Mark chapter number 3. And while the children are making their way to their classes, always let that be a reminder to you that the kids are going so that they too can grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. They're not just going so that we can get to business. They have business to get to as well. So you be praying for their teachers, that they're able to speak and they're able to encourage them to grow and to learn more about Jesus as well. Church is not just for old folks. There we go. A couple of us. Church is for the family. All right? So Mark chapter number 3. We're going to take a look at some leadership this morning, leading Christ's way. And if you find yourself like me, I like looking through some of the different – I like hearing stories, I like reading biographies. At one time, Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in America, at one time. He came to America from his native Scotland when he was just a small boy, did a variety of different odd jobs, and eventually ended up as the largest steel manufacturer in the United States. At one time, he had 43 millionaires working for him. Let that set in. In today's dollar, a million would be like 20 million. And so he had 43 millionaires working for him. That was a rare person in that day. He was asked by a reporter how he hired 43 millionaires. He said, they weren't millionaires when I hired them. And so what he did was he developed these men to become, because this was the reporter's next question, how did you develop these men to become so valuable that you paid them this much money? And Carnegie replied that men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get to that one ounce of gold. Think about that. He said, one doesn't go out looking for the dirt, they move the dirt looking for the gold. And this is what I want us to see this morning as we get into the word of God, because this is exactly the same way pastors should view the people, pastors should view ministry. And so I'm going to preach kind of to myself this morning, if that's okay, but I'm just following through the book of Mark. But I want you to be involved in this as well, because it doesn't just stop at the pastor. If you have anyone that you lead in life in any way, shape, or form, or if you want to be led well, this is for you as well. And so, too often, pastors, we forget to look for the gold and dig through the dirt. We just look for the gold that's already been dug. And Jesus actually had a different method in ministry. And too many church leaders are looking for the right person, the most qualified person. Listen, this has got to stop. Because rather than looking for just who can do it the best, sometimes what we need to learn how to do is look for the person with the potential and help bring that out of them. This is the type of ministry that, you know, it's crazy, but you can ask my wife. I don't know why, but I've always taken the road less traveled. I've always taken the harder road. You know, sometimes some easy things are presented, and I'm like, well, that would be easy. I can remember a situation in my first pastor as an assistant pastor. I was advised to go in and just just get rid of everybody that was working in a certain ministry and start fresh. I didn't feel right about that. And so instead I decided I was going to work with them and try to help them grow past what they are to the point where one woman looked at me dead in the eyes and said, can I tell you I told you so when this fails? Now the easy thing to do would have been like, nah, your services are no longer needed. The difficult thing was spending the next eight years to the point when we left, I called her mom and she called me son. Jesus puts a form of ministry out for us, and a type of leadership that he wants each of us to take seriously in our own life. Stand with me if you're able, as we read from the Word of God, Mark chapter number 3. Mark chapter 3, and we're going to start in verse 13. Talking about Jesus, he says, And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would, and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. And Simon he surnamed Peter, and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he surnamed them excuse me, Bonerges, which is Sons of Thunder. If you all think you can do it better, come on up. And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him, and they went into a house. Would you take this portion of Scripture and help us to find application? Help us to make it part of our lives. Show us where we have perhaps erred. Show us where we're doing things the way that you want us to, and you encourage us to continue in that. Help us, Father, to give in to whatever it shows. It's in your Son's name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. And so, looking at this, because I understand Being in ministry for any amount of time, I understand the idea of not a novice. You don't want to grab hold of a novice and then plug him in. I remember a young man that served in a ministry years ago. He was grabbed hold of way too early. And in leadership, you see the ugly side of people sometimes. In leadership positions, if you're sitting around, one of the things that I absolutely hated when I was in a church with a large staff, we would have, once a week, we would have staff meetings. And you sometimes really didn't get along with the people sitting across the table with you. And you had these arguments and everything. I don't like that. I don't like – I'm kind of non-confrontational. Some people are like, no, yeah, I'm kind of non-confrontational by nature. I don't like confrontation. But if it needs to be there, I'll welcome it, and I'll do what needs to be done. But I don't like that. I don't enjoy that. But when you have someone who's young, who hasn't matured in the faith to understand, look, you're not going to agree with everybody because he kind of had in his mind that, you know, Christians just all get together. They love one another. They sing kumbaya and they lock arms and they greet one another with a holy kiss, even though it's in the Bible. Let's just back off for a second, OK? You know, there's my holy kiss right there. That's my holy kiss. I don't need any other greetings with holy kisses. OK, just guys. Stay back. But he kind of had in his mind that this is the way it was, and when he stepped into some of these difficult meetings, sometimes arguments ensued. At the end of it, we'd come together, and we would agree, and we would move forward united. But it was a wake-up call to him that he wasn't ready for. And so I understand the idea of not grabbing a hold of a novice, but here's what we tend to do if we're not careful. We look around for the person who can do the job with no training. Okay, here's a person, and they've got the ability to handle all this. Now, do it. I'll see you later. Call me if you have any problems. That wasn't the style of Jesus. It wasn't. And so I want us to look at a few things this morning. First, let's look at who Jesus calls. Notice in verse 13. It says, And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would. And they came unto him. Now here's the interesting thing. Whom he would, in other words, he called the ones he wanted. He picked. He made a decision in this moment. I'm going to invest in you. I'm going to work with you, and I'm going to make you what you aren't already." He didn't go and pick the theologians. He didn't go and pick the ones who knew all of the Word of God. He picked the common people. If you look at the way he chooses, it's a beautiful thing because Jesus actually wanted these guys. So I want you to understand something right at the onset here. There are no consolation prizes when Jesus is concerned. None. He didn't get the leftovers. He didn't get the ones that nobody else wanted. He chose this motley crew of ragtag individuals. Now understand, Jesus could have pursued the more learned. But instead, he went after this 12 group of misfits, this group of 12 misfits here. He could have looked at the higher class individuals. He instead chose to go after the publican. the fishermen. He didn't go after the cream of the crop. Instead, he went after the ones that he knew he could mold. That's what he did. See, some miss the beauty of this. They completely focus on the fact that Jesus handpicked 12 individuals, and it's like, OK, well, he's being selective. He's being exclusive. He wanted these 12. He didn't want the rest of them. Don't forget that in Luke, it actually points out that at one point he had over 70 disciples. All right, Jesus calls all. Now, I don't want us to get pulled off to the side because here's what happened. He invited everyone to follow him. He invested his time into a select group of people. There wasn't necessarily anything negative in that, but we have to understand the leadership, you're only allotted a certain amount of time a day. And so he had to look and determine who he was going to invest in, who was going to be the majority of his time. This is not to say that everyone is not equally valuable, but that the time God gives us is valuable. That's what we need to see. And this is what is taking place with Jesus here. If you want, just put your hand in the book of Mark and jump back to the book of Matthew, chapter 22. This will kind of help us with this idea of Jesus choosing. Matthew chapter 22 with me. And if you were to start in verse number one, you'd read about a king, Jesus giving a parable about a king who makes a marriage feast for his son. He sends out his servants. He says, go out there and bring in the people that have been invited. And so the servant goes out, he starts bringing in people that were invited to try to bring them in. And the people that were invited started saying things like, well, I've got better things to do. I've got more important stuff going on. And so Jesus is like, hey, He says that the king makes the comment, well, if they won't come, go out and bring people who will come. Just go invite everybody in. Notice that. Jesus doesn't only invite a select few. He invites everybody to come. The question is, how many do? Now, as you start to make your way through, some people came, but there was even one guy. Look with me, if you would. Verse 10. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw that there was a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Now, pause for station identification. The king comes up, and he sees somebody who doesn't have a wedding garment, and in that day, it was customary for you to dress appropriately. The guy came in, didn't have the appropriate attire on, and the king comes up, and he doesn't criticize him and make fun of him for not wearing good clothes. He just simply asks, and you can even see the kindness and the love in the king's voice when he says, How did you come in? In other words, why did you come in without a proper garment? And when it says that he was speechless, the word for speechless is not, oh no, I don't know what to say. It was he didn't want to say anything. I'm here. It was the attitude with which the king was met. He's like, I don't need to wear that. And then look what happens. He was speechless, verse 13, then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, the guy was willing to come to get everything, all the food and get all the merriment, but he didn't want to come the right way. Jesus talks about this with the great shepherd. Anyone who tries to get into the sheepfold without going through the door is a thief and a liar. This is what we have here. He was invited to come, but you need to come with a proper garment on. What is the garment that we have? The righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the garment that we can approach God with. So this is the picture that he's drawing. But here's what I want to note in verse 14, and this is going to kind of tie our two thoughts together. For many are called, but few are chosen. In other words, everyone is called, but based on the way that they respond to that call is who's going to be chosen. Okay? Now, with all of that in mind, understanding what's going on, The calling of God is not conditional. However, the acceptance of His call is conditional. I don't know if you've ever read C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. My wife and I have been listening to them again. It's been many years. She's probably read them recently. It's been many years since I've read them. But there's a point in... Oh, which one is it? The one where Aslan's creating the magicians? No, it wasn't that one. Anyway, it doesn't matter. There's a point in one of the books where Aslan creates Narnia. You can read them for yourself. If you haven't read them, there you go. Read them for yourself and then come tell me next week which one it is. But he's creating it and Aslan says, I give to you yourselves. Have you ever thought about this for just a moment? When God created man, he gave to him free will. That was a gift. And we abuse it and we squander it. But God in his sovereign, all-knowing, all-powerful frame of mind said, I give you yourself. And what did man do with it? He ran. He used it in an improper way. You see, understand, acceptance is exactly that. We have the freedom to respond to the call of God. You see, all Jews, the Jewish people, all the nation of Israel had been called. Then all the Gentiles had been called. You see, many obeyed the call, but only those who showed the graces of faith, holiness, and love were the ones that were accepted. This is that many were called, but few were chosen. Beloved, I want you to understand something. Many today seek the blessings of God, but don't actually want God Himself. They seek to have the blessings and the riches and the encouragement that God can supply, but only those who truly come to Him in a humble heart of adoration and a pure heart will find their way to the throne of God. And the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ. So don't misunderstand. Often people misunderstand the call of Jesus. Beloved, I want you to see something. Jesus does not call you to something or to have a place in heaven. He does not call you to give you success or to give you a mansion. Rather, his call is to himself. He says, come unto me, follow me. What Jesus offers is not riches. It's Jesus. This is what we're given. God said in John 3, 16, when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, he says, for whoever shall call upon the name of, I'm sorry, and shall give unto them eternal life. This eternal life that we are given, Jesus said who that was and what that was. I am the way, the truth, and the life. What we are given when we call on him, when we surrender to him, we're given Jesus. That's what we're given. So the call of Jesus understands something here. The misunderstanding of what it is that we're actually called to causes us to examine our worth. Beloved, I want you to understand something. It's not about you. It's all about Him. It's about Him. Do you realize that the same call that Jesus offers to the disciples is the call he offers to you? Catch this. We are blessed when we are called. He is honored when we respond to that call. There's nothing more insulting than rejecting the one who so loved that he gave. There's nothing more insulting to God on high than for him to call you to the point where he sends his son. He says, I'll pay for you. I will have my son die for you. And for him to say, come and follow me. And for us to go, I've got better things to do. There's nothing more insulting than when the word of the Lord is placed before us and God says, study to show yourself approved unto God. When God says, call unto me, men ought always to pray. When we are called by God to spend time with Him and we say, I've got better things to do. I don't have time to read my Bible this morning. I'm going to be late for work. How about this? My boss is going to have to deal with me being late for work because I got time to read the Bible. Instead of saying, well, I don't have time to spend in prayer today. I've got so much going on. Why not take a page out of Martin Luther's book who said, I have so much to do today that if I don't spend at least four hours in prayer, I won't get it done. There's nothing more insulting to a thrice holy God than to say, I don't need you. I got other things to do. General Mark Clark was one of the greatest heroes of World War II. He led the Salerno invasion that Winston Churchill said was the most daring, amphibious operation that we have launched. At that time, Clark was promoted to Lieutenant General. He was the youngest man of the rank of the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1917, but not at the top of his class. He was 111th from the top in a class of 139. Somebody might say, well, I'm not that special. God doesn't really want me. I mean, He wants to save me, but He doesn't really want to use me. A little girl by the name of Eliza was 16 years old, and she married a 20-year-old tailor. This 20-year-old tailor had never been to school, never. Others might have written his education off as a lost cause, but Eliza, she decided she was going to invest in him. She taught him to read, taught him to write, taught him to spell. Those days were very difficult, but he proved to be a fast learner. In fact, so fast that he was elected the 17th president by the name of Andrew Johnson. Think about that. Well, I'm not anything special. I don't have all the education you do. I don't have all the talent you do. I don't have the voice that that person does or that person does. I don't have the talents and the abilities. I just don't have that much, pastor. Well, okay, maybe I've got some abilities, maybe I got a little bit of intelligence, but I just don't have that much. When a small village in Sweden, there lived a young girl who was terribly poor and unskilled. She could only get along by doing the most menial of jobs. She loved to sing, however. And despite her poverty, she dreamed of one day being a great singer. And so she began to sing on street corners. And passers-by would come and they'd hear her and toss her a coin and give her a little bit of money. She was finally able to eat based off of that. Each day she sang in wind, rain, heat, cold, didn't matter. She barely had enough money to buy food by the end of the day. And some of the villagers actually protested. They didn't want her on the street corner begging. One day, a great musician happened to come by and hear her. And he was so entrenched with her beautiful voice, he took her. He said, you're going to come live with me. He trained her, helped her build that voice to its fullest potential. And in time, she became the toast of two continents, known as Jimmy Lynn, the Swedish nightingale. Pastor, you just don't understand. I'm not that special. Pastor, I don't have that much. You're the very person Jesus loves to invest in. You're the kind of person He wants. The person who says, I've got talents, I've got abilities, I've got money, I've got everything. Jesus is going to love putting me to work. That's the one He doesn't want to put time in. Why? Because you got everything you need. Why do you need Him? The person who says, I don't have much, but Lord, here am I. All of me. Use me. Do what you will. I may not be the smartest. I may not have all the looks. I may not have all the money. I may not have everything that other people think is great. And while they're out looking for the smartest, for the prettiest, for the most talented, Jesus, I know You can do something with me. And He will. Those are the very ones that Jesus wants to use. Notice, second, why Jesus calls. Coming back to Mark here. says in verse 14, and he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach. So notice why Jesus calls. First, it's important to see that word ordained. This is the word poieo. Poieo is not just, okay, you know, you're ordained. That means you've got a license to do something. That's not what ordained means. Ordained means set aside and matured. It means to prepare something. So in other words, he established, he set them up. It's not just a matter of appointment, but a matter of preparing something or someone for a specific purpose. And we see here, he prepared these people for a specific reason. Notice what it says at the end of verse 14, that he might send them forth to preach. You know why he calls you? To send you out. That's why he calls you. That's why he calls you. That's why he wants to use you so that you can take the message of who he is to someone else. So that you can see that person who's down in the dumps saying, I don't have anything to give. And you can come to him and go, neither did I. And he uses me. If anybody needs an example, just look right here. If God can use this worthless piece of refuse, He can use anyone. As Paul said, the chief of sinners, he hadn't met me yet. Paul thought he was the chief of sinners. Hello. I got him beat. I thank God through Christ Jesus that He called me. counted me faithful and put me in the ministry. You see, Jesus was making a personal commitment to them. Whenever someone decides to lead based on potential rather than someone's achievement, they're making a decision to invest in that person's growth. They're investing in their maturity, in their training, in their correction, in their teaching, in their improvement, so forth and so on. The desire is to help bring out that potential. Digging through the dirt, so to speak, to find that gold and bring it to the surface. This is others, not self-motivation. To lead based on achievement is based on self-benefit. How can this person benefit me? But to lead based on potential is how can I benefit them? That's the way Jesus does it. And so if all we're doing is looking around for someone who can be a benefit for us, what can they do for us? What can they do for me? How can they help me? Stop. Just stop. We've already ceased being Christ-like. Instead, who can I invest in? Are you struggling this morning to find fulfillment? Let Jesus pull it out of you. Let Jesus be the one to bring that out of you. God has fearfully and wonderfully made you in His image. Who better to help you live that image than the one who created it? Now think about this. Anybody like makeover shows? Some of the guys are like, I don't watch makeover shows. The ladies are like, I like watching makeover shows. But a guy will watch a makeover show as long as it's about a house, right? This old house has been on forever. We've been watching this old house. That's not a make. Yeah, they take an old dump, make it over into something beautiful. Then you got the ones where the guy goes out and he goes into this backyard and it looks like a desert oasis. And then he just makes it beautiful. And then you got the ones that do the porch makeovers. There are so many makeover shows, whether it be making over a face of a person, making over an outfit, you know, or making over a house. There's so many makeover shows today. The prevalence of makeover shows, whether a house, car, barns, cars, people are like, yeah, I can watch those car shows all day. It lets us know that we all hunger to be more than we are. Everybody hungers to be more. Everybody does. You want to be more than you are. I want to be more than I am. Listen, if I'm the same pastor and the same kind of preacher next year that I am this year, I will view that as a failure. I want to be better. I want to improve. People long to see something as simple as a garden transformed into something so much more. Just swipe through your YouTube. I guess you can't swipe through TikTok anymore, but that's okay. But swipe through YouTube, right? Swipe through YouTube one day and just look at some of those shorts, and what do you see? You see the sped-up version of some guy building a house, or the ones where the woman is just like, ugh, and then she puts on makeup, and you're like, eh, you know? So, those, watch those, yeah? Some of them, Sarah will show me, she'll pull over and she'll say, hey, watch this, and it's like this woman who's just beautiful, she's made over, and then she removes everything, and you're like. You know? Now, if you've made one of those videos, God bless you. The whole point of this is that we are made not to fit a certain mold in this world. We're made to reveal Him. And we can go through all these different makeover experiences, but it's Him that we need to be made into. It's Jesus we need to replicate. You see, we have this God-shaped hole that can only be filled by Jesus Christ. If you have not given your life over to Jesus, let me just ask you, why not? What could possibly be more fulfilling than living in the image of Jesus? Notice just a couple things here before we come to our conclusion. I want you to see how Jesus leads, and we've kind of alluded to this. But notice Jesus had the ability to bring together, and I'm not going to read through the names of them again, but we just read through all the names. Some people are like, well, what about this Thaddeus guy? Well, if you read it in some of the other passages, you might see the other Judas. the other Judas, not Judas Iscariot. There were two Judases, that's why they always make sure to specify Judas Iscariot. I'm sure Judas, the other Judas, he's like, make sure they know it wasn't me. But we have this motley crew, this diverse group of individuals, and he unifies them in purpose. He has fishermen, publicans, doubters, zealots, Their personalities were just as diverse. Some of them were philosophers. Some of them were brash. Some of them were lovers. Some of them were timid. Some were skeptics, doubting Thomas. Some of them were fighters, swinging their sword, cutting people's ears off. But he takes them, and he brings them together. Jesus did not call them to be sponges. Notice there in verse 14, it says, he ordained that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach. He called them with the express purpose of helping them be able to go and do. That's leadership. That's true leadership. When you determine to invest in someone who can't perhaps do anything for you in return. See, in the Gospel of Mark, we're going to see this as we continue through this study. But He would train them, and then He would send them out. Then He'd bring them back in, and He'd help them to see why things didn't work. He trained them and sent them out. So this is the way Jesus went about it. He taught them in person, He tested them by experience, and then He graduated them with authority. In leadership, I have found through the years that sometimes the best thing for people is to let them fail. Sometimes it's the best way to do it. And I believe Jesus was like this. If I swoop in and prevent somebody from making a mess of things or making a mistake, they don't learn anything. This is where the problem in ministry happens. This is where the problem takes place. You see, so often we look for people to build our ministries. Jesus didn't look for people to build His ministry. He used His ministry to build the people. This is the way we're going to do it. This is how we're going to go about it. Jesus does not choose copies of Himself. Nor does He pick the easiest people to work with. Like I said, in ministry, I've often gravitated to the more difficult job. My sister-in-law works with special needs kids. Listen, understand something. I was reading something not too long ago, came across this statistic. They polled a bunch of people that go to church on a regular basis. You know one of the things that they said, the number one thing that is missing from churches today, the number one ministry that they said, if they could ask for a ministry to be done that's not being done in their churches, you know what that answer was? Ministry to special needs. Number one, over all of it, he said, we need someone to help us. Their parents, they're tired. They're doing the best they can, but they're tired. They show up to a church, and there's nothing for them. They're just saying, I just need help. I just need someone to help me love my child. My child goes to school and they get put in a corner. Can I help you with something? I was that kid that none of the teachers wanted in their classroom. He's too hyper. He's a disruption. He misbehaves. I wasn't a bad kid. But they didn't want me there. They said he needs to be medicated. Mom said I'll take him out. She spent time with me. She invested in me. At the age of 15, I thought I was the dumbest person that walked the face of the planet. I thought I was stupid. Finally, God got a hold of me and showed me, you're not. The dumbest, the biggest failure, the uncool kid, yeah, as hard as it is to believe, I was not cool. I know. Maybe that's why my sister-in-law likes working with special needs. She's had the last 20 years working with me. I was not the one that people wanted around. I visited a church. And I had somebody love me. And people wanted me. And I was living a rebellious life. And they knew. But every time I showed up, they didn't say, well, here you are again. They loved me. They invested in me. They saw something I couldn't see. And God got a hold of me. And He shaped me and He molded me. I met a woman that in spite of all my flaws said, I'll come alongside you. And I'll be your helpmate. And all my flaws and all my shortcomings She said, that's okay. I'm here for you. I was the ministry of so many people who were Christ in my life. You may not have that person. Maybe you are that person. But I want you to understand something. God wants you. But He doesn't just want you so that you can sit on the sidelines. He wants you to show Christ to somebody else. He wants you just like he put his Holy Spirit in the believer. And if you have been born again by the Spirit of God, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, bringing that gold out to the surface, digging through the dirt. Let's get the dirt out of the way. Let's bring that gold up. And he says, now what God has worked in you, you work on the outside with somebody else. Who are you working with? Anybody? Let's make this personal I'm closing my Bible. So, you know, I'm finished My wife says every time you just say that it just makes me know there's another 10 minutes coming It's not I promise we're wrapping up Are you living up to your potential Beloved Jesus's call is just as valid today as it was when he called the disciples. And he wants you to follow him. He wants you to follow him. The question is, are you? Are you following Jesus? That doesn't mean that you have prayed a prayer. That's not what that means. It doesn't mean that you've prayed a prayer. Instead, the question is to the devout, to the casual, to the skeptical, all of you. The question is simply this. Understand that you will never truly meet your full potential until you brace the image of God in your life. Quit making God part of it. Submit to being in the image and likeness of God. You cannot do so if you are not actively following Jesus. Doesn't work. Doesn't work. Second, are you allowing Jesus to bring out the best in you, or are you following His leadership, in other words? Once you choose to follow Jesus, you will begin a life of change. You won't remain the same. Every day is moving closer and closer. Listen, I tell people often who have visited the church, I tell them, if you're looking for a church that has everything you want and everything you need, that's not what we're here. That's not us. But if you're looking for a place to use your God-given gifts and abilities to reveal Him and to show Him to the rest of this world, to help build something bigger, we're the place for you. We are the place for you. Well, pastor, I don't work with kids. I'm not very musical. Tell me how God has made you. I'll find a place. I'll start a ministry if you need it. You show me. Pastor, I don't fit in on any of these ministries that you currently have going on, but my heart is, tell me about it. I'll take you to lunch. Tell me how God is working in your heart. I'll make it happen. What about us as a church? Are we investing in the potential of others, or are we just looking for achievers? We're just looking for the people who can fulfill our needs. As a church, are we using others to… build up our ministry and to promote our ministry? Or are we using our ministry to help shape others into the image of Jesus? And last, are we as individuals investing in the potential of others? Mom? Dad? That's a difficult thing. You know what that means? Sometimes I have to pass on the overtime so that I can go home and invest in my wife and kids. Sometimes it means I have to not be part of that group so that I can take care of my kids and be ready for my husband when he comes home. It's difficult. Jesus didn't choose the easy road. Neither will I. Who are you investing in? And thank God for those who have invested in you. Father, would you work in us today? Help us to see all the ways that you have poured your life into us. Remind us of everything that you went through on the cross, everything that you went through in leading up to that day where we become children of God. Thank you for not just dying, but Father, for raising him from the dead. Thank you for doing that so that I can be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God and made more than I am. Father, thank you for the people that have invested in me. Thank you for the people who have come alongside me through the years, those Barnabases, those Pauls, to develop this Timothy. Father, thank you for that. Thank you for desiring to use me. Now, Father, I pray the very same thing for everyone here that I pray for myself. Mold me. Shape me. Father, I know that I was not made for the things of this world. I was made for so much more. I was created. to be the very image and likeness of God. So why in the world would I wade through the muck and the mire of this world? Help us, Father, to embrace that. It's in Your Son's name we pray.