Gifts of Grace Week 3 | Abilities

Sunday, December 10th | Beau Bradberry

"For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function" — Romans 12:4

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Beau Bradberry

Senior Pastor

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Well, good morning.

I'm glad that you are here with us on this very peculiar South Carolina weather.

Sunday.

It's like last week we were dipping down at freezing.

On Tuesday, we'll be at freezing again.

But today, put on your shorts and your Hawaiian shorts, right?

Because it is nice and warm and humid outside.

But we're glad that each and every one of you are here with us this weekend, worshiping with us today.

With that said, we got a lot of stuff that's going on in the life of our church.

This is an exciting time, an exciting season to come back tonight for the Kinda Christmas Cantata as we have a Christmas Cantata, Willow Ridge style, which will be a wonderful, wonderful time of fellowship, of coming together as a church family and all the things that we have in store coming up in the next few Sundays and weeks ahead.

But one of the things that actually has happened in the past is we just sent a team to go to New York City to partner with the church for coats for the city.

And I'm not going to say too much more than that, but we had collected coats as a church, and then we sent teams up there where they could give these away and help share the gospel with people.

One of the things that we want to do as we as a church, not only have people who go from within us, but we view this as a sending.

We want to make sure that we have an understanding and can hear about all that God has done.

If you've ever been on a mission trip, part of when you come back, you're looking forward to all the different people that you can share the story about what God is doing.

And so I was able to do that this past October with our trip to India.

And then I've asked Brent Hawkins if he would come forward this morning and just share some of his experiences in what God did in New York City this past week with his team.

So would y'all join me in welcoming a man who needs no introduction right now?

You stand right here for a second.

Something that we never thought as a church staff we would ever do.

I'm about to hand Brent Hawkins a microphone on a Sunday morning.

Glenn, help me out up there, budy.

Okay.

All right.

There you go, man.

Thank you.

Thank you.

First of all, I do I thank the staff for that, for this opportunity, and I thank y'all for the opportunity that you've given us for this mission trip.

Again, as both said before, from India, y'all are the ones that allow us to do this.

A couple years ago, we got involved with coach for the city not really knowing what was going on with that.

And then it developed a partnership that we've now, I don't know, some of y'all came on mission night.

You got to meet Walter and Veronica.

That's the church we're involved with.

That's who we'll be involved with over at least the next three to five years.

But anyway, give you a brief overview of what it is.

You all, as a church, collected 400 coats to go to New York.

Yes.

So the unique thing about this mission is it's a conjunction with the South Carolina Baptist Convention and the North Carolina Baptist Vision and the New York Baptist Convention.

So those 400 coats go to New York.

The Baptist Convention takes them and they're handed out to the different churches to distribute them.

But what I also did in our partnership is we took probably another 50 to 100 coats along with children's outfits, blankets and other stuff that we took directly from our church to our partner church.

When we were done.

Just give you kind of a brief date when we were done.

The only thing we had left out of 300 coats that were given to them and the stuff we gave were two boxes and two regular sized trash.

Bags of stuff was the only thing that was left and that would be distributed throughout the year.

So what we do is the church set up is smaller than the two rooms over here.

We use that the benefit of using the church to be inside.

Some of the churches that went on the mission, they were outside, they were in the park, they were in schools.

There were 50 something other churches there as well giving these coats out over the weekend, 9000 coats were given out and 17 people were saved over that weekend.

It out of that 17 people, four came from our church.

To give you two of the stories, quick stories of that, a backstory is I had some brand new basketball shoes I've had for about eight years.

I threw them in a bag.

They went with me to New York.

They were put under the boys section.

And as we went through, walked in, veronica said, hey, we've got this family.

We know who's coming.

Can we pull clothes out for these kids?

Absolutely.

The kids got their clothes.

As they were getting their clothes, leah, who was one of the team members, which I guess I should have said, who all went I'll say that after this.

Leah Bush noticed it's like, hey, what's up with the mom?

The mom could come in full winter gear with socks and flip flops.

They said that's the only shoes she had.

They'd only been there a couple weeks.

Leah said, well, what do you think she'd be willing to wear these shoes?

She tried them on.

They fit perfectly.

They were the oddest size basketball shoes.

I couldn't give them away they fit her perfectly.

And the smile on the mother's face was just so amazing.

And it shows how God's plan worked for those shoes years ago, to go to this mother that had nothing that weekend.

So that was one of the success stories.

And so we had Leah Bush, of course.

We had Kim Nix.

We had Mariela and Nico Martinez.

And I told Marielle.

She cried anymore.

Her makeup was coming off.

If you know her, then you know her makeup ain't coming off.

Cindy amy we had Tim Rice.

And who else am I leaving out?

Tawana.

Yeah, I left her out on purpose.

She was no benefit.

No, I'm just kidding.

She was great.

She was great.

She was wonderful.

The other success story I'll give you real quick is it's another one of those stories?

So the photographer from South Calendar Baptist Convention was going around, and he was asking people for interviews, and he asked one of the deacons at the church who actually was in charge that day, that asked Eduardo, hey, would you please do an interview?

And if you met Walter and Veronica, you notice how humble they are.

He said, no, I don't feel like that's my place to do that.

I don't do that.

So as we were going through, a guy from Venezuela had been there for two weeks, came in, and Tim Rice hemmed him up and was talking with him.

Guy got his coat and everything, and he came outside and met with Eduardo outside on the sidewalk, and Eduardo prayed him to the Lord right after that.

Eduardo said, I'll do the interview.

He said, the reason why I didn't is because it wasn't my place, but it is my place.

They asked me to do the interview.

What?

They had asked him to do the interview of what that mission meant to the church, he said.

And that was God telling me what that mission meant to this church.

So with that being said, I appreciate it.

I'll leave you with it took us 3 hours.

3 hours.

We're in a whole different place, and there's 183 different languages in New York, 3 hours away, and challenge every one of you all for something like that, a minimal amount of money to go there on an amazing trip.

And that's the numerous.

I could sit here and talk to you all day about the lives that were touched that day just in our church, from our church from Willow Rich Church.

So I thank you.

I appreciate it, and I encourage you encourage you.

It comes back around, please contact me, let me know, and we'll see about getting you connected.

Love you too, buddy.

Thank you.

Brent, I was going to apologize for giving you a hard time about trusting you with a microphone, but then you made fun of I'm just I'm gonna be on Tawana's side on this one.

Okay?

But hey, in all seriousness, Brent, man, I thank you for your leadership and for your determination and for all that you sacrifice to lead this team.

And just appreciate you guys as a church sending people.

We're going to have more trips over 2024.

That's one of the exciting parts for that.

And so as we get that calendar communicated out to you, do want to challenge you, whether it's New York, whether it's India, whether it's all the places in between that we've got budgeted for, something does happen.

If you've ever been on a mission trip, you know how God can work and God can use you.

And you might see the list and you might say, I don't know where on this list I fit, but I want to experience that.

And so we want to help you kind of find that spot for you to be able to do, but just exciting to be a part and exciting to see all that God is doing.

Well, if you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, I want to invite you to join me in Matthew, chapter 25.

So we're going to be this morning as we continue on in our series on gifts of grace.

Now, you can hear my throat's.

Got a little bit of a tickle in it this morning.

Kind of coming out of a little sick season this past week.

And so I may be briefer than normal as we get through, but want to see what the Lord has for us.

And I just apologize if I've got to stop and cough and clear my throat as we go through.

But this is our Christmas series on gifts of grace.

One of the things Aaron and I did this weekend is we sat down.

I've shared this with you before.

I'm a recovering spreadsheet addict.

I love spreadsheets.

I have spreadsheets for everything at our house.

I've got friends that make fun of me about it.

Like, we'll be talking about something.

They'll say, I don't know, why don't you check your spreadsheet?

I'm like, well, you know what, I do have a spreadsheet about that, so why don't you stop making fun of me, right?

And so Aaron and I, we sat down.

We created a spreadsheet this weekend.

We listed all of the people in our family, both immediate and extended, that we're responsible for purchasing gifts for.

And we wrote down of the things that she's bought, the things that I've bought.

We went through and went, check the box, check the box, check the box.

And then we realized, and if you've hit this spot, right, like, you know, this is a really good place to be.

When we got done, we realized we are done buying gifts.

Right?

That is just the exciting part.

If we show up to somewhere and realize there's someone that we forgot about, I hope I got some cash in my pocket, right?

Because that's what we're given at that point.

But we're done.

But this is this season of gifts.

It's what we talk about, it's what we do when we gather together as friends and family.

It's a part of that.

And so kind of going into this season, we were looking at this within the context of God and what God's doing.

And so let's call this series Gifts of Grace because you and I, through our relationship with Jesus Christ, god is good and he pours out his gifts on us.

John 316 and 17 is kind of been a theme verse for us as we go through this.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him, the good, good gift of Jesus, of what God gave us, not because we were good, not because we behaved, not because we did all the right things, but the exact opposite.

And because God is good, he gives us Jesus.

And what we're going to talk about, that's what we're going to talk about Christmas Eve, the gift of Jesus.

But what we've been talking about leading up to that is the additional gifts that come with that, that we get to live in.

We talked about on week one, we talked about forgiveness, that God forgives us.

But here's the part about where we understand this full gift concept, right, is that just as I will give gifts during the Christmas season, I will give away gifts as well.

I will give gifts, I will receive gifts.

It's this process that we get so we receive forgiveness, but we're also taught to give away forgiveness as well.

So God has forgiven me, I forgive others.

God calls us and gives us community.

And it's not just community from what I can give others, but it's community from what others can give me.

And it's this cycle of goodness that we get to live in.

And so this morning we're going to talk about abilities.

We're going to talk about abilities that God in Christ gives us.

Abilities, the gift of abilities received.

Received.

I wrestled with this this past week as I was at home or recovering and working on this.

What do I mean when we talk about abilities?

And so I've kind of broken them down into two different categories that I want to speak to this morning.

But they're going to come together.

The first type of ability that we have are natural talents.

Natural talents.

And natural talents are those gifts given by God and everybody in the world has them.

Everyone does.

And we kind of view natural talents as coming from a person's genetics, from their environment, from their upbringing.

But I would always press in that we need to view these natural talents as not in and simply of ourself, but these talents are given to us from god, but they're not limited to just the followers of God, right?

So some examples of those are people that are really good and have this bent towards sports, toward things like maths, music, arts, humor, right?

Like, you're around somebody and you see them and you know, and you see their talent, their natural talent, and they've developed it, they've grown it, they've nurtured it.

And what I want us to look at with these natural talents is the reality that God has chosen to give them to us.

An example of this within my family, my wife, she has a talent.

She's got a natural ability to work in a garden and grow things.

How many of you, if you get a plant, like, here's what you're really good at.

You're really good at killing it, right?

Anybody?

Yeah.

Yeah, Joan's.

Like, absolutely right here.

I don't have to think about it, right?

That's my mom.

All right.

My mom listens to this.

Sorry, mom.

All right.

My mom could take a plant and growing up and could kill it instantly.

So when I was little, my aunt and uncle lived out in Arizona.

And so my aunt from South Carolina, one Christmas season, flew out to Arizona to visit my aunt and uncle, her sister and her brother in law that were out there.

And when she came back, she had gifts for everyone.

And so I forget what I received.

It was probably a T shirt or something.

I was in elementary school.

I don't remember what I got, but I remember my mom opening her gift.

And my aunt said to my mom, I've got you something that even you can't kill.

To which my mom reaches her hand down into this bag to grab the gift out, to realize that the gift was a cactus.

My mom then reacted the way that you would think.

We laughed.

We're that type of family.

And then guess what happened?

My mom killed the cactus.

Right?

But my wife, she just has this ability.

I mean, she nurtures it.

She watches YouTube videos, she reads, she does these things.

But there's this talent, there's this passion, there's this pursuit that she has where she loves to garden.

It's something that God has given her for you that sounds like work for her.

It's something that brings her great joy.

And we look at that and we praise God that God gave my wife this ability, that he gave her this talent, and then she uses that.

And so that's one type of ability that we want to look at.

But then there's another type of ability.

And these are spiritual gifts.

These are spiritual gifts.

And spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit when they place their faith in Jesus Christ.

There are several passages of Scripture that talk about that.

But I want to look at and we're going to get to Matthew 25, but let's look at Romans twelve really quickly.

Starting verse three.

The verses be on the screen.

Paul writes and says, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not all have the same function.

So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them if prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving the one who teaches in his teaching, the one exhorts in his exhortation the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.

And when most people read this and when I've preached on this, kind of what we come to is looking at is primarily the gifts.

Like what are these gifts?

And we get this list here.

So just really prophecy, teaching, exhorting, service, leading, giving mercy, these are the gifts that are there.

We're not going to turn there and read these.

But in one Corinthians twelve there's another list.

In Ephesians four there's another list.

And some theologians even argue that the full encompassing list of spiritual gifts that God has given us is not even limited to what is listed in Scripture.

But as God is working and God is moving, god is continuing to gift in different ways.

And while I think understanding this list is important and it's something that we can walk through together as a church for the limited time that we have this morning, I want us to see what Paul says concerning why we are given the gifts we receive.

Why does God do this?

Why does God give these in his goodness and his mercy to us?

Look back at verse three.

He says, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of Himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

So God gives us gifts with humility.

With humility.

It's really neat what Paul says.

We can look at this and say, oh well, Paul's just saying we're given gifts and we shouldn't use these gifts to elevate how we think of ourselves.

And that's true.

And that's true.

We should not view the gifts that God has given us in a mindset of arrogance.

Spiritual giftedness does not equal spiritual maturity.

But at the same time he also says in there but to think with sober judgment.

So he's saying like, let's realistically look at and understand who we are in Christ.

So not too high, but also what is implied here is not too low.

Sometimes we think one of the most spiritual things we can do is to spiritually belittle ourselves.

And that's not true at all.

We're not think less.

We're not to think too high.

We're to view ourself in who we are, in the goodness of God.

And he says, here's how we approach the fact that we've received this gift, is we approach it the same way we approach our faith, right?

Not that I earned it, right?

We didn't earn it.

But here's this tension that I think that we can live in.

We can take this EOR approach to the grace and salvation that God gives us.

And while we acknowledge we did nothing to earn it, we need to live in the joy of understanding that God loves us and we are sons and daughters of the living God.

This right perspective of who we are.

So god's gifted you.

You're important, you're valuable.

You're the son or daughter of the living God, and he gifts you with this.

So what do we do then with these gifts?

We're going to give them.

We're going to give them, we're going to use them.

The gift of abilities given.

Why would God give you or me a gift?

Isn't salvation enough?

Look at verses four through five.

For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function.

So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.

So it's this beautiful picture that we are many members together, but we are individually as well.

You've heard the phrase you can't see the forest for the trees, right?

The implying that you can't see the big picture, you can't see the fullness, you can't see the sum of all the parts because you're still focused looking on the individual minis that are in there.

But here's the deal.

As the church, we are called to see the forest and the trees as we look at ourselves.

And we understand that when we see the church, when we see the fullness of the healthiness of the church, working and operating and functioning, what we look at individually is we see the parts as they do and as they're doing with what they've been gifted.

I forget what day it was.

I think it was Wednesday.

Brent called me and we talked.

And one of the things that I said was, like, tell me about everybody on the team and what God did and how God used them.

How did God use them?

And Brent and I talked for about an hour and a half, and the majority of that conversation was here's each and every person who went, and here's how God used them as a vital part of the ministry of what God was wanting to do.

And then I asked Brent kind of a gutsy question.

I said, Brent, would you have been better off if anyone on the team didn't go?

Would the team have been better?

And he said, absolutely.

Not.

Absolutely not.

It would have been like a vital part of the team was missing, whether we knew it or not, right?

This picture of what's there, of the whole.

And that's why in the very beginning of verse six, paul writes, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

Let us use them.

And that's the beauty of that, having gifts that are different, that don't make one person better than another, but who differ, let's now use them for the work of the body.

One Corinthians twelve, four through seven says, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Lord, the same spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

To each is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good.

Right?

Let's talk about a subject that's close to my heart.

Cookies.

All right?

I hope everyone in here loves cookies, right?

If you don't love cookies, we're going to add that to the prayer list this week and just cover you in cookies, all right?

One of my favorite ingredients, I don't hardly ever dislike any of the ingredients, but there are ingredients that are better than others in cookies, and especially this time of year, one of the ingredients that I love is cinnamon.

I love cinnamon in cookies.

I love them.

If you ask me the question, do these cookies have enough cinnamon in them?

I'm probably going to say they taste great, but they could also have more, right?

I love cinnamon.

If it could turn into a cologne, like I would wear it, you know what I mean?

Love cinnamon.

Here's the deal, though.

If you like cinnamon, if you love cinnamon, here's what you do.

Want you to go home today and I want you to spoon out, I want you to fill it up with cinnamon, I want you to eat it, all right?

Here's what's going to happen.

I did that one time, right?

Wasn't a good moment for me.

It hurts, right?

It hurts.

Why?

Because it's not intended to be by itself.

And when we as a church, when we as a group of people begin to understand that I'm not put here on this earth in my gifts, in my talents and my abilities to function alone.

Paul says there are gifts.

Paul says there are services or ministries.

Is that what that word translates to?

In one corinthians twelve, paul says there are works.

But here's the deal.

It's the same god.

It's the same God, and he's using us together for a purpose and for a reason.

So here's where we come to in Matthew 25.

A lot of verses and we're going to tie everything together with this.

Jesus tells a parable starting in verse 14, it's the parable of the talents and I want to read it to you and draw some things and we'll wrap up Jesus, he says, for it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.

To one he gave five talents, to another two to another one each according to his ability.

Then he went away when he who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and made five talents more.

So also, he who had two talents made two talents more.

But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.

Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents.

Here I have made five talents more.

And his master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your master.

And he also, who had the two talents came forward saying, master, you delivered me two talents.

Here I made two more.

And the master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much, enter into the joy of your master.

And you had received the one talent, came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.

So I was afraid and wouldn't hit your talent in the ground.

Here you have what is yours.

But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scatter no seed.

Then you ought to have invested my money with bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents, for to everyone who has more will be given, and he will have an abundance.

But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So Jesus tells this parable, the parable of the talent, really quickly, just kind of ironically with what we're talking about.

The talent that Jesus refers to is not the talent in sense of the words that we're using.

It's actually money.

Money.

It's a lot of money.

It's about 20 years worth of wages.

If you've got 20 years worth of wages in your bank account, let's talk after, right?

This guy has this, right?

It's fair to say that he stands alone.

I did some math.

Please, no one write this down and critique me.

I got a history degree for a reason.

All right?

But in today's.

Economy.

The average wage, yearly's wage across the United States, right?

Not in Lexington, but across the United States is 59,428.

So cast across what Jesus is saying, that this Master give one talent in today's economy would be $1,188,560.

So he gave out some cash.

To servant one, he gave, in today's economy, approximately 5.9 million.

To servant two, he gave 2.4 million.

To servant three, he gave 1.2 million.

You may ask, Is this fair?

Well, if that's the first question that hit your mind number one, if you want to give someone 5.9 million, I'm okay.

If you just want to give me 1.2, all right.

But notice this he didn't give them the money.

He didn't sign this over to them.

The Bible tells us that he entrusted to them his property.

He didn't relinquish ownership.

He didn't say, this is no longer mine.

He said, I'm entrusting you with something.

Here's what I think.

The point is.

When God gives you talents, gifts, abilities, they aren't yours, they're his.

And what God does is he entrusts us with what he has given us.

He entrusted them what are they going to do with it?

And he's entrusted you, what are you going to do with it?

Servant number one, what did he do?

He traded and got five more.

So he took roughly 6 million, made it twelve.

Servant number two, he took the 2.4 million.

He doubled it as well.

Servant number three, he took the 1.2 million, dug a hole and buried it.

When the Master comes back and he calls, he calls for his servants to come back.

Give me what I've been.

What have you done without?

I've entrusted you.

And here's what I think is interesting.

What is interesting in a way that we begin to understand that this parable is beyond economics.

To servant one and servant two, he gives the same reward.

The same reward.

But one had twelve and one had six.

But he gives the same reward.

Verse 21 well done, good and faithful servant.

Speaking to servant one.

Well done, good and faithful servant.

You've been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your Master.

Servant number two.

Verse 23 well done, good and faithful servant.

You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your Master.

Right.

But one was more one.

One must be greater.

It's not what's greater.

It's not what's more, it's what was faithful.

The talent was different, but the faithfulness in the reward was the same.

But look at servant three.

Notice what he says.

First master, I knew you so, I did nothing.

Master, I knew you so.

In essence, I did nothing.

And in this, he becomes useless for the Master.

Take it away.

Take him away.

Here's I think the issue and I think the issue comes out in servant three.

In the four first words that he said master.

I knew you.

But the problem was he didn't.

He didn't know the master.

If he knew the Master in the way that he knew the Master, he wouldn't have done what he did with what the Master had entrusted him with.

God, in his goodness, looks at us and he sees us.

And he knows you and he knows me.

He knows the depth of our faith.

He knows all that he has given us.

He knows our abilities.

He knows it all.

And he entrusts us.

He's given us talents, some of us playing guitar, some of us baking cookies, some of us telling a good joke.

The list could go on and on and on and on and on.

He gives us these talents and he gives us spiritual gifts, some to teach, some to give, some to exhort over and over again.

And here's what I've come to the conclusion of that.

I began to understand you and I do you know what we're doing?

We are using our abilities.

Here's the question I want to close with this morning.

Who are you using them for?

Who are you using them for?

It's the whole point of the narrative of the scripture of what God gives us as he forms the Church, as he takes unique people from unique places with unique backgrounds, from unique languages, with unique talents and unique abilities.

And he meshes them together in the context of this beautiful thing called the Church.

And he says, I've done all this.

I've entrusted this for you so that you will use these for My name and for my glory.

That's it.

That's it.

That's it.

God took a group of people up to New York, some with the gifts of making hot chocolate, some with the gifts of noticing a need, some with the gifts of spreading the Gospel.

And he says, Go and work for my kingdom.

The peace for us is it's not just that we do that with where we're sent, but are we doing that where we live, where we work and where we play?

Right?

God's given them to us.

Let's use them.

Let's use them.

Do you pray with me?

God.

I thank you so much, Lord, for who you are, Lord, for how you're working and how you're moving.

God.

I thank you.

Or just within myself, Lord, that you would choose you would choose to entrust me with the talents and the gifts and the abilities that you give me, Lord, and I thank you for that.

I thank you for the wonderful privilege.

And you don't just do that to me.

I am nothing special.

You don't just do that to me.

You do that to every single one of us.

You've given us the pieces that people would say.

They define our personality, they define our mental makeup, they define what we're capable of doing.

But Lord, you've given them to us for a reason to go and to serve within the context with one another, but out in this world as well.

Lord God, that I pray I pray that we would be a people who says, god, thank you for making me how you've made me.

Thank you for gifting me how you've gifted me.

God now empower me.

And, Lord, I pray that I would be obedient to use these gifts, to use these talents, to use these abilities to bring glory to your name so that other people may come to know you, Jesus.

And we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

May we take this season.

May we take where we are and say, God, how can I go?

We're celebrating the fact that a baby was born.

And this baby grew to become a man who lived a perfect life.

Perfect life, completely free of sin.

No sin in attitude, no sin in action, no sin in nature, who died on a cross, paid the penalty of your sin and my sin.

God so loved the world he gave his only son.

And we have the message of Christ.

Because not only did he die, but he rose again.

And there's hope in life.

Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode.

In the meantime, you can visit [e-mail] or by searching for Willowridge Church on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.