Serve the Church

When my sons were younger, I coached them in baseball. I coached Tanner, my younger son, a little bit more than I coached my older son, Trace. And I connected with a guy, who his name's Paul and he's a buddy of mine, we connected in seeing each other in kind of the baseball world. And you kind of recognize like real baseball people sometimes when you're in Western New York, it's a very hockey and lacrosse and football kind of place. Basketball some as well, but not as much baseball, but we kind of identified one another as baseball guys. And we coached a bunch together, and we shared a same heart. We wanted to have fun with kids, we wanted to encourage kids, we wanted to be able to teach 'em to respect the game, to respect opponents, to play with integrity, to play hard, all those kinds of things. But man, Paul loves it when he meets people, however, that know me. And he doesn't, you know, he just runs into 'em, and they know me and he's like, "Oh, so you know Pastor Jerry?" And he's like, "I know him too, and I know a little something about him that maybe you didn't know." And they're like, "What?" And he's like, "Well, yeah, I mean," and he'll say some nice things and then he'll be like, "But you may not know he's got a competitive edge." "The man loves to compete," and it's true, it's not a lie. So if Paul ends up watching this, it's absolutely true. And I just figured, you know, I mean, it's a baseball game. It's not a PE class, the kids aren't out there to get exercise. Like there's a winner and there's a loser, and the way I figured it, we might as well win. Like if we're there, like we're playing the game to win, right? And that's just 'cause it is a game, right? It's not just a gym class where you're out there getting some exercise. So we would do that, and we did end up winning a lot, and it was great. Now, sports are kind of a window into what we value as a culture. And what we could say beyond a shadow of a doubt is that our culture values winning. It just does, ask any Bills fan the Monday after a loss us, and they will not be talking about how much fun they had getting together with friends and family, and eating pizza and wings and having the opportunity to hang out. No, they're going to just bellyache because it's just how it is, we wanted to win. It's why portions of Western New York call in sick the next day, sick when they're not really sick, because we want to win so badly. But why is it that we want to win so badly? It's because we have this innate desire to be better than someone else. We want our team to be better, we want to be better, we want to be higher and someone or something else lower, and it infiltrates everything about our whole lives. It's like when the young person gets their job at the law firm and their thinking to themselves already, who am I competing against? Because I wanna get my name on the door at some point, so who are my rivals? Or the person, the man or woman that enters into their first place of work, and are thinking to themselves, now, who are my adversaries here? Who are my competitors here in the place where I work, to be able to be the head of the department or be able to ultimately lead this place? Or the student who is thinking to themselves, how do I structure my schedule so that I can ultimately be the valedictorian? Who am I competing with, so that I can get into the more prestigious schools? This is just kind of how we're wired. We think that in ourselves, that ultimately greatness is about winning. Because in our culture, that's what's ingrained in us, to get to the top of our sport or our hobby, to get to the top of our school rank, to get to the top of our business, to get to the top of our social class. And ambition is okay, as long as it's holy ambition, but ambition can easily be corrupted. And so we have this desire for greatness, to be the best or to be better at the expense of others. Now, the desire for greatness has been around forever. And, by the way, I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't excel in what we do, we certainly should desire to excel in what we do. And that desire for greatness has been around for all of human history. Really, it's just been around since the very beginning. Maybe it would surprise you, or maybe not, that Jesus had to actually address his disciples about this particular issue because they had imbibed the idea of greatness from the world. And thought to themselves, no, no, no, there's a pecking order, and to be great is to be this, and this is to be lesser. And Jesus, he had to deal with that and address it, even with his own disciples. The story's in Matthew 20, if you want to take a look at it, and here's how the story begins in verse 20. It says, "Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and kneeling down, asked a favor of him." "What is it you want? He asked." "And she said, grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom." "You don't know what you're asking, Jesus said to them." "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" "We can, they answered." "Jesus said to them, you indeed will drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or my left is not for me to grant." "These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father." This is an interesting interchange that Jesus has, because I'm thinking to myself, I'm not sure if James and John are ever going to live down the fact that their mommy came and asked some things to Jesus on their behalf. That would not have gone over so well in a baseball dugout or a football locker room, yet here they are. And she's not asking for nothing, she's not asking for some little thing, she's asking for something huge. Jesus, when you finally come into your kingdom, I'm asking that you would allow James and John to sit in the positions of power on your right and your left. It's as if she was saying, hey, would you make my sons the VP and secretary of state? This is a massive ask. And, of course, we, you know, go back in our minds and we've thought about those times where we've seen parents, you know, start to do things for their kids and stuff. You know, it's like the mom asking the coach, "You know, my kid needs to be the quarterback, you know?" Or the mom coming into the band director and saying, "My daughter needs to be first chair clarinet, you know," and all of this kind of stuff. But James and John aren't in grade school, James and John are grown and are working age, which tells me something, James and John were in on it. James and John were having these conversations with mom, and I don't know who was initiating 'em, and I don't even know what the mentality was around them, but in my mind I'm thinking, why would she do something like this? Why would she say something like this? And we don't know, it's not answered for us. Maybe she thought, well, my sons are really high performers and they're really talented, and they really should be in these positions. This is gonna be good for the kingdom, 'cause of all the people that you've got that you've gathered together, and it's kind of a ragtag bunch, Jesus, but my kids are really sharp and they're really great, and you should use them. Or maybe she was thinking a little bit like it was a quid pro quo. Like, hey, they left their business to follow after you. So what you do for them is you give them positions of prestige or power. I'm not sure, because the scripture doesn't tell us, what the motivation was. Maybe she was just so proud of them, like some parents are, and they're maybe blinded to other things, not thinking about any things, just thinking about their own kids. I have literally no idea, but here's what I do know, all the rest of the disciples, not happy about it. Here's what it says in the next verse. When the 10, the other 10 disciples, other than those two, when the 10 heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. That word indignant, even in the Greek language, it means what you think, fiery, flaming-hot mad. They were not at all happy about this development when they found out about it. Wait, what? What? You guys went to Jesus and asked to be at his right and his left when he comes into his kingdom, wait, what? Now, why do you think the disciples were mad, by the way? It's possible, I don't know, I'm not sure, it's possible though, that maybe they were mad because James and John beat them to it, because they had the same idea of greatness. And they're thinking, wait, what we were gonna, whoa, no. Or they're thinking, how could you James and John? You think you're better than us, but we're actually as deserving as you are. And now, everybody's competing for the top spot to try and figure out who the greatest of them all is. And Jesus realized that he's got 12 disciples who are now arguing about all of these things, so he calls a little huddle and here's what he says. "Jesus called them together and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their high officials exercise authority over them, but not so with you." "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant." "And whoever wants to be first must be your slave." Jesus completely redefines the cultural idea of greatness that both them and we have, and he turns it on its ear. In fact, Jesus has been teaching them what it means to be great is ultimately to serve God. And now, he kind of builds that out a little bit to give them some practical implication as to what that means. If I were just writing it crisply, I would simply say that greatness is serving God by serving his people. This is principally what we're learning here from Jesus' teaching, that greatness is serving God by serving his people. Or maybe I could say it even shorter, greatness is serving his church. The church is the people of God, it's not just an institution or a building, it's the people of God. And greatness is really found in serving the people of God. You see, what Jesus told them in this passage is he said, look around, what you see is not greatness. You see the Roman rulers that are here that are oppressive to us, and you see their high stations and you see how they lord it over one another, and they literally live to be served. That's what they do, they live to be served. And in fact, you think that they're actually of a different class of people than you are, because they were born into some of these things. And so you think that they're great all by their essence, and that they live to be served and to have people serve them. And Jesus says to them, that's not how it is with you. That is not how it's to be with you. And Jesus would say to us as well, hey, don't be fooled. You're looking around in the world and you see the same thing is being argued about all the time in the world that we live in. And Jesus says to you, not so with you. This is not what we embrace as greatness, living to see people serve us because we have somehow stepped over them to get what we think is above them. Jesus says it's very different than that, this is about turning it all upside down. You see in Jesus, everything gets turned upside down. But here's the beauty of that is because the world that we live in through sin and rebellion, where it was a initially beautifully made and created and operating as it should, then the world gets turned upside down by our sin and rebellion. So when Jesus shows up and begins to turn things upside down, he's actually turning things right side back up, that's what he's doing. He's fixing what is broken. You see, in Jesus and you see it all through the scripture, in Jesus, there's this upside down kingdom. In Jesus, the poor are actually rich. In Jesus, the first are last and the last are first. In Jesus, the humble are exalted and the exalted are humbled. In Jesus, lower is higher. In Jesus, service is greatness. You see, this is the kingdom mentality that Jesus is bringing to his disciples in this teaching. The question that we have to ask is this, how do we pursue greatness by serving the church, or serving the people of God? Because that's what Jesus is saying. He's saying, greatness is found in serving one another. If you wanna be great, that's what he says, you wanna be great, this is how you do it. So how do we pursue greatness in serving the church? Lemme give you two quick thoughts. The first is this, is that we use our gifts and our experiences to serve the church. This is what we would do, we would use our gifts and our experiences to serve the church. Now, here's what's interesting. Jesus has called a huddle and he's got his disciples, and two of the disciples' mommy, they're all there together, right? You know what this group is? This group is the seed of the church, that's what this group is. Now, it would just be a little bit later where the Spirit of God would descend in power at the time of Pentecost. And the Spirit of God would now take abode in the life of people, which was going to be a new movement of God in the course of church history, in the course of human history. And that was coming, but what was interesting about this is that Jesus knew this was coming, even when he is correcting his disciples about what true greatness is. And that really is about serving one another. Because when the Spirit of God comes, the Spirit of God's ministry is to magnify Jesus and Jesus' teaching, that's what the Spirit of God does. Jesus actually teaches us that through the course of John's gospel, teaches us what the ministry of the Spirit is. The Spirit does not bring attention to himself, the Spirit brings attention to the Son of God. The Spirit magnifies the Son of God, and leads us into all truth from the Son of God who is the truth. This is what the ministry of the Spirit does. And so it's interesting that when Paul is writing about the ministry of the Spirit who gives gifts, what the purpose of those gifts are. They're gonna be exactly what Jesus told his disciples, to serve, that's what it's going to be. Now, Paul begins in 1 Corinthians 12 by saying these words. "Now about the gifts of the spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed." And then it goes on in verse 4 to say, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them." "There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord." "There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work." "Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." This is a beautiful picture. Paul is about to give us three chapters on the gifts of the Spirit because he's having to deal with a church in Corinth that is abusing and misusing them. And so Paul is gonna give us some teaching in three chapters, chapter 12, 13, and 14, around this idea. And when he's introducing this idea, it's a beautiful Trinitarian picture. Here's what he says, the Spirit is who gives you the gifts. And then Jesus, the Lord, is the one who gives you your arena of service. And then God, the Father is the one who determines the, the term there is working, but it's from in the Greek language, which means kind of the effects or the scope or the domain of where you would use that giftedness. So it's a beautifully Trinitarian picture that says it's the same God who's giving different gifts and different arenas of service and scope to every one of his people. And what's interesting is that Paul would later contextualize that in that chapter, in chapter 12. When he gets to verse 31, he says this, "But desire the greater gifts, and I will show you an even better way," or in some translations, "A more excellent way." See, this desire for the greater gifts is not Paul trying to rank them all. These are gifts of the Spirit, right? For the service of the body of Christ. What he's trying to do is contextualize their use. And when he says, I will show you a more excellent way, what's he showing them? It moves us right into chapter 13, and that's the love chapter, right? Now, that chapter's not there so we can read it at weddings, it's there because Paul is contextualizing how we use the gifts of the Spirit. That if they're not used in love, which would show itself in service to the body of Christ, then you're not using them the right way. When your gifts are for the purpose of basically showing yourself or when they are serving self, you're not doing it right, Paul says. Paul says this is ultimately about love. Now, Paul also gives us real clear understanding that what that love will do is serve the body. Here's what he says in 1 Corinthians 14, later on in this dialogue about gifts. He says, "Since you're eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church." You're eager for gifts, but do, listen, here's the ones you want, the ones that build up the church. Not, listen, you're not looking for things that just try to build ourselves, we are trying to build up the church, Paul is teaching us. Here's why, listen carefully. Our gifts that are given by the Spirit, and everybody has 'em, everybody that comes to Jesus is gifted by the Spirit of God, every single person. You're like, "I'm not so sure," you better be sure because he said it was true, every single one of us. But listen carefully, your gifts are not yours. You received them. Your gifts are not for you, they're for us. The gifts that God has given me aren't for me, they're for you. The gifts that God has given you, they're not for you, they're for us. And everybody should be exercising whatever giftedness and skillset and experience that God has gifted to them by grace to be involved in service to the body of Christ. Now, Peter, when Jesus called this huddle together to help reshape their minds about what greatness actually is, Peter was in that group too. James and John were kind of the flashpoint for this conversation, but Peter was in that group, right? And you know what Peter wrote later on, when he was an old man? He's probably, he's got all of this in his background, here's what he wrote in 1 Peter 4. He said, "The end of all things is near." Therefore, be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray." "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins." "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling." Listen to this, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." Did you hear that? That whatever God has given to you, here's what you're supposed to do with it, be a steward of it. You know why he's saying that we're a steward of it? It's not ours. It's not ours. He's given it to us, and so what our job is, is to use that gifting to serve others, to serve the body of Christ. "If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God." "If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides." "So that in all things God," not us, "May be praised through Jesus Christ." "To him," not us, be the glory and the power forever and ever, amen." Are you seeing this? This is just really building upon the teaching that Jesus has given to his own disciples in Matthew 20. Paul reminds us of how we're supposed to serve one another anyway, in Galatians 5. He says this, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another humbly in love." And do you know that people can even use their giftedness to indulge their flesh? Paul says, that's not the point, the point is serving one another in love. But notice you're saying to yourself, well, man, here's the thing, Jerry, I don't know that I've got gifts, I'm not really sure that I've got any. Listen carefully to me, you do. You're like, well, how do I figure 'em out? Okay, there's resources available. Lik, you can go online and take a spiritual gifts test if you wanna do that. You can go to our Chapel Plus on our website, and there's some teaching around there around spiritual gifts if you wanna do that. But let me just go ahead and tell you, the best way to do this is a living test, not a written test. You say, "What do you mean by that?" Just start serving, that's how you figure it out. You may start serving and realize, nope, God has not gifted me by his grace to do this. And everybody around you might go, you're right. But you know what? Now you just go serve in another arena. And at some point everybody's gonna go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, God's graced them to be able to do this. God's helped them. Great, that's how we figure it out. So just get serving, because here's the thing, if you start serving, it helps you figure that out. If you just sit back and try to just be theoretical about it all, nope. I've talked to those people, I've talked to 'em a million times. "I'm a teacher." No, you're not. You're actually not, you want to be, because you've got gift envy because this is about you, it's not about the body. Yeah, but they do this and they do that, and I really, I wanna do that. Why don't you do what Jesus made you to do? Why don't you do what the Spirit gifted you to do? Why don't you just do that? It's perfectly fine. He's happy about it. It's good for the body. But you also have to use your experiences as well to serve the body, not just your giftedness, but your skills and your experiences. In fact, Paul ends his letter, his first letter to Corinth, and then he begins his second letter with that same idea. And here's how he says it in 2 Corinthians 1, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles." Listen to this, "So that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." Did you catch that? The grace that God has given you to comfort you in your time of trouble, whatever that looks like, it's not just for you, it's for others. God's comforting you, but he's doing it for the sake of other people so that you then can steward that grace that's been given to you to serve the church. So if it's grief, or if it's trial, or if it's difficulty, or if it's cancer, or if it's whatever it might be, right? If it's a life circumstance, a marriage circumstance, a relational issue, whatever it may be, as God graces you and heals you and grows you and shows you all of that, you steward that because God's gonna use it to serve the church, that's the point. I've put people together in this church where somebody's come to me and they've said, you know, and they told me about a very significant thing that's happened in their life. And I thought to myself, huh, that's also happened to them, and God's walked them through it. And I've said, "I'm gonna introduce you guys, maybe you should have coffee." "Maybe you should just go hang out over at Stir and have a conversation." And it has blossomed the ability to serve one another in the body of Christ. So whatever it is, our skills, our talents, any of those things, when we come to Jesus, Jesus expects that we use what he's given us and what the Spirit gives us to serve him. 

- When we come to Jesus, Jesus expects that we use what he's given us and what the Spirit gives us to serve him. I've got a great illustration of that from a friend of mine named Mark who's in our church. And I want you to meet him, take a look.

- Hi, I'm Mark, I'm one of the bassists here at The Chapel. Thursdays are rehearsal days, and I'll end up working a 10 hour day that day. I'll get out early, and head straight to rehearsals. We'll go through the songs, we'll walk sort of like a walkthrough on what's gonna happen on Sunday. Between Friday and Saturday, I'll practice through my songs once or twice a day. Then it's, we're ready for Sunday morning. Music for me, used to be all about me, you know? Come check my band out, check me out, check out what we can do. It was always my outlet, all about getting my aggravations out. Jesus, to me, always used to be a bad word. Church was always this scary place to go to. It was just, I'm gonna be judged here and there, you know? And walking in The Chapel just opened my eyes to a whole new experience on becoming one with Christ. My aunt was getting baptized, so she invited myself, my wife. Sitting there through the service, watching my aunt get baptized and just listening to the music, I just realized it was someplace that I needed to be. At one point last year it was, I don't wanna play anymore. I made that decision that I was gonna quit the band that I, whew, that I was gonna quit the band that I was in, with 20 plus year friendships with the band members. And just say, you know, "I quit, I'm done, I don't wanna play anymore." While I was figuring out all the stuff that I had, I looked on Instagram and there was open auditions for The Chapel. I took that as, God doesn't want me to quit my plan, he gave me a gift. From what I used to know about church, there's no way I would have ever possibly thought that I could play bass at a church. I'm here now, and I'm not going nowhere. I'm at this point now to where I'm realizing God gave me that gift way back when, and I never realized it till now. The music we're playing that I'm playing now and I'm serving with now is meaningful, and it gives me a purpose. And it's not about me anymore, it's about bringing the light of Jesus through me to everybody. Actually hearing people singing and praising and worshiping through the music that I'm putting out there, It means a lot, like a lot to me. Through serving, it has gotten me to the point in my faith to where I wanted to be baptized, and I ended up getting baptized. The truth of the gospel has given me a reason to love and worship our Lord. I know that I will never be without the love of Jesus, and his sacrifice has saved me. It's amazing, I just love serving. I can't wait for that email to say, "Hey, do you wanna play this weekend?" "You wanna play that weekend?" I just love serving for The Chapel.

- A great story, huh? You may have seen him, he was playing bass this morning, in fact, was on our schedule. I love what he said when he said, everything used to be about me. He said, but now he recognized that what Jesus had given to him, what the spirit of God had equipped him with, that he was to serve God by serving the people of God. So how do we pursue greatness in serving the church? We use and steward our gifts and our experiences to serve the church, but lemme give you a quick second thing, it's this, that we also model the example of Jesus to serve the church. That this is also a responsibility that we have. And this is what Jesus was helping his disciples in this conversation to understand. Look with me again, verse 26 through 28, Jesus says, hey, you remember what they all are doing around you, all these Romans, you know? He said, "Not so with you." "Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." You see, the Roman leaders that were there, they seemed exceptional and they seemed powerful when they would all look around and see them. And Jesus may have seemed common, potentially. The Roman leaders, they lived to be served, but Jesus lived to serve, to serve God, and to serve others. And Jesus didn't just teach it, Jesus modeled it. Jesus showed his disciples, did not just tell his disciples, he showed them. Because not long after he had this huddle with James and John and their mommy, and all the rest of the disciples, not long after that, the time of Passover would come around and Jesus would be gathering with his disciples for one final meal. And at that meal, Jesus does something absolutely extraordinary to help them see what he's actually been teaching them. In John 13, they record this particular event in the life of Jesus. It says, "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God." "So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist." "And after that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." Every time I read that passage in John 13, Jesus knew that all authority and all power had been given to him. And he knew that he had come from God and he was returning to God, so, I'm always surprised at what comes after the so, because of the prologue, all power's been given. He's come from God, he's returning to God. So he's gonna flex some God stuff, that's not what he does. It's says, so, he just put on the clothing of a servant and he got on his knees and he washed the feet of his disciples. Humble service is surprising in a culture that thinks greatness is something different. It surprises us, just like when we read that, we are surprised in some degree that this occurred. But what's surprising to us, I think, that Jesus got down and washed the feet of his disciples, is that we know as we read that passage, that Jesus is actually a reflection of God. He says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And so Jesus is a beautiful, perfect reflection of the Father. And he Jesus is on his knees, washing his disciples' feet. And what surprises us about that is that must mean to us that actually God himself humbly serves, 'cause that's what Jesus is doing. You see, if we backed it all the way up to Eden, we'd figure out that that was true. Because as all things were created beautifully, and humankind basically dove headfirst into rebellion and sin and broke this relationship, and then tried to hide from the God who made them. And put on some fig leaves and branches and stuff to cover themselves up, but God said, this won't do, this is temporary, it's not going to work. God sheds the blood of an animal and he covers them and clothes them himself. God kneeled down and served the first human beings. And Jesus is showing us the very heart of God, when he kneels down and he washes the feet of his own disciples. Because what he's doing is not just cleaning their body part, their feet, he's actually showing us what he's going to do when he exits that place. That he is going to serve them and us by going to a cross and dying for our sin, because we cannot save ourselves. Jesus is showing them that hope comes because he has served them. And you and I better be thanking God that Jesus has served us in this way. Because without it, we would be lost and we would be hopeless and we would be helpless, but Jesus has gone all the way in serving us. So listen to me, friends, Jesus' role is unique, he only can save, but what we're supposed to do is to model his example. We can't save people, but we model his example of sacrificial service. And by the way, I think John, I think he got this. Here's why I say that, James and John were the flashpoints for this whole conversation starting, right? We wanna be, you know, we wanna be the VP and the secretary of state. We want positions of prestige when you come into your kingdom, they were the flashpoints. But John got it, because when Jesus went to the cross, watch what John records. "When Jesus saw his own mother there," Mary, "And the disciple whom he loved standing nearby," which is John, "Jesus said to her, woman, here's John and he's your son." "And he said to the disciple, John, here's your mother." "And from that time on, the disciple took her into his home." Listen to me, do you think that Jesus said to John, I'm gonna ask you to now take care of my mom because I'm dying, and I'm gonna rise again, but I've got other things that I'm going to be doing, but I'm gonna ask you to take care of my mom because you've got the gift of hospitality? No, why'd he do it? Because there was a need, and he could meet it. Do you think Jesus died on the cross for our sins because he was good at it, 'cause he had a special gift of dying? He did it because there was a need, and only he could meet it. So brothers and sisters, whether or not you've figured everything out about your own giftedness, and you should, at the end of the day, what Jesus has taught us is greatness, is there are needs, and we meet them. That's what we do, because that's what he did. So what does that look like for you? Well, there's a million different ways that could be for you. I mean, there's certainly ways within the body here, within our ministries of The Chapel that you could get involved. But there's also, by the way, ways in which that you just show up every single week, and you should be with a mindset, you should be thinking about, how can I serve the people of God as I enter into worship? Because what happens too often is you come in, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes late, and then you're the first ones out the door, you know why? Because this was about you, you just came to consume for yourself. Now, I say it in love, but I'm telling the truth, I'm telling the truth. We can come in here, even if we don't have a formal job, so to speak, you know? We may not be working with children or students, and by the way, we need people working with children and students. We may not be greeters or ushers or parking lot attendants or whatever, but we need all of those things. We may not be behind the scenes, helping with a million different things, but we need all of those things. But whatever it is, whatever your role, whatever, when you just show up, there's people around you, people that may need love, people that may need encouragement, people that may need prayer, people that have needs that you may not even care about or know about, but maybe God wants you to help meet them. What if you actually entered in, thinking about how you can serve the body of Christ? You know why? That's greatness. That's what Jesus teaches us greatness actually is. So, every one of Jesus' people should serve the church, every single one, 'cause it's what Jesus taught us. And he said, this is the way of greatness. Let's bow our heads together. We'll be dismissed in a moment, and after I say amen, John's gonna give you just a quick connection point of some of you, if you want to learn maybe more ways that you can serve and connect. But maybe you're here and you've never before entrusted your life to Jesus, I wanna remind you that because he served the world by giving his life to pay the penalty of sin, you can actually be free and forgiven. And it's because of what Jesus has done. And if you've never experienced that forgiveness and new life, then today you can. There'll be men and women that'll be down front when we dismiss in just a few moments, and they would love to take a moment and talk to you about what life in Jesus really looks like. Father, I pray by the work and power of your own Spirit, that you would do your good purpose in our hearts and our lives, and that we will respond in ways that you lead us to do what you ask us to do, so that we may pursue greatness by serving you through serving your people. We ask you to do this in Jesus' name, amen.