Live the Yes: Serve with Your God-Given Gifts

But you weren't made to be a spectator. If you're a follower of Jesus, you weren't made to be a pew warmer. You were made to be a participant in the greatest rescue mission in all of human history. And when you say yes to serving, you aren't just helping out a pastor or helping out a ministry team. You're not just helping out the church. You are stepping into the very purpose for which you were created. So let's stop storing the gifts, hiding them in a closet. Start using them. Let's live the yes. Amen. Would you stand with me? God, thank you for your multicolored grace that you've given this church. You have unique gifts sitting in this room. [00:38:39] (49 seconds)  #ServeNotSpectate

You see, some of us, we get serving anxiety because we think we have to be the source when we are just the delivery mechanism. I mean, yes, god uses us, and we get to be involved, but he needs to be the source. And we're just exchanging, and we're we're allowing the grace that God has given us in that gift to flow to the other person. But we think, you know, I can't lead a life group. I don't know enough. Or I can't pray for that person. What if I say the wrong thing? I just wanna encourage you, relax. Because you're not the source. You are not the manufacturer. You're the delivery person. If the package is great, it's because the sender is great. Can I get an amen at New Life Church today? [00:24:24] (50 seconds)  #NotTheSource

If you served a ministry, the Sunday where you feel like you're dragging an anchor to church and you just feel heavy. Peter gives us the secret to longevity. One of the secrets, I should should add. The strength that God provides. It's the strength that that God provides. When you serve in an area that God has gifted in you, here's what it should do. As you lean on the strength he provides, it actually refills your tank. It does. Yeah. Sure. You're gonna gonna get exhausted, physically tired, but it should refill your set your tank. You see, serving in a in a place that God has designed you and purposed for you, it's like God oxygen entering your lungs when you're doing what you're made to do. [00:28:15] (50 seconds)  #ServingRefills

To expand on that, it's every single one of you. Now we're talking to believers here in this context, but it's every single one of you. Each of you should use these gifts. In other words, there are no to put it into modern sports terms, there are no bench warmers in God's kingdom. Amen? We're not they have to say when I was a kid, they would say they would say, we're we're not just to warm a pew. How many well, some of you in the loft here at the Kearney campus, we still have some pews up there. If you need to know what a pew is, they're right up there. There are no pew warmers in the kingdom of God. There's no such thing as consumer only Christians. In fact, that's an oxymoron. [00:19:36] (45 seconds)  #NoBenchWarmers

If the package is great, it's because the sender is great. Can I get an amen at New Life Church today? If what you are giving in sharing your gift is great, it's because he's great. Your job is just to show up. Scripture says plant the seeds in water. Plant the seeds in water. It's God who gives the increase. Every single time on the weekend at New Life Church and when we invite people to surrender their life to Jesus and when somebody does that, that is God who is making that thing happen when it happens. We're just delivering the gift of sharing the good news and sharing the gospel and creating environments for people to be seekers of God, but he gives the increase. [00:25:06] (39 seconds)  #PlantSeedsGodGrows

So you have serving anxiety and you think, man, I don't know if God can use me. Just relax. Your job is just to be obedient, to say yes to God. And by the way, how do you get better if you're worried about, I don't know how I don't know if I'm gonna have the skills. And when we talk about serving in ministry at church, don't worry. There's people, guess what, that have done it before that will walk with you, that will help you grow in that gift. And most of the time, how do you get better at anything? It's by doing it, and it's by learning from others who have done it before. [00:25:44] (36 seconds)  #LearnByServing

If you're tired, say, God, show me the strength. I'm gonna wait on you. I'm gonna trust in you, and I know you promised that I'm gonna renew my strength. So look at your gifts, audit your closet, ask God for your strength. And then and then if you are not if you have not said yes and you know you feel like a nudging, I I need to say yes. Say yes. Say one yes this week. Find one area this week. And for some of you, it might be a baby step of just saying yes for an act of kindness, but say yes. For the others of you, you've been around long enough, you know. Right in front of you, there's a tap tag we use for various things. [00:37:39] (39 seconds)  #WaitOnGodSayYes

And so some of you are like, oh, here it comes. The church has a lot of volunteer spots they need to fill today. Alright? So here comes the here comes the heavy. But before you start checking your watches or mentally making your grocery list today or planning where you're going to lunch, serving a ministry, it's not about filling a hole on a volunteer pipeline. It's about it's about filling a space in your heart, and it's about finding fulfillment. The reason one of the reasons that God created you, he placed you on this planet, is to be a conduit to allow him to flow through your life, [00:15:06] (35 seconds)  #ServeForFulfillment