Yesterday, I watched a video of the metamorphosis of a butterfly.
As a youth, I learned of the 4 stages:
The egg- layed in a host plant
The caterpillar-breaks out of the egg, eats the eggshell, feeds on the host plant
The cocoon-hangs on the host plant and forms a cocoon, then emerges as a butterfly.
However, I had never seen a time-lapsed video of the 4 stages. Pretty amazing for sure!
I watched this video because that’s what today message went through!
• On Sunday afternoon, I had a word of what todays message was going to be. I even had a title for my message; Rock Bottom. That was “the egg” stage of this metamorphisis.
• Then something Lisa said to me about someone she knew of, who did not attend church on Fathers’ Day.
o Here was his take: On Mothers’ Day, a big deal is made about mom’s, and he elaborated on that a bit.
o But on Fathers’ Day, dads are “preached at” how they should be better fathers.
? Do you remember the original title of today’s message?
o Rock Bottom- I’ll let you decide the context of that message!
• So, I began to pray again about the message. I began working on a completely different message, but more or less, the same theme.
o New message, new title: Sky High (no, seriously)
o So now, I’m in the larvae stage: feeding on God’s Word
• Then something someone said to me a couple of days later, caused my message to take another turn, but by this point I am in the cocoon stage of the message. I’m meditating on God’s word.
• Finally, about 3:30 yesterday morning, today’s message came to me. It emerged as a beautiful butterfly!
o Why? Because it became God’s Message!
I’ve prayed that God’s Message today is a beautiful butterfly, not an icky egg!
-God I pray that you take us from being an icky egg, and transform us into beautiful butterflies!- Amen
Let’s get started!
BODY
Back in April, we examined three passages in the NT that explained the spiritual gifts given to us. Those are found in:
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Ephesians 4:11
Romans 12:3-8
Repeat a couple of times
We considered how each person of the Trinity gave us spiritual gifts. Some overlap, while others are found unique in Themselves.
• Ephesians 4:11- Jesus gave these gifts to the church-we examined this passage in April.
• 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 - Gifts distributed by the Holy Spirit to the individual
• Romans 12:3-8 - Gifts from God to the individual-
o Ephesians-Jesus giving spiritual gifts
o 1 Corinthians-Holy Spirit distributing the spiritual gifts
o Romans 12: spiritual gifts from God
• We are going to take a closer look at Romans 12:3-8 today.
Set up Romans 12.
Chapters 1-11 Paul goes into detail of the great plan of salvation.
After reading these 11 chapters, it would be natural for us to ask, now what?
Chapters 12-16 instructs us to that very question.
Paul tells us how to respond to the benefits of salvation!
Please stand with me as we honor God while reading His word.
Romans 12:3-8 (read from my bible)
Begin in v1
v.1 “as a living sacrifice” re-read the verse and comment
v.2 “don’t follow this world” story of actors in the doctors’ office
v.3 re-read NLT Because of the privilege and authority God has given me I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. “ouch”
v.6-7 “different gifts”
Camp in v.6-8 for just a few minutes.
Read v6. NKJV- ask others to read
Read v7-ask others to read
Read v8-ask others to read
So, if you have received your salvation through Christ Jesus and are asking yourself “now what”, ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you about the spiritual gifts God has given you.
My grandmother used to say those special trinkets in her glass case were “look pretties”. That meant you didn’t touch them, cause they were “look pretties”, not meant to be touched!
Your spiritual gifts are NOT “look pretties” encased in glass, they are tools to be used for God’s glory!
Behave like Christians
When we look at v6-8, I believe Paul is telling us we need these spiritual gifts to guide us to behave like Christians as explained in v9-17
Read v9-17 from my bible then recap
v.9 let love be w/o hypocrisy. One of the biggest criticisms of Christians is hypocrisy. If you took a poll, of why people quit attending church, that could be the leading reason.
v.10 kindly affectionate- ESV says “outdo one another in showing honor”. (one up/outdo in some many things, let’s try outdoing one another in showing honor)
v11 don’t’ be lazy – I can’t find anywhere in the bible where we are instructed as Christians to be average. (average salesperson)
v12 pray
v13 help those in need
v14 bless those who persecute you- think that might be challenging? Which spiritual gift might come in handy there?
v.15 rejoice and weep- last week we had the opportunity to rejoice when Craig re-dedicated his life and took water baptism. Yesterday morning I learned of a Christian brother who passed away. I wept. Not for him, but for his son and wife!
v.16 Don’t be holier than thou. That same poll that I mentioned earlier, would probably have hypocrisy and 1st or 2nd and “holier than thou” as the other.
v.17-21 Paul finishes out his advice on how to behave like a Christian.
• I’m going to encourage everyone here today to read and pray about how v17-20 apply to you.
In closing:
• If you don’t know what your spiritual gifts are, that’s ok. We can discover them together.
I encourage you to start somewhere!
As Christians, our time on the sidelines, and in the bleachers is over! It is time we suit up for battle!
Listen to this speech given by Teddy Roosevelt in 1910 in Paris France. It was 35 pages long! Teddy Roosevelt is in my top 3 Presidents.
“It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Ask worship team to close us out in worship.
Say goodbye to online viewers.
Last week after service, Dan said “how long have we been waiting for our children’s church to flourish?”
From time to time since 2018, when I read Robert Morris’s book “The Blessed Church” and he quoted Zechariah 4:10, it has been a verse that I have held close!
Pray us out.
