Hopeology, Part 15

We're looking at Hopology. Hopology is not a topic we talk about much in the church. That's unfortunate.

There are two topics we miss, Hopology and Thanatology. Thanatology is the study of death and Hopology is the study of hope, but you ever realize that most pastors never talk about Thanatology, but yet the Bible is replete with information about death. In fact, there's so much talk about death in scripture that you wonder how it is we miss it, but very few pastors ever talk about Thanatology, but it's one of the great studies of the scriptures.

The same is true with Hopology, to give us hope that we might understand exactly the hope that God wants us to have. So we began a study weeks ago, weeks ago, I think 15 weeks ago now, looking at hope based on Hebrews chapter six. And so we've taken a little bit of a detour out of Hebrews six.

We'll go back into it soon after Christmas is over, but we'll get back into Hebrews six and we'll finish the book of Hebrews sometime before hopefully Jesus returns again. But the bottom line is that we want you to understand hope and hope is so important. And we try to explain it to you.

We told you that, that hope is rooted in God. You needed to understand that because God is the God of hope. We've also told you that hope is received only by grace.

You can't work for hope. It's a gift. It's given to us by the grace of our Lord.

It's ratified through the resurrection because Jesus rose from the dead. We will rise again one day as well. And therefore hope is also reinforced by the scriptures.

Without the word of God, we will not understand all that hope has to offer. And hope is living in anticipation of what God has promised. And if you don't know what God's promised, how can you live in anticipation of it? And so hope is that which reinforces or scripture is that which reinforces hope.

Hope is reaffirmed by the Holy spirit. It's a rampart against Satan. It is reproduced by joy, removes the fear of death, refines our present lifestyle, revolutionizes every one of my relationships.

We've covered all that over the last 15 weeks. Hopefully you've been here for it, that you might understand it. You can always listen online, but it's imperative that you understand what hope is all about.

Today we want to cover point number 11 and that is this. Hope is that which reinvigorates my service. Hope reinvigorates my service, big word, but it does do that.

It does something in my service for the King that without hope, I wouldn't serve energetically, zealously. Listen to what Paul says in Titus chapter two, verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. See that hope reinvigorates my service.

In other words, it makes me zealous to do that which honors the Lord. It energizes my work for the Lord. It does something for my service that nothing else can do.

And once I understand the hope that God offers me through his word for all eternity, I can't wait to serve. I can't wait to be involved in your life. I can't wait to be involved in ministry.

Now, this is important because remember what it says over the book of Ephesians that by grace, we are saved through faith and not yourselves. It's a gift of God that works us that he mentioned boasts, right? And Paul would go on to say this. We are his workmanship.

We are the poetic masterpiece of, of our God. And it says that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works. We have been created to do something unique for the glory of God, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

In other words, God prepared beforehand, the good works that we ought to do, that we are to walk in tune with every single day. God did that. And the hope that God gives us energizes us reinvigorates my service that I do that with a, a zealous energy, a passionate energy that I want to serve.

I want to honor the I want to glorify his name. I want to put them on display. I want to do those things for his glory.

I want to do that. And when you understand the hope that God gives, that's exactly what happens. You see the reason a lot of us don't serve the Lord energetically is because we don't understand the hope that is before us.

We're not living in anticipation of God's promises being fulfilled in our lives. We're focused below and not above. And yet God has prepared in eternity past the good works that we are to walk in.

And when we understand the hope that he gives, it reinvigorates that service. The Bible says in second Corinthians nine verse number eight, Paul says that there was in the Lord in abundance for every good deed, an abundance for every good deed. Paul says in second Timothy three, these words that the believer is equipped for every good work.

God's word is that which is given for our instruction, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness, that the believer might be trained, might be equipped to do every good work. So God's word gives us the understanding. It gives us the tools that we need to equip us for service.

So one of the ways it does that is help us to understand the hope that is before us, that we might be zealous for good deeds. Paul says in Philippians two, that God is at work in you both the will and to do of his good pleasure. God is at work in us.

That's really unique because God is always at work in the life of the believer. God is not stagnant in your life. He's at work.

In fact, in John 15, eight, the Lord says that God is glorified when you bear much fruit, fruit of attitude, the fruit of actions. God is honored. God is glorified.

That great resurrection chapter, first Corinthians chapter 15, when Paul talks about that great mystery, when we'll all be changed in the twinkling of an eye, we'll receive this glorified body. He says, because all that's going to happen and because we have no longer any fear of death because of what God has done through the glorious resurrection of our bodies as we anticipate. He says, as he concludes first Corinthians 15, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

If you have the hope of the resurrected body, you can be steadfast. You can be immovable. You can always be abounding in the work of the Lord.

Let me ask you a question. Is that you? Are you always abounding in the work of the Lord? Are you steadfast? Are you immovable? Are you strong in the service of the King? Are you zealous for good deeds? You see, hope reinvigorates my service for the King. It makes me want to serve him and honor his name.

So let me show you practically how that happens. Can I do that? You know, when you become a member of our church, we give you what we call a promise card or a covenant card. And we give that to you because this is what we want you to do as a member of the church.

Because it kind of sums up being zealous for good deeds. It sums up what a living hope looks like in your life and in mine. It simply says that as a member of this church, I covenant, I promise to do four things.

Just four. That's it. One, to preserve the unity of my church.

Two, to pursue the strategy of my church. Three, to protect the testimony of my church. Four, to participate in the ministry of my church.

That's it. Four simple principles. I promise, this is what I want to do as a member of Christ Community Church.

I want to preserve the unity of my church. Don't you want to do that? Sure you do. You want the church to be unified.

And so I'm going to do all I can to preserve that. Remember what Paul says over in first Timothy, or excuse me, Ephesians chapter four, verse number one, he says this. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

Paul says, I implore you. I beg you. I urge you that I want you to walk a certain way.

I want you to walk worthy. It's a word that means equal. That is, I want you to match your position in Christ with your practice every single day.

That's what it means to walk worthy. But my mom used to say it this way. If you're going to be a child of the king, you need to act like a child of the king.

If you're going to be a child of the king, you need to talk like a child of the king. If you're a child of the king, you got to dress like a child of the king. My mom used to always say those things every single day.

Remember, you're a king. You're a child of the king. So talk like a child of the king when you go to school today.

Walk like a child of the king. That was always my mom's mantra every single day because she understood that as a child of the king, you need to exemplify the king and his kingdom. Right? So Paul says simply walk worthy of your calling.

In other words, you're a child of the king, right? Look like a child of the king. Act like a child of the king. Talk like a child of the king.

You're representing the king and his kingdom. Do you do that? That's what it means to walk worthy. Paul says, I beg you, I urge you, I implore you.

This is what I want you to do. I want you to walk worthy of your calling. I want you to understand that you've been called with a high calling, a holy calling, and a heavenly calling.

Scriptures speak about that all throughout the New Testament. The calling of God is a high, holy calling because it's a heavenly calling. You've been called by God.

You've been called by God. You're a child of God. Then walk, talk, act, look like a child of the king.

That's all Paul's saying. Then he says this, with all humility and gentleness and patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. That's how you do that.

He says this, being diligent, being zealous. Same word used in Titus chapter 2. Being zealous. Same word used in 2 Timothy 2.15. Study to show yourself approved unto God.

Be zealous. Be diligent to show yourself approved unto God. There is this zealousness about our lives, the zeal that consumes us.

Be that way. Be diligent. Be zealous to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, I want you to walk worthy of your calling so that you can develop unity in the church because you can't do that. You can't develop unity.

You can only preserve unity. You can only preserve it because we're all one, right? We're all one in Christ. That's why he says it this way, that we are to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace or in the belt of peace.

The bond of peace is the belt and the belt of peace is the peace that we have because we have been reconciled to God and we are no longer his enemies. We are at peace with God. Everyone of us in the room who's a child of the living God is at peace with God.

It is that belt that binds us all together where we are one in the Spirit. And we are to endeavor. We are to be diligent.

We are to be zealous to preserve that unity. Do all we can to maintain it, not destroy it. Walk in humility.

Be forbearing toward one another. Be patient with one another. Be loving toward one another.

And so I promise to preserve the unity of my church. I want to do all I can not to disrupt it, see, because you can't make us one. We already are one, right? If you're a child of God, we're one in the kingdom, right? We're one of God's children.

We are one in the body of Christ. But we can begin to destroy that unity by a sinful lifestyle. So if I make a promise to preserve the unity of my church, four things will happen, okay? Four things will happen.

Number one, I will be involved in personal examination. Personal examination. Because I want to make sure there's nothing sinful in my life that's going to be deterrent to you and the unity that we have, right? And so there's going to be a personal examination.

Psalm 139, right? What does it say? After that great discourse on the omniscience of God that He knows everything about my life. He knows the words that I'm going to speak before they're even on my tongue. He knows all that.

No matter where I am, His omnipresence is everywhere. No matter where I am, His presence is unavoidable. He's everywhere I am.

He's everywhere I'm not because He's omnipresent. He's all powerful. The psalmist says, search me, O God, try me and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of righteousness.

A personal examination. Isn't that the way we are all to be? Paul would say before you partake of the Lord's table, right? Examine yourself so that you don't eat and drink of the Lord's table in an unworthy manner. Don't want to do that.

So make sure you examine yourself. Personal examination is essential. If I'm going to preserve the unity of my church, if I'm going to be zealous for good deeds, if the hope that lies before me reinvigorates my service for the King, then I want to make sure that I'm right with my King.

I'm going to make sure I'm walking with my King. So therefore there's going to be this personal examination of my life. Where am I spiritually with the Lord? Am I walking with the Lord? Am I honoring the Lord? Is there sin in my heart? Do I have a bitter spirit against someone else, an unforgiving spirit? Am I malice? Is there malice in my heart towards someone else? A personal examination.

In 2 Corinthians 13, Paul would say, test yourselves, prove yourselves to see if Jesus is even in you. Quite ironic that the apostle Paul would tell a church, the church of Corinth, you better examine yourself, you better test yourself to see if Jesus is even in you. That's quite an indictment against the church of Corinth.

And yet it should be true of every one of us. There's this personal examination to make sure that I am walking humbly with my Lord, that I am loving toward my brother, that there is no hidden sin. I'm not harboring rebellion and bitterness in my heart toward the Lord or someone else.

There's a personal examination because you see that helps preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. And I make it my ambition to preserve the unity of my church. And so there's going to be a personal examination.

Number two, there's going to be a mutual submission, a mutual submission. Paul says in the book of Ephesians, the fifth chapter, the 21st verse, that we are to submit to one another in the fear of Christ. In fact, that's a byproduct of being controlled by the Spirit of God, being filled with God's Spirit.

If I'm filled with God's Spirit, if I'm controlled by God's Spirit, he says, and be not drunk with wine, which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit, be controlled by the Spirit of God, right? It's going to change the way I sing because I'll sing to one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs. It's going to change the way I am grateful to my God. It's going to change my relationships to the point that I'm going to submit to one another in the fear of Christ.

Mutual submission. If I'm going to preserve the unity of my church, I'm going to be willing to blind myself up under you. That is so foreign to our society.

Nobody wants to submit. Everybody wants to be in charge. Everybody wants to be the boss.

Everybody wants to be a chief, but nobody wants to be an Indian, right? Everybody wants to be a colonel. Nobody wants to be a sergeant. Everybody wants to be the coach.

Nobody wants to be the player. We all want to be in charge, and yet we have to line ourselves up under one another, even in our marriages, right? Because it goes on and talks about how wives are to be submissive to their husbands in the fear of the Lord, how husbands are to be submissive to their wives because they're going to give themselves up sacrificially for them, how children are to be submissive to their parents and parents and children and slaves to masters and masters to slaves. There's this whole line of submission, this whole willingness to line myself up under you, to lift you higher than me.

We just don't want to do that, but if we're going to preserve the unity of the spirit, the bond of peace, personal examination is going to lead me to mutual submission, that I want to submit to one another in the fear of Christ. Isn't that so important in our marriages? So important. I know, ladies, sometimes it's hard to submit yourself to your husband leadership, but that's important to do that because you exemplify to your children.

Remember, we tell you how marriage is a picture more than anything else. Marriage is for many things, but primarily marriage is a picture of Christ's relationship to the church. Christ is the head of the body of Christ.

Husband represents the head of the family, and the wife is representative of the body who really places herself under her husband's leadership. And ladies, when you don't do that, you mar the picture of Christ to your children. You do that.

We forget that. We forget that marriage is primarily a picture because we get so wrapped up in my needs and my wants and in my power and my rights and the things I should be doing, the things you should be doing for me that we forget that this is a picture of Christ to the world, especially to my children, which exemplifies the fact that we as men need to sacrificially give of ourselves to our wives because as Christ gave himself up for us, so we should give ourselves up for the ones we say we love. At the same time, you teach your children about submission to authority, something that our society lacks in a world that exemplifies all of our rights, none of our responsibility.

And remember, we told you probably a million times that whenever your rights are first, righteousness always suffers, right? Remember that? Anybody remember that? So important. If your rights are first, there is no righteousness there. You've got to remember that.

There's this mutual submission. I like what it says in Hebrews 13. Hebrews chapter 13, we'll get there, you know, in years to come, but Hebrews chapter 13, it says in verse number 17, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who would give an account.

They're going to give an account. Submit to your leaders because one day God is going to hold them accountable. Submit to them.

It says, let them do this with joy and not with grief. Why? For this would be unprofitable for who? Not them, but you. Isn't that unique how that happens? Paul says, you need to submit to those that God has placed over you because they're held responsible to God for what happens.

And they need to do this with joy, not with grief, because if you cause them grief, this will be unprofitable for you, not for them. In other words, you're rebelling against authority. Think of Miriam and Aaron when they rebelled against God's ordained leader, Moses, and God struck her with leprosy because she thought that she had the equal right to lead as Moses did.

Then you have Abiram, Nathan, remember them? And how the earth swallowed them up because as priests they thought that they had a unique ministry like Moses did and God said no and the earth swallowed them up and they were killed because they rebelled against God's ordained authority. It's unprofitable for you to cause grief among those who lead. We forget that.

But it begins with mutual submission. It doesn't mean that your leaders lead in a dictatorial kind of way. No, that they need to lead in a way that honors the Lord and glorifies his name because they are representing Christ to you.

But mutual submission is so important to preserving the unity of my church. So there's this personal examination, there is this mutual submission, and then number three, there is this scriptural confrontation. Scriptural confrontation.

If I am going to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace and I have examined my own heart to make sure that I'm right with the Lord, I'm honoring his name, I'm submitting myself to one another in the fear of Christ because I want to elevate you above myself. I want you to be lifted up. I want you to be put on display, not me.

If there is sin in your life in any way, then I will go to you as a brother and as a sister and confront you on that sin because I'm so concerned about the fact that there's a possibility that your life could destroy the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. So I go to you because I'm concerned about your welfare. I'm concerned about your walk with the Lord.

I love how Paul says it in 1 Timothy chapter 5. In 1 Timothy chapter 5, he says it this way. He says, Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters in all purity. In other words, in the church, there is this way you deal with another brother or sister.

If they're older than you, you go to them as if they're your father. You go to them with great respect, great humility, great dignity, because they're like your father. So you would approach them as if this older man is your father.

A younger man, you go to him with equality because he is your brother, he is your equal. With older women, it's like you're going to your mother, great sensitivity. But with younger women, you do that with all purity and holiness, but you go to them.

And you talk to them about what's happening in their lives, to try to put them on the straight and narrow path of them in honor of the Lord. If I am zealous for good deeds because of the hope that lies within, because of the great glorious appearance of my great God and Savior, Jesus Christ my Lord, then my service is going to be so energized, so reinvigorated, that I'm going to do all I can to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. I'm going to preserve the unity of my church.

And it begins with personal examination, leads to mutual submission, scriptural confrontation, and then beneficial conversation. Beneficial conversation, Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, verse number 29, let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. That's called beneficial conversation.

I'm not going to let any unwholesome word come out of my mouth. Think about the words that came out of your mouth already today, maybe yesterday. I want to make sure the words that come out of my mouth really benefit those who hear.

It edifies them, it lifts them up, it's going to minister to them. Do my words minister to those who hear them? Or do they cause division with those who hear them? They cause disruption with those who hear them. Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth.

It goes on to say in verse number 30, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Do you know that we can grieve God's Spirit? And the way we grieve Him the most is when unwholesome words come out of our mouth. Why is that? Well, we've told you before, the mouth gate is the true indicator of my heart's condition, and the Holy Spirit lives within my heart.

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if words are coming out that aren't beneficial to those who hear them, if they're detrimental to those who hear them, that's coming from a heart that's filled with sin and that grieves the Spirit of God with whom we are sealed to the day of redemption. In fact, over in the book of Colossians, the fourth chapter, Paul says these words, Colossians chapter 4, verse number 6, let your speech always be with grace.

It doesn't say let your speech sometimes be with grace, it always be with grace. As though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. That's important because salt is a preservative, isn't it? But also salt does sting on open wounds.

And if someone is living in sin and you speak words of grace seasoned with salt, it's going to sting a little bit, and rightly so, it should. Not because of how you said it, but because of the truth which you have spoken to that person. And yet, salt becomes a preservative.

For Greeks, when they used the word seasoned with salt, they were talking about wit and charm, knowing that they would speak a word at the proper time. And so beneficial conversation comes because I speak the word at the proper time. And it ministers grace to those who hear it.

It lifts them and builds them. That's what I do. I am so energized to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, I'm going to examine my own life.

Having examined my life, I'm going to realize the need to live for the glory and honor of my King. And because I do, I will realize the need to submit myself to one another in the fear of Christ. And when there's sin, to scripturally confront that sin with a conversation that's beneficial to the one who hears it.

That's what I covenant to do. That's what I promise to do. If you have the hope of the living God inside you, that's what happens.

I promise to preserve the unity of my church. Is that you? Are you eager to do that? Is that what you want to do? Number two, must hurry. To pursue the strategy of my church.

Not only do I want to preserve the unity of my church, I want to pursue the strategy of my church. It's written on the wall, right? Somehow I want to pursue the Christ. I want to portray the Christ.

I want to proclaim the Christ. I want to praise the Christ. That's the strategy of my church.

I want to live for Christ. So I'm going to pursue that strategy. I'm going to pursue that opportunity.

I'm going to pursue that direction. I want to know Christ. I'm going to pursue him.

I want to know him as Paul said in Philippians 3, that I may know him. Jeremiah talks about boasting the fact that not that you're mighty or that you're rich, that you're powerful and great, but that you know Christ. That's what matters.

Having pursued him, I want to live him. I want to portray him. I want to live him out to all those who see me so that I can effectively proclaim him and then I want to praise him.

That's part of our practice, is it not? I'm talking about this on Wednesday nights because it's so important to us as a church, as people, Isaiah 43, 21. The people I have formed for myself will declare my praise. They will do that.

The people I have molded into my image, they will declare my praise. So if I'm not declaring God's praises, maybe I'm not molded in his image. And praise, Psalm 33, verse number one, is becoming, it's beautifying to the upright.

It's what makes the upright so beautiful, is because they live a life of praise. Well, because I have this hope in me of the return of Christ, and when I see him, I'll be like him for I'll see him as he is. The glorious appearing of my great God and Savior.

He redeemed me for his own possession. I am his and he is mine. And because I'm his own possession, I want to walk worthy of my calling.

I want to live like a child of the king. So I will preserve the unity of my church. I will pursue the strategy of my church.

And thirdly, I will protect the testimony of my church. That's important, isn't it? I'm zealous for good deeds. I'm going to protect the testimony of my church.

How do I do that? Well, four ways. First, attending faithfully. Attending faithfully.

Do you know that you protect the testimony of your church by attending faithfully? Think about it this way. Can you protect the testimony of your family when you're not at home? You can't, can you? Can you protect the testimony of your family when you're always traveling, always gone, and never there? You can't, can you? You're not there. But by attending faithfully, by being there, by being a part of what's happening, you begin to protect the testimony of your church.

In other words, you testify to the fact that church, the body of Christ is valuable to you. It's valuable to you. That's right.

Hebrews 10, 24 and 25 says that we're not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together. As we see the day approaching, what's that? The day of Christ is coming again, right? That's the hope that we have. We had this hope that Jesus is going to come again.

Because he is, we don't want to forsake the assembly of ourselves together. And the right people says some of them were doing that, but we don't want to do that. And I begin to protect the testimony of my church when I attend faithfully.

I am telling the world that church matters. I'm telling the world that the body of Christ means something. I love to be with the family of God.

I can't wait to be with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I want to minister to those that are in the body. I love the body.

That's what attending faithfully demonstrates. Now you can attend every week because you believe that somehow going to church is going to get you to heaven. And that's for the wrong reason, of course.

I do understand that. But there is this motive that I have that says I want to be a part of the family of God. I can't wait to get there and see those that I will spend eternity with.

Wow. Attending faithfully. Knowing that, but praying fervently.

Praying fervently. I protect the testimony of my church by praying for my church. You pray for the church? You pray for the body of Christ? Do you pray for the person next to you, in front of you, behind you? Do you pray for those in your fellowship group, in your adult Bible fellowship? Do you pray for those in the ministry you serve alongside of? Do you just show up to serve in a ministry, but never pray for those you serve alongside? I pray for my church.

There should be this fervency about my prayer. Because I really want God to be honored. So I'm going to pray for you.

Do you pray for your elders? Do you pray for your deacons? Do you pray for your senior school teachers? Do you pray for those who serve in any capacity in the ministry of the church? I would trust you just don't show up and never pray, because you need to pray fervently. Paul would speak about that in 1st Thessalonians chapter 1. 1st Thessalonians 1 verse number 2, we said these words, we give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. We constantly give thanks, because he's praying fervently.

And we are to be fervent according to Ephesians chapter 6. Prayer is part of the armor of God, and we are to pray fervently for one another. And I would trust that you do that. So by attending faithfully, by praying fervently, by giving financially, yep, by giving financially I protect the testimony of the church.

Did you know that? Because when you give, you enable the ministry of the church. You enable the outreach and the in-reach of the church. And so by giving financially to the church, in 1st Corinthians 16, 1 and 2, Paul talks about giving proportionally each day upon the first day of each week as God has prospered you.

You do that because through your giving to the church, you are saying, Lord I want the testimony of the gospel protected. I want the testimony of the of the church and the community protected. So I'm going to give toward that ministry so that we are able to do the things that we need to do to train people in the church, to teach people in the church, to counsel people in the church, to have opportunities for people to grow in the church, as well as to to reach this community with the gospel, that we might able to continue our radio ministry and continue serving others, that's what we want to do.

So by giving financially, we protect the testimony of the church. By attending faithfully, praying fervently, giving financially, and living fruitfully. Living fruitfully, living a life that exemplifies the fruit of the gospel.

That protects the testimony of our church. In other words, it says to those on the outside, these people are serious about Christ. They're serious about the Lord.

They truly want to serve the Lord. And Paul and Colossians would pray that the church of Colossae would grow in the knowledge of Christ. They may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

When you live fruitfully, that is you bear the fruit of the gospel, you bear the fruit of the Spirit, you live like Christ, it tells the people that the testimony of your church is so important, because you want to honor the Lord. And so you make it a promise, not just to preserve the unity of the church, not just to pursue the strategy of the church, but to make sure that you protect the testimony of your church. And lastly, to participate in the ministry of my church.

To participate in the ministry of my church by exercising my spiritual gift, by edifying the saints, by evangelizing the sinners, and by exalting my Savior. I want to participate in the ministry of my church. Listen, when you come with us, and in the new year we'll talk about spiritual gifts, and how important they are in the body, you want to exercise your spiritual gift, right? And we'll notice that in spiritual gifts that God gives gifts to the church, right? Everyone has a gift.

Some of you have a support gift. Some of you have a speaking gift. But God has given special gifts to the church.

They're called gifted men to the church. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers. And we'll talk to you about those gifted men that God has given to the church.

Apostles with a little a, and prophets with a little p, and evangelists with a little e, and pastors and teachers with little p's and t's, okay? And we'll talk to you about what that means. Because as God gives gifted men to the church, Ephesians 4 tells us, He gives them to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Why has God given gifted men to the church? So you can effectively be mended, put together, so that you in turn can serve and minister to one another.

So as gifted men, given to the church, use the Word of God to equip you, to mend you, to put you together, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. What happens then as you are being mended and put together, you are now equipped to minister to one another and serve one another. It's a beautiful way the body of Christ can be put together.

We'll talk to you about that in great detail in the new year. But I promise to participate in the ministry of my church. I want to exercise my spiritual gifts.

I want to edify the saints. I want to build up the saints. Paul says, I commit you to God and the Word of His grace, which is able to build the saints, build the church.

I want to evangelize sinners. I want the sinners to know the truth of the gospel. The church is designed to teach you how to share your faith, how to understand the gospel, that you might preach the gospel.

But most importantly, I want to exalt the Savior. Paul says in Ephesians 3, 21, let there be glory in the church. Let there be glory in the church from generation to generation, both now and forever.

Amen. When you have the hope that God has given to us because He's the God of hope, my service changes. My service is energized.

I am on fire for the Lord. My prayer for you and me, all of us will be set ablaze for the service of the King. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for today, a chance to be together in the Word of the Lord. Thank you for the truth that you give us. Our prayer is that, Lord, we live in the light of the gospel, that you'd be pleased with us as a church, that we'd serve you fully and freely for your glory and honor.

In Jesus' name, amen.