Tonight, we continue our study in what we believe and what we confess from the Heidelberg Catechism. And we are in that article of what we confessed a little while ago in the Apostles' Creed about the Holy Catholic Church and the communion of the saints. What is the church? What is the communion of the saints? Why is that important? That's where we are tonight. And so we're going to say together, Lord's Day 21, question 55 tonight. I'm going to ask you to turn to page 222 in those forms book. Page 222, there's one question and answer I'd like to focus on tonight. And you'll remember last time we looked at what we believe concerning the Holy Catholic Church. Catholic not being Roman Catholic, but Catholic being universal church that the Lord has everywhere all over the world from the beginning of the world to its end. And what the Lord does is gathers and protects and preserves for Himself a people united together in true faith. And we are members of that body. We looked at that last time. Now tonight we're focusing particularly on 55. And the question there, if you please respond with the answer, what do you understand by the communion of the saints. First, that believers one in all, as members of Christ the Lord, have communion with him and share in all his treasures and gifts. Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and joyfully for the service and enrichment of the other members. And I'm going to be reading now from Romans chapter 12 verses 3 through 8 on one of these passages that addresses the use of gifts. That'll be the focus tonight on the gifts that the Lord supplies us. And notice here at verse 3, 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 who 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 then I love to just emphasize the beginning of verse 9, let love be genuine. There we'll stop the reading of God's Word. Well, we're continuing our, this evening study of the church, the importance of the church. Last time we looked at this great truth that we are members of the body of Christ, that He has saved a people to Himself. We've looked at the challenges of that today in our day where the church is not valued. We looked at the struggle of looking at something as an institution where there's organization and elders and deacons, and just in society in general, this sort of thing is not appreciated. Everything institutionally right now is out. We don't trust institutions anymore. Institutions have failed us, and so there's that great challenge too when it comes to the church that for many people they just don't see the necessity for it and look at the membership decline in the church. We've kind of taught everyone that everything is out there. That's where the real stuff happens. And so in some ways we've trained people to think that way, haven't we? But there's not that much important about gathering and there's not that much important about the church. And I think it's important to say that that's one of the reasons We want to worship together as families. There's been the big debate about children's church. And one of the things I've always tried to say is if you teach your kids that they don't belong to the church from the earliest ages, don't be surprised if they don't come later. It's a big problem. We can't get mad at saying that. How we train our children about the church, that they are a part of it from the youngest of age. and that they are worshiping the Lord from the youngest of age is important with the body. With the body. We've been so segmented out. We've been so segmented. You know, we have children's church, and we have youth group, and we have this, and we have that, and we have the old people meeting over here. That really wasn't the model in the first century. They were together, and the youngest were learning from the older. The older were taking on their family to train the younger. So those are all things we have to learn to break down. I'm already way off my notes. Did you know that? Did you know that? You knew that. But I want to get to the main point tonight. COVID has produced in us a mentality of isolation. This has not been healthy for the church. The rates of inactivity and isolation and idleness and disconnect from the church are huge right now. It's a big problem. Look at society in general. You're experiencing this in general right now, just in society. Look at our service society. How's that going right now? They can't find workers. Why is that? People are not going back to school. This is a challenge. As you know, I have a friend as a principal in the public school system, and I was amazed when he told me, when I visited over at his school, that many of the students still are not returning by choice. It has nothing to do with COVID. There's no motivation. There's no motivation. That's not good for society. Not good at all. These are the challenges in which we find ourselves now and think about the reliability of people to come do work for us in the service industry. It's difficult right now. People aren't going back to work. It's crazy. Who would ever think you'd get to this kind of point? There's little motivation among people right now to get back to reliability and consistency and work. That is not a foreign problem to the church. It's not just a matter of failing attendance around the U.S., but COVID has encouraged the falling away of active use and service in the body of Christ. And I think that's an important thing that we have to address, that we need to go back after. It was one of those things where when COVID happened, everyone was so kind of burnt out from running around everywhere. Now it was finally, I can just take a step away from it all. I wasn't so good for the body of Christ. It's one of those things that gets heavily overlooked, but that, you know, that point that even strains the general rule that 10% of the people do 90% of the work, what is it now? What is it now? So tonight, I don't, my goal is not to beat you up to try to get you, get people back working. I think we have a very industrious and a church that's given with a lot of servants in this place. My goal is to have us think about the importance of using the gifts that God has given you in the right way, in a healthy way, in a way that encourages the body of Christ and that makes you understand that you are useful to the body of Christ. It's a big emphasis in the Scripture. And when you come to Lord's Day 21, one of the things that you know that we have consistently to be reminded of that's a beautiful truth is that you are a purchased people. Individually, you're purposed and brought, purchased and brought into a body. We have to be reminded that we are members of a body, a family, and that's a great privilege. I was explaining to the 12th grade today, you know, sometimes we don't look at baptism and think about the, you know, sacraments. Oh, those, you know, sacraments just sound so heavy theologically. What a beautiful truth that when When the water of baptism signifies entrance into the family of God, that's a beautiful thing. Entrance into the family of God, into his kingdom. That you have a family, that you are members of the body of Christ. You notice the catechism said that individually. You're members. You're important to the whole. You value to the whole. You're a great value to the whole. And it's in the interest there of the catechism, notice that from the beginning of the world, to the end of the world, what Jesus has done is gathered and protected and brought to himself a people, preserved, a chosen people, preserved for eternal life. It's just a beautiful thing that's said. Brought into a communion, brought into a family. Do you think of yourself that way? Do you think of yourself as, you know, Jesus doesn't just do this abstract work. Jesus does a work for you, and that he thought upon you, and he purchased you, and then he gave you a place. Think about these truths that we preach and that you've heard. They're precious truths. They're wonderful truths. So I want to think tonight a little bit with you about what we mean when we say in that Apostles' Creed, I believe in the communion of the saints. What is that? And why is that so important? And that's what we're looking at tonight, thinking about what Jesus has accomplished in bringing together a communion of people, a fellowship of people. We talked about the koinonia last time, that fellowship that we have, and we're accenting that and talking about that a little more as we move now into particularly the use of gifts that we share in Jesus's, all of his treasures and gifts, and that he equips us to be servants in his kingdom. You know, it's a remarkable truth that in the book of Ephesians, when Paul was discussing this point, and we'll get to Romans here, Paul was discussing this point with the church in Ephesus. He quotes Psalm 68 and 69 and talked about when he ascended on high, you know, the psalm says he received gifts. Paul does something under the inspiration of the Spirit that is remarkable. He says, you know what Jesus did when he ascended on high? He gave gifts. This is a remarkable king. You know, you should be coming and paying your homage and giving everything. He, when he was seated, when he was seated on that throne, one of the great things that he did was begin to dispense gifts. That's the kind of king we have. And it's a great victory that we're a part of. And that's what I think Paul is helping the church with in Romans chapter 12 tonight, thinking about the response to grace. We preach a lot about the grace of the Lord in our lives. I mean, think of the ministry here, that that's one of the steady things that we have maintained and will maintain by the Lord's mercy, is the gracious work of the Lord for you to save you and deliver you and give you everything. But Paul is also concerned that such grace and such mercy and such love that's been shown to you would have a right response in your lives. And I think that ties together with this morning's message that when Jesus is telling to Peter, he's restoring him after all of his failures, and he's looking at him, and Peter knows the mess he is. He's an internal mess, and Jesus is saying, love for you is not changed. Here's what I want you to do now. Do you love me? Go love my sheep. Feed my sheep. I think this is a concrete way to look at how to do that tonight. It ties together well, doesn't it? Romans 12 begins by saying, now here's the response to all of this. It's to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable worship. A living sacrifice. It's no longer, as we prayed tonight, it's no longer about it's getting outside of ourselves, isn't it? It's no longer about us. It's no longer personally about all about me. That's how the world thinks. It's all about my rights and all about how I feel and all about what I want to do and all about how people treat me and all about, we are narcissistic age ever right now. And when people look at the church, that's exactly how they look at the church. What can, I'm not trying to use the great JFK line here, but what can the church do for me? That's how we think. More people who've walked away from the church over the 17 or 18 years of ministry and said, I just don't like the people. I've always wanted to say, well, if you're the one that's so likable, then you better help those people to become likable, right? You have a gift of likability. See, this is how we think about the church, and Paul is really helping us today to think about what our attitude should be to the church and to the kingdom of God. And you'll notice in these verses 3 through 8, he's framing a mindset correctly as we approach our service that he calls us something very simply there. With the gifts that you've been given, he says something very encouraging. Use them. Now why would he have to say that? Why would he have to say that? Because sometimes we just don't use them. Where does he begin? He begins with a sort of misunderstanding here when it comes to the life of the church. Notice what he says in verse 3, 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. This was a specific problem that Rome was facing, the church in the Roman church here, the church in Rome. We know that the church had a mixture of Jews and Gentiles, Some had been in the faith a long time, some only a short time, and you had real differences of levels of maturity. You had real differences of growth, and you had real differences in terms of gifts. And just like in any church, we think of certain people as the spiritual, you know, giants. And then we think of the more little people. And a problem of pride develops in the life of a church this way. A big problem of pride develops. Paul is concerned about this, so he's addressing with one of the few lists in the New Testament the issue of spiritual gifts, and Paul says, notice here, under the inspiration of the Spirit, by God's grace given to me, I have this authority. Watch out for pride when it comes to involvement in the church, because pride does really bad things in the church. Looked at that some this morning. Typically in the New Testament, as has been noted by others, there are three sort of classifications of gifts. There are sign gifts, there are speaking gifts, excuse me, and then there are serving gifts. Everyone knows that the two passages in the New Testament that deal with this is Romans 12, the big passages, Romans 12, and then here goes again, allergies. I hope I don't close up here. Many of you have given me honey. I appreciate that. It does work. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12 addresses this, and the problem in Corinth was an issue of sign problems, sign gifts. You remember that they were caught up with tongues. They were caught up with all the very big things, dreams and visions and these sort of things, the sign gifts. And the prevailing opinion was really that those who could do the very truly wowing stuff, speak in tongues, ecstatic speech, whatever they were doing there in Corinth, had truly attained, a sort of Gnostic view, truly attained a heavenly wisdom and knowledge. And they were truly the spiritual ones among the people. So there was this worldly view of ministry that developed, a worldly view of gifts, an elitist conception that led to pride that the New Testament deals with when it comes to gifts. Paul's point is to say to the Corinthians, no, if you are a Christian, then every last one of you is spiritual. Every last one of you is given a gift. Now, this is similar to what's happening in Rome. Interestingly, there's no mention of signed gifts here. There's speaking gifts and serving gifts. Romans was written after Corinthians, and probably the lack of inclusion of signed gifts shows not only they were coming to an end with the apostles, but it seems to have been done purposely to make the point that the difference of gifts as some being more spiritual leads to a real source of pride in the church. Now, we do this, you know, we do this frequently. Who do we think are the real super spiritual ones in the church? I always get to pick on the professors, don't I? It's kind of fun, you know. They're the ones at the top, then you've got the pastors, then you've got the elders, then you've got the deacons, then you've got the common folk. We think this way. and there's a great respect for the gifts that God has given in that way. But I want you to think about here what happens then with that sort of mentality. Well, it depends on the gift, doesn't it? We look at those who we think have the best gifts, and we leave it alone. We don't touch that. We say that's their area. That's their strength. And you'll notice, I think, you know, this happens in every sort of way with certain gifts. You notice here in this section, there's a, he even talks about giving. You know, those who give, give with liberality. And we say, well, there's those in the church who make a lot more money than me. That's their gift. That's not mine. See, this is the mentality that happens in the body of Christ. And I think it's important to notice tonight how Paul is addressing this and calling us to think about the particular gifts that he's given to us and to not think that way. Now, I always am amazed in the parable of the sower that Jesus says, those who hear the word bear fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100-fold. We would say the people who are bearing the fruit 100-fold, those are the ones doing the real. There's people bearing fruit 30-fold according to the grace given to them. That's an important point. They're not less than those bearing 100-fold. and this is the way that Paul is encouraging the church tonight, you know, to not be inactive in the body of Christ. I know the illustration's been used many times by many pastors, but you know the illustration of Dizzy Dean's toe when he broke it before the World Series, and he gets out, and he ends up throwing out his arm, all because the little toe was broken, and the point of that is to say is that every member has an important place in the body of Christ, even the little toe, has an important place. For without that, without the little toe functioning well, the arm can be thrown out. And we would look at the arm and say, that's where the real thing's happening. And that's not how Paul's telling us to look at gifts. One part of the body ends up compensating for the lack and the missing part, and it only continues for so long. And then joy and service is destroyed. So I want you to notice what he says here in verse 4. But to each one of us, notice this, as one in the body we have members. The members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body and individually members of one another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Let us use them. This is said everywhere in Ephesians. To each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Every one of you, grace was given to you with the gift that the Lord specifically gave you. Whether that's plural or whether that's singular is not interesting to me. He gave you a gift. Gave you gifts. 1 Corinthians, he said, For we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it's the same God who works all and in all. There are allotments of gifts. There are many members, 1 Corinthians 12, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. See how he's making this point? You're necessary. And those members of the body which we think are less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor. And on our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. but God composed the body, having given greater honor to the part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer. If one member's honored, all the members rejoice with it. See, I remember years ago, an elder said to me years ago, he said, you know, he was a wise elder. He says, I'm concerned about the church. And I said, why are you concerned about the church? Well, he was, I'm really concerned about the church. He says, every Sunday, we come, we get the ministry of the word, we're happy with the preaching. We're happy with the preaching. We're getting good preaching. But I think everything is functioning. We think because of that, everything's functioning just right. Everything's going just well. And we've checked out. And I thought, that is not good, if that's what he's seeing. We become idle. Is that what COVID has encouraged? And I think these are things that we have to start evaluating ourselves. God himself has given diversities of gift among us as individual members to complement the whole and to make this work and to make it work well. You'll notice he says, think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. What he's saying is not that he gave more faith to some people than others. He's saying that God has blessed us with a particular gift in connection with their faith. That God has given you. He's blessed you that way. He's equipped you that way. Recognize that. You don't have to be a giant. These are opportunities, he's saying, to present your bodies as living sacrifices to the Lord. Christ has poured out on something, something upon you particularly to bless the whole. We can understand that point. It's a big point. Christ has poured out on us individually something to bless the whole. And that's what I think he's having us think about. In any given church, there's a distribution of gifts by Christ himself, and each member possesses his own gift corresponding to his faith in which he exercises that gift to be a blessing. What happens when somebody is taking something in the church and it becomes too much theirs? Or when it's too much expected for them to do it, and everyone else is stepping aside? I mean, there was a lot done throughout this COVID ordeal of things behind the scenes. What happens when that happens and people aren't stepping up? Burnout on the part of those who are taking it all. This is important for us to think about. This is where bitterness can come in. And Paul doesn't want that to happen in the body of Christ. Did you notice how in the Heidelberg tonight, something beautiful was said? in your serving and your use of gifts. Do it all readily and cheerfully. That's the kind of service the Lord loves. Not just a cheerful giver, but a cheerful server. Somebody who says, I have the privilege to serve the Lord in the capacities he's given me and to use it to bless the people which shows my love for him. Do you love me, Simon? Feed my sheep. See, that's the perspective here. That's what he's calling us to here. And to think about how we're using that. And I have to say this, with that same thought, it's okay to say no. Some people don't say no. It's okay to say no if it's not your gift. But it's not okay to be disconnected and be inactive in the body of Christ. That's not okay. The New Testament doesn't have that conception to have somebody who comes in for worship, sits down, bolts out, and is totally disconnected from the body. It doesn't have that conception of church life. It's not there. So this is something we have to think about, isn't it? I think that's what he's doing here at this point where he grabs two kinds of gifts. It's not exhaustive, but two kinds of gifts to use as illustrations and examples of how to use your gifts. Notice it in verse 6. Having then gifts, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. Now, before I jump into these here for a second, it's important to say that when we sit down with elders and when people come in to be new members and we say, what are your gifts, it's always the most difficult question. I have no idea. I have no idea what my gift is. And I think this is something that it's not something we have to typically go figure out. It's where are we most active and useful in the body of Christ to be a blessing to the person sitting next to me. That's all we have to think about. How can I love my neighbor? How can I help somebody in need? What are the strengths God's given me? Where do I use that for his glory? Where do I use that to help somebody? Where do I use that to be a servant to somebody? What do people need? How invested am I in the body of Christ to know my neighbor? How invested am I to know the people the Lord brings in? Where am I in connection with all? That's not a burden. He wants us to view this as a great opportunity. Now, I want to say something else before I jump into this. I think sometimes we have it backwards that we expect those with families and those who are carrying the burdens of all the burdens of trying to raise a family right now and all the duties that come with family. We have so much expectation put on those who have great responsibility in their lives where others have been freed up and don't have some of those responsibilities and we expect those with the responsibilities to be doing that. That doesn't make sense, does it? We have to think about also the places that the Lord has placed us in, the circumstances he's placed us in, the opportunities that we have, and to see how we're useful in that. Some people are more free to do certain things. That's why I think that model of the New Testament is so beautiful that the older saints should be heavily invested in the lives of the younger. There's a lot of wisdom. There's a lot of help that can be given to these young, struggling ones, whether it be in whatever capacity that we can serve. But notice what he uses here when he says here, having then gifts according to the grace, he starts with prophecy. You'll notice that. Let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, the word means to speak forth. Paul is simply using the gift, I think, of preaching here, speaking the truth on the behalf of the Lord. He says in ministry, let us use it in our, notice he says there, in service, ministry, in our serving. Really beautiful, isn't that? It's really the work of the, formally you could talk about the diaconate, the deacons. But you'll notice here, he's thinking here of basic service in the life of the church. He's thinking of those who have been given the gift to be a help and to help people in need, to demonstrate mercy to others who have a great need in the life of the church. In their serving, this is a practical way to help one another and encourage one another. He says in teaching, you'll notice there again these two distinctions here, teaching gifts and serving gifts. In teaching, in teaching, there are those gifted here who have been given the gift by the Lord to communicate the truth, to teach different age groups. That's very important in the body of Christ. To spend the time, it doesn't seem glorious. It doesn't seem important. The church always gets kind of last place on these things. But remember, think about the blessing. I still remember my Sunday school teachers, every one of them. I still remember them. You must know that Marja Kesting was my fourth grade teacher. Don't ask her anything about me. But she was a really positive encouragement in her teaching to me. She was a Christian school teacher, but she was a great blessing to me. You'll notice here, he exhorts an exhortation. He keeps going on here in verse 8. The one who exhorts in his exhortation. That means advising, it means encouraging, it means warning, it means comforting, it means strengthening somebody. You know, you can go up to someone, this is our day, this is when we live, and you can encourage them with words. You can go up to someone and say, you know, be very honest right now. I remember right out of high school, I lived with a bunch of kids from the Christian school. We were all living together. One of the elders came to my dad and me. He said, hey, we've heard that's a little bit of a party house. That stopped me in my tracks. Somebody cared. Somebody cared. Somebody cared to come and say something. What do we do today? We're so afraid of offending everyone. in exhortation. Speak. Let it come across in love. Let it come across that you care. That's the beauty of this. That's what I think Hebrews says. Consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. Encouraging one another all the more as you see the day approaching. We need that. You ever felt what an encouraging word does for people in the midst of discouragement? It's a real blessing. An encouraging word is powerful. But you got to be invested in the life of the people to know what they're going through. That's the sort of bond that he wants us to work with here. He who gives with liberality, he says here. You'll notice that. He contributes in generosity. you know, it's interesting that there's commands in the New Testament. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. God has given us a lot to enjoy in this life. We should be happy that God does that for people. Let them do good. Here's the command, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may hold on eternal life. There's a great responsibility if you've been given a lot. Share it. Help people with it. Encourage people with it. What an encouragement to use it with profit that's real profitable to other people. See, it's everything's pulling us out of ourselves. See? Use your homes that way. That's one of the encouragements here. Those who've been blessed by God financially, it's to give and to help people. That's the purpose of this. Remember, Paul pictures the Christian life as a sacrificial living, in other words, in such a way that he talks about it as a libation, as a drink offering where he's poured out on the sacrifice and service of somebody else's faith. You notice here, he says, the one who leads with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. You see? The first one means to set over. There are leaders in the church in all kinds of capacities. From the nursery to the organization of meals to help people? Do it with diligence. Be involved in that kind of way. It's not a burden to serve the Lord. Think of what's being said. He shows mercy. I think that's an interesting thing that he chose, isn't it? Did you ever think that showing mercy is a gift? Did you ever think that going to someone and showing mercy is a gift? Do that with cheerfulness. You can all do that. Don't tell me you don't have a gift. We can all show mercy. You know, we can all be helpful in the capacities that he calls us to. I think what he's saying in all this is it's not rocket science, is it? We're thinking too much about this. We rejoice with those who rejoice. We weep with those who weep. It's been amazing to watch the church function. And I have to say, it's been encouraging when there's a death. when there's people hurting. To watch you come together around people and help them, it's a beautiful thing. How many people suffering? How many people happy? Someone gets a promotion, somebody gets something good. God gives them a good gift, not for us to get jealous about. It's for us to be happy for them. It's the kind of beautiful thing the Lord's encouraging us with. Let me say this, that what motivates us, you'll notice that the Heidelberg says tonight, it's the duty for the enrichment of the other members. Jesus loves this. You know, I think that's what I want to say tonight, to motivate you most after this day. Jesus loves this. Doesn't that matter? On the last day, listen to this, he'll place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. And the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. The righteous will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or feed you or thirsty or give you a drink? Or when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked or clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison or visit you? And the king will answer them truly, truly, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. Well, that's motivating. Who are you doing this for? Jesus, you did it unto him. Go visit that person in prison. And you tell him the gospel. You tell him about the love of the Lord. You did it unto the Lord. You know, when the woman poured the flask over Jesus' head and, you know, said thank you, there were the Pharisees, you know, criticizing, criticizing the, uh, the woman. Remember what Jesus said at the end of that? Leave her alone. She was forgiven much. Therefore, she loves much. Well, that's the answer, isn't it? Look at all that God's done for you to forgive you, to love you, brought you into a family, and includes you in that family, and gives you opportunities now to serve one another. It's not a burden, beloved. If it's become a burden, then we've got to go back to the basics of the gospel and think upon the marvelous sacrifice and death of Christ for us, who gave everything so that we would share in all his riches. and he wants that exercised in the body of Christ, but that's most how you can say thank you and show your love to the Lord. That's what we heard today, this morning with Peter. Let's pray to the Lord. Heavenly Father, thank you for encouraging us this way to use our gifts readily and cheerfully to enrich the other members, to be a blessing. We all confess our own selfishness. We all confess that we have served. This is like we heard with Peter this morning. We all have walked our own way, spent enough of our former lifetime doing things our own way, going where we want to go, doing what we want to do. It takes extraordinary work of your Spirit to more and more conform us to the image of Jesus so that we would become servants. So help us, we pray. This is your desire for us. This is your will for us and our sanctification. So let us love that. Give us clarity with opportunities. Let us use our gifts this way for your glory and to be thankful. Thank you, O Lord, for including us in your family. Thank you for giving us a place to serve in your kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.