July 6, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Amen. Our God has robbed the grave. Hallelujah is right.
Hey, why do we worship on Sunday, not Saturday? Saturday’s the Sabbath. Why aren’t we good Seventh Day Adventists? That’s right. That’s right. He rose on Sunday.
I heard a great from Barnabas. This is not probably the Apostle Barnabas, but the Epistle of Barnabas is one of those early church father writings that we have that’s not in the Bible, but still instructive. And in the Epistle of Barnabas, it says, on the seventh day, God rested. We worship on the eighth day. And he said, the reason why is the eighth day is new creation. God rested, but in the resurrection, new creation.
Creation has started again, and that makes sense. What day were young boys circumcised? Jewish boys. Eighth day. Eighth day. They became new. The old is gone. The new has come. So we worship Jesus. It’s a new day. It’s a new day, people. All history changed.
I’ll tell you something. The number one celebrated holiday in America is Christmas. Number two is Mother’s Day. Supposedly, I thought it’d be Thanksgiving, but it’s Mother’s Day. I don’t know who did this study, but it was on the Internet, so it must be true. Yeah, Abraham Lincoln said it was true on the Internet, so it must be. So Mother’s Day was two. Yeah. Father’s Day was like 18th. Halloween was somewhere in the top 10. So basically, Christmas, Jesus, second mothers, third Satan, fourth dads. All right, so we get no respect. We get no respect, guys.
Oh, is there a Cat’s Day? Yeah. Really? Wow. I’m glad. I’m glad we’re higher than the cats. We’re probably not higher than the dogs, but we’re higher than the cats. But that’s why we worship. That’s why we worship on Sunday. Because Easter. Let me tell you something. Whatever. Whatever the society. I don’t know. However the society rates holidays, let me tell you dear ones, what our holiday is. Our holiday is Easter. Easter is the day, and every Sunday is Easter for us. Every Sunday is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and the incredible hope that that gives us.
1 Peter 1:3 says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3, CSB)
We have been born again into hope, into hope. In this world, you have struggles, but fear not, he has overcome the world. I was talking in Bible study today. How as we’re going through Romans, how? I just. The thing that caught me in Romans, lots of things.
I really have enjoyed preaching through Romans. The thing that caught me was Romans 8:17 and 18. And in 8:17, Paul says we are co-heirs with Christ insofar as we share in his sufferings, that we also may share in his glory.
And so sufferings and glory are inseparable. We’re all going to suffer, but we also all share as co-heirs with Christ, his glory. But what got me was Romans 8:18 right after that. He says,
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18, CSB)
In other words, suffering and glory are inseparable. But suffering and glory are also incomparable. They’re incomparable. And suffering, we all know suffering is real, man. And we’ve, we know people who suffer and we’ve suffered and there’s been tragic, there’s tragedies, and our hearts just break.
You look at what’s going on in Texas right now and you know our hearts just break for people who are suffering. And yet the Bible has the audacity to say that the sufferings of this world cannot be compared. Cannot be compared. So that must be some pretty, pretty good glory. You got some pretty good glory waiting for you, dear ones. You got some pretty good glory. All right, turn to somebody next to you and say, you’re looking pretty glorious right now. All right. you’re looking good, Isaiah. You got some glory coming your way.
All right, Romans 12. We’re still in Romans. We’re in the therefore. Remember last week we talked about Romans 12, and Paul said, therefore, present your bodies as a living based on the mercies of God. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
The therefore always has to do with what preceded it. God and Romans, chapters 1 through 11. Paul is saying that you are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ. And that is how you’re justified. That is how you’re made righteous. That is how you have peace with God. That is the pathway that God has now established in the New Covenant. We no longer have to keep 613 ritual laws. You can eat bacon tonight. Praise the Lord.
But by putting our faith in, by aligning our lives with the Lord Jesus Christ, by coming under his lordship and saying, I belong to him and he lives in me, his spirit lives in me, we are made right with God and our sins are forgiven. Then he says this, because that’s true. Therefore, here’s how we live. Here’s how we respond.
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. (Romans 12:1, CSB)
Last week we talked about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, the act of worship. Not just singing our four favorite songs, but a lifestyle of worship, a lifestyle of giving, a lifestyle of sacrifice to God. Where we serve, where we give, where we praise, that worship is all about giving.
We’ve dumbed down worship in our culture to mean singing. Singing can be a part of worship. Hopefully, you just worshiped as you sang. But now, if you’re paying attention to what I’m saying, you’re still worshiping. you’re giving your attention, you’re bowing your life, humbling your life before God.
Now, in Romans 12:3-8, he talks about specifically service and the gifts that God supernaturally gives us by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual gifts to serve.
Let me read it for you. Romans 12:3-8.
3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. 4 Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, 5 in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. 6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8, CSB)
And God. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, our Strength, and our Redeemer.
So Paul starts this as he talks about spiritual gifts. And the first thing he says is, be humble. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought. I remember especially the more supernatural the Spiritual gifts, the more it’s easy to be kind of puffed up with pride.
I remember a woman, she had a legitimate gift of kind of prophecy. She could hear from God and she could prophesy, but, oh, she thought she was special in that. That’s like. Dear sister, lots of people in this church can prophesy, all right?
You know, the eyes can’t say to the nose, I’m more important than you. And you might think that those parts of the body that seem more important are more important. Like the eyes. Think of physically. Obviously, your eyes are more important than your elbow. Well, maybe, but have you ever tried eating spaghetti without your elbow? I mean, that’s a tough gig right there.
Eating anything’s tough, but especially spaghetti. You know, you need your elbow. The elbow gets pretty important when it’s time to eat spaghetti. your eyes can look at that spaghetti and go, oh, that’s good. And your arm’s going, yeah, but I can’t bring it to your mouth. Like, how am I going to get there? I need an elbow. So whatever part of the body you are, we need you. And whatever part of the body you are, you’re no good without the rest of the parts. You need the rest of the parts.
Think of your and here’s what Paul. There are four places in the Bible that in the New Testament talks about spiritual gifts. Three of them from Paul, one of them from Peter.
1 Peter 4 talks about spiritual gifts. Ephesians 4, Paul talks about spiritual gifts. Here in Romans 12, Paul talks about spiritual gifts. And the most elaborate exposition on spiritual gifts is 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, where Paul gives the most elaborate teaching on spiritual gifts.
And the reason he does that in Corinth is the Corinthians were violating this first principle of being humble. That’s why he has to talk to them about spiritual gifts. They were proud of their spiritual gifts. I speak in tongues more than you do. Neener, neener, neener. It’s like, no, I prophesy. I’m a big deal.
He says, that’s not the point of spiritual gifts. All four places. Very interesting to me. All four places, it talks about spiritual gifts in the New Testament. It talks about it in the context of love. Romans 12:3-8. Look at verse 9. Let love be without hypocrisy. And he goes on and explains what Christian love looks like.
1 Corinthians 12 talks about spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14 talks about spiritual gifts. What’s right in the middle of both of them? 1 Corinthians 13, the famous love chapter of the Bible. The same is true in 1 Peter 4. The same is true in Ephesians 4, that spiritual gifts are united with love. We all have gifts, but Jesus is the center, not me.
And in fact, the gifts, we used to talk about it this way in the young days of the Charismatic movement, what are your spiritual gifts? Which is fine. It’s, you know, it’s like saying. It’s like it’s using words to explain something when the words don’t literally mean that. It’s like, I’m going to church, meaning I’m going to the building where the church meets. But that’s too cumbersome to say, right?
Well, I have spiritual gifts. That means God has gifted me with His power to actually give gifts to somebody else. I’m the conduit. you’re the conduit. you’re the garden hose. I got home from Great Wolf Lodge with the grandchildren, and I forget what day that was. Probably Tuesday, I think. We were at Great Wolf Lodge, and it was a little warm Monday and Tuesday, and I had to get water on my lawn.
So I got home in time to get water on the lawn. I got water on the front, and I’m taking the hose out to the back lawn. As I take the hose out to the back lawn, I turn the corner, and 20 ft away from me in my backyard is a big black bear. Fortunately, with the noise I was making with that hose, he ran back into the woods. He ran back into the woods about 20 ft, turned around, and looked at me. At which point, I know the advice is to look big.
But I thought better advice at that point would be to look scarce. So I left and went the other way. He skedaddled, and so did I. When people mocked me for that, I said, hey, he skedaddled first, all right. But I thought it would be good to skedaddle. I’ve always wanted to see a bear in my backyard. I just always wanted to be in the house and look at it through the windows. Not from 20 ft away, but no harm, no foul. But what was I doing? I was taking the water hose back there.
The water hose delivers the water to the lawn. What’s important is getting the water on the lawn. The hose is just the means, spiritual gifts. What’s important is that God wants to impart something, maybe to Isaiah. That’s the important thing. And God says, you know what? I’m going to use Stevin to bring that to Isaiah. And so Stevin gets to be involved. That’s a wonderful thing to do. That’s a wonderful place to be, to be used by God to do the ministry of God on behalf of another brother and sister in Christ.
That’s what spiritual gifts are. They’re God’s tool belt of love. It’s how we love people, by using gifts. If somebody’s sick, you got the gift of healing. Don’t be stingy with it. Right? If somebody’s broke and you got the gift of generosity, there you go. If somebody’s discouraged and you got the gift of encouragement, use it. It’s God’s tool belt of love. And so we all have gifts, but the gifts are to be used in the service of others, not to build up ourselves. They’re God’s gifts to other people through us. That’s good enough, right? That’s good enough.
As we are to be humble, we are also to be bold. Spiritual gifts take faith to exercise because they’re doing something, they’re not just thinking something. You know, my wife has never been impressed by me telling her I was thinking about vacuuming. That just does not make her happy. Honey, I love you so much. I was thinking about vacuuming as I was watching this baseball game on TV. You know, I had my feet up and I had my bowl of popcorn, but I really thought, boy, it would be nice if I vacuumed.
Don’t you feel loved right now? I don’t think feeling loved is going to be her first deal there. You know, you actually have to. What, to please the wife? Brian, you got a vacuum, right? I don’t know if your wife has ever said this, but my wife has told me on several occasions no man has ever been shot pushing a vacuum cleaner. So I think, you know, so when she’s mad, I push a vacuum cleaner. Like, look, honey, put the gun down. But you got to do it. You can’t just think about it.
And doing it requires faith. Here’s how you spell faith in the Bible: R, I, S, K. You got to step out. You got to step out. Lord, I’d love to see you heal people. Well, go lay your hands on somebody. Oh, I don’t know. I’m not. I don’t know if I can do that, God, but I really want to see you heal people. Have you ever met somebody with a problem and you prayed God would send a Christian into their life? And you’re standing right there, right, Lord, send a Christian into their life. And God said, well, I have, son. Well, who? And then it dawns on you. It’s like, oh, well, send a better one. No, you’re it. you’re it.
I think I told you this story. We were on a plane a couple weeks ago, and this woman was panicking. You know, some people just. They have this huge phobia. And she hadn’t flown in 22 years, and for the sake of her daughter, she risked flying on the plane. And she got it. She was handicapped. She got brought in a wheelchair. But she’s having a meltdown. And, you know, people are getting frustrated with that. But also, you know, you got to have some compassion.
And we finally got on the plane. This woman decided she wasn’t gonna have them take her off. She was gonna stick it out. We got on the plane, and she was like. And I told my wife, I said, man, I just want to. I want to be there for that woman. I want to talk her down, you know. And sure enough, we’re the ones sitting right behind her. But I’m sitting directly behind her. My wife’s the one sitting caddy corner. And so it wasn’t me. I didn’t talk her down. I just prayed. But Jill just went at it.
She said, what’s your name, dear? You know, and she just started talking to her. you’re going to be okay. And, you know, finally, you know, got to the point, we’re Christians. We’re going to pray for you. And this lady was very grateful. My wife was just so kind. You know, we could have just sat there and been silent and said, boy, I wish it’d be nice to encourage this lady.
But, you know, good old Jill, she had to jump in and do it. And I just proud of her. She’s such a sweet lady, and she did such a great job. I thought, why did I need to do it? She did better than me. She had more mercy than I do. I’d have told her a few nice words and said, come on, suck it up, buttercup. Let’s go. We got to take off here. You would not have. No, I wouldn’t have. I’d have thought it, though. All right? God gives faith to operate in spiritual gifts.
And the faith is actually the gift that opens the door to the use of the other gifts. If you don’t have faith, you’re not going to use the gifts. Faith is what God’s going to move through me. God’s going to do this. God’s here, and I’m going to step out and I’m going to do this thing.
And the more faith you have, the more your faith grows. The more you step out in faith, the more it grows. It’s kind of. Spiritual gifts aren’t all that different from natural gifts, alright?
Spiritual gifts aren’t all that different from natural gifts. In this way, we all were born with natural gifts, all right? We’re all good. Nobody’s stupid. There’s not a stupid person in this realm. Everybody is smart at something.
The problem is we have a school system that says if you could. If you’re smart in these two things, then you’re smart. If you’re not smart in these two things, you’re stupid, but it’s not true. People who aren’t smart in those two things are smart at three or four other things. Alright?
So if you’re smart at reading in English and if you’re smart at math, you’re going to be smart in school. But if you have a mo. If you have extroverted intelligence, where you’re just a people gather. I’ll tell you what.
In seminary, all the guys who got A’s in seminary did not make great pastors. You know who made great pastors in seminary? The guys who got Cs. Why? Because they were all major extroverts and they didn’t have time for study because they were hanging out with people.
Well, what makes a good pastor?
Somebody who loves people. All right? Somebody who loves people. You know, grumpy old curmudgeons. You just like to read the Bible. You get, you know, you get it, you got it. So there you go.
I try to be nice. I try to be nice best I can. All right? So everybody’s smart at something. And the more you use what you’re good at, the better it becomes. That’s true.
Naturally, if you’re a gifted musician, that’s wonderful. You want to be a great musician? Be a gifted musician who practices, okay? I love basketball as a kid.
I have no natural athletic ability. I’m not a complete dork, alright? I’m not one of the people who tries to catch the ball and gets hit in the face. I have mid to slightly, maybe slightly above mid level. What is it called? Kinesthetic intelligence. You know, I can do athletic things, but I’m not fast and I’m not tall. That’s a bad combination for basketball, by the way. Alright? That’s a bad combination. So no matter how much I practice, and I practice a lot, I would never be as good as somebody like LeBron James.
He’s got a ton of natural ability to play basketball. But let me tell you what else he has. Along with these other great players, they work harder at it than anybody else too. They work harder at it. There are other people with great natural ability who don’t work as hard.
Come on in. It’s so good to see your face. Those are familiar faces. Welcome. Hi. We’re just talking about spiritual gifts. Kay. I know. That’s what I’m saying. All right, so I love the story about Michael Jordan when he was a basketball player.
He told his coach, Roy Williams, he said I would be the best basketball player who ever played. And Roy Williams says, well, son, you got a lot of talent, but you got to practice hard. He goes, I practice as hard as these other players. He goes, exactly. you’re never going to be the greatest. What’s the point? You got to practice harder than these other players. If you want to be the greatest, you’ll be good.
Well, you got spiritual gifts, great. You want God to use you, great. Then do it. Actually do it.
It’s in the doing, people. All right. It’s just like that vacuuming thing. The carpet doesn’t get vacuumed when you think about it. That sick person over there doesn’t get healed when you think, oh, it’d be great if somebody laid their hands on them and prayed for healing. You know how they get healed? Somebody goes over and lays their hands on them.
What did the Lord tell Julie? The prayers of many righteous people. Not just, oh, many righteous people thought about praying for me. They did it. Practice your gifts and you’ll get better.
That’s true with anything in life. You want to get good at it, do it, do it often. All gifts grow by using them. Alright.
As I said, there are four lists of gifts in the New Testament. These gift lists are found in Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4, right here in Romans 12, and 1 Corinthians 12. The gift lists are different. They list different gifts. Some gifts are repeated in the lists. Some gifts are listed a couple of times. People have looked at these gifts and said, oh, these are the only spiritual gifts that are out there.
No, they’re not. The lists are general. Paul is just rambling. He says, when I go to church, man, somebody prophesies, and somebody, there’s an evangelist there always bringing friends to church. And oh, there’s that dear sister who’s always serving. And that person has so much mercy, and he’s identifying gifts.
I can go around this room right now, and I could start doing that. I’ve been to the Miller’s house and had a Bible study at their house for years with a bunch of young boys. They have a gift of hospitality.
It’s not mentioned in the Bible, but it’s a gift. How do I know it’s a gift? Because God used it to advance his kingdom in those young boys’ lives.
I’ve experienced the same gift of hospitality at the Johnsons’ house. All right, there are people who have gifts of worship leading. There are people who have gifts of intercessory prayer. Those aren’t mentioned.
Whatever the Holy Spirit does through you that brings blessing to others in the church is a spiritual gift. The lists simply serve as an example. These are what the things look like.
These are the things the body of Christ does that builds up the body of Christ and expands the ministry of Jesus in the world. And my Holy Spirit empowers it. And Paul says, I give that to people as I will.
Listen, I think. I actually think you have access to all the Spiritual gifts. It’s like Batman. Remember Batman? He had that. Whatever the need was, he had something in his belt. Oh, I need to scale this wall. Well, here’s a.
You know, a hook and a rope, and I can shoot it up there, and I can. Whatever he needed was in that was in his utility belt.
Listen, whenever the Spirit needs to pull something out, if you’re the only one there, he can use that gift in you. Now, I do think that we typically function in a group of gifts that we kind of. That kind of work for us. But I think God can take the ones that you don’t normally use and bring it out and use it.
You might think, oh, I’m not a very good evangelist, but you’re the only person there to share Christ. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit can give you words to evangelize.
In fact, everything that the gifts talk about, we’re all required to do at some time or another. Right. Like the gift of service. I love the gift of service. It is the gift that people use when they love to be behind the scenes. They don’t want to draw attention to themselves, but they want to make other people’s jobs easier.
And so they get the stuff done behind the scenes. Steven Johnson. Right. Wonderful gift of service. Ought to. It’s rare to find men who excel in the gifts of service over the women in the church. Step it up, ladies. These guys are showing you up. That’s all I’m saying.
But today we had our normal lunch at the Firehouse Church in Bremerton. And it was a summer lunch, and so we had burgers and hot dogs. So I got the Blackstone grill, and I got it ready.
But I’m leading the church, and, you know, if I start to cook, I’m always the last person done. In church, everybody’s gonna have to wait for their burgers and hot dogs.
And I kind of just mentioned that in church. And I get done with church, and I walk out back to see. To get that black stem. And Kristen Ballstead is just there with the burgers and hot dogs, and it’s perfect.
That’s who Kristen Ballstead is. She just. I serve behind the scenes. You don’t have to.
You don’t have to, you know, put up a Christian Ballstead flag at the front of the church. And, you know, communion was set up because Marsha Ball set up communion. And the carpet was vacuumed because Marsha did that, too. Gifts of service. Just humble people who say, I’m just going to do this because it needs to get done, and I delight in doing it, and it makes the church a better place.
I love people like that because that’s, like, one of the least on my gifts list. Anybody remember Kathleen?
You probably remember those spiritual gift surveys they used to give you? You rated? Yeah. So I don’t know how valuable those are or not, but they are fun to take.
So I took one of them one time, and they have all sorts of different gifts. I scored higher in martyrdom than I did in service. And I showed that to Jill, and she said, I knew you’d rather die than help.
But you know what? As a church planter, there’s been lots of days where a Stevin or an Otz or Kristen or a Marsha wasn’t around.
And guess who had to set up communion, and guess who had to vacuum, and guess who had to put the chairs back and put them out.
Today, I was putting that Blackstone grill together, wondering, where are my handymen? But, you know, it’s got to get done. So I just prayed. I said, God, I don’t want any hassles putting this thing together. Of course, it was easy. It was like putting Legos together. But even I can mess that up. I’m just saying that’s how unhandyman I am. Handyman capped. Anybody else here? Handyman capped.
I am just like, you know, we have a mojita drill in my house that my wife knows how to use. I don’t know how to use it. She won’t let me use it. you’ll just break stuff. So, all right, whatever your gifts are, we’ve got them all available to us. But you’re going to. But some of them are going to be more normative to you.
So let’s just look at the seven that he lists. And remember, this is not exhaustive, but these are the seven he lists in Romans. Prophesy. Prophesy.
Now, some people say, well, prophesy means inspired teaching. No, because three, two gifts later, he says, teaching. They’re not the same thing. Neither is it exhorting.
Prophesying is hearing a word from God for somebody else that comforts them, encourages them, or exhorts them. According to 1 Corinthians 14 in the New Testament, you’re just looking at somebody, and all of a sudden the Lord gives you a picture, and you just say, I just see this picture over you. Does that mean anything to you?
And say, oh, my gosh, I had a dream the other night, that exact thing. And it means. And this is what the Lord’s. And it’s like, wow. That encouraged.
I remember one time, Iko, we were sitting here, and I looked at you and I said, you need to write a book or you need to write down answered prayers, because you have a history of answered prayers in your life, and you need to record those as kind of a testimony to God. And you said, oh, this week, I was just. I have this urge to write.
And I was praying to God what to write about. I didn’t know that when you walked in church. All I knew was God said, you need to write this. And you’d been praying, God, what do I write? That’s prophecy. All right. I think that’s prophecy. That feel like prophecy to you? A little bit. You know, yeah. Okay. Way to affirm, Iko. Gift of encouragement. No, I mean, I felt like that was kind of a general prophetic word. It’s like somebody’s praying to God. What do I write?
Somebody shows up in church and says, I think you need to write this. That’s a simple prophetic word. That’s how it works.
A lady came to our church years ago in California. The first time I met her, I’d never met her before. She had been a Nazarene pastor’s wife in the Nazarene church. I’m not picking on the Nazarenes. But the marriage hadn’t worked. The husband had committed adultery. The ministry had fallen apart. Her life, you know, devastating, right? Just devastating. And it had been years since that had happened.
And now she’s barely sticking her toes back in the water, going to church. Okay, I’m going to try this again.
She’s at this woman’s Bible study. The leader of the woman’s Bible study, for some reason, said, you got to come pray at our Bible study. So I said, okay, I’ll come to the Bible study and pray.
I walk in the Bible study, I see her, and her name is Jan. Her friend Maria, also new, hadn’t met Maria before. So she’s gently sticking her feet into the pools of the church once again.
So the Holy Spirit says, well, just push her in. I didn’t plan this. The lady asked me to come pray. I saw Jan. I said, come here. And I put my hands on her. Good little Nazarene lady. I put my hand on her head and I said, in the Name of Jesus. Boom. She hit the floor. Never happened to her before. That’s not her Nazarene experience. All right, she just hits the floor. She’s laying on the floor. And I begin and I speak nine things over her. Nine specific things. God’s going to restore your ministry.
You’re going to have a new ministry, and it’s going to look like this. And he’s going to. He’s going to take care of your finance, whatever. I don’t even remember. I don’t remember what the nine things were, but they were, they weren’t, they weren’t all that vague. They were fairly specific. Her friend was writing them down.
Okay, we’re gonna. We’re checking out this church we’re gonna see. About a year and a half later, these two ladies are involved in an inner healing ministry in our church. They’re doing a great job.
She’s got joy in her life again. She’s made a new best friend. And her friend came up to me and says, remember when you prayed for Jan? I said, yeah, I did. Remember those nine things you said about her? It’s like, no, I don’t remember what nine things I said. She said, within a few months, all nine of these came to pass.
That’s what prophecy is. That’s what prophecy. That’s not teaching that. I didn’t. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know any of that stuff. God knew that stuff. I got to be.
The hose watered Jan and got her back where she needed to be.
Our service, we already talked about it. Doing the behind-the-scenes things, teaching, opening up the Word of God for the edification of others.
We get. We have a Bible study every Thursday night. Ots and Stevin and I. Men’s Bible study. You want to come? Anybody? You guys want to come Thursday? Denny’s. 4:30. Poulsbo.
We got a Bible study. You can come. It’s a men’s Bible study. Any of you women want to come? I don’t know.
You know, you could try identifying as a man for an hour, but we wouldn’t buy it. So don’t do it. I know the culture is that way, but start your own Bible study, ladies.
All right, so we have this Bible study we teach. All right. Ought to bright minds, good questions. Kevin, ask him a five-minute question. 25-minute ramble. It’s functional, it works. These guys keep coming back. I don’t know why.
That’s teaching. This is preaching. This is the next gift. Exhorting. See, I’m teaching.
I’m trying to get biblical information, and this is some teaching. Try to get biblical information into your lives so that then you can apply it.
Exhorting is kicking you in the rear so that you’ll apply it. Go do that. Okay? You ever been coached? All right, Sydney, here’s how you horse fault. You go, you learn how to do it. You do this, you do that. But when it comes time to do it, now they’re not teaching you, they’re telling you, okay? Remember what we taught you. It’s time to do it. Go do it.
It’s time to perform. All right, Sophia, you’ve learned how to play the piano; they taught you how to play the piano. But now it’s recital time. Get up there, girl, and do it.
That’s exhorting. Exhorting is motivating. Teaching is instructing. They go together, but they’re a little different, you know, coaching. Here’s how you throw a fastball, alright? During the game. Alright, son, you need to bring that fastball; you need to hit that corner just like we taught you.
Yeah, people used to want me to do more teaching than preaching.
And when I was a Methodist back in the day, the old folks, they thought the biggest compliment they could pay you was that was very thought provoking, which is a nice thing. That was very informative. That’s what a teacher’s after, thought provoking and informative.
But an exhorter is after. Are you going to repent? Are you going to be more like Jesus when you walk out that door than when you came in? It’s, let’s get on with it, let’s do it. Now’s the time. Now’s the time.
We instructed you how to fly jets, but now you’re going to land on a real aircraft carrier, not a simulator. All right? So guess what? Now’s the time to have some courage because you crash on the simulator. Yeah, the instructor gets upset with you. You crash one of those jets on the carrier, you just cost the country billions of dollars and you lost your life. But I mean, you cost us billions of dollars.
So, alright, motivating others to action through encouragement and correction, generosity again, we’re all called to do this.
Every Christian is called to give. All right? You don’t get off the well, I don’t have the gift of generosity, so I’m not going to, you know, I’m not going to tithe to the Church. No, you’re called to tithe.
A generous person tithes and goes, oh, that was so much fun. I’m going to do that again and more. There’s a guy, Bible study, years ago, and he’s sitting there, Bible study. And he got there early one Sunday or one Thursday night whenever we’re having Bible study.
He looked at me and said, pastor, I can’t do what you do. You know, I can’t teach. I’m not that much of an extrovert. Things don’t click in my head the way they click in your head around the Bible. So I really appreciate you teaching.
I said, well, thank you. He says, but you know what I’m good at? I say, what? He goes, I’m good at making money. I’m just good. You ever met those people? They’re not. They’re not. And they’re not scoundrels. They’re just good at making money. They. Oh, that’s an opportunity.
They got that entrepreneurial thing. They just see it, and it’s like, oh, that’s a thing. That’s a thing. They’re just good at making money. They can look at the stock market, and they say, that’s where things are headed. They can look at real estate, and that’s the piece to buy, you know. They’re just good at it.
And he said, pastor, for my whole adult life, I don’t know, I’ve just been good at making money. I said, well, that’s great. He says, you know what? You know what I love?
I go, what? He says, I love giving it away. That’s the gift of generosity. I love giving it away.
He is rich, but he made the kingdom of God rich. It’s not a sin to be rich, people, all right? It’s not a sin to have nice stuff. It is a sin to be stingy and greedy. And if you got the gift of generosity, be generous.
You know, it makes you happy, right? Doesn’t generosity make you happy? I mean, remember when we were kids? They said, it’s better to give, to receive. And we said, no way.
No way. But then we got to be adults. It’s like. It really is, right?
I’m a grandparent. I don’t want stuff for Christmas. Oh, sweet Jesus, my Lord and savior, I do not need more stuff in my house. We are trying to unstuff our house. These wicked people at Amazon keep showing up and putting stuff on our porch. I don’t know how it gets there.
Yeah, this wicked driver just keeps coming up and dropping things on my porch. I say, honey, Amazon just dropped more stuff at my porch. And she goes, my.
I don’t know how. I don’t know. I don’t know how, but it does. And I tell my kids now, for birthday and Christmas, dad, what? Can we get you something consumable? Gift card to a restaurant? If I can’t eat it, I don’t want it. I don’t need another hoodie. I do not need more clothes.
Listen, if there is stuff that I want, there is stuff that I want. You can’t afford it. The stuff you can afford, I don’t want. You know, you buy me a new car, fine. Otherwise, I don’t need another hoodie, alright?
So just, you know, give me, you know, give me $50 to Applebee’s. Right, Kay? There you go. No stuff.
But I love more than I loved getting gifts as a kid. I love watching my grandkids open gifts. It is better to give than receive. It is more joyful. People with the gift of generosity, they get that this is fun. This is fun. They love doing it. Very few things bring more joy than generosity to the giver, more than the receiver. Amen.
All right. Leading in the kingdom of God, leading doesn’t mean be the big deal.
Leading means you lead by example. You lead by example. you’re not at the back of the line exhorting the troops to go forward. you’re not the general sitting back there doing little chess pieces saying, oh, if we send these soldiers there, this many will die, but this many will get through.
No, that’s not, that’s not Christian leading. Jesus is our leader. He’s the first one through the wall. He went to the cross.
So to be a leader in God’s kingdom means that you give sacrificially by example and instruction to move the people forward in the mission of the church. But people will not do what you’re unwilling to do. People will not rise to a level that you have not gotten to. And to rise to this level in the church means to go this low. It’s a race to the bottom. It’s a race to the bottom. Jesus came as the king of the universe and he washed the muddy, stinky feet of 12 fishermen.
Remember when Dean Braxton was here and he talked about, in heaven there’s no bad smells because nothing’s done dying and decaying?
What do you think is more smelly than 12 fishermen 2000 years ago in Palestine? Anything smell worse than that? I mean, they got the combination of dead fish and incredible BO. It’s like. And Jesus just goes, yeah, I’ll wash their feet. I’ll hang around with those guys. And he did. And he did.
One of the best titles of a book I ever read on leading was Smell Like Sheep. Sheep are stinky.
But to be a good shepherd, you can’t do it from a distance. You got to be among the sheep. God didn’t lead from heaven. He led by leaving heaven and coming to earth.
You want to be a leader? Well, you can be the world. And we crave this in our culture. We love big names, headline. And I’m not saying that leaders of mega churches or big movements don’t do this. Many of them do. I’m simply saying if that’s the goal, to be something big, you’re missing the mark. That’s the world’s goal.
I want to be the goat. I want to be the greatest of all time. No, that’s the world’s goal. Our goal is I’ll be the least of these. I always tell men, you want to be the head of your house. That’s right. Bible says, I’m the head of the house. Good. Here’s what defines a successful man. your wife and your children shine. your wife and your children shine. And they do so because you serve them and you create a safe space for them to shine. That’s how it works in the kingdom.
And the last gift he talks about is mercy. Mercy is the grace of extending forgiveness and love to people in their time of need when they don’t deserve it. Mercy is not mercy if you deserve it. Right. Mercy is not mercy if you deserve it. Well, Pastor, I’d forgive them, but they hurt me really bad. Well, that’s the point. You wouldn’t need to forgive them if they hadn’t hurt you. It’s nice. It’s easy to be nice to nice people, right? Listen, she showed up to church. She hadn’t been here for a while.
I’ve never had a real hard time being nice to Kathleen Kelly. I mean, she just walks in as this little diminutive bomb of joy. It’s like, well, how’s that? How’s that? How’s that? Hard to be nice to her. But let me tell you, a couple of. No, not. Not you in this room. None of you in this room. But there are people. There are people. It’s like, yeah, egrs. That’s right. There are extra grace required people out there. Right? God will put some of them in your life.
You know who it’s really hard to be nice to. I’ll tell you, it’s hard to be nice to. you’re a parent and you have young children. Those are little selfish need machines, aren’t they? I mean, I was so grateful when my kids were little that I was dad, not Mom. Not that they didn’t make demands on me, but they would walk through the house and this is what you would hear. Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom. I thought, oh, thank the Lord, I’m Dad. Golly, I felt so bad for my wife.
Every once in a while, she said, you know, when they’re calling mom, you could get up and help. I said, well, I thought about it, but you love them, and you extend mercy, and you forgive them, and you want to be married a long time.
Anybody want to be next week? Not bragging, but next week? 44 years, July 11th. Yeah, I know. You should be clapping for Jill. 44 years next week.
You know what? Every good marriage is made up of two. Two good forgivers. Two good forgivers. Everything’s. Well, the longer you’re married.
No, the longer you’re married, the more annoying they get. Yeah. Yeah. And the more delightful. And the more delightful, because, you know, you thought 20 years ago you had hope that this was going to change, that that trait was going to change.
And now, after 40 years, like, that ain’t gonna change. That ain’t gonna change. That’s who I’m with. That’s the one I’m with.
And then. Then you. Then you start knowing. You start knowing, okay, I’m gonna say this, and this is how that person is gonna react, because I have 400 examples that will.
And then you think, well, why do I say it? You shouldn’t. But you do anyway. you’re kind of like Lucy with Charlie. Charlie Brown with Lucy. Maybe this time she won’t pull the ball away, but it’ll happen.
All right, guess what? You forgive and you realize they forget. People come to me, you know, it’s like they tell me about the spouse they’re married to who’s not perfect. It’s like, yeah, and guess who else is not perfect in this relationship? Guess who else married a less than perfect person.
But mercy, mercy more than good looks and money will keep a marriage going.
All right, listen, ladies. Mercy more than good looks and money will keep a marriage going. Listen, girls, mercy more than good. However, if you fall in love with a rich man, don’t hold it against him. Just saying.
All right, dear ones, you want to know what mercy is? It’s right there. Right there. That’s mercy.
On the night that he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it.
And he said, human race, disciples that I love, smelly fishermen that I hang out with, I took on this body not so I could experience the wonders of being human, but I took on this body so it would be broken for you because you’re broke.
And there’s blood in my veins. And in 24 hours, they’re going to whip my back and drive nails into my hands and feet and put a crown of thorn on my head, and that blood is going to be poured out upon the earth.
But I want to tell you something about that blood. This cup of wine, that is my blood, and it is being poured out for you. And guess what it does. It extends mercy. The forgiveness of sins. It is the blood of the New Covenant.
You want to enter into God’s New Covenant? It starts. Here’s the doorway. your sins are forgiven. your sins. The God of the universe, who we have rejected, who we have complained to and grumbled against, who we have said has treated us unfairly when he has been so good to us, whose laws and will we have violated because we thought we were smarter and we knew a better way.
How many of us ever did something because we. Well, God, I know that’s what the Bible says, but in this case, I know better. And I’m going to do this. Anybody do that in your life? You know, God, I know what the Bible says, but you know, I know what I’m feeling. I know what I’m feeling. I’ll tell you what. For all the annoying mom, mom, mom. How about poor God? Eight billion. Eight billion people. God, God, why? Why, why? Why? Call the wambulence why?
And God looks down upon that rabble and says, I’m going to become one of them. And I’m going to die for every act of cruelty, violence, hatred, and rebellion. And I’m going to pour out my blood upon them.
And all the mercy of heaven is going to be directed on them. And I’m going to remove their shame, and I’m going to make them into my everlasting children.
And they’re going to be transformed into the image of my son, Jesus. And all they have to do is just put their trust in me and align themselves with me. My spirit will come into them, and that transformation will begin.
And it is pure mercy. And we are the recipients of it. So there’s no reason in the world.
As you take that piece of bread tonight, you dip it in that juice or wine, not to say with all your heart, thank you. Thank you.
Remember when I said, giving is a great way to joy? You know what else is a great way to joy? Gratitude. Gratitude.
Today I left the church in Bremerton, and I got home, and I couldn’t find my key. I had my car keys, but I couldn’t find my house key. My house key is on the chain with the church key and my mailbox key.
I distinctly remember locking the door in Bremerton. And I drove home. After church, I’m tired, and I know I got to come back to Poulsbo, and I just want to take a nap. I could not find that key. It wasn’t in the pants pockets. I just thought, what did I do? I thought. I looked throughout the car. I looked through my book bag, couldn’t find the key. I thought, there’s only one explanation: left that key in the door. Or I dropped it, you know, on my way to the car.
So now I got to get back in my car. I got to drive back down to Bremerton. I’m tired. I’m grumbly. And I’m just. I’m picking on myself. I’m not. I’m picking on God’s creation. Like, why are you so stupid? Why do you do things like that, you dummy? You know, I’m just. And then it just.
And then the Holy Spirit said, stop. Stop it. Be grateful. And I just started thanking God. God, thank you that I have a house that has a key and a church that has a key and a mailbox.
Thank you that I have a car and I know how to drive back to church. And, Lord, I really pray that I find that key down there, because if I don’t have that key, I’m gonna have to put a chain on that door tonight. So whoever pulled that key out of the lock didn’t come back and rob us. And I’m just thinking all the hassles, but.
But, Lord, thank you that I have enough money to buy a lock and put it on that door if I need to put it on that door, and et cetera, et cetera.
And I just. And I got down to the church. The first thing is I looked at that lock, and the keys were not hanging on that lock. I said, oh, boy, here we go.
And I drove another 10 ft forward, and right next to where I parked, there was a shiny metal in the parking lot. And there were my keys. There were my keys.
And, oh, I was so happy. I was so happy. And I just. You know. And the trauma was so great, I had to go to McDonald’s and get a frozen Coke to just celebrate and to calm myself down.
Because that’s what you have to do. Don’t judge me. I didn’t get wine or beer. Come on. Just got a frozen Coke.
All right, it’s a slurpee. It’s a McDonald’s Slurpee. Yes, they do. Why? Because they’re a good place. They’re a happy place.
What flavor? I just got, I go basic Coke.
But they have lemonade, they have blue raspberry, they have Hawaiian punch. It’s grandkid heaven. Grandkid and grandpa heaven. Let’s go, grandkids. Grandpa’s gonna get you some sugar as an excuse to get him some.
Alright, enough of my confession. Have mercy on me. God does. And he has mercy on you. So take this and be grateful.
On the night that he was betrayed, he took bread and he broke it. Gave it to his disciples, said, this is my body, which was given for you.
And in the same way, after supper, he took the cup. He poured it out. He gave thanks to his Father in heaven.
Think about it. He knows he’s facing nails and a whip, and yet he gives thanks to his Father in heaven for the great sacrifice that he and his Father are going to make. He says, Father, thank you. My blood is going to be poured out, and you and I are going to reap the reward of your forever family.
That’s you. Do you know you’re Jesus’ reward? He’s got your picture on his refrigerator.
Every time he looks at you, he smiles. So come and be grateful. The food of God, for the people of God.
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