In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of motivational drives and how they shape our perspectives and behaviors. He emphasizes that each person is designed by God with one of seven motivational drives, leading to different ways of seeing and experiencing life. The preacher uses the example of his own children to illustrate how even in the same household, individuals with different motivational drives can interpret and respond to the same rules differently. He concludes by highlighting the importance of understanding and appreciating these differences in order to foster healthy relationships within the body of Christ.

Please open your Bibles tonight to Romans 12. In a few minutes I'm going to read verses 3 to 8 for Romans 12. And my text tonight, my main text, will be verses 3 to 8. Now some of you are wondering what these baskets are about up here, and I have them up here not to make you wonder. I have them up here so nobody could cheat or mess it up before we got to it. So please try to forget that they're up here and follow along with the message until we get to it. And in good time it will all be explained, you will get your gift, you'll get angry at me, and everything will be fine. Okay? What? Somebody have a sense of humor? Oh well. It doesn't bother me to get laughed at. Fit or misfit, number four tonight. When I was a pastor of Brown Street Alliance Church in Akron, Ohio, we had on our church board a man who was our financial secretary. He was a certified accountant with a large accountant firm in the city of Akron. He was very good at what he did, he was very helpful on the board. We just love to have a man with this ability to help us understand finances and where it was going and all that kind of thing. He could actually predict where they would be six months from now, all that kind of thing. It was very, very helpful person and loved the Lord. We were in a particular board meeting and he had a business matter that he had asked to have on the agenda and it was there and it was time for him to present it. So he went ahead and presented a proposition that was much on his heart. He explained it at great length, very carefully. The entire board sat and listened very carefully. I listened very carefully. When he was all done explaining it, he made a motion that we adopt it and someone seconded it to get it to a vote and then everybody on the board but him voted negative. Of course he voted for it, everybody else voted against it including the pastor and he couldn't believe it. So he started in again. He said, I'm sure you don't understand what I said. I thought, yeah, we understand it perfectly. So he went ahead and he went through the whole thing again and explained it very carefully and he did better the second time than the first, but I understood it the first time and he went all the way through it. He got to the end and he made his motion again, which was really out of order, but we let him do it and somebody seconded it and everybody voted no again. He looked absolutely nonplussed. Then he got ready to do it again. About that time, I said, well, wait a minute. Before you do that again, I said, the reason you're thinking of going through that and explaining it again is you don't think we understand it. He said, it's obvious you don't understand it. I said, the reason you think we don't understand it is because you think if we understood it, we would all vote positive with you. Oh, absolutely, he said. I said, no, I know this comes a great shock to you, but we all understand it perfectly and none of us agree with you. Is that possible? You better believe it's possible. Absolutely. I know it's possible because I think that most of the time I make myself fairly clear when I'm preaching and a lot of you don't agree with me and that's your privilege and it's okay. I love you anyway and fortunately for you, I don't just go ahead and preach the whole sermon over again, taking it for granted you didn't get it the first time. You got it, you just didn't agree with it or decided not to do it, right? But see, life is very interesting because of the way God has created us and because he has created us so differently and because there are basically, according to God's word, we're going to read in a minute, seven motivational drives and each person that comes into the life is designed by God with one of those motivational drives and because that's true, all of us see life differently. It's just the way it is and that's why people disagree. We have two children and when Larry went out the door, I would find myself saying, don't slam the door, you know, blam, shake all over and then when Jan went out the door and said, Jan, shut the door, she never got it quite latched. Same house, same parents, same rules. Why in the world was that? Well, they were very, very different and had totally different basic motivational drive to their life and I wish somebody had preached this sermon to me when I was their age so I'd have understood it by the time I got around to trying to raise them because I didn't fully understand how completely different you could be. There's no question in my mind, the motivational gift that my son has and when he was just, you know, just a little kid who could barely push a power more and probably a little too young to be doing it, he could go out in one afternoon and come back with $12. He could make money, you know, right off. He's always been able to make money. You say, man, I wish I was like that. Well, it has some disadvantages. So people come into the world totally different because God has designed us to function different. Why do good men and women sometimes disagree so strongly? We ask that question again and again. Why do good men and women, many times husbands and wives, parents and children, why do they sometimes disagree so strongly? The answer is because God has made us with different gifts and we have not learned how to function like the members of a body. And that's true in a family and it's true in a church. I am so glad that I didn't marry someone like me. Really. It would be terrible. It's hard enough for her. But if I had married somebody like me, I don't know what would have happened. We wouldn't have got divorced. We don't believe in it. We probably would have killed each other. Just, you know, somebody says you should never marry somebody that's very different than you. Yes, you should. You should marry somebody that's completely different than you. Can you imagine having a couple married and they both are exactly alike and they both have the gift of mercy and they both are so gentle and so kind that they never disagree about anything and nobody can make any decisions about anything and nothing ever gets done. Now, I'm not preaching on marriage tonight. I'm just throwing that in extra because when we talk about this, it's important not just for the church, the body of Christ, but it's important in all of our functions in human life. So look with me at Romans 12 verses three to eight. For I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Let us use them. If then it starts to list them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith or service. Let us use it in our serving. He who teaches in teaching, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. And God says, think soberly about yourself. Think seriously about yourself. Take a good, serious, sober look at yourself. And with God's help, try to understand how he has designed you. Did you notice the seven gifts in that passage? Prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling, and showing mercy. These represent the seven motivational drives implanted in human beings by God. Every human being is born with one of these motivational programs locked in. Now listen, his basic gift never changes throughout life. I'm talking about his motivational gifts, spiritual gifts, that's different. But his motivational gift, the DNA that God's implanted in him never changes since the gifts and callings of God are unchangeable. That's the word of God. That's what the scriptures say. There's a verse of scripture that's often misused. Bring up a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he will not depart from it. And a lot of us have a lot of trouble with that because we thought we were bringing them up in the right way. When they got a little older, they did depart from it and rebelled and broke our hearts, right? None of you have had that problem? Well, you see, that's because that's a very bad translation of that verse. It really says bring up a child in the way he is bent. And when he is old, he will not depart. He is bent. The direction that God has designed into his life, bring him up that way. So you should never bring up all your children the same because they're probably all different and they all have a different bent. They all have a different gift. They all have different interests and they should be brought up according to how God has designed them. And if we do that, we'll be amazed at the freedom and we'll be amazed at their attitude toward us. If all parents could understand this, it would do away with a lot of rebellion. You say, well, if you don't bring them all up the same, someone will feel neglected. No, they won't. They'll just be glad that you didn't bring them up like you did their brother. So there it is. Since God has programmed each one of us to act out of certain basic motivations, we will react differently in every situation of life. So what I want to do now is I want to take you on a hospital visit. Now in my time, I have visited a lot of people in hospitals. I have been in a lot of hospitals and I have been in a lot of situations in a lot of hospitals. And so I have a pretty good idea of what happens in a hospital and what happens with sick people, people that are there as patients. So what we're going to do, we're going to take each one of the seven and have them go to call on somebody in the hospital. Now some of these people wouldn't do this. They wouldn't go to the hospital at all unless you almost threatened their life. You understand that that's no, that's not me. Very uncomfortable with that. But so we're going to start with the prophet, the one with a gift of prophecy. He is thinking as he goes to visit these people in the hospital, and I know what he's thinking, he is thinking, I wonder if there is a spiritual need in this sick person to which I can minister while I am there. I wonder if there's any way that I can help them spiritually and maybe even help them physically by encouraging them to look to God and trust him. It may be that through this visit, there will be something happen here by the power of God that will make it possible for this person to trust God for their healing. And who knows, they may even be healed. You say, how do you know that's what a prophet is thinking? Because that's what I am. And so I take hospital visiting very seriously because to me, it is a very serious business that has to do with how God has designed me and what he has called me to do. So when I go to visit somebody in a hospital, it's serious. I want to be a help. I'm not just there to be friendly or because I'm the pastor. But to me, it is a very serious matter of ministry, a Mr. Fix-It. Now, I shouldn't even tell you this, but it won't hurt anything since I've already shredded it. But when I first came here, I sat down after I've been here a few weeks and I wrote out a list of all the things that needed fixing in this church. But since I'm not your permanent pastor and I didn't want another pastor to have to struggle with what I started, I finally just prayed about it and shredded it. You say, well, why did you do it in the first place? I couldn't help it. Are you listening? I mean, I couldn't help it. It just comes as naturally as breathing. Okay. So if, if a prophet goes to visit somebody in the hospital, that's what will happen. What about the one who has the gift of service? Well, if someone with that gift of service goes, he will probably bring a gift. It may not be great or big, but he will bring a gift, something practical. If he brings flowers, he will bring a, he will bring one in a pot, a plant that will grow, not flowers that will wilt in a day or two. But if he has a gift of service, he will bring a plant so that the sick person can take it home. Makes sense, doesn't it? And all the servers said, amen. Yes. And he may bring a book or if it's a lady in the hospital and the lady that calls, she may even bring a mirror or some things to help the lady fix her hair or offer to fix it for her. She may go if the sun is coming in too strong and pull the shade, tidy up the room, put things away, fix the towels, and ask what she can do for the person. That's this. Now I never do that. Sorry. It doesn't even cross my mind, but thank God there are wonderful people with this gift that do do it. And if you're sick in the hospital, you're glad to see them because they come in there and just want to do everything for you that they possibly can. Then here's the teacher going to make a call at the hospital. Now this is really, it's a funny thing and it says to call them a teacher, but teachers do this kind of thing, but they are research people. They want to look at all the options. They want to know everything they can know about it. So when they go to call, they want to know, first of all, what is your problem? You know, you're here in the hospital, you must have some problem. So what is your problem? So they want to hear all about your sickness. Who is your doctor? Is he a good doctor? Is he good enough or should you have a check with another one? Check him out. And then this person, once they found out what the sickness is, they will go home and look up the symptoms of the disease. They'll get on the internet or a health book or something, and they'll look it up and find out everything they can about this sick person's problem. Okay? And they will, they will ask your history and your family history of illness and has anybody else in your family had this? And they tell you about someone else sometimes with a similar problem. Hopefully the other person didn't die. They are a researcher and they want to know all the options and all the possibilities. Okay? It's not for me, but that's the person who has that particular gift. Now here's the person with the gift of exhortation. They will go in, sit down, show the person how Romans 8 28 applies to them for all things work together for good to those who love God. They want to counsel and encourage this person. They want to encourage them in every possible way. They will read a comforting scripture or something else comforting. They will have, if they pick out a card for them, it will be a card that really has an encouraging message that will lift this person up. They, if the person isn't too ill, they may even joke or they may even challenge the person, but their whole point in being there is to encourage and lift this person up. Great hospital people. Wonderful to call on sick people. Then here is the giver. He doesn't want to go to the hospital. He may go if he has to, but he doesn't want to visit anyone who is sick. He does not know what to say. So if he does go because it's a relative or because the pastor asked him to, or for some reason, if he goes to visit a sick person in the hospital, what he wants to know fairly quick is about their health insurance. Are they covered? That's what he's asking. What about their job? Is there their job in trouble because they're sick and in the hospital or is that all covered? He wants to help in some financial or practical or material way with the problem that this person's facing. When I went to Akron, Ohio, I went, we arrived in April, right? Not Akron, Ohio, Regina. Boy, after a while you get these churches mixed up. In Regina and it was in 1977 and the winter came on and I wasn't used to the winter in Regina. Believe me, if you've been there, you understand that and it gets down to 40 below and everything. Anyway, we had a big snow and our garage was on an alley. Now it's a paved alley. It should have been kept open, but it wasn't and the snow was quite deep out there and then along came the city scraper and scraped the street at the end of the alley and pushed a great big bank of ice up against it and blocked the whole alley with it and I had to get out to go somewhere with a car. I couldn't get through there, so I backed the car out and I tried to make a run down the alley the other way because it was open at the other end. It was a whole block long and I got stuck and so I dug the car out about three times, finally got the thing out. I'm totally exhausted by this time, drove it around front of the house, slipped on the ice, fell under the car. Thank God it didn't run over me. I started to be short of breath. I was 50. I was out shoveling snow in 20 below zero weather without adequate clothing, working at something I wasn't used to. My breath got more and more of a problem. All that night I had trouble breathing. The next day it wasn't any better. I called a nurse in the church. She said get to emergency. When I got to emergency, I was having a heart attack and I still remember the poor nurse trying to get a needle in my hand and she punctured my hand at least five times and she was swearing. It did hurt and she said, why aren't you swearing? I said, well it's not helping you. The truth is, the truth is that I feel more sorry for you than I do myself, you know, and my veins were collapsing and things were going downhill and they took all the tests and said yes, I was having a heart attack and so they put me in coronary care and the chairman of the board was a businessman and a farmer and I know what his gift is. Of course, I've known him for years now and so he got really upset and he never did come see me in the hospital but I wasn't surprised at that. But what he did do was try to help me. So he called up the city and he said, what do you think you're doing? He said, you've almost killed a man. You know, he really read him the right act and he had his farm about an hour's drive out from the city. He went out there and got a hundred and fifty thousand dollar tractor and loaded it up and brought it in town and cleaned out the alley and cleaned out the ice at the end of the alley and dumped it in the street and parked the thing in my backyard in case it happened again. There was the rest of winter, this great big, huge tractor, wheat farmer. He had the gift of giving. So there it was. He was greatly relieved when God healed me the third day and I went home with a very healthy heart which I have to this day. Amen. Hallelujah. It doesn't always happen but it did that time, thank God. Then we come to number six, a ruler. Someone who is an administrator. He has somewhat of a hard time calling on somebody in the hospital. He wants to know first, how long are you going to be in here? And of course, maybe they don't know, maybe they do. Not too much empathy. He says, don't worry about things at the office. We have everything under control. Things at home, how are they? He will organize all your affairs to relieve the pressure while you're in the hospital. Yeah, wonderful. When I'm sick, I want one of those guys come and see me, get everything organized, you know, take care of it for you. That's the way they're made. The very same heart attack. I had a district superintendent and he originally was a little upset that they were bringing a pastor up from the United States to pastor one of his best churches. So I knew he was a little miffed about that and but what happened was that here I was with a heart attack and he came to see me and he had the gift of administration and I still remember him saying, oh, don't die on me. Went to all that trouble to get you up here. We just got you here and you have a heart attack. I'm laying there thinking, why don't you just pray for me immediately? We're great friends, have been for many years. He told me later that he just thanked God that I came there, but at that moment he was a little concerned because he wanted everything in order, right? And it looked like he's going to get his apple cart turned upside down. Then the best hospital visitor there is is the one with the gift of mercy. They are bubbly. They want to create a happy situation or atmosphere. They say the right things. They're cheerful, they're comforting, and they're the very best people to do hospital calling. I had a secretary with a gift of mercy and she just mercied everybody in sight, took care of sick people, called on sick people, called on sick people in the nursing homes, just took care of elderly people. Just wonderful gift of mercy. Now are you beginning to get a picture? And I'm going to all this trouble tonight to give you a picture before we start taking one gift at a time. And I'll take a whole sermon for each gift, all right? So now let's switch now and let's go to a church board meeting. Now in a church board meeting it's very possible that you'll have all seven gifts. You don't always, but it could happen that you'd have all seven gifts on a church board. This church board is I think supposed to be 15 and I don't think it is right now, but in 15 people you could easily have seven motivational gifts. So here they are, and they're facing the problem of a full church. Church is full. What do we do now? I've faced this numerous times. So what do we do now? Well, the pastor who usually is a prophet, though he might be a ruler, a teacher, or an exhorter, but in this case we'll say that he's a prophet. How does he see it? He sees lost souls. He sees an opportunity to reach them and influence the city. This is right. Therefore we have no choice. We must build. Issues are black and white. Any of you guys that have served on boards ever seen that before? That's the way it's likely to be on this particular problem. And when we got ready to build in another church, in this one, I wouldn't hear when you built this one, but our whole theme was a place for people, a place for people, because we wanted to reach lost people for Christ. All right, here's the ruler. What he wants to know if we're going to talk about building a new building or enlarging the one we have is how are we going to do it? When are we going to do it? What are our goals? How will building help us reach those goals? Can we do it without building or is building the way to do it? What should be our timeline? When will we be in the new building? That's good stuff. He wants to organize the whole thing. Not me. I just want to go out and get the money and build it. But that's not the way to do it. Thank God for the administrator who has a gift that says, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down, slow down. Let's ask all the right questions and let's organize this thing and let's make it happen properly. Right? Isn't that good? Certainly it's good. And then here's the giver. And normally they don't do well on church boards, but here is the first thing that he wants to know is how much will it cost? And where's all this money coming from? Mean, we're talking about millions. Will it hurt our missionary giving? I'm already contributing to the hilt or he will say, we can do it. Let's get on with it. One of the two. I had a man in my church in Akron, Ohio. He owned a business, a very profitable business, and he gave basically 30,000 a year to the Lord. And he's very interesting man. And I said to him one time, George, you need to be on the board. And he said, no, I don't. I've tried it and I don't fit. And he was right. Cause I, I kept at it till I got him on there. And then I found out he was right. And I was glad when he got off. So it didn't work. It wasn't a good idea for him. Now, maybe some men could manage it, but he couldn't. And our Oregon broke down and I mean, it really broke down. It was basically dead. And so we needed the new Oregon. So the church board decided to start an Oregon fund. So I got up on a Sunday morning and I said, the church board has decided to start an Oregon fund. It will cost about so much. And we're going to, uh, you can give above your tithes or whatever to the Oregon fund. And we're going to get a new Oregon. I was standing at the doors. People were going out that morning and George come out and he stopped and glared at me. And he said, what did you do that for? I said, do what? Uh, he said, what did you do that thing about the Oregon like that for? I said, because we need a new Oregon. It died. He said, you knew that I would buy the Oregon. Why didn't you just come and ask me? You say, was he serious? Sure. He was serious. Absolutely. He said, go out and find what you need and just give me a call and I'll write the check. I like that in a church. That's good stuff. You say, did he? Sure. He did. Yeah. We took our music. People went out and found a really just the right thing for that church and, and he bought it. Nice. Huh? But that's the way he liked to do things while he was on the board. Uh, a shower, the church parsonage, and those days we had parsonages blogger, the church and the shower and the parsonage was leaking. And, uh, so they were going to send a plumber to fix it. And he said, uh, they were going to have a committee to go and get a price on it. And he's getting more upset all the time. And he said, what are you going to go to all that nonsense for? He said, it just needs to be fixed. He said, nevermind. I'll get it fixed, man. I wished he had kept his mouth shut. He went and found somebody that was a friend who would do it at a cut rate. And it leaked from then on until we got it fixed. Right? So your giver on the board, your teacher. Now we're going to talk about building a new church. So this is the research person. And they say, wait a minute, not so fast. We need more information. We should set up a committee to do research, explore the possibilities, bring in all other possible solutions to the problem. Come to an intelligent decision. Maybe we shouldn't build at all. Maybe we should just start another church. Maybe we should hive off. Maybe we should divide. I mean, we need to look at all the possible options. So let's set up a committee and study all possible options. Yeah, absolutely. You say, is that bad? No, not within limits. It isn't. It can be very helpful really, because this person may save you from doing some really stupid things. Have you ever seen churches do stupid things? Oh, no church you were part of. No, just some that I've been part of. And this kind of person on the board, if he's godly, has his head on straight, can save you lots of heartache, lots of problems, and help you to do it right. So thank God for him. Then there's the server. And what he wants to know is how, when we build this new building, how much of the work on this project can we do ourselves? Well, it depends on the size of the building. I still remember a couple of men on the board in Campbell River wanting to know how many thousand dollars can we save by doing some of the work ourselves? I said, brother, that's a good question. But this is a big building. We're building an auditorium that seats 1,200 people. We're building a Sunday school plant to take care of that, and a full-size gymnasium. I don't think there's any of us that can do anything on these big buildings except maybe paint a few Sunday school rooms afterwards or something. But he wants to know how much of this can we do because he is a servant, and he wants to serve, and he wants to help. Can we stand to get any bigger? Some of us are worked to death as it is. Servers need appreciation. People who are servants need to be appreciated and praised and thanked for their work. And a lot of times they aren't, but they need that. Then there's the exhorter. He wants to know, because he's very concerned about people's feelings, so he wants to know what does the congregation think? We need to take this matter to the grassroots. The people need to be involved, so this will be their project. Will this project help hurting people? He is an encourager, and he doesn't want anyone to get hurt in this process. The person with a gift of mercy will say, we need to pray about this before we do anything. Thank God for that, huh? Amen. We need to proceed in such a way that no one will be hurt, and he'll vacillate and support each new proposition put forward. Now, I went to all that trouble tonight because as we get into these gifts, I want us to be aware of how different we are. Listen, when you go home tonight after this service, you're going home with someone who is different than you. Be patient. Thank God they're different, and this is true in all of our relationships. Now, on your sheet tonight, I think that you have a summary chart of gifts. Do you have them there? It's supposed to be a good deal. There are three things that need to be noted there. For instance, let me read from 1 Corinthians 12, verse 1, now about spiritual gifts or spirituals, brothers. I do not want you to be ignorant. Verse 4, there are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit. There are different kinds of ministry, really, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of methods, but the same God works all of them in all men. So there are three things on this chart, and I want you to just look at them very briefly. We're not going to take time with that tonight. You say, when are you going to get to that? I'm going to get to it pretty soon now. I'm almost there. You'll notice over on the far left of your chart, the motivational gifts, prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, etc. In the middle are spiritual manifestations that have to do with spiritual gifts. Now, the natural gifts, the motivational gifts are given to every human being that comes into the world. It has nothing to do with whether they're Christian or not, but when they become a Christian, they don't change. That gift is still there, still real, is still part of it, okay? So there it is, and that's so with everyone, but when you become a Christian and you open your life to the Holy Spirit, then the Spirit of God wants to give you spiritual gifts, and the Holy Spirit will give us spiritual gifts that go along with our natural gifts as he sees in his wisdom, and he does that so we can end up in the third column, which is ministry. So you have a natural motivational gift by God, you become a Christian, and God gives you spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit, and God does that as he wills, because he knows best, and he puts it together, so that you can then have a ministry for Christ in the body of Christ. And God expects every Christian to have a ministry, and it's wonderful when people understand this in the body of Christ, and people recognize their natural gift, they recognize the spiritual gifts that God has given them, those things that are supernatural anointing from God, and they put it together, and they find a ministry that God wants them to participate in to his honor and to his glory in the church. You see that? All right, I'm going to read one passage of scripture, and then I'm about finished. Oh, I'm going to get to this right away, okay? Here we go. Now, in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says, the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and now he's talking about the body of Christ, the church, and though all its parts are many, they form one body, so it is with Christ. Now, the body is not made up of one part, but of many. He's comparing the church to the physical body. Christ is the head, we are members of the body. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not, for that reason, cease to be part of the body, and if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not, for that reason, cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. So what God is saying is that all the members of the body of Christ are equally important in the eyes of God, and are absolutely essential to the function of the body of Christ. And one of the problems is that many times we're trying to do something for the Lord, and it's not working, because either we don't depend on other members of the body of Christ to help us, or they're not helping us, though we need them. Did you get that? In the church, we're trying to do something for God, and it's not working, because all the members of the body are not doing their part. Okay, now I'm going to illustrate it. So I have up here, this is a little bitty Mars bar, you recognize it? That's what it is. It's all wrapped, just the way it came from the store. In these baskets are all kinds of little candies like this, all carefully wrapped. Now in a minute, I'm going to ask the ushers to pass them out, just to pass the baskets down the aisles. Just one a person, please, because I don't want to run out. Take your piece of candy out of the basket, and do not dare to open it. If you do, God will strike...no, he won't. We'll call down fire from...no, we won't do that. But if you do, if you just go ahead and open it, or start to open it, well, you'll just miss the illustration, okay? So when you get it, do not even start to open it at all, just keep it like that. Have you got that? Are you willing to do that? I know you're hungry, but just wait, and we'll have coffee in a minute. Okay, ushers, will you please come and pass these out? We need at least four people here to help this. Okay. Oh, yeah. In fact, I've got eight baskets up here, so it should go fairly quick. Just pass them down the aisles like you would an offering basket, and everybody just take one. And you've got a little bit of choice in there, but please don't take five minutes to choose. If you have the gift of teaching, please just take one. Don't study the whole basket. You think I'm kidding. My wife and I went out for lunch today with some folks. We didn't go out that way. We went into the restaurant, and they were there, and they said, oh, come and sit with us. There were two couples, and we went and sat with them, and up came the waitress, and she said, do you know what you want? And I said, yeah, I know what I want, and I told her, and my wife said, could I please have a, huh? Yeah. Could I please, I knew you'd get it. Could I please have a menu? Now, it was in Swiss Chalet. She knows what they have. She knows what she's going to get, but she had to see all the options for the 500 time. You got it? Don't you pity this teacher married to this prophet? Has everybody got one? Everybody have one? Oh, not yet? Raise your hand. We Okay, this is, this is just going to take a minute. Now, what I want to do is demonstrate how essential every member of the body of Christ is. You understand what I'm trying to do? So, I want everybody to take their candy, and I'm going to sit down so you can see clearly what we're going to do, and I want you to put, don't open it. I want you to put it down there on your knee like that. You got it? Put it on your knee. Everybody ready? Now, I want you to put your hands up on your head like this, and next, I'm going to have you close your eyes and then try to open that. Go ahead. I gained too much weight. I can't even get down there. You having difficulty? It doesn't work very good, does it? Even this guy up here, he almost got it that time, but even when he gets it, what's he going to do with it? Eat the paper? Now what are you going to do? Yeah. Am I making a point? Huh? Oh, you say you're being silly. No, I'm not. I am making a point. I can just see the devil laughing his head off at the church because they're trying to do things with a bunch of the members of the body not involved, and you can't manage that little bitty piece of candy without your eyes and your hands, just two members of the body, and you're totally defeated. You can't say, I don't need my eyes. Of course you do. You can't say, I don't need my hands. No, you do need your hands. In fact, sometimes I need three hands. Yeah. So that's my point tonight. That's my point. That in the body of Christ, all of us are equally important and all of us are essential to doing the work of God. And if we can see it and surrender ourselves to him and ask him to show us and get in line with his purposes and design in our life, we'll start to see the church really catch on fire and wonderful things will be happening and people will come to God and everybody's needs will be met. I think sometimes about people who have heartaches and problems and troubles and they feel sometimes lonely like nobody cares. And it isn't that nobody cares. It's just that the people who have the right gifts to minister to them have not been put in the right place and aren't doing it. There are people who can make a lot better hospital calls than I can. That's right, really. And I've been there in all kinds of things. So that's what God is saying to our hearts tonight. Well, when you go home tonight, take your Bible and turn to Isaiah 45, write this down. Turn to Isaiah 45 and read verses 1 through 13 about God choosing a pagan man by the name of Cyrus 300 years before he was born and naming him as the ruler of Persia and saying that God had designed his life and was going to put him there to rebuild the city of Jerusalem for God's glory. Though that man did not know God or acknowledge him at all. Read it. It's there. And see how completely God has designed us to serve him. Woe to him who quarrels with his maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, what are you making? Does your work say he has no hands? Woe to him who says to his father, what have you begotten? Or to his mother, what have you brought to birth? No, God has made us and designed us beautifully to serve him together. Amen. God bless you. You can eat your candy if you want to. And you can go and fellowship and have some coffee because there's some people with a servant's heart that have prepared it. Good night. God bless you. Have a great week. I like Mars bars. I think I'll eat this thing.