Step Out of the Audience: Play Your Note

God doesn't save you just from the penalty of sin and leave you in the audience. He dignifies you. He invites you into the family business, and the Holy Spirit is actively dwelling within you. He patiently teaches you how to use your old instrument. He guides your hands, and when you play the wrong note, and you will, he doesn't kick you off the stage. His grace covers the distance, and he gently leans in and he whispers, watch my hands. Try again. Let's find the rhythm together. [00:44:42] (31 seconds)  #PlayWithGrace

Everyone wanted David to fight like a regular soldier. King Saul gave him his armor, but David knew he was gifted in a different way. He walked onto the field of battle with a sling, an unconventional, almost embarrassing instrument compared to the swords and spears around him. But because he was willing to use the gift that God had empowered him and trained him with, the entire nation experienced victory. Don't try to pick up someone else's instrument. Play your own. [00:37:15] (34 seconds)  #PlayYourOwnInstrument

A word to those that feel too small. Don't compare yourself to other people in the body. The greatest gifts are the ones that are unseen. The triangle is not inferior to the cello. It's different. And if everyone played the cello, we'd have a not a symphony, but we'd have a one dimensional cello choir. If God wired you to serve in the background, don't envy the person who has the microphone. Your faithfulness in the shadow is not a consolation prize. It's the architecture that makes everything else possible. Play your note with absolute wholehearted joy. chose you and designed you in this way. [00:43:33] (53 seconds)  #HiddenGiftsMatter

It's about the common good, that our gift isn't for our spotlight. It's not so that we can feel significant or impressive or needed. It's so that the whole symphony works, so the whole congregation is served. And as the congregation is served, we work together as a community to proclaim Christ's music to a needy world and meet the needs of our world. Then he uses a second metaphor that's just as powerful later on in that chapter, that the body is not made up of one part but many. The eye can't say to the hand, I don't need you, and the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. [00:32:04] (47 seconds)  #OneBodyManyParts

And one day, in this we're we're being kind of led to this day of recreation, that the church is a dress rehearsal for eternity. And in Revelations chapter seven, we're told that one day, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation will gather around the throne of God in one unified eternal symphony. And so what we're doing right now is preparation for that moment. You're not just going to church. You're rehearsing for eternity. And so when you look at scripture, you have this overarching arc of salvation, creation, fall, redemption, recreation. [00:35:09] (53 seconds)  #RehearsingForEternity

And God didn't God gave the prophets an idea of what the temple was to look like, but he didn't just give them the plans and walk away. He did something extraordinary. He filled some workmen with the power of the Holy Spirit so that they could work with the the the gold and the silver, the bronze, and the wood. And and these great craftsmen worked together to build the house where God's presence would dwell. A tradesman's shaped the house of God. Your hands might do the same if you pick up the instrument. [00:36:35] (38 seconds)  #CraftedForHisPresence

Priscilla and Aquila, these two New Testament Christians, they didn't write the books of the bible. They were tent makers who opened up their home, and they used their dining table as a pulpit and their living room as a classroom. They pulled a gifted young preacher, Apollos, they quietly taught him a more complete understanding of the gospel. Their gift was hospitality and behind the scene mentorship. Without their quiet harmony, some of the early church's greatest leaders would never found their footing. The most important gifts in this room might be the ones that no one ever sees. [00:38:27] (50 seconds)  #BehindTheScenesLeaders

We expect the professionals, the pastor, and this wonderful music leader and our team to perform. And you might be sitting in the pew saying, well, I don't have a theology, and I'm not a leader, and I'm just here to listen. And we leave our instruments in the case. But what if I told you that in God's kingdom, there are no one's in the audience, that everyone's given a part to play? The church has never been designed to be a concert hall where a few people perform and everyone watches. It's designed to be a symphony where every single person holds an instrument and every sound is essential. [00:29:05] (50 seconds)  #EveryonePlays