In this sermon, Pastor Simula emphasizes the importance of taking care of both our physical and spiritual bodies. He highlights how Christians often neglect their spiritual growth by simply attending church without actively serving and using the gifts God has given them. Pastor Simula shares a personal example of how his church organized a mercy ministry to bring homeless people to a meeting, demonstrating the practical application of serving others. He encourages the congregation to yield to God's will, simplify their lives, and seek guidance in fulfilling their calling for service. Additionally, he emphasizes the significance of exercising and eating properly to maintain a healthy physical body, as it is the temple of God.

I want you to turn in your Bible to the New Testament, would you please? And let's look first at 1 Thessalonians. If you can find Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, right after that is 1 Thessalonians. Go through Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians, and then through those four letters I mentioned, you'll find the Thessalonian letters, 1 and 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. Would you turn there please? I want to talk about this morning, the perfect place. The name of this message is the perfect place. 1 Thessalonians 2 verses 11 and 12. For you know, 1 Thessalonians 2, 11, For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. For you know that we dealt with each of you, Paul says, when we were there in Thessalonica, like our own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God. Say those three words with me, worthy of God. Say it louder, congregation. Worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. So look up here for a second before we turn. Paul's writing to the church of Thessalonica. He's saying, everyone speaks about earlier in that book, he says everyone speaks about your conversion, how you turn from idols to serve the living true God, and wait for his son Jesus to come. And now, you remember when I was with you, my ministry was characterized, I was like a father among you, encouraging you, teaching you, exhorting you, and comforting and urging you to live lives, now that you're Christians, worthy of God. Live a life worthy of God. Now, go toward the end of the Bible, through Hebrews, and go to 1st Peter 4. We were at 1st Thessalonians 2, now 1st Peter 4. Look at 1st Peter 4. 1st and 2nd Peter, we want 1st Peter 4. It's right before the three letters to John and then Jude and Revelation, so it's at the end of your New Testament. 1st Peter 4, verse 1. Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. Now, speaking of a believer, listen. As a result, he, the believer, does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. As a result, the believer who really wants to serve the Lord, be pleasing to Him, he does not live the rest of his life for his evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. I want to talk to you about the perfect place to live. You know, some people want to go to Arizona, some people want to go to Florida. And it was sad to me in the Bahamas, if I may say, I got talked into by my grandchildren to go to this beautiful place that kids really can enjoy with water slides and all kinds of sharks swimming around in these waters of this Hope Hotel where we're at. It was sad to me to see people who saved up their money and go to this resort and be all dressed up. And boy, while we were going to dinner just casually to eat dinner, people were dressed up and there was a big casino in another part of the place and people were gambling and getting dressed up. And this was one of the highlights of their life, to go to the Bahamas and stay at this resort and maybe gamble. And the Bahamas is a very nice place, but it was so empty to me because you could see them, you know, playing those little one-armed bandits, putting their coins in and all dressed up with really no place to go. And so empty and knowing that soon the days will be over and they wanted to swim and be out in the sun. And one day it rained from 8 in the morning till 8 at night, like sheets of rain. It's like one of those tropical storms you get in the Caribbean. I mean, it rained and the people were so depressed. They wanted to be out in the sun. But what good is being in the Bahamas when it's raining all day, right? So they went to the casino and gambled even more. And it just was so empty as I watched these people and thought. I said to Carol, I said, Carol, imagine this is the highlight now that they're going to talk about for the next few years, the trip we made to the Bahamas. Well, the Bahamas, as nice as it is, isn't the perfect place. I want to tell you the perfect place to live. And the way to get there is to think about this thing that Paul said to the church at Thessalonica. He says, I want you to live lives now that you're believers, worthy of God. Now, that's not a phrase too many Christians throw about today. You don't hear too many books or people talk about live a life worthy of God. What does that mean? Paul's saying, now that you're Christians, now that the Lord has saved you, now that He's given you a new life and the promise of eternal life, and you have a place in heaven waiting for you, and God has reached out in His mercy and done this for you. Now, Paul says, it's only right that you live a life worthy of God. It's like when I went in to the Naval Academy a lot of years ago as a basketball recruit out of Erasmus Hall High School and became part of the midshipmen at Annapolis. And they would drill into you after they broke you down and cut all your hair off and put you in all these different uniforms. They would instill in you. Now remember, you're one of the 3,800. You're one of the brigade. You're a member of the brigade of the United States Naval Academy. There's only one Naval Academy and you're in it. Now, you act in a way worthy of the uniform. You don't do this. You don't boo. You don't act crazy. You act in a way worthy of that uniform. That uniform and the name of this place stands for something. Now, you change your behavior to live worthy of the Naval Academy and act in a way becoming to that. Well, Paul is saying something much deeper. He's saying, now that God has saved you, now that the Lord has sent His Son into the world who died for you, now isn't it right to live a life worthy of God? Are you going to enjoy salvation and then live unworthy of God? Notice, if it's possible to live worthy of God, it's possible to live unworthy of God. To live in a way that's a disgrace to the name that you use as your Savior, the gift that God has given you through Jesus Christ. So, Paul says, live lives worthy of the Lord. When I was with you, I kept urging you and encouraging you, don't live unworthy of God. Now that you're a believer, don't live in order to become a believer. No, you get saved by faith in God's grace through Jesus Christ. But now that you are a Savior, now that you have a Savior, now that you are a Christian, live a life worthy of the Lord. That is a phrase hardly anyone uses. You don't hear people walk up to each other and say, how's it been going lately? Have you been living lives worthy of the Lord? Who do you hear say that anymore? But it's in the Bible. Worthy of God. Worthy of God. A mom and a dad could say that to their kid. Now look, you're in this family. Don't disgrace the family. Live a life worthy of the family and all that we've done for you. So Paul says, live a life worthy of God. Worthy of God. But Pastor Cimbala, I'm not worthy of God. I'm unworthy. All the songs are unworthy, unworthy. God's grace, I'm not worthy. Paul says, yes, but now that God has saved you, live a life worthy of God. Well, how do you live a life worthy of God? Peter says it this way. The way to live a life worthy of God is to live and simplify your life and let this be the determining factor in all your decisions. Live in the will of God. To live a life worthy of God is to live in the will of God. There's a will of God for Pastor Charles Combs. There's a will of God for Pastor Pena. There's a will of God for Pastor Ware. There's a will of God for Wanda. See Duke on the drums here, he's a good drummer. There's a will and a plan of God from eternity for Duke's life. And Paul says now, the way to live a life worthy of God and simplify your life and don't be so complicated. Here's the way to do it. Ask this question about everything, Paul says, is what is the will of God and let me do it. That's living worthy of God. God has a plan for my life. After saving me, now that I know he has a plan for my life, wouldn't it be unworthy of me and unworthy of God to forget his plan for my life after he's rescued me from sin, from punishment, from damnation? So Paul says, now that God has saved you, live a life worthy of God. And Peter says, here's the way you do it. Live in the best place of all. Live in the will of God. For the rest of his life, Peter says, that Christian lives his life for the will of God. His motivation is every day, what is the will of God and let me do it because that's how God approves of my life. That's what brings the smile of God on my life. It's not climbing over some mountain, just doing what he wants me to do. This was the example of Jesus. Jesus, the will of God between the ages of 12 and 30 was to lay low and be a carpenter. Guess what Jesus did for 18 years? He laid low and was a carpenter. God did not want him to preach a sermon. God did not want him to heal anybody. God did not want him to do anything except be what he wanted him to be from 12 to 30. At 30 years old, God sent him to the river Jordan. Then it was God's will for him to come out and preach the message of the kingdom and go about doing good and healing all of them that were oppressed by the devil. After three and a half years, it was God's will for him to go through Gethsemane and the cross. Everything Jesus did was simplified by this. I have come to do the will of him who sent me. This is why God's voice came out of heaven. This is my beloved son in whom I am. Why was he well pleased with him? Because he did his will. Either by being quiet or preaching or by going to the cross. The way that we live lives worthy of God is to do the will of God. That's the eternal plan that God has made for Wanda and me and Pastor Bogstad and you and you up there in the balcony. It's the perfect fit. When you do the will of God, you don't understand it but spiritually you are right the square peg in the square hole, not the square peg in the round hole. You fit because it's God's plan for you. It's the perfect place to live. Forget the Bahamas, forget Arizona, forget the Caribbean or the Mediterranean. The only place where you find real peace and joy is in the center of God's will. How many say amen? And when you're not in God's will, oh my, I don't care where you go. And I know what it is to be fighting against God's will. I don't care where you go. When you fight against God's will for your life, it gets tough. A piece of heaven on earth is God's will. A place of peace and joy. No matter what the obstacles are, that's how you really find yourself. You know you always hear people talking, I gotta find myself. You know how to find yourself? Find the will of God and do it and you will find yourself. You will find fulfillment and peace and joy. I remember the Methodist circuit rider, Francis Asbury, in his autobiography, he traveled all around America on horseback preaching in desolate places, crossing rivers, half killing himself all the time. And he said in his autobiography, actually I wrote it in my Bible years ago, he said, remember this young preacher talking to his students, he said, you're never happier than when you're in the work. It wasn't the work that makes you happy, although work is beneficial. It's doing what God called you to do is what gives you fulfillment in life. That's why the Bible says in Ephesians 5.12, Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Listen to what Paul says. Don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Some Christians are foolish. They just go through life never thinking, what's God's plan for my life? Where does He want me to live? What does He want me to do? Who am I supposed to marry? How am I to raise my children? No thought of that. No thought that there's a plan. It's their plan. They want to do what they want to do. Paul says, don't be foolish. Understand what the Lord's will is. See, you can't do God's will until you first know what God's will is. You got to understand what God's will is. In Colossians 4.12, listen how different it was in the New Testament compared to modern day Christianity, I'm afraid. Colossians 4.12, Paul says, Epaphras, this person from Colossae, he's always wrestling in prayer for you that you may stand firm in all the will of God. This man, Epaphras, had a ministry. Paul says, people in Colossae, you ought to appreciate this guy, this brother in Christ, because he wrestles for you in prayer and he prays that you might stand firm in what? In a lot of money? In driving a big chariot or whatever? No. You might stand firm in all the will of God. That's the only success in life is to do the will of God. So Paul says, this guy Epaphras, this brother is praying for you that you might stand firm in what? Not in your faith, in all the will of God. Whatever God's plan is for you, He wants you to stand firm in it. Notice, in all the will of God. Not some of the will of God. All the will of God. No one has ever understood the power there is in God by just doing His will. In everything. Sentences, actions, travel, decisions, domestic, financial, ministry, speaking, being silent. There's a will of God for everything that you might stand firm, he prayed, in all the will of God. And brothers and sisters, this is what really brings God's favor on your life. Do you remember the day that Jesus was so overwhelmed by ministry, opportunities, that He didn't even have a chance to eat. And this is recorded in Matthew and Mark. His mother and His brothers, the children that Mary had by Joseph after Jesus was born. They came to Him because they thought He had lost His mind. Crowds, crowds, crowds, ministry, ministry, ministry. And the Bible says that at one time they came to Him while He was teaching His disciples. And one of the disciples came and says to Him, Your mother and Your brothers are outside. They want to see You. And Jesus was doing His ministry and His teaching. And you know what Jesus said? Looking around at His disciples, the Bible says, in Matthew 12, 50, Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and My sister and My mother. Wonder how Mary and those brothers felt when they heard Him say that. He said, Oh, you think they're close to Me because they're blood relatives? He said, I'll tell you who is My mother and My father and My mother and My sister and My brothers. Those that do the will of My Father. In other words, the closest thing to God, the group that God favors the most are those that favor Him by doing His will. Brothers and sisters, listen to me. This is what's missing in so many of our lives. God has a special blessing for those who favor Him. How do you favor God? By seeking His will and saying, God, I want to do Your will. Whatever it is, I want to do Your will. You have a plan for my life? It's only right, it's fitting that I find out what Your plan is and I do it. And when God sees somebody wanting to do His will, watch out. The windows of heaven are going to open up and there's going to be a blessing that you won't even be able to imagine. Jesus said, that's who My mother and My sister and brothers are. Those that do the will of My Father who is in heaven. Now, the will of God for our lives, brothers and sisters, makes life simple amid a lot of complexities and confusion. Because instead of waking up with 7,000 different thoughts in your mind, you just wake up with this thought about any question, about any letter you get, about anything on the job, about anything happening with your children. Lord, what is Your will? Teach me Your will. Show me Your ways, O Lord. Read Psalm 119. It's the longest Psalm in the Bible. See how many times the psalmist says something along these lines. Teach me Your ways, O Lord, that I may run in the way of Your commandments. In other words, show me Your will. I get letters inviting me to speak or to do something, to be involved in a project. Somebody calls the church and says, we're having a march for Jesus. Another one says, no, we're having this. Could your church be involved? No, we're going to do this. Would you be involved? So, there are so many good things that people are doing. How do you know which things to join? How do you know which things to fight? How do you know which things to just leave alone in life? Look at me, everyone. There are some things in life that you're to join and get involved in. There are some things in life that you're just to leave alone. Don't fight them and don't join them. Just leave them alone. If you respond to every letter that you get for an appeal for money, how do you know who to give to? Beyond what you give to your regular church, the church that you go in, where you fed the Word of God. How do you know where God wants you to give an extra offering? How do you know? It's simple. You get alone with God and you say, God, what is your will for me concerning this? If it's yea, I say yea. If it's nay, show me God, it'll be nay. But God, show me your will. God, my child is growing up and there's a problem. How do I discipline? Lord, show me your will concerning my child, Lord. When you don't know how to pray about something, God, have you ever found a situation so complicated that you don't even know how to pray? Come on, how many have ever had something like that? You can go to God. God, show me your will. Teach me how to pray about this. If you think you're starting to fall in love with somebody, you're single and you're starting to date somebody, God, is this your will? Not, is she pretty? Everybody gets old and wrinkled in the end, so don't go by pretty. What's pretty now is not pretty tomorrow. And you can't base a life on physical, you can't base marriage on physical things alone. So what do you say, Lord? Is this your will? It's not only a simplified life. Lord, should I say this? Lord, I got this idea to call this person that's on my heart. Is this right, God? Do you want me to call this person? And if I should call, what do you want me to say among other things of hello, how are you and all of that? You say, Pastor Simple, you're getting crazy. I'm not getting crazy. How many believe God has a plan for every day of our lives, every hour of our lives? Come on, wave your hand if you believe God has a plan. But what is that plan? And this is what God says, those who favor me, I will favor. And how do you favor God? How do you live a life worthy of God? By doing His will. It's a place of simplicity. It's a place of provision and blessing. Whenever you do God's will, whenever you step out to do God's will, this is true for a church. Am I right, pastors? Whenever you step out to do God's will, there's an umbrella that goes over your head. And God says, as long as you walk in my will, I will supply everything that you need, no matter where you go. But Pastor Simple, that thing is impossible. You know, if God says it, Pastor Ware, what will God do? If it's His will, there's that umbrella. Now, if you say, you know what? I want a Mercedes. Well, did you pray about it? I don't need to pray. I like that car. Guess what? You might be walking away from that umbrella. In other words, nowhere in the Bible does it say, God will supply everything you want. It says, as we walk in His will, He will supply everything that we need. Come on. Can we say amen to that? Let's put our hands together and affirm. God's got an umbrella for everyone who does His will. Listen, wherever you go, He can send you to Taiwan. We went to Taiwan in the will of God. Didn't we Pastor Bogstaff? Was God's provision there for us? We felt it in every meeting. There was the right everything there when we were in Taiwan. Everything we needed, it was there. But oh, to get outside of God's will, to marry outside of God's will, to move outside of God's will, to make decisions because your family tells you to. Oh God. The pieces are very small when lives get broken like that. But without thinking, God, what is your will? I want to live a life pleasing to you. I want to stay under that place of provision and blessing, that place of peace and rest. You're never happier than when you're doing God's will. You're never happier than when you're doing God's will. And it's the only measurement of success in life. Did you ever wonder how God will look at Billy Graham, who's world famous, versus a missionary who's working for God, let's say, in one of the out islands of the Philippines. A very poor place, let's say. Or wherever. Some little farm town in Mississippi. Well, how will God do that? Here's a pastor who's been doing something for 30 years. Here's Billy Graham, world famous. The other one doesn't know. No one knows about this guy in Mississippi or Uganda or wherever it might be. But everybody knows about Billy Graham. Do you think God's going to measure by publicity? You know how He's going to measure all of us? Every one of you. You're going to stand. All of us are going to stand. And the only question God will ask is this. Did you do my will? God didn't ask you to be Billy Graham. God didn't ask me to be Billy Graham. There's only one Billy Graham. And God will judge Billy Graham by what God's will was for Billy Graham. Let's hope that Billy Graham did all of God's will. But here's the measurement for you. God's going to say when you stand before Him, Did you do my will? That's the only success in life. Teach your children that. The only success in life is to do God's will. I looked at my grandkids a lot this week. I saw my little Susie who's 13 years old. She's not so little anymore. And little Annie, 8 years old. And I just prayed every time I looked at them. And I saw them running. Oh God, help them to grow up and do your will. I didn't ask God to let them live in a big house. Let them have a lot of money. Let them be famous. Let them make... No, God. Let them do your will. How many know when you do God's will, it's good. It's a good thing. It's a blessed thing. It's a perfect thing. It's a perfect fit. It's a perfect fit. Now, how do we know God's will? Let me bring this to another juncture and head toward home. How do we know God's will? Well, we know God's will by the callings of God. What God calls us to is the way we interpret His will. In other words, when there's a calling to do something in the Bible, it's another way of saying, this is the will of God for you. Sometimes the Bible just says, this is the will of God for you. Other times the Bible says, this is what you were called to. Now, sometimes the calling is something that's for all of us. I'm going to give you a couple that are for all of us. Others get very, very specific and very personal, and no two people have the same calling. Let me explain. There's a calling in the Bible to salvation. The will of God is that people get saved. 2 Thessalonians 2.14 says, He called you to be saved through our gospel that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, there's a calling to eternal life. There's a calling to heaven. There's a calling to be partakers of the glory of God. There's a heavenly calling. The will of God is that we put our faith in Jesus Christ and we trust Him and we enjoy the glories of heaven and the place that the Lord Jesus has gone to prepare for us. That's the will of God. God desires that all men should be saved. So God's will for all of us as Christians, we know basically on a very initial stage, is that God's will is and God's plan is that we would be saved, that we would be believers in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, partakers of His glory. This calling is to eternal life. That's a calling of God on our lives, and we've received it. How many are believers here who have put their trust in Jesus? Come on, wave your hand. You're planning to spend eternity in heaven with God, forever and ever. Amen. Now, but listen, yet there's more. Remember that verse that everybody quotes when things get difficult? For we know that all things work together for good to them that who have been called according to His purpose. Amen. So now listen, look at me. We're not just called to salvation, to eternal life. We're not just called to one day share. Imagine, share in the glory of God. That glory that is everywhere that God is, we're going to share in that glory. But the purposes of God are much more than get saved, okay, I saved you, and now when you die or when Christ returns, I'm going to bring you to glory. That's one of the purposes of God. That is the will of God. But there's much more according to His purposes. He has purposes for us right while we're living. In other words, how could you live a life worthy of God that can only apply to while you're living today. So let me give you one. There's several of them. But let me just give you one very strong one. It's a calling on all of us. And it's God's plan and God's will for your life. Listen to it. 2 Timothy 1.9 God who has saved us and called us to a holy life. Listen. God who has saved us and called us to a holy life. God's calling is to a holy life, i.e., in other words, the will of God for Jim Cymbala and all of us here is that we live a holy life. Listen to this passage from one of the Thessalonian letters. Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God. Here we go again. There's that interesting phrase. We instructed you how to live in order to please God. So if you live a life that can please God, you could then also possibly live a life to displease God. That's why some Christians are so empty and depressed because they're not thinking how they're living. As in fact, you are living. It is God's will, verse 3, 1 Thessalonians 4, that you should be sanctified. It's God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God, and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. He's speaking now in the church of fooling around with someone else's wife. The Lord will punish men for all such sins as we have already told you and warned you, for God did not call us to be impure but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man, but God who gives you his Holy Spirit. Why does God give us his Holy Spirit? That we might live holy life. So one of God's callings and God's will for all of us is to live a holy life. Now remember I told you about the sweet spot, the perfect place to live? Any movement away from the will of God causes turmoil inside of a believer's heart. Do you remember when Jonah, a different kind of calling, but all callings are the same with God. Listen. Remember when Jonah was called to go to Nineveh to preach? And what did Jonah do? Did he go or did he run? He ran. And how many know all the trouble and trials and chastening he went through because he was running from the will of God. Now, collectively for all of us here's what God says. Do you want peace and joy? Do you want to live a life pleasing to me? Do you want to be in a place where there will be provision and supply? Do you want to simplify your life? Then remember this. When I saved you, I called you Jim Simbala and all of you up there and downstairs. I called you to live a holy life. This is the will of God that you abstain from fornication. You have no sexual activity outside the marriage bed. Now you say, well Pastor Simbala, that's your interpretation. God already assumed you would say that. And Paul says, and anyone who doesn't accept this does not reject man, but rejects God. Who gave you his what spirit? His... Why would God call his Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit? Because the purpose is to sanctify us and keep us from living like the rest of the world. So one of the things that God's will is for all of us. This is for all of us. We're going to close with something more specific. But God's will for all of us is that we live holy lives. And if you run from that. If you say, oh Pastor Simbala, I don't mind coming to church, but I got to do my thing during the week. You will run into such trouble. You will lose and forfeit all peace and joy that you could enjoy through Jesus. And you got to remember this. Whom the Lord loves, what? He will also what? Chase it. He will... And your sins will find you out. And he will get you in the end. How much better to say, oh God, show me your will and teach me to walk in your ways. And one of God's ways and plans for our life is to go against the flow to live totally different than the world does and to live a holy life. And there's sensuality everywhere. And the summer is coming and I just came from a resort and I noticed it on the beach walking with my grandchildren and my wife and they don't make bathing suits like they used to. In fact, they don't make bathing suits anymore. Why is that that people would want to expose themselves? Why are some people's aura just strictly sensuality? Think of that. Why would you want to... Married women walking with their husbands, why would you want to expose yourself to other people who don't even know you? It's the spirit of this world and God says, I have something better for you. I called you and my will for your life. You want peace and joy and you want to please me. I've called you with a holy calling that you abstain from sexual immorality, that you live a clean and a holy life. Now, if you run from that, you're heading toward a well. Just like Jonah, you will run into a problem because God will not let... If you're a believer and you try to get... and you get trapped into this, God will come after you. How many know what I'm talking about? Whom the Lord loves, He'll go after you. He will not just let you wander off and destroy yourself. Of course not. Whom the Lord loves, He chases. He's going to get your attention one way or the other. So, God's calling and God's will is if we want to be pleasing to Him and live a life worthy of Him, is we have to realize He's called us with a holy calling. His will is, His calling is that we live sanctified lives. And brothers and sisters, don't forfeit your peace and your joy. Don't dishonor God. Listen to me as your pastor. Don't dishonor God. Don't live unworthy of Him. Don't go by what the world says and don't go by what culture you grow up in. Go by the Bible and say, God, I know you have a plan for me that will be... Someone says, No, have fun. It's not fun if you go that way. It's bitterness at the end. The proverb says, I saw the house of the immoral woman. I'm paraphrasing. And wisdom cries out and says, There's the whore. And she has a house and she sits and her voice goes out from the top of the city. Come in to the men. And she says, Wisdom says, And I lamented the fact that the men who went into that house, they thought they were going in for pleasure, but they didn't know that it's a house of death. It's a house of death. You never can do better than to do God's will. And if God says, Be holy, let's be holy. How many say, Amen? Come on. Let's put our hands together and let God know. God, by your grace, you're going to live holy lives. Listen. We're not only called to sanctification, but we're called, yes, to a heavenly calling, eternal life, but while we're here on earth, we're called to a holy life. Now, let me close. One last one. Here's the one that differs. God's calling is also a calling to serve. Jesus said, I have not been around one among you, disciples, as one who gave orders, but I've been around you as one who what? Who serves. The greatest among you will be the servant, and the number one will be the slave of all. So there's a calling on all of our lives. God, this is where people are missing out with God. This is where people have totally lost their way. They think that the Lord saved me, and one day I'm going to go to heaven, and in between, I just kind of roam around and wander around. No. God's called you to a holy life, and God called you to a life of service. Well, Pastor Simba, how do I serve the Lord? How do I serve the Lord? Well, listen. Romans 12, chapter 12, verse 4. Romans 12, verse 4 through 6. We have different gifts according to the grace that is given us. And the Bible goes on in that Romans portion and talks about the gift of prophesying, the gift of serving. That's where we get the word deacon. Just as each one of us are made up, each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have all the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it's serving, let him serve. If it's teaching, let him teach. If it's encouraging, let him encourage. If it's contributing, giving to the needs of others, let him give generously. If it's leadership, let him govern diligently. If it's showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Think of all the ministries and callings that are on your life. In other words, when God puts you in the body, He gives you a certain grace and a certain gift and a certain plan for your life so that you will build up others around you. Is everybody a pastor? No. Can everybody sing like Wanda? No. Can everybody play the drums like Duke? No. Can everybody teach children like Nancy and the ones that are working? No. Can everybody pray in the prayer band? No. That's not everyone's calling. But God has some calling for you. God has some gift that He's put in you. You can clean the building, you can lead, you can govern, you can do something. But there's a gift, there's an ability, a grace given to you by God and God says, this is my will for your life now that you serve one another through the gift that I gave you. And this is why so many Christians are depressed because they sit and do nothing. They sit and do nothing. Now they're making studies now and showing that one of the killers in life is a sedentary life. One of the killers in life, physically, biological, is a sedentary life. You know what a sedentary life means? Sitting around. That people who do not exercise, and this is especially with computer and video games and the television, that people who just sit all the time and have a sedentary life, they are killing themselves by not exercising. Then when you add to that sedentary life bad eating habits, now you're talking heart attack. So they're saying, God made the body to exercise. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, used to tell his ministers, if you don't exercise 40 minutes a day, you're living in sin. Boy, there's a lot of people living in sin. If that's true. That's what Wesley taught. He said, God made your body to exercise, otherwise it won't operate. So what right do you have to hurt your body? Your body is the temple of God. Exercise it. Eat properly. Take care of it. It's the only body God gave you. Now spiritually, it's the same. This is why Christians are not growing, groping around, just go to church, wander around, and ministers almost encourage it and just say, if you show up in the seat and put something in the offering, I'm happy you came. But that's not right. You have a gift from God. You have something that God gave you. And it's the will of God. Listen, it's the calling of God that you serve the body of Christ through the gift that God has given you. By handing out flyers, by praying, by showing mercy, by going to the hospital, by working with seniors. Listen, before I could ask Pastor Hammond on the phone to do something this week, he came to me and said, you know the people in the mercy ministries? Pastor Simula? They saw this thing, the story of love? They want to rent five buses. Can we pay for it to bring homeless people in to the meeting at four o'clock today? So we got four or five buses coming, am I correct? Of homeless people because some people who get paid zero are saying, no, God's given me the ministry of showing mercy. I'm not a preacher, but I can get homeless people in the building to hear the gospel. That's what I'm going to do. And you know what? When they sleep tonight, they'll be the happiest people in Brooklyn. Oh, come on. Let's put our hands together. That's how God works, has a plan. I've watched people like Wanda and others in the choir. Wanda has three kids. I've watched other people in the choir who kill themselves to make those choir practices. I don't know how they do it with babysitters and all of that. But you know why they do it? Because they say, you know what? This is God's will for my life. Yeah, but no one even knows your name. They don't even mention your name. You're just one of those altos or sopranos up there or tenors up there. Listen, it's not what people mention. It's what God is watching. When God sees that you're doing His will, listen, when God sees that you're doing His will, there's a blessing. I've watched this since I was a little kid. People who wanted to do God's will and pursued it, that's where the blessing of God rests. That's where joy and peace is. Those are the happiest people. You talk to the prayer band. Am I right, Pastor Ware? Do they walk around going, oh, we've got to pray. No, it's, hallelujah, we can pray. God's given us the calling of interceding and praying for Pastor Simbala. We're going to pray. Hallelujah. How about for some of you as the organ plays, piano plays? What I want to say to some of you is what Paul wrote to Archippus. As he's closing out the Colossian letter, Paul says, tell Archippus, write to a whole church, this letter was read publicly to the church at Colossae, and here's how he closes it. Tell Archippus, see to it that you complete the work that you've received in the Lord. Archippus, wait something to do. You better complete it. Oh, Paul, don't say that in front of the whole church. You shouldn't write that in the letter. Yeah, encourage him. He's a choice saint. God gave him something to do. Now, Archippus, fulfill what God called you to do, the ministry that you've received in the Lord. Now, personally, yours is different than mine. Mine is different than Pastor Bogstad's. I've learned a long time ago I can't compare myself with anybody. But one thing I have said to God last night and all this week is, God, I want to do your will. That's the greatest heritage I can leave my family. It's the greatest example I can do be it for the church. I don't want to be famous. I want to do God's will. I don't want to be rich. I want to do God's will. When you do God's will, oh, but Pastor, no, but God will give you the victory because when you do God's will, there's a provision for you. Yes, it's God's will that we be in the balcony and downstairs. The will of God?