[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn in them to Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to be looking at verses 7-10.
[0:23] ! And I know for many of you it's repetitious, but I think sometimes repetition is appropriate, particularly given the importance of that which is to be repeated.
[0:37] And I would appeal to you this morning that while I preach, which is my responsibility and the preparation of my heart, that you who are God's people would pray for me.
[0:51] Let me read the passage. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7.
[1:07] But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.
[1:22] In saying He ascended, what does it mean but that He also descended into the lower regions of the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
[1:37] Let's pray together. Father, we are thankful for the fact that you have drawn us to this place by your kindness and your grace, that were it not for your work in prompting us to see the misery and the hopelessness of our sin, and in your mercy, burdening us and convicting us so that we cried out and asked for salvation.
[2:10] You who have saved us have drawn us together this morning that we might worship you, and that we might attend to your word first, that we might grow to know you better, and by that knowledge that we would grow in being more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
[2:29] And also that we would understand the way in which you want us, we who are your children, to walk and live in this world that is so desperate.
[2:44] And Father, we pray that your Spirit would give to us humble, contrite, hungry souls, that we might feast upon the word through the power of the Spirit.
[2:59] And Christ might be the one that is exalted. And we pray this in His name. Amen. Well, last week as we began, I started out by reminding you of the truth that when sin entered the world in the garden, the first visible evidence of the fact that sin had come was the fact that man and woman distanced themselves from one another.
[3:27] They were ashamed, it says, and they made clothing out of fig leaves and tried to cover themselves, and subsequent to that, they hid from God in the garden. And ever since sin entered the garden, sin has led to separation and a breakdown of relationships, and it is one of the things that manifests itself in every case where you see sin having its place.
[4:00] You see a broken and a separated, a disjointed, a disconnected group of people. And so you can understand why, after having taken three chapters, and that's what Paul did in the first three chapters of Ephesians, he laid out for us the glory of what Christ has done in salvation.
[4:23] Do you realize that salvation is something that is incredible beyond imagination? No man, no woman would have ever, in their wildest dreams, ever figured out how salvation should actually come about through God sending His Son to die in my place.
[4:43] You know, the truth of the matter is, the logic of the world would say, hey, here's how you save yourself. There are things you need to do. You need to do this, you need to do that.
[4:54] I bump into people all the time, and I ask them, so why should you get into heaven? And we say, well, my good outweighs my bad. You know, try that with one fly and a gallon of milk.
[5:06] Does the good outweigh the bad? What's the answer? Not on your life. You know, my good and my bad, here's the issue. God has judged every one of us, and we have fallen short of the glory of God, and we stand condemned.
[5:20] And God, in His kindness, brought salvation to us through the finished work of Christ. And three chapters lay out the glory of God in salvation.
[5:31] The next three chapters really deal with the way in which those who are saved are to live. And what we found in the last several weeks in particular, beginning there in Ephesians chapter 4, is that Paul's lessons to the church at Ephesus begin with the subject of unity.
[5:54] Well, what does that have to do with it? I mean, let's get to the good stuff about how a husband is to behave towards his wife, and how a wife is to behave towards her husband, and how we are to be good children, or how we are to be good employers and employees.
[6:09] That's the heavy lifting stuff that we... No, no, no. The book of Ephesians is written principally to the body of Christ, and it begins, first of all, by reminding us of the corporate relationship we have.
[6:23] And all of the counsel of Ephesians flows and sits under this umbrella of the relationship we have together in the bride of Christ.
[6:36] And so, we see the opening discussion that Paul has of the practical life of the believer focuses in on this subject of unity.
[6:47] He actually is going to take the first 16 verses in Ephesians chapter 4 to lay out the doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ.
[6:58] And as we find, we remind ourselves of the fact that in the very first going couple verses there, we are told that unity is really something that comes from the Spirit of God. He's the one who made it.
[7:10] By the way, I would not be united with you, nor you with me, apart from the fact that we, by God's grace, have been put into lasting relationship.
[7:23] Were it not for conversion, you would not be my brother or my sister. And my relationship to you would be kind of circumstantial or dependent upon what you were to get out of it or I were to get out of it.
[7:36] Very kind of a manipulative kind of thing. And that issue of the sweetness of communion would be absent. And Paul says, hey, listen, you're united by the Spirit of God.
[7:49] And then he goes on, and there in the verses that we've looked at, he says, beginning there in verse 4, it says, One body, one spirit. We recognize that this issue of the unity of the body of Christ is something that really is hammered out theologically.
[8:02] We are one because of our faith in Christ. Do we have different perspectives on some nuanced things scripturally?
[8:13] And the answer is yes. But the truth of the matter is, here's the fact. All of us come to Christ by faith, having seen the broken, despicable condition of our soul, and we cry out and ask him to save us.
[8:30] We believe together in the virgin birth. We believe together in the sufficiency of Scripture. They're cardinal doctrines that we hold together. And that brings us now there to verse 7, actually through 10, where Paul is explaining this matter of unity a little further, and he brings into our understanding a very, very important doctrine, namely the matter of the doctrine of the gifts that God gives to us for the sake of unity.
[9:02] And so what we're going to find here in the text this morning is, first of all, that we are gifted by his grace. Look at the passage in verse 7. It says, But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of God's gift.
[9:19] Paul opens his lesson here by talking about the fact that each believer at conversion, at salvation, is given something. The verses actually touch very, very briefly on the Bible truth that each believer is given a spiritual gift or gifts for the good of the body.
[9:37] It is evident by the short nature of Paul's comment here in Ephesians chapter 4 that the believers in that local congregation had some kind of understanding of the doctrine because he just alludes to it or comments on it and moves on.
[9:53] It is not the primary nature or substance of what he's going to teach in this case. And so we make the assumption that Paul evidently had taught it earlier or that Timothy had taught it so it wasn't necessary for him to launch into the full subject.
[10:09] Actually, the doctrine of the spiritual gifts appear in four major passages. And if you're into little devices to help you remember, remember 12s and 4s.
[10:25] If you want to remember where the passages are on spiritual gifts, and it is an important doctrine for your relationship to the body of Christ, think about it in terms of 12s and 4s.
[10:36] It is, first of all, in Romans chapter 12 in verses 3 through 8, and it is in, guess what, can anybody tell me the other 12? 1 Corinthians 12.
[10:46] If you got the 12s, you're good. Those are the predominant passages, and we're not going to look at them in detail this morning. But Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians chapter 4, what we're looking at today, and then 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 11 and 12.
[11:03] I am not going to take the time this morning to go at this subject at length because in the past, we have at various times studied the matter of spiritual gifts. But I do want you to understand in a broad perspective.
[11:16] For one, each believer, as we see in the Scriptures, both in particular in Romans 12 and in 1 Corinthians 12, each believer, every person, is equally valuable and important.
[11:29] I do want you to turn, so you can kind of put your eyes on this, turn back in your Bible a little bit to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Evident that the church in Corinth was struggling in their relationships with one another.
[11:48] We know that from the recurring cautions that Paul gives to the body of believers and the reminders over and over again of the factionalism or the kind of divisive spirits that seemed to have its place in that congregation, Paul would say, hey, this ought not to be.
[12:08] Now there in chapter 12, verse 1, he says, now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. I want you to know the facts. Very interestingly then, when he begins with the subject, he says, you know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols however you were led.
[12:27] Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit.
[12:39] And so, kind of in a summary statement at the very beginning, and I think you understand this about many forms of writing, an author will usually tell you what's being said at the beginning and kind of an overview, and that's what we're looking at here.
[12:54] He then launches in to explain this larger issue of the gifting of the Spirit. He says, listen, verse 4, there are varieties of gifts that has the same Spirit, there are varieties of service but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities but it's the same God who empowers.
[13:12] So we understand that every believer is equally valuable and important. Every believer is equally valuable and important.
[13:23] Secondly, I think it's fair to say that there really are no duplicates or unnecessary pieces. I want you to think about that just for a moment. You're the only you that God has ever or ever will make, and He has a part for you to play in His body, and He intends for you to get to it.
[13:44] I think that's important for us to understand. The fact that this matter of spiritual gifts is discussed four different times in the Scriptures indicates that it is of some importance to the kingdom of God and to the ministry that He has called all of us to be part of.
[14:02] The fact of the matter is is that in creating you the way He has made you, He has ordained for you to take the characteristics that you have and the spiritual gifts that you have and put them into valuable utility to the body of Christ.
[14:19] I love the fact that we really go after a vacation Bible school in a big way. It's a blast to watch as it kind of begins to gain steam somewhere back in, when is it, Pastor Saul?
[14:36] February, March, we begin talking about it, and people begin getting geared up for it and then we have the artists go to work and you know, I am brain dead in that area. A straight line is pushing it for me and they get over in the gym and they take a whole week putting the set together and I read a little article on the internet about the fact that those who are creative like dark, kind of muted lights, I'm a bright light guy.
[15:01] You know, when we go to the restaurant, I want to dial it up so I can see the food on the table. Judith wants it very dark. I'm suspicious about why you know, but God puts all kinds together and when VBS is doing its thing, all the parts matter.
[15:19] I mean, the artistic people are doing their thing and the musical people are doing their thing and the ones who can really get fired into teaching those Bible lessons are doing their thing and the organizational people, I mean, hey, do you know for a fact that every time we have VBS now, we pay attention to who has allergies.
[15:39] I don't have allergies, never thought about having allergies, wouldn't imagine that there are people that are allergic to dairy products, allergic to this thing and that thing and there was a lady who was coordinating all of that, aren't you glad?
[15:53] God, it's a good thing. You know, that's the body doing its thing, right? And by the way, when you say, well, I'm not going to do, I'm not going to be part of that, you know what, God will find somebody else.
[16:12] He does. Is it a good thing to mess with God and say, I'm not going to do my part? No. No. No, don't do that. Don't do that.
[16:24] Because you have that kind of attitude and he'll say, hey, go ahead, sit on the back bench. I'll find someone else. Not a good idea for you. And, you know, we think about this business, no duplicates, no unnecessary parts.
[16:37] God has a part for you to play and he wants you to get involved in it. And I got to tell you, being part of his team is far more important than fishing or playing ball. I think it's important for us to recognize.
[16:51] We live in a day and age where there are a lot of things that take the place and are a substitute for the bride of Christ. Now, I've been there with you.
[17:05] There are times when the appointment and divine call that God has given to me has been a little troublesome. You know, you may think being a pastor is all sweetness and light. And it is.
[17:17] I have said, you have heard me say this over and over again, I have the best job in the world. I will tell you, when I was called as a little boy about 12 years old, I didn't want to do it.
[17:32] And being the stubborn, perverse spirit that I am, I didn't only say I didn't want to do it, but I acted like I didn't want to do it. And guess what he did? He began kind of choreographing a lot of different details in my life that kept on just kind of putting the pressure on me until I finally said, yes, Lord.
[17:51] And a couple different times in the flow of ministering, we're talking about spiritual gifts because God gifted me to be a pastor. It wasn't a career decision, it was a calling. There have been some times where I have, I've thought to myself, I'm tired of doing this, I want to quit and go sell used cars or something like that.
[18:09] You know, do something reasonable. And that's when the Spirit of God kind of taps me on the shoulder and says, Tim, you're blood bought.
[18:23] You're a friar tried. You've been whacked all over the place by His grace. He's put up with you all these years. What do you think you're doing thinking about quitting?
[18:39] It's one thing to sing that song and by the way, I love it. His love never quits, never gives up, never runs out on me. Do you like that one? I love that one, but it doesn't have any heavy drum parts.
[18:52] It's just, I like the heavy drum parts, I gotta admit it. But you know what? Listen to me. It's one thing to sing the song.
[19:03] It's another thing to show that you understand that song by hanging in there when it's tough, by staying the course when ministry is hard, when people have broken your heart, and when you see the parts not always fitting together and you're frustrated by that.
[19:26] Lord, Lord, Lord, help it not overwhelm me. Well, look, we're looking at that passage in Ephesians, and I want you to recognize, going back to the text in Ephesians chapter 4, that Paul is making this statement in the larger context of, hey, this is the body of Christ.
[19:51] And so we need to understand that every believer is given spiritual gifts for his glory and the bride's good. Being gifted, and every believer is, every believer is, being gifted is all about his glory and the good of others, and I'll throw this in, and your own connectedness.
[20:12] I believe the matter of his glory and the good of others is relatively easy to see. You can understand that. So let me just take a little moment to step over on the side and touch on one of the things that I, over the years of ministry, and I've got 30 plus of doing this now, so I'm not a newbie to it, but I've heard people on various times say, well, I'm not connecting, or I have no friends, or, you know, things like that, and one of the things that comes to my mind is this.
[20:40] One is from the Proverbs. Here's what it says, and we all know it, and you can say it with your eyes closed. If a man wants friends, he must be friendly. Well, I tried once. Really?
[20:51] You know? There are a lot of you who are married sitting out here this morning, and I tell you one thing about marriage is that I guarantee you the first person who said no to you probably didn't end up being your wife or your husband.
[21:07] You kept on pursuing. If you want it bad enough, guess what you're going to do? You're going to make it happen. Everybody said amen, right? Say it loud. I mean, be ugly Baptists about this thing.
[21:19] Amen! Amen! Okay, I'm sorry. Amen! No, thank you. It's all right. Some of you are in for culture shock when we get to heaven, so if you want to have friends, be a friend.
[21:32] Okay, now listen to the second point. If you take the gifts you've received and invest them in the body, connections happen. If you take the gifts you've received and use them in the body, connections happen.
[21:47] Amen! Listen to me. If I walked home this afternoon and said, listen, I am done being pastor. I quit.
[22:00] Your relationship with me would change. For one, because it would be, everybody look up and smile right at me, look me in the eyes.
[22:12] For one, it would be because that would be tacit, open, rebellion against the gifting of God in Tim Kenoyer's life.
[22:24] Do you understand that? Oh, is Tim Kenoyer a different kind of saint than you? And the answer is, not on your life. So if I was gifted for your sake, you were gifted for our sake.
[22:39] And you need to get that in your mind. Well, I don't like some of the people that God has here. You're one of them.
[22:56] Well, and I have trouble getting, you know, here's one of the things I've come to realize. The biggest problem I have in life is me. And as I submit and let God work at me, I, strangely enough, get along better with you.
[23:13] Well, we are who we are and have what we have because of His sovereign grace and purpose. And we, we're each individuals uniquely created and gifted by His grace for His glory and His good and for the good of the body.
[23:27] And so, here's the point of this truth. Get with it and do what you're gifted to do. And so, there's some of you sitting out here saying, well, I don't know what my gift is. Here's, here's what will be the giveaway of helping you find out what your gift is.
[23:42] Just show up and say, what can I do? I'll do anything. What can I do? I'll do anything. And over a period of time, God will use your willingness to be used by the Spirit of God to put you into the slot and place He has for you.
[24:03] You find people who are always walking around and say, well, I have the gift of administration but nobody lets me practice it. There might be a reason why they don't let you practice it. You're so full of yourself that you want to run the show kind of like the, you know, chief potentate and God's interested in those who are servants not those who are, you know, slave masters.
[24:26] You know, you want to find out what your gift is? Get involved. Get involved. Well, let's come to another part.
[24:38] I don't know how much time I have but I got plenty. Here we go. This is a very interesting thing that happens. You know, verse 7, Paul just kind of hits the button of spiritual gifts.
[24:51] That's what he does. And then he comes towards the end in verse 7. Come on, follow along with this issue. He says, but grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
[25:03] And when Paul is appointed by the Spirit of God to use that C word, which is what? Christ? Every time he thinks about Jesus, he launches.
[25:15] Do you follow what I mean by launches? It's like, ah, this is about Jesus. Well, let me tell you what I'm thinking about right now. And he steps off in there.
[25:26] Now, by the way, the Spirit of God is leading him here but it is interesting. It's a little bit like thinking about Jesus just kind of fires Paul up. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.
[25:45] A little sidebar on this that I want to be characteristic of this fellowship in the days to come. I pray, I do, and I'm probably overbearing on the subject a little bit but when we think about things, I want us to think about things textually.
[26:01] Do you follow that? That's what Paul does here. He stops and he gets bumped with this idea of Christ and then he connects it to a passage in the Old Testament.
[26:15] So, kind of for the sake of practice, when we're singing, what do I want you to do? What does God want you to do? He wants you to cross-reference songs with what? With Scripture.
[26:26] He wants you to cross-reference everything you do and every thought you have against the text of Scripture.
[26:37] Amen? And one of the things I've said is the characteristic of a growing believer is that the gap between when he thinks the thought and when the Scripture comes to his aid, the narrowing of that gap is an indication of his progressive sanctification.
[26:54] Would you agree with that? And so, you can sit there and say, how am I doing to growing? Well, I sit there and talk to myself.
[27:05] Tim, that's a dumb idea. That's not good. The Holy Spirit is not obligated to use my self-talk. Do you understand that? The Holy Spirit is obligated to use the Spirit of God and the Word of God to do the job.
[27:17] So, when I say to myself, here's what the text says about Tim, this is what the Bible says. It's like, oh, I got that. That's how you get there. So, we have Paul thinks about Jesus and then launches in and he has this thought that makes it very clear that we are gifted because of his victory.
[27:40] Why is it that Jesus has the right to give us gifts? We find there in verses 8, 9, and 10 a very clear exposition of the fact that the reason we have the gifts that we have is because Christ is the one who has won the victory for us.
[27:58] Now, Paul could have spoken in this case about gifts without getting into the Old Testament, but it's an illustration that when we think about things, we think scripturally, we think about something in the Scriptures that affirm and confirm a matter.
[28:13] And so, what Paul is doing in this case is he is relying upon a victory psalm that David wrote over in Psalm 68. We're not going to look at it in detail because I don't think it has primary bearing on where we are this morning, but I want you to understand that he takes that passage from Psalm 68 and particularly verse 18, which Paul uses here, and he uses it to reference what was an ancient practice.
[28:41] When a king had been victorious in battle, he walked into his city with his soldiers in the victory march, but he also walked in with the pile of loot and booty.
[28:56] How many of you understand? In the old days, you didn't carry a MasterCard. Whatever you owned when you were going away on a long trip, what you didn't need to leave behind for your wife and fam, you took with you.
[29:12] And so, when there was a battle and there was a victory, the one who, have you ever heard the statement, to the victor go the spoils? You guys are well-versed. History is something you understand.
[29:25] To the victor go the spoils. And so, into the city would come striding the victorious king, and behind him would come his soldiers marching along, you know, and they're showing their battle wounds, and hey, we won.
[29:39] And right behind would come ox cart after ox cart loaded with, you know, gold cups and bags of coins, and the king in his generosity would walk into town and he would throw those things at his subjects.
[29:55] It was his right. And Paul says, let me tell you something. When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
[30:14] Now, we look at this passage in verse 9. It says, in saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended to the lower regions?
[30:30] It's interesting to read the diversity of speculations on this passage. And I do call them speculations because there is no clear indication in the scripture of what is meant.
[30:45] Some have fancied that this refers to Christ's descent into the grave and his rising in the resurrection. Others have understood this to mean that Christ descended into hell during his three days in the grave, and there are some very animated disputes over what this passage actually means.
[31:09] And animated disputes generally are over passages where there isn't a clear and definitive understanding. I would believe that this is talking simply about the words themselves and are relatively clear.
[31:25] It says there that he descended and he ascended. And I think that refers to our Lord Jesus coming here to earth and going up again. In broad terms, I do want to take advantage of this kind of difficult passage to lay out a couple principles of scriptural interpretation so you can do that on your own.
[31:45] And that's my purpose. Listen, let me make this point. We understand that scripture is understandable. Would you agree with that? God gave us his word for the average person to understand it.
[32:01] Agreed? You don't have to be ordained, stamped on the head, to have a little extra spiritual insight so I can automatically, I don't know what this means but let me ask the pastor.
[32:14] No, no, no. Get it yourself. God means for you to get it yourself. That's the reason that evangelicals have been such advocates for reading and for having your own Bible and translation.
[32:35] God intends for us to understand it. So here are a couple principles for Bible interpretation. Number one, rely on scripture to interpret scripture using the actual vocabulary and grammar of the text.
[32:46] You want to understand what's being said? Look in the Bible. Don't ever say, well I was having difficulty with this pastor and I went to pastor and he explained it to me and I don't know how he got there but he explained it.
[33:01] And so the pastor said it's not a good answer to what you believe about the Bible. Everybody said what? Amen. Okay. Number two, here's a little ditty. If the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense.
[33:14] I'll say that slowly. If the plain sense makes good sense, seek no other sense. In other words, if it's obvious, stick with what's obvious. I'm not into kind of getting things all wigged out here on the side.
[33:28] And by the way, I was a literature major. I can do that left-handed. But the Bible is designed for clarity. Okay?
[33:40] And so Paul, in this passage, I think in simple terms, is lifting up the glory of Christ by pointing out his humiliation and then pointing out his ascension.
[33:51] And the Savior who gives us salvation salvation and our gifts is the same one who was willing to be humiliated and die for us and rise again.
[34:02] And it follows then that the same Jesus who was willing to humble himself even to death on the cross and be our sin bearer, understandably, should be exalted. Now, I want you to turn with me just over to another passage just for a second.
[34:15] Colossians chapter 2 verse 13 through 15. Colossians chapter 2 verse 13 through 15. As you think about what is being said here at the end of Ephesians chapter 4 verse 10 where it talks about that he would fill all in all.
[34:39] Listen to what it says there in Colossians chapter 2. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made alive together with him having forgiven us all of our trespasses.
[34:53] Hey, how much of your sin does God remember still? None. There is now therefore what? No condemnation.
[35:04] And listen to me carefully. I will sin tomorrow. But Christ has already satisfied my debt and the reality of my sin has been covered by his blood and I am forever cleansed and righteous in his eyes.
[35:27] You want to know why I love Jesus? It's because he did it all. He did it all.
[35:37] verse 13. And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh God made alive together with him having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of the debt that stood against us with its legal demands and this he set aside nailing it on the cross.
[35:59] Now, that's an image I like. How many of you have ever paid off a car? Raise your hands. What comes in the mail when you get your car paid off?
[36:11] A title. That's a big thing even if the thing has 190,000 miles on it. It's yours. It's not yours in the bank. Right? That's a good feeling.
[36:26] Better than the title that comes in the mail is what this verse is describing. In the ancient culture a debtor was someone who could be thrown in prison who could be mistreated and abused for his debt.
[36:41] And when a debt was canceled the record of that canceled debt was taken and nailed in a public place so everybody knew he's not a debtor anymore.
[36:57] And what this says is that Jesus took the record of your sins and he put it on the cross and he nailed it there. He said paid, paid, paid, paid, paid in full.
[37:11] And so I want you to recognize that when he came down to this earth and he bowed down upon the cross and he took the burden of our sins and he died and suffered in our place and rose again in triumph and purchased our redemption and he has the right to call us to be his servants.
[37:27] Doesn't he? Doesn't he? He does. And you have no business Now let me say that again this way. I have no business being gifted by the Spirit of God and being worked on all these years I have no right to say well I don't like working here anymore.
[37:48] That would be profoundly selfish and actually it would be retrograde spirituality. What do I mean by retrograde spirituality?
[38:03] Backsliding. Do you understand that? If I can't pull that off with righteousness can anybody who's part of the body of Christ and the bride of Christ do that?
[38:15] And what's the answer? No! And Paul argues Paul argues for believers being invested in the bride of Christ.
[38:35] So here's my practical questions as I close. What you doing? You're gifted.
[38:49] What you doing? Here's another question. Do you know him? You can't go to work if you don't know him. If you're not part of his family if you're not part of the team you don't ride the bus.
[39:05] Years ago I coached soccer and providentially I learned something if you have the horses you can win the races. Now that's a little tricky statement for the fact that we did fairly well.
[39:17] We did real well. I can't take a lot of credit for it because we had the horses. And you know what? Riding on the team bus was a real...
[39:28] We went 18-1-1 one year. We were a little school of about 300. We actually went to the state playoffs in North Carolina. And riding on that bus was kind of like being in the kingdom.
[39:41] I mean it was really... We got fired up going. We got fired up coming. And every time we came back to the school to let out there was a crowd there to greet us.
[39:53] And when we were making the last turn coming in towards where the crowd was waiting for us that bus was rocking. Here's what we were singing. Na-na-na-na. We were doing that. And the bus was just like booming.
[40:04] It was really weird. Nobody rode that bus but the team. Do you follow me? I'll tell you if I had looked around I was a coach.
[40:16] If I'd looked around on that team and I'd seen some of the grumpy faces sitting out there I don't happen to like Steve Smith even though he's our only goalie. It's just that he's got a bad heart.
[40:30] And I don't happen to like Gary Hall because I just don't like him. Whack! What's your problem? We're part of this team together, right? You got me?
[40:42] I've often said I want one thing written on my grave and that would be this what sayeth the scriptures?
[40:52] I'll add another one. I loved the bride of Christ. I want that remembered. This passage is about the bride of Christ.
[41:04] Let's close as John comes. As John is coming we're going to sing together this morning. I don't know let's stand together would you please?
[41:20] And I got to tell you that the purpose of preaching is not to entertain you but it's to put you on the spot of saying yes or no to God. And there may be some of you here that need Christ as your personal savior. I don't know your soul.
[41:31] That's not my business. But today we've been talking about the family of God we've been talking about the church and it may be that you're sitting here saying man I don't know him. I don't want you to leave here without coming to Christ.
[41:46] And that is a profoundly humbling thing because the gospel first of all makes it clear that we are sinners condemned before a holy God. And the gospel tells us that Christ came to die for our sins.
[42:00] and the gospel tells us that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's humbling. There may be some of you here that truth of the matter is there is a lot of spiritual turmoil there's some bitterness there's some dissatisfaction you found yourself being drawn away from being part of what God is doing you've given in.
[42:25] God says stop it. You can take care of that where you sit. Or you can humble yourself and say God's dealing with me I want God's people who are part of the family to know I rededicate myself to the bride of Christ until he comes and takes me home.
[42:44] I'm with it. There may be somebody here that need Christ you come forward you may be here and you need someone to pray with you you come as John leads us as we sing. You're ending us ending us ending us ending us ending us ending us ending us ending us ending us ending us