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An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
This sermon is my third residency sermon. It's titled "A Self-Giving Family," and it's preached
on Romans 12, three through eight. This is continuing our series in the latter half of
the book of Romans, and it was preached on September 22nd, 2024. Good morning to everybody.
My name is Curtis, and today's scripture comes from the book of Romans chapter 12,
verses three through eight, Romans 12, three through eight. Hear now the word of the Lord.
For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly
than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.
Now, as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function,
in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.
According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts.
If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith. If service, use it in service.
If teaching, in teaching. If exhorting, in exhortation. Giving with generosity,
leading with diligence, showing mercy with cheerfulness. This is the word of the Lord.
You may be seated.
Well, good morning, everyone.
Now, bear with me as I mispronounce these names for a couple seconds, but how many of you here
have seen the movie or read the book Les Miserables? I'm assuming most of us have seen the movie
because the book is 1,488 pages long. I've seen the movie, and I'm referring to the 2012 musical.
I've read about 100 pages of the book. It's a very long book. The movie's great, right?
Who doesn't love Hugh Jackman? He's the best. But as you can imagine, the book goes into much
greater detail. And in the beginning of the book, we are introduced to two characters,
Bishop Muriel and Jean Valjean. Now, if you don't know the story,
Jean Valjean was in prison for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. 19 years. And the
book goes to great detail to tell you that in these nearly two decades, Jean Valjean was changed
as a person. But eventually he's set free, and he walks very far to find food and shelter, and he
cannot find it. He has no place to rest his head. He even at one point gets in a dog kennel, and
even the dog chases him out. And so he continues walking some 35 miles. And so finally, someone
points out to Jean Valjean, someone points him to the doorsteps of the bishop. And it's at this point
in the book, which is, by the way, written by an author who in his life was far from Christian,
but despite the author's own self, this book exudes the theme of redemption.
Jean Valjean asking for a place to stay, explains to the bishop in great detail that he's a convict,
he's had no place to rest his head, he has money to pay, does the bishop have a place for him to stay?
And as I was reading this book about a year ago, this is where I began to cry
over Les Mis, the bishop gives a simple reply. After this long speech by Jean Valjean,
he gives a simple reply. He says, "Madame, set another place at the table."
And Jean Valjean, tired, leaning on his staff, takes three steps in and says this,
"Stop," he exclaimed, as if he had not been understood. "Not that. Do you understand me?
I am a galley slave, a convict. There is my passport, yellow as you see.
That is enough to have me kicked out wherever I go. Will you read it? There you have it.
Everybody has thrust me out. Will you take me in?"
But then this got me, the bishop's second simple reply. "Madame, put some sheets on the bed
in the alcove." What great grace and mercy the bishop has shown him. Jean Valjean is so shocked,
he thinks there's no way this bishop heard that I have been a prisoner for 19 years and he's just
letting me in. Grace and mercy. Yet despite this great grace that the bishop has shown,
Jean Valjean, not without inner struggle, decides to steal the silver in the parish and flee.
And he's caught and he's brought back by some officers, but rather than turn him over to the
officers to go back to prison, the bishop says, "You've forgotten the silver candlesticks as well.
These are sure to bring 200 francs." And Jean Valjean is released and after a few words
are exchanged and the officers leave, the bishop gives his final line to Jean Valjean.
He says, "Jean Valjean, my brother, you belong no longer to evil, but to good.
It is your soul that I am buying for you. I am withdrawing it from dark thoughts and from the
spirit of perdition, and I am giving it to God." You see, by the grace and mercy of the bishop,
and in my theological opinion and reading of Les Mis, by the grace and mercy of God,
Jean Valjean was transformed. He was renewed. He was set on a different path.
And this radical transformation is what Paul spoke to us about last week in Romans one through two,
how God, by his mercy and his grace, transforms our lives. And Paul said we should live a beautiful
life because of that. And Jean Valjean, in the rest of the book, though I have not finished the book,
I know he lives a beautiful life where he was once an enemy of a community, could be seen as an
enemy of a community, is now in a community where he is humble, he contributes, and unites people
rather than divides. Jean Valjean, being transformed by grace and mercy, goes on to
live a beautiful life of humility, unity, and diversity. We're in part three of our journey
through the book of Romans, where we're exploring what it looks like to live in the family of God.
And now here in Romans chapter 12, verses three through eight, the apostle Paul
is detailing for us what it means to live the life he described in verses one through two
of chapter 12, what it means to live a beautiful life that Pastor Paul spoke to us about last week.
And the driving question of this text that the text addressed and that I want to answer in this
message today is this. What does it look like to live in the family of God as a transformed
and renewed living sacrifice? What does it look like to live in the family of God
as a transformed and renewed living sacrifice? Since we are transformed, those who are in Christ
are transformed and our minds are being renewed, how then shall we live? And the answer, we should
evaluate ourselves with humility and recognize that we are a part of a unified body with diverse
members, each with different roles. A living sacrifice with a renewed mind is able to first
evaluate themself sensibly. This is the first point that the apostle Paul makes. Measure yourself
with humility. Being transformed, how do you live in unity with God's family?
You live in humility. Now, this is a serious and emphatic statement by the apostle Paul. First,
the apostle Paul calls to his reader's attention his place as an apostle in verse three when he
says, "By the grace given to me." In other passages such as Romans 1.15, 1 Corinthians 13.10 and
Ephesians 3.7-8, Paul explicitly states that this grace given to him is the grace of his apostleship
and his ministry to the Gentiles. Paul's drawing on his apostolic authority to tell you this is
serious. And second, his admonition is emphatic. One scholar says, "It's impossible to convey in
good English the emphatic play with which each word here has upon another." Paul basically says
in this first verse, he says the word "mind" like a couple of different ways to play on that word
to conclude, "Be sober-minded." That same scholar says, "To be high-minded is merely a strong way
of characterizing all undue self-evaluation." How do you evaluate yourself? How do you view yourself?
Oftentimes, we think of ourselves better than we actually are, right? That's quite often the case.
Happens a lot. It's also often the case that we think of ourselves less than we actually are.
But pondering ourselves in this manner, thinking of ourselves in this manner,
is much different than how we view ourselves. It's much different than looking at our life,
our character, our qualities, our gifts, and making a statement about what we are and who we are.
You see, to think in this passage does not mean intellectual thought. It doesn't mean merely
intellectual thought. Douglas Mu and his commentary on Romans says it's the direction
of one's thinking, the way in which a person views something. It's one thing to say to yourself,
"I think I'm good at this," but it's a wholly different thing to say, "I am good at this."
It's one thing to think to yourself, "I'm pretty bad at this." It's a different thing entirely to
say, "I am bad at this." The former is wondering about your abilities and the latter is making a
statement and taking a view of yourself. And Paul was warning to that latter point, view yourself
humbly, evaluate yourself humbly. We can think of it this way. Most of us have seen the TV show
"American Idol," right? I have very fond memories when this show first came out of gathering every
weeknight to watch it with my family. And we kind of just trailed off after the auditions because
that's the best part of the show, right? The best part of the show, in my opinion, is the auditions.
And sometimes some of the funniest auditions are ones where people come in and they know they are
just the best person to ever come on "American Idol." They know, at least in their minds,
they know this. And friends, they are not good, but they knew, "I'm America's next idol." They
don't have a sensible evaluation of themselves. Sometimes they might know that. This is a little
more rare, in my opinion. They might know that and be good, but they often are not good and that's
not a sensible evaluation of the self. But you can contrast that with other contestants who come in
and they might say something to the effect of, "Well, you know, I really love singing and I
was encouraged to come here and I just wanna give it a shot." Those contestants are the ones that
are most likely to take advice and criticism from the judges and continue on in the show.
Those who come in the audition with that mindset of, "Something I love, something I'm wondering
about, something I was encouraged to do," they have a humble and sensible self-evaluation.
So rather than have undue, unrealistic evaluations of ourselves, Paul wants us to evaluate ourselves
sensibly. He says this in verse three, "Instead, think sensibly as God has distributed a measure
of faith to each one." A measure of faith to each one. Now, there's some ambiguity around what the
apostle Paul means here by measure of faith. Some say he means just the standard Christian faith
that all believers have. Others say he means faith according to the gifts of which he'll talk about
later in a couple of verses. But regardless of the view we take, he wants you to evaluate yourself
according to the faith, which should bring our attention back to verses one through two
of chapter 12, where he says, "Therefore, brothers, in view of the mercies of God,
it is with this view that you should evaluate yourself through the mercy of God."
One commentary states, "A renewed mind sees everything through mercy-colored glasses."
Do you evaluate yourself through mercy-colored glasses? Do you recognize that everything you
have, your character, your qualities, your gifts, your looks, all of those things are from God?
It's because of the mercy of God that you have these things, and because, as the apostle Paul
puts it, of the measure of faith that God has given to you. Too often do we applaud ourselves
for doing things, and we don't recognize that through mercy-colored glasses, that it's the gifts
of God that we can do any good thing. Instead, we jump to saying, "Good job, me." Think of it this way.
If you can start the day without caffeine, if you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
if you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
if you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
if you can take criticism and blame without resentment, if you can understand when your
loved ones are too busy to give you any time, if you can resist treating your rich friend
different than your poor friend, if you can face the world without lies and deceit,
if you can overlook it when those you love take you out on you when, through no fault of yours,
something goes wrong, if you can conquer tension without medical help, if you can say honestly that
deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color, religion, or politics,
all these are good and virtuous things, but my friends, you are just a little better than your dog.
It's a bit harsh, right? Right? A bit harsh, but also kind of true. These lists of things and
attitudes are all good things that we should strive towards, but we have to realize and
evaluate this is the base of human action. This is the base of what it means to be a good human being,
let alone a living sacrifice, living a pleasing life to God.
Evaluate yourself through humility, through mercy, colored glasses, see yourself sensibly when you
wake up without caffeine, when you treat your friends properly, all these things are good,
recognize that it's because of the gift of the mercy of God that you are able to do these things
into his glory. Now most of myself, most of us, myself included, we have a knee-jerk reaction
against that and to say true humility is then devaluing these things.
Someone might come to, I might come to someone and say, "Man, I'm really good at pickleball and I'm
actually not that great," and my knee-jerk reaction is to say, "Oh, I'm not good at pickleball at all.
Maybe I think I'm the best at pickleball, maybe I am the best at pickleball," which I'm not.
My knee-jerk reaction when someone says that's not humility is to say, "Oh, you're right,
I'm actually not good at that thing I am good at." This is false humility.
In C.S. Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape is a high-ranking demon who writes
to his nephew Wormwood on how to cause a young Christian to stumble. And in chapter 14,
Screwtape writes to Wormwood on the topic of pride and humility, saying this,
"You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of humility. Let him think of it
not as self-forgetfulness, but as a certain kind of opinion, namely a low opinion of his own talents
and characters. Some talents I gather he really has. Fix in his mind the idea that humility
consists in trying to believe those talents to be less valuable than he believes them to be."
The path to humility means that we do not overvalue those qualities we have,
but it also means we do not undervalue our character and qualities.
Instead, we measure with humility. True humility is obtained by evaluating ourselves sensibly,
honestly, and with mercy-colored glasses. This is one of the great things I've seen at Christ
Community that's been encouraging to me since I've been here. In fact, it's one of our core habits.
We take the mission seriously, not ourselves. The staff at Christ Community has a sensible
evaluation of themselves. We know what we're good at. We know what we're not good at.
But the thing that's important is not us, not our qualities, not our talents,
the mission of God. We take the mission seriously, not ourselves. And it's only in this humility
that we can join in the family of God in unity. It's only in humility that we can truly join in
the unity of Christ's body. Once we evaluate ourselves humbly as a living sacrifice
with a transformed and renewed mind, then we can both recognize and participate in the unity
of the body of Christ. And this is Paul's second point, to live in unity.
He says in verse 4, "Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the
same function, in the same way, we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members
of one another." This illustration, this metaphor of body, is incredibly powerful. And I think
because we're so familiar with Romans, with Paul, and maybe with this passage even, we kind of
tend to forget the power and beauty of the body metaphor. And the power and beauty of this
captivated me recently when I had a really, and I want to highlight, minor, tiny injury.
Minor injury. Have you ever had an injury that really just disrupts your day,
or your week, or for me, your month? Again, this is a tiny, tiny injury. A couple of weeks ago,
I was cutting my fingernails, trimming my fingernails, and I got to my thumb, and
I trimmed it, and I decided, "You know what? Instead of just clipping the rest of it off,
I'm just going to kind of peel it off real quick." And this really wonderful thing happened where it
took some other skin with it, right? And, you know, I was like, "Well, that's going to be a
problem later." And over the course of a couple of days, it got a little sore, and then over the
course of a couple more days, it got incredibly sore, red, and it was warm, and it wasn't fun.
And during this time, I had thoughts of... I was thinking about this yesterday, almost like
me and my thumb frolicking in a field, like, "Remember the good old days
when the thumb was working great, the no pain?" I was thinking, "I'm so thankful for thumbs."
I was having a hard time putting my shirts on and stuff, and just this tiny injury just disrupted my
day. And in that injury, I realized the importance of this little member of the body. This is the
point that Paul is getting at. Every one of you, if you are in Christ, are an individual member
of the body of Christ, of the church. No matter how I view my right thumb,
it's an important part of my body. And without it, I'm a little less efficient.
A little less efficient. It took me a couple of seconds longer to get dressed in the morning.
It took me a couple of seconds longer to type something up sometimes. But the fact is,
I was a little bit less efficient. I was lacking in just a little bit when my thumb was not whole.
Likewise, if my thumb was cut off my body, it would cease to live.
It would wither and die. This is the same with the members of the body of Christ.
The Apostle Paul actually expands on this in 1 Corinthians 12, 14 through 25. This is a lengthy
passage, but I'm a big believer that God's Word will always preach better than my words,
and so I want to read all 12 verses this morning. After emphasizing that individual Christians make
up the body of Christ, he says this, "For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
If the foot should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,'
that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not
an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear,
where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body,
each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, member, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, yet one body, that I cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you.'
Nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that
seem to be weaker are indispensable. And on those parts of the body that we think less honorable,
we bestow the greater honor, and our presentable parts, our unpresentable parts, are treated with
greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body,
giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body,
but that the members may have the same care for one another." Powerful illustration by the Apostle
Paul. You could just pack it up and go home right here. But through your generosity, you've had me as
your pastor, and I'm going to continue to preach. The body of Christ is united, but it is not one
member. There is oneness without sameness, just like in marriage. There's oneness, but spouses
are not the same person. And in fact, if they were the same person, this would cause some issues.
Could you imagine being married to yourself? Oneness without sameness. Unity in the body
of Christ as one body. And you, yes you, if you hear my words today, I'm talking to you,
if you're in Christ, you are a contributing and valuable member to God's body. No matter what,
and I mean this deeply, I don't know all of you intimately, but I know this is true. Without you,
the body of Christ is lacking just a little bit. Without you, the body of Christ is lacking just
a little bit. Maybe sometimes you have the feeling that you're not needed. Maybe it's because you say
to yourself, "Well, so-and-so is already filling this need." Maybe sometimes you feel that you
don't have anything to offer, but brothers and sisters, may these thoughts never enter into your
minds. Do not even begin to think that way, because all are needed in Christ's body, and without you,
it's just not as much. Regardless of whether or not you see or feel the need to serve in the body,
let your mindset be, "I don't know how I can help, but I want to be used." Because you, yes you,
are a contributing member to the body of Christ, and you are valued. However,
if you are cut off, it'll be incredibly difficult for you, your faith, to survive.
Now, cutting off can come in different ways, and it might just be a slow drift away from attending
church, but not attending the four walls of the church, but attending and being with the family of
God. Don't give in to that slow drift, and it comes subtly and slowly. Maybe you're feeling sick one
Sunday. Sure, stay home and rest, and then the next Sunday, there's another small but reasonable
excuse, and weeks, months, years might go by where you're not involved and with the family of God,
and your faith struggles to survive in those circumstances.
Don't lose sight of the life and vigor that the body of Christ has to offer you.
When you're in times of crisis, when you're in times of spiritual drought, when you're at your
mountaintops and in your valley lows,
you live and exist in a family that is here to support, to give life, and see us all through
as we all inch just a little bit more towards Christ. If you're here today, and maybe it's your
first Sunday back in a long time, there's no there's no re-entry. You're here. You're in
the family of God. Be in the family of God. Join in on the unity. Receive the life that the body
has to offer. My right thumb is its own thumb, right? It's different from the left thumb.
It has, in some ways, its own responsibilities. It's used in its own unique way,
yet it's a part of the body, and it must work in unity and live in unity with the body
if it's to be a whole and worthwhile thumb. Likewise, you exist as an individual. You have
individual responsibilities. You have an individual life, yet you live, if you are in Christ,
in the family of God. You live in a body that has oneness without sameness, and the invitation
is to come and live in unity with that body. Sometimes we think of the body of Christ as a
crowd where we show up and face the front and support people on stage, and crowds are great.
Crowds can be quite fun. That's not quite the church, is it? Oftentimes we also think of the
body of Christ as a sports club or a gym membership where you sign up, you even participate,
even pay dues. And while clubs are great, they're fun, and you benefit from them,
and you benefit from the church in the same way, that's also not quite the same thing as the body
of Christ. Instead, Paul wants to think of the church as a body that works together in unison,
and we could exhaust the details of your own body and all the different intricacies
that illustrate the fact that when you're with the body, you are living and thriving,
and you're outside of it, you are not. But the point is that in the body, each member is different
from the next, and not only do they benefit from one another in unity, but also contribute to the
whole body. A living sacrifice with a renewed and transformed mind recognizes and lives into the
unity of the body of Christ. We are in Christ, our individual members, contributing and benefiting
from the body, benefiting and contributing. This is the glory of a diverse body.
In verse 6, Paul tells us, "Having gifts," this is from the ESV, "having gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us, let us use them." And this is Paul's third point. How do you
live as a renewed and transformed person in the body of Christ? You reap and sow in diversity.
Each and every one of us in the body benefits from the gifts of others, but more importantly,
each and every one of us in the body has a gift that we can contribute to the whole. Each and
every one of us. And it's not my intent here to dive into all the various gifts that Paul lists
in these verses, and I don't think that's Paul's point either here in Romans, to go through the
place of the gifts in the church. But the point here is that being a part of the family of God
doesn't mean just benefiting, it also means contributing. Hear how he phrases it in verse 6.
"If prophecy, use it to the proportion of one's faith. If service, use it in service."
The apostle didn't phrase these things to say, "If someone has service, receive service. If someone
has prophecy, receive prophecy." Those are good things. You should do that. But the way he phrases
it is, "If you have service, you use it. If you can prophesy, you prophesy." Those who live with
renewed and transformed minds and evaluate themselves with humility live into the unity
of Christ's body by contributing their gifts to the church. And I wanted to take the time to show
you a couple pictures of people in my life who contribute to the body of Christ in ways that are
humble, in ways that unify the body, and in ways that are diverse. And these people, by using their
gifts, have changed my life and the life of many others. Now, just to preface, it took everything
in me not to put the most embarrassing pictures of these people up here, because they have no say,
since I'm thousands of miles away. But the first picture is a picture of my friend, Elan.
Elan is a servant, if there ever was one. He is incredible. He's incredibly thoughtful. He's
incredibly helpful. He has eyes to see what needs to be done, and he's eager to do it.
His gift of service helps the local church, but he uses his gifts for all of those he comes in
contact with. Elan contributes his gifts of service to the body of Christ. There's wonderful stories
of this man wringing his life out, working 12, 14, 16 hour days, and still serving people miles away,
who he barely knows. He uses his gift of service to the body of Christ and for the world.
Now, the second picture is the same day, if you can't tell, with the same people, but also includes
Pastor Andrew, who I spoke about last week, or I'm sorry, two or three weeks ago in my last sermon.
Andrew, the senior pastor of the church Christina and I came from, he has the gift of teaching.
You can't be with Andrew and not learn something. Sometimes that information you learn is pretty
silly and useless, but you learn something. And his gift of teaching and shepherding and
all the other gifts that we could talk about all day are just leaking out of him,
because he views himself through mercy colored glasses. He knows what he's not good at. He
knows what he is good at, and he loves people because Christ first loves him. He's been
transformed and he pours that out into others. Andrew contributes his gift of teaching to the
body of Christ. The third picture is of my friends, Steve and Mary Cotton. I've known these, this
couple for a very, very long time, and they're amazing encouragers. They have a gift of exhortation.
There's been many times where while in their presence, I have felt encouraged and energized
to do those things that I feel I'm called to, to do better in areas I'm lacking,
and to do more, all through their encouragement and exhortation.
Steve and Mary Cotton contribute the gift of exhortation to the body of Christ,
but this leaks out of them also when they're in their Monday lives as well.
The third and fourth and final image is of my friend, Curt McKenzie. Curt has a very interesting
story, if you can't tell by just looking at him. He has a very interesting story, testimony in life.
If I'm not mistaken, I need to call him and get the details of this, but if I'm not mistaken,
he was somewhat of a chaplaincy presence for the Hell's Angels for a long time.
Very interesting life, but what shines through this, and all these stories are flooding in my
head now, and they're all unique and insane, but what shines through all of them is that he's
amazingly generous. I have yet to find someone as generous, as willing to give anything to anyone
as Curt. It's a type of generosity that makes you almost suspicious of him, and as you get to know
him, you're just like, "Well, this guy just really loves me, and he really loves whoever he comes in
contact with." He gives his gift of generosity to the church, but it also leaks out of him
wherever he goes in his Monday life. What is your gift? What do you contribute to the body of Christ?
And I don't say that in an accusatory manner. I'm eager to learn. I cannot wait to add you
in this church to my long list of friends who contribute their gifts to the body and change
lives. I believe to the core of my being that you have something to offer the church, something to
contribute, something to give, and not just the church, but also in your Monday life.
And as we ponder this question, I want to be clear that the gifts we have that God
gives us by his mercy is not just for the four walls of the church. Out of those four people
I showed you, only really one and kind of half of them are in any type of actual, like, full-time
vocational ministry. Like, Curt's now a pastor at a church, but for decades he was not. The rest of
them just live, they attend church, and they just live life, and they contribute to the body, but
also to everyone they come in contact with. Their gifts are not unique to the church.
They don't only serve in church. They can serve everywhere.
Steve and Mary Cotten don't just encourage Christians. They encourage everyone they
come in contact with. They take the transformation that they have in Christ and share it with the
world. Your gift—and notice I'm not saying I wonder what your gift is—your gift that you have
in Christ exists to serve the church and the world. It does not just exist within the four walls,
but for your Monday life as well.
Go out into the world. Go out into your Monday life and impact the church and world for Jesus
Christ, because you have something to contribute, to give, and my encouragement to you is to jump in.
Maybe you don't know what your gifting is. Jump in and start. We will help you find what that gifting
is. We are eager—I am eager—to help you find what you are called to do, whether it's here at
the Shawnee campus or wherever you go. In closing, I want to present to you again our driving question.
What does it look like to live in the family of God as a transformed and renewed living sacrifice?
First, it looks like measuring yourself by faith, sensibly, with mercy-colored glasses.
And my prayer for you is that you would pray that God would give you these glasses,
that you would view yourself sensibly, that He would reveal to you your strengths and your
weaknesses. Second, living in this family looks like living in unity. Pray that God would send
other members of the body of Christ to give you life and vigor, and pray that the Spirit of God
would keep you—pray that the Spirit of God would keep you from drifting away from the body.
It's a slow drift I've seen too many times. Live in unity. If you're looking for places to connect,
we want to help. We are eager to help. See someone with a green name tag. Come
to me. Talk to Pastor Carolyn or Pastor Paul. We're excited to get you plugged in and living
with the body. And third, it looks like reaping and sowing in diversity. Pray that God would
highlight the gifts that He has already given to you. Pray that you have willingness and eagerness
to jump in and contribute to the diverse body of Christ. Again, if you don't know where to begin,
just jump in. We're here to figure it out with you, and by the grace and mercy of God, evaluate
yourselves humbly. Recognize you're part of a unified body with diverse members, each with
different roles. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the picture of your family that we've seen
today. I thank you for the literal pictures that you've given me to show here. And God, I pray
that you would give me more of those pictures. Give each and every one of us more of those pictures,
a picture of family. And as we stand before you, we're reminded of your mercy, the mercy that first
brought us into this family, and the mercy that sustains us every day. With that mercy and view,
help us to walk in humility, knowing that everything is from you. Help us to serve one
another, not out of obligation, but out of the overflow of the grace we've received, and teach
us to live in unity, recognizing that we are many parts, but we are one body. And help us to
celebrate the diversity of gifts you've given, not for our own glory, but to build each other up in
love and to your glory. And as we go from here, remind us that we are not just individual followers,
we are family called to love, to serve, and to reflect your heart to the world around us.
Fill us with your spirit, Lord, so we might be the hands and feet of Jesus,
so that through you and through our gifts, we can bring hope and light wherever you lead us.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.