[0:00] Do you guys realize that a Sunday morning of discipleship and worship that it requires actually no less than 70 people to put on a Sunday morning of ministry?
[0:12] So there's not enough staff to do that. It's a participatory thing that we do together. And there's no divide between what is ministry and the rest of life.
[0:23] It's all God's. I love how Martin Luther says that he says, you know, the cobbler praises God when he honestly makes a good pair of shoes.
[0:33] That that too is ministry. So we've been called. We've been set apart unto ministry. And then it says here that we're beloved, right? Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved.
[0:47] God's affectionate rests upon us this morning. Why? We just celebrated communion because Christ died for us, that God sees us through the righteousness of Christ, that that we are now friends with God.
[1:00] We relate to God as part of his family. We're no longer strangers. We're no longer on the outside looking in. And it's a wonderful image here of adoption that we're now part of God's family.
[1:13] Anyone can be part of God's family if they would put their faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. So the gospel is for everyone.
[1:24] This is not for insiders only. And maybe you're here this morning and you've never trusted in Christ and you're thinking, man, I'm too sinful. I can't be a Christian.
[1:34] Your sin is the prerequisite. Man, I got too much. No, that actually means you need a magnificent savior. You need Jesus.
[1:46] Well, as a result of our new identity as God's beloved, we have been given a new dress code. And that's what Paul says here at the beginning of verse 12. He says, put on then.
[1:58] And what is he saying? Essentially, he's saying, get dressed. Get dressed. It's a present imperative every day or to wake up and we're to wear Christ.
[2:10] And I love that. And some of you are like, well, I don't know. What does it mean to wear Christ? Well, Paul is going to describe it, these different virtues, these different characteristics. This is who God is and it's who we're to be.
[2:24] But this present imperative, it's predicated on our unity, right? Because he says, put on then. He's referring back to what he just said in verse 11. He said, actually, there's neither Greek or Jews circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, scathing, slave free, but Christ is all in all.
[2:39] We're actually unified. We're actually one body. Let's dress like it. Now, these virtues that Paul is going to describe for us here, they're really antithetical to the fashion of our day.
[2:52] The world doesn't dress like this. And when we wear Christ daily, we have capacity to minister to one another and we're going to stand out.
[3:03] I like how Paul says it in Philippians 2 where he says, you know what? If you live in such a way, you're not grumbling, you're not complaining, considering others more important to yourself. You know what?
[3:13] It's like in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, you're going to shine like lights in the world, right? You're going to be noticed. Luminaries in the cosmos.
[3:23] There's something different about you. And it's startling. When I drive as an Uber driver, pastor, whatever it is that I do exactly, but I spend time with people, I kid you not, it's shocking when someone is in my car and they don't use profanity.
[3:41] It's like there's something different and I notice it because I'm so used to the verbiage that comes out of just about every passenger. When someone sits down in my car and they're not like using colorful language, it's noticeable.
[3:55] We will stand out. If we put on Christ, if we put on these attributes, we will be noticed and we will have capacity to minister to one another. So we've actually been given a list here. There's seven, there's about eight, but I compressed one into, you know, to make it one.
[4:09] So we've got seven articles of clothing we're to wear daily. And I know it's a list and it's a lot here, but I'm just going to suggest, let the Holy Spirit convict you of like, wow, that's the one I needed to hear.
[4:23] And I'll share with you in the midst as we go through, because there's one that the Lord kept poking me. I've had to hear the sermon like all week. And so I'll highlight where the Lord kind of was working on me, but listen and let the Holy Spirit just apply what you need to hear this morning from this list.
[4:41] So the first virtue says, put on as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved. The first thing he says is compassion at hearts. That's the first article of clothing work to put on in the morning.
[4:52] Compassion. And I tell you what, this is where I wish we use the King James version because in the King James it says, put on the bowels of mercy.
[5:05] I mean, that'll preach the bowels of mercy. The bowels, you know, those were that was the seat of emotions for the ancient Jews.
[5:16] That's what they believe, but compassion is this deep sensitivity, right, to the needs, to the hurts, to the sorrows of others. And I hope that that they're that you're move, right?
[5:28] We it's almost as if we don't we're not moved because we're overwhelmed at all the crisis and and and and just difficulty in life. We see the news reports, but of the hurricane on the East Coast and you hear the stories and it should touch you, right?
[5:44] It's like a 75 year old grandfather hanging onto a tree while water is blowing through his town and he hangs on for like seven hours. And finally, he just wears out and it should you should feel something.
[5:59] That's compassion. That's the heart of Jesus. He felt as he saw the suffering, the hurting of people in Mark 936.
[6:09] It says when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Mark 1414 when he went ashore, he saw the great crowd and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
[6:27] Church, are our hearts tender? Do they break when we encounter suffering?
[6:39] When we encounter need? Are they soft? Because ministry will emanate from that. God will use that.
[6:49] And I would say something that that prevents us from wearing compassion from putting this on. It's really when we're immersed in sin or there's an area of life partitioned off, not given to the Lord.
[7:05] We grow calluses on our hearts. Hebrews 313 talks about exhorting one another daily so they wouldn't be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
[7:15] That's the word where we get callus from in the Greek. Romans 419 talks about unbelievers who are callus as they indulge in sin.
[7:28] And as we do that, our hearts, they're hard. We can't feel sin. It's like a callus built up on the heart. We stop feeling deeply as we once did.
[7:38] I don't know if you've ever like shook in the hand of like a carpenter or like a farmer? Like I had Wade sitting next to me this morning and he shook my hand and I was like, that's the illustration right there.
[7:53] It's like everybody shake Wade's hand after the service. Like that's a farmer's hand. But it's like that's the kind of hand you need if you're a farmer. You get it stuck in the machine. I mean like Scott did when he was young and then it's like nothing.
[8:05] You're, oh, I think I feel something. Maybe not. I'm okay. You know? But imagine if that's what happens to the heart, you're never moved to compassion.
[8:16] That's what sin will do. It's a heavy price. We miss ministry when that happens because I think God intends to drive us into ministry fueled oftentimes by our compassion and it really leads into the second virtue, the second piece of clothing.
[8:34] It's kindness. So put on compassion at hearts and kindness, right? What is kindness?
[8:44] We know kindness when we experience it. Amen? You run into a kind person. You just know. What's that attractiveness? Oh man, they're so kind.
[8:55] I love being around them. It's graciousness. It's benevolence that pervades that whole person.
[9:05] Actually in the Greek it was a word used to describe good wine. Good wine mellows with age. It's not bitter.
[9:18] Mellowing of harshness in a person. That's kindness. Like if you were to get in a car accident this afternoon and you were to run into someone, you want that to be a kind person, right?
[9:30] So that they don't respond to you in harshness. Kindness is the expression of compassion in the heart.
[9:42] See the connection here? You're moved to compassion and it's the outworking now of that compassion. That's kindness.
[9:53] It's the teenager that sees the student in the lunch room with no one sitting around and maybe they feel compassion, but kindness is them going, I'm going to now go move in and sit with that person.
[10:05] They're now my lunch buddy for the rest of the semester. That's kindness. I have a friend who actually lives in North Carolina, so I've been following the hurricane, the events of Helena.
[10:20] He's an experienced mountaineer. Climberaneer like 15 times. He's very accomplished and he sees the suffering in the western portion of the state and he decided last week, he's like, I'm going to go help.
[10:33] I think he went and got on with Samaritan's purse. He's like, I have some skills and there's people lost and needing rescue in the mountains and I can be of service.
[10:44] His compassion, he felt that. We feel that, but then it moved into kindness. He entered into that suffering. That's kindness. Church, when is kindness difficult?
[10:55] I think oftentimes kindness is difficult when we feel as though our rights have been infringed upon or our perceived rights.
[11:06] Can we justify our unkindness? I mean, God forbid the barista blows it on your order and gives you the wrong drink or puts too much foam or not enough.
[11:19] I don't know. And we respond harshly or maybe you put yourself out there for someone and they respond without gratitude.
[11:30] I was driving home with Caleb the other night from an event. I still think our family, we haven't figured out how people drive and spoke in because we're often making people upset.
[11:46] And I don't know what we're doing, frankly. There's a secret rule that we haven't figured out yet as far as how to drive in this city. But I had broken it and I don't know what it was, but the guy behind us just decided for the rest of the time he was behind us to like tail us with his brights on and he was a big truck and we're just a little car.
[12:05] And it was like, really? But it's like that's not kindness. That's the opposite of what we're looking at. At church, if you have an event, someone uninvited shows up, which I hope we don't have events where people can't show up.
[12:23] And maybe you respond with like, harshly. I had a couple actually leave the church that I pastored on the west side because quarterly we would have a family service with children in the worship center.
[12:37] And children, they're not always as well behaved as some adults. Some of us adults aren't well behaved either, but this couple was like, we don't like the fact that there's a little bit of noise.
[12:56] And they were empty nesters, they raised their kids and they decided we're just, we're out of here. I was like, I hate that. You know?
[13:07] We serve in a church and what if somebody takes your resources out of your room, how are you going to respond when you find who did it, who the culprit was?
[13:17] A lot of stuff moves around and oftentimes stuff doesn't get returned. Are we going to communicate in a kind posture? It's very practical.
[13:28] Remember Jesus says in Luke 635, he says, but love your enemies and do good and lend expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great and you'll be sons of the most high for he is kind.
[13:43] And who is Jesus kind to? To the ungrateful and to the evil. It's not your brothers and sisters. It's to the ungrateful.
[13:56] Jesus is the model. He's our standard. Remember last week, he's a standard for love. We're not. Well, I'm more kind than my buddy over here, but he's not the standard.
[14:10] Jesus is a standard for all of us. Unless we forget what Paul says in Romans 2, it's God's kindness that led us to repentance.
[14:20] That's the second virtue. Third article of clothing were to put on. Look how we're moving through the skies. You guys didn't think it was possible. It is humility, right?
[14:32] Not puffed up about self. Lowliness of mind laying down one's rights for another.
[14:42] There was a lot of false humility floating around Colossae when Paul wrote this. He says back in chapter 2 of verse 18. There were some false teachers who were puffed up with, I love this, without reason.
[14:55] Brilliant. By their sensuous minds. They had come up with some really clever doctrine that was not biblical, but man, they were proud of it.
[15:06] This article of clothing, humility, this was to the Greek mind, this was not a virtue.
[15:16] To the Greek mind in this day, the Greek motto would have been born to rule, not let's go serve tables. They love the image of the Titan Prometheus in their mythology.
[15:31] Prometheus, who was he? He was the guy that did what? His great accomplishment. He stole fire from Zeus, his father. Look what I have done.
[15:44] That spirit, it was pervasive in that culture. I would say there's no different today. We're a proud nation. We're a proud culture.
[15:55] I think we continue to build on this. We have this thing today called social influencers. I had a gal in my car last week who I had never heard it spoken so clearly.
[16:07] She was so proud of the fact that she was in the back telling her friend, I am a social influencer. I live my life before the world.
[16:17] It was like, I don't think I've ever heard it stated so with so much hubris.
[16:28] She was then going off about different things that she had posted where people didn't like and they were haters. She doesn't listen to them because she is a social influencer.
[16:39] Live your life like me. You don't want to make some of the decisions you was making, trust me. There are some tattoos that needed to be removed at any rate.
[16:52] I think this humility when you run into it, man, it's like kindness. It's so attractive. It's so rare. You couldn't watch the Olympics this year without seeing these athletes.
[17:04] It's not about the country anymore. It's about me. Look at me. Look at me. I'm not even to watch like a football game these days because every player, like there's a celebration for everything.
[17:16] Right? You're a receiver and you caught the ball. You know what you just did? You actually just did your job that you could pay a lot of money for. Oh, but you got to celebrate because you made a first down and there's like a whole like little, you know, dance that goes with that every time.
[17:39] It's just too much. I mean, could you imagine if your pastors did that after every sermon? I mean, can you imagine Scott having like a preacher like sermon dance when he finished?
[17:50] He's like, oh, yeah. I don't know what it would be like, you know, mic drop. I don't know. We have to, we're not going to work on it this week.
[18:07] What do we find attractive in one another? It's when you see the humility, right? When you see humility, you're dressed in humility. I mean, I think what happens when there's pride in a church, people don't get to hear the gospel.
[18:21] They stumble over you, not Jesus. Here's our spirit. So John the baptizer said in John 3 30, right? He must increase, but I must decrease.
[18:35] My life matters because somebody saw Jesus because of this life. I don't need a monument. I just need somebody else to see Jesus because I lived.
[18:48] So whatever the platform God gives you, like you use that to advance God's fame, not your own, not your own.
[19:00] I claim to fame, I guess, since we're trying to be like associated with fame here. I was in a Bible study back on the West side and we had an athlete, Matt Hasselback, he used to be the QB for the Hawks back in the day.
[19:17] And I had a conversation with him one time. I said, man, how do you stay humble? Like, because you're, you're like the rock star. You're the athlete. Like I said, Jay, an amazing family.
[19:27] They love the Lord. God, the guy, he was like, I actually play football and I do it for an audience of one. I kid you not. I do it for the Lord.
[19:37] And it was like, that's so good. So whatever that is, I'm going to Uber for an audience of one. That's not even like, I don't have anything to make people go, oh, like, what do you do?
[19:50] You know, I'm at a dinner gathering. I'm like, I drive Uber. Oh, well, let me top that. I'm also a pastor, right?
[20:02] Oh, so some of you other people do some cool stuff and that's great. But you do it for the Lord's sake so that people see the Lord.
[20:14] Fourth virtue, put on meekness, meekness. What is meekness? Stop being easily provoked when an offense comes against you, right?
[20:28] It's strength under control. And I would say, actually, it's again, we're connecting these, it's humility directed towards others, right?
[20:39] You're not prone to flare up. Meek doesn't mean weak. It actually requires something that's lacking in our day more than anything, which is restraint.
[20:52] It's meekness. It's power under control. It's restraint. I was thinking of this word from, I read this book years ago, The Heavenly Man.
[21:07] I think some of you probably have read it as well. Brother Yun, who's part of this underground church movement in China and endured more than most believers will in this life.
[21:20] He had been incarcerated for years and suffered extensively for identifying with Christ. And he writes this. He says, well, he was in prison. He said, the cell leader who had been appointed by the guards came and deliberately urinated on my face and urged the others to do the same.
[21:39] So all the prisoners, except for Brother Lee, constantly urinated on me, laughing, mocking me as they did this. This was a great humiliation, but I was too weak to protest.
[21:53] This gets me. I suffered in my heart. Think about being a guy. Think about anybody, but I endured silently. And I thought of the words from 1 Peter 2, 23, when Jesus was reviled, he did not revile in return.
[22:09] When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued in trusting himself to him who judges justly. Isn't that good?
[22:23] Meekness. Meekness grows church in our lives as we revel in the gospel, as we meditate, we look to Christ, to his life.
[22:38] Patrick in the fifth century, the evangelist to Ireland, he was meek. He was a meek man. He had a great understanding of self, a right estimation.
[22:49] He understood the gospel, and the understanding of the gospel, it fueled his meekness. In his confessions, I love what he writes about himself because he recognized himself simply as this.
[23:02] I'm just a rock lying deep in some mud, but by God's mercy, I was lifted out. Isn't that good?
[23:14] Meekness. Humility. Well, let's continue on. You guys didn't think I could actually do this, but we're already on clothing article number five.
[23:28] Patience. Put on patience every day. Long-mindedness. What is patience? Slow to resent.
[23:40] Slow to become angry. Slow to become frustrated with others. How did you do this week, church?
[23:50] That's rhetorical. I don't really want to know. How do we do this morning?
[24:01] We have to be yielded to God's Spirit to wear patience. And this is tough, church, in an instant gratification culture. Again, this wardrobe we're talking about is so out of fashion in Spokane in 2024.
[24:22] This is putting on Christ, and we are going to be noticed because this is different. Our culture, we're programmed to have instant everything. No one wants to wait for anything.
[24:33] I don't want to wait for marriage to experience sexual intimacy. And if I say that I'm going to, that I'm shamed. I'm told that I'm sheltered.
[24:47] I'm shamed into wearing the clothing of culture of the world. We live in an age where we're programmed not to wait for anything.
[24:57] We have a term in our culture that has not always existed. It's called snail mail. People haven't always lived with that word in their vocabulary.
[25:16] In the 1800s, like a national mail service, it was cutting edge technology. It was like, whoa, I got a letter. Man, that was fast.
[25:29] This was interesting. In the 1890s, the Postal Service, actually they started using pneumatic tube delivery system. I didn't know this. I was researching this week and I was fascinated by it.
[25:41] There was a series of pressurized pipes that could shoot canisters of mail that could often hold like 600 letters across cities at speeds of 35 miles an hour.
[25:51] That's cutting edge, folks. In New York, mail used to move between Manhattan and Brooklyn through pneumatic tubes over the Brooklyn Bridge. I mean, that's kind of interesting.
[26:04] That's cool. We now live in an age now where somebody sends a text and you're actually in the same room and you're dying because it's like, unlock your phone.
[26:16] I say you a message, right? And you're dying because it's been like three seconds and there's a meme of a cat that you need to see now, right?
[26:33] We're just, we're programmed so differently. Patience.
[26:45] God is a patient God. It says here in 2 Peter 3.9, it says, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you.
[27:03] Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. I want us to notice something here. This is fascinating because it actually says God's patience here.
[27:13] It actually fuels greater ministry. Isn't that fascinating? He's patient, not wishing that any should perish. So he's being patient so that ministry would increase.
[27:27] More people would come to faith. And I would suggest to us that if we're not patient, it will diminish ministry we have with people because people take time and you know this.
[27:43] People fail. You know this. Sanctification is messy work. You know this. You can look in the mirror and you understand this. You have insider information on this.
[27:58] This is the article of clothing that I was convicted on this week. This is the one. The virtue that God's spirit was working on me.
[28:12] Patience. Let's continue on. Look at verse 13 and we'll get our six pieces of clothing here. All right. It's bearing with one another and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you.
[28:27] So you also must forgive. The six virtue, there's actually two here. I compressed them into one. You can do that sometimes but I'm acknowledging forbearing is its own thing but forgiving.
[28:42] I'm just putting them together, right? Different from the world, right? We're not just called to put up, to endure with one another. We're actually called to forgive.
[28:54] We're actually called to forgive one another. If we want a people that can minister to one another, we're saying we're going to have ministry with one another, then we have to be a people that actually know how to forgive one another.
[29:06] I would say we have to put away, we have to destroy the ledgers in our hearts and minds about how people have wronged us or maybe they've just slighted us.
[29:18] Nothing will destroy a church. Nothing will destroy a marriage faster than a spouse running around with a mental ledger that they bring up at the drop of a hat.
[29:32] Right? The Lord says as far as the east is from the west, that's what I do with your sin. We have to be those people. We have to be those type of husbands and wives and parents.
[29:45] I think the worst example that I can think of in Scripture of someone who wouldn't forgive has to be the Old Testament character, Lemek. Lemek is the perfect example of, I don't know if this is a theological term, but spiritual nudity, right?
[30:02] He did not wear forgiveness in any regard. In fact, it says about him in Genesis 4.24.
[30:13] It doesn't say of him. He's saying this about himself. I want you to hear it because he's talking in the third person. This is how proud this individual is. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lemek's is 77fold.
[30:32] If I'm wronged, I will retaliate with a vengeance. Because Lemek, a man that could minister to people, not at all, to no one.
[30:45] And I would say for us forgiveness, it grows out of this understanding of God's grace directed towards us. That's not Jay's idea. That's God's word. That's his thoughts.
[30:56] In fact, because as Paul said here in this verse, he says, as the Lord has forgiven you, you must also forgive.
[31:07] Like it's the gospel. That's how we're able to forgive because we have been forgiven. When you're forgiven of much, you're growing in gratitude and understanding it's like it should provoke mercy, forgiveness towards others.
[31:20] And I would say it is a sure evidence of the gospel rooting deep in our hearts as we begin to forgive one another.
[31:33] Instead of clamoring, this is what they did. Look at what they did. This is why they're wrong.
[31:44] Communion this morning should be fuel for us to forgive one another better today. Amen? Because you're reminded this is what the Lord did for me. I can bear with this individual.
[31:56] I can forgive this individual. Praise God. Especially if you're married to them. Amen? Well, come on, amen?
[32:07] I don't like when Jay preaches. Scott asked me to do it. I just do it.
[32:24] Look at verse 14. Paul says above all these put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
[32:36] Above all these things. Here's the last piece of clothing. Every day it's a daily choice. It's a daily decision. What are we going to wear? You want to minister to people?
[32:48] Well, here's your wardrobe. Here's your combat kit, men. This is the stuff we got to wear because all these characteristics, they're not done when you're like, you don't like manifest them by yourself.
[33:03] These things happen when you're in relationship, when you're in community, where you can forgive someone else, where you can be patient with someone else, where you can like, that compassion can move and you can show kindness to someone else.
[33:16] And here it is, love. Without sacrificial love, the other virtues are hidden. And last week we get a definition for what is sacrificial, agape love, it is joyfully resolving to serve another.
[33:35] And if you don't have that, all these other things, it ruins the outfit. The best show in television is on PBS.
[33:51] All creatures great and small. The new rendition version of it. We watched it multiple times. Can't wait for season five.
[34:02] This is my wife's favorite show. I'm commending her because of good selection. James Herit, he was a veterinarian out in a kind of agrarian place there in England and farmland.
[34:15] And there's a episode, I believe it's season two. I know the season's well. He gets married and he shows up and he was out working on a cow and he shows up for his wedding and he looks good, looks good, tiesuit, everything.
[34:33] And he shows up and he's wearing his muck boots. And it ruined the entire outfit. It's like, dude, you're missing it. And what happens? His dad's there, he's like, take my shoes, son, get those boots off, put on my shoes, and finishes the outfit.
[34:49] That's love. It completes. It binds everything together. You guys have no idea how many points I just scored by using, like, all creatures great and small as an illustration in a sermon.
[35:02] I'm like going to be a hero all day at home. Whoo! Maybe not quite that good. But nonetheless.
[35:17] If I speak in the tongue of men and of angels but have not love, I'm a noisy gong, a clean symbol. This is the key virtue. We can't get wrong. If we're actually going to have ministry to one another.
[35:30] And for those of you that are thinking and you're like putting the pieces together, you've kind of figured out what just happened. You're like, I see what just happened.
[35:41] That was really sneaky, Jay. It's actually Scott, because he's the one that put together our pledge, our member covenant, where he says we will love and then we will minister.
[35:54] You guys are like, those are kind of the same thing. You're right. They are in many respects. And you maybe are just realizing that you just got hoodwinked and heard the same sermon twice.
[36:07] Yeah. We're doing that for emphasis. Last week we will love. This week we will minister. They are the same in so many ways.
[36:19] Paul here says love binds everything together, but then he actually admits in 1 Corinthians 13, right, that actually all of these attributes, they're different facets of the same diamond.
[36:33] Right? Because if you read 1 Corinthians 13, kindness, humility, patience, bearing with one another, order for ministry. Oh, love is defined as what?
[36:46] Patient. Love is defined as kind. It does not boast. Oh, that's humility. Yes.
[36:59] And hopefully what you're seeing here more than anything is your need for Jesus and for his help here, for his presence, for his power.
[37:10] And I hope that you hear this and it's not something where you're like, oh, I got seven more things I got to do. No, you got one thing actually you got to do, which is to get close to the Lord.
[37:22] You've got to be, I've got to be a person that abides, that walks close to the rabbi. If we want to be people that manifest that wear this, we have to be people that abide in Christ because all of these attributes, they're fruits of the spirit.
[37:39] And they give us the capacity then to minister. And I think Paul actually gives us a clue in this section we're not going to get to, but later on in verse 16, he says, hey, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
[37:53] Like you got to be people that actually are walking with the Lord filled with the spirit, the word of God dwelling in you richly. Those are the opposite sides of the coin.
[38:04] The spirit of God uses his word to minister to us. So he's given us a clue. How do we do this? Right?
[38:15] We need to dwell, right? Let the word of Christ dwell and you, which literally mean take up residence. Is God's word at home in us?
[38:26] If God's word doesn't reside, fruit won't form and a life of ministry then will not follow. So it's really pretty simple.
[38:36] We've got to be a people that abide. We've got to be people that abide church. You want to minister? You have to be close to the Lord. And I can tell you when the Lord took me through my season of trial and sickness about a decade ago, what happened was I began to spend more and more and more time with the Lord each and every day.
[38:59] And as I did ministry then grew in my life. We can't replace that. That's where it emanates from. And so my exhortation to us really this morning, even though it's like put on Christ today, put on Christ tomorrow, I would rather suggest, you know what, tomorrow your homework, do one thing to draw near to the Lord.
[39:20] And then the next day, do it again. And this stuff will begin to grow and form in our lives and minister will increase. Amen? Father, thank you for your word that it's true.
[39:38] Jesus, thank you for your example that you actually minister to us every moment of the day, interceding for us with your presence, with your wisdom, with your help.
[39:55] And Lord, I pray that we would be a people, we would be a church that grows in ministry to one another. Lord, thank you for the opportunity even with our nine o'clock hour to be growing closer to those that we live in close proximity to.
[40:09] Lord, I pray, even as we heard this morning that sometimes compassion is what moves us into ministry, that Lord, if we're touched in some way as we actually share prayer requests and talk life and there's ways that we can serve one another, Lord, I pray that that would just be a work of your spirit in our lives and we would actually be obedient to what you prompt us with.
[40:30] That ministry might increase to one another. And Lord, as a result, that we each would be looking more like you, Jesus, and we'd be more effective in telling other people about the good God that we serve.
[40:42] Jesus, thank you that you are a God that continues to change lives. We want to celebrate that today. We want to celebrate it now with our baptism and give you thanks in all glory. It goes to you, Lord Jesus.
[40:52] It's in your name. We pray. Amen.