Hand Eye Coordination | Pastor Brady Black Sermon | One Church Columbus

So today, the message I got for you guys is called hand-eye coordination.

Hand-eye coordination.

This speaks to being one coordinated, right?

But in my mind, I think of sports when I go to hand-eye coordination or video games, even that you got to have some dexterity, some there's cooperation amongst different parts of the body.

There's alignment, right?

There's all of this collaboration taking place.

And so that's the mindset that we're going to be in this morning of collaborating, coming together, all doing our part to reach the end goal that Jesus is calling us towards.

But before we jump into the text, I want to give us a little context.

I want to set the stage of what we're about to read, okay?

So 1 Corinthians was written by Paul, and this was addressed to the church in Corinth.

And what we see is this is predominantly a Roman church.

There's a lot of Roman people there.

There's some Greeks there, so there's cultural differences.

But then there's a hierarchy that begins forming in this church that Paul is directly addressing, where there are some of these uh Roman people are former soldiers, which in that time was real high regard.

There was so much honor for being a soldier.

So there's Roman soldiers, and in the same congregation, rubbing shoulders, worshiping together, are former slaves.

And so this hierarchy begins to form where the Roman soldiers have the status, so they're now looking at the rest of the congregation as lower status and as less valuable and as less important.

And so now these higher status people are expecting better seats when they walk in, they're expecting a better plate of food than everyone else.

If someone comes in to teach and they're just like a laborer, they work with their hands, they're not really like highly educated, they're now looking down on them and saying they're not as valuable.

And so this is where we are caught in the middle of this text that we're about to read.

That Paul is finding all this information out about this cultural gap that is forming, not just in the culture, but in the church, and Paul is addressing it.

Paul is telling them about value, he's telling them about diversity, and he's calling them to know it is about you.

Jesus loves you, but he also loves the person sitting next to you.

He also values the person sitting next to you.

It is about more than just me.

And this is the disconnect we see.

So this is 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 12 through 25.

1 Corinthians 12:12–25

I'll read it for like a minute, but we'll jump back in it, okay?

So this is what it says the human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body.

So it is with the body of Christ.

Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, some are free.

But we all have been baptized into one body by one spirit, and we all share the same spirit.

Yes, that body has many different parts, not just one part.

If the foot says, I'm not part of the body because I'm not a hand, that does not make it any less part of the body.

If the ear says, I'm not part of the body because I'm not an eye, would that make it any less part of the body?

If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear?

If the whole body were an ear, how would you smell?

But our bodies have many parts, and God put each part just where he wants it.

How strange would a body be if it only had one part?

Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.

The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you.

The head can't say to the feet, I don't need you.

In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.

And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care.

So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care.

So God has put the body together with sex such extra honor that and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.

This makes for harmony amongst the members, so that all members care for each other.

If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all parts are glad.

Amen.

So with the context of the church that Paul is addressing, we see it.

He says, Some of us are slaves, some of us were free, some of us are Jews, some of us are Gentiles.

Paul is addressing the hierarchy that's beginning to form and helping them to recognize that there's more than just you, there's more than just me.

So to really um, we're gonna we're gonna try to drive this point home.

I'm gonna invite my uh friend Isaiah up here to join me real quick to help give us a visual real quick of what this hand-eye coordination requires.

Because again, hand-eye coordination, in my opinion, I instantly go to sports.

Catching a football, right?

It requires hand-eye coordination.

It requires a little bit from me, right?

And growing up, I think they said this about Isaiah.

If you can catch a football, you got you got hands, good hands.

If you can't, you got no hands, no hands.

One part of the body is either glorified or diminished based on the catch, right?

We and it makes sense why we do this, but there's so much more that goes into it.

So I'm gonna throw this football to Isaiah.

Hopefully he catches it, and we're gonna break down what happens.

We're gonna get really scientific.

I know it's Sunday, I know, get ready.

I know it's Sunday, but we're gonna go to school for just a minute.

We're gonna we're gonna see what happens, okay?

So let's see if we can catch it.

Boom.

Give it up.

Look at this.

Okay, so he cut it.

He came at it.

Praise God.

So, praise God.

Hit that keyboard right behind him.

But um, we glorify the hands in football.

You got hands, you don't got hands.

But I want to I wanna take a look at really what just happened.

So, Isaiah's eyes have about six muscles that are gonna be tracking this ball.

The average ball is going about 35 miles per hour and it's rotating 700 times per minute, and you have micro adjustments that happen dozens of times per second to have the trajectory correct of where you're gonna place your hands.

And then Isaiah's brain starts doing what's called predictive modeling, which means predicting the future basically.

So he's looking at the stage from his peripherals and saying, Is there someone coming from my left?

Is there someone coming from my right?

Is the ball up?

Is the ball down?

And it starts predicting the future to tell the body where to go.

And then your nervous system kicks into gear and fires to send signals to all the muscles across your body to activate.

And then his legs had to move.

I threw it a little high, so his legs had to adjust and he had to step back without moving his legs.

That ball's not getting caught.

And then his shoulders activated, right?

His shoulders reach up to catch this ball because I threw it too high.

There's over 20 muscles in your shoulders that all work together to reach his hands up, and then his core tightens.

Without the core, it'd be like trying to stand on a canoe, like you're just like floating all over the place, so that's not gonna happen.

But then his wrists, his hands, his elbows all activate.

There's over 27 bones in your hands, there's 29 joints in your hands, and there's hundreds of ligaments in your wrists and your hands that all take place perfectly to squeeze the ball.

And while all of this is taking place, deep down in your inner ear is what's called your vestibular system.

There's a little bit of fluid in there that keeps your balance, keeps your feet on the ground.

Without it, you would be tripping all over the place.

And so, yes, Isaiah caught it with his hands, but truly, what we can what we can say is the entire body completed the process of the one goal of catching the ball.

Can we give it up for Isaiah?

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir.

So the process of catching a football requires complete alignment and complete cooperation amongst all parts of the body.

In the process of the church, our goal of igniting a movement to reach a disconnected culture, our our our goal, this process happens when we have alignment and cooperation amongst the body.

Not perfection, but a shared surrender to the goal, that which is Jesus.

And so again, if we go back to this context that Paul is addressing in 1 Corinthians, there are hurdles that you and I are gonna have to face and jump over if we are going to have true alignment as the body of Christ.

There are hurdles in the 1 Corinthians church, there are hurdles of hierarchies that we're forming, and for you and for me, there are gonna be hurdles in our lives of why there may not be true alignment when it comes to walking in the goals that Jesus has called us to walk in.

So being one body, being all together is not easy, but it is essential.

It requires each and every single one of us to activate, to play our part, to do the role that we were designed for.

If we brought Isaiah back up here and I told him close his eyes, he can't catch it because one part is off, one part is missing.

A single thing undone, a single thing inactive makes something that looks decently easy and possible.

And again, this is not a call to perfection, but if we as the body of Christ are not activated, if we're not participating, the body cannot function in the proper way that God calls us to function.

And we can speculate and pinpoint the different reasons why maybe you or me don't activate, why we are an active part of the body, and not just in the church, but outside of the church as well, um, why we don't really live and walk out our faith.

We can speculate a lot of things, but I want to take a look back at the text because Paul addresses the body from two pretty distinct perspectives that I think reveal these two hurdles for us pretty quickly.

So the first one is in verses 15 through 17.

So 1 Corinthians 12, 15 to 17, he says, if the foot says, I'm not part of the body, because I'm not a hand, that does not make it any less part of the body.

And if the ear says, I'm not part of the body, because I'm not an eye, does that make it any less part of the body?

If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear?

If the whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

So if the foot says, Well, just a foot, I'm not a hand, I have no value.

If the ear says, I'm not an eye, I can't see.

If I could see, then like maybe I could be used.

Maybe you think I just hold auditorium doors on a Sunday morning.

I just tell people, good morning.

I'm not up on stage leading worship, I'm not, I'm not making a real impact on people.

Or maybe you serve over here in one kid's and you're like, I just hold babies, I'm not teaching lesson plans, I'm not really making that much of an impact.

And it sounds a little bit ridiculous, but do you hear me this morning?

The heart behind this, we look at ourselves, then we look at other people, we look at the value that we think other people add over us, and the question, the hurdle that we need to face is how can God use me?

How can God use me?

Some of us might even think, does God even want to use me?

How could God use me?

We look at our lives, our position, our gifts, our in our opinion, our lack of gifts, maybe our value, and we overlook them and we dismiss them by comparing them to another part of the body.

And in this process, we're met with discouragement, we're met with hurt, we're met with questions, and we choose to diminish our own value because we question how could God use me?

And there's validity to this question.

It's not to dismiss the question, but I want to flip the question on its head for us this morning and really look at this of the question now, can God use you?

Can God use you?

When we look at a family, a church, or a body, at its best state it is an ecosystem.

There's what's called reciprocity, which is I am bringing something to the table and you are bringing something to the table.

There's mutual benefit, there is a mutually beneficial relationship that forms.

And it's the heartbeat of what makes the body of Christ work, right?

That everything that is productive also receives, everything gives, everything takes, that not one thing pulls all in and doesn't give back.

If we think about nature in and of itself, a tree pulls all the nutrients up out of the ground, out into the leaves, and eventually drops the leaves back down into the ground, creating a cycle of reciprocity, of a mutually beneficial relationship that takes place.

So when we take without giving, when we attend without activating, when we dismiss our role and we say, I don't have value in the kingdom of God, not just in the church, but in the kingdom of God, I don't have value, the body of Christ suffers.

And we are instantly less effective than we are meant to be without you.

See, an ecosystem in our context, the church only stays healthy when this exchange, this mutually beneficial relationship, when it flows from different both directions and when it is diverse.

Paul speaks to so much diversity that we see within this verse.

He says in verse 17, if the whole body were an eye, how would you hear?

If the whole body were an ear, how would you smell?

If all we had was worship leaders and no one to pray for people, how would anyone receive prayer?

If all we had was one function of the human body, the body of Christ, the rest of the body would suffer.

When the reciprocity breaks down because we don't see our own value, that ecosystem can start to die.

We see this happen in marriages, we see it happen in families, and we can see this happen in a church body.

So can God use you?

Can God use you?

More importantly, what we need to recognize is the body of Christ needs you.

The body of Christ needs you to function.

In the church, yes, but especially outside of the church.

And I don't know your story.

I don't know why you might view yourself in the light that you view yourself.

I don't know what someone maybe spoke over you or did that makes you view yourself as less than, but what this verse shows us and teaches us is that Jesus clearly communicates the heart that he has for you, that he created you intentionally, that he sees you, and you carry value in the kingdom of God.

And my prayer is that we would have a little bit of a perspective shift this morning to what culture would value and what we value in the kingdom of God.

Because maybe you just want to operate as a hand or as an eye or as something that you desire to operate as because you view yourself as less than, you view your role as a little bit more diminished than what someone else might be doing.

And in 1 Corinthians 12, 22 it says, the parts that seem weaker are indispensable, the parts that are unseen, the parts that we don't highly regard are indispensable.

And we just celebrated for a moment um some students in uh that were up here on stage leading worship, and I love it.

I love to see our students involved and engaged in what we're doing on a Sunday morning.

It's a beautiful thing.

Um, but what you don't know is we currently are all being very much so supported by uh uh one person named Tyler Wright, who's a ninth grader in high school.

Yes, who is running.

Um, there's a picture of him.

Tyler Wright is currently running all of uh the back-end production of what we are experiencing right now.

And another person that you may not see, his name is A B, he's back here in the lighting booth.

Um just graduated high school this last year, making sure that we are not sitting in the dark, amen.

Right?

But see what happens is in our culture, we equate visibility to value.

If someone is seen, oh, there's some value.

But what this verse explicitly says is we cover the parts of our body that have the most value.

Our value does not equate visibility in the kingdom of God because quite honestly, some of the most important people supporting everyone in this room right now are unseen.

They are not seen right now.

So when we have a mindset that my value comes from my visibility, this begins to diminish the value that Jesus innately places in your heart as a son or as a daughter of God.

Your value does not come from your visibility.

For us to function properly, it is to recognize my value despite.

To recognize where God is calling me to operate despite.

What you view as insignificant when it is placed in the hands of God is indispensable.

It is indispensable.

So can God use you?

Inexplicably, yes.

And we, the body of Christ, need you.

If you were here last week, um we had a great service.

We had beach baptisms for our one big party service.

It was a beautiful time.

Uh, but Pastor Greg preached a message about the to-da, which was this celebration when a testimony needed to be shared.

When God did something incredible, there was this massive feast and celebration.

And me and him were on a wavelength last week because I was preaching a similar thing to our students.

Um, and there's this story that he mentioned that I want to like put another wrinkle in for us to recognize what we might view as less than is actually indispensable in the kingdom of God.

And so he told us this story about this man who Jesus encounters, who is just filled with thousands of demons.

He was he says, I'm filled with a legion of demons, right?

And so Jesus encounters him, he casts these demons out, they go into these pigs and they run over a cliff.

It's a crazy scene.

And this town tells Jesus and his disciples to get out of here.

They don't want him there, they tell him to go.

So this man who was oust by his town, pushed out, ostracized, whatever, comes to Jesus and he says, Hey, can I follow you?

Can I come with you in this boat and get out of here?

And Jesus says, No.

He says, Go back to your town, go back to your friends, go back to your family, and tell them what God has done for you.

And the text tells us that all the people were amazed at what this man said.

And now, I'm not one to try to judge people.

This is the most underqualified person for the job.

It like genuinely, someone that was filled with thousands of demons.

Jesus says, Hey, go be a preacher now, like 10 minutes ago, thousands of demons within him.

And Jesus says, I'm not sending my disciples, I'm not going myself.

I'm sending you to go back to the people that you probably terrorized, and you tell them about the kingdom of God.

And again, what seems insignificant, what seems unqualified in the kingdom of God, when used as God designs, is indispensable.

And what we see happen is just a few chapters later, Jesus returns back to this region.

And these people now, instead of pushing him out, are bringing their sick, bringing their paralyzed, bringing the demon-possessed to the feet of Jesus.

And then moments later we see Jesus feed the 5,000.

And I can't, that there's there's no world, there's a coincidence in this, but it was a man who said, I may feel insignificant, but God has called me and equipped me to walk and to preach, and I'm going to do what God has called me to do, changed the lives of thousands of people.

He changed the lives of thousands of people.

And the part of the body, again, that seemed the most unlikely and underqualified, did what God empowered.

And miracles followed where he went.

When we place our what we feel is insignificant in the hands of God, it will be used beyond what we can imagine.

And when we take a outside view of this, and we take this outside the church, because we can look at serving and serving across the board of the church in different ministries, but maybe you're new here or it's your first time, and I just want to begin to think outside the box of how do we have value in the kingdom of God outside of the church?

How does this help us?

Because maybe you feel like what you're doing currently doesn't matter.

Maybe it's a dead-end job, or maybe you're unemployed, or maybe you're a stay-at-home mom, or you're a student, or you feel like what you're doing right now doesn't actually matter that much.

That there's not much that is going for me, so I'm just kind of coasting by.

I'm not really working hard towards it.

And I want to, again, encourage us to shift our perspective that our value reaches outside of the church, our value reaches down into what God has placed within our hearts, that it doesn't come from visibility, it doesn't come from an accolade at your workplace, it doesn't come from being recognized, but the the value that we are all in tandem walking towards and working towards is getting to the feet of Jesus and hearing, well done.

Hearing, well done.

You were faithful despite that you operated as I called you to operate, despite, despite visibility, despite honor, despite being someone that is unseen in most places.

My heart would be that our perspective would shift.

So in your company where you work and your community, your value isn't determined by what other people see and say about you, but through what Jesus has already placed within you and what he is calling you to walk out.

So can God use me?

Absolutely.

In any season and in any place, his heart is to use you and to speak into you.

The second perspective we see in this verse that reveals a hurdle that we ought to confront in our own lives is 1 Corinthians 12, 18 to 21, and it tells us this our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.

How strange would a body be if it only had one part?

Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.

The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you.

The head can't say to the feet, I don't need you.

But we really see, if we look at the first the first Corinthian church, we see they're trying to say, We don't need you.

These Roman sold former Roman soldiers are looking at the rest of the congregation and saying, Hey, we don't need you.

You are less, you are not valuable.

And there's a people issue, there's a way that we view people that's inaccurate, that is wrong.

And this creeps into ourselves and our church here in 2026 and our culture.

We see this all over the place.

We might have a poor pure view of people because they're way too young.

Or maybe there's some people in the church that they're just too new to their faith and they don't really get it yet, and they need to take a seat.

Before they say something they don't really know what they're talking about.

Or maybe there's someone that lives a lifestyle that you don't want to see, you don't want to hear about, you don't agree with, and you just want to push them away.

God can't do something through them.

The question we ask, the hurdle we need to face is how can God use them?

How could God use them?

We might say, man, at one church, we don't need that.

In my small group, we do not need her.

In this setting, we don't need him.

How could God use them?

And again, we can apply this in our culture.

I think if we take a zoom out real quick and look at our culture, it's pretty evident that this is a question all over the place.

But as the youth pastor with a microphone this morning, I want to focus in on a thought that really pertains to our next generation and the view that we as a church hold towards the next generation, our students and our kids here at the church.

But first, I want to ask, I hope there's someone that can relate to me this morning.

Um, a pet peeve of mine is when I'm driving.

It could be a beautiful day, just hot off a Sunday, driving down the road.

And the second that somebody pulls up hot on my bumper, like, I don't I don't know about you, I'll be the only one willing to admit it.

It drives me insane.

It kills me.

It makes me instantly, any good day, gone.

Like any productivity, gone.

Like I can't even look at the road.

I'm looking at my rearview mirror, looking at the person that's a foot behind me, just frustrated, like back up.

Like you need to back up.

Like you cannot be this close to me, okay?

And so I hope I hope I'm not the only one in that if I am, whatever.

But I love the church at large.

I love the church, but my heart is truly for our teenagers for this next generation.

And if we're honest with ourselves this morning, there may be a time, there may have already been a time, or there might come a time when young people start getting a little bit too close and it makes you feel something.

You say, Why are those teenagers taking pictures?

Why are they serving in the cafe?

Why is a teenager telling me where to park my car this morning?

They just need to go back over to the youth auditorium, they need to go back to Sunday school, they need to go learn, they need to sit back, and then they can be used in the church.

They need to go calm down.

Maybe you just don't get them.

Maybe you don't know the words that they say.

I don't sometimes, 100%.

Um, maybe you don't like the way they dress, maybe you don't get the culture, you don't get the appeal, you you don't, you don't, you don't get it.

And so either saying it or not, what you're feeling is God can't use them yet.

God can't use them yet.

They need to sit, they need to grow, they need to mature.

1 Corinthians 12, 19 says, How strange would a body be if it only had one part?

There are many parts, but only one body.

How strange would it be if one church only had adults?

How strange would it be if one church only had married people?

How strange would one church be if everyone under the sound of my voice in this room looked like, walked like, talked like, came from, lived in the same experience that you did?

Where is the value in that?

This is what Paul is telling us how strange it would be if there is no diversity amongst the body of Christ, that there is a mutually beneficial relationship that is meant to take place in the body of Christ that brings together diverse people, and it all goes towards benefiting the kingdom of God and those that are used.

Paul says there's many parts, but there is one body.

And when we look at differences of culture or age or different things that we can equate to differences, we can either draw some curiosity, ask some questions, get interested, or we can just outright dismiss it.

We can say, ah, we don't need them, God doesn't need them.

And I want to warn us that if we dismiss too quickly what our neck with our next generation, that we are going to miss the fact that God is using them.

See, we right now have students in our youth ministry that are planning to start clubs in their high schools this year to tell their student, to tell their fellow students about Jesus during lunchtime.

We have students in our youth ministry, multiple students in our youth ministry, that are the sole reason that their now entire families are attending and active within the church.

Amen.

We have students that before games, or like in this video, like what Mason said, before plays or performances, are pulling together everyone involved.

Students that don't know the name of Jesus, and they are praying and helping other students to have an encounter with Jesus.

And finally, we got one student that uh where was it?

This uh when I talked to him when he first came to our youth ministry back in December, I said, Why are you here?

And he said, I saw my cousin's life change at youth camp, and I want to be here, I want to experience God.

And then in June, this student was baptized, and then last week at Beach Baptism, this student stood along my alongside myself and our next gen pastor, Pastor Janine, and helped baptize his mother and his father.

Amen.

Amen.

If we are not careful, we will stifle a move of God that is happening within the next generation.

And listen, they can't say they don't need you.

It goes both ways.

Our young people need role models, our young people need adults that love them and that they can trust.

And maybe you need a little bit of their energy.

Praise God, right?

In the book of 1 Timothy, we see Paul talking to his mentee, a young man in leadership named Timothy, and he tells him this profound statement.

He says, Don't let anyone look down on you or think less of you because you are young.

Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, in your faith, and in your purity.

What an opportunity, one church, that we have to not stifle a move of God happening within young people, to not see them coming up on us and just put them back in a box, but to say we will give you a place for you to be an example of what it looks like.

It doesn't matter how young you are, how new you are to your faith, you can show us what it looks like to be on fire for Jesus.

Amen.

I think that um I think a helpful image for us um for what this perspective shift looks like comes from a theologian.

His name is Richard Roberts.

Um, you probably have heard of him.

He goes he used to drive race cars.

His name was Ricky Bobby.

Um my bad.

I lost like half the room.

Sorry.

Um in this dumb movie, um, he's a race car driver, okay?

And so him and his best friend drive race cars.

And when they're coming up to the end of the race, Ricky's trying to win, and his best friend pulls in front of him.

And they use this racing technique called drafting where there's no wind on the back car.

So Ricky is driving bumper to bumper instead of his friend getting frustrated, someone's hot on his bumper.

They use this technique, and at the right moment, his friend pulls off, and Ricky is sent across the finish line for the win.

And one church, what an opportunity we have to see students, to see kids, to see the next generation coming up and leaking into all places and all ministries of our church and not get frustrated that they don't know enough, not get frustrated that they're too close and encroaching in on what we're doing, but to say, how could God use me to set them up for the finish line that He is placing them to cross?

How could I be used in the body of Christ in a mutually beneficial way to support a young person and send them to where God is calling them to go?

Can we not look down on them because they are young, but can we shift our perspective to say, as a part of the body of Christ, God, will you use me?

Will you show me what it is to send someone else across the finish line?

And I want to close with this part of the scripture that we read today.

In 1 Corinthians 12, 24 through 26, it tells us this.

So God has put the body together such that such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity.

This makes for harmony amongst the members so that all the members care for each other.

If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it.

If one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

Something else to know about me is I'm a runner.

I've been running for two weeks.

It's going great.

I'm serious.

Hey, I got you.

I'm serious.

Um, I hate running, it's not fun, but it it works, I guess.

So uh something else about me is I'm not the type to research things.

Like sometimes, like I saw an Instagram video and I was like, I'm a runner, like that's who I am.

And so I put on the most busted pair of Nikes I had, and I ran and hit like three and a half miles.

I was I it's been 15 years since I've done running, and so I was struggling, okay?

But what's happening to me is I think I got shin splints.

Okay, so if you've never had shin splints, God bless you.

Uh it's where your shin feels like it's falling off of your body.

It's awful.

Okay, it's on fire, horrible stuff.

And so I go for these runs, it could be a mile, it could be two miles.

I go for a run, I get home, and the same rhythm happens.

I get home, I I I stand in our living room, and my wife goes, How's your run?

And I go like this.

Like, oh my gosh, like I can't move.

Like, I can't I can't I can't move.

And so then I'm walking around the house, like literally, like, like this, just like tensed up.

And I see a set of stairs, like to go downstairs to get something.

I'm like, I can't even think about that.

Like, I'm not, I can't do it.

And so I walk around the house for like an hour, just like tiptoeing because my shins hurt so bad.

And I want to bring us back to this of like, what am I doing?

Like, I'm limping.

My shoulders are not hurt, but man, they're so tense and tight.

And my back is not hurt, but it is so tensed up and tight.

There is only one part of my body that is suffering, yet the rest of my entire body cannot function properly anymore.

There's one part that is suffering, yet the whole of the body is suffering.

And nobody ever taught me how to limp, right?

Like my daughter was limping like a month ago because she fell and got hurt, right?

She's a year old.

You see it happen in nature where animals get hurt and they just start limping.

It's a natural response of a healthy body that when something is broken, the rest of the body comes around, surrounds, and overcompensates to set up that that which is broken for healing.

And so if we take a step back and we look at us, the church, a healthy body, we're called to operate as a healthy body.

That if there is one person in this room that is suffering, it is our responsibility to care for that which is broken.

Because maybe if my left leg's hurting, my right leg is gonna carry a little bit more of a heavy load.

So if you see someone that's hurting, maybe you need to carry a little bit more of a heavy load.

And we have an amazing prayer team, we got incredible ministries, and they'll pray for people, amen.

But as a healthy body, can we activate?

Can we not just say, oh, go talk to the prayer team?

Oh, go talk to this pastor, go talk to this person.

But if you see a need in the body of Christ, you are called, you are equipped, and you are able to activate and bring support.

If you walk in and you see someone sitting by themselves, clearly looking like they're new here and they got no idea what's happening, why don't we take it upon ourselves to be there?

If we see someone that just gave birth and you know they don't got that kind of community around them, instead of just waiting for someone else to do it, maybe we take on the initiative to say, how can I walk in a little bit of a different capacity to support you?

Because a healthy body, what we are called to be, the body of Christ is meant to have a mutually beneficial relationship where when one is suffering, we all are suffering until none are suffering.

And it is our call, it is our responsibility to look for, to care, and to walk with those that are suffering.

And so this morning I want to invite our prayer team to come up here and join me because we're gonna pray in a minute.

Because maybe you walked in here and you are suffering.

You are walking in something that is larger than you right now, and you need somebody to partner with you, to come alongside you, to pray with you, to speak life into your situation.

And we want to do what the body was designed to do and pray with you and support you and bring about um some further support than even just a prayer.

But maybe this morning you need a change of perspective.

Maybe that hurdle of how could God use me really stuck with you.

It's something that you've been walking through for a while that you don't see your value.

We'd love to pray with you as well, to show you what God might be trying to get you to see, to show you the value that is placed deeply within you.

Or maybe it's you you started stirring something up in your heart thinking about how God could use someone else, about other people, and you need another change of perspective.

We would love to be able to pray with you this morning to um let God show you what he may be speaking, what he may be doing.

And so will you pray with me this morning before we close out?

Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you that it speaks to us, we thank you that it challenges us.

And Father, I pray that this would be a heart of activation moving forward, Lord.

Um, that whether inside the church or outside the church, Father, we would recognize the value that you have placed within us as a son or as a daughter of God.

That we would not seek to just be visible, but we would seek to be used by you.

Father, I pray for those here this morning that may feel broken, that may feel as if they are suffering.

Father, I pray that they would recognize the support that you are placing around them, the opportunity that you are giving them to walk in support.

And Father, I pray that they will see you within this process.

Father, we love you.

Father, we thank you.

And it's in your name we pray.

Amen.