discover. That's what we want to help you to explore. That's what we want to help you to move towards because we believe every part that God has placed here in this body who are followers of His that He has a purpose and a plan for you. And one of the things we know is that when we get a chance to discover who we are made to be, what you are made to live your life for, and you get a chance to do that, there is nothing in this world like that to know that you are doing what God has designed you to do. And in doing that, you will help God accomplishing His purpose here on this earth through the church. And it doesn't matter if that's holding a crying baby. That's handing out a program, that's building things, that's doing things with technology, that's serving with our kids, with our students, leading a small group, caring for the poor, it doesn't matter what that is. And that's what we want to see happen. Inside the pocket in front of you, I want to have everybody grab the yellow sheet that is there. Everybody take out the yellow sheet. And the pocket in front of you, take that out. And I'm going to have you fill this sheet out this morning, but I want to talk to you a little bit about it because for us, it really starts with what do you love to do? What do you love to do? And so that's why at the top of the sheet, it just says, I have an interest in. And there's seven or eight different areas, kind of our main areas of our church life. These are things I have an interest in doing. You see, John, if I have an interest in something, am I signing myself up? No, you're not signing yourself up. You're just saying, I have an interest. It's saying, I'm not sure what I have an interest in, but then we'd love to talk to you about it because we're one of the things that as a staff we greatly enjoy is having conversations with people to explore what do you love to do? Because if we can direct you towards serving in a way, you get to do something you'd love. You're going to pull your heart and soul into it and say, well, what if I get involved in something and I really don't love it? You'll know in six months, guarantee it, I'll bet money on it. Because if you're dreading doing it, not a good fit and let's find something else. One of the cool things with our students and one of the things I love about being able to serve in a church is you get to try things out, you get to experiment, you get to say, hey, is this going to be a fit? Now, I've watched this with both of my kids as they've tried out areas of ministry where they were serving and now they're doing things that they really love to do and they look forward to the opportunities that they have to serve and so it's something that a lot of our students serve here as well as our adults. I've asked Diane to join me here on the stage just to talk a little bit about serving and so just to get us started, Diane, tell us a little bit about where you are involved in serving here at CCC. All right, I am, I help oversee Studio 252 upstairs at the ministry for kindergarten fourth graders and one of my primary jobs is also to teach the large group time. So as you serve there, tell us a little bit about Studio 252 because that's one of those areas that can be unseen. I mean, if you don't have kids and you don't migrate up that direction, you really are other than a little loud noise that we hear emanating from upstairs occasionally. I'm not really sure what goes on, so tell us a little bit about that. All right, well Studio 252, when we're up there, sometimes we refer to what you're doing down here as big church because a lot of what we do up there is very similar to what's happening here in that when the kids come in, one of the first things we do is we have a time of worship and following that there is a teaching time similar to this and then they get a chance then to meet with smaller groups where they learn to know each other better and connect with small group leaders so we have a service that is very similar in many ways and we need, you know, like when I started talking probably some of you, okay, she works with kids. I'm not a Sunday school teacher and you kind of think that's not for me but I wanted to let you know that we're not actually looking for Sunday school teachers. We have lots of opportunities where we need people that run our tech equipment just like here where they are running the audio and the visual things that we're doing upstairs. We also need worship leaders. We have some great people right now that are working with our kids that love to sing with the kids and they have so much fun with the kids but they grow up, they graduate, they go into college and so we're always looking for people who will take those places and do worship with our kids. I am often the larger group teacher and I would love to share that responsibility with others so we're looking for a larger group of teachers and then I have small groups right now because there are so many kids that have like 15 kids in them sometimes and that's not really considered a small group so we would love to be able to split those groups and have more people come and join us in these small group leaders as well. So there are lots of opportunities and everything that happens every single month we change our environment we change our theme and then we try to have things in the room and decor in the room that kind of match that theme and so I would love to have people that could just say you know what I can't show up on Sunday morning and help but I can during the week I can help you know think about what we can do for that theme and gather the things and come set up so those are all opportunities that you would have in Studio 252. You know one of the coolest things about us getting people plugged in to serve is just all the different ways that that happens and you know Diane's describing all of those and you think oh maybe that's you know maybe that's for moms maybe that's not for me but you know we have a guy in our church who's a retired guy never never went to school past eighth grade and can I get choked up just talking about him tell him what he does. It's Merlin and he has he just is awesome with whatever when we go to him and say Merlin this is our theme and this is what we want you to make and he's incredible I mean he makes things that you would not even be able to I wouldn't be able to dream how you would even begin to do that because he just has the ability and he can do it with a lot of things he has at home sometimes so you know say I went to the junkyard or I went here and I asked for this and it's just amazing you just hope you should just come upstairs every once in a while and just flick and see often one of our things that we have is one of our props or something that month was made by Merlin yeah and so as you think about where you serve and finding your place you know one of the things we love about the local churches that there is a place for everybody and God brings the right people here at the right time to be used in this way so Diane you you have a full and busy life you're a mom you're a teacher you help Frank run this business why do you serve well there are times I asked myself that too and especially during the week if when it's busy and what I do requires some prep during the week and so like if it's a busy week and I need to prepare or it's late Saturday night and I'm still preparing you know I might ask myself why do I do this but you know when I show up on Sunday mornings and I'm with the kids I always say this is why I do it because I just love to interact with them and when I am talking with them or teaching them I love to see them respond and it's just it's just a rewarding and exciting to see them grow in their relationship with God and so that's what keeps me doing it as I say like when you find when you find a fit when you find something that fits you and you're serving in that area it can you can go home after you're done and you can feel exhausted but you can feel energized at the same time and that's what I experience so to serve you talked about it it requires some extra time especially in your role some time and some planning what do you sacrifice to be able to serve well those people who know me well know I sacrifice sleep mostly and it's that kind of my choice because if I really wanted to get more sleep I would just I would just take from something else because I really feel like for most of us know and understand that things that are important to us we figure out a way to make it work and we figure out what to do to make time for it I think that's important to think about because serving we believe if you're serving in a place is a great fit you're going to find great fulfillment but it's going to require some sacrifice it's going to require setting some things aside and for some people it might be the question on their minds might be where do I serve for others it might be I don't really have time how to squeeze that in so as you're as you're have an opportunity to speak to our church here and talk to them about serving what would you say to encourage those that maybe are not at a place where they're serving to consider being involved well there's two things that I thought about one is that just the rewards the joy that you get from knowing that you're a part of just helping people grow in the relationship with God and that doesn't just mean when you're working with kids it's like any part of what you do here would be a part of helping people to connect and with each other and to know God better and then the other part I thought about is that you hear a lot about small groups and I'm all about small groups too I love my small groups and I've made great friendships there but I've also found that when I serve on a team and I'm working with people in the ministry and I'm serving I've made the most awesome relationships there and that's just a great place to get to know people in that way as well as you serve would you thank Diane for sharing some of her thoughts with us this morning thanks Diane so as we wrap up this morning I just want to put a screen on the on the screen some thoughts that we had from what Paul had to say we can bring that slide up I think it's a little earlier lent a just you know the summary of what Paul had to say that's the one so everyone is a Christ followers a part of the body Paul says if you are here everyone who's a Christ follower is a part of the body and God's the one who's made sure you're here and brought you here second all parts are important everybody is important no parts more valuable than other and every person plays a vital part and so this morning we want to encourage you to take this sheet and put something on this sheet if you're already serving just say yeah this is where I serve and I love serving we'd love to hear from you and many of you share that with us often if you're not sure just say I'd like to talk with someone and discuss where I could find my place where I could find my part where I could fit and as a staff we would love to have a conversation with you and talk with you about that and so as we wrap up this morning I want to challenge you to ask yourself what is the next step that God has for you as it relates to serving what's the next step remember God doesn't ask you to go from A to F H Z that's not what he says he says I want you to take another step forward one of the ways one of the metaphors that we use often is is when you're in when you're on a team sometimes you're on the sidelines but sometimes you're in the game and when you serve it's an opportunity for you to get in the game it's an opportunity for you to be a part of what God is doing and see how he can use you to make a difference and that's really what we long to see happen we want you to find a place to serve using your gifts and abilities find a place to serve where you have a sense of I am part of what God is up to here I want to invite you to bow your heads with me as we close in prayer and I want to give you just a moment to talk to God and if you if you have a place that you're serving and you love what you do can you just thank God for that if you're not sure where to serve you're not sure what to do just say got a I'm willing I'm willing just not sure where right now so help me figure that out if life's pretty full and you can't figure out where you'd squeeze in the time talk to God about what's really important to you allow him to point out some things that might need to change and then ask yourself if you're willing to do that God I thank you for the church I think you for CCC this expression of your body here in mind holds and word you have brought each person is a follower of you who is here this morning Lord to be a part of this community for purpose not just to get a job done not just to keep a machine going but to live out who they were designed who they are designed to be and in doing that God to make a difference in this world God I thank you for the dozens and dozens and dozens of people who serve here who serve faithfully serve behind the scenes who sometimes get overlooked and not recognized who serve with great levels of sacrifice God I thank you for each of them I look forward to God to others who maybe have been on the sidelines for a season for a time maybe they're just new here at CCC and they just felt the stirring in your heart to say it's time for me to get in the game I'm ready God I'm ready to reengage I'm ready to find my place I'm ready to make a difference so I want you to use me thank you for this incredible privilege God in your name amen as the band comes forward to lead us in a song as we close I think another thing that happens when we serve is God experiences incredible delight incredible delight when these people that he's made get to live and become exactly who he made them to be I know if you've ever built something or made something and it works the way you designed it to work and you're like that's what I wanted it to be I think God finds incredible joy in that and so our longing and our prayer for you is that as you seek and pursue this that you would find great fulfillment but you would know that in doing so God's really amazingly thrilled with you Johnny [MUSIC PLAYING]