Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning. My name is Michael Tropez. I serve here as the campus pastor. And just grateful to be able to serve in this way, in the way God has called me to serve here. If you're new with us, we kicked off a series last week called Mine with a little slash through it. And everything is God's symbolism there is that we live in a world where it's not everything is God's, but everything is mine.
[00:00:25] Everything from my time, my money, the relationship should be done and lived out my way.
[00:00:31] It's my body, mine, mine, mine.
[00:00:36] And the thread that weaves itself throughout scripture that we see is the exact opposite. Last week we opened in 1 Chronicles 29, when David's praying this prayer, and ultimately he prays, hey, all of this is yours, God.
[00:00:53] All of this is yours.
[00:00:55] This is ultimately from you. And so let us live with open hands with everything in our lives and as you call us to.
[00:01:04] And so last week was really the vertical reality laying that foundation for us. And this week and the next two weeks, we're gonna be talking about our giftings today, our abilities and how they're ultimately God's and how next week we'll talk about what it looks like with our time and our resources in that third week from here.
[00:01:21] And so everything is ultimately his. And I wanna disclaimer. Before we start, I just wanna say thank you.
[00:01:29] Thank you for those who call Grace Ub your church home. I get to see. And I'll talk about it more throughout the teaching today, your worship through serving each and every week. And I just want to say thank you for what the Lord has already done in our midst. But I want to call those, and I pray the Spirit convicts us today that if you call this your church family, that you walk in the next step of obedience and laying your giftings in the middle and saying, God, they're yours.
[00:01:54] And so I pray the Spirit does the work today as I know he will do.
[00:02:00] You see, when I was a kid, Christmas times in my family of eight and my blended family were pretty insane.
[00:02:09] Like, my mom had remarried, and so it's my mom and my stepfather, and we had the whole Brady Bunch thing going on. And so there was my older brother and my stepbrother, my sister and my stepbrother, and my myself and my other stepbrother. And I was the baby of the family.
[00:02:26] And so didn't have a lot of money growing up, but so birthdays weren't a thing throughout the year, but Christmas time was the thing they saved up all year for to Go hard at Christmas. That's what they positioned themselves for. My mom was a little extra in life, so she would be a little extra as it relates to gift giving. And so we oftentimes from. For eight kids, ultimately, I mean eight adults and kids in the place, we had close to 150 to 200 gifts underneath the tree.
[00:02:56] And let me disclaimer this here. They were all like dollar gifts at this point. That's what she would give.
[00:03:04] And I say dollar gifts, couple dollars. I mean, sometimes my mom bought a five pound gummy bear that I'm like, no one wants to eat that in life. Like you look at it and like that's not for human consumption, right?
[00:03:15] Or she would buy 10 pairs of socks and they weren't the kind at age of 19 you would want to wear. They were the tube socks. And so we oftentimes donated those gifts. Or she would go to places like Sears that existed back in the day and buy me clothes that I wanted at 9 but not at 19.
[00:03:32] Like that place doesn't even exist anymore for some of you.
[00:03:36] And so. But what would happen every single year is there'd be one gift at the very end that we would all open that would be like the primary gift.
[00:03:46] And so we went in order of age. And so each of my brothers and my sister, they opened the gift and it was an envelope, it was cash, best gift ever at 19, right?
[00:03:57] And so it was $75 cash towards each of, for each of the siblings. And so I get to the last one opening up this gift and it has a little weight to it.
[00:04:07] I'm like, okay. My mom's known for putting 19 boxes in one and having an envelope on the end. And we're all frustrated by the end.
[00:04:14] And so I'm like, that's certainly what this is.
[00:04:17] And so I open it and then I realize what I got and I start unboxing it. And this is what I got guys.
[00:04:24] This is what I got.
[00:04:27] For some of you, you yell in excitement. For 19 year old Michael Tropez, I could say, and care less than, this was a lame gift.
[00:04:36] This was a lame gift in my 19 year old framework. And you know where it ended up for the next five years? It ended up in the trunk of my car, moving it from car to car because I had no need for it in my life at that point.
[00:04:53] It wasn't until I got married to my wife where I was like, oh, I need to hang some things on the wall now. Remember that thing in the trunk of my car? That I needed, that I got five years ago. Now's the time to use it. So I get it out and I begin to use it and I'm like, oh, like I'm actually doing a reno on this first home. And I need different drill bits. So I learn and get more drill bits. My stepfather comes over, shows me how to actually use the thing. And then from there, being young married, we helped other people move in their houses and we put stuff together for them, so I use it all the more.
[00:05:29] And so 20 years later, I still have this gift that I once put in the darkness of the trunk for many years.
[00:05:35] And so I went back to my mom probably a few years ago and I said, hey, I just want to say thank you for this gift. Here's what I did with it for five years, just so you know.
[00:05:46] And she said to me, hey, do you know that year when everyone was getting those gifts for $75?
[00:05:51] She's like, I just want to let you know that was double the price.
[00:05:55] I was like, oh, that meant a lot. That was a lot of money at any time. But even back then, because. And she said, we bought it for you because we knew it would be a blessing to you, but also you would bless others with it. We didn't know when, but it would serve a purpose, you know, why do I share that story?
[00:06:16] Because I wonder how many of us don't fully understand ultimately the gifts we've been given to us by God and we're allowing them to sit in the darkness of the trunk of our lives.
[00:06:27] Things God himself has uniquely, specifically designed in you. Your abilities, passions, experiences, giftings. And maybe you've never stopped to think much what those gifts are, why they are given, and what real purpose they serve within a local body that he has placed you in here.
[00:06:46] Or maybe you thought, hey, I can't get up there on a stage and teach. I can't do these certain things. And so you've pushed those giftings aside. They don't really matter. There's JV and varsity and their varsity. I'm JV. They don't really matter.
[00:07:01] Or maybe you're like 19 year old me. You never really learned how to use it and so you just leave it there for fear of failing or not knowing what purpose it serves.
[00:07:12] And like Mariah mentioned, it's going to be a shorter time ish today because we're going to call you into something. But I want to walk through the text that was just read with this big idea in mind and it's simple not novel, but it's a big idea that we need to remember today. And it's this. Each one of us that is in Christ have been given gifts by God to be used to serve others, that God would be glorified.
[00:07:39] Each of us have been given gifts by God that are grace enabled to be used to serve others, that God would be glorified.
[00:07:50] And so we'll go through the text today. I'll be primarily focusing on verses 10 and 11, but I want to set some context for us. So if you have your Bibles, if you aren't already turned there, go to first Peter 4, but let me set the context for us real quick.
[00:08:05] So Peter writes the letter to the churches that are in what is considered modern day Turkey.
[00:08:12] You see, these churches are governed by Roman rule and so they are conquered peoples living in these spaces. And here's what is described in 1 Peter 4 that the Roman Empire is engaging in there sensuality, drunkenness, orgies, idolatry, a modern day burning man, if you know what that is.
[00:08:37] And since these new disciples are following Jesus and they're not joining in, chapter four, verse four says they are maligned, they are being persecuted for not joining in to the cultural dynamic that is around them.
[00:08:52] So they're being persecuted and suffering.
[00:08:55] Verse 12 of 1 Peter 4:12 says they will face fiery trials.
[00:09:03] So they are suffering. Currently.
[00:09:06] Peter says, hey, heads up, you are going to suffer. And what's in the middle these four verses, five verses that. What is the aim? How do we keep together from persecution and suffering?
[00:09:20] And when persecution and suffering happens, what is the plan for people together? It's one another.
[00:09:28] It's to be the people of God together.
[00:09:33] It says, for the end of days is at hand. What it's saying is, hey, Jesus is coming back soon.
[00:09:40] So be sober minded, be ready, love one another.
[00:09:45] Above all, it says, show hospitality to one another within that call themselves Christians.
[00:09:53] And here's where we go with this text today. In verses 10 and 11, as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
[00:10:07] Whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified, through Jesus Christ.
[00:10:22] To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
[00:10:28] What do we see? Peter says to this community that is suffering in the world, what's the first thing in this text that we see?
[00:10:37] We see that each has received a gift. Simple. But we must remember it.
[00:10:44] Why Is this important?
[00:10:47] Because Peter wants to remind the churches that each disciple of Jesus plays a role in the story of his church.
[00:10:55] And it's God's grace that enables the charisma that gift, not their own. Charis means grace. Charisma means grace given gift. Each has received a gift from, from God.
[00:11:09] Everyone that says Jesus is Lord and Savior and the Spirit indwells them is a is given grace given gifts. Romans 12, 6, 8 is where we see these gifts detailed a little bit along with First Corinthians 12, but I'll read Romans 12, 6, 8.
[00:11:28] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.
[00:11:33] 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 and the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness.
[00:11:56] The big idea, like I mentioned, is that every, every believer, each believer that submits their lives to Jesus as Lord and Savior is indwelled with God given gifts that he enlivens, that he awakens that weren't enlivened before.
[00:12:14] You see, what does the text say the gifts are? The prophetic gift. This idea of. And I'm sure you've seen this, but I have seen it firsthand where people have been given the gift that they have vision to see things that don't exist today and vision to press into them.
[00:12:29] There's some within our body that I've gotten the opportunity to see. They have such faith and resolve when things are ultimately chaotic, but they're still trusting, rooted in faith and they continue on and they spur me on to have deeper faith.
[00:12:43] Many of us in this room have been given the gift of serving and we're like, ah, that's a pathetic gift. It's not.
[00:12:49] It's beautiful. It's God given, it's needed and it's given through those who lay down their lives selflessly.
[00:12:58] Like teaching men and women I know that are here that can just relay the word of God that convicts by his holy Spirit and inspires our hearts to pursue Jesus deeper.
[00:13:12] You know, there's people that can give, hey, you're doing great. And you're like, thanks. And then there's people that like share at deep encouragement that you're like, that could fuel you for a year.
[00:13:23] And what else does it say? Acts of mercy, generosity, leadership, all these are given by God.
[00:13:32] And going back to our text from Peter, he breaks it down into two categories. Those who teach and those who serve.
[00:13:43] And I think Peter does that intentionally for the churches to say, to not create these levels of JV and varsity Christians. That guy can teach. Well, I can't, so I'm not gonna. No, he does it to show the level playing field that all the gifts are given by God and they all matter.
[00:14:02] And because each of these gifts are given by God and are priceless, and because God intentionally gives different gifts to different people, every single person matters.
[00:14:13] The church doesn't need everyone to have the same gifts. We don't need 180 people with a teaching gift and four people with serving. If any way, it's the other way around because there are different needs in our body and God designs that.
[00:14:29] And I think about when the churches are receiving this letter and they're in suffering, they're being persecuted, and the moment in time we find ourselves in, we don't have that type of persecution happening. And why does Peter call it in times of suffering? What more do you think in times of peace where we can gather, should we engage our gifts like that? Should we should run towards those things and realize that it's God who gives each of these gifts to us?
[00:14:59] No gift is insignificant when God is the one who gave it and his body is the one who needs it.
[00:15:07] So each gift is given by God himself.
[00:15:11] But what else do we see from this text?
[00:15:15] The gifts are meant to be used to serve others first. Peter 4:10 reads, as each has received a gift, use it.
[00:15:27] Use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. If we don't use it, I'm gonna say this. We're not good stewards of God's varied grace.
[00:15:38] That is what Peter is saying. He's saying, as you've been given a gift, use it to serve others. Others serve others here in the local church body? Yes, the world, yes, in our community. But those here be and make disciples of those who are here. Use them here.
[00:15:58] For my probably 40 and older, a few younger, I'm sure, know this person. But does anyone know who this person is?
[00:16:07] Do you see that? If you don't know, it's Billy Graham. If you don't know, now you know anyways. Billy Graham before Forest Frank was selling out concerts and stadiums.
[00:16:16] This guy was selling out, selling out, filling up stadiums.
[00:16:23] He's one of the most influential evangelists of the last century.
[00:16:28] God gave him an extraordinary gift to proclaim the gospel. And millions heard and came to faith because of him.
[00:16:36] But does anyone know this woman?
[00:16:40] You See, this is Henrietta Meares and she's probably one of my heroes of the faith that no one hardly ever knows.
[00:16:48] You see, Henrietta Meares faithfully used her gift of teaching and discipleship at a local church in Hollywood, California in the mid-40s, 50s, 60s and do you know who was a part of her ministry? And she discipled in the kids ministry and discipled Billy Graham.
[00:17:06] Who else came from her discipleship? Billy Bright, who is the founder of what we have called Campus Crusade for Christ.
[00:17:15] We know Billy Graham's name, but we feel the fruit of Henrietta Mears gift.
[00:17:21] How about this person on the screen? Does anyone know her?
[00:17:25] This is probably one of my favorite poets, authors, Christian speakers. This is Jackie Hill Perry.
[00:17:32] Jackie Hill Perry has an incredible ability to communicate his word. As you've seen, if you've seen that passion over the past few years and today, thousands benefit from that gift.
[00:17:45] But she would say that one of the biggest influences in her life was a woman named Santoria.
[00:17:52] About a year after Jackie became a Christian, Santoria came alongside her and discipled her Halpert understand how to navigate and understand God's word, help her walk towards Jesus, taught her how to be teachable and cared as much about Jackie's character as he cared about her gifting.
[00:18:12] Before God used Jackie Hill Perry's gift to build up thousands, he used Santoria's gift to build up Jackie Hill Perry.
[00:18:19] Now this one probably brings it closer to home. Anyone know that guy that was 19 year old me, fake cubic zirconia in my left ear.
[00:18:30] That was me.
[00:18:33] Never again.
[00:18:36] You see I can get up for you and share with you like it's by God's confounding grace that he has positioned me here to serve, lead, teach here about the greatness of Jesus. And I get to.
[00:18:51] But I'm gonna show you someone in a second that influenced that. Like there's many people along the way that have been a part of my story that have been using their giftings. I remember where I came from, this guy named Jack Navin who has served faithfully in the church for 60 years. When I left he was 86, still serving every single week. The body behind the scenes. I could tell you about Jim Osborne who is an elder there who when the church was going through brokenness and not having a pastor and he worked his full time job as a teacher and then stepped in as a full pastor carrying the church through that season and he just got done serving, moved away after 65 years.
[00:19:30] But here is a picture of someone you don't know.
[00:19:34] You see that's my grandmother, that's Barbara Trofea.
[00:19:39] You see, she never preached a sermon, she never wrote a book, didn't stand on a single stage.
[00:19:46] But for close to 50 years, this woman missed three Sundays in 84 years of her life.
[00:19:55] 84 years.
[00:19:58] Almost every weekend as a part of the Catholic Church, she showed up and served meals for the body in the Catholic Church.
[00:20:06] And she would go down there after mass was done every single week. And she would know everyone's story. She would encourage people where they are, they would know her week after week, year after year, decade after decade, owning the place where the Lord had placed her, not for her preferences, but for where God had placed her.
[00:20:27] See there was 19 year old and actually younger up to 19 year old me watching that.
[00:20:34] I watched someone who didn't need a stage to serve Jesus. I watched someone take what God had given her and faithfully use it for other people. People.
[00:20:43] So tell me, what gifting matters more?
[00:20:47] Does Billy Graham's matter more? Or Henrietta Mears?
[00:20:51] Does Jackie Hill Perry's communication and teaching gift matter more than Santoria's discipleship on the ground of her life?
[00:21:00] Does me leading here matter more than my grandmother's serving week after week unknown?
[00:21:10] You see Peter, in writing to these churches, won't let us create categories. Each has been given a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Different gifts, different visibility, same grace, same body. The gifts were given, the varied gifts were given to be given away, to serve others.
[00:21:33] And who is ultimately the model of all of that?
[00:21:38] Like is it just because they were good people that they do these good things? No. Jesus himself, the chief shepherd, the chief servant, the one who had every right to be served, became the one who ultimately served in Mark 10:45. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[00:22:05] He touched the unwanted, welcomed the overlooked, washed his disciples feet, and ultimately gave his life on the cross for sinners like us.
[00:22:13] You see, before Jesus ever called us to use our lives for others, he gave his entire life for us.
[00:22:21] So we don't serve to earn his grace. We serve because we've received it.
[00:22:26] We don't use our gifts to make much of ourselves. We follow the servant king who gave everything for us.
[00:22:36] And that brings Peter to the ultimate purpose of every gift and every act of service we give.
[00:22:43] And it's this. That God would get the glory.
[00:22:47] That God would get the Glory 1st Peter 4:11.
[00:22:55] Whoever speaks is one who speaks. Oracles, the greatness, the knowledge of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies in order that in everything, in something, in some things, no, in everything.
[00:23:09] God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
[00:23:12] To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
[00:23:20] As every single week, every single week I walk these halls amazed at what the Lord is building in this local body, in this church at large, but in this local body. Cause I get to serve it.
[00:23:36] Like I get a front row seat to last week, me handing off my son to Tamara and Blaine Jernigan who are serving in toddler's red room. And if you know anything about toddler's red room, it's crazy.
[00:23:50] And so they're taking him. And why do they serve in that way?
[00:23:56] So dad can serve in this way and my wife can take in and serve in her varied ways.
[00:24:03] Like last week I see Matt and Kelsey schimf with their two daughters arrive at 8:30 to put out flags, to put out cones so people can get in and out of the parking lot accordingly. But that's not just to get in and out of a parking lot. That's to provide an idea of where people can go and know about the greatness of Jesus. So people who are looking for hope and meaning and purpose can find it through the preaching of God's word. But they know where to go.
[00:24:29] I'm thankful for Joy and Gail who keep us caffeinated with semimediocre coffee here so we can come in and hear with a nice warm cup of caffeine the word of God and pray that the Lord transforms us more and more.
[00:24:48] Like I see Andrew Plentyl and Randy, Andrew and Randy Plentyl and Chloe Burleson and Tessa Goddard and Tristan Fisher who tear down this place oftentimes each and every week.
[00:25:02] Why? Because it blesses the staff and we get refreshed by the Lord from that but also blesses the school that we get to gather in so it looks like we weren't even here.
[00:25:12] I'm so encouraged by the faith of college and young adults that serve each and every week, oftentimes in the back serving grace kids, serving in our GSM ministry so our students and our kids can know the gospel.
[00:25:27] Like that's what I get to see and that's only within the past two weeks.
[00:25:33] And here is what I see in and through all of that. God being glorified through the use of the giftings of his people. And we get to glorify God with One another, like that's what we get to do. It was never meant to be a four person show that we just a few people lift and everyone just takes in. No, it's an all of body necessity.
[00:25:58] Hear me when I say this.
[00:26:01] I do not give a lick about doing activity and doing programs and just having warm bodies in places. And we celebrate that. This is a great show where there's lights, there's singing. Like, I do not care at all about any of that. I care about your discipleship of Jesus.
[00:26:21] Like all throughout his Word, he says he's given these gifts. Use it. I care that I'm positioning you to know Jesus deeper, to go deeper in your discipleship and to pour yourselves out here. So that's why I'm gonna call it to you, call you to it.
[00:26:35] I care about your discipleship and you're walking in and from the love of God.
[00:26:41] And so I'm going to call you into it.
[00:26:46] And so before I transition from this idea, I want to be as loving as I can, but as bold as I believe Peter calls the church to be.
[00:26:55] There are a few groups in this room and probably more than I'm giving, but I'll give you three.
[00:27:02] Those who currently faithfully serve.
[00:27:05] I just want to say thank you.
[00:27:09] Thank you for allowing me to glorify God by you faithfully serving with your gifts.
[00:27:16] Thank you for week after week, year after year, pouring your lives out here so we can see your worship. And I can worship Jesus deeper.
[00:27:29] Those who currently don't serve.
[00:27:33] And let me be clear, I know some of you are here for the first week and you're like, oh, here he goes. I don't even know if I want to be here. You know what I mean? You're coming to check out a church for the first time. Maybe you're a college student.
[00:27:43] I want to say something to you people checking out here grace for the first time. Maybe you're a college student. Find a church that loves and makes the point that Jesus is the hero and you are not and calls you into a life of discipleship. And if that is where, if you go somewhere else, praise God, if you're going to be here, we're going to call you to that.
[00:28:03] But just find a local body to go deeper with. But those who are currently here that don't serve, the local body needs you.
[00:28:12] This local body needs you. God doesn't need you. God can do all that he wants, but he chooses to use us and we need you.
[00:28:23] But hear me when I say this. If you Aren't using your gifts to serve the local body. We aren't as whole as we can be.
[00:28:31] We aren't as whole as we can be. And if you aren't serving, I'd simply ask the question, why?
[00:28:39] Why?
[00:28:43] If Jesus was the chief servant, if Peter in times of suffering says, use your gifts to serve others and you aren't serving, I'd simply ask why. I'm not trying to guilt you. I'm trying to deploy you deeper in love with Jesus.
[00:29:03] Why?
[00:29:04] My call to you is to walk in obedience that Peter calls you to in Jesus models and my third grouping, those who feel like you can't.
[00:29:14] Maybe you're in a space that your health is not in the greatest condition. Maybe you're in a homebound on the stream this morning. Maybe you're in like, I can't get up on Sunday mornings to actually engage with kids or do these things.
[00:29:32] But maybe you love encouraging people.
[00:29:35] Hey, what would it look like if you wrote cards to some new families that are coming in?
[00:29:40] We have about 48 kids being born every two days here at Grace Eub. No, I mean, it feels like it.
[00:29:47] Praise God for that, though, guys.
[00:29:51] Maybe you can write a card to new moms that are struggling, new dads that are just trying to figure it out.
[00:29:57] Like, we need older men, older women in some way. We want to help you get there.
[00:30:04] We need you.
[00:30:07] And so here's what I want to do. We're here at 11:55. Usually we sing a song at the end after I get done praying and have a final word. We're not doing that today. We're going to call you to action.
[00:30:19] There's a slide up on the screen and I want to set this moment for us.
[00:30:25] There's a QR on the screen and I ask you if you could take your phones out right now if the Lord is stirring your heart from this to take a next step of obedience. No hardcore press. That's not on here. But my call for you is to take out your phones right now and there's a QR code. Zoom in on that and press the link on your camera and pull that form up.
[00:30:47] On that form you'll see just some basic information, an area to serve.
[00:30:52] And we wanna call you into the next step here, not to make you busy, but to assist you in walking towards Jesus. And here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna pray after I'm done setting some things up for us and kind of dismiss you into certain areas.
[00:31:10] And so here's what that is going to look like there is certain areas out in the commons area. I think we have a slide for that, Kyle. Do we?
[00:31:22] And so here's what I want to do. If you currently serve again, this is going to take five minutes at most.
[00:31:28] We're just going to ask you to move towards a place and honestly, if you're like, this is my first week, this is a little scary for me to do. Get it? Go have lunch. Don Juan's is open, I'm sure you're going there. But we want you to further hear the heartbeat of what the teams are in the life of ways to serve here. And so if you currently serve, I'm asking you just take the walk to the gym. I wanna meet you for five minutes.
[00:31:53] I wanna share how to walk deeper here and just. Thank you a little bit. There's teams. If you're currently new here and you're like, hey, I don't know about grace, but I wanna learn more in the gathering room right out here to the right. McKenna will be here, I call you to go there if your guest services out in the commons. On the right side there's also men's and women's ministry. On the left side, if I can remember this right, there's GSM and also Grace kids and the band hall is college and young adults. But let me kind of tell you we have some focus areas in the life of our church over the next year. We're trying to take grounded and I'm actually calling you into that Grace kids and gsm, it's not if you serve kids, it's where. So that's a whole church approach. But I want to share with you three different areas that we're trying to take ground in serving and many of you could serve in some way. One of those is worship tech. And so Andrew Peacock is the maestro, the savant of all things audio tech back in there that runs point every single week. And he leads our worship tech team. And each and every week we continue to share the gospel and people see us from the outside and trying to engage from home because maybe their home homebound, but we have the opportunity to share the gospel and steward that ministry. And so we need camera operators, we need people for propresenter to serve over this next year. And we have about 15, 15 to 20 slots to do that.
[00:33:19] Specifically, what else? College and young adults.
[00:33:22] If you're a college age young adult or a young adult here, we want to create an environment where college students and young adults come and be a part of a Small group.
[00:33:33] And so we're calling you, if you're a college student, to say, hey, maybe the Lord has placed me here for these next couple years to lead other people to know Jesus, but to know one another deeply.
[00:33:43] And if you're a young adult, with a young adult, the landing starting on September 15th, hopefully I got that right.
[00:33:49] With young adults and having community and leaders there, we want to call you into that. Or maybe you're just looking to mentor in some way. If you go out to the band hall after this, that would be great. And last but not least, it's not one that's sexy, but one that matters. It's the parking lot team. You may be like, parking lot, what in the world? But let me tell you something. The people decide whether to come to grace churches within the first 60 seconds.
[00:34:14] And my heart is they see a face and a people serving with joy, not just in a parking lot. That's just crazy and can get crazy. But here's the ask, guys. It's for like 12 weeks, not every week, but once a month, for a few times throughout the year. And you, you can be a part of being that. And it's just serving faithfully. We need it.
[00:34:37] And so I'm going to dismiss you after I pray. But here is where worship and worship and tech will be.
[00:34:43] And so again, worship, worship, tech. I mean that, that. I'm not gonna say it again. That's where it is.
[00:34:49] But we want you to fill out that volunteer interest form before you go so we can contact you within the next 24 to 48 hours, just to position you to go deeper here. And we're calling you if the Lord's called you here, walk in deeper obedience here for that. But let me pray and then I will dismiss you towards those places. Lord, we thank you.
[00:35:09] We thank you that you are the chief servant, that you ultimately willingly laid down your life when you were the one ultimately who could be served. You served us with laying down your life so that we can have hope and peace. And if we submit to you as Lord and savior and God, you were even gracious enough to indwell us with your spirit, to empower and give us gifts to be used to serve one another. So, Lord, I pray that we use them for those who have been here for years that haven't engaged in the life of the body, laying down their giftings trying to find out where they go. I pray they respond today in faith and God. It's not about making Grace Community Church great. It's not about even making your bride. Great. It's about you getting the glory.
[00:36:00] And God, I pray that as we go, we respond.
[00:36:04] We respond in faithfulness as we walk towards you.
[00:36:08] Because all our giftings, all of our lives are ultimately meant to be returned to you. So help us do that accordingly, Lord, and let you get the glory forever and ever. Amen.
[00:36:20] Church.
[00:36:22] Go to those places. Thank you.
[00:36:24] Love you guys.
