Formed by the Spirit: How to Practice Prayer, Scripture, & Your Spiritual Gifts

anybody else um in this house, those

two. So, thank you. I need a little more

slack. Hopefully, I'm not going to move

too much today. Uh good morning. Happy

Mother's Day. If you don't know me, my

name is Christian and uh we're going to

be in uh the book of Romans, continuing

a little bit on a message from last

week, but really with a Mother's Day

heart. Uh this is what I'd like to to

kind of intro connecting the the passage

and the teaching with with Mother's Day.

Um I just want to take a moment to

acknowledge what Mother's Day

represents. First, I want to honor my

own mom. I don't think my mom's here

today, right? Mom, you're not

here. You're going to meet her next

week. If you don't know my mom, she's

actually going to preach next Sunday. Uh

so the there's uh there's just something

my own mom was didn't become a believer

till I was uh three years old. And uh so

I was very young. And from that moment

on, she gave me uh pretty much

everything that someone could could pour

could pour into to myself and my

brother. Uh every day she showed what it

meant to be formed by the spirit of God

because she was literally being formed

and going through her transformation

process. She was teaching us daily

practices without even intentionally

doing it because she's learning like

what does it look like to pray? What

does it look like to let scripture

transform your life? How do you use the

spiritual gifts? What spiritual gifts do

I even have? So her voice and her vision

shaped the rhythms of my faith even from

a very early

age. And she she often brags on me that

I was I was having a quiet I think I had

better quiet times at seven years old

than I have now to be honest with

you. We're going to talk about quiet

times in a minute. Is a quiet time a

trigger word for anybody? Just curious.

Quiet time. That's like the most

evangelical spiritual term ever. Quiet

time. How was your quiet time today? And

uh unfortunately in the modern era um we

equate like taking a picture of a Bible

with some coffee and posting it as a

quiet time. That's not a quiet time in

case you're like new to this whole

thing. That's uh that's me time. That's

not quiet time. Anyway, that's we're

going to talk about this and the history

actually of the daily rhythm of

communion with God and how to actually

do it. Those of you that have been doing

it for decades, I I feel like there's

just a resurgence even in my own life. I

feel a resurgence of looking at how I

daily practice the way of Jesus through

the scriptures and through prayer that

I'm longing to go deeper and I'm longing

to just re-evaluate what I'm doing and

why. So to my wife who I don't even

think's in the room. She's probably with

the kids uh who did phenomenal job with

this morning and just cares for every

child and every detail of of our home.

There was a moment this week we had like

we had three birthdays in the last two

weeks. And my wife has a tradition that

she started where like every birthday

morning she she has this little like uh

multicolored birthday cover that goes on

the head of the table for the birthday

kit and then she like lays out the gifts

like Christmas morning. Uh, and it this

the last of the three birthdays, not the

last of all five of our children, two on

purpose, but the the uh the third

birthday of the last two weeks was

Finn's who's 15 now. And uh they had

this little moment like Finn wakes up,

perks up. You know, this is a teenager.

Like he if it was up to him, he would he

would get up at 2 p.m. And uh and I'm

not even joking. Like I got up about

noon was my time when I was a teenager.

2 p.m. is more Finn's time. And uh he he

comes alive somewhere between 10 PM and

12 am every single night.

So when when this when this kid is is

bubbly like uh bouncing all over the

house, um you know, I it's like I could

almost like like singing in the rain

type of like he becomes like a little

musical theater like in 700 a.m. on his

birthday morning and he's like dancing

with his little sisters and I'm like,

you know, if if this was if this was

even close to normal, I would feel

completely different about my life and

how I'm doing as a parent. One day a

year I get to see a glimpse a glimp. But

but in all seriousness, he gets his

presence. I mean, he's he's he's feeling

loved and honored and all that. And but

the reality was is there's like this

little boy that just is so nurtured by

what his mother lays on the table,

right? And he looks forward to it. And I

and I and I joked about like I just get

that feeling that um god forbid you're

still living with me at 30. Uh hey,

Southern California, no shame on any of

you. you 30 year olds that still live at

home. It's expensive out there. So, this

is no guilt or shame, but if he is

living with me at 30,

uh I'm I'm uh I'm believing that he's

still going to come home for that

birthday morning something. And it may

not look exactly the same, but uh but

there was this this beautiful exchange

between mom and son just about how she

does that in the sense of just the

overflow of her heart and just the

passion and love and you know, there was

a teareyed moment and it was beautiful.

And that's just like the heart of a

mother, right? you know, the intention

to see and the gifts are just so

intentional. The little things that he

likes, the things that no one else in

the family likes, and it it's like the

stocking t type of gifts. Like there's

37 things that she's thought up over the

last however many days. It breaks my

brain. I don't know how to do that. I I

can My gifts are experiences. That's

just how my brain thinks. And so, but

hers is a whole another realm. And um as

the world considers the appointment of

the first American pope, we're reminded

though we may have some deep

disagreements with the Catholic Church

on some issues, one one thing they've

modeled well is the reverence and honor

they show for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Even if we may not agree with everything

uh that's built around that, we can

affirm it is good and right to honor

mothers. And today we honor all mothers.

those who raised us in faith, those

we've lost, those we've long those even

that long to be mothers that aren't or

can't or whatever the situation is. We

also honor the spiritual mothers among

us who pour out so selflessly. We

recognize that Mother's Day can carry

both joy and pain, celebration and

grief. And and in the midst of all of

it, we affirm that God sees us. He sees

you. And he sees those he's formed in

the womb. And he gives the gift of

maternal love to every single one of us.

Whether you've received it over and

above what you could hope for or whether

you need that kind of love from from God

himself, he's here to give that to you

today. So today's message isn't about

just fitting in Mother's Day to the

calendar. It's it's one that's personal.

It's an invitation, I hope, to return to

the practices that form us daily by the

spirit of God. And just like the godly

women in our lives have shown us,

prayer, scripture, spiritual

gifts. These are the anchors that form

us. And it's something that I have

realized more in later years that my own

mother did. And she set an example where

I learned the scriptures, I learned to

pray, and I learned my spiritual gifts

because of the way that she stewarded

each and every day, the simple moments

of life around the table.

in the home. And I would hope that today

that this would be an ode to that kind

of training, passion, and daily practice

for every single one of us. So the

message formed by the spirit, how do we

practice prayer, scripture, and

spiritual gifts? Romans 12, I'm just

going to read a couple of the verses

that we went through in the larger

passage last

week. Paul is essentially giving what it

means to live a life of worship formed

by God rather than shaped by the world.

Romans 12:1. Therefore, I urge you,

Romans 12:1

brothers and sisters, in view of God's

mercy. Offer your bodies as a living

sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship. Do

not conform to the pattern of this

world, but be transformed by the

renewing of your

mind. Then you will be able to test and

approve what God's will is, his good,

pleasing, and perfect

will. Verse four, for just as each of us

has one body with many members, these

members do not all have the same

function. So in Christ, we though many

form one body and each member belongs to

all the others. We have different gifts

according to the grace given to each of

us. And uh there's a couple more verses

in there, but that's the the meat of I

what what I want us to look like. Uh

here's what Paul's

doing again. He's wanting us to look at

a lifestyle of

worship, not to be conformed, but to be

transformed, formed by God rather than

shaped by the world. So the world is

constantly forming us. We talk a lot

about distraction in this place about

individualism performance but

disciplehip is meant to be intentional

even

disruptive and we're in a series called

disruptive disciplehip if you're just

tuning in today and uh disruptive

disciplehip in an age of secularism a

secular age and this is this is all

about looking at how true transformation

doesn't begin with just some sort of big

bold public action but it begins in the

quiet place with

God daily rhythms of scripture, of

prayer, of practicing your gifts. That's

the way that we're reformed and

transformed by the spirit. It's not just

personal devotion. It's not just

passion. It's resistance to a culture

that's forming you. And it's

participating with God in a renewed

work. And it begins in the quiet place.

So, here's what we're going to do really

quickly, hopefully in Jesus mighty name.

Uh we're going to look at the problem,

the path, and the power. The problem

with a fragmented faith in a world that

wants to form you. The path of

practicing these things, scripture,

prayer, gifts, and the power and

invitation to a spirit formed life. So,

first the p the problem

uh the psalms talk about um blessed is

the one whose delight is in the law of

the lord. And Paul comes in here in

Romans and says, "Don't be conformed to

the pattern of this world, but be

transformed by the renewing of your

mind." We're always being formed. We're

being formed by ads, by habits, by

culture, by screens. And Paul's

essentially saying, "Stop being shaped

by the

age. Be transformed by the renewing of

your mind." But the problem is

essentially this. Our spiritual lives

are fragmented. We're completely

fragmented in our spiritual

walk.

So, this is cliche, but the problem is

is that it's real for all of us. If you

don't mind holding up your phone with me

and just acknowledging a problem that we

all

have every I think I've memorized the

stat by now. The average person 2500

times a day touches this stupid stupid

thing. This thing that's full of

potential that can be redeemed but is

ultimately a production of humanity.

So you look at this

thing, our nervous system has what what

some might call a liturgy. What's a

liturgy? A liturgy is anything we do

habitually that forms us spiritually or

emotionally for better or worse. Well,

we talk about a liturgy and that the

history of the church talks about

liturgy. These are the things that we

habitually do and come under in the way

of the kingdom to form us. But the world

has liturgies as well.

and and it's constantly forming our

nervous system. These phones it and uh

it's it's reaching our comforts, our

escapes, and our distractions. And the

question isn't if we're being formed,

but by what? We may believe in Jesus,

but most of us start and end our day by

being discipled by an

algorithm. Myself included. Every single

morning, every single night, you've got

the choice to be discipled by an

algorithm. And our calendars reflect

these overlapping priorities, don't

they?

school, work, digital life,

relationships, spiritual formation gets

squeezed into the margins. Sundays for

Jesus, Mondays for hustle, and there's

no integration. We live

compartmentalized, fragmented lives. So

when our spiritual life gets squeezed

into the cracks of our day, we end up

mentally believing in Jesus, but

functionally formed by the

world. Our quiet time becomes a task,

not a treasure. We read a chapter. We

say a prayer. We check a box. And then

we move

on. And it doesn't feel productive. And

when it doesn't feel productive, we

actually end up what do we do? Oh, we

skip

it. We're fueled by production. We've

forgotten that the point isn't

efficiency. It's encounter.

We're so used to efficiency and metrics

in our lives that we've forgotten that

communion with God isn't

transactional. It's transformational.

And our kids are being discipled, too.

We're going to keep we're going to keep

it this topic until we see a

shift. It's not just primarily in the

church or outside the church. They're

learning theology through YouTube, Tik

Tok, or whatever else grabs their

attention, aren't

they? Moms and dads, you're on the front

lines of spiritual formation, shaping

hearts in a world of digital confusion,

and we're all just catching up of what

the flip do we do about

it. And this is why formation must

become intentional. If we're not

teaching them to

pray, scrolls and screens will teach

them what to

believe. So, we believe the right things

about God, but struggle to feel close to

him. Often, we open the Bible in the

morning, but if we're honest, many of us

don't really know what to do with it. We

read the words, but the truth fades

quickly, and prayer feels distant or

dry. We know God gives spiritual gifts,

but many of us never step into our

own. And so, I want to recommend a

couple books. I think I have that

somewhere on the screen if you guys can

find it. Uh I'm going to give you the

deep book and the deep book that's said

in less deep words. Uh two of my

favorites, Tim Keller and uh Pete Greg.

No screen. Okay. Well, there's a book by

Tim Keller just called Prayer. Easy

enough. It's it's deep and it's wide and

it's amazing. Uh and then a book by Pete

Greg. There you go. How to pray, a

simple guide for normal people. And I

love that guy. He's uh he's based out of

the UK. Uh, so if you if you want more

on this, I highly recommend it. Uh,

here's one of the things that that

Keller says in this book. You may master

the text in your quiet times, if you

will, but you missed the presence.

Prayer isn't just talking to God. It's

being changed by meeting with him.

Scripture isn't just content to be

consumed. It's a conversation that God

has started.

So when we ignore the scripture, neglect

prayer and bury our gifts, we live

fragmented spiritual lives mentally

believing in Jesus but functionally

conformed to the

world. So that's the problem. Now the

path practicing scripture, prayer and

gifts. So in Romans 12, Paul's moving us

from a belief to an action from being

renewed in our thinking to actively

living his transformed people. And uh

here I want to give us kind of like a

brief history of of prayer in the quiet

time. Some of it is in um one of those

books. But before we go into that, just

let me give you kind of one of my

favorite definitions on prayer. John

Mark Homer says, "Prayer is this.

Learning to set aside dedicated time to

intentionally be with God in order to

become like him and partner with him to

do what he's called us to do in the

world."

I mean, it's a long it's a long

definition, but it encapsulates several

intentional important things. It's what

is it time set aside to be intentional

with God? Why? To become like him and

partner with

him. So, this emphasizes it's more than

a monologue. It's a dynamic interaction.

Prayer is that fosters transformation

and alignment with God's purposes and

not my own.

So I can start my day with my purposes

and bring them to God, but I'm not I'm

not really encountering God if I've set

the

agenda. So I I want to look a little bit

about the history of prayer throughout

the church just really briefly. So

there's even like what what is our what

has been the practice of Christians to

spend time with God over the centuries.

Uh the first is just like an ancient and

medieval roots. They had this thing

called the fixed hour of prayer. And in

that it was very structured. It was

often communal because they didn't have

access to to scriptures and they didn't

have access to take pictures of their

coffee with their Bibles to post it. Uh

they they had to actually memorize

scripture and and they had to come

usually communally to have

prayer. But scripture was prayed and

repeated to form habits of the

heart. And and most of the times where

we see these, you know, demonstrated in

movies, it just looks like the most

dull, dry thing in the

world. But do you actually think that

there weren't anyone that there wasn't

anyone having encounters with God? Like

there was just like dull deadness

throughout all of Christian history. The

reality is these things were what kept

the people of God in the midst of the

darkest times on earth.

Then there was the reformation I mean

I'm skipping a lot here but broadstrokes

okay reformation Martin Luther he he

went from again the liturgy of the day

to personal devotion he had this

four-fold prayer method of of

instruction thanksgiving confession and

supplication big words don't worry about

them the aim was not just understanding

but experiencing God's presence this was

like 500 plus years ago

And then we've had a we had an

evangelical renewal, if you will. The

original quiet time, I just want to give

you a little history. You know how the

quiet time originally

started? It's pretty amazing,

actually. There was there were some

generations of college students in the

30s and 40s. So, British and Australian

evangelical leaders produced a short

booklet that they called quiet time, a

practical guide for daily devotions. It

was first published by Intervarity Press

in 1945.

The 30-page booklet gave became a

multi-million uh copy seller and shaped

and influenced at least 50 years of

evangelical books and guides. So in it,

it was deeply influenced by a

German-born English evangelist called

George Mueller. And he was he was known

for his powerful prayer life. At the

heart of his his practice, he had a

belief that scripture meditation should

warm the heart and lead into communion

with God.

Drawing from Martin Luther's method,

Mueller and eventually the quiet time

guides offered offered a classic set of

questions to ask of a passage. I think I

have them to put up there. And here's

here's what they asked. This wasn't just

a Bible study. They were asking, "Is

there an example to follow? Is there a

command to obey? Is an error to avoid? A

sin to forsake? A promise to claim? A

new thought about God himself?"

It was deep meditation and reflection

and encounter. It didn't just let you

study what the scriptures meant to the

original audience, write a couple

things, and then pray a prayer that that

they tell you to pray.

After the scripture reflection, it was a

devotional flow that moved into prayer,

beginning with confession, followed by

thanksgiving and praise, then

intercession for others, and then

finally was the personal petition.

Meaning that you had a practice and a

rhythm and a discipline where I will

deal with my personal longings and

stuff, but I will do all these other

things first. Why? Not because of

importance, but because I need my heart

to be shaped. I need to surrender to

something. And I trust that in that

surrender and in myself being put on the

altar, I can then deal with my personal

stuff in a different

way. And so this this structured yet

intimate model was intended to unite the

Bible and the scripture with heartfelt

responsive

prayer producing both a theological

clarity and a spiritual warmth, a word

and a spirit mentality to the quiet

time.

So the point is these devotional guides

they followed a pattern of asking deep

reflective question that led us into a

kind of prayer. Now the modern shift

screwed all this

up. I mean depending on your

tradition from communion to information

over time this evangelical quiet time

turned into something that that subtly

shifted the experiential emphasis of

Mueller and Luther and all of those in

in the past was minimized and they

became increasingly focused on

interpretation and analysis resembling

these many Bible studies rather than

relational spiritfilled prayer. Now, if

you know me, you know that I am not even

in the slightest bit minimizing Bible

study. In fact, I've seen throughout

much of the Christian church,

particularly the charismatic movement,

that Bible studies have been

minimized to our detriment. Not because

I think Christians have less of a desire

to know what the scriptures say, but

because of of we've almost even

subconsciously taught that if you just,

you know, stay in the the word and not

with the spirit as if the word and

spirit are

divided that then you'll be dry or

something like that, right? And it's all

it's all a bunch of cultural adaptation

that's influenced us.

Things have gotten so cognitive that

we've lost the contemplation. We focused

on extracting insight rather than

encountering God. We've been relying on

self-effort effort, self-effort over

spiritled intimacy. And we are in

danger, Kellerites, of becoming

functional rationalists even in our

prayers. What is functional rationalism?

Oh, I'm so glad two of you are

interested in that phrase. Well, I'm

going to tell you and then hopefully it

will mean something to you. What what we

mean by that is a belief in God who

speaks and

moves. But practically we often live and

pray as if everything depends on us. Do

you ever do

that? You speak and pray and pretend

like God moves and then you you go out

from that and pretend like everything

depends on you.

Yep. And you know what kind of prayer

life that is? Dull, boring, depressing,

anxietyridden, and doesn't do anything

for you. And then we skip it because it

didn't do

anything. Prayer becomes performance.

Scripture becomes study. And the spirit

becomes a

theory. Let's reclaim the quiet

time. Give it a new name if you have

to. The daily exchange. Maybe that was

the best one I could come up

with. Formed in the quiet. I don't care.

Whatever you want to call it. If we

think back, many of us learned not in a

classroom, but by watching our mothers,

our grandmothers kneel beside a

bed, whisper blessings over our names,

or cling to the scriptures in hard

seasons. Let's blend these ancient

liturgies with modern

intimacy. Let's move from content

consumption to communion, and let's make

it conversational, transformational, and

relational.

God is either going to give us what we

ask or we we would have asked or what we

would have asked if we knew everything

he knows. So here's here's what I want

us to do. I want us to look at maybe

just for a moment. Keep your attention

almost through a suggested

structure. I hate

structure. You don't have to use this

structure. Can I just free some of you

that hate structure with me? Those of

you that hate structure, you need some

structure. I say that with the I have if

I've learned anything in my

life where I am weak, I need to put in

strength. For those of you that love

structure, stop worshiping the

structure. You're going to try to obsess

over this. It's not going to

work. It's a guide. It's a helpful

tool. And let's let's let God start the

com conversation first of all. So let's

let's look at the structure like this.

First the scriptures. Let God start the

conversation. Of course we know Timothy

says all scripture is God breathed and

is useful for teaching correction and

all that good stuff. But here's what we

want you to do. I want you to take the

scripture read slowly relationally and

with curiosity and start asking

questions. What does this show me about

God himself? Every part of scripture is

not there to give you a list of rules

and check marks. is there to show you

what God himself is

like. If you are not encountering

something about what God is like versus

what everything else in this world is

not like and that he is the true author

of everything good, everything you need,

everything that was created in you that

sings of something of value and purpose,

that is what God is like. And the

scriptures are only there to remind you

of what he is, who he is, and what we

have the capacity to move towards.

It's to expose the stuff that keeps you

from everything

good. It's not to keep you from

everything

good. What does it show me about God?

What's it revealing about my

heart that I cannot do in my own

strength? And what is God inviting me to

do or believe or become with him in the

process that I can't do alone? So even

in those three questions, you're seeing

number

one, God's identity, number two, your

brokenness, and number three, the hope

for you to cling to and to walk out on

dependence with him. That's all you're

ever doing in the

scriptures. Secondly, meditation. Let

the word warm your heart. What does

meditation actually look

like? Well, picture this. You're reading

a psalm, maybe Psalm 23. The Lord is my

shepherd. Right? Just take that phrase.

You whisper it slowly or you in your

mind's eye, you ask, "What does this

mean about who God is?" You begin to see

that God's not distant. He's near. He's

guiding. He's protecting. You notice how

much anxiety you've been

carrying. Maybe how you've been trying

to be your own shepherd. You confess

something. You confess some fear. You

thank God for his

presence. You take a deep breath and you

ask him to lead you into the day.

And then all of a sudden you may start

realizing that a single verse becomes

fuel for a

prayer. It hits your soul. It anchors

your

day. That's meditation. It's not rushing

through it. It's letting truth travel

from your mind to your heart until it

stirs something of awe and honesty and

dependence. Martin Luther used these

this four-step thing. It was called

adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and

supplication. Now, now big words or old

words or whatever you want to call it.

All it was doing was asking some

questions. What does this passage show

me about God? Again, he's been doing

this for hundreds of years. How does it

move me to praise,

confession? What sin or weakness in me

does this passage

expose? That's the heart issue. What

grace or truth can I rejoice in and

thank God for? That's the focus. Are you

focusing on the brokenness? Or are you

focusing on

hope? What do I need to ask God for in

response to what I've seen? Dependence

on him, partnering with him, listening

to

him. Meditation then is spiritually

chewing on the word until it becomes

sweet to the soul. Love that so much.

Thirdly, prayer. We've gone from

scripture meditation to pray prayer

itself. What does this spiritled

exchange that is not a monologue look

like?

It's imagining here that you've

meditated on these

words and maybe you've been meditating

on let's use another example. You

prepare a table before me in the

presence of my enemies. That doesn't

mean you have an you you're like trying

to hate on your enemies. I I loved that

verse when it was just like I wanted to

hate on them. Like what am I'm carrying

bitterness so like in the middle of my

my enemies I just get to like stare at

them and scowl and be angry.

But maybe in the midst of that, you

start praying. God, thank you that that

you're not

distant. You're the kind of God who sets

a table for me even when I feel

surrounded. And I confess that I've been

anxious. I've been very reactive lately.

I've been trying to control everything.

And I thank you, God, for your patience

and your peace with me.

And would you just help me today to sit

at your table? Not the table of fear or

busyiness, but one where you're actually

enough for

me. It's not polished. It's not

performed. Just make it

real. Pray what you've

got. That's the kind of prayer that

forms you day after day after

day. So there's a framework upward,

inward, and outward.

Begin with with the awe. Who is God?

Adore him. Inward confess and reflect.

Where am I in need of grace? And outward

intercede and ask where can I partner

with God in love today? Use this

framework within a daily rhythm. It's

not

rigid, but be make it

intentional. And so here's how the maybe

the five movements flow. And just give

you kind of like a visual. A daily flow

could look like this. You approach God,

then you

meditate, pray the scripture, then free

prayer, whatever you want to pray, and

then you let it go deep. Sit into

stillness,

contemplate. So, invite his presence.

Recognize that you're not

alone. Many of us just jump right into

something. Take a few moments and just

recognize that he promises his presence

to go with you.

And so just align your heart to try as

best you can to be aware of his

presence. Some of you will be like, I

don't know how to do

that. Just keep saying this is what you

promised me. I don't feel that you're

here, but I invite you to be here. And I

am going to now enter into your ancient

and holy

word with the expectation that you have

something here for me. that your voice

would start to become familiar because

I'm allowing your voice to wash over me

and speak to me. And then from that

place, turn that truth of scripture into

a

conversation, whether you feel him or

not. And then bring everything to him,

your fears and joys. Name your needs and

then sit in the stillness and let him

settle in you how to live it out. So

here's the chart. I think I if you don't

already have a chart behind you, I know

it's I'm we'll send this out this week,

but I wanted to give you something that

you can just kind of look

at and just put before

you. You approach him simply to

acknowledge him and then you you begin

with stillness and you cultivate

cultivate reverence. You meditate on the

scriptures. You read a passage. You note

some truths. You choose one that you're

going to say like, "Help me praise you

in it. Reveal something in my heart and

invite trust." Move from truth from your

head to your heart and then pray the

word. Turn those reflections into

prayer. Connect with the scripture in an

intimate personal conversation and then

speak freely. Then speak

freely. Then speak

freely. Bring anything to him. Your

needs, your

anger, your desperation, your thanks,

the people in your life, the burdens.

Build honest relationship. That's the

only way you'll ever be able to trust

him. And then sit in his presence. Sit

in the silence for at least a few

minutes. Thank him. Admire him. And let

yourself be with him. Anchor your

soul. That will not come naturally at

first. If you give that 40

days and you do that for 15 minutes,

that whole process as an anchor to your

life, you will not have be having the

daily same experiences in 40 days as you

have right

now. What would it look like if we

stepped into that as a community? That

was the norm. How would that shape our

lives?

Don't just listen to this message, but

in I invite you to live it. What if

starting tomorrow you committed to these

kinds of 15-minute increments with him?

Find the time of day that is the most

holy that will be the least likely to be

interrupted for 15 minutes and just say,

"This is a non-negotiable for me." What

if you practice this even for a week if

40 days seems too long to start and then

two and then three and then get there?

This is real work because prayer isn't

just preparation for real work. It is

the real work of

formation. So to close the active life

of using

gifts, same as last week, I don't have

time to get into all the gifts, but I

just want you to put uh there's the one

more chart just to give you a taste.

These are the gifts in Romans 12.

There's other scriptures that contain

the gifts, but what I would like you

just to sit with is that what we've just

talked about is this intimate personal

quietness with the Lord. But all of this

is useless if you are not willing to

recognize what Paul says is every single

one of us has been

gifted to carry something that the world

needs and this body, this community,

this church needs. And if you are not

aware that you carry something or you're

not living in a way that you're trusting

that you've got something that others

need, you are completely severing

yourself from the greatest aspect. And

the only way that you will ever mature

is by stepping out in risk and letting

him use you. Whether that's prophecy,

service, teaching, encouragement,

giving, leadership, mercy. I think

Romans 12 is the one of the best places

to start in terms of being gifted. Not

because there's not other lists and it's

not an exhaustive list. It's a simple

list. It's one where it simply gets at

these practical elements of speaking

truth with conviction, of practical help

and support, of explaining and applying

scripture, of uplifting and

strengthening others, of generosity with

resources and guiding people into wisdom

while showing compassion and care where

it's

needed. And how do you know what your

gift

is? Start here.

Where do others affirm you in these

areas? Where do I see fruit when I

serve? What gives me joy when I do it?

And what needs stir my heart to

action? Every single one of you will

have one of these things highlighted.

And don't disqualify yourself. I'm not

good at it. If you've got something

others have affirmed, you see fruit in

your life, something gives you joy, or

you're stirred by a need where you just

see other people need this thing, that

means that's your

gift. Step out into it and let him use

you. Often the gifts are discovered more

by doing than studying. Clarity comes

with faithfulness. Don't wait to feel

certain. Start serving and see what God

confirms. The world will value what we

consume. The church values you for what

you

contribute. Do you want your identity

shaped by consumption or

contribution? Here's some real life

examples and the team can start to come

up. The

encourager. Many of you in this room, I

see those of you in our church who

obviously may not preach every week, but

every week they show up early just to

check in with people. They remember

names. They ask intentional questions.

They follow up during the week with a

text or a prayer. That's not just

kindness. It's the gift of encouragement

and

action. Some of you serve quietly and

you have a gift of service. You may not

see them on a stage, but someone is the

first to stack chairs or bring a meal to

a sick family.

Some of the most qualified people in the

room that are that are running

corporations across the globe are also

the ones that are the best at break

breaking bread or ma finally figuring

out how you make that god difficult

sourdough loaf that none of us can get

right. And we've had people cry with the

gift of a sourdough that was perfectly

done. Don't compare to that. Just use it

as inspiration.

Some of you just serve quietly while you

you

you rock it in other areas, but you have

this

desire to to give the gift of service.

Many of you as parents, I see moms with

the gift of teaching, not the homeschool

overachieving types. I'm not talking

about you. God bless you. You're a

unique and amazing breed. But I'm

thinking of the moms who might not be

comfortable leading a lot of elements of

teaching, but she disciples her kids

every single night at the dinner table.

She opens the word. She listens to her

kids' hearts. And she prays them. And

she prays the scriptures over them every

single night by name. That's not the

gift. If that's not the gift of

teaching, I don't know what

is. Off the stage and in the home. Many

of you, I see generosity in

[Music]

motion. Some of you are so humble and

quiet with the power of your giving and

you never want the recognition, but you

see the ones that have a need and you

meet it. You write a check. You donate

resources. You quietly cover

tuition. It's

beautiful. Don't minimize

[Music]

it. Some of you, whether it's a youth or

or or one of any stage, I'm thinking of

a kid sitting alone in youth group and

I've seen moments where instead of

sticking with their friends, they walk

over to the the kid that's alone and

says, "You want to join us?"

That may not seem big, but that's that's

the beginning of the gift of mercy and

leadership. And many of you have that in

a

room. It's

significant. It works in here and it

works out

there. What if we re-evaluated the

standard of our life towards these kinds

of gifts and how I'm growing in the

maturity?

Now, you don't get to say that I don't

get to do the ones I don't like. That's

the beauty cuz the spirit is what

empowers us. But you should have one or

two of these that you just know this is

where my heart gets pulled and the Lord

uses me in this

[Music]

way. Finally, I just want to invite us

to the invitation of the power of the

spiritfilled spirit formed life. Life

isn't just

self-powered. We don't muster this

transformation. It has to be

spirit-ledd. The spirit is what empowers

us by opening our eyes to understand the

scriptures, guiding our prayers when we

don't know what to say. Awakening

awakening these gifts within us and

producing fruit in our character, giving

courage and power to act.

[Music]

As a response, if you just know that you

want to

re-up your daily practice of walking

with Jesus, just want to invite you to

stand. And I want to pray over

[Music]

us. Just invite you to close your eyes.

We're asking the Holy Spirit for fresh

vision. Close your eyes and imagine this

with me. Not a church built on the gifts

of a few, but a spiritformed family

where every person hears from God, knows

that their voice matters, and offers

what they have. Holy Spirit, come this

morning. Stir this house. Stir every

soul. Imagine waking up not to doom

scroll, but to open the scriptures and

hear God speak to you, to speak into

your

story.

Picture yourself sitting at a table or

in your car just letting this one verse

settle in your heart and reshaping your

entire day. That's what you're being

invited into. You have access to another

realm, a countercultural way of

life. Turn that moment into a prayer,

not a script, but a conversation with

God himself.

[Music]

We ask for a vision of people showing up

to serve, to love, to encourage, to

bless others around us, not out of

obligation, but of

overflow. We pray for a

church that looks around us, has been

shaped by Jesus, that brings his

presence with us everywhere we go.

We ask you to disrupt this secular

formation of our age in us. Not by not

by us reacting in some knee-jerk

fearfilled reaction like we see all over

the YouTubes and inner waves and

wherever else. We want a quiet faithful

formation of lives rooted in your

spirit. Come God, come Holy Spirit.

Anchor us. Fill

us. Not loud but quiet. Not flashy but

faithful.

[Music]

not frantic but

formed. Three things we're asking you to

guide us in. Holy

[Music]

Spirit, we commit to

starting starting our days in your word

with your

voice, responding with

prayer, and offering our gifts.

[Music]

I just want to say over every one of us,

this is how revival will truly begin in

the secret place spilling into the

church and into the

streets. And on this Mother's Day, if

you're shaped by a mother or mentor who

pointed you to Jesus through their

prayer life, their devotion to

scripture, or their humble service like

I was, don't just remember their impact.

Honor it by continuing in their path.

Let your life be formed so that through

you someone's life might be as well.

Come Holy

Spirit shape us this

morning. Propel us towards

transformation and a different kind of

life. Let us step in with fresh vision

and fresh life in these spiritual

practices. We love you and honor you in

Jesus name. Amen. This team is going to

play behind me. I just want to invite my

prayer team to join me up here on your

right. to my left. They would be honored

to pray for you. We want to invite all

of you just to have some moments as this

team prays and plays to just respond in

the quietness of your heart. You can do

it at your seat, but we love it when you

just come forward. You can come up here

at the altar. You can come and get

prayer. Those of you that need to go and

rush off at some point, please don't

forget that we've got flowers for you

and get your photos. And please don't

forget your children in the back.

We have a lot going on, but we want

every single person to have a moment

with God before they rush off into the

things of this day.

We love you and honor you, Jesus.