Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This morning when you were getting yourself ready to come here, I imagine that you found yourself in front of a mirror, or at least hoping you did.
[00:00:10] Maybe that was while you're brushing your teeth or fixing your hair or lack thereof.
[00:00:16] But maybe it was in the rear view mirror in your car. But at some point you probably looked at yourself.
[00:00:22] And I want to ask really honestly, when you looked in that mirror, what did you see?
[00:00:28] Who was looking back at you?
[00:00:31] And did you like that person that was staring at you?
[00:00:35] You know, much has been made in our culture about self esteem, about how we view ourselves, how we feel about ourselves, how we even measure ourselves compared to others.
[00:00:44] And I'm sure you're also really well aware that there are countless voices competing, telling us who we are, whether that be media or social media or the news or our performance, our successes, our failures, even maybe our body image, maybe the achievements that we have or wish we would have achieved, or maybe the relationships we have or wish we had.
[00:01:05] All of them are offering a verdict, all of them telling us what we should think of ourselves.
[00:01:10] And for most of us, the temptation of our lives will be this swing, this pendulum between self exaltation or self deprecation.
[00:01:20] One is to view yourself too highly or to kind of feeling myself too much, right? Or maybe on the other side beating yourself up so you see yourself for what you think you are or what is not there.
[00:01:32] But what we're gonna see this morning. This is not a modern problem.
[00:01:36] This is a very human problem.
[00:01:39] It's something that Paul is gonna address as we continue here in Romans 12 this morning. Last week, Bob did a great job challenging us how we to identify these areas of our lives that we have yet to surrender to God, right? I mean, you created a list last year, last week, that was the challenge that Bob gave you. And we do this not so we can feel better about ourselves or to just wallow in. Oh man, there's all this room for me to grow, but really the whole emphasis is to become a living sacrifice. That's what Paul says in Romans 12, right? That there would be this renewing of our minds. And what we're gonna see is that these next few verses is the how.
[00:02:16] It's the first thing coming out of that. This is what Paul's going to say, how that looks. How does gospel transformation look? How does it take place? How does our mind actually get renewed? Well, let's look in Romans 12, starting in verse 3. It'll be on the screen as well.
[00:02:31] Paul says this, for by the grace given Me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed each of you. One thing I want you to notice really quickly is this word for. It's the first word there obviously, but Paul is connecting it to the verses 1 and 2. So in other words, he's saying this is how renewal begins. What I'm about to tell you is how renewal begins, how gospel transformation takes place. It's how we become living sacrifices.
[00:03:04] And what Paul says is the very. So I think the next thing he says is very important for us.
[00:03:09] He says the first step, the first step off that diving board for is this. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.
[00:03:18] Another word for that might be humility.
[00:03:24] Humility. Now that's a lot easier said than done, right? Because we don't just simply avoid arrogant attitudes, right? That's like it's some kind of processed sugar that we shouldn't partake in, right?
[00:03:36] Right. How many of you this week woke up and you like, I want to be arrogant this week, Maybe some of you, but I rarely believe some of you did, or most of us in this room. You know, if I just say just be humble, you might be like, awesome.
[00:03:50] How do I do that? Right? Simply, it's not just, how's that work? I might ask you this question, how's that working out for you? Just trying to be humble.
[00:03:58] It's not working out great for me. Even my best efforts or, or intentions are not enough.
[00:04:03] So somewhere within this line, Paul is hinting to what does that look like? And Paul isn't saying in this line, don't think about yourself. A more accurate way to think about this word think is to not overthink yourself. It's almost what Paul's saying in the Greek. It's like, don't overthink yourself or view yourself rightly is how he's trying to say it.
[00:04:25] How do we view ourselves honestly?
[00:04:28] How many of you view ourselves clearly? And he uses this word, even this language of sober judgment.
[00:04:34] Now I know, just oblige me. Journey Church. I know y' all are God fearing people, but what's the opposite of sober?
[00:04:41] Say it out loud.
[00:04:42] Drunk. Yeah, okay, I know you know nothing about that. Okay?
[00:04:46] You don't even know what I'm talking about.
[00:04:48] But sober, the opposite of sober is drunk, right? So when someone is intoxicated, they know no longer perceive reality correctly, do they? Their judgment is impaired, their perspectives have become distorted. And Paul is saying something here that is startling that you may already know to be true, that the human heart can become intoxicated not just by alcohol in the bloodstream, but with self.
[00:05:17] We become intoxicated with ourself. And what I mean by that is some of us in this room, I know it to be true because it's a human issue. And I'm not blaming you or. Or con condemning you, but I know for the fact that some of us in this room have become intoxicated with our accomplishments, haven't we?
[00:05:33] But we've also become intoxicated with our failures.
[00:05:38] Maybe some of us were in toxicity with how impressive we are or how inadequate we are, but both of them, both of these things have something in common. The self remains of the center, don't they?
[00:05:51] See, and this is where I think we need to hear something very clearly. Whether we think too highly of ourselves or too poorly of ourselves, we're still making ourselves the center of the story.
[00:06:01] One looks like arrogance, yes. One looks like insecurity, but both of them make us stare at the mirror way too long.
[00:06:09] The Bible has a word for that, and it is called pride.
[00:06:13] CS Lewis says that pride is the grandfather of all sins. And pride isn't simply just thinking too highly of yourself. It's becoming pride preoccupy with myself. See, pride turns my gaze inward, not outward.
[00:06:25] And in doing so, it curves my soul inward as well. And eventually everything gets interpreted through this lens of me, my needs, my reputation, my success, my failures, my importance, my feelings, my worth. And even as we're gonna see in this passage, my gifts.
[00:06:45] And Paul says this, and I want us to hear this. Journey church.
[00:06:48] He says to the Roman church. He says it's time to sober up and journey. If it was important for the Roman church, I think it's important for us here in Gallatin Valley in 2026. It's time for us to sober up.
[00:07:01] It's time to start seeing clearly, starting to start thinking rightly. And how.
[00:07:06] How, you might ask. Well, Paul gives us a hint, so let's continue.
[00:07:10] This is word that maybe we missed here, but Paul begins by addressing himself by the grace given to me. And I want you to highlight on this word gr.
[00:07:18] Even the great apostle Paul, with all his gifting and talent and all the spiritual gifts that he may have had of teaching and preaching and leadership and all these things. He introduces himself not as his title, but he says, for by the grace given to me, see, he's noticing that he's a recipient of that. He's not the source of it. He's been given something. Everything we get in this life, friends, it begins with grace. It's salvation is a grace, is by the grace of God our calling. Whatever that may look like is the grace of God. Forgiveness is grace. Our spiritual gifts, whatever they may be, our gift of grace.
[00:08:00] Even the very breath in our lungs this morning is grace. And this is where a fascinating word helps us understand this word. Grace can be translated if I can use this right, Charis.
[00:08:12] Charis is the Greek word behind that. And from that word you might get the word charisma.
[00:08:18] Right. In the New Testament, charisma was this idea of a grace gift. So something that was given, something you received, not something you achieved. It's a gift from God for other people. And we'll see that word pop up again in verses six and eight as we continue. But over time, when I say charisma, that's not what comes to mind, is it?
[00:08:37] No, it's that meaning has shifted over time. Today we hear charisma. We think about presence. We think about someone who has influence and magnetism, someone who stands out, someone who captures your attention. Right. Or someone who is extraordinary.
[00:08:53] And I know I'll be honest, I've been tempted to chase that or and even crumble under the weight of not having that.
[00:09:01] In many ways that mirrors the human heart, doesn't it? Right. We slowly move from man, we've received this grace from God, to then just wanting a gift that can be recognized by people.
[00:09:13] And then I attach significance to that too, saying I'm special because I have something that you don't. And that's exactly what's happening in Romans 12. This church has become intoxicated by comparing themselves to the people around them, saying I'm better than you or I'm less than you. And they're always jockeying for position and friends. That can happen to us too.
[00:09:34] See, what began as a grace became their identity. What began as a gift became a possession to be used of influence over others and began as gratitude became self definition. Paul interrupts that drift that may be happening in Rome, but he's. And he's doing it for us this morning. Don't think more highly than you ought of yourself this morning Journey church.
[00:09:53] Because the moment that grace becomes about us rather than God, then we have lost sight of the source.
[00:10:00] So can I ask you just a few sobering questions this morning?
[00:10:04] When was the last time you admitted you were wrong?
[00:10:08] When was the last time you apologized without qualification?
[00:10:14] When was the last time you Let someone else receive recognition.
[00:10:18] When was the last time you rejoiced in someone else's successes without comparing to your own?
[00:10:25] When was the last time you served without being noticed?
[00:10:30] These can be our signs of sobriety or lack thereof.
[00:10:35] Paul encourages us to be of sober judgment, right? These are signs that grace is reshaping our heart.
[00:10:41] And if it's okay, if those answers that this morning there was a tinge of like, I don't know, it's been a hot minute, right?
[00:10:48] If that's true of you, that's okay because that's actually God's grace working out in you that he is not done with you. He wants to work in you. See, I, I, I've sat with lots of people over the years and even in church we can be really compelled by saying, we man, we want great giftedness. We need gifted men and women. And man, they're just so anointed and they're amazing. And I would just say every time in scripture we see that whenever there is great gifting, there is always called to greater humility because if not great harm can be done.
[00:11:16] But Paul doesn't stop with how we just see ourselves because humility just stay focused on ourselves actually can just lead to us more self focus.
[00:11:24] So Paul widens this lens not just from the mirror but actually to the body. Let's continue on. In verse 4 it says, for just as each one of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we though many form one body, each member belonging to all the others.
[00:11:44] And Paul is moving us not from psychology to now anatomy a little bit, he's moving us and this is a really simple picture but he's saying it's one body, many parts, right? Different functions, but it's a shared life. And this, this point that he is making, it's one he uses time and time again if you spend time in scripture, Paul uses this in Romans, he uses in Ephesians and in Corinthians and it's three different churches in three different places. And he's basically making the point. They all have this human problem of starting to focus on themselves and thinking they're bigger deal than everybody else around them.
[00:12:17] I don't know if you consciously thought that this morning, but maybe you walked in here thinking I'm doing pretty good.
[00:12:23] Or maybe you're thinking you need this more than someone else and we start jockeying or man, I don't want to engage the people around us, whatever that might look like.
[00:12:30] And this point that he's making is really important. He says, you are not the sinner, you're a member.
[00:12:36] To be in Christ means we are a member, right? The eye is not the entirety of the body. A hand is not, the foot is not. Right? Each part matters because it makes up, each part contributes, each part depends on one another.
[00:12:49] And that means something incredibly freeing this morning. I hope that you'll hear this, is that you are not as self sufficient as you think you are, but you're not. You're also not expendable.
[00:13:01] You need others and others need you. The church was never designed to be this collection of spiritual freelancers, right? Like I'm just doing my Jesus thing and I'm coming in here in the dark and I don't really need anybody else in this room. That's not what it's meant to be.
[00:13:15] Jesus used the example of a body, a family, a people, a community that is held together by Christ. And notice what happens when we understand this participation in the body is actually the environment and the means that which we can combat pride.
[00:13:30] Like this room, not just on a Sunday morning, but this people that you are participating in your faith with your work, walking it out with. That's actually one of the means of grace that God's going to give us in this life to combat pride.
[00:13:44] To be needed by one another, but also to serve one or to need them and then be needed by them.
[00:13:50] You know, no one in this room actually gets to say, I don't need anybody in here. Maybe you didn't say that walking in and maybe you felt that and no one else. You also can't say, I have nothing to offer this room.
[00:14:02] See, both are forms of pride. Both are forms of grace. The grace gifting that we've received and it's meant to be distributed and we're just kind of holding onto it. Both misunderstand what it means to be part of the body, right? We're called the body of Christ for a reason.
[00:14:17] It's his church.
[00:14:18] And if Paul uses this metaphor three times in three different churches, is it possible during church that he's also speaking to us in Gallatin Valley in 2026?
[00:14:28] Like if they needed it, Journey Church needs it. Greenhouse Church will need it. And every church in this valley is going to need to hear this.
[00:14:35] We are a sum of our parts, right? We need one another in this room, whether we know it or not. We don't know everybody's stories here or not. We need each other in this room.
[00:14:46] Paul goes on to Talk about this in verse six a little bit. He says that he talks about the gifts of grace, or these lists of gifts is what he talks about here, verse six. He says we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesying in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it's teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. And a lot gets made of this passage. I think we get hyper focused. Like, even you read that and you're like, what's my gift?
[00:15:23] How am I special? Right? What's my thing? What's my superpower? Right? Like, it's human nature. You're like, which one is that? And this is not exhaustive, but Paul's making a really clear point in this. He's going to. Whatever you're gifted at, use it.
[00:15:37] Don't just let it lay dormant. And also, don't just highlight it. Being like, man, I must be great.
[00:15:41] And here's what I want to point out to you this morning. This word gift, and this word grace, every time you see that, that's actually the same word.
[00:15:50] Charis. It's the same word. So he's actually saying your gifting, whatever you're good at, whatever comes naturally to you, is actually a tangible expression of grace that probably doesn't come naturally to someone else in this room.
[00:16:02] And it's not just. And I want to hear, I'm gonna say this a couple times this morning. It's not just used for, like, Sunday mornings. Don't get this twisted of like, here comes Logan just trying to ask me to serve in base camp. I think you should. That's good. You know, my kids are benefiting from that this morning. I thank you, thank you, thank you to the men and women helping my kids this morning, those who've made coffee for us, those who are being able to put the screen, you know, those verses on the screen for us this morning. If. If any of us, even our staff, just try to do every role. It's impossible.
[00:16:29] Kevin knows I can't turn on anything in the tech booth at all. Right? You would be at Lost this morning if it was up to me about turning this thing on. I can barely turn the batteries on this mic pack here.
[00:16:40] We all have different giftings and different talents that we can bring to the table. But here's what I want you to Hear more importantly is that giftings of grace were never meant to terminate on the individual. Right? Grace flows through us. That's how God's designed his church.
[00:16:55] We don't have these things that we're good at so we can admire them. They were given so that we could use it, right? For the common good, for the health of the body, for the glory of Christ.
[00:17:04] And the temptation is to withhold that or say, I don't need everybody, or they're there to serve me and to treat it like a consumer. And that's not what the church is meant to be or to get puffed up in our abilities. And I love this story in Luke 10.
[00:17:19] I think it's one of the funniest passages in scripture, but most blunt as well. I think it just shows Jesus heart and his compassion, but also just how he directly gets to the issue. It's in Luke 10, verse 18 through 20. He sent out the 72, and they're out sharing the gospel, taking the news of God's kingdom into the world, and they come back. It says, The 72 returned with joy. Said, lord, even the demons submit to us in your name. And this is what Jesus said.
[00:17:43] I saw Satan fall like lightning from the heaven.
[00:17:46] I've given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.
[00:17:54] I hate snakes. That's a little. I don't know. That's good to hear. I wish I had that.
[00:18:00] However, do not rejoice that spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
[00:18:07] See these disciples?
[00:18:09] They're kind of puffed up. They're like, jesus, you told. Look, and I think it's actually in there. It says, they submit to us in your name. Ooh.
[00:18:19] Like they're feeling good about themselves. They're walking around going, man, I'm awesome, God. They bow down to us like demons have to flee from us because of you. And Jesus, in his just kind way, he's like, man, I was there at the beginning when Satan fell. What was Satan's first sin?
[00:18:36] Pride. His arrogance. Looking at himself going, man, I'm awesome. I deserve celebration.
[00:18:42] I deserve glory, friends. And when we start to feel that way, when, whether that or we start to loathe because we don't have something, man, that is a form of pride. And we're just living into that lie.
[00:18:53] And Jesus just says, man, just be grateful that God has given mercy to you. Then you get to be part of this.
[00:18:59] See, John 3 tells us that Jesus was the only one who received the spirit in full. Meaning that he has all the gifting, all the. All the ability in the world, right? And he's. And yet how did he use them? He served. He submitted himself to the Father to the point of death.
[00:19:17] It says in John 10, a passage I've been thinking about a lot right now, John 10:18. He says, no one takes my life from you, but I freely give it. I freely lay it down on my own accord. And he says, this is the command I received from my Father. See, Jesus knows very well. He says, I am only who I am because of what God has said about me, and I only do what he asks. And so even though he had all the ability in the world, he just was simply looking around saying, God, what would you have me do?
[00:19:44] Where would you have me to step in? Where would you have me to ask? And ultimately, that leads him to see others and value others.
[00:19:52] So, journey this morning, where are you potentially overvaluing or undervaluing your gifts this morning?
[00:20:00] In the life that you are currently living, how has God gifted you and wired you to be a blessing? Not just in this room. Hear me out. Not on a Sunday morning, but in the predominant. The majority of your life will be outside these walls.
[00:20:14] See you, friends. We are meant to belong to something bigger than ourselves. And I was reminded of that this week. I was reflecting on the chores I had as kids. Let me see the kids. Hands in here. Who has chores in here?
[00:20:27] Raise your hands.
[00:20:29] There's some adults. Raising your hands. Okay, students and kids in this room, guess what? Adults have chores, too. We just don't get, like five bucks at the end of the week for them. Okay.
[00:20:39] You just realize someone's like, I didn't got nothing. I heard that. They're like, I got nothing.
[00:20:44] Students who thinks they deserve a raise in their allowance from their chores. Let me see that. Yeah, John, I see that hand.
[00:20:50] You're like, man, I'm working good. Yeah, a lot of kids back here. Okay, So I had chores, too. Growing up.
[00:20:56] I was thinking about the list I had to do before school. And some of them are pretty simple, right? Make your bed, breakfast, put your dishes away, can't leave in the sink.
[00:21:05] And then we lived kind of on a small farm. So, you know, I had to feed animals and water them. You know, didn't matter if it was rain or shine, you know, went out. You know, it was one of those, like, you ate this morning, then you'd eat too. You know, that kind of thing. You know, from my mom and dad.
[00:21:18] But the one that I remember always perplexing me was this wood box. There was this wood box by my door that I had. We had a wood stove. And for some reason, I guess I was more gifted to be able to fill that wood box.
[00:21:32] And it wasn't my siblings, it was me. I'm the only one that had to do this. And I. I was always so confused because I was like, wait, no one's gonna be here all day. Why do I need to fill it up and then it's just gonna sit here all day? You know what I mean? Like, why does it have to be before I leave the door? You know? And me and my dad probably had some tussles about it, or I forgot, you know, God forbid. Or, you know, and I'd always make sure I filled it up. And it had to be like the lid shut closed perfectly, you know, like, it was like my dad's thing. And here's my pet peeve about that is when. When I moved out of the house, my dad was like, I don't wanna fill that up.
[00:22:06] And so he actually built a door into the wall so, like, then he could just grab the logs and was like, where was that? Where was that? In my ears, you know? And I remember asking my dad, he's like, well, you know, your brothers and sisters don't do it as well as you did. And I was like, I don't think so. You know?
[00:22:22] And here's what I didn't understand then.
[00:22:26] I just thought those chores were an interruption to my day.
[00:22:29] I thought they were just hindering what I wanted to do, right? But I didn't realize they were forming me in some way to get up and to contribute to something bigger myself. Because I wasn't the only one needed heat in the house, right? I wasn't the only one that benefited when we, you know, butchered the cows, you know, or whatever, or took care, you know, ate the eggs. It wasn't. I wasn't the only one. I was part of that, all right? But they were teaching me that life doesn't center around just Logan, that I belong to that family.
[00:22:56] And I think Paul is teaching us something similar this morning, right? The church is not a gathering of isolated individuals. It's not a collection of personal spiritual journeys happening in the same room. It's a body.
[00:23:08] And in a body, friends, the question changes not what can I get or how important I am or not. Do people notice me? But how can I serve?
[00:23:16] How can I contribute? How can I strengthen the body? Christ has placed in. Placed me in.
[00:23:23] And I just want to say this one more time. Especially with Father's Day, it's easy to think that ministry. You hear that word, ministry, and we're like, gifting. It's like always big and grandiose things. And. And God can do that. He can do amazing things in this space and in this room and doing outreaches and all that stuff. But again, I. I think God meets us where we're at, and he meets us in the mundane, and he's going to meet you on most of the hours that we're not even gathered here together. And I hope that in our time together, you can be spurred on to do good works, as scripture says, wherever God's placed you.
[00:23:56] And it's going to look like things that maybe it's not big or sexy or that gets publicity. And I was reminded of that this week when I was thinking about my friend Jerry. You know, Jerry is a contractor by trade.
[00:24:11] He loves the Lord.
[00:24:13] He raised his kids to love Jesus.
[00:24:17] He was a simple guy, you know, he's just a contractor, just trying to make it work. And he's kind of ending his career now. He's well retired. But, you know, he raised his kids to love. To love Jesus. And his one daughter, Denise, was. Found herself in a night class one time, and she was sitting beside this young girl, and they kind of became friends and got to know each other and to the point where, you know, Denise would bring this young lady to.
[00:24:45] And so this young lady got to know, kind of got adopted by Jerry and his wife. And they just loved on this girl. You know, she was new to town and didn't have any family nearby, and they just, you know, they didn't even attend the same church. But it was just a person in their life that, you know, because of their daughter, they got to know.
[00:25:02] And so when that young girl found out that she was pregnant, it was actually one of the first people she told was Denise.
[00:25:09] And she said, denise, I don't know what to do. And I don't know what to do. You know, I'm following Jesus, but this isn't exactly where I thought I'd find myself. And this isn't what I thought my story's gonna be. And one of the questions she even asked at the time was, you know, what are your parents gonna think of me?
[00:25:26] I don't wanna go around your parents if they think I'm a bad influence on you.
[00:25:31] And Denise, God bless her, she was just like, no, my parents aren't gonna Feel like that you're just gonna still be part of our family. You're gonna be in her home, you know? And Denise was there when that child was born.
[00:25:47] And Jerry loved that kid.
[00:25:51] Jerry poured his heart on that kid.
[00:25:55] Jerry didn't have any grandkids yet, but he treated that kid like his first grandson.
[00:26:04] And I know that story because that was me.
[00:26:08] This is my papawl.
[00:26:14] Jerry loved moon pies until the doctor told me he couldn't eat them anymore.
[00:26:20] He could drink coffee with the best of them.
[00:26:25] And that bowl cut kid with an Aladdin birthday party in the background, man, he felt so much love.
[00:26:35] He had goats. I used to go feed him at his farm.
[00:26:40] He was so generous.
[00:26:42] You know, he had a property he developed for all his kids, and he gave it to his son, his daughter, and he even gave my mom a plot of land.
[00:26:49] He said, mellie, this could be your home. If you want it, it's your land.
[00:26:56] You know, Crazy.
[00:26:59] Some of the details I'm sharing with you, I didn't even know because Pat Paul never talked about his life. I didn't hear about work. He just was so present with you, so kind.
[00:27:14] And Jerry and his wife are coming near the end of their life. I got to visit him a few years ago, but with my kids.
[00:27:23] Same smile, same awesome hair and beard.
[00:27:27] And his wife's dealing with cognitive issues. And my nanny and papa, you know, they were there when I was born. You know, they. I mean, from day one.
[00:27:38] And I share these stories not just to be emotional, but, man, he just took advantage of the opportunity right in front of him, you know, like, he wasn't looking for some, like, project to work on for some kid.
[00:27:51] He was right where God had placed him. And this was a relationship off from his daughter, you know, and he just had poured Jesus and his kids and was faithful to his wife, you know, and he's ending near of his life. You know, I talked to my mom yesterday, and she says, you know, we feel like papa's just kind of waiting till nanny passes and they're going to pray pass together. He has cancer, and, you know, she's dealing with some dementia and stuff like that. And I just think, man, what a life lived.
[00:28:16] I would love to talk to him right now and say, papa, I wonder what he sees when he looks in the mirror, because I bet he doesn't see himself. I know because I can remember him humming hymns and singing songs and tell me about Jesus. Not just tell me about Jesus, but actually modeling it for me.
[00:28:35] And can I just speak to the husbands and the fathers in this room, man, you got a great opportunity in front of you right now.
[00:28:44] God has placed you in a ministry. It's called your home.
[00:28:48] And you don't need to be a superhero. You don't need to have it all together. It actually might look like saying, you know what? I need the people in my church. I actually need to be needed. I need to be helped. And I can then give and give back to other people in some way. They actually need to see your need for others, not your superhero powers.
[00:29:09] And I just think that's for some of us in this room, that we're just. We're letting this opportunity slip by that's in front of us to be the men and the husbands and the fathers that God's called us to be.
[00:29:21] And maybe you're not a dad yet. Maybe you're a single person in this room. Maybe you're an empty nester. Maybe whatever stage of life or gender you are, God has placed you perfectly where you're at right now in this environment to use these gifts of grace for someone else, not just to keep it for you.
[00:29:39] Because I see those pictures and I see a little boy, man, had no idea who he was wrestling with so much stuff. And man, one of those people in my life was Jerry Powers.
[00:29:50] Man, what a gift, man, what a gift.
[00:29:54] You know, I saw him with my kids, you know, he said, man, it's been. He says, logan, it's too. Far, too many years apart, you know. Cause he just misses us. And then, man, it was such a gift to meet him with my kids. And I think about him a lot as my kids raising my family.
[00:30:08] That's the church.
[00:30:10] That's who he can be. I never attended one service with him. It's a crazy thing, right? It wasn't like just in his church body. It was like he realized that this is part of the church family. He just cared for my mom and I.
[00:30:22] So perhaps this is where we can land today, where Paul's vision leads us not to think less of ourselves, friends, not to think more of ourselves, but to think rightly about ourselves.
[00:30:32] If you've said yes to Jesus, you are a recipient of grace and you are a member of a body, his body. And you are meant to be people who belong. Because pride, where pride, wants to curve us inward. Our gifts of grace open us outward to others.
[00:30:46] Pride asks, am I important? And pride says, how can Christ be honored?
[00:30:51] We're not the source of grace. We are recipients of grace.
[00:30:55] We're not the head of the body. Christ is.
[00:30:58] We are members of his body. Hear me. Saved by grace, gifted by grace and called by grace to belong to one another.
[00:31:07] And friends, when we do that, that is where pride begins to die and that's where the church begins to live.
[00:31:13] Would you pray?
[00:31:23] Holy Spirit, I just want to invite you right now to begin to prod the hearts and minds of men and women in this room.
[00:31:31] And Lord, I know I spoke this invitation specifically to dads in this room, but Lord, I pray for every man, woman, child in this room. Lord, this is for them.
[00:31:39] They're vital, not just to this body, but they are part of your church.
[00:31:44] If they say yes to you, if they've been in need of you, if they say I'm a father follower of Jesus and I'm going all in for him, then this is for them.
[00:31:53] Wherever you have them right now is this space where you they can be a a tangible gift of grace to someone else, first and foremost to those around them closest to them. And so Lord, where am I prone to either self promotion or self hatred?
[00:32:17] Lord, forgive me for that.
[00:32:20] Lord, where am I isolated in pride in my life right now?
[00:32:26] Whether that's thinking too highly of myself or too low of myself or lack of thought for my brother or sister in this room, friends, where, oh Lord, where am I boasting or where am I withdrawing from those in this room who you've placed me around, whether that be my church community, my family, my friends, my spouse, my roommates, and then Lord, maybe most importantly, God, what would you have me do about that?
[00:33:00] How could that get lived out today? Not in everything gonna be perfectly changed, but how would it change right now? How can it be obedient to you, say yes to you right now? What would you have me do about it?
[00:33:13] In Jesus name, amen.
