The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 14: My Ministry

Episode Date: April 9, 2017

See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.

Amen, amen. How are we doing, church? Doing all right? You look good. If you got your Bibles, I hope so, grab them. We're going to be in Colossians chapter 4. We are wrapping up the 14th and final week on this study in the book of Colossians. And I guess the big question is, you know, how is the Apostle Paul going to wrap up Colossians?

And then for us, how are we going to wrap up this study? And what does it look like to declare that Jesus is before all things? And so we've been on this journey. We started about a year and a half ago. what does it look like for every individual that makes up this church of 1122 to declare that he is, that Jesus is before all things, in every aspect of our life, every aspect of our life. In the book of Colossians is about the supremacy of Jesus, the sufficiency of Jesus, that he is preeminent, that he is before all things, in his church, in our heart, in our day-to-day life,

and now, as Paul is wrapping it all up, that Jesus is before all things, in our ministry. And my hope is that you would discover your ministry, not that you would quit your job at the end of this service and try to come work here, but that you would understand that God has placed you on purpose. In other words, what do I do if Jesus is who he says he is? If he is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation, if he is before all things, then what's next for me? And so we're going to pick it up in Colossians chapter 4, 7, verses 6. seven to the very end. It starts out this way. This is Paul saying by to everybody. It says, Tickicus will tell you, let's be honest, I don't know if that's how you say his name, but neither it are you. So we're going with Tickicus right now. Tickicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.

and with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. And they will tell you of everything that has taken place here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you. And Mark, is finally a name that we can grab on to, okay? And Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you have received instructions, if he comes to you, welcome him. And Jesus, who is called justice, these are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God.

And they have been a comfort to me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greet you always struggling on your behalf. In his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God, for I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and Heropolis. Luke, the beloved physician, greet you, as does Demas.

Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha, the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of Laotasia, and see that you also read the letter from Laudacea. Most historians believe that's the book of Ephesians. And say to Archipus, see that you fulfill the ministry that you received in the Lord. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, remember my chains, grace be, with you. Now I know what some of you are thinking, you're thinking what I was thinking when I first read that, how in the world am I going to make that into a sermon, right? Because it just looks like a little

Facebook poke, you know, like, like, poke, share, that's what it looks like that Paul is just saying bye to a bunch of his buddies. Well, here's a part of the reason there's actual names listed here in the New Testament. Because Paul was an actual man, he was actually in prison, and these people are actual people. And so this is not a fairy tale. This is not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. These are actual people. And so some people would read this. be like, Tickicus, I played teaball with that dude. He was terrible. Good thing he went into ministry.

Okay, that's kind of what's going on here. And so what I want to look at primarily is just this one line in verse 17 where Paul says to Archipas, see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord. Because what's pretty awesome here is Paul gives this list of people, 10 different people. And what we're going to see is there's all kind of different people from all. kind of different places, doing all kind of different things with all kind of different gifts. But they're all doing it for one purpose, and that is the glory and the mission of God. I mean, it's sort of like the X-Men.

They all get together, and they all got different gifts, and they've all got different abilities, but there's really only one mission. And they need all the X-Men, and the X-Men needs the whole team. And in essence, this is what Paul is saying. Paul is like an all-people kind of guy, but it's not just, you know, it's not because they're just a snowflake and a butterfly and a rainbow. or whatever or some beautiful bouquet of humanity. No, that they have been assembled together on purpose by God for his own purposes.

And here's the cool part for us and for our joy. And so what we'll see here is, I mean, they really are. Men, women, different nationalities, different societies that they have grown up with. He starts with this guy named Tickicus. His name means fortunate. And Paul, this guy, Tickicus, is friends with Paul for like 14 years. He shows up in the book of Acts, chapter 20, verse 4. He comes from the province of Asia, so he doesn't look like Paul.

He didn't grow up like Paul. And yet he just sticks with him throughout his ministry. And you say, why does he make the list? Let me tell you, I think this is pretty cool. Is that he says that I'm sending Tickicus to you to be an encourager to you. That the guy that makes the top of the list is not the guy that's always on stage with the microphone. that it's not always the point leader, but it seems like every time God calls somebody to do some great thing,

he also put some other somebody's around them to help them do that great thing. Did you know that God's going to use a whole bunch of people at our church to be encouragers to the people that are kind of on the bleeding edge of what the ministry looks like? And this is a really, really, really big deal in the kingdom of God. The guy that makes top of the list is not necessarily the most first. fruitful in ministry, but the most faithful just to be an encourager alongside of Paul. And then the next guy that mentions is mentioned, his name is Onesimus. Onesimus, he is the subject of the book of Philemon.

He's a runaway bond servant is what he is. Now, some of your translations may use the word slave, and it's not necessarily a great translation of that word for us today, because when we, as Americans, when we think slavery, our minds go to the transatlantic slavery of a couple hundred years ago, one of the greatest atrocities in human history. And what is not happening here, there's not one group of people stealing another group of people and treating them like they are inhumane. There is no place for that in the gospel.

In fact, the gospel is what gave us the seed to abolish those kind of things. And that's why we were a movement for all people, all color people, all kind of people, to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. Because at the foot of the cross, it is incredibly level. And you have never come eyeball to eyeball with somebody that didn't matter to God and matter enough, regardless of where they're from or what they look like or what color we are, that nobody doesn't matter to God enough that he would send his only begotten son to shed his blood for every single person.

Amen. Amen. Now, what's happening here is there was this, Onesmus was a bond servant. And so in the first century, this wasn't like a racial thing. This was if you owed somebody money and you couldn't afford to pay them back, you could bond yourself out to them for a time. And then eventually earn your freedom back. Now, I'm sure there were sin and atrocities there too.

But what Onesimus does is he runs away from his bond and he runs after Paul and he kind of joins up with him in ministry. Now here's why this is a big deal. In Roman culture, Onimus would have lost whatever respect that Maheemey previously had. In fact, the book of Philemon, the subject is Paul's saying, Philema, I'm sending Onesimus back to you and you need to receive him with grace. Now here's why I say this. you see there's a whole bunch of people probably sitting in here or one of our campuses today and you think somehow you are disqualified by from being used by God because of something that you have done

I'm sure Onesimus was probably taught this by somebody and the reality is that if you're beat up and you're bruised hey there's still a significant place for you on the team here's why because your past does not define you your addictions do not define you your hurts and hangups do not define you your sin does not define you but if you are in christ then only jesus gets to tell you who you are and that you are useful to him romans chapter 8 verse 1 says therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus and oftentimes as people begin to step into places of ministry to be used by god then you hear a little voice whispering in your ear and that voice is the father of lies because he says You are unfit for use.

That is the definition of condemnation. But Almighty God steps in and says, therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, Jesus. Do you know what the gospel teaches us? You see, if the word condemnation means a vessel unfit for use, it's a building term, then Jesus comes along and says, look, I'm looking at that same vessel, and I tell you what, I'm going to put my spirit in that vessel.

For anybody that would believe in Jesus, that your body is the permanent address for God on this earth, So when the Bible says your body is a temple that does not have anything to do with what you look like in a bikini Can I get an amen? Amen, right? Praise God, all right? So what that means is God Jesus looks at you and says you're not unfit for you Don't listen to what the devil tells you. You are not what you used to do. You're not your mistakes. You're not your sins. You're not your addictions. But you are who I tell you you are and I'm going to put my spirit in you and that makes your body the temple. So man, if you're beat up, battered and bruised and just, just really screwed this whole thing up. I've got good news for you. You are perfectly positioned to be used in a mighty, mighty way by a mighty, mighty God.

Amen? That's Onesimus. He's the number two guy here on the list. The next one, Aristarchus. Aristarchus is a good friend of Paul for a long, long time. And if you study the book of Acts, what you'll see over and over and over is aristarchus shows up as a companion of Paul. And even right here, he's a fellow prisoner. guess where Aristarchus shows up every time with Paul when he's in trouble.

Like when he's shipwreck, he was there. When he goes to prison, he was there. When he stoned, he was there. And that means throwing rocks. Some of you are like, that could be my ministry, okay? That is not what we're talking about. Do you know what his gift is? The Bible never says he, like, leads a thing, but he has this gift of perseverance in relationship.

Look, man, everybody shows up when it's going well. but this brother shows up when Paul feels beat up and banged up and he's like man you may feel crushed but you'll never be alone because God has put me by your side to co-labor for the sake of the gospel the next guy Mark Mark see I don't know if you know about this but Mark and Paul had a falling out in the book of Acts this might be news to you did you know all Christians don't get along I don't know if you're aware of that I love it when we hire people from the corporate world and they come here to our staff and I don't know what they think it's going to be like, but it's not exactly what they think it's going to be like. You know why? We got sinners on our staff. You know how I know?

Because I'm one of them, all right? We are. We're all sinners. And so sometimes Christians don't get along. And so in the book of Acts on Paul's first missionary journey, Mark bales out on him. You see, Paul is a driver, man. Paul gets stuff done.

If Paul took the disc personality profile test, he would be a high D. We use these things on our staff, and we've got this Ph.D. guy that helps our staff, like, understand our role and work together, et cetera. And so the guy that does these tests for us, he measures our natural and are adaptive. And if those two things are far off, then you're in trouble, okay? And so when I took the test for the very first time, it came back, and on the disc profile, on the D, I scored a 100% D-dominant personality, okay? 100%. That's my natural, that's just how God made me. But the good news is, is at work, I adapt down to 100%.

That's what I do. And he literally says, I've never seen that before in my life. And I was like, well, thank you. I felt like that was a compliment. All right. So I cannot wait and meet Paul. It's the Paul's getting stuff done. Mark, Mark,'s like, this is hard.

You know what? People were throwing rocks at me, and I missed my quiet time. And I just thought we were going to hold hands. I seemed kumbaya. And so Paul was like, well, just take it on home, bro. Okay, I ain't got time for you. So then Paul gets ready for his second missionary journey in Acts chapter 15, and John Mark wants to show up again.

He's like, bro, I ain't taking you, okay? Because you're like dead weight. I ain't got time to drag you around all over the Mediterranean Sea. I'm trying to drag people out of hell into heaven, so you could just stay home, and there's this huge split. Now, here's what's crazy. Almighty sovereign God hooks Mark up with Peter. They start running around for a little while, you know, doing ministry together.

And then by the time he writes the book of Colossians, Paul and Mark have been reconciled and rejoined. Because just those they don't like each other, it doesn't matter because they are unified under the mission. And God's purpose on this earth is so much bigger than our preferences. And so did Mark get used by God? Yeah. He kind of wrote the gospel of Mark.

Kind of a big deal. And so there have been times. There's a bunch of you. And just because you got sideways with a ministry leader, you think maybe you're out forever? Absolutely not. God may just have a different purpose and plan for you for the sake of the glory of his name. And then the next one, it's a guy named Jesus. And it says who is also called justice. Now here's why I think he's also called justice. Because the Jesus name has kind of already been taken. So I think when they're introducing people, this is Jesus. People were bowing down. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, I'm a different one. So just call me justice. All right? Now, you know what else we know about Jesus called justice in the Bible? Nothing. Nothing at all. This guy is a common nobody not mentioned anywhere. And that is really good news. Do you know why that's good news? It's because God doesn't just choose the all-stars to do big things. He chooses the nobodies, too. Here's what this means in our church, all right? In our church at all of our campuses and all of our locations and all of our services, somebody here this weekend, you are the least gifted.

person in our whole church. That's just true. Think about it. It just has to be true. There may be a tie. Maybe there are two of you. I don't know, all right? Now, there's also somebody

that's the most gifted and talented. We don't know who that is. And then there's somebody that's the least gifted. We don't know who that is. I have a few guesses, but I'm not totally sure, all right? And the thing is, is that you are a significant part of this team also. Do you know how I know? Because I'm telling you, that's me.

Listen, our church is going really, really well by all standards and measurements, etc. Do you know who's most surprised by that other than me and my mother-in-law? The people I grew up with. Like when I bump into people from Dillon, South Carolina, they're like, you do what? I mean, they are amazed. And me too, I'm like, I know. It is crazy. What do you think God chooses somebody like me?

Because the Bible says that he uses the foolish things of this world, or the foolish things of this world to confound. the wise and he's like I need a fool Dylan will be a great pot to pick from let's pick Joby all right I'm telling you so listen folks I'm just a nobody that's willing to tell anybody about the somebody that wants to save everybody amen and if he can use me he can use you too it's just true so you got that guy then if if justice is like the least gifted epaphrus is like on the top end of this deal he's kind of the who's who epaphrase is the church planner that plants the church in Colossi. He is a Colossian. He grew up there. When Paul says, this brother prays for you, this guy shepherds you, this guy hopes to present you mature before the throne of God.

You see, Apraferus is the church planter. Then you get to Luke. And Luke is a big deal. Luke is a physician. Luke is a physician. The beloved physician. And here's one of the cool things about Luke. And Luke does not leave his day job to do ministry. But for a long, long time, God uses Luke to learn how to be a physician. And then he leverages his success for an incredible significance. One of the things that Luke does probably when he's traveling around with Paul is Paul had some physical ailments. Paul calls it a thorn in his flesh.

And so he's got a doctor to travel around with him. And while the doctor is traveling around with him, guess what the doctor is doing? He does this self-funded project where he writes two books. the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke, and the book of Acts. He documents an orderly account. These are his words. He documents an orderly account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the acts of the Holy Spirit in the early church.

You see, it's a really, really big deal. God uses not a pastor to write it, but a doctor. And then you get a guy named Demas. Now, you don't know a lot about him from Colossians, but by the time you get to Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 10, Demus flakes out. Paul says that Demus turns to the way of the world and goes to Thessalonica. And everybody knows what happens in Thessalonica, right?

No, I don't either. But it's not good if Paul says that about you. But here's what I love, man. But he's still on the list. Like God is not in love with some future version of you. He loves you right now. I mean, think about this. When Jesus washes his disciples' feet, he also washed Judas's feet.

And he knew that he would be betrayed. by him. And so even regardless of the decisions you're going to make down the road that God loves the you right now. And then the next one is a girl named Nympha. Really unfortunate name, in my opinion. Okay? People were lining up to take her to prom, but that's a different story, okay? So, parents, be careful what you name of girls. All right. So Nympha means bride. It means bride. And so here's what's crazy. In the 21st century, you might read by this super fast, all right? But in the first century, because you see a woman leading here and you think, well, yeah, no problem, there should be more. Amen. But in the first century for her to be listed among all these men was a really, really big deal.

And what she did is she hosted a church plant in her house. So there's one or two things that could have happened. Either she was a widow and she was leveraging everything she had for the kingdom, or maybe she was like Lydia in the book of Acts. And she was just a boss. She was a CEO. And God had blessed her so richly that she had. she could have the kind of resources, a house, or maybe even an estate, to host such a significant church like the church that met in Colise.

This is a really big deal. So let me be really clear. You know what some of your spiritual gifts are? Some of you at here or any of our locations, some of your spiritual gifts that you make buckets of money. See, I got all quiet. Praise God. As long as you're doing it in a God-glorifying way, you never, ever, ever apologize for how much

make. Some of you, God is giving you the gift to make bank, but it ain't for you. He gives you buckets of money so that you could dump out buckets of money for the glory of God and the expansiveness of his kingdom, just like maybe the CEO Nympha was doing, that she was generous in her work towards the Lord. And that is a gift from God. And then finally, he gets to the last person, Archipus. And here's what he says. He says, see that you, fulfill the ministry that you have received from the Lord. Here's what I think this is such a big deal. In this list of 10 people, he never tells Archibus to be like anybody else.

He's never like, all right now, Archivus, can you get off your mom's couch and put down the Xbox controller and be more like Luke? We need a book of Archivis. No, he does not. He doesn't tell him to be like nympha or anybody else. What Paul is saying by the power of the Holy Spirit is, you got to do you, boo. that's kind of a loose translation of what it means. That you are the only you that God has ever created. And if he needed another you, he would make another you.

And if he was done with you, he would not have woken you up again this morning. And good gracious, whatever you do, don't be like me. We don't need any more me's. If God needed more me's, we'd have a whole bunch of me. That's a scary thought. Don't worry about that, okay? But God created you to be you for his glory and for his joy. You see that God Almighty has a purpose in the cosmos

to redeem and reconcile all things unto himself through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ and primarily through his bride, the church. And he has gifted and shaped each and every one of us to have our own individual ministry inside of his great mission of making much about himself. You see, the way Paul says it in the book of Romans is this. Paul says in Romans chapter 12

verses 3 through 8 these words He says, for by grace given to me I say to everyone among you Not to think too highly of himself Or not to think more highly of himself Than he ought to think In other words, let's get real practical Look man, it's one body with a whole bunch of parts

No one body part is any more important than anybody else This is why I do not allow you to call this thing my church If we see each other outside of here and you come up and I go to your church. It's not my church. It's not my church. First of all, it's his church, but on a like horizontal level, it's just our church.

If you're here and I'm here, we're here together. And I'm a part of it, and you're a part of it, and we all need each other. And so there's not one part that's more important than any other part. It says, 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. Right? That not everybody's here to be a preacher. Some people have been called and equipped to be preachers. I really am into this. Can you imagine right now if I picked you to preach next weekend? You just started sweating automatically, didn't you? Why?

Because that might not be how God has wired you. And so God has put us all together with different gifts and different abilities for one reason, and that's to make much of him. So we're one body with many members, and the members don't all have the same function. so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Here's what this means. We need each other.

We need each other. Like you don't have an insignificant body part. And sometimes the devil will whisper in your ear and say, well, you're not that big a deal. Listen, every part of the body is a really, really big deal. Do you know how I know this? How would you like to lose what you perceive an insignificant body part today during the service? it would be a big deal, wouldn't it? If at the end of the service, while we're cleaning up, we found a toe, not even one of the major ones, just a pinky toe.

If we just sound a pinky toe at your seat, what would we think? Uh-oh, something went horribly wrong today during our church services, all right? And not only would we think that, but you would be sitting in the car with your bloody nub, and you would have the same thought. Something in church today went horribly wrong. Now, you see, your body needs the toe, loves the toe, wants the toe. your toe wants the body. Because you know what? Let me tell you the future of that toe

just sitting on the floor here after the services. The future of that toe is not sharp. It's not good. It's not great. It's not going to flourish. The toe ain't going to rise. I'm like, I don't need church. I don't need a body.

I can just do it. I'll be my own toe. Nuh. You're going into garbage. Dead little stinky pinky toe. That's all you are, man. And your body is missing the toe, like emotionally, physically.

In the same way. what Paul is saying is that individually we are members of one another we need each other and he goes on to say this having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us let us use them see I've got really good news for you that you're gifted if you're a Christian every single Christian has at least one spiritual gift and no Christian has all the spiritual gifts and so we need each other and God has assembled us together like he would assemble together your body with one head. The head is Jesus. And the whole rest of the body is working for one purpose, and that is to make much of him.

And you're gifted. Now, I know a bunch of you. I won't have you raise your hands because you'll do it too pridefully and I'll help you sin. But some of you grew up in like gifted class, right? You were in gifted class, okay? The rest of us, we hate you. And here's why? Because you remember those of us like normal people?

You remember when you'd be in school and the teacher would come in and be like, all the gifted students come with me? And the gifted students would go to gifted class. And then you'd be like, what do we do? Oh, y'all just stay here. Well, they're gifted. What are we? We don't have a name for you because we don't really care about you, okay? So just, well, what are they doing?

Well, see, our classes aren't challenging enough and just regular, you know, like dumb school with you kids. So we've got to take them out to these special, you know, extracurricular activities that challenge them. So what do we do? I don't know. You're going to work for them one day. So just color and sniff glue.

Just keep doing what you're doing. So that's what we did. Okay? I'm not better, whatever. So here's the good news of the gospel. Congratulations, you're gifted. If you are in Christ, then by the power of the Holy Spirit, he's giving you a spiritual gift.

Now, if you're new to church, you might not even know what it is or what your gift is. And so I would highly encourage you to figure that out, to find that out. We'll tell you how in just a minute. And then here's what he says about the gifts. He says, let us use them. Some of you don't think you're gifted,

because you hadn't used your gift in so long that it just, like a body part, and it's unused, it would just shrivel up? This last week, Reagan got her cast cut off. Her arm has been in this cast for three weeks. So for three weeks, she's not been using her left arm. And so when they cut that thing off, there was noticeable atrophy in her little arm. And she's not all jacked like her mama. She's just got a normal seven-year-old arm.

But when you don't use that thing for three weeks, it begins to shrivel up and go away. And if you have a spiritual gift, an unused spiritual gift, and it will begin to shrivel up and go away. Or maybe worse than that, Matthew chapter 25, Jesus says that the master gives out talents. And I love the double meaning of the word talent. It was a first century sum of money, but it also means what we think it means when we think about talent. And the master comes into the one that had the one talent and did not use it for the master. He took it back and gave it to somebody else.

You see, some of you, you have. spiritual gifts, you just haven't been using them in so long, they are shriveling up. And so Paul says that you have gifts, and they differ according to the grace given to us. So let us use them. And then he lists some of the gifts. If prophecy

in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, let 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. In other words, we are a big body put together by the Almighty God.

We've got different gifts, and we should use those. We should use those. Pastor Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback Church, maybe you've heard of him, a little country church out in Southern California. He came up with an acronym probably 25 or 30 years ago to help us understand how we've been gifted and how we've been put together for the sake of the body of Christ. And the acronym is the word shape, shape. In my opinion, it's very, very helpful to understand why on earth are you here and why does God have you here on this earth?

Because again, if he was done with you, he would not have woken you up again today. And so that acronym, it starts with S. S stands for spiritual gifts. Now, there's about 20 of them or so from three different places in the scripture. And this afternoon, you could go Google a spiritual gifts assessment test. And I would highly recommend it. You should do that. But those assessments, they are not the gospel, they are not inerrant, okay?

It is just kind of an understanding to maybe get you headed in a direction. But it's a good idea to understand your spiritual gifts. I remember the first time I ever took a spiritual gifts assessment. I was on a college retreat, and they were talking about the gifts of the spirit. So you know, I got kind of awesome there for a couple days. And so at the end of the assessment, I look over to my buddy next to me, I'm like, so what did you get? And he just looked like panicked. And he's like, bro, I got celibacy.

I was like, oh, I wonder if there's like a return department where you can be like, I want to give this gift back, okay? And I got the gift of martyrdom to die for Jesus. I'm like, well, that's awesome, but you can only use it once. That's not awesome, right? But at least I get to have sex, so ha-ha-ha-ha. So I'd highly encourage you, figure out what your spiritual gifts are. So that's S.

The H is heart, heart. What do you love to do? What do you have a heart for? Do you ever consider that maybe God gave you that desire? God put that thing in you because he had shaped you for his own glory and for your joy. The A is ability. What are you good at? It's very important to understand heart and ability.

Because very often we have people that are like, I just love to sing. Praise God. Nobody loves to listen to you sing, though. So there's a whole bunch of us in the room that should never have a microphone in front of our face when we sing. Amen? It would not be glorifying God. Individually, yes, very disruptive to all those around us. I mean, I help a bunch of church planners, and I'm telling you, there's a bunch of guys who are like, I just feel called to preach.

I'm like, brother, nobody feels called to listen to you. So we might need to just, and I lovingly tell them you suck at that. So don't do that, all right? So spiritual gifts, heart, ability, the next, the P here is for personality. Personality, that God wired you the way he wired you. For some of us, he made to be extroverts, and we love to meet people and high five and all of that. For some of you, he made to be introverts. And I don't know what you do, but it's probably good, all right?

But you should never apologize for that. Some people he made to cooperate for some to compete. Some people love numbers and that kind of thing. Some people love people. You know, it's that kind of deal that God gave you your personality on purpose. And then the E is experience. Experience. You see, God is sovereign over everything.

And the only way that you can have purpose in your pain is if God was actually in charge of it. And what we see, especially when you get to do what I do, over and over and over and over, I see God use some of the most painful things in people's life for some of the greatest platforms of ministry ever. That God never waste the hurt. He never waste the hurt. And sometimes the reason that God comforts you in your pain is not so that you can be comforted, but so that you can be a comforter to some other people walking in pain. It'd be a really big deal for you to understand the shape that God has given you.

My friend J.D. Greer, he's the pastor of the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, and their church came up with like a Venn diagram to help you understand why on earth you hear or what your ministry might be. And it's three words that all start with A. What are your abilities? What is your affinity? And what have people affirmed in you? Abilities, affinity, and affirmation.

And I think that affirmation one is a really big deal. See, because I think a lot of folks have the idea that ministry is miserable. That there's all these things that you want to do, but if you actually surrendered your life to Christ, he's going to go make you do this other thing that you hate to do. That would make no sense in the way that God has designed you. You see, ministry, in my opinion, when done right, is one of the most fulfilling things that you will ever do in your entire life.

You see, God created everything. living, every rock, every plant, everything in all of the cosmos to glorify him. And when the created thing is doing what it was created to do, then the creator is glorified. And the created thing is fulfilled. So I'm telling you that God is glorified when a bird flies. And God is glorified when a turkey gobbles. And God is glorified when a dog hunts. And God is glorified when a cat dies or whatever we have those.

Okay, so he just is. And so when you are doing what God created you to do, then he is glorified. Whether that's closing the deal or whether it's writing a song or whatever it is when you do it, let everything you do be done for the glory of God. Because not only does it do something for the kingdom of God, it does something in you. This is why the affirmation piece is so important. I would hope and pray that you are around some people that would love you enough to tell you what they think God put in you and some things that maybe you, some paths you're going down that they think are a dead end. Because you realize this thing that I do every week, this thing that I do with the majority of my life, prepare and preach, the majority of my life, I never in a million years saw me doing this.

The guy made me do this at first. The guy that led me to Christ, coach, Coach Bull Lee, my football coach. We were at a camp together and he leans over to me. I was a teenager and he says Jobie Martin when the singing's over, you're preaching. What? The guys up there singing has a little guitar as this little fundamentalist

Baptist camp. They knew how to take the fun out of fundamentalism if you know what I mean. And so we were singing, we didn't have like cool band stuff like this. We weren't allowed to have drums there. And so we were singing, I am a C. I don't know if you know this. Anybody know this song? I am a C. I am a C. All right. My Baptist people. I see your hand, okay? I'm a C-R-A-S-T-I-N.

And I have C-H-R-S-E-H-R-T and I'm H-R-E-R-T and I See, I was in the 10th grade before I realized we were singing, I'm a Christian. I thought we were speaking in tongues. I didn't know we were allowed to do that. This is crazy. So the brothers are singing, I am a sea. And so Coach Lee is like, you're going to go up and preach after this. I was like, preach.

Coach Lee, I'm not real comfortable speaking in front of people. And he said comfortable. Boy, did you say comfortable? You think Paul and Silas were comfortable in prison? You think Daniel was comfortable in the lions then? No, sir. Do you think Jesus Christ was comfortable on the cross? No.

Well, what do I talk about? He said, boy, that's easy. You talk about Jesus? You talk about 30 minutes. Yes, sir. And so I took my Bible and went and preached for the very first time on John 316. Do you know I picked John 316? It literally was the only verse I could find in the Bible.

That was it. And so I opened up in the Bible, and I talked for a while. And then at the end of it, I mean, I was nervous. I don't even know what I said. I read John 316 a lot. And then at the end of it, three kids got saved. to which, by the way, that's now why I am reformed in my soterology, because God picks you, you're not responding to my message,

because if God could save somebody in that crappy sermon, he must be sovereign over salvation. That's how that works, all right? And so I get done, and Coach Lee says this to me. He says, boy, when you preach, I see two things happen. I see you come alive and I see them come alive. And he began to see something to me that I promised. I never, ever, ever thought.

And so, what would that thing be in you? Are you in the kind of relationships where people could look at you and say, here's what I think God has in store for you. So what are your abilities? What are you good at? What's your affinity? What do you love? And what about affirmation?

What are people affirming in you? You see, because what I really, really, really would love for you as your pastor, shepherd, I would love to give you the gift that I have been given to be able to do what God has created you to do. The last few years of my life have been the most fulfilling years of my entire life. And see, another false mindset that a lot of us have, especially now that, like, church staff, preaching, that kind of stuff is like a real vocation. It's a lot of people, you think, well, you're supposed to show up here and then pay me and the rest of the staff to do the work of the ministry. Do you realize that as the lead pastor of the church of 1122, I am probably the most far removed from front-line

ministry of anybody in this room. And according to the Bible, Ephesians 4, 11, and 12, my job is to equip you to do the ministry. Here's what it says. It says, and He, Jesus gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers.

In our context, that would be like the church staff. So God has put together the church staff to equip the saints for the work of the ministry for building up the body of Christ. This is what he says. That my job, our job, is church staff, is to equip the saints.

You know who the saints are? You. Do you hear that, Catholics? You're a saint. If you're in Christ, we don't have to vote on you, we don't have to sell your necklace at Hope's closet, that you are a saint. If you are in Christ, you have been sanctified,

justified, one day you'll be glorified, and you are a saint. And then our job as the church staff is to train you up, to equip you, to just be the you that God has created you to be. Not that everybody would leave their job to go to the mission field, but maybe you would understand that your mission field is your job. That you wouldn't have to be bored all day every day,

but you would be walking in this great adventure that is being the you that God created you to be. There's a girl at our church I talked to this week. Her name's Adrian. She works for the McKenzie Wilson Foundation. And she was actually, I needed a new bracelet. Hey, bring me more bracelets. So she's bringing me one. And we're just talking about her job.

And she just, with just a glowing face, she just says, I love my job and I'm a lifer. I'm going to do this for the rest of my days. You see, it's obvious that she has this fulfillment to do what God has called her to do. A buddy of mine named Chad, he's a deacon. I don't necessarily think he would say, my job is my purpose and my passion, but he leverages his job to fund his purpose and passion. He runs a ministry called Serve, Fish, Serve. He takes mission trips to Nicaragua, to Costa Rica.

And part of what he's doing is he does missions a little bit different than I do missions. He kind of tricks his buddies into getting saved on his mission trips. That's what he does. They're like, surf, yay, fish, yay. What's that last part? Don't worry about it. We'll get it when we get there, okay? And he kind of gospels them up on the way.

I mean, it's a brilliant thing that he does and he loves it. I've talked to multiple CEOs that they're here at this church, and they believe with everything that they're made of that they have been placed on purpose to be a life. in a dark place to be sought in this world, to not only to be able to run companies that glorify God, but also to provide livings for multiple, multiple, multiple families. And the worst thing in the world they could do is leave that and come work here. But the job, my job, would be to equip them to go out and to declare and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ by running the companies that God has given them. There's a lady in our church, your name is Denise Patrick.

years ago, she used to work with me over at Beach. And I was getting ready for one of our Jamaica mission trips, and she was like, why have we got to go to Jamaica? Isn't there enough to do here? We should just work here. I was like, shut up, get on the plane, you're going to Jamaica. You fast forward a few years. Guess what she does now?

She runs an orphanage called Tiny Hope in Jamaica. All right? Praise God. And she would tell you it's the greatest thing I've done with my time, effort, and energy. While I was preparing this sermon, I get an email from a guy in my disciple group. his name's Washington it's a three page it might be three pages

because I have to print it so big because I don't see that good anymore I don't know it seemed like a long email and here's what the email is God has called him to lead one of our mission trips and so he sends this email out later he tells me he sent me the wrong email

he had one email for 1120 tours and he had another email for people that mostly don't attend church or anything like that I got the one that doesn't attend church email okay people everybody thinks I'm lost that's fine it says and it starts out this way it's pretty simple it's like hi friends it's been a long time

for most of us since we've talked there's a lot of change in our world and um if you've had some negative changes i would love to be in prayer for you then he goes on to say we probably haven't spoken in link for a while but i wanted to share with you some amazing things that are happening in my life changes of the norm nowadays like work family circumstances health in you as well my life has had some significant change regarding my spiritual life. The church I attend 1122, he puts the link to our church, is a movement for all people. All people included me when I was far from God. And it also includes anyone that's looking for the answer to the question.

Is this all that life has to offer? He goes on to talk about the sermon from last week before all things in my mission. And he gives a link to the sermon. And then he lets them know, in response to this, I'll be leading a trip to Kenya. He says, this time I will be spending my vacation time in an effort in Kenya, East Africa, home to wildlife like lions, elephant, rhinos, but also another place in this planet where life expectancy is 46 years old due to the diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. Verses like Hebrews 1316, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices or pleasing to God clearly indicate that we must pick up and do what we can for those less fortunate. He goes on to talk a little bit about the medical teams he'll be working with with one of our partners there.

Then he says this. With that being said, I will ask you to partner with me in responding to the gospel. He gives one option of responding financially. And then he says this, more importantly than money, my hope is that you will pray with and for me or at least send me good vibes until July 1st. Here's what I love about this. He's sending this to a bunch of nonbelievers and they're like, pray, I don't know about pray. Vibs, blah, yeah, no problem, right? Like he's given on ramps for people to buy in to what God is doing in his life.

And then he lists out prayer requests. Pray that our team continues to depend on Jesus. Pray that we'll grow closer to the Almighty God. Pray that our life, when we return, is radically different because of experience in Jesus along the way. He keeps going. There's a list of prayer requests. And then he says, lastly, Easter is approaching fast. Can you believe it?

It's already April. I hope that you will take the time to find a local church to celebrate the life and resurrection of Jesus. Thank you, thank you, thank you. your love and your time to read a piece of my heart and mind for your acceptance of my broken nature and Jesus mighty work in me during his sanctification process leading me to unbound love, hope, and repentance, much love and to God be the glory through Jesus Christ, signs his name Washington. Now, that's pretty awesome in and of itself. Let me tell you why this is really awesome. I've been around, you've heard his story. Remember last week I challenged every single one of us

to write down that one more person that God might use us to lead unto himself? Well, about, I don't know, years ago or so, I thought this would be a fun exercise. We gathered our staff together. There's only like 14 of us then. And I said, listen, I want to identify the least likely person to get saved in the entire city of Jacksonville. Multiple weeks, we gave our pitch on who was the most impossible person to get saved. Washington won. He won. We believed he was the least likely savable person. Think about that title. That's who Washington is. So we started praying for him. We all wrote him down as R one more. We as a staff pray, pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. I remember the first time he ever showed up, he actually walked on to the campus, all right?

The next staff meeting, somebody reported he came through the doors, and we were like, yay! And then he wouldn't come to the singing at first. He would just come to the preaching, and then he would leave at the end when it got like real, you know, any kind of commitment. And then I remember the first time he came during the singing, and then the first time he came for a whole service. We're getting these, like, monthly reports on this. And then he went from the back row to the middle row, and eventually he drifted down towards the front. And little did he know, but we all knew this. This is called the wooing of the Holy Spirit.

it. The day that he surrendered his life to the Lord, you know, a lot of times at the end of service, I'll say, if you want to surrender your life to Jesus, just raise your hand. He's sitting next to a girl on staff. He raises his hand to surrender his life to Jesus. He lings over and goes, oh, crap. He didn't say crap. He said another word. It means the same thing. The Greek word is scubilon. Feel free to look it up. He goes, oh, crap, I'm becoming one of you. Amen? Three years later, three years later, he's discovering why on earth he's here. He didn't quit his job or any of that sort of stuff, that's not what God called him do. God called him to leverage his success for significance, and now he is leading a trip to Africa.

And if you ask, you can't, you can't. You can't miss him. Big old Brazilian brother, all right? Some of you ladies are like, I feel like I need to talk to him, all right? So, he's single. And if you ask him, he would say, man, this has been the most fulfilling journey I've ever been in my life. part of the reason we thought he was least likely to be saved is honestly he had everything this world has to offer

he wasn't any kind of great need or anything like that very successful and he looked at what this world has to offer and thought this is nothing compared to this adventure that is following jesus so here's the point the point is what paul says see that you fulfill the ministry that you have received from the lord i think that word fulfill I think it has a double meaning. Not only is it not about you, the moment you can get over to you, the moment you can realize the whole universe doesn't revolve around you, that the goal is not to get God

to come be a part of your world, but for you to be a part of his story, when you free yourself of that kind of weight, and you begin to say, okay, Lord, here I am, send me, how have you shaped me, and what does it look like for me to fulfill the ministry

that you have given me for your glory? Then, not only do you fulfill that ministry, but I'm telling you it is the most fulfilling thing that you will ever experience in your life. To which you say, okay, well, how do I know that? How do I figure out what that is? I think I put it in your notes, but let me just run through it real quick. Number one, practice whatever spiritual gifts you believe that you have.

Practice whatever spiritual gifts. Just start doing, quit just thinking stuff and praying about stuff. Do stuff. Serve, step out. Do whatever it is, whatever your shape is. start actively participating in that. Secondly, be in disciplining relationships. One of the best, like our spiritual gifts assessments, okay, they are okay. But what's more than okay is being surrounded by some brothers and sisters that can affirm in you, maybe some things that you haven't

even seen in you yet. Third, go on a mission trip. Go. It's like a microwave version to learning these truths. And I love that in Washington's letter, he says, I'm using some of the of my vacation. Look, I am not anti-vacation. You should go on vacation to the glory of the Lord, all right? You should go somewhere and put your in the sand and your toes in the water. You know how that works and get you drink. And then, praise God, who are we that we get to do this? You should. But if you do enough vacations, guess what happens? They all just run together. And you'd be like, where did we go last year? Was that two years ago? Was that three years ago? Where are we going next year? It's kind of like the place where you know, let me tell you what you'll never forget.

That first mission trip, you sign up and go on. When you pour yourself out for the sake of the of Jesus. You watch what he fills up as you are pouring you out. Go. It will microwave these truths of why on earth are you here. My friend J.D. Greer says it this way. Whatever you're good at, do it well to the glory of God and do it somewhere strategic for the mission of God. Like, God created you on purpose. So whatever you're good at, do it well to the glory of God. And do it somewhere strategic for the mission of God. And lastly, I would dare you, dare you to ponder this question. If you could do anything for the Lord and you knew it wouldn't fail, what would you do?

If you could do anything for the Lord and you knew it wouldn't fail, what would you do? Because the answer to that question could reveal a little bit of what God put in you to do for the Lord. You see, because here's my answer to that question, is this. Do you know what I would do if I could do anything for the Lord? And I knew it wouldn't fail? Here's what I would do. I'd plan a church. There was a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. And you might be like, well, that's cheating. You already did that. I know. But guess what? Five years ago? Five years ago, I didn't know if it was going to make it or not. A little team of us or huddled together. Freaking out. Freaking out, man. I didn't know

what was going to happen or if it was going to work. No, everybody was going to show up. up. I didn't even know, is God telling me to do this, or was this the pizza I had last night? I need some help. And there was only, and honestly, there were 25 reasons not to do it. Who puts a church in a Walmart? That's dumb. What kind of name is 1122? It's the dumbest church name of all time. Why in the world, if you knew my past, if you knew how crazy I am, you'd be like, here's the 25 reasons. You think Jacksonville needs another church? You drove by 27 to get to this one today. There was only one reason to do it Because God told me to do it

That's it There's only one reason for you to take that step of faith And quit being so afraid of everything And to step in to whatever it is He has shaped you for Because God is telling you to do it In my testimony Is this? Man, is it a little fearful?

Man, it is. But I am no longer a slave to fear. I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am who Jesus tells me I am. I'm a son or you're a daughter of the most high king and His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness What that means is his divine power has given you everything you need to accomplish Everything that he has called you to do So church it's time to get off your blessed assurance and get in the game

And use the gifts and the talents and the experiences And the way that he has shaped you for his glory And your joy let's pray. Our good and gracious heavenly father. Lord, we love you because you love us first. And God, I thank you and I praise you that you are a good, good father. And that you created us on purpose for your glory.

You knit us together in our mother's womb exactly the way you wanted us. It's just not for us. It's not about us. It is all about you. And Lord, I pray that you would unleash the church of 1122 to be exactly who you have called. called us to be. God, I thank you, and I praise you for the CEO and for the baker and the doctor and the teacher and the administrator and the stay-at-home mom and the homeschool teacher.

Lord, I thank you and I praise you for every single person that you have gathered together as one body under the headship and the lordship of Jesus Christ. And God, may we be simply who you have created us to be for your glory. And God, I thank you that in your economy, when we do it, that, way ministry doesn't have to be miserable. It is the most fulfilling thing that we would ever do. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.