Happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. Well, it's good to be in the Lord's house today. And, uh, you know, we've got liquid sunshine out there. Uh, it always makes me wish that it was just a little colder when it rains like that. That would just make a lot of great snow. It'd be so cool. But, uh, anyhow, we'll take the rain cause we need the moisture. Uh, so today our plan is to dedicate our flagpole area following the morning service. And I know it's rain and I know that, but we're praying too. and asking God to give us a break where we can go out and do that and get our flags up and get them flying. We sure appreciate all the hard work that's been done there. And so looking forward to that following the morning service. Kids going to UConn need to have your registration fee in today. So if your kids are going, that needs to be in today, $25. Next Sunday, we're gonna have the Downs with us, Tim and Barbara Downs, looking forward to having them. to be here and talk about the field that they have been to and how God's used them and the work that they have been able to do there. And then we have a wedding coming up. and Erica Foster and Jared Cover. Now I'm gonna tie the knot on the 29th 5 o'clock and it's gonna be at the Foster Farm. And so you want to make sure you plan to go out there. It's gonna be a great time. They probably would ask that you pray about the weather that evening, too. You know, you don't want it too chilly. You don't want it wet, you know, and we really would like for it not to rain in advance because that'll make just a mud muddy mess. And so pray for that wedding and that's going to be an awesome time. Encourage you to plan. come be a part of that brown bag that next Sunday, the 30th and we'll have a great morning service. Brother Michael Futrell is gonna be here. He's gonna preach for us that morning. Looking forward to that. And then we'll have the early afternoon service and call it a Sunday and look forward to having that time together. And then we leave for camp. Man, it's hard to believe it's camp time. We're three weeks away from camp. and excited about camp this year, excited about having all the campers at once. And someone was telling me the other day, you know, you've you've gotten two weeks paid vacation every year for 31 years. Get to go to camp. And don't you think that this kind of short changing brother Chuck, he only gets one week? Well, that's the cost of being the second guy, you know? Well, I'm sure we can find stuff for him. But we're looking forward to camp. It's going to be a great time. and ask that you would make sure if you're gonna pay, if you could have that paid for by the 30th, that means we're not having to deal with money and all that kind of stuff. The day that we go, it's all taken care of. We'll be ready to roll. We're looking to get out of here about one o'clock on that Sunday, and then we'll have your kids back here on Friday. afternoon. Uh, then also we put on here crutch the third that you might be praying for Richard, Leslie and Abigail and keep them your prayers. He'd been trying to schedule churches and it's been really difficult. He called over 500 churches last month, talked to 30 people out of 500 phone calls and got, I think, three services. Uh, and so he's got, uh, july, august, september and into october that he needs. He's only got like a couple of meetings each one of those months. And so I told him, I said, well, you do your part, God will do his part. And I told him that I'd come to the church and ask you to be praying for meetings for him. Pray that he's got so many meetings, he's turning them down. Okay. Are he books in the next year? Okay, but we need to be praying for him. We commissioned him. He's sent from us. We love him. We care for him. We want him to go. And so we need to pray. So every day you pray for meetings for him, and God will supply that as he's faithful to make those calls, which he's doing, and God will bless that effort. And so please be praying for him. Prayer needs. Many of you know, Brother Ralph is in the hospital. He's been having issues with blood sugar and things like that. So if you would pray for him and pray for others that are sick, unable to be with us. I know many of you are praying for Brother James Moller. If you would continue to pray for him. that God would touch his body and work in his life. We appreciate those prayers also. Good to be able to be together today. Going to have Brother Foster come lead us in another song, and then we'll get to our Sunday school time. Lord bless you for being here today, Brother Foster. Turn your handbooks to hymn number 10, Near the Cross. We'll sing the first and the last verses. Hymn number 10. Jesus, keep thee near the cross, where a precious fountain, free to all the healing stream, flows from Calvary's fountain. Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Hear the cross, I'll watch and wait. ♪ Just beyond the river ♪ ♪ In the cross, in the cross ♪ ♪ Live my glory ever ♪ ♪ Till my raptured soul shall find ♪ Amen. At this time you can be dismissed to your Sunday school classes. Alright, my class we're beginning lesson number 10. Does anyone need a handout? Brother Carl has them in the back there. Alright, while you're waiting on that, you can be turning in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter number 4. This is the last Lesson in our series. I've enjoyed this series very much learning how to Minister together with one another how to serve Christ together I think it's very important for us to understand what God's plan is as We fellowship together and as we work together within the body of Christ within Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple And it would help us to understand from the Word of God exactly what he expects We we don't know how to react or what to do unless we look to God for his commands and understand what he expects of us And as we learn these things, then his expectation is that we do them, that we obey him, that we carry out these orders or these commands or these principles that he's outlined for us. Today, we're looking at the subject of minister to one another, minister to one another. For some reason, I can't connect to that, so you'll have to advance it for me. And we find our text here in 1 Peter 4. It's interesting here as we look at chapter 4, if you were to read that and to see the context here, he's talking about our Christian living as much of the New Testament does. But he's dealing with that war within us of the flesh. And then we have, now that we've been born again by the Spirit of God, we have the Spirit that dwells within us. And we have that war within us and He's dealing with that subject of how we ought to die out to self and how we ought to crucify, the flesh has been crucified because of the work of Jesus Christ and we ought not to live after the flesh. And that's what the subject here of chapter 4, but here in verse 7 He interjects something That is to be a result, now that we've dealt with the flesh and we understand that it is to be mortified, it is to be put away, now we are to serve Christ and follow after the Spirit. He puts this in here in verses 7 through 11, and he wants us to understand something that's very important for us as we minister to one another. Let's begin reading here in verse number 7. He says, But the end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Now, I find it interesting here that he does, preface this portion of scripture with the idea that we need to die out to self and we need to become selfless and rather live to glorify God. And then he gives us here, verses seven through 11, some characteristics that we are to take on, some attitudes that we are to have, and it would help us and it would benefit us as we seek to minister to one another. So God, we understand, has a specific plan and he has a specific calling for every Christian. Although all of our vocations aren't as the pastor, we're not called to minister in that vocation, however, we are all called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives. Sometimes people think that it is only the pastor who is to serve in the church, but the Bible clearly tells us that it's the duty of all Christians to serve within the ministry of a local New Testament church. God has called all of us to be involved in a ministry. And we are all called to be ministers of Jesus Christ as we have received His mercy to do so. In 2 Corinthians 4, verse 1, we see, therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not. So God has called all of us into ministry. We are all to be servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the world in which we live, we understand it, it does not edify or encourage Christians in their service. As a matter of fact, they often try to deter us from the service which we are committed to of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the ones who are to live out our calling to minister to each other. Verse 7 of our text establishes the context of the passage. Peter writes that the end of all things is at hand. He has in mind the return of Jesus Christ and we ought to have that in mind as well today. As we seek to serve the Lord Jesus Christ we understand that our time is short and we need to make sure that our time is effective and that we are doing all that we can for the cause of Christ with the time that we've been given. So, he has in mind the return of Jesus Christ and reminds his leaders to live in the light of His coming. And that's the same command for us. We are to be living in the light of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the incentives for godly living is to live in constant expectancy of Christ's imminent return. And we are looking forward to that day. And oftentimes we're singing songs about looking forward to when the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there. We're looking forward to that day when we'll spend eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. So we sing and we encourage one another with those facts. And it is the motivation for our ministry that we understand all that Christ has done for us. And now we wanna give back to Him in our service. The Bible is clear that Jesus has promised to return. And that prior to His return there will be troublesome times. And we certainly see some troublesome times around us, do we not? We see some troubling things and God is reminding us here from the Word of God that He is returning, that He will come again. So indeed, in the book of 1 Peter, we learn that the early church was experiencing many difficulties. And we understand that they went through much persecution in the early days of the existence of the church that Jesus Christ established. So it's no difference for us. So we can expect some things to come our way as well. And we need to be prepared for them as the early church was. 1 Peter was probably written between 63 and 64 AD. And during that time, a huge fire burned in Rome for a week. Destroying almost three-quarters of the city, Emperor Nero made the Christians the scapegoat for this fire and began intense persecution of the church. First century historian Tatticus wrote of this particular period for the Christians. If you'd advance it, I think there's a picture of him there. It says, therefore, first those were seized who admitted their faith, and then, using the information they provided, a vast multitude were convicted. Not so much for the crime of burning the city, but for hatred of the human race. Now catch this and how interesting it is how things are being turned against us today in the same way. And perishing, they were additionally made into sports. They were killed by dogs by having the hides of the beast attached to them. Or they were nailed to crosses or set aflame. And when the daylight passed away, they were used as nighttime lamps. This is the type of persecution that mankind is capable of and we certainly can see the tides turning against Christians once again in our day and age in how they view our morality and the things that we stand firm on from the Word of God as being hate speech. as being against the human race, but we understand that our place, where we stand on the Word of God is right and we need to stand firm with God in the things that He has established to be right. And no matter what the cost. And we need to be convinced as these early Christians were that we are following God and we're going to follow Him no matter what man may do to us. Peter referenced the persecution that the church was facing at least 15 times in this short letter in the book of 1 Peter, most significantly when he talked about the fiery trial in verse number 12. He spoke about the fiery trial that they would face, referring to the official persecution from the Roman Empire. So it was in the midst of such trials that Peter reminded the church to minister to one another. Now, can you imagine what they're going through and what they're suffering? Now they're coming together as a body of believers and God is expecting us to minister to one another, to help one another, to serve one another for the cause of Christ. So it's in the midst of that trial that he's admonishing them to do this. If there would be any encouragement for these first century believers, it would have to come from the church. And although our circumstances are different, the reality is the same, that we need to find comfort. We need to find rest when we come together as a body of Christ. God designed the local church to be a center of spiritual encouragement to one another. And often we come here and we find that refreshment that we need. And we're encouraged and we're reinvigorated to go out and do the work that God has called us to do. So as we dive into the context here of this text and the subject at hand, we ask this question, so how do we minister to one another? This passage here gives us three ways in which we can minister to one another. The first being, minister to one another in love. That's the first point, minister in love. And that is often the prerequisite of any type of service. that we are going to do for God is that we make sure that we have the right love, that it's established in the right way, and that it comes from the right source. Ministry starts with who we are, not with what we do. So he begins to work on the inside of us, and begins to change us from the inside, and that then flows to the outward. So as Christians, we are called to minister to one another in love. It is to come from within and make a difference without. And that's the way with anything that we are as a Christian. The change takes place on the inside. Think about your salvation. The change takes place on the inside. And then it begins to affect all areas of your life and it impacts the outward as well. So the first thing we see in ministering love, it must be done with passion. It must be done with passion. We need to be passionate about this ministry that God has given us. We ought to minister in a love that is fervent. Verse eight tells us, and above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. As we examine God's word and we understand what he has described here for us, we begin to recognize and we begin to understand that God's way is best. And if you've applied these principles in your life, you can too testify that God's way is best. And he's telling us here, as we deal with one another, we need to deal with one another in a place or in an attitude of fervent charity. And this charity shall cover the multitude of sins. The word fervent here means stretched out or earnest. intent or constant. So a church that is fulfilling its purpose is one that is characterized by an intense loving spirit for the Lord and for one another. So we need to make sure this area of love is proper and that we have the right love for the Lord and then that we have the right love for one another. This goes against our natural tendency. Our natural tendency is to become self-focused or self-centered. But God is telling us to become others-focused. And that is His desire and that is His plan as we minister in love. We easily make even our church attendance revolve around what we get out of it. And that's often what we see as people are looking for a church, they're looking at what they can get out of it rather than what they can put into it. God calls His people to be reaching out in love to encourage one another. The opponent to this is arrogance. Arrogance is big-headed, but love is big-hearted. And that's the type of Christians God's calling us to be, is to have a heart full of love, love for the Lord, and that love for the Lord drives us to love one another. Warren Wiersbe said the following of the word fervent. The word pictures an athlete straining to reach the goal. It speaks of eagerness and intensity. Christian love is something we have to work at just the way an athlete works on his skills. It is not a matter of an emotional feeling, though that is included, but of dedicated will. It's a determination. I'm going to love the way God wants me to love. I'm going to live the way He wants me to live. Isn't there a song that talks about that? We need to live the way that God desires us and He wants us to be full of love for Him and for people around us. The love in which we minister is spread across a family of believers. Notice the phrase here in verse 8. It says, among yourselves. So we are to minister this love among ourselves. It is easier for us to think about love and talk about love, but we as Christians should actively show love to each other in all that we do. It ought to be evident that we love one another. And I believe we can testify that we see evidence of that in how we pray for one another, how we care for one another, how we minister by providing meals and all sorts of different things that we do to try and help show the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to one another. And that's what God wants us to do. But not only do this because we know this is the thing to do, but do it in a way that you're passionate about it. You strongly desire to do this because of your love for the Lord. So we need a passionate ministry in love. We also need a positive ministry in love. We need a positive ministry in love. The love that we minister is not only passionate, but also positive. Verse eight again tells us, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. And what does this mean? That the charity is going to cover a multitude of sins. The word cover here means to hide or to hinder the knowledge of a thing. It does not mean that we don't deal with sin, but understand what the Bible is talking about here. This is not to say that if someone you love does something wrong, you ignore it or refuse to correct it. It does mean that when you love someone, you don't broadcast his or her shortcomings just for the sake of it. You go to that person, you try to help them and admonish them in the truth of the word of God, and you try to restore them. It means that you don't make a big issue out of every meaningless frustration that arises. And it means that you cover over sin that has been repented of by forgiving and restoring. True love does deal with sin, but once it is dealt with and forgiveness is given, the sin is covered. It's the same type of love, it's the same type of expression, it's the same type of grace and mercy that God has shown to us through the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that He has offered through Him. As we accept Him as our Savior, our sins are covered. We've asked forgiveness and the sins are covered. And it's the same way in dealing with relationships. When a sin is discovered, a sin is then repented of, that sin needs to be forgiven, then it needs to be forgotten. And that's what charity does, it covers that sin. Resentment is careful to keep the books, but love keeps no books. Keeps no records. Psalm 103.12 says, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. When we find it difficult to forgive and forget, we need to remember what God has done for us. We need to remember that He has forgotten our sin, that He has forgiven our sin as far as the east is from the west. So aren't you thankful that God does not keep tabs on our sin, that He's not keeping record and that He's not going to hold those against us because of what Jesus Christ and the blood that He shed on Calvary's cross that covers our sins. He has removed our sins and no longer holds a record of it. He tells us that when we love each other with a Christ-like love, that love will cover a multitude of sin. If we keep an account, if we keep record, it's gonna be hard to love anyone. Quite honestly, if we look at ourselves, it'd be hard for anyone to love us. If people were keeping record of our sins and our trespasses and all that we do that is wrong against God. But we need to understand that that's not God's purpose in the Christian life. He wants us to be forgiving and then extend that restoration, extend that fellowship once again. Can we love God and others enough to let certain things go? Or do we need to win every fight? Some of us have that type of attitude where we have to get the last word in. We have to win every battle, but that again is not God's desire. His desire is that you live in a place of love and charity, that you extend that grace to others. So when our sin has been dealt with before the Lord, Christ's love covers it. And we can go on doing the work for the Lord. Love covers and it heals. Aren't you thankful for the love of Christ in your life today? And we need to extend that same love to others. Proverbs 10, 12 says, hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. True love ministers to one another in a way nothing else can do. This world needs a good dose of Christ's love today. It's available to them, but God wants to show His love to mankind through us. He wants us to be extending His love to those around us and ministering His love to those we come in contact with. And even more so, we need to be ministering love to one another as the body of Christ here at Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple. So we need to minister in love. The second thing we must understand if we're going to minister to one another is we need to minister with hospitality. We need to minister with hospitality. So besides ministering love, we should also minister with hospitality, and hospitality is a form of natural love. A great church ought to be one that is given to hospitality. What does it mean to be hospitable? All of us, not just the pastor or care group leaders need to be hospitable, but it should be an attribute of everyone within the church. We should have a spirit of hospitality one to another. So let's understand this hospitality and what it involves. The tool of hospitality, how is God expected to be used? A tool is to be used and a tool has a purpose and it has a specific purpose. So hospitality within the ministry of the local New Testament church has a specific purpose. So let's understand how this tool is to be used and make sure that we're using it properly. In verse number nine, the Bible says to use hospitality, which means to be loving to guests or strangers. Hospitality is like a tool that works to open the hearts for both fellowship with one another, as well as to the gospel with unbelievers. So here's the tool. It is the key which opens the door of opportunity to minister in one of two ways, for fellowship or in giving the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament times, hospitality was important because there were a few inns, and most Christians, maybe as even today, were poor and couldn't afford these inns, so often they would stay with one another as they were traveling about. Persecuted saints in particular needed a place to stay where they could be assisted and encouraged. Often when Christians would come through town, they would find lodging with another Christian, and that was just the way it was in those times, and that's the way that we should have open doors, and many of you do, you've opened doors to people as they've come through, whether it be friends of family in the church, or whoever it might be, you've opened doors of hospitality to them, and that's the way God desires for us to be, is a hospitable people. People were ready to bear one another's burdens, and we ought to have the same attitude. you can go to the next slide. As archaeologists have excavated homes in the ancient city of Ephesus they found a particular carving chiseled into stone and this is what they found as you see it behind me. The early Christians would put this stone at the front of their doorstep. It was a combination of the Greek letters I X O Y E which was an acrostic standing for the Greek rendering of Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. So it was a way to identify them as a Christian. The Christians in Ephesus used it to announce to others in that pagan city, we believe that Jesus Christ is God and He is our Savior. It was a silent expression to every guest who came into their home, as well as to their children who lived in the home, that this was a place where the people followed the Lord Jesus Christ. They could understand quickly that these were fellow Christians, and these were fellow believers, and their doors were open to them. Hospitality is so significant that Paul gives it as a requirement for pastors of both Timothy and Titus. If you turn to 1 Timothy 3, in verse 2. So again, this is something, this is a ministry that all of us are to have. None of us are excluded from the ministry of hospitality. In 1 Timothy 3, in verse 2, the Bible says here, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. And then over in Titus 1.8, it says, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate. As I said, it's not limited to just a pastor. or those in full-time ministry. Every Christian should care for others through loving hospitality. Romans 12, 13 is written to Christians and it says here, distributing to the necessity of saints, given to hospitality. It ought to be an attribute as a Christian that I'm given to hospitality. Most of us have at some point in our lives been refreshed and touched by the warm hospitality shown to us as we visited someone's home. I know as missionaries you've experienced a lot of homes, and you could give testimony of those homes that have extended the right kind of hospitality and expressed their love in the way that they've hosted you. And that is a way to minister, and we need to make sure that we give it the importance that God gives it. As he said, it's a way that we can open a door of opportunity, both to refresh and to encourage a fellow believer, but also offer an opportunity to share the gospel with an unbeliever. So, we've experienced that hospitality. We should also learn to willingly open our hearts and homes to our neighbors, friends, and one another in the body of Christ. Hospitality is a powerful tool to demonstrate Christ's love and acceptance to others. Christ met people with open arms, and he met them with his love, and he wanted to express to them his desire to see them saved. And we ought to express the same desire, and we show that desire by the way that we love people, and we can show that love by being hospitable. So that is the tool. God has given us this ministry that we might help one another, that we might help unbelievers. The test of hospitality. So we have the tool, we understand what it's to be used for, but what is the test of hospitality? Being hospitable is important, but so is the manner in which we do it. Just as anything we do for the cause of Christ, we can understand from the word of God what we are to do, but God also requires us to have the right attitude and the right thought process behind what we do. Verse nine tells us, use hospitality one to another without grudging. The word grudging means murmuring, a secret debate or displeasure. The Bible also tells us that of giving. We're not to do it grudgingly, but we're to be a cheerful giver. And it's the same way in our attitude with all that we do as we minister for the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to have the right attitude. We need to do it from the right heart, out of a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. God wants more from us than just doing kind things. Our actions must come from the heart. A Christian who shows hospitality, but does so grudgingly is not truly loving others. One lady spent most of the day preparing a meal for a company that she was expecting. When the guests arrived, she asked her three-year-old daughter to bless the food. The little girl was shy and told her mom she didn't know what to say in the prayer. Her mother said, just say what you heard mommy say at lunch. The girl then bowed her head and said, dear Jesus, why did I invite these people to have supper with us tonight? Amen. She was carrying out a kind act and having people over, but her attitude may not have been quite right there in what she had expressed. We need to have the right attitude. God calls us to minister to one another in love and with hospitality. And he has given each of us unique spiritual gifts with which to demonstrate both. So God has equipped us to carry out this task that he's placed upon us. And when we think of these lessons and what God desires to do through us, it's truly magnificent. And we should understand then that we have a great responsibility. God has given us the responsibility to be a light and a testimony in this world that we might have an impact and an influence in such a way that others would see the love of Jesus Christ through us by the way that we express these things that we've just mentioned here, that we show the love of Christ, that we are hospitable, that we care about one another, And that opens the door of opportunities to share the good news. And that's all that we've been left here to do is to be ministers of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, to share the gospel with as many people as God places in our way, that we would see as many people come to Christ as God would see fit in our life. So God calls us to minister. So he wants us then thirdly to minister with wisdom. He's given us much truth and he's equipped us with much ability. Now He wants us to take these things and apply wisdom and minister with wisdom. God has given each of us different spiritual gifts and we've spent some previous lessons on these spiritual gifts. We'll not dive into them deeply in this lesson. We are more effective in ministry when we use our individual gifts to serve each other. So God has placed within Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple various members And he's given these members different talents, different spiritual gifts that we might work together effectively with the varying gifts that he's given us. Spiritual gifts are a significant component of the way that we serve each other. In fact, the New Testament lists the spiritual gifts in at least three different passages. Romans 12, which we looked at in our first study, and then 1 Corinthians 12 and here in 1 Peter 4. So how do we use our gifts? First, we need to understand what our gifts are. If we're to use them, we need to understand what God has equipped us with, and we need to discern our gifts. So discern your gifts. Ministering with wisdom, first of all, we need to understand what God has given us, what he's equipped us with. Verse 10 says, as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. The word gift here translates from the Greek word charisma, which means a gift of divine grace or an enablement by the Holy Spirit. So God, as he desires to work through us, he's enabled us now in giving us a gift. He says, this is what I want you to use as you minister to others. So he's enabled us by giving us a spiritual gift or gifts that we might use in ministry. God has enabled us with an edifying gift at the moment of our salvation that we can use to minister to others. Every gift and talent God provides is solely because of His grace. And spiritual gifts are not for us to draw attention to ourselves, but for us to serve others and then show forth God to them through the life that we're living. So these spiritual gifts are to point to Him and His goodness and His grace. To minister is to serve, to be a servant or attendant, to wait upon or to supply one's needs. 1 Corinthians 12.7 says, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. So that manifestation means it is the proof, it is the evidence of the Spirit of God living within us. 1 Corinthians 12.25 says that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. Warren Wiersbe said this once again, that each Christian must know what his spiritual gifts are and what ministry or ministries he is to have in the local church. We need to know our purpose that God has for us. It is not wrong for a Christian to recognize gifts in his own life and in the lives of others. What is wrong is the tendency to have a false evaluation of ourselves. And the Bible teaches us that every believer has received a spiritual gift from God. No one is forgotten or excluded. Romans 12, as we look at that list, provides different gifts which God uses in the church today and He still plans to be using them in our lives as well and in the body in which we belong to here at Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple. So these gifts are real. These gifts are evident among us. So the list, once again, I believe it's in your handout, as we see the gift of prophecy, and that is discernment, the gift of service, the gift of teaching, the gift of encouragement, the gift of giving, the gift of ruling or administration, and the gift of mercy. Those who are blessed with the gift of service will find ways in which to serve God in the local church. They'll seek out opportunities to help or to serve in different ways, whether it be cleaning the church, or whether it be helping in class, or serving as an usher, or mowing the lawn, whatever it might be, they find ways in which to serve. And I believe that we all find ways in which we can serve within the church, and that's what God expects of us. Others who are gifted and given would willingly give beyond their tithes and offerings. Mercy givers would be inclined to visit someone who is lonely and express God's love to them. Those with the gift of teaching are able to articulate biblical truth in an organized fashion and put an application to it. While we differ in our gifts, That is never an excuse for us to ignore our responsibilities from God. You may not have the gift of giving, but that does not exempt you from giving to missions or tithing. God has wired different people to gravitate toward different ways to serve the church. All gifts God has given are gifts of grace that he expects us to steward wisely as we minister. Verse 10 tells us to minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. The word steward there means the manager of another's household or goods. So this is a gift that God has bestowed upon us. He's entrusted us with this gift. Now He's telling you to be a good steward of it, be a good manager of this gift that I've given you. Manifold means various or diverse. So as we think about this ministry that we have to one another, we must do it in love, We must express hospitality in every opportunity God gives us. And we do these things with the gift or gifts that God has bestowed upon us. God enables us to do all these things that He expects of us. He gives us the tools. He gives us the knowledge. He gives us the understanding. Now he's telling you to apply wisdom to use these tools effectively as you seek to minister, as you seek to have that right impact on the individuals within the church body, as well as the community in which you live, as you seek to draw them and seek to compel them to learn about Jesus. Come learn about the Savior who's done so much for me. Come learn more about Him. See what He's done in my life. See what He can do for you. This is the gift of ministering God's given every one of us. May we be a light and a testimony of God's grace. in this area of ministering that he's given us. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful today for your goodness to us. We're thankful that you chose to express your love to us through Jesus Christ and giving him as your only begotten son to die for us. And I pray that as we've experienced that grace, as we've experienced that forgiveness, we would be willing to express that same grace and forgiveness to others. And Father, I pray that we would show forth the love of Jesus Christ, show forth through hospitality, show forth through the ministering of the spiritual gifts that you've given us. Father, I pray that you'd help us to be an effective witness, help us to be effective tools for your use. Father, we just pray that you would work in every one of our lives, pray that we would have the right impact on this world. who so desperately needs the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that you'd meet with us once again in the service to follow. We'll thank you for it in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for your attention. You have about 10 minutes and we'll meet right back in here.