Conduits of Grace

We'll say good morning once again and uh just remind us this morning that here at the district church we exist because uh we want to treasure Jesus and help others follow him. That's why we're here. We treasure Jesus and we help others follow him. And part of our vision as a church is to multiply everyone every year. We want to see disciples made that then make disciples. Um that's the reason why you get up.

That's the reason why you come here is because you so treasure Jesus. I mean, he is your everything. He is your life that you want others to experience the same thing. And so, we don't come here on a Sunday morning just to check it off the box for the week. We don't come here on a Sunday morning just to even just feel better about ourselves that we went to church. But we actually come because we are growing in relationship with Jesus Christ.

and we want to come and we want to gather and we want to bow at his feet and we want to worship him above anything and everything else in our lives. And at the same time we also understand that Christ is doing something in us through us so that what we experience and what we receive from Jesus does not stop with us but it continues on and it spreads so that everyone else around us gets to know this same Jesus. And that's why we one of the things we love to say is to learn and to grow in the gospel is that we open our Bibles to learn and we open our lives to love. We open the Bible and we grow in what God is communicating to us because we also know that he is calling us and commanding us to open our lives to others so that what we are receiving from him others also have the chance to be able to receive themselves. And that's absolutely what we're going to be talking about today when we look at this idea.

I titled this conduit of grace. Conduits of grace. And the big idea is that you and I, we live as conduits of grace. That's what we live. That's that's what we are as we are still here before glory eventually comes. And so our passage for today is going to be 1 Peter 4.

We're going to be looking at two verses. verses 10 and verses 11. Um, and there is there is a lot in here um to be able to understand, to be able to to be able to to learn and grow in, but also as we move forward, as we as we continue learning, um, what you're going to hear today is really just the snapshot of it. Um, it's really just kind of some categories of ways in which God uses us in order to have other people come to know him. Some of the work that's going to be done beyond this message is you figuring out between you and the Holy Spirit and others also affirming and and and as you grow in the gospel and as you grow in your relationship with Jesus how God has specifically gifted you in these categories so that we are being the body of Christ so that we are actually working out and serving one another with the gifts that God has bestowed to us. And so I I can't by the by the time we get to the end of this sermon, I can't tell you exactly what your gift might be.

And it might be multiple gifts, but we know for certain that as we read this, everyone has at least received a gift. Everyone's got a gift. Everyone in this room, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit has come to dwell within you, you've received a gift. And that's the first point that I want you to see here is that you've received a gift. And so let's read this together in verse 10. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.

Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God, and whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And so what we're seeing in our previous passage, just to give you a little bit of context before we jump into that, in our previous passage that we looked at last week, Peter instructed the scattered church that scattered throughout Asia Minor to pray soberly, to love earnestly, and to practice hospitality without grembling. And so that's what we talked about last week. And and what Peter does is he takes that those commands to pray soberly, to love earnestly, to practice hospitality without grumbling.

He then says or he Peter then says to them, here's how God is going to equip you to accomplish those things. Here's how he's going to equip you in order that whatever he's commanded of you, he's also qualified you to be able to go and do those things. And so there's never a moment in which God calls or commands of us, hey, I want you to do these things and then says to us once you get mature enough by the time you're 50 or 70, you can then practice them. Whatever he calls of you and commands of you, he's also going to equip you in order to be able to carry that out. And so what he's communicating to the church here is really what I've given you guys is a very difficult and very hard task. But you need to understand that you've received a gift in order to carry it out in order to exercise it.

And that's what he talks about. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace. Now there's a few points that I want you to see here. First and foremost, I want you to see the connection of gift and grace. We've received a gift from God. We've received a gift from God.

And the word for gift there is charisma. Charisma. And it's actually the same as a similar word that comes with grace. Grace is chorus. So when you put chorus and charisma together, these are gifts of grace. This is literally the grace of God that is coming to us.

that not only does it save us but it also gives us a gift that then helps towards serving others so that they get to receive the same grace that saved us. So it is literally that's why I'm saying this is a conduit of grace. It is the grace of God coming to you probably, most likely because someone else was exercising this very passage. They were either speaking oracles of God or they were serving you with the strength of God and it led to you receiving the grace of God and then you literally following Jesus, placing faith in Jesus, coming to know Jesus and then guess what? He's now gifted you. So with the same thing that you were reached with, you now possess and are able to then help reach others.

And so everyone gets to play a part. Everyone gets to receive a gift from God that is varied. It is diverse. It is distinct. Everyone is to use their gift not to uh gain for themselves, but they are to use their gift to serve one another. In other words, your gift does not serve your platform, but it positions you for the benefit of others.

It positions you for the benefit of others. And then he also tells us here that everyone is to steward or manage their gift. In other words, it wasn't yours to begin with, but it came from God. He's giving it to you, and he's saying, "This is mine that I am providing to you. And as I provide it to you, I want you to steward it. I want you to manage it.

I want you to take it. I'm entrusting it to you. I'm investing it in you. And I want you then to then spend it in order for others to come to know the glory of God. In other words, you've received a gift to be a gift to others. You've received a gift to be a gift to others.

That's why I love that language that we talk about when it comes to a man being firmly planted um like a tree by the waters that it bears fruit and it yields fruit in its rightful season. That's the same thing that we are experienced is that we are planted in Christ. And as we are planted in Christ, the fruit of the spirit comes out of us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. And guess what? None of those things actually serve you.

All of those things are outwardly focused. It's how you love one another. It's how you serve one another. It's how you are kind to one another. It's how you are gentle with one another. And so the fruit that we bear is actually not meant for us to taste of it, but it's meant for others to taste of it.

And so it's the gift of God's grace that he provides to us. Literally, we actually got to um see this we we la yesterday and I'll explain a little bit further, but we don't all need to have the same gift in order for us to all be on the same page. That's why he talks about the fact that it's varied, that there's distinct. Not everyone's going to to exercise the speaking gifts. Not everyone's going to exercise necessarily some of the hands gifts that we'll see here in a moment. But we all need to be exercising our gifts that he has provided to us.

Yesterday we had a car wash that was out out back in our parking lot. We had 22 cars come through u between 9 and 12:00. It was amazing. We got to pray with people. We got to serve and love on people. We got to practice the fruit of the spirit.

And the thing was was we had a pressure washer. We had uh buckets with soap in them with, you know, uh little hand washers and whatnot. And um we had uh those fiber things. I don't know what they're really called, but fiber towels that you can then dry the cars off with. If everyone was fighting over the one pressure washer, we would not have gotten any cars washed. There were varied gifts throughout in order for the whole thing to literally just move people through in order to love on them and serve them.

And so we all need to understand that not everyone is going to speak on a Sunday. Not everyone is going to uh necessarily come up here and play music on a Sunday. Not everyone is going to be in the kids uh nursery right now watching those babies. Not everyone is going to be doing everything at the same time. But making sure that everyone is exercising the gift that God has given them does help the greater picture of helping others follow Jesus. helping them treasure him, helping them know him.

And so everything we do is under the banner of making disciples. And so if you help someone park when they walk in, that's making a disciple. As they are walking in the doors and you greet them, that's a varied gift. That's hospitality. That's helping make a disciple. And so we need everyone all hands on deck.

There was even a moment yesterday where we had a little bit of a break, but then we had like four cars come in at the same time and and I jumped on the pressure washer and there was like one other person with fibers and and and it's not that everyone was like taking a smoke break or something, but it was like in that moment I just remember yelling out all hands on deck like we need everybody because this will take forever. And so we got to have that same mentality, a sense of urgency that we're all been given a gift and we are to steward that gift. We are to manage that gift in order to serve others. And so we don't need to sleep on it. We don't need to wait on it. We need to figure out between the Lord and the Holy Spirit, but we need to figure out between the scriptures.

We need to have some uh confirmation, affirmation from others that, hey, yeah, I think you're gifted in this specific area. Absolutely. But we need you to jump in and we need you to say, "I I want to figure it out. I want to know how God has gifted me in order to serve the body of Christ, to serve one another, so that others might be able to come and glorify God." And so what Peter does here is he then gives us two categories for gifts. Now, he says there's varied gifts.

And what I really think what Peter is doing here, uh, in other passages like 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, and I'll even throw in Ephesians 4 in there, there are passages that have a list of gifts. A list of gifts. Peter here, I believe, is honestly taking those gifts and categorizing them into two categories. Those that speak and those that serve with their hands. They speak with their mouth and they serve with their hands. And I think he puts them into two categories.

And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you those two categories, but I am also going to give you a brief description of some of those other thorough lists so that as you are praying and considering, man, what what has God gifted we me with? But I'm praying I'm trusting the Holy Spirit. I'm trusting the Holy Spirit to press on your heart. That's something I should think about. That's something that maybe I have like like he is pulling me towards. Just as he's drawing you to himself, he's also drawing you to the way in which he wants you to serve.

And maybe he'll draw you in one of these as well. Maybe you're doing a gift that that honestly is um is kind of like um me trying to I was going to say learn English. Um but that's that's fair as well. But it it's like me trying to do just algorithms and whatnot trying to learn all those. Sometimes it's just really really difficult and you're just spinning your wheels and you're like, I don't know. I'm just constantly frustrated.

Maybe you're serving in a gift that isn't the gift that God blessed you with. And maybe there's another area. And so it's now it's great to trial and error those things. I've tried and gifts for the last 20 years and I figured out that there are certain environments and certain areas that man if they put me in charge of that thing that thing's not going to go well. I just it's just honest. But there's other areas that I know if they put me um in that position or in that role, I can exercise the gift that God has given me and God be the glory in all of it regardless of whether or not um it actually goes well.

But usually it does if it's in the gifting. So here's what I want you to see. The second thing here is the first category is that we speak the words of God. We speak the words of God. He says at the beginning of verse 11, "Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God." Whoever speaks as one who speaks oracles of God.

Now, don't get stuck on oracles thinking that's some sort of mythical ethereal medium. All right? When I when I first read oracle, I was thinking like that that's what you see in those like Lord of the Rings type movies where they're like on the mountain and they go off to the side and they're like in a cave and this weird medium sorcerer witch person comes and then like speaks as an oracle. That's not what we're talking about here. What we're talking about here oracles is log on which is the utterances or just the words of God. That's what it is.

It's the words of God. So as one who speaks, speaking the words of God. Meaning if you're going to participate in the gifts that involve speaking, it is imperative that what we speak is in fact the words of God and not of man. the words of God and not of man. Because remember what's the goal here? You can see it at the end of verse 11.

The goal is so that God would be glorified. Well, God is the one who determines how he is glorified. And so if we want to know how to glorify God, then we need to know how to glorify God. And God is going to communicate to us through the word of God how he wants to be glorified. And so what we don't need to do, what we don't need to do is take man's word and try to implement it as if it is going to be something that comes to glorify God. That's where we get in trouble.

That's where deception can come in. I mean, you can't even trust yourself all the time. You lie to yourself all the time when you're thinking or speaking. Maybe I should do this. Maybe I should think this. And how many times have you been wrong?

Maybe I want this. maybe I'll make this decision. Maybe I'll make this choice. And then when you do the thing that you thought was going to be fun or you thought was going to be good for your life ends up wrecking your life, you're then wondering, yeah, maybe I should actually not listen to the words of man, but maybe I should actually listen to the words of God. And so when he's saying here, in order to draw people to the glory of God, in order to push people to the glory of God, in order to lead people to the glory of God, we got to make sure that it is the words of God that is actually doing that. And so these are the gifts that primarily build up the church through God's word.

As I mentioned in various passages like 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4, this is not an exhaustive list, but it is a thorough list of the gifts that God has bestowed to Christians in order to serve one another with your mouth. Serve one another with words. The first one is teaching. Teaching is just explaining and applying God's word with clarity and faithfulness. Teaching. teach the word.

How can you teach the word if you don't know the word? So, get to know the word. Be reading it. Be studying it. If the first time you teach someone is also the first time you've open the Bible, that's not going to go well. That's not going to go well.

So, you need to be in this before you go and insert it into other people's lives. Because if you don't know it, then all you're going to be telling them is, "Hey, here is uh what God has said." And maybe God never said that. That's a really scary place to be. Second one, prophecy. Declaring God's truth to strengthen and encourage and call people to obedience.

To obedience. We got to remember obedience is not a bad word. Obedience to God leads to life. Disobedience to God leads to death. And what we need is people who are willing to speak prophetic words that call out the sin in one another's lives and call them to obedience to Jesus. So that what they're choosing to do, which is leading to death, they would would stop, repent of that, and then start walking towards what would actually lead them to life.

Evangelism clearly communicating the gospel and leading people to Christ. Evangelism is I know the story of the scriptures from creation that everything was good, everything was beautiful, we were in right communion with God and then we were deceived because we stopped listening to the word of God and we started listening to the word of Satan. And what God created, Satan counterfeited. And we believed and fell for the counterfeit rather than the c the rightful creative order. And we started trusting and believing in Satan. And we then were deceived and we fell and we sinned.

And then God has been working throughout human history, his redemptive plan that would provide for us a savior, Jesus Christ, who would come and live the life we could not live, die the death that we deserved, and raise on the third day, guaranteeing that for those who believe that he lived the perfect life, and that he died to death in your place, you too would also receive a resurrection like his where you get to be in glory with God for all eternity. That's evangelism. That's just telling the story of what Jesus Christ has come to do. It's telling us that there's bad news. We sinned and we deserve to go to hell. But there's good news that before we get there, God intervened and came in the form of Christ, a baby in a manger to do what we could not do for ourselves.

It's evangelism. Another one is shephering or pastoring. This is caring for, guiding, protecting, and spiritually leading God's people. Again, this is all going to be attached to the words of God. Encouragement or exhortation. This is strengthening and motivating believers toward faithfulness and perseverance.

This is this is connecting the ethics and principles of scripture to people's lives and saying, "Hey, make sure that you're staying anchored in the right thing. Make sure that you're believing the right thing. Make sure that you're living out the right thing. Wisdom, applying God's truth skillfully to life's decisions and difficult situations. leadership, guiding people with vision, humility, biblical direction, knowledge, understanding and communicating biblical truth with insight, tongues and interpretation of tongues. Again, this is a this is um wear practice throughout the world.

It's not often practice in predominantly western cultures, but sometimes more in eastern cultures. But tongues is speaking in spirit enabled languages as described in the New Testament, but also making sure that they're done in an orderly and fashioned way as as um Paul talks about in Corinthians as well. And that there must be an interpreter who explains the message spoken in tongues so that the church is edified. So the church is edified and encouraged. Again, these are gifts exercised with the mouth with speaking. And so kind of a call to action with that one.

If you are going to speak the oracles of God, the words of God, the utterances of God, then you need to know what God has said. You need to know what God has said and then rightly communicate them with clarity and conviction. Rightly communicate it with clarity and conviction. And so here's the thing is is um I think right now there's I mean I literally just had a conversation with a pastor friend of mine. He pastored a church for 17 years. And then um he ended up retiring, resigning from the church.

And there was another young guy who again, and I'm not saying that you have to be seminary educated or anything along those lines, but there was another guy who had no other outside source of affirmation or assessment, but just kind of stepped in and said, "I'm I'm called to do this." and has not been a Christian very long either and has stepped into this and is now essentially navigating three different mergers of a church into one that are from different denominations. It's a very unique situation and I'm kind of sort of sitting back a little bit with popcorn watching to see what happens here. But what is happening is what he gets up and says is ex basically the exact same thing every week but not in a good way because he doesn't know the words of God. He doesn't know the truth of God. And so we need to make sure that when we speak, we're speaking what God has said, not just our own ability to communicate TED talks.

And every once in a while throw in some scriptures that we Googled real quick to see if we could figure out whether or not it fits our message. Know the word of God. Speak the word of God. Number three, serve with the strength of God. Serve with the strength of God. This is uh second part of verse 11.

Whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies. That God supplies. Now these are gifts that are primarily building up the church through action through the hands. Again drawing on 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4. These are gifts that look like serving or with especially in the context of ministries within the church. This is joyfully meeting practical needs wherever they arise.

Joyfully meeting practical needs wherever they arise. Helps. That's another com another list of one. Assisting others behind the scenes so that ministry can flourish. Assisting one another behind the scenes so that ministry can flourish. Mercy.

showing Christ's compassion to those who are hurting, to those who are suffering, or to those who are overlooked or marginalized. Giving, generously, providing resources to meet needs and advance God's mission. I'm going tell y'all right now, we have been a generous church for 10 years. We have been a generous church. I don't know if you know this, and I'm not going to say this so that you can stop giving. I'm going to say this to encourage you to continue uh exercising the gift that you have been exercising.

The national average, the way that people market uh whether or not a church is healthy in giving is they they run the stat giving per head per week. And so they figure out what your weekly average is in the Sunday service. And then they look at what you've given over the course of a year and they divide it into 52 weeks. And that's how they figure out what your giving per head per week is. The national average across the board of all churches across all denominations is $25 per head per week. That's the national average.

Ours has been over $100 per head per week for 10 years. For 10 years. And we praise God for that. We praise God for that. There there are people in our church who have taken seriously the fact that giving is a gift. It's a gift.

It's not an obligation. It's a gift of God. I've been so blessed by the generosity of God poured out on my life that I in turn want to be generous in order to see what he has done for me be done for other people. For other people. administration, organizing people and resources so that ministry is effective and orderly. Again, we just want to be able to we we don't want to spin our wheels.

We want to make sure that the ministry that is being conducted is helping people come to know Jesus. So, we want to do it in the best way possible. That's why it's not wrong for us to be pragmatic. It's not wrong for us to want to do things very efficiently. When you do things efficiently, people are effectively led to Jesus. Faith demonstrating extraordinary confidence in God's power and promises, especially in difficult circumstances.

Hospitality, again, we see this in on on Sundays. We have a hospitality team ministry. Hospitality is welcoming others with warmth and generosity and gospel- centered care. It's saying, "Hey, you belong here. You're welcome here because Jesus welcomed us because Jesus invited us into his home with his father and said, "You get to be an adopted son and daughter, and whatever ours is yours. You are a co- uh uh uh you are a co-air of all of the things that Christ himself inherited.

Healing being used by God as he brings physical, emotional or spiritual healing. And so there are times where we will bring people down front. We will lay hands on them and pray for them. We'll pray for them. miracles being used by God to accomplish extraordinary works that display his power. Again, all of these are exercise gifts with the hands.

with the hands. The temptation for us sometimes unfortunately is to depend on our skill set or even sometimes our natural giftings which again are important but more importantly we need to remember that our ministry our gift is empowered by God. That's what we need to remember more than anything. In other words, God think of yourself I mean the Bible talks about we are like a temple that the Holy Spirit dwells within. Well, guess what? As a temple, what God is communicating to us here is that he has furnished it himself.

He's furnished it himself. So the way in which you're going to speak and the way in which you're going to serve, he's furnished you with that particular gift in order to display God's truth and God's love for others to see God, not us. God, not us. And so if we don't know which gifts God has given us to steward, then sometimes we will try to manufacture our own gifts out of our own strengths. And unfortunately that never ends well. That never ends well.

I think sometimes that's where the idea of burnout steps in is when we're exercising a gift that's not the gift he's provided to us. Nor are we trying to exercise it out of his strength, but we're doing it in our strength. And that's just a recipe for getting frustrated and burning out. That's why he literally says, "Serve with the strength that God supplies." So if you're serving with another strength, that strength is going to run out because it's not an infinite flow. God's the only one who has infinite strength.

And if he calls you to do something and tells you to serve in that way, he's going to provide the strength to make sure that what he wants accomplished will become accomplished. But if he doesn't want you doing it and you're just trying to make it happen, then the only thing supplying that strength is your own finite self, which means it will run out and you will be frustrated. So what keeps us from attempting to do it in our own strength? What keeps us from attempting to want to speak in our own strength and serve in our own strength? Number four, do everything for the glory of God. This is the guard rails that are put in place.

Do everything for the glory of God. So, we're not doing it for the glory of ourselves. We're not doing it so that others can pat us on the back. We're not doing it so that we can receive our own awards. We're doing it so that others might see God. might see God and glorify him.

Look at the last part of verse 11. In order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Listen to this church. This is to be the purpose and the motivation behind every spiritual gift.

Because when we first realize that the gift comes from God and it's also attached to his grace, then that means the ability to exercise it and also the opportunity to use it will be everflowing as a conduit of God's grace because God wants to be glorified through Jesus Christ. Like that for me is what helps me have confidence that the church will be successful. When the people of the church are so connected and in tune and worshiping and treasuring Jesus that they trust that Jesus also told us that I will send you a helper and that helper will guide you in understanding the truth and that that helper the Holy Spirit as 1 Corinthians 12 tells us has also provided to us varied gifts but the same spirit that as he has given us varied gifts. He is also going to make sure that those gifts are exercised and sustained by his strength so that through you other people get to come to know Jesus Christ.

Which means if he wants to reach them and he's going to use you to reach them, then you can rest assured that you're going to be equipped to do so. And you're never going to burn out because he's providing everything that you need in order to be effective in making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded us. Why? Because he's with us always. He's always there. He's always helping us.

He's always strengthening us. He's always teaching us through his word. You need to know the word of God. He's going to guide us in understanding it. He's providing it to us so that we can then speak it to others and they can come to know Jesus. He's also telling us, make sure that you serve one another.

Show hospitality without grumbling. Make sure that you stretch yourself out. And what he's saying is as you stretch yourself out, you're never going to feel stretched out because he's going to supply the strength that you need in order to continue doing it. It's an absolute slam dunk. It's a home run. It's a hole in one because God desires to be glorified.

And therefore, he has he he has set this pathway up in order to be glorified. And I don't know if you've noticed yet in the Bible, but God wins every single time. He wins every single time. So if he's communicating to you and me right now, I've given you a gift. It's by the Holy Spirit and it's going to provide the strength that you need to exercise it and it's going to lead to other people coming to know and glorify God. That's a win.

He's telling us right now, exercise it, live in it, walk in it, steward it, manage it, which also might mean that we still have to grow in it as well. We got to grow in it. All right? Like I I do believe that God has provided for me the gift of teaching and preaching, but you should see some of the sermons 20 20 years ago. You should see some of the sermons 20 months ago. This is a lifelong stewarding process where we are growing in the gift that he has provided to us as we are staying anchored to Christ.

Because again, where does it come from? Through Jesus Christ in order that in everything God may be glorified through him. Through him. Therefore, the highest aim of ministry, the highest aim of ministry, of serving is not your title or position. It's not your success, is not praise from others. Honestly, it's not even church growth.

The highest aim is making sure that all those things point to one thing, God's glory. God's glory. Because I'll tell you this, that's the happiest place you'll ever be. That's the happiest place you'll ever be when you're doing everything for God's glory. And it's not even just what's in the church. If you're thinking, "Okay, well, yeah, I come and I sing for God's glory.

I teach for God's glory. I do hospitality for God's glory." Well, guess what? 1 Corinthians 10:31 also tells us whether you eat or drink or whatever you do. Do it all for the glory of God. So this is this is all of life.

It's all of Christ for all of life. That's what he's called us to. And that's the happiest place to be. It's the happiest place to be. It's the most joyful place to be because it's the one place that nothing else can intervene. and alter the experience that we feel and enjoy in that moment.

So when we are eating and drinking for the glory of God, I don't know, maybe this is why I've never had a bad hamburger is because I don't know, I bless it. I just I'm thankful to God that I get to eat a hamburger, but I enjoy hamburgers. And so I've never had a bad hamburger. And you're like, I got a place. take me to that place and I'll try it and I'll tell you, man, to God be the glory. It was a good hamburger.

When you do all things for the glory of God, nothing can nothing can bother you other than sin that robs him of glory. And so, show me where that sinful hamburger is, and I'll say, "Y'all aren't cooking this for the glory of God." But when we do things for the glory of God, man, it's just the best there is. You're the best employee. You're the best husband. You're the best spouse.

You're the best wife. You're the best father. You're the best mother. You're the best hospitality person. You're the best singer. You're the best teacher, preacher.

You're the best slide clicker, John. You're just you're doing it for the glory of God. Man, it's the most freeing place to be on the planet when it's not about you. Because when it's about you and it doesn't go well, insecurities flood in. I'm not measuring up. Something's wrong with me.

And God's trying to say, "It was never about you. It was never meant to be about you. It's about me. Do it for my glory. Do it for my glory." I'm telling you right now, your life, and I'm not even talking about your circumstances.

It doesn't mean your bank account's going to go up. It doesn't mean you're going to have that child you've been longing for for so long. It doesn't mean that relationships are immediately going to be reconciled. It doesn't mean that the car is miraculously going to not have a flat tire. It doesn't mean that the circumstances are going to get better. But what it does mean is that your life infinitely gets better because you are treasuring Christ and everything is about him and nothing here can rob you because in Christ you have everything that you need.

You have everything that you need. Even so much that if this world takes your life from you, all they've done is fasttracked your process to getting to heaven, receiving your inheritance, and getting to glorify God for all eternity. and enjoying all that he has for you, all that he has for you. And so come Lord Jesus, come because you are infinitely better than anything this world has to offer. And therefore, I will make sure that I do everything in my life by your power, by your spirit to glorify you in all things because that's the good place. And I believe that's why that's why Peter cannot help himself when he finishes this verse with a doxology.

To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. When they when when the scripture writers burst out in these doxologies as they are writing this by the inspired Holy Spirit, they are realizing this is not from man. This is only from God. This is so amazing. We can't help but worship.

We can't help but worship. And I need you to remember that this is written sometime between 62 and 64 AD. And history tells us that Peter was in prison during this time and then crucified upside down around 64 AD. His circumstances are not very good. And yet he's writing as if he's the happiest man on earth. The happiest man on earth.

To close us out, theology rightly declared in word and rightly displayed in deed should produce worship from us towards God through Jesus Christ. And the beauty is that as we are doing it, as we are rightly declaring it, as we are rightly displaying it, others who don't know Jesus have an opportunity to follow him. And maybe for the first time, they have an opportunity to see him and to see what he has accomplished for them through his son Jesus Christ. His life that he lived that that we can't live. I don't know if you're continuing to try to do it in your own strength, but it ain't going to work out for you. And he's saying Jesus has come to live the law of God to earn the righteousness that God demands in order for us to be in relationship with him.

And because we are unrighteous, Jesus comes and takes our unrighteousness and goes to the cross and dies in our place. He substitutes himself for you. No one has ever displayed the truth or has declared the truth and displayed the deed better than Jesus himself. than Jesus himself. In don't waste your life, a book written by John Piper, he once said this, "God created me and you to live with a single all embracing all transforming passion, namely a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of our life. All the spheres of our life.

Church, you've been given a gift. Steward that gift. Serve one another with it so that God might be glorified. The happiest Christians aren't those who are consumed with themselves. They're the ones who have discovered that the Holy Spirit has gifted them to spend their lives making making much of Jesus by serving others. That's where joy lives.

That's where grace is dispensed. And that's where God is glorified. And it's all possible through Jesus Christ. We are to be like the one who came not to be served but to serve. We are to be like him. But before we go out and spend ourselves for others, we come to this table and we remember that Jesus first spent himself for us.

It's the fuel that we need that the spirit supplies the strength as we remember what Christ accomplished so that you and I could be here in worship of Jesus. Because on that night when he was betrayed, Jesus didn't he didn't just talk about serving others. He broke bread. He poured the cup. He washed feet. And the next day, he offered his own body as the bread and his own blood as the cup.

So that sinners like us could not just have our feet washed, but have our entire lives washed clean of the sin that we committed. And we're washed white as snow. We're now able to be in the presence of God because he no longer looks at us as sinners. He looks at us as saints because Christ takes our unrighteousness away from us and he gives us his righteousness. He gives us what's necessary to be in God's presence. To be in God's presence.

Let's bow our heads this morning. Father, right now I ask that there might be a person in this room who has never believed in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. They might know some facts about Jesus. They might know some some points about Jesus, but they don't know Jesus. And this might be a moment right now where the father has drawn them close by the power of the spirit. And they're seeing for the first time with clear eyes that Jesus Christ lived the life they could not live for themselves or even are trying to right now.

And because they've missed the mark, we actually deserve death. We deserve hell. But yet Jesus also went to the cross to pay our penalty, to pay our judgment, to serve our sentence in our place. And maybe they're believing that now for the first time. And you are miraculously transforming their heart right now to stop living life for themselves, but to begin living it for you, to glorify you in all things. And I pray right now if there is a person in this room who for the first time is understanding what Jesus has done for them and wants to bend their knee to him and serve him and submit to him and [music] love him for all eternity by following Jesus and treasuring Jesus above all.

If there's someone in this room right now who feels that, who's that's pressed on their soul, would you raise your hand? Amen. Amen. Father, we thank you so much for your goodness to us. We thank you for your son Jesus and all that he's accomplished. It's in Jesus's [music] beautiful name that we pray.

Amen. Would you all please stand with me? We're going to partake of something that we call the Lord's supper, communion. There is nothing magical or or special in regarding to to the elements that are up here. It's bread that we baked and it's juice from meer around the corner. But it's what we remember in this moment.

It's remembering that Jesus as he's passing that bread around to his disciples at that final supper, he's breaking [music] it and sharing it with them. And that's exactly what he did [music] on the next night. He broke his body and he shed his blood. He broke his [music] body and he shed his blood. And we thank him as Christians [music] who believe in Jesus for the work that he accomplished the way he served us. We thank him by partaking of this [music] together as a church in worship of Jesus just as Peter tells us to do.

that we glorify God through Jesus Christ. It's all about him. [music] It's all about Jesus. And so if whether you've made that profession of faith 50 years ago to follow Jesus and trust in him or you made that profession of faith two minutes ago to [music] follow Jesus, I invite you to come down to grab the elements, bring them back to your seat, and at the end of the song, we will then partake together [music] as a church. Come on down. Come, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and soul.

Jesus ready to save you. full of pity, love and power. And I will rise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms and [music and singing] arms. Oh, there are 10 [music] Come ye thirsty. Come ye thirsty.

Come and welcome God's reounting glorify true repentance. Every grace God brings unise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms and in the arms of my dear. There are [music] 10,000. Come you come [singing] you weavst [music] and ruined by the fall. And if you to [music] your bed, you will never come at [singing] all.

I will arise. I will arise [music] and go to Jesus. He will [music] embrace me in his arms and in the arms of