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Responsible Stewardship
22 Plays1 month ago
Series: Faithfulness to Jesus
Mark 11:27-12:12
Recommended
Transcript
Unity and Spiritual Gifts at the Women's Conference
00:00:01
Speaker
Nothing makes my heart happier as your pastor when I see the congregation here at First Baptist Church come together as one body, as one unit, as you did this yesterday at the Women's Conference.
00:00:19
Speaker
So I want to congratulate you as I saw each one of you up here participating and serving and giving of yourselves and your unique capacity, not just to one another, but serving the ladies here of Milam County.
00:00:36
Speaker
It was quite an event to see. It was beautiful as I sat back and watched women and men giving of themselves, sharing their God-given gift of administration, of leadership, of organization and service,
00:01:00
Speaker
And then just sitting back, Ronnie and I up at the booth up here and watching oh women worshiping our Lord and Savior. All women from all different churches here worshiping our one Savior.
00:01:16
Speaker
And I bet you didn't know, ladies and and gentlemen, while you were serving, you were already implementing today's sermon. So I thought, why not just not have the sermon this morning, go right to prayer.
00:01:31
Speaker
And all the men are saying yes. And all the women are saying no, tell us more about how great we did yesterday.
00:01:42
Speaker
Giving of yourselves in this capacity, sharing your spiritual gifts, is indeed responsible stewardship.
00:01:53
Speaker
Responsible stewardship is taking that which God has given to you and sharing that with others for His kingdom purposes. And the more you exercise those gifts, the more fruit you bear.
00:02:07
Speaker
And I'll make an argument today from the pulpit this morning that bearing fruit is not optional if you are a believer. It is not something you will choose to do as sharing of your spiritual gifts.
The Mandate of Spiritual Gift Sharing
00:02:24
Speaker
Rather, it's mandatory. Just like you are salt and you are light, like we talked about a couple weeks ago, this is the very nature of who you are as Christians. as ah As a Christ follower, the very nature of who you are is somebody who shares their spiritual gifts.
00:02:42
Speaker
It is about responsible stewardship. and And friends, that's what we're going to look at today. today this morning and I just put a note before we dive into the scriptures just imagine what it would be like if everybody look to your left look to your right everybody here was sharing their spiritual gifts here at the church imagine if everybody 100% imagine what that would look like here
00:03:11
Speaker
Advancing God's kingdom purposes, not just here in FBC, not just here in Cameron, not just in Milam County. But do can you see if we were all doing this, how fabulous this would be?
Authority, Responsibility, and Stewardship
00:03:25
Speaker
This is what we're going to look at this morning in in Mark chapter 11 and going into chapter 12.
00:03:30
Speaker
It is this idea of responsible stewardship, mandatory stewardship. We're to three things. If you have your outline, I hope you grabbed a bulletin on the way in. You'll notice if you're visiting, this is what we do. We have an outline.
00:03:45
Speaker
I like to tell people it keeps you safe and it keeps me safe. It keeps you from falling asleep not knowing what i'm going to say next. And it keeps me real tight, keeps me out of the gutters as the bowling alley illustration would go.
00:04:02
Speaker
We're going see three things from your outline. You'll see authority, responsibility, and productivity. Authority, responsibility, and productivity. Authority, we're going to see that God owns it all, and it's God's authority as he owns it all, and since he owns it all, and he has entrusted it to us, we then have this responsibility. That's the second thing we're to look at.
00:04:22
Speaker
And then third, productivity, how you and I can be good stewards of our spiritual gifts. I don't know about you, but if you've grown up in the church and you've come on a weekend like this weekend and you've heard the topic of good stewardship, normally you are thinking to yourself, this is a message on finances.
00:04:38
Speaker
How do I give well to the church? I want you to relax this morning. That's not what we're talking about. I'm going reframe it this morning around our spiritual gifts because I think this is what the text will will show us today.
00:04:49
Speaker
Mark chapter 11, if you will, turn turn your Bibles. We're going to continue on as we have over the last several weeks, ah moving on in our journey of Mark. Last week, you'll remember, we talked about an ill-functioning fig tree and an ill-functioning temple.
Questioning Jesus' Authority
00:05:06
Speaker
And we said the fig tree's problem was that it wasn't bearing fruit, and therefore, the the response or the consequence of that was that it was withered up from the roots up. This same problem we saw in the temple it was ill-functioning.
00:05:20
Speaker
Instead of being a house of prayer, it was a den of robbers. And we saw Jesus come in and do something remarkable that most people who don't read their Bibles can grasp.
00:05:33
Speaker
He came in and turned up tables, kicked out the money changers, The meek and mild Jesus, right? This is a man of great authority who comes into the temple and says, it's not working as it should, and he kicks him out. And now this morning's passage that we pick up here in chapter 11, starting verse 27, Jesus returns to that scene of the crime.
00:06:00
Speaker
And he's confronted by the religious leaders of that time, and they challenge his but authority. In your Bible, if you have one that has headings, probably says something like, verse 27 starts with, the authority of Jesus challenged. Verse 27 begins this way, it says, Again they entered Jerusalem, and as Jesus was walking through the temple area, the leading priests and the teachers of the religious law and the elders came up to him, and they demanded, By what authority are you doing all of these things?
00:06:34
Speaker
Who gave you the right to do them? I'll tell you by what authority I do these things if you answer one question, Jesus replied. Did John's authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?
00:06:50
Speaker
Answer me. And they talked it over amongst themselves. If we say it was heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe in John. But do we dare say it was merely human? For they were afraid of what the people would do because everyone believed that John was a prophet.
00:07:10
Speaker
And so they finally replied, we do not know. And Jesus responded, then I won't tell you by what authority I do these things. Let's pause right there. So it's it's an interesting start, right? He's just turned over the money tables and it says he's now returned back into Jerusalem, back into this temple area, and he's immediately approached by this group, this first appearance of the Sanhedrin three, if you will, the chief priests, the scribes, or the teachers of the law, and the elders.
00:07:43
Speaker
These are the same people who will eventually become the prosecution team, if you will. Who will prosecute Jesus. And they ask these two questions first. By what authority are you doing all these things?
00:07:57
Speaker
And who gave you the right to do them?
00:08:00
Speaker
Two questions of authority. They're not looking for information. They're looking for incrimination. They want to prove Jesus doesn't have the authority to do what he's doing in the temple. And their purpose is we're going to expose him and we're going to eventually destroy him.
00:08:18
Speaker
Their accusation is this. We didn't give you this authority. We're the ones in charge. church Don't you know that? We didn't give you this authority.
00:08:28
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By whose authority are you doing these things?
00:08:33
Speaker
What have to remember is, friends, the religious elite, the religious leaders here, were the ones who delved out the authority to do actions within the temple.
00:08:43
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And here Jesus comes in and he's ignoring them and just going about turning over tables and teaching. And they don't care for this. not one bit.
00:08:55
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Whose authority do you come in? Is the word to which Jesus responds. and I like this verse 29. He counters that question, as Jesus often does, with a question.
00:09:06
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Oh, you want to know whose authority I come Well, answer this for me. Whose authority did John's baptism or John's ministry, you may say, where did that come from? Did it come from man or did it come from heaven?
00:09:21
Speaker
And he put them right there with that one question in a pickle. Texas Texonians here. It's pickle. He's in a rock and hard place, these guys.
00:09:32
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How do they respond? Because if they respond one way and simply say, well, John's authority just came from a man. It says right here, they knew that the crowd would be upset because everybody knew John was a prophet.
00:09:47
Speaker
They didn't want to disrupt the status quo. They didn't want to disrupt the crowds. But on the other hand, they didn't want to say it came from heaven because what? John said, hey, there's going to be one who's going to come who's greater than me.
00:10:00
Speaker
Matter of fact, they knew Jesus was baptized by John. And they knew that the spirit came down and the voice was audible. This is my beloved son. If they agreed to this, they would basically be agreeing to Jesus' authority coming from God.
00:10:17
Speaker
So how do they respond? I love it. After all this debating, you can imagine they've turned their backs to Jesus and they've huddled up. Boy, we're in a tough spot. How do we respond?
00:10:31
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How does society respond to the authority of Jesus?
00:10:36
Speaker
I don't know.
00:10:39
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That's how they respond here. it's a It's a non-response. It's a response of non-responsiveness, right? I don't know. is it true that they didn't know? no, they knew.
00:10:50
Speaker
They knew where Jesus' authority came from. But they were lying here because they didn't want to get caught in this trap. And I thought to myself this week, it all really comes down to a matter of authority here. Your life and my life is placed under, is where we get this hierarchical term, military term of submission, we place our lives under the authority of Jesus.
Living Under God's Authority and Stewardship
00:11:15
Speaker
So what does that mean? Well, I wrote just a few comments to myself this week. First I said, is that true? Do I really believe Jesus owns it all?
00:11:28
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Is He over it all? Is it all His? Meaning, all the stuff that we like to accumulate. The cars and the houses and the paychecks and the property.
00:11:39
Speaker
Is it all His? Because if it does, that changes things for us as Christians.
00:11:49
Speaker
If it's all His, and we're all His, He owns you and I. And for the Western culture, we don't like to hear that.
00:12:03
Speaker
I'm just going look. I'm looking at everybody in the eyeballs right now. Nobody likes to hear we're owned by somebody. But if you're in Christ, He owns you. And everything he gives you and entrusts with you to use for his glory says something for us. So the first question I i put, are we somebody who says, yes, it's true, God owns it all.
00:12:28
Speaker
And if that's the case, if you're one of these people who agrees with that statement, if he owns it all and he has authority over everything, does he have authority over every area of my life?
00:12:41
Speaker
My finances, my family,
00:12:46
Speaker
My spiritual life, my prayer life, my spiritual gifts.
00:12:51
Speaker
If he owns it all and is over it all and we are in submission to him and we have given it all over to him and his authority is over over every part of our lives, the last question I put is, does everybody else know that?
00:13:05
Speaker
Does your boss know that? Does your coworkers know that? Does your family know that? Do your friends know that?
00:13:13
Speaker
Or when you're pressed on that topic of who is over your life and who's running your life, do you answer it like this? don't know.
00:13:24
Speaker
Because, friends, that's the easy, non-confrontational way to answer that question. I don't want to be pressed into what I believe and don't believe. I don't want to be pressed into whether or not Jesus is over every area of my life.
00:13:38
Speaker
I'll give them the prayers, I'll give them my children, but boy, those finances.
00:13:45
Speaker
Maybe I'll give them 80% of the finances, but that 20% I want to hold on to. It's all or nothing. that's That's what this word submission means. Are we under him and have we submitted every part of our lives?
00:14:00
Speaker
This includes what I put, your spiritual gifts.
00:14:08
Speaker
Are we being good stewards? Meaning, are we using those gifts in a wise manner for God's glory and His kingdom purposes?
00:14:21
Speaker
I like C.H. Dodd, who is a theologian. he He simply put these questions in response to how these religious leaders answered, I don't know.
00:14:32
Speaker
He said this, he said, they're not answering or asking what is true or what is right, but rather what is safe. And I thought when I read that this week, man, is that indicative of us? Does that convict anybody else?
00:14:46
Speaker
Are we standing on the principle, is it true, is it right? Or when it comes to the populace of who you work with or who, but probably even parts of your family, are we taking the safe approach?
00:15:01
Speaker
if jesus has If God is owner of over all things, it demands a certain response from you and I. And I put down, it's part and parcel of who you and I are as Christians. It's not optional.
00:15:16
Speaker
It's not something we can just say, you know, this week I'm going to exercise my spiritual gifts and I'm going help out. But next week I'm not going to do that. No, it's all in. You're either always serving or you aren't serving.
00:15:29
Speaker
You're either always singing serving. If that's your gift, or you're not singing. If you can play the drums, I got a drum set right in the next door.
00:15:40
Speaker
I'll bring it out.
00:15:43
Speaker
Oh, only one person said amen. Yeah, I know. there's Trust me, I'm gonna get the emails on Monday. Don't, pastor, don't bring out the drums.
00:15:54
Speaker
It's who we are. If you are owned by God, if you are in submission to him, and he controls every part of your life, he entrusts certain things to us, spiritual gifts.
00:16:10
Speaker
And I know some of you are scratching your heads because you never spent enough time thinking, okay, what is my spiritual gift? We're going to get to that.
00:16:19
Speaker
Let's continue real quick. Look with me here.
00:16:24
Speaker
Jesus... responds to their question with the question, and then he tells this parable. And I and i just love this parable, but chapter 12, verse 1. This is the parable of the evil farmers or the evil tenants or the wicked tenants, your translation may say.
00:16:42
Speaker
Here on the on the screen. then jesus began teaching them with the parable or stories and he says a man planted a vineyard and he built a ra a wall around it and dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice and he built a lookout tower then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers, and he moved to another country. So let's pause real quick right there.
00:17:01
Speaker
Common practice in Jesus' day. So somebody would own a whole lot of land, and this guy would prep it and get it ready, and instead of him doing the work, he would hire or lease out that land to be worked by tenant farmers. This guy, typically, the owner, is not there on the premises. He's somewhere else.
00:17:19
Speaker
As Jesus is telling this parable, everybody listening would have understood what's going on. So he says that that the owner would likely move to another country, verse 2, and at the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop.
00:17:35
Speaker
But the farmers grabbed the servant and beat him up and sent him back empty-handed. The owner then sent another servant, but they insulted him and beat him over the head. And the next servant he sent was killed.
00:17:49
Speaker
Others he sent were either beaten or killed until there was only one left, his only son, and and whom he loved dearly. And the owner finally sent him, thinking, surely they will respect my son.
00:18:04
Speaker
But the tenant farmers said to one another, here comes the heir to the estate. Let's kill him and grab the estate for ourselves. And so they grabbed him and murdered him and threw his body out into the vineyard.
00:18:16
Speaker
What do you suppose the owner of the vineyard will do, Jesus asked?
00:18:22
Speaker
I'll tell you, he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others. Didn't you ever read this in the scriptures? And he goes on here and says, the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
00:18:35
Speaker
This is the Lord's doing and it is wonderful to see. And the religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus because they realized he was telling the story against them.
00:18:48
Speaker
And they were the wicked farmers. But they were afraid of the crowd, and so they left and went away. What's going on in this parable?
Role in God's Kingdom and Bearing Fruit
00:18:57
Speaker
I just i love this parable. of
00:19:02
Speaker
With any parable, right there's there's two purposes that happen in the parable. One to to conceal and one to reveal. right there's There's this concealing of the knowledge to those who don't have ears to hear.
00:19:13
Speaker
rob And there's this revealing side. What's beautiful about this one, while it is concealing, Jesus doesn't mince words. He lets them know right the very end who he's talking to.
00:19:26
Speaker
There's no second guessing who the wicked farmers are here or the wicked tenants here. This parable is drawn from Isaiah's song of the vineyard, Isaiah 5, which portrays Israel's religious leaders as these indeed, these wicked farmers over God's vineyard who refused to give him, I like C.H. Dodd says this,
00:19:48
Speaker
They don't pay their rent, they pay it with blows. right Every time somebody is sent, they beat them up. They hit them over the head. they Eventually gets worse and worse and worse and they and they kill him. and Surely, he says, that as a last resort, what I'm going do is I'm going to send my one and only beloved son. Who is that?
00:20:06
Speaker
yeah and Everybody who would been who would have been hearing this parable would have easily known who he's talking about. And I like, not in Mark's account, but in Matthew's account, of the same parable. Jesus says, even poses the question to the crowd, well, what do you think the landowner should do in this case?
00:20:23
Speaker
And the crowd, along with these religious leaders, go, they should be judged. Judge them. And he's like, hold on a second. That's you.
00:20:35
Speaker
Have you read God's word like that? and And we're often, when we read God's word, we think that's somebody else he's talking about. And the more you read it, you go, wait a second. He's talking to me right there.
00:20:52
Speaker
I like Mark's gospel. His sweet and to the point, verse 9 says, I'm going to tell you, Jesus says, this is the outcome for those who do not give God what is justly owed him.
00:21:05
Speaker
So he will come and he will remove those farmers and he will replace those people with somebody who who deserves it. God is the landowner and he owns it all. If God is the landowner and he owns it all, what happens if we don't acknowledge that God owns it all?
00:21:22
Speaker
Or if you recognize that God owns it all, but you're unwilling to use those gifts that he's given you? I'm glad you asked. going to give you a real world example.
00:21:37
Speaker
Let's just say you can play an instrument.
00:21:42
Speaker
The guitar, the drums, the flute, you name it.
00:21:48
Speaker
The spoons.
00:21:51
Speaker
Monty, I wasn't pointing to you over there, Monty.
00:21:56
Speaker
What if God had gifted you with this talent, but you refused to share that with anybody? but you refuse to come up and play in the choir.
00:22:11
Speaker
It's an act of rebellion. Did you know that? Because God owns it all and He's over it all, And you are under his submission, and it covers every part of your life, when he gifts you with these spiritual gifts, when he gifts you with money, when he gifts you with you name it, you fill in the blank, and instead of sharing that, which is your natural God-given response to somebody who's given you something, is to share it. If you simply don't share that and you hold on to that, friends, you are in full and utter rebellion.
00:22:53
Speaker
And I know, I can see it on your faces right now. He started off praising everybody about how great we did at the women's conference. This sermon has turned sideways on us. No, no, I don't want you to andt want you to to see that.
00:23:07
Speaker
Because I know, friends, many of you are indeed sharing your spiritual gifts with us. You are serving in some capacity here in the church. But if you can sing and you're not singing up here,
00:23:20
Speaker
Why? If you can play and you're not playing up here, why? If you've been gifted with wise discernment or the ability to teach, yet you're not teaching here, why?
00:23:36
Speaker
If you've been given the gift of ministration or service or encouragement and I could go on and on and on, but you're not sharing, why What's it going to take?
00:23:47
Speaker
That's what I put down here for myself. What's it going to take to realize that God has gifted you with that for reason so that you could share it, and in sharing that, you're going to bear more fruit?
00:24:00
Speaker
And we're going to be the recipients in blessing, and you will be the recipients of that blessing as well. It works both ways. I also just put here, this parable is an implicit answer to the question of the source of Jesus's authority, which he refused to answer initially.
00:24:18
Speaker
But he's effectively saying, my authority has come the Father, the Father is the landowner, and he has sent me to claim what is rightfully mine. If you are in Christ, if you are rightfully his, and he's given you a spiritual gift, it is your duty, church, it is your responsibility, church,
00:24:39
Speaker
to exercise those, to use those in some way that glorifies him here in the body of Christ.
00:24:48
Speaker
So what does this passage mean for you and I this morning?
Employing and Sharing Spiritual Gifts
00:24:51
Speaker
It's quite easy to get tangled up in the parable and go, what does that mean? I don't understand what that particular thing means. I like to take a step back, as my job is whenever I exposit the text, whenever I study for this, I often step back and go, what does this mean for you and I today?
00:25:10
Speaker
Because if I simply read God's word and exposes God's word, but don't tell you how to apply it, you're going to leave here and go, that's a fantastic history lesson, but how do I use it this week?
00:25:23
Speaker
So let me just start by simply encouraging you who are already sharing. Please continue to share because we're all much better For God's community here at First Baptist Church is much better for it.
00:25:38
Speaker
But if you haven't shared
00:25:45
Speaker
two ways, two ways that we can make this real this week for you and I. You have to know what your spiritual gift is, and then you have to share it. Know them and share them are the two takeaways. If you're taking notes, those are good time to write this.
00:25:59
Speaker
1 Peter 4.10 tells us that each of us has received a spiritual gift or a grace gift from God. And as each has received a gift, we are to use that to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
00:26:13
Speaker
And the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 1.25 that...
00:26:18
Speaker
that we are given these gifts and the purpose or the reason for receiving these gifts is so that we can, it is for the progress and the joy of of those of us in the faith.
00:26:28
Speaker
It is to further God's kingdom ah work here. It is to further his purposes here on earth. And so I just put down, if it is true that each one of us has at least one and you haven't spent the time to figure out what yours is, let me just give you a quick list and see if you fall in.
00:26:47
Speaker
Administration, or discernment, or evangelism, or exhortation, or faith, or giving, or hospitality, or leadership, or serving, or teaching, or wisdom. Just a quick rundown of spiritual gifts.
00:27:03
Speaker
How would I ever know what my spiritual gift is? How?
00:27:11
Speaker
Google it.
00:27:15
Speaker
No, your pastor did not just tell you to Google it. Yes, I did. Here's the beauty of it. There are a ton of spiritual gift survey tools online. And I will tell you for many, many, many, many years in my Christian walk,
00:27:30
Speaker
I kind of thought where my spiritual gifting was. But until I really sat down and took a couple of different surveys, and different companies provide different ones, they're all free, by the way, you'll start seeing a pattern.
00:27:44
Speaker
You're gifted in a certain area of administration, or you're gifted in some level of worship, or you're you're just a giving person. you're Your gift, you may not have anything else other than giving financially.
00:27:56
Speaker
That may be where God really, really blesses you. But you have to know it first. So that's the first thing this week as you step out. If we are going to be fruit bearers, which we cannot not be, it's mandatory, it's not optional. If we're going to do that, we need to know what our spiritual gift is.
00:28:16
Speaker
If you don't know what it is and you don't want to spend the time to Google it and you don't want to take a survey, here's a shortcut. Can I give you a shortcut? You find one of the other Bible teachers here and you say, what have you seen in me when it comes to spiritual gifts?
00:28:33
Speaker
Most teachers will be able to tell you, oh yeah, I think you really excel in this area. Or maybe you should research this area. You got to know it first before you can share it.
00:28:43
Speaker
And second, what do we do? I just put down a note. How great is a gift if you simply don't share it? That's like wrapping up a gift under the Christmas tree and just leaving it there.
00:28:54
Speaker
Hey, I wonder what's in that but's in that present. I don't know. We've never unwrapped it. We've never shared it.
00:29:02
Speaker
If God has blessed you with a talent, let me encourage you to cultivate that today. Meaning if you're handy with the guitar, but you're not a great guitar player, maybe it's time to pick up the guitar and start practicing with the goal of coming up here and playing for everybody.
00:29:23
Speaker
Never have I ever been at a church where somebody has played the guitar and the congregation goes, oh
00:29:31
Speaker
that's horrible. Not ever. because Because you're sharing in your spiritual gift. And the more you share, the more people will encourage you. And the more you're encouraged, the more you want to practice more. and the more it works the same whether you're a teacher or you're a servant. It doesn't it doesn't matter.
00:29:49
Speaker
You have to step out. I put down, if you have a great voice and we don't know it, shame on you. We should know that you can sing well. Come up front.
00:29:59
Speaker
And I'm not saying adults. Kids, I know some of you can sing really well. This is not an adult-only worship service, by the way. If you can teach and you haven't come to me and asked to teach, I can understand why.
00:30:17
Speaker
Teaching has real weight to it, a real consequence spiritually to it. It's not something you just step into lightly.
00:30:30
Speaker
But if you feel like I'm gifted in that area, please come see me at the church. I'd love to sit down and talk to you about that.
00:30:39
Speaker
just want to end with this.
Celebrating Service and Unity
00:30:41
Speaker
What was so apparent to me yesterday at the Women's Conference was a church of givers. a church of servants, a church of people that I don't have to say, hey, you're really good at baking or picking up chairs or stuffing bags or vacuuming the floors or ironing the tablecloths. I didn't have to to tell one person that.
00:31:09
Speaker
And it was like this concert of people just going about doing what God made you to do. using your spiritual gifts, and it was it was beautiful.
00:31:24
Speaker
And I had somebody say, you know, I'm just glad, I'm so happy this all just worked out. You know, that that was the term. I'm glad it all, I don't even think we needed all the planting. It just always seems to work out. No, you do need planting.
00:31:37
Speaker
That's why God gifted some of you as planters. And thank you for that. But it is beautiful. It was like a orchestrated dance as I watched everybody doing their parts coming together as the body of Christ.
00:31:51
Speaker
And you could feel it in the church. Everybody was serving with joy. and And the speakers, lady speakers came on and the audio worked.
00:32:02
Speaker
And the videos worked. And the AC worked. It was like God smiling down on Saturday morning going, i know you probably want to be somewhere else other than here, but I'm going to bless this effort.
00:32:15
Speaker
And ladies and gentlemen, he did. If you weren't here, you missed it. It was fantastic.
00:32:24
Speaker
To God be the glory. May we be a people who can continually come together as God's people, who recognize that he is over it all and owns it all, and he has gifted us and entrusted us with spiritual gifts. May we be bold enough to stand up and use them for God's people. And everybody said?