From the Inside Out

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, good morning, church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd say good to see you all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for being here this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good morning to everyone who's in parents room, or join us online, wherever it is that you are this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's so good to have you here.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I count it's such a great privilege to be talking to you all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't speak to you as a pastor, but as a brother, because it's a privilege because this is my family and faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad to do life with you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Especially these junior youth guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's good to see you, Nala Rath, Ebony, the whole crew, and Sam Tawin, Lucy, thanks for leading them so well.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd like to consider it on the youth bastard, but I'd like to consider that this isn't them joining us this morning, but you guys are actually joining the junior youth service this morning, so we're going to have a bit of fun.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as Matt said, we've been in this series in the Book of Romans, and we're going to open up Romans 12 today and dig through the scripture together and see what it means for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you're taking notes, the title to this message, you can put down is that it's from the inside out.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what Romans 12 is about, from the inside out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'd love to pray with you guys if you could pray with me, and then we can get into it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Father, thank you so much for this morning that we get together as a community, that we get to be a community that has you at the center.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, as we sang before, you are holy.

[SPEAKER_00]: You are holy Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: We recognize who you are in our life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You will wear these to be praised.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God, we tune out ears into here from you this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Lord, I just pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: I put this service into your hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: I say, have your way, Lord, speak, let your voice be heard, anything from me that it falls to the ground.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pray all of this in Jesus, your mighty and powerful man.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well.

[SPEAKER_00]: November 23rd in 1970, Cat Stevens released a song called Wild World.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some of you might not, some of you who knows Cat Stevens in here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone know?

[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, so yeah, a couple Cat Stevens fan.

[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, we honestly, I didn't really know Cat Stevens, but my wife loves sound like 70's 80's music, so she introduced me.

[SPEAKER_00]: But she released this song yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, he released this song called Wild Worlds, and it goes a bit like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ooh baby baby, it's a wild world, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da

[SPEAKER_00]: Working up karaoke after the service.

[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, Cat Stevens released this song.

[SPEAKER_00]: In three weeks time, it's going to be 55 years old.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, the lyrics in this song ring true today.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, even more so true, perhaps.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because when we look outside, when we look where in November now, and it feels like the years race by.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been a wild year, and it's a wild world that we live in.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure what it might have looked like for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure what's happening this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there's been some beautiful moments who've got some families in here who have had babies this year, who's celebrated in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got people in here who've got engaged.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe there are people in your life where relationships are broken down, where there's been a bit of heartbreak or you've walked through something different and challenging that you've never faced before.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a wild world that we live in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I thought that would be a pretty fun for us to take a look at some of the wild facts that I found out, news from this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So is everyone ready to hear some news?

[SPEAKER_00]: I wonder if anyone's new any of this stuff before me, because I have to do some research for this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So let's see how we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in New York,

[SPEAKER_00]: Scientists have actually found out that rats have changed how they communicate with each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they've adapted their language to an urban landscape.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it means that when they're in the tunnels, they're no longer doing the usual charter.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're doing a high-pitched loud voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like having rats having city slang.

[SPEAKER_00]: So rats are revolving.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've found out that this year we actually inherited a new moon.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a small one, it's only a couple meters wide, but it's been locked into gravity.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we have a second moon now, 25, we've got a second moon.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know about you guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been a victim to this.

[SPEAKER_00]: AI has developed so much this year.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like we're seeing all these sort of two videos.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's like, is this real?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is this AI?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, everything you see online, you've got to question it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, how real is this thing?

[SPEAKER_00]: We also have, and there's some of the young guys who don't know more about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: But yesterday, I don't know if you noticed in the news, they talked about how,

[SPEAKER_00]: 6'7 is the word of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dictionary online has decided that 6'7 is the word of the year, which I don't understand.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you guys have heard the reference or know about, I don't even know what it means.

[SPEAKER_00]: These guys get it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not even a word.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's two words and it's not even two words, it's two numbers, but it's the word of the year.

[SPEAKER_00]: So hey, then we've got, and this might split the room or it might be a collective celebration, but this year at the start of the year, the Montrose intersection was finished.

[SPEAKER_00]: Algorithm, Algorithm, all right, good work.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's wild, well, a wild, well.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've got rats evolving, humans popping up.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a wild world that we live in.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's pretty easy for us to be able to see it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't take much intelligence to look outside, you window, look, oh my goodness.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty wild out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: Like things again, pretty crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as the prolific poet, said in 2011, Jay-Z,

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no church in the wild.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what does that mean for us?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because I don't know if you notice this, but we're in a church right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're joining online, we're a church, but we live in a wild world.

[SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean for us?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's exactly the question that was on the mind of the Romans.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, they lived in this context that it was the peak of society.

[SPEAKER_00]: The pinnacle of society, this diverse mixing part of cultures, ideas, thoughts, people, and in the middle of all that, you have this church that should be an example to the community on unity, on love.

[SPEAKER_00]: but they'll get caught up on the things that differed, the things that separated them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what should have been such a great example of unity was actually just caught up in division.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the context that Paul was speaking into, and we're going to be looking at today.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I've been to Bible College.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why I jumped on board as the youth pastor.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've done a bit of training, and they gave me a tip in Bible College, so I'm going to give you this one for free.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you read the Bible, one, as we're about to do, if we open up to Romans 12, the first word that we read is therefore.

[SPEAKER_00]: A good thing to do is, when there's a therefore, find out what the therefore is therefore, and then you'll be able to understand the whole context a lot better.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when we read the therefore, it's because Paul is addressing the fact that the reason why there is division in this community is that there are two groups of people located.

[SPEAKER_00]: There are the Gentiles and there are the Jews.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Jews who have grown up knowing God, in relationship with God,

[SPEAKER_00]: But for them, so much of that relationship has been ruled by the rules and the traditions that they use to an accustomed to.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the Gentiles, they've come up from the grassroots of Roman society.

[SPEAKER_00]: They have been born and raised in the city.

[SPEAKER_00]: They know the local language, but they've come to find the same revelation that used it.

[SPEAKER_00]: That Jesus is Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so these two groups have both found Jesus but their worlds and their lives look very different.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the cause of the tension.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what Paul talks about,

[SPEAKER_00]: leading up to Romans 12 is the fact that what unites us isn't our context, our unique things about us, but what unites us is the invitation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's my first point for this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: There is an invitation in Romans for us all.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason why this is so applicable to us today is because if you look around this room, we are a

[SPEAKER_00]: mix bag of unique people.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure what your story is looked like.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what your life is looked like.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're a journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've grown up in this context.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've grown up in our church.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you're born to a Christian family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you understand scripture really well.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've been brought up soaked in the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: You understand phrases like sanctification, or

[SPEAKER_00]: you understand the meaning of Jesus' death, or maybe you're new to this context.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you've been brought up in the surrounding community and you haven't been surrounded by Christians.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe even you've been grown up in a different church.

[SPEAKER_00]: For me, my journey started in a Presbyterian church, and so when I first stepped in this building, I was like, where are the hymn books are?

[SPEAKER_00]: Like, what's going on?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I don't know what the story is, but for each of us, it looks different.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a unique story, a unique context.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we all live in the same world.

[SPEAKER_00]: We live in this world that is crazy and is wild.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it has impacted and shaped us on the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Paul is addressing the fact that, yes, we are all different.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, we all have unique lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the thing that unites us is that

[SPEAKER_00]: God sees that we live in a world world.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sees that there is something broken within this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he hasn't left it.

[SPEAKER_00]: He hasn't, he's not sitting on the throne going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, well, this is a mess.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys figure it out, sort it out.

[SPEAKER_00]: No.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's actually recognized the hurt, the pain, the suffering, the hard things that we faced, the problems in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he looked at it, and his heart was broken, and he inserted himself into that story.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's been doing that when we look at the Bible, we see that from the very beginning, so he's working towards restoration.

[SPEAKER_00]: He hasn't given up on you, he hasn't given up on us, he hasn't gone it's too far.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, he even took on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ludenflash came down to earth, was put upon a cross, was abandoned, betrayed, and crucified, and then rose again, because it's doing something about the problem this well.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he gives us this invitation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can choose to accept him for who he is, except what he did, acknowledge that there is actually a solution to this problem in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's the invitation that we each get and the thing that you know to all of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: All of us, when we admit it, we recognize that we fall short.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't look at us and can demo us or hold it against us, he goes, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's all right, like there's an invitation.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna do this, Jenny, with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna help you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here, let me show you the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what you know to us all.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there is an invitation for each of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, Matt said before that when we journey with God, we, he, as we draw close to God, he draws close to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want to ask you this morning, take a look back.

[SPEAKER_00]: What is the last couple hours being?

[SPEAKER_00]: What did you morning look like?

[SPEAKER_00]: What did your week look like?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you drawing near to God?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is your relationship with God, look like?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a unique and a private relationship.

[SPEAKER_00]: No one else in the room knows what's going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what is your relationship?

[SPEAKER_00]: Look quite with God right now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where do you sit with that invitation?

[SPEAKER_00]: But the controversial thing here is that, what we're all connected through this invitation and this decision, how it's going to be expressed, our faith, how it's outworked, it's going to look different.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be challenging when we see it look different.

[SPEAKER_00]: And see, it's not just our faith isn't just something where we go, all right, well, when times are hard, I can call upon God, and he can be a solution to my problem.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because when we look at him like that, we go, all right, God, like...

[SPEAKER_00]: I'll just seek you, you're something that helps me with my life, you serve me, and then all of a sudden when things don't go our way, we go, well, where are you going?

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you abandoned me?

[SPEAKER_00]: Have you left me?

[SPEAKER_00]: See, we can fall into this mindset of our relation with God is just to serve us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whether truth is no, the invitation isn't something that's just about solving your problems.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about joining in with God's story of restoration and playing a part in restoring the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not going to tell you that life's going to be perfect or easy, but I'm going to tell you it's going to be so much better and you're going to have purpose in your life if you spend it serving Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's good.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see it on the rhythm on the walls we've walked in.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is good news for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Every heart can be found in Jesus' story in what he's doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that brings us to this second point.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's an implication and implication attached to this invitation.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we open up to Romans 12, this is once too we see it here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is your true and proper worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is.

[SPEAKER_00]: His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is your true and proper worship.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's fantastic for us to be able to sing about how Holy God is, but we need that to be reflected and echoed out in how we live and how we act.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's an implication with the invitation for us to be able to play a part in this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that only happens when we start by taking a look at ourselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we start to address, all right, yeah, this world is wild, but also their parts in my heart that are a bit wild too.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's some things that maybe I need to address.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's some ways in my thinking that Holy Spirit is drawing attention to is challenging.

[SPEAKER_00]: As I open up scripture as I read, I see things pointed out when my life doesn't line up with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you can accept the invitation, but it's up to you, whether or not you want to change after that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that change is what God is wanting for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because as we become more like him, we find the good life.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a story that I really love, I came across for years ago, and it's known as the parable of the unknown monk.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's a figure lost to history, but he has his fantastic parable for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: I found it was difficult to change the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I tried to change my nation.

[SPEAKER_00]: When I found I couldn't change my nation, I began to focus on my town.

[SPEAKER_00]: When that was too much for me, I couldn't change my town.

[SPEAKER_00]: As an older man, I tried to change my family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And suddenly I realized,

[SPEAKER_00]: that if longer go, I had changed myself, then perhaps I could have changed and had an impact on my family.

[SPEAKER_00]: My family could have made an impact on my town.

[SPEAKER_00]: Their impact could have changed to the nation, and I could, indeed, have changed the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, so often we can find ourselves looking at the news or...

[SPEAKER_00]: seeing friendship groups or other people in their lives and be frustrated about what's going on and wish that we could, there was a change so there was something done that we could be the person who changes it.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's not often enough that we take a look inward first and go, what is it in me?

[SPEAKER_00]: If everyone in the world lived like me, what would be the problem that they would be looking at?

[SPEAKER_00]: Go on man, I wish we fix this.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start with that change in wood.

[SPEAKER_00]: When we do that, that's going to all the sun-rable to have a bigger impact.

[SPEAKER_00]: We align ourselves with God's story with what he's doing.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I want to ask you this morning, what's shaping your mindset?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's forming you right now?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are you looking to?

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we'll be easy for us to look at Anga.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, cool.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that change us to start with me from the inside.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm just going to take a look on myself.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it'd be easier if I got rid of all these distractions.

[SPEAKER_00]: I got rid of all this other noise and other stuff.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to shack up.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go to some monastery on a hill.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be a great life, just me and God sweet.

[SPEAKER_00]: But that's not the life that God's called us to go.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, the Bible tells us, rather, that we

[SPEAKER_00]: we must become like Christ for this world.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, there is an implementation.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've accepted the invitation, we've accepted the fact that part of that looks like changing us from the inside, but there is also the need to take that to the outside to implement the change into the world around us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The awarding Carl Bath is known for saying that we must hold the Bible in one hand

[SPEAKER_00]: See, we go to Scripture to be corrected, to be changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we also have to be a part of our world.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can't ignore it or leave it behind.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have to be involved, playing a part in our community.

[SPEAKER_00]: Says this in Romans 12 verses 4 to 8.

Romans 12:4–8

[SPEAKER_00]: For each of us has one body with many members.

[SPEAKER_00]: And these members do not all have the same function.

[SPEAKER_00]: So in Christ, there are many members for one body.

[SPEAKER_00]: And each member belong to all the others.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it is serving, then serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it is teaching, then teach.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it is to encourage, give encouragement.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it is giving, give generously.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it is to lead, do it diligently.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: If we spend time with Jesus, we're gonna look more like Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: How that's gonna be expressed is gonna be different though.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can find this challenging when all of a sudden, you see someone go out and show love to the person who's your neighbor.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what we signed up for.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says to love our neighbors.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it can be challenging when we see someone express their faith in a way that isn't how we do it, doesn't look the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: It can be challenging or it can actually be discouraging.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're like, man, they're really good at that.

[SPEAKER_00]: I guess I'm not needed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Man, I could never do that, alright, I guess I don't have a part to play in this.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're not meant to look at each other, we're one body with many functions.

[SPEAKER_00]: So for us, it's about going, what's your function?

[SPEAKER_00]: What's your part to play in this story?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because there is a part for you, and we need you to play it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because truth is, there are people in your life, people you're going to have conversations with, friends you're going to have, people you're going to share, like together with, break bread, have meals, create memories with, that I'm never going to see.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm never going to be able to example to them the love of Christ, but you can, and likewise your neighbor has people that you're never going to see, and they can example Christ to them.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's encouraged each other and not discourage each other for the ways in which we go out and share our faith, ways in which we go out and share God's love to those around us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we've got, even if you're seeing, there's a guy down here, his name is Caleb and he is fantastic at all of this stuff behind the scenes.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a gift when it comes to doing lights.

[SPEAKER_00]: I get anxious, if I go behind and like see the sound desk or the lights, I just see all like these dials and knobs and on like is this flying a spaceship?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's crazy.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this guy's got a gift in for it.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's talented and he's able to recognize that.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he offers it up to serve the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's doing so even to the point where he's invited some of our younger guys in youth to be able to come and be trained up.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not just something that he's able to do and bless the church with, but he's able to have people who come after him.

[SPEAKER_00]: So what does it look like for you?

[SPEAKER_00]: What is it that you're gifted with?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I said this is a genius service, and I like to be a bit more interactive without genius services, so I'd love to actually shake it up a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: You've heard enough of my voice.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to get you guys involved.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you guys with me, fantastic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Here's what's going to happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to ask for some people in the room, and I want you to put your hands up.

[SPEAKER_00]: If this applies to the person next to you, give them a nodge on the shoulder, or put your hand up and point them out.

[SPEAKER_00]: So you heard me before, I'm not very musically talented at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: I did my best, I didn't do Kat's Steven Justice, and that's okay, we'll move on.

[SPEAKER_00]: But who of you is musical in the room?

[SPEAKER_00]: Put your hand up, who plays an instrument, who's got great vocals, I'm glad you got your hand up in that YouTube.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fantastic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, you got a gifting, I can't do what you do.

[SPEAKER_00]: So use it to serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: You can serve in the worship team or Betty Hat.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you form a band with those old high school mates?

[SPEAKER_00]: You haven't chatted too in a while.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you be the most humble musician that they've ever met, the most encouraging?

[SPEAKER_00]: Being example in that space.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, who's up next?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who here is a kind of person who can talk all day long?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[SPEAKER_00]: You guys are raising those hands really so, you know, that's me, I know it.

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, wow, you guys, you definitely do.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or a fantastic, well, you guys, that's a gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a gift, your voice is a gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, after the service, don't just go up and have a chat with your friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look around, who's unfamiliar to you, who looks like they, you haven't seen them here before.

[SPEAKER_00]: Connect with them, they can feel welcome, introduce yourself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where's my optimist?

[SPEAKER_00]: Where are the optimists in the room?

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, yes, awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have an encouragement on your lips, always be ready to give a genuine encouragement to those around you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your perspective on life is a gift from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: So use it to build people up and be a light in community.

[SPEAKER_00]: Where are the sporty people in the room?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who's sporty?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who the A, yeah?

[SPEAKER_00]: The young guys are on it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, awesome.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're sporty,

[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, serve the community, become a coach.

[SPEAKER_00]: Being an example to young people, who are the people who are passionate about justice, who get worth doubt about injustice in the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Fantastic.

[SPEAKER_00]: Being involved with our community.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of need.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't just focus on the distance and the fire.

[SPEAKER_00]: What can we be doing locally?

[SPEAKER_00]: We're doing a fantastic work with DCC and the house.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've got time, volunteer help out there.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you live in a different area, find out what's going on in your suburb.

[SPEAKER_00]: off or up your time to serve the people in need.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, where are the people who don't like the spotlight?

[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to put your hand up.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you do, you're probably lying.

[SPEAKER_00]: Great, if you don't like being in spotlight, be generous with your time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Check in on your friends.

[SPEAKER_00]: This spot's like, Caleb, he could use a friend helping them out with the lights.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sir, once he and Chelsea who was MC last week, she'd love it.

[SPEAKER_00]: She'd really appreciate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a space for you, where are the parents or the grandparents in the room?

[SPEAKER_00]: The dads, the moms, being a parent is a gift.

[SPEAKER_00]: A gift that not everyone gets.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't waste it.

[SPEAKER_00]: If there's anything else that you can do, be the best parent that you can be.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be an example of Christ to your children.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be an example of Christ to your grandchildren.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't get caught up when there's different styles of parenting or the little things that get in the way

[SPEAKER_00]: So for each of us, there is a place, there is a gift, there is something that God has given you to be able to serve the community.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what happens when we do all of this, when we accept the invitation, it's implications, and we implement it into our life as it leads us to the outcome, the outcome of all of this.

[SPEAKER_00]: because when we journey with God and we're students to Him, we become like Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's expressed uniquely through who He has made us to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to invite the band after joining you now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because this is what really unites us.

[SPEAKER_00]: See, we're all mixed bag of train wrecks in here, saved by grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: We all need Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what unites us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we all are moving towards looking like Christ, becoming like Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is what Paul writes when he's encouraging the Romans to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, this, be like Christ, be like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Romans 12, verses 9 to 20.

Romans 12:9–20

[SPEAKER_00]: Love must be sincere.

[SPEAKER_00]: Hate what is evil and cling to what is good.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be devoted to one another in love.

[SPEAKER_00]: On our one another above yourself, never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual further serving the Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be joyful and hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

[SPEAKER_00]: Share with the Lord's people who are in need, practice hospitality, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse, rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn,

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of lower position.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't be conceded.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not repay evil for evil.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be careful to do what it's right in the eyes of everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live up peace with everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do not take revenge from my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is the one who is just.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you trust that his just, leave it to him.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, as it is written, if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

[SPEAKER_00]: If his thirsty, give him something to drink.

[SPEAKER_00]: By doing this, you'll heat burning coals on his head.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this final line that finishes up Romans for us,

[SPEAKER_00]: but overcome evil with good.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is who we're called to be.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is our part to play in the story.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome the evil, the wildness, the craziness of the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: Overcome it by telling what is good.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a joy that comes with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a joy that comes when you know you're gifting, when you know your place and you're able to serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was able to see this joy in our youth.

[SPEAKER_00]: Earlier this year, we did a winter night market.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's part of our vision offering.

[SPEAKER_00]: And for the parents in the room, it was probably for you all money that I'll give him.

[SPEAKER_00]: But these kids what they did is each life group formed together and they put together these tools of baked goods or treats or to, what did your group do?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it, they played again a ping pong or something like that and how about for your boys Sam?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't let's ensure us.

[SPEAKER_00]: which is impressive because all the girls had these really fantastic stores and a lot of the guys kind of rocked up.

[SPEAKER_00]: And like, walk when we stream together, last minute.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there was a joy in the atmosphere because there's a joy when you're able to take what you have to give and you're able to offer it for the sake of other people, for the sake of being a light in our community.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a joy to serve you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine a world like what Paul describes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine a world where we live like this.

[SPEAKER_00]: and we're slow, when we show honor to those around us, when we pursue being hospitable and loving to strangers, when we seek to bless those who curse in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We celebrate other people's wins with them, we share tears with those who are in ruin.

[SPEAKER_00]: When you do your best to understand one another, means not just rejecting someone because of their views, but instead seeking to converse with them, to understand that person.

[SPEAKER_00]: don't think so highly of yourself and your understanding of things but being willing to lower ourselves down so that we can serve those around us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Imagine a world where everyone was radically generous and authentically humble.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a world where beauty and that's a world that despite the wildness, God's able to do something good, God's able to restore it, turn it around, because that's the

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a God that we sing to, that's a God that we praise.

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanna invite you as we're thinking about this Lord, our Lord and say, if I wanna invite you to stand, and we're gonna sing in that same song we're singing this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the truth is, God came.

[SPEAKER_00]: He saw the problems of the world.

[SPEAKER_00]: His soul was going on.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said, I'm not gonna leave you, I'm not gonna abandon you.

[SPEAKER_00]: As I said in the lyrics, I was singing early this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: His proven is love for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't neglect us, it didn't abandon us.

[SPEAKER_00]: He loves us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So much so that it was going to die for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he's not dead anymore.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is the good news.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what Paul's writing about in Romans.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lives, he lives, and in him we can find a lie as well.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's what you join me as we sing this morning as we lift up a shout of praise to the God that we get to serve.

[SPEAKER_00]: The God who is active in a lives and out here.