Camp Testimonies - Pastor Matt Pullen

You guys have your Bibles?

We're gonna turn to Ephesians chapter four.

I'm very grateful once again for camp.

I'm grateful for all these students and what the Lord was doing during that week.

I thought it best to kind of just review a little bit of what we talked about at camp.

Now, granted, there was a lot of what was said at camp.

A couple of them, you know, mentioned the heart questions.

That's something new that we did this year.

It was it was really awesome.

The kids wrote down questions, like deep questions.

I actually I actually prefaced it and I said, hey, this isn't necessarily just like you're curious about something.

This is if you're struggling with something, like if if this, if if the thing that you're wrestling with inside is like, man, I need help with this, and getting an answer to this question would be something that would really help me in my faith.

That's that's the question I want.

So we wrote down a bunch of questions.

The bowl, you know, had a bunch of papers in it.

We went through leaders, Pastor Byron, me, Miss Taylor, Jesse, Trevor was there, uh, my wife.

And so we just had like some good deep talks that were according to what they needed.

Uh, maybe if those questions weren't asked in that moment, they would go years without asking those questions.

So I was very thankful for that.

But the very first night we um we had this question, and uh, and we're gonna go to Ephesians chapter 4 for this answer.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Um, but we said, why camp surge?

Why camp surge?

Um, you know, youth camp can be a really fun time.

It can also be so fun that you pretty much get any kid anywhere to come because they just want the fun.

And so I I find that I I try to make it a balance of fun and the word of God.

Um, but they'll tell you, you know, Morgan said it, some of those talks were long-winded.

Uh, we get into God's word, we stay in God's word, we you know, kind of soak in God's word for a minute, and uh so if if a kid was there and they weren't there for Jesus, I can imagine how it might be a little bit hard because we really do circle everything we do around Jesus, which is you know the whole point.

Um anyway, so Ephesians chapter 4, we're gonna we're gonna read through this.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

We asked um why camp search?

And uh basically the reason why I want to talk about this now is because um this is not just a youth camp question, like why do we go to youth camp?

I think this is honestly the mission and the vision of the church.

So if not just our youth, but everyone as a believer were to understand this and grasp this and live according to this passage, I feel as though uh the body of Christ would be flourishing and and and edifying one another and living our lives uh for the glory of God in a way um that was very, very compelling.

Compelling to us, compelling to the world.

Um but before I read this, let me just pray real quick.

Lord, I thank you for your grace.

I thank you for your love.

God, I thank you that you're you're teaching us at all the time.

I pray that we would be slow and attentive to what you're doing in our lives.

Help us to understand now what you're speaking to us through this passage.

Help us to apply it to our lives and leave this room changed, different, encouraged, challenged, so that we may better live for you out in our community and in our families.

I pray that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Alright, so Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

And then we're gonna we're gonna start in um verse uh 11.

Verse 11.

And I I don't have slides for you guys, so hopefully you got your Bibles in front of you and you're ready to go, right?

We're gonna we're gonna dig into God's word together.

Ephesians chapter 4, uh, verse 11.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Normally I'd have the youth volunteer to read, but I'll I'll spare you guys today, okay?

All right, here we go.

And he himself gave some as apostles and some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, or another translation says ministry, the work of ministry, the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.

Verse 13, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there, or other, you know, it's to and fro in the ESV, here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up.

Grow up.

All the youth in the room say, Grow up.

Grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, that is Christ.

Verse 16, from whom the whole body being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

In love.

We see two main things in this passage, and and we hit these uh pretty hard at camp.

So the first night we talked about uh you know maturity and unity and how those are two big things as from this passage that that we really need to get a hold of as far as being the body.

Um and then also we spent a significant amount of time talking about what it means to be in Christ.

Because when you read about, you know, when you read this passage and it's talking about you know what the body is for or what we ought to be doing, you know, you especially in a youth camp, right, you may not have kids that are necessarily in Christ or following Christ, dedicated to Christ.

So you have to kind of hash that out and talk about that.

There's a lot of great promises throughout scripture about who those are who are in Christ.

If we're in Christ, we are chosen.

That's what Ephesians chapter 1 says.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

If we're in Christ, we're pardoned, right?

Uh escaped sin because of Jesus.

If we're in Christ, we're righteous, right?

He who knew no sin became uh sinned for us that we might become the righteousness of God.

So in Christ we're righteous.

Uh in Christ we're saints, as it says here, for the equipping of the saints.

Uh in Christ we're secure.

In Christ we have a living hope.

So there's a lot of things in Christ, and so we you know, we took a lot of time and talked about that, as you can probably imagine.

Um maturity and unity, though, are two big uh themes in this passage.

And I'm very thankful for Pastor Byron.

He was there with us.

Anytime I would go a little bit off on a rabbit trail or something, he would you know kind of back to bring it back to Scripture.

Um, and uh and so he he kind of gave us this outline um about you know Ephesians 1.10 and Ephesians 3.10, and how you know it's high view of God, high view of church.

Like that's basically all of Ephesians.

And so um to understand our role in the body of Christ, in light of the bigger picture, that there's this high view of God that is being proclaimed, and this high view of church that's being proclaimed, we want to know where we fit in in that.

So we see in in verse 11, uh, and I'm not gonna get into all these titles uh as far as apostles, prophets, stuff like that, but we can see this is a uh foundation for leadership in the early church, the New Testament church.

Right?

So so apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, preachers, they're they're all uh being used by God in a position for this purpose to equip the saints for the work of ministry, or this translation, work of service, for the building up of the body.

And so here's one main thought that I have.

And if you are, I don't know if we have note paper, but if you're taking notes, I'll try my best to give you like the little nuggets here and there where you want to write down.

But um, otherwise I'm gonna move kind of quick, so try to stay with me.

Here we go.

There ought to be a moment in every believer's life when how they view the church changes from the church is here for me to I am here for the church.

That that should be a fundamental understanding of this passage where where we no longer have the mindset of the church is here to serve me, I I want to get my preferences from the church.

If if the church is not meeting my preferences and what I want, then it's not for me.

There should be and and for young believers, right, and mature believers, we're gonna talk about maturity, there is that mindset of like, I need, I need, right?

Babies need, right?

They they need.

And so so we supply, but as you mature in Christ, I'm sure as many of you in this room who are much older than me know, there was at some point in your walk with God a time when you stopped thinking about how the church is here to serve you, that you are actually the church and you are called to serve.

And so we see that in this passage.

It's fundamental.

Verse 12 uses the word equipped.

Let's let's read that again.

Verse 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ.

The equipping.

The word equipped carries with it the principle of maturity and growth.

To be equipped is not just having a tool in your bag, but having the skill to use that tool at the right time.

The skill to use the tool to produce something.

As parents, we look forward to the day when our kids, and I'm talking to the younger parents here, when our kids are not just producing poop and whining, right?

We look forward to the day when they are producing something besides that, right?

And uh, you know, you get through those moments, right?

You you get through those moments, you love your kids, you raise them up.

There's little sweet fruits every now and then with with the kids, but mostly it's just all investment.

And we look forward to the point when they can actually produce.

Um, there's a time that I remember with my boys not too long ago.

Um, it was Zion and Valor mostly.

Naya was helping with the pavers a little bit, but we were building a shed in my backyard, and not to mention I had just torn my meniscus, so I was doing stuff that I wasn't supposed to be doing.

Um, so we're building the shed, and uh, and I have Zion out there working.

You can imagine dad's how proud you might be.

He's up there with a palm nailer, uh putting hurricane trusses, uh hurricane straps on the trusses.

So we're tack attaching these little brace thingies.

Um I'll leave it right there, and and we're like sliding the trusses into those braces.

And I have my what was he at the time, eight or nine, nine years old, ten years old maybe, up there with a palm nailer, just like nailing things in.

I'm like, yes, this is why you have boys.

No, just kidding.

Girls, girls can do that too, but um it it was one of those moments where now I had to sit back and like think, like, man, this is awesome.

I have six boys.

Like, like they're young at this point.

They like like not all of them can do that type of thing, but imagine the day when they're all out there just working.

I'm just gonna be barking orders and just you know eating pizza, and they'll be able to do all the work.

And it's like, man, that that's so awesome.

I mean, not just for that reason, but you know what I'm saying.

Like to see my boys actually work and produce something is a joy.

It's it's it's like almost when you're raising them, like what you're craving for, what you're looking forward to.

And so they were they were they were getting it.

And as believers, our equipping is specifically for producing the maturity and growth of the church, the people of God.

And and I know so often, guys, we we refer to this building as the church, but I I kind of want to make that real real heavy, hard line.

Like the church is the people.

And so anytime we talk about the church, it needs to be that we're referring to the people, not just the building that we're gathering in.

As believers, our equipping is specifically for producing the maturity and growth of the church, the people of God.

Verse 13 throws out this qualifier if you want to look at that again.

Verse 13, it says this until So verse 12, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ, verse 13, until, meaning there's a qualifier.

There is something to look forward to that we're working towards until we all attain, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, or yours might say, mature manhood, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

So not only do we have the qualifier as in we're looking forward to like there's a time until this takes place, but then we also have to the measure of the fullness of Christ.

So this is a process, right?

This isn't just like as a believer, just like a one-day investment.

This isn't just a one-year investment.

Unfortunately, for all of you retired people, right?

And you're like, who's this young guy talking to me?

Right?

It's it's it's a whole life thing, right?

Like as Christians, as believers, we are called to equipping of the saints uh for the building up of the body for a lifetime, for as long as God has us here on this earth.

I I don't know which pastor said it, but I know I've heard Pastor Byron say it.

If you're not dead, you're not done, right?

You you keep going, right?

And that's encouraging, even in the different contexts that we have, different ages, to understand that this is a lifetime call.

As a believer, being interested in the maturity and the growth of the church.

Until we all attain, it says.

Verse 14 and 15 put a little bit of meat on these bones.

Uh it it talks about more so the day-to-day, which I really love this, and I think this is where it gets very practical for each of us when we're asking ourselves, how, how, how do we attain maturity?

How do we uh build up the body?

And so uh just take a look real quick at verse 14 and 15.

So that we are no longer, I'll I'll read thirteen again, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Verse 14.

So that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming, but but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head that is Christ.

Into him the head who is Christ.

So two things that I notice here.

Two things I notice.

Someone who is maturing in their walk with God is going to have two things.

They're going to have a handle on truth.

They're going to have a handle on truth.

If if you would turn to Hebrews chapter 5, real quick.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 5.

Hebrews 5 · chapter mention

Someone who is maturing in Christ is going to have a handle on truth so that they're not like a little tiny John boat in a big old sea getting rocked around to and fro.

They're not like a little kid that's being knocked down all the time.

They have a handle on the truth.

They have a handle and they're firm in sound doctrine.

And I like how Hebrews 5, verse 12 through 14 kind of puts it, because even though it might seem abrasive to some of us, it's actually for our good and our in our in our equipping.

Hebrews 5:12–14

Chapter 5 of Hebrews, verse 12.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God.

And you have come to need milk and not solid food.

Talking about obviously the natural progression, right?

Babies start on milk, they get to the hard foods, they progress.

I'm, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to praise my 10-year-old son for crawling on the ground or taking a step.

All right, he's beyond that.

Alright, when my son takes the first step, it is like, man, that's awesome.

Look at you go.

But how funny would it be if I was looking at my 10-year-old son and saying, Good job, son, good job for taking that step.

Right?

Like there's this natural progression.

Verse 13.

For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.

I'm gonna say that again.

But solid food is for the mature who because of practice, practice, they have their senses trained to discern both good and evil.

It's pretty clear.

Paul is giving them this kind of charge, like, hey, you need to get with it.

Like a lot of you should be teachers by now.

You should be like literally teaching people about these things, but you're still on the milk of the word because you're not putting in these things into practice.

You're not applying these things into your life.

And that's hard for some of us to hear.

But it's the same type of wake-up call for when you're trying to get your kids out of the bed in the morning.

Come on, get up, you know what you gotta do, let's go, right?

So, so first thing that we see in Ephesians is uh someone who is mature is having a handle on truth.

And then the second thing is this speaking the truth in love.

Turn back to Ephesians.

Speaking the truth in love.

Not being tossed to and fro, the schemings of man, the trickery of men, the craftiness, the winds of doctrine, right?

But verse 15, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, that is Christ.

That is Christ.

A real sign of a believer is growing in maturity.

Sorry, a believer who is growing in maturity is how they talk to others.

Let's just let that sit there for a second.

A real sign of a believer who is growing in maturity is how they talk to others.

How are we doing, church?

People of God, how are we doing in when we talk to people?

How are we doing in our families, right?

That's the place where we kind of think is off limits, right?

You know, like I'll I'll treat everyone out in the community with kindness, right?

But don't talk to me about how I talk to my brother.

Don't talk to me about how I talk to my sister, right?

Maybe I should be looking right at this section right here, alright?

It's one thing to say that we are following God and being faithful to Him.

And when we're out in public, right, we can, we can, you know, we can we can deceive people.

We can make people think that we're better than what we really are.

But then when we're in a place where we're comfortable, man, all bets are off.

It's just pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, it's spewing out.

A real sign of a believer who is growing in maturity is how they talk to others.

Having grace because that grace that we have received from God.

Having grace, exemplifying grace because of the grace we've received from God.

Luke 6 45 says this out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

And then we know of other places in Scripture where Jesus is talking, and he says, a good tree produces good fruit.

A bad tree produces bad fruit.

So what's on the inside?

What's on the inside?

That's what's gonna come out.

I asked the youth at camp while we were there, is there an age limit to this?

Like, is this a matter of age?

Because it seems as though there's this natural progression, right?

Baby, toddler, child, youth, young adult, adult, right, senior.

Alright, there's there's that progression.

But when I read Luke 252, which says, and Jesus increased, maybe some of the kids know it.

Any king kids?

What and Jesus increased in Yes.

Alright.

And do you guys remember how old Jesus was when that was said about him?

Twelve years old, about.

Right?

Twelve years old.

Jesus at 12 years old approximately, it was said of him that he was growing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

There is no age limit to this.

As the one famous rapper, Trip Lee said, Christian rapper, by the way, he said, You can be a boy.

Sorry, he says it this way.

I wish I could rap it to you guys, but I'm not a rapper, so I'm gonna spare you, alright?

But um, being a man has nothing to do with age.

You can be a boy till the day you lay in your grave.

Alright, and that's just like one little sliver of this really awesome rap, and the whole rap is called manhood or a man anthem.

So really good stuff.

I'll talk to you guys about that later.

Anyway, so it's so true.

We can be a boy till we're old.

We can be a little girl till we're old.

Because it's maturity is not a matter of age, it's a matter of walking in wisdom.

Uh turn to Psalm 1, uh Psalm 1 real quick, if you guys don't mind.

I want you to see a passage that we shared at camp with with the students.

Psalm 1.

And when we look at this, we ask ourselves, is this a matter of age or is this a matter of our posture towards God?

Psalm 1.

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.

But his delight is in the law of Yahweh, and in his law he meditates day and night.

And this is the analogy.

We hit this, uh we hit this pretty good for a few minutes in our small groups.

And he will be like a tree firmly planted by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does, he prospers.

Is that a matter of age, or is that a matter of posture towards what is good and true?

This could be a seven-year-old who's walking in wisdom and allowing their life to be something that is flourishing.

This could also be a seventeen-year-old, 40-year-old, right?

It doesn't matter about age.

Posture of the heart towards God.

There's this facade of growing up, and I shared this.

I thought it was funny.

I don't know if they thought it was funny.

But we have this natural progression, right?

Baby, you know, toddler, child, youth, young man, adult, uh, young woman, man, and then man and woman.

It's like this long stretch out thing.

There's like a simplified version, right?

The baby, child, young man, woman, man, woman, like some cultures, right around the world, you have like this, which I think we should do it here too.

Um, this, you know, like ceremony, right?

13 years old, you're a man now.

You're gonna do these things, and then now you're a man, or now you're a woman.

It's more of like a hard line.

It's easy in America with all the luxuries and stuff that we have to kind of allow uh just the easy way of life that we have in America to slowly drift us into this like mentality of passivity where we don't really feel the need or the urge to like actually develop and grow and do and act because we're just comfortable.

We're just comfortable.

And so here's kind of what I see way too often, and like I said, I thought this was fun.

Baby, which grows into child, which grows into a little bit older child, which grows into even older child, which grows into a child so old that we call them a man or woman because we're afraid to offend them.

Don't you see that?

Don't you see that?

Like when you go around, it's like when you see someone who's acting so childish and they're like, it's like, bro, you're 18.

Like, what are you doing?

What do you got?

Why are you acting like that?

It's like, bro, you're 30 years old, you got kids.

Why are you acting like that?

Right?

Like we like we've maybe it's just me.

Am I the only one who's judging in my heart like that?

Alright, leave me out to dry, that's fine.

Okay.

Lord forgive me.

Um, just like there's a natural maturing of the human body, there should be a spiritual maturing as believers who are growing in the wisdom and the love of God.

Not to get pat on the back, but rather to allow the fruit of their relationship with God to feed and nourish the believers around them in love.

That is what this passage is talking about.

That there should be a fruit.

There should be a producing in our lives that feeds and nourishes the people around us.

So we take a second, we ask ourselves, is that meaning?

Is the fruit that is coming of my life sweet and nourishing to the people around me?

Or do people feel as though they don't want to be around me so much because of the fruit that is coming from my life?

And you may not even see that.

I may not see that.

Who's gonna come to you and tell you to your face, hey man, I don't like the fruit you're gonna produce, I'm gonna kind of get a stay away from you.

No one tells you that.

Yet there's these little things that I think as a believer, the Spirit of God reveals to us and He shows us in like, hey man, you could grow a little bit in this area.

Hey, you're struggling here.

Like you probably should step it up.

I don't I don't know how you feel that conviction, but but as a believer, I believe that conviction is there, right?

Because God is growing in his people, he's sanctifying us, he's maturing us.

And so, church, we need to be aware of those moments where God is convicting us so that we may grow more mature.

A mature believer asks themselves, how can I better know God and his truth so that I can better serve my brothers and sisters with the truth in love?

I'll read that again.

A mature believer asks themselves, how can I better know God and his truth so that I can better serve my brothers and sisters with love?

Sorry, with truth in love.

Which brings us to the second point.

So the big one, maturity, the second big thing, unity.

Unity.

Favor part a lot of kids said, uh, you probably heard it in the video, um, was all the friends that they made.

All the friends that they made.

And I think that's really awesome.

Honestly, friends is great.

Having a lot of friends is awesome.

But my thought was it's good to have good friends, but the hope, each of you young people, hear me out.

The hope should be that you have not just friends, but friends who are living for Jesus so that they can hold you accountable to his truth, and so that you can hold them accountable to truth.

Friends are not that great if they're friends that are gonna drag you down.

And as we go into this new school year, each of you, young people, will have to, maybe not the homeschoolers, all right.

But the ones who are going into public school.

Well, unless your brothers or sisters are never mind, I'll leave it there.

So going into school, you're gonna be tempted.

Hey, I want to fit in, I want to be alright, I want to be cool, I want to be accepted, and you're gonna have to really gauge in your heart what is really worth having as a friend.

What is worth having as a friend?

They ought to be someone who are lifting you up.

So there was unity at camp, there was a feeling of belonging, and that's a good feeling.

But if that feeling of unity and friendship is not grounded in the truth of God's word, then it may be in vain.

It may be in vain.

Ephesians 4 16, if you would look at that real quick.

Ephesians chapter 4 16.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Flip back to there.

I'm gonna read 15 with it.

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, that is Christ.

Verse fix 16 From whom the whole body, so from whom, the whole body being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working, or the ESV says it uh working in its proper way, when each part is working in its proper way, properly measured working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

This aspect of all these different parts coming together, building each other up as each part works together properly.

I don't want to oversimplify it, but when we think of this second major point in this section, and you ask, why unity?

Why connect with people?

Why actually be a part of people's lives rather than just come to a building and and have maybe a conversation here or a conversation there?

Like, why go deeper and actually unify with people and do life with them?

I don't want to oversimplify it, but I I feel like this is the answer.

So you can be there for each other.

Like, like that's it.

We as the church are to be here for each other.

When you read throughout Acts, the several times it says that they held things in common and and no one counted their own stuff as their own.

Right?

That's that's unity, that's being one with each other.

Ecclesiastes four, eight through nine.

Uh turn there real quick.

Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes.

That's a hard one.

That's not one you turn to very often, huh?

Ecclesiastes four.

I was sitting there trying to find it and I had my bookmark in it the whole time.

Ecclesiastes chapter four, verse eight and nine.

You hear this at weddings sometimes, because they have the the the whole tying the rope um ceremony.

Uh verses eight and nine say this.

There was a certain man without a second man, having neither a son nor a brother.

Yet there was no end to all his labor.

Indeed his eyes were not satisfied with riches, and for whom am I laboring and depriving myself of good?

This too is vanity, and it is a grievous uh grievous endeavor.

Two are better than one, because they have good wages for their labor.

Verse ten for if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.

But woe to the one who falls when there is not a second man to lift him up.

Woe to the one who does not have that second man to help lift him up.

We talked about uh this idea of synergism at camp.

I'm almost done, by the way.

So just hang with me.

You know, I always say that with the youth, and then I keep going for like five, ten minutes.

So, you know, I'm not really trying to lie to you guys, but but just bear with me, alright?

So we talked about this idea of synergism, and I don't know if you guys have heard about the whole ox pulling the wagon, you know, thing, but I thought this was really interesting.

If you have like one adult ox that's like, you know, doing really good and it's and it's pulling its weight and it's you know it's it's strong, it's been trained, it could pull anywhere up to 6,500 pounds, which is a lot of weight.

And I I'm not a farmer, so I don't really know how that correlates, but I know that's a lot of weight.

But if you pair that ox with another ox who is trained the same way and is doing the same work with that with that ox, and they've been doing it for a while together.

I asked the youth, how much weight do you think two ox together can pull?

And and Adam was like, you know, I remember Adam, not making fun of him, just saying, he was like, he was like, well, double, duh.

Like 12,000 pounds, 13, 13,000.

And I was like, nope, it's actually triple.

And he's like, Cap, Cap, you're lying.

There's no way.

Like, that doesn't that doesn't work.

Like it's it, that's a lie.

You're trying to pull my leg.

And it's like, no, like, like, I don't know how to explain it exactly.

I bet if we had Mr.

Ben Mog here, he could go through all the physics of it.

But but literally, this is the case.

That when you and here's the here's the thing, they have to be trained together and working together for some time.

But but two ox together, when one can only pull 6,500 pounds, two can pull 19,000 pounds.

And and you ask yourself, how is this possible?

And that's why it's a fancy thing, it's complex, they call it synergism, right?

This process of synergism.

And and I know this process well because of working with the tree company and and doing tree work and raking lawns, and it's just like, man, when you have one guy doing that one job, it takes forever.

But then you add one guy, and it's like the job goes three times faster.

You add three or four guys and it goes extremely fast, and you're done in 30 minutes.

And it's like, how is this possible?

Synergism, right?

Fancy word.

If you didn't know that word before today, there you go.

You learned a new word.

So, this process of synergism, how when I think of Ephesians chapter four, how is this synergism in play?

It's discipleship, it's being together as the church, working together, edifying one another, building each other up for the sake of maturity and unity, but also a witness to the world of who this Jesus is, what he's done in our lives.

Last passage I'm gonna read, if you want to turn there, Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

And then uh, and then matter of fact, anchor praise if you guys want to head up, because you're gonna do the last song.

We're gonna close in a song today, if that's okay.

But uh, Romans chapter 12, if you turn there, I just want to read through this passage real quick, because it's kind of a summary, but also like a parallel passage to this Ephesians passage.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 12, verse 3 through 9.

Romans 12:3–9

And when we think about what we ought to be doing as the church, this is a passage we should think about.

Verse 3.

For through the grace given to me, I say to each one among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think as but to think so as to have sound thinking, as God has allowed allotted to each measure of faith.

As God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

Verse four.

For just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are the one body in Christ, and individually members one one of another, but having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy in agreement with the faith, or service in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in our exhortation, he who gives with generosity, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness, let love be without hypocrisy, let love be without hypocrisy, by abhorring what is evil, rejecting what is evil, and clinging to what is good.

Each of us in this body, this this gathering today, all of us as believers, we all, according to the Bible, have gifts among us.

My gift is not your gift, your gift is not my gift, your neighbor's gift is not your other neighbor's gift.

We all fit together as a body and we come together and we use our giftings for the Lord, for the edifying, the building up of the church.

How often do we think about that?

How often do we come into this place, or how often do we go to life group and think to ourselves, I have something to offer these people.

I have something to help the body of Christ with.

Right?

Like how often do we think like that?

I think so often we we have tendencies and we want to get something out of something.

And that's why we do what we do.

I'm telling you, church, if if we had the mentality of I'm here to serve, I'm here to help my brothers and sisters, I'm here to offer my gift for their equipping, their building up, honestly, I think I think the church is an unstoppable force.

I think it's when we get lulled into that passivity of I'm just kind of going through the motions, just kind of doing my thing, where it's a dangerous spot.

It's a dangerous spot.

Life does not life is not produced in stagnant waters.

Life is not produced in stagnant waters.

So just to recap, the body growing in maturity, striving for unity for the sake of the building up of one another in love.

That is what we're called to.

That is just a one night of what we talked about at camp.

So y'all can be like, whew, okay, that was a lot.

They got like five nights of that, all right.

We really did have a great time at camp.

Um, and uh, I challenged all of these students to do something to not let camp just be a one-week experience where they, you know, hear something good and they're doing something good, and then they kind of just go back to what is normal.

Uh and and the way that I did that was I I gave them these questions.

If we could get those up on the screen, I allowed them, we started camp with a reflection of the last year, and then we uh ended camp with a reflection of how we might want the next year to go.

And so here was my idea, here's my goal.

If you're like really hardcore into something that you're doing with your life group, and it's like, you know, like you got a curriculum or something, you can you don't want to deviate from that, that's fine.

But what I envisioned was as I read through these questions, you kind of can think about them and go to your life group this coming week and discuss the answers to these questions.

Discuss how you would answer these questions, and then also discuss how it may be better that you have accountability in your life to answer these questions.

So I'm just gonna read through them and then uh and then we'll stand and sing a song.

How do I want to grow in joy and character in my relationship with Jesus this coming year?

Imagine the youth just having finished youth camp.

This is what they're being asked.

What is my biggest time waster?

And what will I do to be sure I'm spending special time in God's word and prayer?

What practical thing, discipline, will I put in place to help me flee the sin that I gravitate towards?

That's a good one.

That might be a question that's hard to talk about.

That might be one that's hard to talk about.

If we're here as the body and we're helping one another and we're encouraging one another, that should be one that we can discuss.

Four, what is something I will do for God this year that I have never done before?

What does it look like for me to worship God for who he is and trust him when I do not have what I want?

What will I do to better show Christ's love, Christ-like love, or better use my abilities for the sake of building up my church, God's people?

Who in my life needs God's salvation?

And what ways will I witness to them this year?

I think this is this the last one.

What heavenly treasures am I going to live for this year?

What will matter five years from now?

Twenty years from now, a hundred years from now.

I love the the poster, or whatever you want to call it, that's in Mr.

Hep's room back in the choir room, uh, Truth Seekers class.

It says, What's gonna matter a hundred years from now?

I don't know about you, but every time I go into that choir room and I read that poster, it makes me think, like, there's something so much bigger going on in life, like generate generationally speaking.

And if I'm just focused on just like this day or this month, and I'm not thinking of like generations to come, what's gonna matter a hundred years from now?

Listen, you you that question might have you redirect your life.

That question might have you redirect how you parent.

That question might have you redirect uh what type of inheritance you're leaving for your kids.

Not an inheritance of money, although that's What am I gonna do?

I want to stand together.

Like I said, you maybe you took a picture, maybe you didn't be questions that you're like your life leaders will have them.

I'm sure you guys can discuss those things.

But uh I just want to pray for us and then uh lead us in a song, and then after the song, I'll have Pastor Byron if he doesn't mind coming up and just closing us out.

Or Jesus, I just thank you so much for today.

I thank you for an awesome weekend.

I thank you for all these students whose lives were attached.

I thank you for each of us as individuals here in this room, as bodies, as as believers in the body.

And we each have a body.

We don't fulfill that.

We don't know what we're doing.

There's so much you need to do.

We want to keep our eyes set on you and our heart is set on you as we do those good work.

Thank you again for this opportunity to share with your people.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Oh, we live for you.

Oh there is no one like you, there is no one beside you, oh my eyes want you.

Show me who you are, with your heart and what you're saying, every breath we could have Jesus.

Worthy of every breath we could ever through you, all we live for you.

There's no one like you, there's no inside you, my eyes.

Show me who you are to know.

I would like chance I will not dish.

I will my foundation, I will my trust you will not be shaken only.

There is no one like you, there is none beside you, open my eyes in one.

Show me who you are and tell me with your heart and we love the clothes around Holy There is no one like you.

There is none beside you.

Open up my eyes in water.

Show me who you are and tell me with your heart and lead me in your love to those around me.

Holy, there is no one like you, there is none beside you.

Open up my eyes and want to show me who you are and fill me with your heart and me.

In you love thank you, Pastor Matt, and the anchor praise and all that was involved this morning.

Was it a good morning to worship with the Lord?

Amen.

Amen.

As we close in prayer and you're dismissed, I've got three quick challenges for you.

You can pick one, two, or three, or all three if you want to.

The first one is if you feel, especially reading Ephesians 4, that you want to get more plugged in and serve the body of Christ, as you leave the sanctuary, turn left.

Go down to the fellowship hall.

That's what that meeting is all about.

If you want to pray for the students, go to the high school.

And but the this one all of us can do regardless.

As you're leaving, would you find somebody in this weird colored shirt?

I don't even know what it is.

What if you pink, hot pink, and just love on them for a second as you're leaving, and thank them for for their sharing with us, but also encourage them as you're going out.

So would you pray with me as we're dismissed?

Lord, thank you so much for the chance to worship you together.

Thank you for this body that you you put together.

You sovereignly Lord are our master and our guide and our shepherd.

And Lord, may we be honorable and glorifying you and all that we do.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.