Sacrificial Living Pt 5

Several weeks ago, several days
ago. Paul opens up this 12th chapter
of. Romans. With a very practical
exhortation that is the flavor of this chapter and really of
the entire rest of the book that. Rest of. The epistle here of
Romans is practical in nature. Paul begins though with. With each individual’s heart
when he starts here in Romans chapter one and says I urge you
therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies.
This is an individual exercise. This is a not a group effort. Not a churchwide effort. This
starts with each individual believer. I urge you to present your bodies
a living and holy sacrifice. We saw that there was a command
that was given. We saw the way of that sacrifice
was by the mercies of God. We saw the nature of that sacrifice,
a living and holy sacrifice, a sacrifice that ultimately would
be acceptable to God. But it was the purpose of that
sacrifice that was quite noteworthy that it was said to be our spiritual
service of worship that all of life for a Christian becomes
an active worship. All of life becomes an attempt
to glorify God based on what he has done in and through our
lives. Paul builds upon that idea And
essentially begins to tell us how that is to be done. How are
we to worship God? How are we to be able to present
our bodies a living and holy sacrifice? He addresses that
in the second verse. In verse two, he says, Do not
be conformed to this world. That’s the preparation, but be
transformed. That’s the clear call that Paul
issues that we are to be transformed By the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good
and acceptable and perfect. Well, Paul lays the groundwork
and he’s talking to the church, as we saw several weeks ago,
I pointed out that this is sacrificial living, but it’s done in the
context of a church, the local church and in the verses that
follow. That’s where it will become more
and more evident That what Paul is talking about here is a new
life that’s evident to all. It’s a constant means of worship
before God, and it’s done by means of a changed pattern of
thinking. But it. It flows out in the context
of the local church. That’s where verse 3. Begins. And if you would, let’s take
it in its entirety so that you can see the flow of Paul’s thought.
Verse one, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God
to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable
to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the
grace given to me, I say to every man among you not to think more
highly of himself than he ought to think. But to think so as
to have sound judgment as God is allotted to each a measure
of faith for just as we have many members in one body and
all the members do not have the same function. So we who are
many are one body in Christ and individually members. of one
another, and since we have gifts that differ according to the
grace given to us, let let each exercise them accordingly. If
prophecy according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his
serving or he who teaches in his teaching or he who exhorts
in his exhortation or he who gives with liberality, he who
leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. It’s in the context of the local
church that will begin our life of worship before God that will
most reveal the transformation of our minds. Nothing more stands
in the way, though, than the diversity of giftedness. That’s
what Paul wants to address in verse three. It’s not that the
gifts are bad, but it’s that this diversity tends to pop up
some. deep laid others. It tends to
promote a judgmental spirit in some and a wishfulness of other
giftedness and others. Paul says that pride and humility
are going to press in. They are going to try to conform
you. That your view of the gifts that
God has given to you is really a A potential recipe for disaster. Based on how you receive and
appropriate appropriate those gifts. We began last Lord’s Day
with several weeks ago rather with a consideration of the destructive
nature of pride. The destructive nature of pride
that begins in the heart and then begins to ooze forth. And
it really destroys almost everything that it touches. Peter addressed
it, James addressed it, Paul addressed it. This arrogant sinfulness. That ultimately issues forth
chaos, Paul addressed it to the Corinthians and the superiority
of gifts, a passage which we addressed several weeks ago,
Paul addressed pride with the Galatians, Paul addressed pride
with the Ephesians and the one and others. Paul addressed pride
with the Philippians, a verse that we’ll come back to again
this morning. Paul addressed pride in the family
and in his address to the Colossians and the Thessalonians. Paul addressed
pride. Paul addressed it in the epistles
to Timothy and Titus. Pride is one of those things
that is that must be eradicated, that must be dealt with. And
Paul points to this very clear link, it’s not like Paul just
takes up an entirely new subject. He basically says, if we are
going to offer up a sacrifice to God that is holy. And living
it is our lives that we offer to God, if it is to be acceptable. Then we must be transformed,
and if we are going to be transformed, He says, for through the grace
of God. I say to every man among you not to think more highly
of himself, that’s the first means of transformation. Humility
of mind, humility of heart. And Paul. Issues forth this command
in two different ways, he gave us a positive version and he
gave us a negative version. And he’s addressed it, as we
noted a couple of weeks ago, he’s addressed it to everybody.
To every man among you. Now I pointed out several weeks
ago he’s not talking only to the male humans of the bodies
talking to every person because every person has an inherent
problem with pride. But as I said Paul issues forth
this command both positively and negatively. He says. I say to every man among you
not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. That’s
the negative aspect of the command, but to think so as to have sound
judgment. We left off here last Lord’s
Day not to think. More highly of himself. Than
he ought to think, as we learned several weeks ago, it’s a play
on words. He uses the same word or a form thereof four different
times. It’s as if Paul said. Not to
overthink beyond what it behooves us to think, but to think so
as to become sober thinking, that’s essentially a very literal
translation of Paul’s play on words. The Christian is not To
overestimate himself, the Christian is not to overestimate his own
importance, to overestimate his own giftedness, to overestimate
his usefulness to God. The Christian is not to do that.
The Christian is not to have a high view of himself and note
that it says not to think more highly of himself. It’s not that
the Christian is unimportant because God has set his love
upon him. God has not only saved him but
he has gifted the Christian individual. God does have a place for us
in his economy. God does desire to use us. God doesn’t need us but God in
his sovereign choice has chosen to utilize each one of us and
it says that he’s gifted each one of us as we’ll see in a moment.
We were to have a humble opinion of ourselves. But here he addresses
the negative and we spent no little time pondering this issue
not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. I issued
that little quip that I came across years ago. Everybody likes
somebody. Everybody likes somebody who’s
important. Everybody likes somebody. Some even like a nobody. Some
of us condescend to the lowly of the world who don’t seem to
mean anything to anybody. Everybody likes a somebody, some
even like a nobody. But nobody likes a nobody who
thinks he’s a somebody. The problem is that describes
the vast majority of people, right? That describes more people
than we are even comfortable considering. And as we began
to look In the pages of Scripture, they just come one after the
other, don’t they? Adam thought more highly of himself
than he ought to. Cain, Job, ultimately in the
end, was rebuked for thinking more highly of himself than he
ought to think. Korah had a pretty fond affection
for his own opinions and self. King Saul, David, even King David. Uzziah, in a fascinating account
that was accomplishing great things for the Lord. And it says
that he was marvelously helped until he was strong. That’s the
biggest fear, isn’t it? The proverb writer says, give
me just enough, not too much that I become proud and not too
little that I should steal. Pride should be a more fearful
sin than even theft. because it’s so blinding. Jonah
was proud. We saw we took a peek at Jonah. The king of Assyria was proud.
Nebuchadnezzar. It’s not shouldn’t surprise us
that heathens, even if their kings are proud. As we glide
into the New Testament, pride doesn’t abate. In fact, it even
picks up if possible. The Pharisees were proud. That
shouldn’t surprise us. The Samaritans, surprisingly,
were proud. They refused to receive Jesus,
even to give him the need of groceries and a greeting. The
sad thing is, then it begins to touch those who profess faith
in Christ. Peter was proud. Jesus said in Matthew, Chapter
16, But he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the
elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised
again on the third day. Peter took him aside and began
to rebuke him. Now, we often make fun of Peter,
we, you know, tongue in cheek, oh, Peter, you know, Peter is
more like us than anybody. Right. I think that’s why God
preserves so many of those of those episodes in the pages of
Scripture, because he says what we think. He just had the courage,
if you will, to say it. Peter wasn’t alone in his pride. James and John remember this
one. We I think we closed with this one. I don’t know if they sent their
mother. I suppose if I was going to do this that’s what I would
do. Send mom you know let her run interference for me. The
mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with their sons
bowing down at least physically making a request of him. He said
to her, what you wish, she said, commanded in your kingdom, these
two sons of mine may sit one on your right and one on your
left. But Jesus said, you do not know what you’re asking,
and then he turns to the two young men, right? Are you able? That’s who really was interested
in this transaction anyway, right? Jesus just cuts to the quick.
He doesn’t address the mom at all. He turns to the two boys.
Are you able to drink to the cup that I’m about to drink?
Now, the amazing thing is we don’t have the physical picture,
but you can almost you can almost imagine them looking to one.
What do you think? Yeah, sure. Yes, we are, Jesus. Sign us up. No wonder that brought about
An indignant response by the rest of the apostles, because
they too were proud. How dare you ask for number one?
I had my own sights set on it. The apostles were proud. Two amazing scenes recorded in
the Book of Luke, Luke 9, 46, an argument started among them
as to which of them might be the greatest. No, I’m better. No, I’m better. No, I’m the greatest.
No, I’m the greatest. And then it’s repeated. It’s
repeated again in Luke chapter 22. There arose a dispute among
them as to which one of them was to be regarded the greatest. Don’t think that it stopped with
the apostles. It didn’t. Don’t think that it stopped even
in the pages of Scripture. That’s Paul’s point. Don’t think
more highly of yourselves than you ought to think. It carried
forward into the book of Acts. Do you remember Ananias and Sapphira? They had a pretty fond affection
for their own selves and opinions. While others were making these
magnanimous gifts, Ananias and Sapphira gave a pretend gift.
They sold a piece of land. No one told them to sell it.
They brought forth money and they held back a portion. They
didn’t. They didn’t have to give anything,
but they pretended as if they were giving it all and they weren’t.
And there were many others from the pages of the gospel. Zacharias,
John the Baptist’s own father at the news of his wife’s pregnancy.
He had a pretty fond, pretty high view of himself to think
that he knew better than Gabriel the angel. Herod the Great at
the news of the coming king. Pretty high view of himself.
Nicodemus sneaking around at night. Martha, no help in the
kitchen. The rich young ruler at the very
idea of giving up his great wealth. He had too high a view of himself.
Judas. No surprise there. Pilot. Herod
Antipas. John Mark. John Mark. Very simple recording. This is
Barnabas’s cousin. We don’t even know any details.
It just says in Acts chapter 13 Paul and his companions put
out to sea from Paphos. and came to Perga and Pamphylia.
But John left them and returned to Jerusalem. No more details
given. And we wouldn’t have any other idea that this was unseemly. Except that it’s. Brought up
again in Chapter 15. In Acts Chapter 15, Paul kept
insisting that they should not take with him he who had deserted
them. That was Paul’s view of the situation. that John Mark had a higher view
of himself than he ought to have had and thought that he was more
important than the ministry, the gospel ministry. And if things
didn’t go his way or that maybe things were too difficult, he
was just going to go home. Now, how would you like this?
Paul writes a letter to the Philippians and he says, you know what, I’ve
heard about this quibble between you two ladies, and I’m going
to put your names down in scripture for all time. How would you like
that? Euodia and Syntyche. How would
you like that for all time? Help these women. They got some
kind of problem, some kind of argument. They think too highly
of themselves, at least one of them, if not both. Diatropes, he had a pretty high
view of himself, didn’t he? John addresses it in The third
epistle, when he says, I wrote something to the church, but
Diocrates, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what
we say. It’s pride, pride stood in the
way, pride stood in the way of a man named Demas, Demas, having
loved this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.
I don’t know whether his problem was the same as John Marks or
the rich young ruler, but there was something about the appeal
of the world. And he loved himself more than
he loved the ministry of the gospel. It shouldn’t surprise
us that false teachers think highly of themselves. Second
Peter says this, many will follow their sensuality. It’s all about
them. It’s all about feeding their
lusts and their desires. Many will follow their sensuality
because of them, the way of truth will be maligned and in their
greed, they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment
from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.
They love themselves, they think more highly of themselves than
they ought to think. Paul says in Second Timothy that
in the last day there will be hordes of these people, hordes
of them realize this and in the last days, difficult times will
come for men will be lovers of self. Isn’t that the day and
age in which we live, where people just That’s the source of all
problems. People think more highly of themselves
than they ought to think. That same section, just a few
verses later, Paul says the time will come when they who is they? It’s people in the church, people
professing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, people that attend
church and sit in pews week in and week out. That’s what chapter
four is talking about, and that’s frightening. The time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine. They’ve got a higher
view of themselves and they deserve better. So they think. But wanting
to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves
teachers in accordance with their own desires. They want what they
want. No. Friends, the only way. The only
way to avoid all of those pitfalls and and they are manifold all
if you consider all of those and all of the different ways
in which their pride was exposed and all of the different ways
in which they reaped. Judgment for that pride. The
only way to avoid it is to cultivate a heart of humility. The only
way to avoid that is to consider really and truly who we are before
Christ. Paul wrote to the Philippians,
have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus,
if there was anyone ever to emulate in this, it’s Christ. who, although
he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with
God a thing to be grasped, but he humbled himself, taking the
form of a bondservant, being made in the likeness of men,
being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself.” We’re
too proud. We think too highly of ourselves.
And Paul says that will destroy ministry. That will destroy the
usefulness of the Gospel In our midst, it will destroy the usefulness,
the effectiveness of the gospel in our community. We cannot possibly
reach out if we’re quibbling and fighting and destroying one
another. Can’t possibly do it. What do
we have to offer to a world that is already in chaos? If we, too,
beginning in the heart of hearts. Are in conflict. You see, every Christian. Every
one of you, me included. You have to realize the limit
of your giftedness. You have to realize your purpose
in any Christian fellowship into which you enter. That God has
placed you there and he’s placed you there with a gift package,
a certain ability, God given, that is meant to be used in this
place as long as he has you here. And you have to not only realize
the limit of your own gifts, you don’t have all of the gifts. You don’t have everything that
it takes to minister and function within a church. No one does. One of my favorite tricks is
whenever I get a hot shot on the baseball field, whenever
I get a guy who really thinks he’s all that, I say, how would
you how would you like to go against? I’ll pick any nine.
How would you like to face any nine? Well, they quickly begin
to reason through the prospect of trying to even it literally
would have to hit a home run every time he came up to bat
to even be able to fare and you’d have to pitch a perfect game.
Wouldn’t work. We have to constantly realize
that we’re one among many. We’re part of what God has within
the local church. And then given that we have to
realize the gifts that God has given to others and how rich
they are for the church and how useful and necessary that we
can’t do this alone. And it’s foolish to try. You have to remember that we’re part
of a small or a small part of what God is doing in any local
church and that God has given these gifts and whether he’s
given us a great many of them. Or whether he’s given us great
gifts or even a small measure of small gifts. It’s been given
by God’s sovereign hand, it’s been given for his purposes and
we are to use them accordingly. One pastor said, no matter how
well grounded we may be in God’s word, and some of us are very
well grounded. No matter how well grounded we
may be in God’s word, how theologically sound we may be, or how vigorously
we may seek to serve him, our gifts will not operate so that
our lives may be spiritually productive until pride is set
aside. Did you hear what he said? It
doesn’t matter how great your gifts are. Peter was useless
until Christ, in his graciousness, humbled him to the core, right?
And then Peter, I don’t know how many were with us, but when
we began to preach first Peter, I spent three weeks on one word,
Peter. I called him the gospel of the
grace changed life. That’s what the epistle of Peter
is, because you can’t look at the Peter of the Gospels and
then look at the Peter that wrote first Peter and even think that
they’re the same persons. And to a degree, they’re not.
It was a grace changed life that wrote first Peter. See, once we begin to come to
grips. With the fact that all gifts come from God and they’re
for his purposes and that God alone in his sovereignty is the
one that determines who receives which gift. Only then will we
begin to humble ourselves. To be used by God for his glory.
That’s the negative. I say to every man among you
not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. But Paul
also issues a positive command blended with that. But to think
so as to have sound judgment. Sound judgment is a cool word.
It’s a it’s a really neat word in the scriptures. It is it is
a habit of mind. It is a way of thinking, and
it doesn’t come easily and it doesn’t come without the grace
of God. But as we begin to cultivate reality, as we begin to really
think on who we are in Christ and who God is and who my brothers
and sisters in Christ are. It is a habit of mind that really
begins to come to grips with the realities of who we are in
Christ. And it doesn’t have an overly
high view of oneself, and it doesn’t have an overly low view
of oneself. It has a realistic view that
we are sinners before God and that by His grace alone, He has
reached down and saved us. And He’s gifted us the amazing
thing. He’s gifted us and made us to be useful to the church,
the highest institution in all of God’s creation. Word is used of elders. Elders
are to have sound judgment. Four times in the book of Titus,
Chapter two, it’s used used of older men used of young older
women, it’s used of the younger women, younger men, it’s it just
is it rolls off Paul’s pen so easily that we’re all really
supposed to be sound minded. We’re supposed to exercise sober
judgment. And it’s translated many different
ways in various translations sound mind right mind sober minded
be discreet. But the word itself literally
means to be in one’s right mind it’s to think correctly to think
accurately. And in a sense somebody who is
arrogant. Somebody who is just as we saw
in Herod and Nebuchadnezzar, if they’re thinking more highly
of themselves than they ought to think, it’s not just that
they’re conceited. They’re out of their mind. That’s exactly what Nebuchadnezzar
said. Give you an example. Mark 15 or 515. They came to
Jesus and observed the man, remember the Garrison demoniac, they observed
the man who had been demon possessed, sitting down, clothed and in
his right mind, same word. So that as we begin to function.
And we begin to get this pretty high view, you know what? I am
God’s gift to the church, right? You know what? I pretty much
have it all. We are outside of our mind. We
are not thinking correctly, we are not exercising good judgment
and discretion and common sense. We don’t want to be frivolous
about everything that we do, we want to be serious and discreet,
and the word also brings in those elements. We don’t want to just
be flippant about the life in which we find ourselves. One pastor said it this way,
the sensible person is in command of his mind. He has control of
the things he thinks about and does. He does not allow circumstances
or the immorality or foolishness of others to distract him and
gain his attention and interest. It is serious mindedness. We’re to think soberly. We’re
to think sanely. were to have a right estimation
of ourselves before God and of the gifts that God has given
us. And if it’s a correct assessment,
it’s going to be a humble assessment, isn’t it? Because if you think
back to Christian life, it isn’t just salvation. The Christian
life is all of grace. How did you wake up this morning?
How did you purpose to come and to come into worship of Almighty
God, it was by grace wasn’t just of your salvation. It’s all of grace every day,
every moment. We begin to recognize. That we are nothing but sinners
before God. And that we deserved his judgment,
but God in his mercy reached down and he saved us. for his
own purpose. And not only did he save us,
but he called us to himself and he gifted us. He sent us back
out and said, go be useful for the sake of my kingdom. And he
bestowed gifts on us. And he didn’t look at us and
say, boy, you know, I’ve really got something here. I’ve got
to just give him a little help. There was nothing in us. Nothing
in us that commended us to him. No human potential that he saw. No talent that God looked upon
and saw, man, if I could only get him on my team, that’s foolish
thinking. One pastor said it this way,
the grace and humility whereby a Christian has a low estimate
of himself flowing from the sense of his own sinfulness and of
the undeserved goodness of God by which he is inclined to prefer
others before himself not desiring more esteem from others than
God allows him and accepts humbly chastisements from God as less
than what he deserves. Did you hear that? Whenever we’re
rebuked, don’t we have this tendency? You know what, Lord, I don’t
deserve this. OK, maybe it’s just me. So here’s how here’s
how it goes, I get to seminary, right, and I was all alone, unmarried
at the time. And I drove my little Nissan
car out there, Datsuns, maybe they were called back then. And
I get out there and the car begins to falter, break down. And I
don’t even think I had taken a single course yet of seminar.
I’m there getting ready, looking for a place to live. And I’m
looking up to the heavens saying, God, really? This is what I get
for intending to serve you? This is what I get? OK, it’s
only me. We do it all the time, don’t
we? Then when life deals us a difficult hand, when some difficulty comes
our way. This is this the way you’re treating
me, your servant. What enables us, what allows
us to have a proper view of ourselves? What what enables us not to think
more highly of ourselves than we ought to think? What enables
us to have sound judgment? It’s the grace of God, and that’s
what Paul closes with here in this verse. for through the grace
given to me. He said it was up true of him
before he ever said it to anyone else through the grace given
to me. I say to every man among you not to think more highly
of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound
judgment. As each has allotted to as God
is allotted to each a measure of faith. See, he’s already pointed out
that every person. has need of humility. And he
points out that every person has a measure of faith. Every
person that God has ever given a gift to, for any reason, He
has also given them the faith, the measure of grace that enables
them to use that gift for God and for His purposes in God’s
way. Look down at the passage. It
says God has allotted. We don’t like that, do we? We
like to think that, you know what, if I really wanted to go
up front and open up, I could do that. If I really wanted to
start a ministry, I could. I could. I just don’t want to. That’s how we function, right? It’s not true. Gifts come from
God. Ability comes from God. It is
divine enablement. And here it says it more clearly
than almost anywhere else in Scripture. God is allotted. God has given to you. He has
dealt and distributed to you the means of grace, the means
of carrying out these ministries. It means to divide, to deal out,
to dole out. God is the one that gives to
each a measure of faith, and if God has given you the gifts
to serve the church, he’s given you the faith The faith necessary
to do it his way. Paul points here. To the spiritual
power. That really enables us as Christians
to live out before God’s world and for the sake of God’s kingdom,
our giftedness in the way that he would have us to exercise
it. He points to the fact he alludes. here really to the fact
that every one of us has been gifted. Every one of us has received
these spiritual gifts. Ephesians 4 Paul says it very
clearly there to each one of us. Grace was given according
to the measure of Christ’s gift. Each one of us has a gift package
and they’re very different, very unique for each person. Some
of us have been given the gift of great patience. Obviously,
not all of us, right? Some of us have been given great
insight. Some of us have been given just
the uncanny ability to come alongside other believers and just to encourage
them. Some of us have been given the
ability to look into the scriptures and to see clearly what’s written
there and to communicate it to others, but not all. Point here. Is that what he’s
talking about here is that it’s a standard of measure. It’s an
it that God apportions it out. And it’s not the same for every
person, but if he gives you the gift, he gives you the means
to use that gift for God’s glory. One pastor wrote every member
of the church. Is to think of himself. Soberly. Measuring himself by the standard
which God has given him in his faith, a standard which forces
him to concentrate his attention on those things in which he is
caught on part pardon me on which he is precisely on the same level
as his fellow Christians, rather on those things in which he may
be either superior or inferior to them. What is that? What are those things that have
that are our common ground. We are sinners that have been
saved by grace and we are gifted and equipped purely by God’s
grace. The simple fact he goes on of the existence of faith
is admission of his dependence on his commitment to Jesus Christ
when they measure themselves by the standard which God has
given them in their faith. Then they achieve a sober and
true estimate of themselves. Sinners. by the judgment of the
cross and also the objects of God’s undeserved and triumphant
mercy in Jesus Christ. That’s our common ground. And
that’s what we ought to dwell on. That’s what we ought to focus
on, not on the differences, not on how some are superior to others
or so they think. God is the one that has distributed
his gifts and his graces, and they’re to be used for his glory,
not our own ever. to safeguard against pride. Friends,
and as we come to the Lord’s table, would you just meditate
on those things for a few moments? We just meditate on what it means
what God is communicating to you when it says not to think
more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Where are
those areas where you have begun to either have a disdain for
others? Or maybe a frustration that you
weren’t given the same particular gift? Where are those areas where
you have not yet achieved a sound judgment? A sober-minded thinking
about yourself? What God is seeking to do in
this verse is align the giftedness that He has already gifted you
with the faith that is necessary to exercise those gifts. Can
you imagine what the church would be if it was filled with people
who had done that? Who began to flourish and function
in the way God had put them together for his glory? Would you meditate
on those things? Bow your heads if you would. Oh Lord God, we humble ourselves
before you. And Lord, we know that we did
not even deserve to be saved. But then not only to know that
Christ paid our full penalty on the cross, but that in looking
up with tear streaked faces, you look to us and called us
your children and gifted Us to serve you in
this church. Oh Lord, how we ought to wake
up every morning with gratitude. With a passion in our hearts
to serve you in a new way. With a new heart, renewed vigor
every day. Father, would you stir up our
faith? Would you bring our faith into
alignment? With the gifts that you’ve bestowed
upon the saints of this body? That we would. begin to function
in a brand new way, as if never before. We would do so for Your
glory, that we would do so with vigor and compassion and a heartfelt
desire to see Christ introduced to our community. Father, we
thank You and we praise You in Jesus’ name, Amen.