In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the backstory of our calling to serve. He encourages the audience to delve into the scriptures, particularly Romans and Galatians, to grasp the depth of Jesus' work on Calvary and the resurrection. The speaker highlights the need to present our bodies as an offering and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we can discern the will of God. The sermon also touches on the gifts of the Spirit and the role of believers in equipping one another for the work of service.

You guys look all happy today. It must be the weather. That doesn't hurt, does it? But I know it's more than the weather, right? You guys are the redeemed. Do you like the redeemed say so? I've been redeemed. Amen. Amen. May the joy of the Lord be our strength today, Father. Thank you. We are going to embark on a series, probably six or seven sermons, exploring ministry. Ministry in the spirit, all ministries in the spirit. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus has ascended and he has sent the spirit. And so we are in communion with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And that almost like it's an extension cord. The Holy Spirit in that communion connects us to the Father and the Son through Jesus because we're adopted in him. He's gathered us into himself, Jesus Christ, the one new humanity. Paul talks about one new man, one new human being really is what that is. And we've been gathered into Christ, into this beautiful communion. And so says, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to go away and I'm going to send the Holy Spirit to you. And so what we want to do is explore a little bit about the gifts of the spirit, what ministry is and who's the ministers, by the way? We are. Yes, absolutely. So we're going to kind of start with that idea out of Ephesians for God has given gifts in the church. And Paul lists, however, you read it, four or five apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Those guys are there to do what? Anybody know the rest of that scripture? To what? To equip. Yeah. To equip the saints for the work of service. Right now, we have some doctors in here that were equipped. It is a medical term. Have you ever had a bone out of place? Have you ever broken a bone where it's kind of I've never broken a bone, so I've never experienced this. But I mean, you've had like a dislocated shoulder or something like that. Yeah, that's that's painful, isn't it? Well, the word equip, what that means is that leadership helps people get in the right location. In the right place where if there's something out of joint and it's not properly functioning, we can help reset that joint back into proper placement where then every member can properly function. It says every member properly functions and builds up the what? The body of Christ. Yeah, because the body of Christ, you guys, for me, I don't read that as a metaphor. It's a reality. You are the body of Christ, we are the body of Christ, and it's real. I mean, we're really connected to the head. It's not just a metaphor, just to illustrate a point that we're one, though many members and all of that. No, no, it's true. It's truer than true that we are his members, his body parts. And it's important for us to know what part we are, what part we play in the church. Right, because if everybody was doing what I'm doing right now, it'd be a whole lot of talking going on. Right. But there are just so many gifts. And even those seven gifts that we listed today that were listed in Romans 12, that's not exhaustive at all. It's never meant to be like a static list. These are the gifts and there's no other gifts. Of course, there's at least two or three other places where there's other lists, like First Corinthians 12. We'll get there and Ephesians four. And then there's a tiny list in, I think, First Peter, a couple of gifts that are listed there. But the thing is, is that's just a suggested list, really, because we bring not only our spiritual gifts to bear in the church and exercise those. And some of us are sitting here wondering this morning, like, what is my spiritual gift? That's why we're going to be talking about this. Right. You may have more than one spiritual gift. So we have gifts, but we also have skills. We have talents. We have abilities. We have experiences. We have education. All of this comes to bear on what kind of gift we become. You are a gift package. Everybody's a gift here. And, you know, every is like Derek Song that he's written. Everything is a gift. It's really a gift. That's just a different way of looking at one another, right, as gifts. Instead of burdens or, you know, irritations or whatever the reaction in you might be with certain individuals. And I'm not even talking about people here in this room only, but just today. Today, every human being is a gift. Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. So it's a beautiful thing if we can see people and then begin to see the treasure in each person. And that treasure is hidden over a lot of times, right, in our lives. Do you know what treasure you're carrying? Do you know that treasure? You know what? If you don't know it, it's all of our opportunity to begin to speak to the treasure in other people's lives in this room. When you see the treasure that they don't even realize, we need to hear what our treasure is. Because most of us don't name that treasure. It kind of feels weird naming the treasure inside you, right? I mean, you've got to get used to that. Yeah. Now, the greatest treasure is the promise of the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit inside of us. Who brings all kinds of gifts and abilities. And the greatest gift is communion with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We've been reunited in the new humanity and creation is being restored. And that beautiful word in the gospel this morning, at the renewal of all things. I love that passage. That's what we're looking into. That's what the church is moving forward towards. The renewal of all things. Isn't that a beautiful vision? The thing is, is that we're living into that now. In the kingdom. The word is panagenosia is in the Greek for renewal. And it's also used in Titus where it says that you've been washed and made holy through the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Same word, the renewal of all things, panagenosia, the renewal of the Holy Spirit. That means that we have been rescued from this present evil age. Not the world. But the present evil age that the world facilitates. And so we're being renewed into what image are we being renewed into? Into the image of Jesus Christ, right? Because that image was marred and covered over with the reign of sin and death. But we saw in Galatians 1 that Jesus has rescued us from this present evil age. I don't feel like that all the time. But it is true. We are in this in the process of being rescued. I mean, it's a done deal. But we're being rescued because we're still wrestling with principalities and powers, Paul says, in high places. So we're still in this battle awaiting the panagenosia, the renewal of all things. It's made sure through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He's the one holding the guarantee. He says, I've gone there first. And because the father raised me from the dead, I am new creation. Jesus is new creation. And he is adopting us and calling us into that life of new creation. Where we reign in life by the gift of righteousness, Paul says in Romans. The gift of righteousness and the abundance. I mean, you know, grace would be enough. But God says, no, it's not. I just want to give you a lot of it. And the gift of righteousness, it's a gift. So that's really foundational and everything that we should understand about the gifts of the spirit. That's where Paul is going with Romans 12. It's important that we get what I just said about every person is a minister. Because if we don't get that, then we can fall under what's called priestcraft. Priestcraft! Where we can just put our spell on you. We do it all. And you need me because I'm the priest. And all of that kind of codependent relationship that some ministers like. We all need to be needed, right? And we're members of one another. It's even better than just you need me. I need you. And we need one another. And we belong to one another, Paul is saying in this passage. We're members of one another. We're family by adoption. And you know, kids who are adopted, in a sense more special because they were picked out and chosen. I mean, you know, I'm so happy with Ian and Julia. My little ones. But I thought Julia was going to be Ian at first. So I named her before we knew, you know, that she was a girl. I named her John Michaels, what it was. And so we realized that, no, she's a girl. We didn't choose that. We received that. It was a gift. And now I'm of the opinion, Jason, that every first child should be a sweet little girl. For the dads, at least, right? Yeah. But adoption is something like, you know, you get to pick and choose. And I mean, there's something special about that. We've been chosen. We've been adopted through Jesus Christ. So what we're trying to do then with that priest craft idea is do away with clericalism. That's another word. Where you need to know that you're freed to be all that Jesus has made you and called you to be. Because if you're not, we'll all suffer the lack of it. Right? When one member hurts, the whole body hurts. When one member is confused about their identity and gifting in Jesus, we're in a sense of waiting for that flower to come forth. There's flowering in all of us that needs to come forth. And so I'm just going to be praying through this season of time and this teaching because I can't do all this. This is the work of the spirit, right? So I'm talking about something that I can't fully pull off. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in all of you. Because I have no idea the depth of the calling and the skills and the gifts and all of that that the Lord has placed in you. I'm praying that I can see some of that and call it forth. But others of you will see what I can't see. And you begin to call it forth in other people. And hopefully people will begin to call it forth in you. Encourage one another while it's still today. Right. That's a form of encouragement. And it's prophetic. When you begin to speak identity and purpose into another person where there's a relational bridge there. Man, this is what I've noticed in you over the time that I've gotten to know you. This is your effect on me. And it's good. This is what you taste like. We all have a flavor. I hope it's not vanilla. Only some of us will be vanilla. That's it. So Paul is beginning this chapter then saying, I appeal. I'm going to make an appeal. I'm going to urge you community there in Rome. I'm going to make an appeal to you. And then he uses this word that throws you backwards. Therefore, this is chapter 12. And he's referring back to, therefore, everything that I have said about God bringing one body together, Jew and Gentile and redeeming and sanctifying and calling us forth into the panagia of the renewal of all things. Yeah, it's amazing. He's saying, I appeal to you, therefore, based on the big, big story of Jesus and his redemption. Based on the gospel that has cosmic dimensions. This huge redemption in Christ. Based on that, therefore, brothers and sisters. By the mercies of God. That's another way of saying it. You know, he says, by the mercy of God. Oh, it's plural. The mercies are new every morning, right? His mercies are new every morning. And the gospel is about his mercies on creation. We're being restored and renewed in this gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. Wow. So you're going to get that before we can begin to function in our gifts, right? We need the back story. What's the back story of why I'm being called to serve? Read Romans. Read Galatians again. You know, just just say, Lord, blow me away with the back story. Blow my mind with Jesus and his work on Calvary and the resurrection. Just pray that prayer. It's dangerous. Then you'll begin to go. Oh, wow. I get it now. Let's do this. OK, what do we do? He says, first, present offer your bodies. Oh, I thought I just supposed to believe, you know, this sort of ethereal faith is disembodied. That's a part of it. He's going to get to the mind in a minute. He's going to get to faith and grace. But he says, first of all, we're going to use some temple language. I want you to offer yourselves on the altar. And he's speaking of a whole burnt offering. And in the whole burnt offering, that offering was laid on the altar, that animals laid on the altar, inflamed in the smoke that was rising up to God as a sweet aroma under the old order of things. And it burned and burned and burned until it was gone. That means that the smoke and all of that typologically was offered up to the Lord. I want you to offer your body as a living sacrifice. OK, this is the beginning of it all right here. I want you to be a living killing. What? That's what sacrifice means, right? Killing. I want you to be a living killing. Paul, you're you're speaking paradoxical. Yeah, I want you to be a living killing because that's what Jesus was. He gave up his life as an offering. Hebrews says by the by the spirit, he offered himself. So the Holy Spirit was in the crucifixion by the spirit. He offered himself in the book of Hebrews. I love that passage. And so by the spirit, we offer ourselves. And why can we be a living sacrifice? Because Christ was raised from the dead. And so we're joining him. In continually offering up sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. Being a living sacrifice like. I'm yours, Lord. And here's all of me. Not just here's a room over here you can have in my life. And by the way, you can have my iPhone, my addictions. You can have it all. Right. My weaknesses, things that really put me out of joint. Right. Dislocate my life. Just offer it up to him and offer it up to him. You can be a living sacrifice. This is wholly unacceptable to God, which is your what is this? It says spiritual worship. It's not spiritual. It's reasonable. It's the word we get logic from. And he's just saying that, well, worship is the only logical conclusion. When you get the back story. If you understand what Jesus is, just a little bit of what Jesus has done and who he is. It's the only reasonable response is to offer your entire being to him. Right. And so we become servants, bond servants of the Lord out of being set free. You know, we trade one form of slavery for another form. Willingly. Happily. I'm yours, Lord. Wow. Who wouldn't want to follow you? You are absolutely mind blowing and amazing. It takes a revelation to see that right illumination. So we need to constantly pray for that. Pray that the eyes of your heart pray it every day, folks, or we won't live in the glory of this. Right. It takes God to love God. It takes the enabling Holy Spirit to even get this and in a sustainable devotional way. Right. And I have to preach the gospel to myself all the time. You see, you can't preach the gospel to anybody else unless you preach it to yourself. On a continual basis. And then we share that gospel with one another. Oh, yeah. Thank you. I've forgotten that. I've forgotten how much the Lord loves me. Thank you for reminding me. So it's the only reasonable response. But, you know, anybody know what a potential problem is with a living sacrifice? I mean, the old sacrifices, you know, you put that animal there and it's dead and it doesn't go anywhere. But a living sacrifice can keep crawling off the altar once you get the fact that you're offering your whole being to the Lord as a living sacrifice. And so he says next, don't be conformed to this world because we're going somewhere here. He's saying, you know, I'm going to talk about your purpose in life. But these are the things that can dislocate you and you need to be equipped again. You need to be like replaced and relocated because being conformed to this age, it's not world. The word there is not world. It's not cosmos. It's eons. So do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed. Metamorphosis is the word by the renewing of your minds so that you may discern what is the will of God. What is good and acceptable and perfect. J.B. Phillips, back in his day, an English New Testament scholar, translated that. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold. Not even on a big institutional level. This is this is on a personal level, too. So this is a personal war going on that affects institutions. It's affected the church because the church is just a fellowship of sinners. You guys saved by grace. Do not be conformed to this age. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Now, this is not the first time that he's addressed the mind in Romans. I'm just going to go to Romans 8. Romans 8 talks about living as a rescued person out of the realm of flesh. NIV says sinful nature. The literal word is sharks. It's flesh. Those who live according to the flesh. Your translation may say sinful nature. According to the flesh, have their what? Have their minds set. Have their minds set on what that nature desires, what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance with the spirit, those who live in accordance with the spirit, have their minds set. And if we don't have our mindset, our minds are dislocated and they need to be equipped. They need to be reset. He's saying don't live in default mode in this present evil age. When you get a computer, it comes out programmed with defaults. It just opens up. There's so many more goodies in a computer if you know how to go in and program it to really unleash the power of a computer. But it's set for dummies. Right. It's set for people like me who can just because that's why I like Apple, man. I just want to turn that baby on and it plays me a song. And then all of a sudden I can start typing away. And yet, man, my Mac, I have a mini Mac and it's it's just got so much more potential than I ever use. Right. Because I live according to the pattern that it was set for. And I use that computer in its default mode. I've been squeezed into its mold. I don't realize the glorious power that can be unleashed. Right. I mean, programmers in here. You get you get what I'm saying. Right. No, no programmers in here. And I couldn't do that in California because everybody would raise their hands. Yeah. You got me. I'm not going to say how many artists are in here. You know, we've got a lot of those. I'm not a programmer either. You guys. Yeah. But you get what I'm saying. Those who live according to the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. I love that phrase again. It was in Galatians. What the spirit desires. Pray and ask what the spirit desires. If that's perplexing to you, get into the word and start praying the scripture and say, Lord, show me what the spirit desires. Because Paul, like in Ephesians 4, he says, keep on, keep on, keep on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Not just a one time thing. It's in the present tense. Show me what the spirit desires. The mind of the sinful man is dead. And get this. But the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace. The mindset on the spirit is life and peace. What are you experiencing this morning, brothers and sisters? Life and peace is what your potential is to live in life and to live in peace. But there's a battle going on for conformity, pulling us over to the way the world, the way this present evil age thinks. And it wants to impose it on every Christian. Right. The church thinks differently because we have the mind of Christ. Paul says in First Corinthians, says you have the mind of Christ because you've been delivered and rescued from this present evil age. That's why we're so weird. There's great power in it when we can go in the opposite spirit and live in the opposite spirit of the world. Where the world wants to be angry and vindictive, we say, no, no, we've come in the opposite spirit. We're not going to be angry and vindictive. See, that's the good stuff. That's being salt and light. But if we allow the world to squeeze us into its mold, we're no longer good for anything except to be trodden underfoot by men. And we're called to be a prophetic voice. And so what Paul is trying to say is there's a boatload of spiritual treasure in all of you. But it can be frustrated if you don't get this before we start talking about spiritual gifts. But I just had to do this because this is what Paul's doing to the Romans. Right. He's saying you got to get this straight, got to get this straight, because this is the foundation upon which the spiritual gifts will operate. This is the operating system. So we're headed towards the renewal of all things. And you begin that process by being transformed by the renewing of your minds. Set your mind on the spirit and receive life and peace, because then everybody sees life and peace and they go, I want some of that. They don't want your theology, but they want life and peace in each other. Life and peace. Right. The mindset on the spirit is life and peace. And so, Lord, we thank you. We thank you so much that you have not left us as orphans, but you have sent the Holy Spirit to us. And we just pray right now that the love of the Father. And the grace of Jesus and the communion of the Holy Spirit be upon us.