<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis gift that you have identified within\nyourself\u2026 it does not represent something that you own or possess or even have\ncontrol of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It represents something that God has\ngiven to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It represents a part of God\u2019s plan for\nthis world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It represents one way in which the Body\nof Christ, the church, is called to share the love of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have you ever thought about your gift\nthat way?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Have you ever thought about how your baking\nor knitting or carpentry was a part of God\u2019s plan for this world? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or how your mechanical skills or\nphotography or singing could bring the love of God to your neighbors? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or how your laughter or negotiating\nskills or sense of direction could be used to share the gospel? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How your mathematical sensibility or your\nhard work or your ability to listen is an integral and important part of the\nchurch?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or is your first response whenever the\ncall of Jesus Christ comes to look around and say, \u201cwho, me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was in junior high and high school\nI loved speaking in front of people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was always the first with my hand up\nwhen it came time to read out loud in class. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tried out for every play and musical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I signed up for speech contests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I competed, I practiced, I simply loved\ndoing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking in front of people came easily\nto me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was never something I had to think\ntwice about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I knew that in whatever field of work I\nchose, this skill would be useful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was something in the background,\nsomething I could fall back on, something I never had to think that much about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But one day in college, I was asked to\nprepare a sermon for our campus worship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Easy-peasy\u2026 I had written speeches\nbefore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I had preached before as a part of my\nyouth group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t worry too much about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the midst of the preparation however, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
in the midst of my wrestling with the\ntext and really trying to find God in the middle, something in me clicked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I realized that I wasn\u2019t just writing another\nspeech\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was sharing God\u2019s love with people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wasn\u2019t up there acting or putting on a\npersona\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
this was real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is what I was made for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God wanted me to share his good news with\npeople. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God created me to do this!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Paul tells the people of Rome and by\nextension us\u2026 we are like the parts of a body, parts of a vital ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We get our meaning from the body as a\nwhole \u2013 our gifts and skills find their purpose only in relation to these other\npeople and parts of God\u2019s family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each one of you matters to this body of\nChrist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each one of you has something unique and\namazing to offer to the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
God has created us for this! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want you to think for just a second\nabout what this church would be like if someone like Rick stopped playing\nguitar\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
or Wendell stopped fixing things\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
or Sherrie stopped calling on neighbors\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
or Ella stopped serving\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or Becky stopped asking amazing\nquestions\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or Hope stopped reaching out to friends\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What would happen if I decided to keep my\ngifts to myself, instead of sharing them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Think long and hard about that gift you claimed\nearlier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You have something unique and beautiful\nand powerful to offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are called by God to do amazing\nthings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, YOU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, we are welcoming three new people\ninto professing membership of the United Methodist Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are witnessing Becky, Ella, and Hope\nclaim their roles and their gifts as part of this Body of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their gifts join together with all of the\nother ones in our vibrant and rich ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our congregation is filled with teachers\nand accountants and musicians and creators and parents and builders and leaders\nand servants\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are stronger and healthier and more\nvibrant because each and every one of you are part of us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Paul writes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
since we find ourselves fashioned into\nall these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ\u2019s\nbody, lets just go ahead and be what we were made to be.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn everything you do, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
in everything that you offer, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
from the moment you wake up until the\nmoment your head hits your pillow at night,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ask how God can use you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take those gifts you have and share God\u2019s\nlove <\/p>\n\n\n\n
through every goodbye you make in the\nmorning <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and every meal you deliver to the elderly\nin our community <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and in every car your fix <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and in every meeting you have at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Share the good news through every post\nyou make on facebook <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and every class you have at school <\/p>\n\n\n\n
and in every game you play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do what you do with integrity, with love,\nwith compassion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul breaks it down like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If\nyou help, just help, don\u2019t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if\nyou give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don\u2019t get bossy; if you\u2019re\nput in charge, don\u2019t manipulate; if you\u2019re called to give aid to people in\ndistress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the\ndisadvantaged, don\u2019t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them.\nKeep a smile on your face.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nWe are the body of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are his living, breathing, hands and\nfeet in this world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In everything we do\u2026 let God shine\nthrough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Romans 12:3-8 As we start off this morning, I want you to find a blank piece of paper\u2026 or if you are on Zoom or Facebook, type in the comments or chat window. I want you to think of one thing that you are personally good at. What is one thing that you know…<\/span><\/p>\nContinue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6,1],"tags":[209,1609,418,855],"class_list":["post-3777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kenotic-words","category-ordinary-time","category-uncategorized","tag-confirmation","tag-ecosystem","tag-god","tag-romans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/F08CCF70-155D-4519-3ED98DC514B15764HiResProxy.jpg?fit=1000%2C671&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7cYpi-YV","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3777"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3783,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3777\/revisions\/3783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salvagedfaith.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}