Okay, so I want you to imagine something with me. I want you to imagine that it's your first day at a new job. You walk in and you see your supervisor. He looks up, he smiles, he greets you warmly, comes and shakes you by hand and says, man, we're so glad to have you as part of our team. He says, let me show you where you'll be working. And he directs you over to an area where you see a workbench. And on that workbench, we see a number of tools laid out. At this point, he pats you on the back and says, all right. Lunch is at noon. Have a great first day. You're left standing there looking at this workbench full of tools that you probably know the names of, but you're not sure how to use. How much work do you think you would get done that day? Probably not. But let's change the scenario. How about instead, you actually do know how to use the tools, but whenever you get to the workbench, it's empty. You're not provided the tools for the job. You have the knowledge, but would your knowledge actually accomplish anything? No. Or to give you a final scenario, what if you had both the knowledge and the tools, but you were not told what you should be doing? You were not told what you should be building or working on at the job? A good supervisor would not leave you in any of these situations. He would give you the tools, he would train you on how to use them, and he would give you instruction on what you should be using them to do. And some of you might be feeling like you're in one of these three scenarios after this weekend. We've kind of drunk from the fire hose, right? There's been a lot of information coming at you. And you might feel like I have the knowledge now, or I might have the tools now, but I'm not exactly sure what I need to do from here. My goal for you today is to leave with the tools, with the knowledge, and with direction. With this in mind, let's turn to our first passage to find our direction. This passage is one that we've already seen this weekend. It's from Ephesians chapter four. Turn with me there once again, and we're going to be reading verses 11 through 16. Now, this is not our only passage, lest you worry that you're going to get the exact same thing that you've already gotten. This is what we're going to use as our springboard to launch us into our discussion. Ephesians 4, starting in verse 11, it says, And he himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, that is Christ, from whom the whole body being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So let's break these verses down. The first thing we see in this passage is that there are different roles in the leadership of the church. We've got apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Now, the first two, as Paul mentioned last night, we don't have those today. We don't have the apostles and the prophets today, and we'll touch a little bit more on that later. But the others listed are still present today, as the evangelists, the pastors, and the teachers. And while all three of these is different, they have different means, they have different functions and ways that they operate, they all have the same goal, the equipping of the saints. See, if those of us who have been on this stage this weekend, or those of us who have led your small groups, having taught you, did not equip you, then we have failed. Teaching and knowledge are good, yes. We've stressed the importance of good doctrine, but it requires application to be useful. Hopefully you've already been drawing some of that out in your small groups. You've already been learning some of that and seeing that in the sermons. Your knowledge must be applied for you to be properly equipped. And our prayer is that you all leave this conference equipped with both knowledge and application. And what do we want you to be equipped for? Look down in verse 12 again. For the work of service. If you're taking notes, the title of this sermon is How Do I Serve the Church? It's a critical question for all of you. How do I serve the church? But before we answer the how, we need to answer the why. And so if you're taking notes, our first heading, our first main point is the necessity of service. The necessity of service. See, if you were part of the church, You must serve the church. You are called to serve the church. There is no limitation on that. There are no exceptions. There's no limitation on age, on sex, on race, on height, on weight, on ability, on gift, on resources, or anything else. You're in the church, you serve the church. So don't tune out. I know we're at the end of the day. It's been a long weekend, but this message is for you. This message is for you to learn how to be integrated into your church as a youth, as a teenager. So why? Why is service necessary? Why do we need to serve the church? Well, our answers are found here in Ephesians 4. First off, and really the only answer we should need, is that we are commanded to do so. We need to serve the church because God told us to. Any command of God is one we must follow, regardless of whether or not we understand all the reasoning behind it. So by the basis of it being instructed of us, we must do it. But thankfully, that's not where scripture leaves us. Secondly, we need to serve the church because it is being used by God to build up the body. It makes the body stronger, just like going to the weight room makes your body stronger. And in what ways does it do this? Well, in verses 13 through 16, we see some ways that service strengthens the church. Service strengthens the church in unity. We've talked about unity a number of times already. We're being drawn together closer as we serve each other. It strengthens the church in the knowledge of Christ. As your teachers serve you by teaching you solid doctrine, your knowledge of Christ will grow and the church is made stronger. And as a result of that, it makes us more mature in the fullness of Christ. And then also it makes us resolved against false doctrine so that we are not tossed here and there by waves and we are not deceived by crafty scheming. As Paul said yesterday, the fullness of the church yields the fullness of Christ and the believer. Service of the church yields stronger church members. Both the one serving and the one being served are sanctified in service. And it's important to remember our sanctification is not achieved alone. We are commanded to serve and you cannot serve without having someone to serve. A single sheep does not make a flock. This is why it is critical for each one of you that you are a member of a local church. for service is going to mostly happen in the context of a local congregation. Service is a necessity. Service is a must. Service is a command. However, just because we are told that every Christian must serve doesn't mean that it's easy, right? It's not always easy to serve. In fact, the word service implies that there's an inconvenience to you, right? That there is a work that you are doing. Service is hard work. And sometimes, figuring out how to serve is hard work in itself. And I wanna help you with some ways to figure out how you can be serving. What are some practical ways that you can serve? How do you apply this command that we are given in Scripture to serve? Let's turn to another passage as we go to our second main heading, our second main point, what I'm calling the means of service. The means of service. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Peter. You've already heard that book today. 1 Peter chapter four. In 1 Peter chapter 4, we're going to be looking at verses 8 through 11. I'll give you a little bit of context. In the verses preceding this, Peter is giving instruction to the church who are going through difficulties and he tells them the difficulties are not going to end. Christ is still not yet returned. And you need to be ready to act and to act in a godly way. And what does Peter instruct the church in 1 Peter 4? Let's look at verses 8 through 11. Starting in verse 8, Peter tells them, above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without rumbling. As each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks as one speaking the oracles of God. Whoever serves as one serving by the strength which God supplies. So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. So Peter is giving the church instruction on how they should be interacting with each other. And his first commandment in this passage that we read is this. Keep fervent in your love for one another. Calum talked about we should have love for each other in our church. Peter tells us, yes, this is what we must do, but how do we do it? How do we demonstrate our love? Look in verse nine, we're gonna talk about three means of service. Verse nine is our first one, hospitality. And it's not just hospitality, it's hospitality without grumbling. So this is something that you should be doing with a happy heart. It says in verse nine, be hospitable to one another without grumbling. But what is hospitality? Well, in the context of the New Testament, there would often be people who would travel through, strangers, and you may not know them, but they would need a place to stay because there's not a Best Western on the corner. There's no hotels, right? There might be an inn, but more than likely there's not, and they would need something to eat. There's no McDonald's that they can go and get a cheap hamburger at, so they need to be fed. And hospitality would include hosting someone in your home, welcoming them in, feeding them, and even clothing them if necessary. If you want a dictionary definition of hospitality, Merriam-Webster defines someone who is hospitable as someone who is given to generous and cordial reception of guests. They provide a generous, friendly welcome, or they offer a pleasant or sustaining environment. So hospitality is this idea of being generous and being welcoming to others, even opening up your own home. And in 1 Peter 4, 9, hospitality is expected of every believer, especially between you and other believers. Remember, we have unity with each other in Christ. We are all part of his bride. Just because you're a teenager doesn't mean you cannot be hospitable. In fact, you are commanded to be hospitable if you are a Christian. But, Kayla, you might ask, how can I do that? I don't own my own home. I'm not gonna be able to just open my doors to strangers and feed them and clothe them and send them on their way. Well, there are some ways that you can be hospitable, serving others in the body. First way you can be hospitable is just greet others at church service. Remember, hospitality is a welcoming, a greeting. And maybe there's a guest or a visitor that comes to your church. You may not want to go and talk to that person, but I'm telling you, put aside your selfish self-consciousness and go and greet them. Welcome them to your church. Put on a smile. If they are a believer, they are your brother in Christ, and you should rejoice in that. And along those same lines, it doesn't have to be a guest. I think we are often all too guilty of not being hospitable to others in our church. We don't get to know them. So I'm telling you, go and get to know the other people in your church. Don't just stay in your same circles all the time, only talking to your friends. Go and meet the other members in your church. Stop avoiding the old guy on the other side of the church who tries to talk your ear off every time you go and shake his hand. And you have to rush back to your seat before the first song starts. Or don't avoid the old lady who you don't really know how to converse with, because you're not on the same wavelength. They're part of your church. then you are to be serving them and you are to be hospitable to them. They are part of the body with you. So you can be hospitable through greeting others at church, but you can also be hospitable through food. We've talked about food as being part of fellowship, right? We are to fellowship with one another. Food brings people together. Maybe your family has someone over for lunch on Sunday and you can take initiative and invite someone new to come and experience that and be part of your family for that time. Maybe you can help with the preparations for the meals. Ask your parents if you can do that. If you're one of the older students in here and you can drive, maybe take somebody to lunch and ask them how God has been working in their life. All right, take a younger student to lunch who can't drive yet. Talk to their parents and say, hey, I'd like to take your son out to lunch today and just see how God is working in his life. I'd like to minister to him in that way. And I'm sure they would love that. So you can be hospitable even now as a teenager. We've talked about needing to be fervent in love, our commandment to be fervent in love, and part of that is hospitality, but it doesn't stop there. So our second means of service is gifts, and that's found in verses 10 and 11. Peter writes, as each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks as one speaking the oracles of God, whoever serves as one serving by the strength which God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Amen. We are to serve each other with our gifts, and our gifts are going to be different. Now, in this context, gifts is a general term. It's speaking of the many blessings that God has given you, including talents, skills, and resources. And remember, the body has different members, different body parts that do different things. We can't all be arms or eyes or little toes. This means that while you should be conformed continually into the image of Christ, you don't have to be a carbon copy of your pastor or your brother in Christ. You are gifted in a way that will serve the church. So has God given you a creative brain? Use that to serve your church. Has he given you an analytical brain? Use that to serve your church. Do you have strong arms or musical talent or cooking skills or do you know how to cut grass perfectly? Steward those blessings, steward those talents and skills that God has given you well and put them to use serving your church. Now, if you look back in the verses, you'll notice that Peter talks in two general categories of gifting, speaking and serving. Now, these are definitely different, right? But neither one is greater than the other. Both are necessary for the health of the church and both have the same source. What is that source? Well, the words that are to be spoken are to be words from God. God is the source of the speaking. And the strength in serving is strength that is provided by God. God is the source of the serving gifts. So in whatever God has gifted you, whatever blessings he has bestowed upon you, you are to use it to glorify God through Christ. It is his glory and his might that gave them to you in the first place. They are not yours, they are to be used for God's glory. Now let's get a little more specific. We're gonna talk about the third means of service. We're gonna talk about a specific type of gifting. It's probably the type that you thought of whenever I first said gifts, spiritual gifts. To talk about spiritual gifts, we're gonna turn to yet another passage. Now turn to Romans chapter 12. So go ahead and turn there with me. Romans chapter 12. We're going to start in verse 3 and go through verse 8. Romans 12.3. For through the grace given to me, I say to each one among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound thinking, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. but having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy and agreement with the faith, or service in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with generosity, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness." So we see that the members of the body have gifts that differ. And once again, we see that same image of a body with different body parts, each with their own function. Each part of the body has a different function. But if you're a Christian, you have a spiritual gifting. Every Christian has spiritual gifting for in First Corinthians, chapter 12, verse seven, it says, but to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for what is profitable. So if you're in the church, you serve the church. If you're in the church, you have a spiritual gifting. And what does 1 Corinthians 12, 7 say? It says that gifting is for what is profitable for the church. So if you're in the church, you have spiritual gifts and you use it to serve the church. Now, in Romans 12, three through eight, we saw a general list of gifts given to us. We see prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leading, and showing mercy. But before we get into that list, there was a warning back in verse three. Because you might look at that list and say, oh man, I really want that gift. I don't care about the others. If I had that gift, I would be the best guy in the youth group. But Paul says, don't think more highly of yourself than you ought. Your gifting is meant to be used for the church, not for yourself. And if you start trying to use your gift for yourself, you have gone astray, and you are thinking more highly of yourself than you ought. That is really sad. But hopefully, if you think about the list of gifts, you can think of those in your church who are using their gifts to serve your church already. Probably think of a few people that fit in some of these categories. Your pastor should be gifted in preaching and teaching. You might know someone who is gifted in leadership. Your translation might say administration, and they help with running different events or functions in the church. And maybe you think of some folks who are very quick to be generous when there is a need. Now, just quickly, let's talk about what are called the miraculous gifts. I'm not going to get into arguments in detail, but these miraculous gifts are ones that are no longer around today. They would be things like the gift of prophecy, of tongues, of healing and apostleship. These gifts were super important. I'm not negating any of their importance. They were important for their usage and for their time. You see them used in the New Testament, in the book of Acts mostly. And those were for that time frame where the new church, where the brand new church was getting started. And they were signs of God's working in the church. before the Bible was completely written. The New Testament was still being written at that time. But today, we have the completed revelation in the Word of God, and these miraculous gifts are no longer necessary. So if you're confused by any of that that I just said, or you wanna learn more, first I'm gonna tell you, go read your Bible. Start by reading in 1 Corinthians. Some good chapters to read would be chapters 12 through 14, where Paul talks about spiritual gifts, talks about them being important. He gives some warnings about them, but he also says there is a better way. See, if you have spiritual gifts, but you don't have love, they're nothing. And then secondly, if you're confused about that, I'm going to encourage you, talk to your youth leaders, talk to your pastors, and bring them whatever questions you have. Now that we've touched on that, let's talk about the gifts that we do have today. The ones that you have today. What could be called the ministering gifts. And commonly these gifts are divided into two major categories that we've already seen back in 1 Peter 4.11. The speaking gifts and the serving gifts. Now if I talk about spiritual gifts, you probably first think of speaking gifts. There are ones that are a little bit easier to identify specifically, things like preaching, teaching, and evangelism. The serving gifts can be a little more difficult to quantify, but they're just as important for the health of the church. If you look back at Romans 12, 7 through 8, we see exhortation, giving, leading, and showing mercy. If you don't have these people in the church, your church is going to be a weak church. In 1 Corinthians 12, I told you that's where it is a great place to look if you want to know more about spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12, verses 7 through 10. We see, but to each is given the manifestation of the spirit for what is profitable. We talked about that verse earlier. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit. To another, a word of knowledge according to the same spirit. To someone else's faith by the same spirit. And to another, gifts of healing by the one spirit. And to another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, distinguishing of spirits. To someone else, various kinds of tongues. And to another, the translation of tongues. but one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as he wills. So we've seen some more miraculous gifts in that list as well, but we see some other ones that we also have today. We add faith and spiritual discernment in addition to the exhortation, giving, leading, and showing mercy. Now, not all of you are going to be gifted in all of these. In fact, I don't think there's any believer who's going to have every single spiritual gift, right? Some of you may not be as gifted in showing mercy as others. Some of you will not have the gift of teaching or preaching. Some of you may not have the gift of generosity, but does that excuse you? What if you're not gifted in showing mercy? Are you allowed to say, well, I'm not gifted in showing mercy, so I don't have to show mercy when someone sins against me. I can just hold a grudge over their head forever because that's not my gifting. No. Some of these are commanded of every believer. Every believer is commanded to have faith, to show mercy, to exhort one another, to become more spiritually discerning. To show generosity, as we already saw, and showing hospitality to each other. But some of us are going to be stronger in these areas than others of us. Remember, we've been given a greater measure in a certain area according to what is profitable. And what is the purpose of spiritual gifts? Who is it profitable for? Think back to Ephesians 4, where we started. The building up of the body of Christ and the unity of faith. This means that each of our gifts is to be an encouragement to others to become more like Christ. So do not be discouraged if you are not gifted in an area. Rather, you should be encouraged by others who are gifted in that area because they can strengthen you. So when you see Mr. Jenkins in the third row exemplify generosity because he has money to be able to be generous, you should be inspired to be more generous yourself with what you do have and glorify God and Mr. Jenkins has the ability to be generous in that situation. Learn from others who are more mature or more gifted than you. That brings us to our third main heading. I'm calling development in your service, also known as discipleship. Development in your service, a.k.a. discipleship. Where does this term discipleship come from? What is discipleship? Let's think about the Great Commission that Josh talked about earlier. You don't remember where that was? That was in Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20. is speaking to a gathering of believers. This is after he's raised from the dead. And this is one of the last times that he's going to speak to a number of believers before he ascends into heaven. And he gives them a charge. He says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So we've got these disciples of Jesus. They've gathered to hear Jesus. And what does Jesus tell his disciples to go and do? He tells them to go make more disciples. And what are they supposed to do with these disciples once they've made them? Baptize them, Josh talked about that earlier, and teach them to obey Jesus's commands. You want a definition of discipleship? Discipleship is the process by which more mature Christians teach less mature Christians how to obey Christ. Now let's look at an example of this. An example that we have in Scripture is Paul and Titus. So if you would, go ahead and turn with me to Titus chapter two. Before we read, I'm gonna give you a little context. In chapter one, in his greeting, Paul calls Titus his genuine child according to the faith. Paul's writing to Titus because he left Titus behind to establish elders or pastors in the churches in Crete. So he's entrusted Titus with this duty. Paul calls him his genuine child. So there is a relationship, a mentorship between Paul and Titus. Paul is discipling Titus and he's giving him instruction on what he is to do to honor God. Then we come to our verses in Titus chapter 2, starting in verse 1. Paul tells Titus, but as for you, Titus, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith and love and perseverance. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior. not malicious gossips, nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may instruct the young women in sensibility to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be slandered. Likewise, urge the younger men to be sensible. In all things, show yourself to be a model of good works with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound in word which is irreproachable, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. So Paul, in this passage, is giving Titus a charge. He is speaking to someone that he is discipling, a younger man. And Paul has given the instruction to others. In 1 Corinthians 11, he tells them, be imitators of me as I also am of Christ. And Paul's charge to Titus is speak things proper for sound doctrine. See, we should be following others as they follow Christ. They should be part of our inspiration to become more like Jesus. And in that speaking things that are proper for sound doctrine, Paul gives Titus instructions on what it should look like within the church, what this discipleship looks like within the church, giving categories of older men and older women, and then younger men and younger women. So let's take a look at each of these categories and see what they're supposed to be. Older men, found in verse two, are supposed to be temperate, dignified, so they're supposed to be stable in their emotions. They're not supposed to be easily drawn to anger. They're supposed to be sensible, sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance. So these older men are mature men. They are men who are solid in their faith. And then we see older women in verse three. What are they supposed to be? They're supposed to be reverent in behavior, not malicious gossips or enslaved to wine. They're supposed to be teaching what is good. We have this maturity in the older women as well. And what are the older women supposed to be doing? They're supposed to be teaching. Who are they supposed to be teaching? Verse four gives us the answer. The older women are to be teaching the younger women. The younger women are to be learning from the older, wiser women. They are to be emulating these mature women. And in so doing, they will learn these characteristics. They will learn how to love their husbands and children. They will learn how to be sensible, just like the older women were. They will learn how to be pure, to be workers at home, kind, subject to their husbands. So we see that they should be following in the footsteps of these older women, becoming more like Christ, following them as they follow Christ. And the younger men are mentioned as well. What are they supposed to be? They're to be sensible, an example of good deeds, pure in doctrine, dignified, and have sound or irreproachable speech. They are to have these characteristics of dignity, of sensibleness, being sound in their doctrine, sound in their faith, and where are they gonna learn this? They're not gonna develop these characteristics on their own. They, too, need to be taught. Who is going to be teaching them? The older men. Both the older men and the older women are to be spiritually mature, and they are to lead younger men and younger women into that maturity. So youth men, it's convenient that you're all sitting on this side. Yeah, wow, you guys split yourselves up. Youth men, do you wanna be more spiritually mature? Do you wanna be better men? Do you wanna grow into someone who's worth marrying? Do you even aspire to be a leader in the church? Or maybe even a pastor or an elder someday? Find an older man and follow him as he follows Christ. Learn from him. Sit down and have coffee with him. Ask him how he handles situations that you come across in your life. Gain knowledge from him and you will have wisdom. If you can, work alongside him. Maybe you can learn a practical skill and develop a relationship at the same time. You need to find an older man to be discipled by, an older man to come alongside you as you conform into the image of Christ. Youth ladies, I see you there, Andrea. Youth ladies, do you want to become more mature? Do you want to become a better woman? Do you want to grow into someone that an excellent young man wishes to marry? Do you want to someday be a godly wife and a godly mother? Find an older woman and follow her as she follows Christ. Get together for lunch, have fellowship. Ask her how she cares for her family. Ask her how she keeps her home. Ask if you can come and watch her work alongside her at home for a bit maybe. You don't have a husband at this point, but you still do have a head, your father. Learn from her submission and use that to serve your own family now. If you wish to become the woman that God desires for you to be, you need to find an older woman to disciple you. Having these mentors, having these older men for you men and older women for you ladies, will help you grow in your service. It will even help you grow in your spiritual gifts. Now, this is gonna take time. See, as they get to know you, they should see where you're weak and where you're stronger. They should see where you're gifted and they can help you develop the gifts that you have and strengthen you in the areas where you are weak. They can help you find practical ways to use your gifts. But this is not gonna happen the first time that you sit down with that older guy or that older lady. You're not gonna be able to say, all right, let's get coffee. Cool. My name's Caleb. Where am I spiritually gifted? That's not going to work. It's going to take time. It's going to take relationship. Build that relationship. Be in it for the long haul. And I promise you it will yield fruit in your life and it will bless your church. This weekend, we have done our best to give you the knowledge, the tools, and the direction to know how to interact with your church. We've taken you through a definition of the church. We've shown you the beauty of the church as Christ's bride and how we should be unified as believers through that. We've stressed the importance of being in a church that responds in obedience to Christ's commands, teaching sound doctrine, praying for each other, fellowshipping with one another, practicing the ordinances. We've taken you through that operation of the church, and we've talked about the importance for you to be participating in the church, to be serving the church, and to be disciples. But remember, none of this matters if you're not part of the church. If you're not a Christian, that's the first step. So if you have come to realize over this weekend that you are not actually part of the church, that you're still there at step one, please come talk to one of us. Talk to me. Talk to Josh. Talk to Colin. Talk to Michael. We would love to show you the beauty of the gospel. And if you are part of the church, you serve the church. If you are part of the church, now is the time to take your tools, your gifts, and your knowledge, and go forth and serve the church, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Let's pray. Lord, I'm so thankful for this weekend that we've had where we've just been discussing your church, learning what your church is, how to interact with your church. I pray that each one of us in here would love your church, that we would love being with your church, that we would love serving your church. Lord, I pray that you would convict any hearts in here who do not love you and do not love your church and convict those who may be in the church but do not wish to serve. I also pray that you would encourage those who already are serving. Lord, I pray that this weekend would be impactful for these students, that there would be things that would stick in their minds and not everything just runs through one ear and out the other and they forget about it by this time next week. I pray that you would make the application clear to them, that they would act upon that. And most of all, Lord, I pray that you would continue to grow, build, and strengthen your church through us until your return.