Different Gifts, Same Mission
Using Our Spiritual Gifts To Serve Both Locally and Globally.
Dan Franklin
Jan 16, 2022 38m
Are we using our spiritual gifts to serve others? This message calls on church members, the body of Christ, to use our unique spiritual gifts to serve in the church, locally and globally. We are reminded that the church is not the building, instead, the church is wherever God's people are. Video recorded at Upland, California.
TranscriptionmessageRegarding Grammar:
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
This is a transcription of the sermon. People speak differently than they write, and there are common colloquialisms in this transcript that sound good when spoken, and look like bad grammar when written.
Life Bible - Different Gifts, Same Mission
Intro: [00:00:00] Hey, there. Thanks so much for checking out one of our messages here at Life Bible Fellowship Church. And we know there are two great ways you can connect with us. You can visit our website at LBF.church to learn more about all of our ministries and what we believe. And also, you can subscribe to us on YouTube to make sure that you don't miss one of our future videos.
Dan Franklin: [00:00:19] This year, for kind of our Go Team Sunday, which maybe we are more and more broadly calling our Serving Sunday, things are a little bit different this year. It's been a couple of years since we've gone overseas. it's been a couple of years since we've got to do the sort of go teams that we wanted to, and so part of what we wanted to talk about today is that we're in essence in a rebuilding season, as many churches are, and as many facets of society are right now. And if you're a sports fan, you know the whole term of being in a rebuilding season, it's when your team is not quite what they're meant to be, maybe they've experienced some losses and some transitions, and now it's the time of building back up to where you want to be. And Troy, there's kind of a parallel to where our church is at right now when it comes to the idea of being in a rebuilding season.
Troy Spilman: [00:01:04] Yeah, when you have a rebuilding season, you know, the whole idea is that there have been some changes and some shifting. You're not necessarily going for the championship, that'd be great, but really, you're trying to rebuild, you're trying to fortify, or kind of change around, certain things to make it better. I mean, when's the last time the Angels haven't been in rebuilding season?
Dan Franklin: [00:01:24] I wasn't going to say it, but fair enough. We can't all be vying for the Championship every year. But it's interesting because it has...Sorry, I didn't know that was going to get that big of a reaction. As a church, you know, there's a parallel, of course, the funny thing is we're never trying for a championship, and then we're done as the church, in a sense, we're always building. But we do recognize that this is a season of time where we say things aren't quite as fortified as maybe they were before COVID, and before the shutdowns. And we have, like a team has, we've had some people that would have been long-term parts of our church that are no longer here. we've had people come on that we had never met before COVID, and now they're a core part of our church. And one of the cool things that happens during a rebuilding season, is maybe there have been people waiting on the wings sort of like, all right, I'll get in there as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning and help out, and now you're being asked to play a bigger role because God has opened up opportunities and given us that reminder that we all need to use our gifts.
Dan Franklin: [00:02:25] And so we're going to be going through this passage that Lauren read, this passage in Romans Chapter 12 verses 3 through 8. So if you have a Bible and you're not already there, you can make sure that you get there. And it's a passage that eventually delves into the idea of spiritual gifts, but also gives us a bigger framework of how we talk about those gifts. So we're going to start in verse 3, and the cool thing that verse 3 does, is it gives us this big picture perspective before Paul even starts to talk about spiritual gifts. He says, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." And so there are several things, that these could all be like an individual, deeper event that we could delve into this. But this is a powerful idea, that Paul starts before he even talks about spiritual gifts, and the calling, you're important and you need to use your gifts for the good of the church, he starts with this idea that we have received grace, that we shouldn't think of ourselves more highly than we ought, and then he even goes as far as to say the faith that we have in God, which we might think is faith that we generated, he says no, not even that, even that was something that God started the process for.
Dan Franklin: [00:03:43] It's a very humbling first verse, it doesn't give us any room to have the impression, man, the church is really lucky to have me. I come here, and I may throw them a bone every so often and help out in some way, they're really lucky to have somebody as talented as I am. Instead, we start with the idea that we are recipients of God's pure grace, that we just celebrated when we celebrated communion, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, which brings us into the family, and even our response of faith is something that we couldn't have if God didn't start that process for us. So we start this whole discussion really with the idea of humility.
Troy Spilman: [00:04:22] Yeah, we don't serve out a sense of pride, hey, look at me, but out of thankfulness, we're thankful for what God has done in our lives. Thankful people will serve, they see that they have a place in this, they have a role. I mean, it's kind of amazing to me that God would choose us, you know, we're nothing special, but yet he wants to choose us, he wants to use us to do his work here on this Earth. We are plan A, there is no Plan B, and so he wants to use each one of us. So I really feel like the key for me is, am I willing to say yes? Am I willing to say yes to the Lord, even in the small things, because if you're faithful in the small things, you'll be faithful in the bigger things?
Dan Franklin: [00:05:06] Absolutely. And that's our framework, you know, some of you might think like, all right, I know it's the body and the gifts, and I know I'm going to be told I need to serve. And yes, you are, that is coming, so you're not wrong. But before we start this from the framework of saying we are all, we have received grace, and that's why grace comes pouring back out of us. We start as recipients first and foremost, and then grace comes out. And a couple of times he uses grace as the signifier for spiritual gifts.
Dan Franklin: [00:05:34] So big picture perspective, in verses 4 and 5, he sort of narrows throughout this passage, so now he kind of narrows to the sphere in which he wants to apply this idea of our humility. In verses 4 and 5, he says, "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." And so this is not the only time Paul uses this metaphor of the idea of us being many members of one body, and the way this all works is you imagine, all right, we've got a physical body, the head, that's Jesus. Jesus is in charge, it's his body, but we all make up the different parts of that body.
Dan Franklin: [00:06:20] And so even as we talk about the idea of being in a rebuilding season, you know, maybe a parallel to the body idea would be that team idea, where you recognize if a team is going to function, you need everybody doing their part in that. And so, Troy, I know, since you've been here, which five years now? About five years, you guys know, if you've listened to Troy, this is a major passage, he's constantly bringing us back to this illustration of the body and the many members. So as you read how Paul lays it out here, what is it that stands out most to you?
Troy Spilman: [00:06:51] It really strikes me in that the body parts are supportive of the greater goal of the body as a whole. It's not just about the individual part. Yes, we all have a role to play, and if someone ducks out, that's where the ball is going to get hit, right? It's like that kid that's out in right field, that's picking dandelions, that's where the ball is going to go every time, it's like a magnet to that. Well, we all have a role in this, and you think about how there's no such thing as independent players. You know, like one of the body parts saying, whoo, check me out, like one of the hands is like, hey, check me out, I don't need...Oh, Ken can't do anything apart from other body parts helping it and aiding it in what it's supposed to do.
Troy Spilman: [00:07:32] So, this just really, the other day I actually stubbed my toe, and so it hurt, right? And I felt like I was probably a big baby about it, but yet, I could just realize how a small body part made a big impact because I was out of commission. Right? Have you done this? Yeah. So just, we can downplay even, you know, different body parts. Well, that person's the toe, and that person is the eye, and you know they are...No, they're all needed, they're all valuable, they're all part of the deal.
Dan Franklin: [00:08:00] Yeah, and all those body parts probably sprang into motion to deal with the toe, right in that moment, you've got hands, eyes, mouth, maybe calling out something. We do, it's such a good illustration because we recognize that we're like a toe, what do I need a toe for? But the whole body springs into motion and it is so significant again, when we're framing this because of the culture we live in, it could be easy for us to take this whole idea of spiritual gifts and make it sort of one more version of self-actualization. Just like when we take a personality test or something like that, often the goal is to say I want to discover more about myself so I can get myself and live to my fullest potential. And what we're talking about instead is saying, your mission is not in any way independent of the mission that God has for you, it's supportive of the whole.
Dan Franklin: [00:08:52] And there's this passage, it's often passed by in Ephesians, but it stands out to me so much. I just want to read Ephesians chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, this will blow your mind when you think about the church. Paul writes here, he's speaking of God, he says, "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." So here's what Paul is saying here, Paul is saying, the God of all creation decided he wanted to make his manifold wisdom known. He wanted everything to know how wise he was, and by the way, I don't know if you caught it, it says he wanted to make his manifold wisdom known not to human rulers and authorities, but did you catch it? Rulers and authorities and the heavenly realms, God wanted to make his manifold wisdom known to every human being and angels and demons, and you know how he's going to do it? Through the church, sometimes the word church comes to mind, and we're already a little bit bored and a little milquetoast, all right, through the church. There is nothing more important going on in the world than what God is doing through the church. So those of us who are parents, sometimes, you know, maybe you have a kid that's really good at music, or really good at sports, and you're like, oh, they made this travel team, and we really need to adjust to this because this is a unique opportunity to be a part of something really special and they get to travel around and play with really good players, and with a really good team, it's a unique opportunity, so we've got to give ourselves to it. There is nothing more important than what God is doing through the church. Talk about a unique opportunity, and you say, well, I can't miss out on this, we might get to travel around. Do you know what you can't miss out on? Being a part of God making his manifold wisdom known to angels and demons through what we're doing here. This is not a side gig that we fit in, this is the most important thing any of us will ever be a part of.
Troy Spilman: [00:11:00] Yeah, it's like angels are scratching their heads, wondering how God would use us, how God would use us with all of our weaknesses and hang-ups. And something that I think is just good for us to clarify, the church is not a building or a property, but we have that vernacular, you know like we go to church. But biblically, the church is wherever his people are, it's a people. It's a people about his kingdom, and he wants to use each one for eternal purposes, but it's not a place. In other countries, like we're in Kenya together, we did church underneath a tree, that's where the church was because the Christians, the believers were together under the tree. I've seen it in a factory, in the back of a house, maybe you've seen it like in the living room before, those are all places where the church gathers. So we tend to have this mindset of like I go to church just on Sundays, but yet this should be a launch out point. And I want to carry around one of those buzzers from like, taboo, this little game we used to love playing, taboo, that like someone says the wrong word and you buzz them. It's like just for me, I want to kind of like, no foul, that you don't go to church, you are the church.
Dan Franklin: [00:12:10] Yeah, and this is something, you know, we joke, we're like, we don't want to be the word police and all that. But it is something that over the last, especially the last couple of years, I've really tried to discipline myself to say when I talk about the church, I want to actually be talking about the church. And so I've tried to totally rid the phrase, go to church, I'll say I'm going to the church campus, I'm going to a church gathering. We're not going to church, we're going to worship with the church, just to get our minds around this idea that the church doesn't exist, and then we may go into it, we are the church.
Dan Franklin: [00:12:45] And this passage, what Paul is done here is all set up, it's framing, for what we then get to read in verses 6 through 8, when he talks about how we apply this, and maybe this is the more familiar part of the passage. And you can kind of look at it now on the screen or in your Bibles, Troy and I will talk through different parts of it. But this isn't the only time Paul gives a list of spiritual gifts, he lists seven gifts here, it's clearly not meant to be all of them because in First Corinthians 12, he lists a whole bunch of other gifts, there's some carryover, and there are some unique ones in each list. Paul is not looking to say, here's all the gifts, and that's it. He's meaning to highlight the idea that the gifts that the Spirit gives us are various. In fact, the Apostle Peter, in First Peter chapter 4, refers to them as expressions of the manifold grace of God. In the Greek, it's almost the varied colored grace of God, like a rainbow of colors, that comes to all of us in the different ways that our gifts are given. So we see some of them listed here, but one of the things that stands out, and Troy's going to walk us through this is, Paul talks about how we use these gifts in a unique way. He doesn't just say use the gifts; he highlights the manner in which we're meant to use the gifts.
Troy Spilman: [00:13:54] Yeah. So there's like an appropriate attitude you could say that goes with each one, or a characteristic. So, you know, you think of some of those that he lists here, he lists prophecy, well, then he says, do it according to your faith. Giving, don't just give, do it generously. Leading, do it diligently. Extending mercy, do it cheerfully. So with each gift, there's this matching or appropriate attitude or characteristic that we just need to be aware of, where we want the heart to also just be engaged. We can serve in such a way where the heart can be miles away, you know, where there's this total disconnect, I'm just kind of going through the motions. So he doesn't want us just to do the act, he wants our heart to be there as well.
Troy Spilman: [00:14:41] And so if you look at some of these, so you look at prophecy, we could do it lacking in faith or being heavy-handed about it. Giving, we could do it meagerly or reluctantly. Leading, we could do it lazily or half-heartedly. Showing mercy, we could do it grudgingly, or having resentment, because maybe we didn't get appreciated the way we kind of thought or hoped we should. So, for instance, just kind of walk this through a little bit just with our heart also being engaged, not just going through the motions. Imagine I buy you some wine, not wine, roses.
Dan Franklin: [00:15:18] That's OK, too.
Troy Spilman: [00:15:19] Roses for my wife, you know, and I'm going to get these roses, and I bring them to her and she's very happy with them. But then I go on to talk about how much of a pain was to get these roses for her, right? You know, the first store I went to, it was sold out, so I had to go across town. The line at the store was so crazy long, it was going into the aisles. And then inflation, man, the roses cost like twice as much as normal. Here you go, honey, I love you so much. Right, that wouldn't really fly too well. So there's this attitude that needs to go with it, we want our heart to be connected also.
Dan Franklin: [00:16:00] And I think it's significant, just as you said that he talks about doing these, maybe the carryover phase you could just say, giving ourselves to these things passionately. I do want to give a quick warning on this, though, it maybe relates a little bit to hearing last week, and Gary was talking to us about generosity and giving. You know, there's that verse in Second Corinthians chapter 9 that says, "God loves a cheerful giver." God loves a cheerful giver. There's something, I know nobody in here has ever done this, but there's something that Christians can do that we can kind of trick ourselves in this. That we can say, well, God wants a cheerful giver, I'm not currently cheerful about the idea of giving, so I shouldn't give because my heart wouldn't be in the right place. God doesn't want me to give when I'm not cheerful, so it would be bad, it would be hypocritical, for me to give when I'm not cheerful. And of course, this is foolish, if you live that way, you're rarely, if ever, going to be cheerful about your giving. The idea that would be a little bit like us saying, you know, well, I don't really feel like taking care of my baby today, so it would be hypocritical for me to do something I wouldn't. It's like, no, take care of the baby, who cares how you feel in that moment.
Dan Franklin: [00:17:08] When we're serving, we could sometimes, we could look at all this, and we could say, well, my heart's not really in it, so I should wait until my heart's totally there. If you are waiting to serve until your motives are perfect, you will never serve. The search for perfect motives, I think is a fool's errand, you are always going to have some mixed motives, I kind of want to be recognized, I kind of want to be part of the team, that's part of the idea that we're still carrying our flesh around. But the idea that's so powerful here, is that when we're serving, we are acting by faith and the idea that this is going to bring greater good than any selfish thing that we can do. So don't wait until your emotions are all there, serve by faith, and give yourself to it.
Dan Franklin: [00:17:51] You know, we'll talk more about this later, but did you see in that video at the beginning of our service with Robert Crosby serving with LIFEkids? It is obvious, this is not a guy who gets paid for this, man, he is giving himself to this ministry above and beyond what's being asked, and that's what's talked about here. And so here's what we're going to do, we're going to come in a couple of minutes and we're going to talk through sort of very tangible next steps.
Dan Franklin: [00:18:17] But before going to those, we're going to take a pause and we're going to get to watch a quick video that's just going to walk through some of the things that we as a church family have got to be a part of during the last year. And the reason we're going to do this, is we just want to remember what are the things that we're capable of, and what are the things that God can do when we're really functioning together as a body and every person is bringing their gifts to the table? So let's watch now and just get a reminder of some of the things that God has done through and in this church family during this past year.
Dan Franklin: [00:20:30] Awesome, and many of you were a part of a lot of those things that we got to do. That is just a taste, we just wanted to get that reminder of saying, man, when we function, when people are bringing their gifts, when we're functioning as a team, even during the strange season, we're half the year we were outside, we still got to see God do some pretty profound things in us and through us. And so what we want to talk about now is sort of next steps. We've walked through the passage, we see our calling, we want to talk about during this season of rebuilding, where we're at, and how we want to respond. And so, Troy, why don't you walk us through that?
Troy Spilman: [00:21:06] Yeah. So you might see one of these cards, Rebuilding Season, right there, if you have access, just pull it out, we're just going to walk through this. And you know, it's a season for a reason, the idea is, we're not just trying to shore up a couple of spots, like we really thought about this, this is actually like a rebuild. You know, just with the last couple of years, things have radically changed, and it's impacted us, so there are not just a few spots, there are certain areas that we just need to rebuild altogether.
Troy Spilman: [00:21:37] Ok, so as you look on the back, there are a lot of different ways for you to serve. Let's start off with LIFEkids, you saw in the video how much fun they're having. Who doesn't want a kindergartner riding on their back, like my daughter had one? It was so great, just the fun and joy they got to have at that camp. But they have a blast, it's fun, but they're also passionate about Jesus. So to be up and running, we need 50 more people to start the nine a.m., this service, for LIFEkids, not just a few people. I think in our minds, we don't understand exactly what it takes to have a service, you have to have a rotation, you have to have a backup, and so we need about 50 people. Now, positions are open for both the nine a.m. and the 10:30, but the start of the day is really subject to how many people sign up. Dan, I know you have a passion about this with the kids.
Dan Franklin: [00:22:28] Yeah, I mean, this is... A quick question, you know, because right now we have live kids going at our 10:30 service, we don't have it going at the 9:00 a.m. service. How many of you think it's a good idea for us to get it going at this service? A lot you guys are like, don't let him trick you, I'm not going to raise my hand. I'm not going to do the thing where if you raised your hand, you signed up. Here's what I'm just saying, I don't think that there's any of us that are like, ah, who cares? We recognize, you know, we had some families show up last week, for the first time at our church, and they showed up at the 9:00 a.m. service and they were really gracious. But we were like, all right, we don't have LIFEkids during this service, your kids are welcome to sit in the service. We believe so strongly in the ministry of this church to the children that God has entrusted us with, we are getting to be a part of demonstrating the gospel to the lives and to the young hearts that God has given us.
Dan Franklin: [00:23:21] And so a couple of things on this. First of all, what Troy was just saying, you know, we talked to Lori and Lori said, you know, if we get 50 more people on top of what we have right now, we'll be really well situated to have thriving LIFEkids at both services. And in one sense, you could look at that and say 50 people that that's a bunch. 50 more people should not be a problem for a church our size, this is very, very doable. And some of you will absolutely thrive in this, some of you are waiting in the wings, and LIFEkids and ministry with children, that will be your thing, that's what God has built you for. For some of you, you're not necessarily built for it, but you can do it. And especially during the rebuilding season, you could say, hey, I need to step forward, before I could kind of sit back and other people would take care of it, I need to step forward. And even if you're saying I want to help, but I don't want to be around any kids, I feel like I'm kryptonite to kids, it's going to ruin things. You can serve even if you're not interacting with the kids because there are different administrative ways to serve, this is such a significant thing that we're a part of.
Dan Franklin: [00:24:28] And even as we talk about this, you know, we need more people, but we have awesome people serving right now who are helping, and I want to give a special shout out. Some of you in here right now are some of our junior helpers, junior high and high schoolers, who are helping out with LIFEkids, and you guys are killing it. You guys have been amazing. Every adult that I talked to, who works with the kids, raves about our junior helpers. So you guys have stepped in and served and filled the gap and used your gifts, and it's fantastic. And we have adults who are giving their time, you know, we saw Robert in the video earlier. Lauren, who read the scripture for us, is one of the storytellers. We have people who are really carrying this, and we want to see more people step forward. So we're looking at February 20th, we believe on that day we will be starting LIFEkids at this service, but we are not customer service to all of you. I want to make sure that's clear, we are not as a leader saying, hey, we're going to give you the product of 9:00 a.m. LIFEkids. We're saying this is our plan, this is our vision, we're moving towards it, we can only do it if the body of Christ steps up and says we'll make this happen. So there's a possibility we could get to February 20th and say, we're not quite there, we've got to still work on it. We believe we will be there, but it's dependent on us, as a church family, coming along and saying, this is that important, we will make this happen. There are other things we'll talk about, but obviously, LIFEkids is a central part of our rebuilding right now.
Troy Spilman: [00:26:05] It is. And some of the roles, we tend to think, oh, if I'm not that teacher type, that's not really me, there's a lot of ways you can be involved. You know, media, if you have an index finger, you can do the media, you move a mouse, even I can do it. You check in families, do the storytelling, leading kids in worship. And really, you don't have to have a great voice because they won't hear you anyway, because it's pretty loud in there, but you got to be able to do something, you know, hand motions, so there are lots of ways for you to be involved.
Troy Spilman: [00:26:34] Ok, so if we go to the next category, it's Serve at LBF. So remember that video with the drone shot, and you saw all this activity going on down there? Well, that just doesn't magically happen, it takes a team, it takes an effort of volunteers and staff. And so we could use more volunteers just serving here at church to make the Sunday morning experience happen. So we have a Sunday morning Set-up team, we have the Coffee House and Cart. I mean, Lord forbid that our coffee runs out or something goes wrong there, right, it could be like a disaster.
Dan Franklin: [00:27:07] That's right, is the church service without donuts, even a church service? You got to wonder.
Troy Spilman: [00:27:14] We have guest services, directing traffic, you have ushers and greeters, you have the tech team. And yes, we will train you if you have a willing heart, we will train you to do this. A life group leader, or life group lesson editor, which is a little more on the book end side, a little more of the study side. We also have, you know, just a need for volunteers in our office during the week. And so, there are lots of ways for you to be involved right here.
Dan Franklin: [00:27:43] All right. And we're also, and this is exciting, we're also going to talk about things outside this campus and outside, maybe the internal ministries here, to talk about local outreach and then global outreach. So talk us through the local opportunities.
Troy Spilman: [00:27:57] Ok, well, this is kind of been the exciting thing since a lot of our global stuff has been shut down in the last couple of years, we still support missionaries, we support those that are out in the field, but primarily we've been looking here because we really feel like the mission field has come to us. And so what we've done the last few years, we identified 12 different organizations that are making a difference right here, and so we don't want to reinvent the wheel. We basically come alongside them and try to help them do what they do, but better. And so that's really been the whole plan, we have [inaudible] attached to each one, so we have volunteers that we could use to breathe life into these different works throughout our community.
Troy Spilman: [00:28:33] I'll just give you a couple of them. You have Adonai, so Adonai is coming alongside families that have a child with cancer, or some other terminal, or long-term illness. So you can imagine just the heartbreak there, or the difficulty of that, but yet, we want to be able to come alongside them, let kids be kids. So like at Halloween, we did this huge event. So this is really run by Pam and Mark, who really runs this, and so they could use more people to jump in and be able to help. And this is a mission field, folks, there's a lot of families that know nothing about the Lord, or the church, and so we want to come alongside and be able to help them.
Troy Spilman: [00:29:18] Adopt a School, we just want to be a practical support to our schools, let them know that we care, we love them, we appreciate what they do week in and week out. So, even during COVID, we're delivering, you know, Starbucks coffee to them and pastries, we did lunches, sometimes we'll even do special gifts for the classroom during Christmastime, and so this is just an effort to let them know that we appreciate what they do and serve in our community.
Troy Spilman: [00:29:41] Crossroads is a halfway home for women, and so these women come out of prison and some of them have been in prison a long time. So we had a group of ladies recently, they went over there, they barbecued, cooked some food for them. But then they also gave each one a quilt that was handmade, you should have seen the tears, and they were so touched because they don't really have much as far as like personal possessions, and so it was so great that they had something that was custom made for each one of them. It really was a moving experience to be able to see, just that they were so touched by the love just in a very practical way.
Troy Spilman: [00:30:15] We also have a digital outreach ministry, which we've just started during COVID. And we work in the organization, they put out Christian video content, and they can be on topics like forgiveness, or even hurt, or pain, asking some tough questions. Well, most people watch it around like midnight to 2:00 in the morning, and so they will actually respond back, you know like they have a question about something you want to know more, and then so it comes through us and they live in this area, and we respond to them. So we've actually been able to start a lot of great conversations, you could be a part of that.
Troy Spilman: [00:30:49] I also just wanted to touch base with our UCRC, which is our Upland Community Resource Center. We signed a lease for this back in March of 2020, and I just thought, was that just the stupidest thing ever? I just signed a lease, and then three weeks later, you know, COVID hit and so...But God has really used that bad timing in that location. God is using it in a powerful way, so we're able, this year, to be able to help almost a thousand families with issues because some disruptive event comes into their life. And so we're able to work through a process to help them with housing, employment issues, deal with food insecurity. We even have a pantry there; we have volunteers that help run that. And so there are some ways that you can be involved, just what we call our leaders there, our volunteers, are ambassadors. So we need education ambassadors, if you have some skills that you could help people with, that could be personal skills, employment skills. We also need community ambassadors, which develop community connections, speaking events, networking, creating awareness in our community. And then also, information ambassadors, where there's like website development, social media, public relations, all of that.
Dan Franklin: [00:32:02] And then, after a couple of years of not being able to have anybody get on a plane and go, we have some stuff going on this year with our global outreach.
Troy Spilman: [00:32:11] Yeah, so it's been two years this year, this summer, particularly, we're looking to send out four teams. They might be a little scaled back, you know, it might not be as many as we've sent in the past. But yet, the first place we're going to be going, which a lot of you over the years have been involved in this, is building homes in Mexico over Memorial Day weekend, so we're looking to do that again, to be able to send a team down there. The organization we work with, they actually help us also with outreach, like we're able to go throughout the community to be able to share the love of Christ with those right there. But some of these families, they don't have a place of their own, they live in some kind of tight quarters, maybe a friend or a neighbor like in the garage or something, so they would have their own place, and so God's really easy to open spiritual doors. I really believe that doing physical projects, meeting people's needs, opens spiritual doors.
Troy Spilman: [00:33:02] So we have that. We also are doing something different where we're sending two teams to Alaska. So there's a camp, and so this is an outreach deal where they basically fly into these native villages in the surrounding areas, and they bring youth back to the camp. Now, there are lots of issues these youth go through, it's very dark spiritually, there's a lot of abuse with drugs, alcohol, sexually, physically, and so this is a safe place for them. And so we want to send a mature team that is able to be counselors, come alongside them, and love them in Jesus' name. So that's an exciting new thing we have going on. When I was there, actually earlier this year, a few of us scouted it out. Alaska is amazing, I'd never been there before, the huge forests you have the river's kind of run through it, the mountains. But yet there's also, there's this beauty, but in the midst of it, there's a darkness that we can answer through Jesus.
Troy Spilman: [00:33:59] And then the last one we're looking at is Kenya. So working with Hope Matters International, our own, you know, William and Michelle, but also the Bouma's, the Bouma's are there, and I guess they're just killing it, they're doing so great that it continues to expand that ministry. So right now, there's basically like a U-shaped hospital, they're in a rural area, and they're looking to kind of finish it off, we're going to make like a big O, or a circle, with a courtyard in the middle. But to finish that off, that would be actually some construction would be needed to create two more O.R's. You'd have two more operating rooms because demand continues to climb, more medical workers are going there, so we need a construction group, but also to use some medically minded people to be able to do some outreach. Yeah, so that's what we got.
Dan Franklin: [00:34:46] It's exciting, and just as we get ready to move on this, how do people respond? What are the next steps for getting involved in any of this?
Troy Spilman: [00:34:55] Ok, so you could take this, check the box, give it to one of us right outside in Next Steps, or down lower at Guest Services. So you can check some boxes, you're not signing your life on the dotted line, if you check the box, that really just means you're interested and you want to know more about it, one of us will follow up with you. You can also just scan the code there, the QR code, that will take you to our website where you can just sign up online. Or you can go straight to our website just through your phone or when you get home as well. And so if you come out to Next Steps, I'll be out there, others will be out there, to basically answer any questions that you have. Maybe there is one of these you just want to know more about, we'd love to be able to fill you in and answer any questions that you have.
Dan Franklin: [00:35:37] All right. In fact, I'm going to let Troy get going, he's going to get out there, get a couple of minutes ahead of all of you to be out with everything. And I want to just, as we close the service, I just want to do a couple of things. I want to read a quote for you, and then I want to read a passage as a benediction for us.
Dan Franklin: [00:35:55] So most of you know tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I want to read a quote from a speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave, the speech is called The Drum Major Instinct. And I know what you're thinking, you're shocked to find out that there's at least one speech other than I have a dream that Martin Luther King Jr. gave. But he gave at least one other. I think more, I'm going to do some research. In this quote, he's talking about the passage in the Gospels, where Jesus says, "The greatest among you will be a Servant." And here's what he says, "And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important -wonderful. If you want to be recognized -wonderful. If you want to be great -wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant." Let's be those servants.
Dan Franklin: [00:37:24] I'm going to ask you to stand and let me just read a couple of verses from that passage that's referred to in this quote, from Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 through 28, "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. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”. Amen. Amen. God bless you the rest of this Sunday.
Recorded in Upland, California.
Intro: [00:00:00] Hey, there. Thanks so much for checking out one of our messages here at Life Bible Fellowship Church. And we know there are two great ways you can connect with us. You can visit our website at LBF.church to learn more about all of our ministries and what we believe. And also, you can subscribe to us on YouTube to make sure that you don't miss one of our future videos.
Dan Franklin: [00:00:19] This year, for kind of our Go Team Sunday, which maybe we are more and more broadly calling our Serving Sunday, things are a little bit different this year. It's been a couple of years since we've gone overseas. it's been a couple of years since we've got to do the sort of go teams that we wanted to, and so part of what we wanted to talk about today is that we're in essence in a rebuilding season, as many churches are, and as many facets of society are right now. And if you're a sports fan, you know the whole term of being in a rebuilding season, it's when your team is not quite what they're meant to be, maybe they've experienced some losses and some transitions, and now it's the time of building back up to where you want to be. And Troy, there's kind of a parallel to where our church is at right now when it comes to the idea of being in a rebuilding season.
Troy Spilman: [00:01:04] Yeah, when you have a rebuilding season, you know, the whole idea is that there have been some changes and some shifting. You're not necessarily going for the championship, that'd be great, but really, you're trying to rebuild, you're trying to fortify, or kind of change around, certain things to make it better. I mean, when's the last time the Angels haven't been in rebuilding season?
Dan Franklin: [00:01:24] I wasn't going to say it, but fair enough. We can't all be vying for the Championship every year. But it's interesting because it has...Sorry, I didn't know that was going to get that big of a reaction. As a church, you know, there's a parallel, of course, the funny thing is we're never trying for a championship, and then we're done as the church, in a sense, we're always building. But we do recognize that this is a season of time where we say things aren't quite as fortified as maybe they were before COVID, and before the shutdowns. And we have, like a team has, we've had some people that would have been long-term parts of our church that are no longer here. we've had people come on that we had never met before COVID, and now they're a core part of our church. And one of the cool things that happens during a rebuilding season, is maybe there have been people waiting on the wings sort of like, all right, I'll get in there as a defensive replacement in the eighth inning and help out, and now you're being asked to play a bigger role because God has opened up opportunities and given us that reminder that we all need to use our gifts.
Dan Franklin: [00:02:25] And so we're going to be going through this passage that Lauren read, this passage in Romans Chapter 12 verses 3 through 8. So if you have a Bible and you're not already there, you can make sure that you get there. And it's a passage that eventually delves into the idea of spiritual gifts, but also gives us a bigger framework of how we talk about those gifts. So we're going to start in verse 3, and the cool thing that verse 3 does, is it gives us this big picture perspective before Paul even starts to talk about spiritual gifts. He says, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you." And so there are several things, that these could all be like an individual, deeper event that we could delve into this. But this is a powerful idea, that Paul starts before he even talks about spiritual gifts, and the calling, you're important and you need to use your gifts for the good of the church, he starts with this idea that we have received grace, that we shouldn't think of ourselves more highly than we ought, and then he even goes as far as to say the faith that we have in God, which we might think is faith that we generated, he says no, not even that, even that was something that God started the process for.
Dan Franklin: [00:03:43] It's a very humbling first verse, it doesn't give us any room to have the impression, man, the church is really lucky to have me. I come here, and I may throw them a bone every so often and help out in some way, they're really lucky to have somebody as talented as I am. Instead, we start with the idea that we are recipients of God's pure grace, that we just celebrated when we celebrated communion, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, which brings us into the family, and even our response of faith is something that we couldn't have if God didn't start that process for us. So we start this whole discussion really with the idea of humility.
Troy Spilman: [00:04:22] Yeah, we don't serve out a sense of pride, hey, look at me, but out of thankfulness, we're thankful for what God has done in our lives. Thankful people will serve, they see that they have a place in this, they have a role. I mean, it's kind of amazing to me that God would choose us, you know, we're nothing special, but yet he wants to choose us, he wants to use us to do his work here on this Earth. We are plan A, there is no Plan B, and so he wants to use each one of us. So I really feel like the key for me is, am I willing to say yes? Am I willing to say yes to the Lord, even in the small things, because if you're faithful in the small things, you'll be faithful in the bigger things?
Dan Franklin: [00:05:06] Absolutely. And that's our framework, you know, some of you might think like, all right, I know it's the body and the gifts, and I know I'm going to be told I need to serve. And yes, you are, that is coming, so you're not wrong. But before we start this from the framework of saying we are all, we have received grace, and that's why grace comes pouring back out of us. We start as recipients first and foremost, and then grace comes out. And a couple of times he uses grace as the signifier for spiritual gifts.
Dan Franklin: [00:05:34] So big picture perspective, in verses 4 and 5, he sort of narrows throughout this passage, so now he kind of narrows to the sphere in which he wants to apply this idea of our humility. In verses 4 and 5, he says, "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." And so this is not the only time Paul uses this metaphor of the idea of us being many members of one body, and the way this all works is you imagine, all right, we've got a physical body, the head, that's Jesus. Jesus is in charge, it's his body, but we all make up the different parts of that body.
Dan Franklin: [00:06:20] And so even as we talk about the idea of being in a rebuilding season, you know, maybe a parallel to the body idea would be that team idea, where you recognize if a team is going to function, you need everybody doing their part in that. And so, Troy, I know, since you've been here, which five years now? About five years, you guys know, if you've listened to Troy, this is a major passage, he's constantly bringing us back to this illustration of the body and the many members. So as you read how Paul lays it out here, what is it that stands out most to you?
Troy Spilman: [00:06:51] It really strikes me in that the body parts are supportive of the greater goal of the body as a whole. It's not just about the individual part. Yes, we all have a role to play, and if someone ducks out, that's where the ball is going to get hit, right? It's like that kid that's out in right field, that's picking dandelions, that's where the ball is going to go every time, it's like a magnet to that. Well, we all have a role in this, and you think about how there's no such thing as independent players. You know, like one of the body parts saying, whoo, check me out, like one of the hands is like, hey, check me out, I don't need...Oh, Ken can't do anything apart from other body parts helping it and aiding it in what it's supposed to do.
Troy Spilman: [00:07:32] So, this just really, the other day I actually stubbed my toe, and so it hurt, right? And I felt like I was probably a big baby about it, but yet, I could just realize how a small body part made a big impact because I was out of commission. Right? Have you done this? Yeah. So just, we can downplay even, you know, different body parts. Well, that person's the toe, and that person is the eye, and you know they are...No, they're all needed, they're all valuable, they're all part of the deal.
Dan Franklin: [00:08:00] Yeah, and all those body parts probably sprang into motion to deal with the toe, right in that moment, you've got hands, eyes, mouth, maybe calling out something. We do, it's such a good illustration because we recognize that we're like a toe, what do I need a toe for? But the whole body springs into motion and it is so significant again, when we're framing this because of the culture we live in, it could be easy for us to take this whole idea of spiritual gifts and make it sort of one more version of self-actualization. Just like when we take a personality test or something like that, often the goal is to say I want to discover more about myself so I can get myself and live to my fullest potential. And what we're talking about instead is saying, your mission is not in any way independent of the mission that God has for you, it's supportive of the whole.
Dan Franklin: [00:08:52] And there's this passage, it's often passed by in Ephesians, but it stands out to me so much. I just want to read Ephesians chapter 3 verses 10 and 11, this will blow your mind when you think about the church. Paul writes here, he's speaking of God, he says, "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." So here's what Paul is saying here, Paul is saying, the God of all creation decided he wanted to make his manifold wisdom known. He wanted everything to know how wise he was, and by the way, I don't know if you caught it, it says he wanted to make his manifold wisdom known not to human rulers and authorities, but did you catch it? Rulers and authorities and the heavenly realms, God wanted to make his manifold wisdom known to every human being and angels and demons, and you know how he's going to do it? Through the church, sometimes the word church comes to mind, and we're already a little bit bored and a little milquetoast, all right, through the church. There is nothing more important going on in the world than what God is doing through the church. So those of us who are parents, sometimes, you know, maybe you have a kid that's really good at music, or really good at sports, and you're like, oh, they made this travel team, and we really need to adjust to this because this is a unique opportunity to be a part of something really special and they get to travel around and play with really good players, and with a really good team, it's a unique opportunity, so we've got to give ourselves to it. There is nothing more important than what God is doing through the church. Talk about a unique opportunity, and you say, well, I can't miss out on this, we might get to travel around. Do you know what you can't miss out on? Being a part of God making his manifold wisdom known to angels and demons through what we're doing here. This is not a side gig that we fit in, this is the most important thing any of us will ever be a part of.
Troy Spilman: [00:11:00] Yeah, it's like angels are scratching their heads, wondering how God would use us, how God would use us with all of our weaknesses and hang-ups. And something that I think is just good for us to clarify, the church is not a building or a property, but we have that vernacular, you know like we go to church. But biblically, the church is wherever his people are, it's a people. It's a people about his kingdom, and he wants to use each one for eternal purposes, but it's not a place. In other countries, like we're in Kenya together, we did church underneath a tree, that's where the church was because the Christians, the believers were together under the tree. I've seen it in a factory, in the back of a house, maybe you've seen it like in the living room before, those are all places where the church gathers. So we tend to have this mindset of like I go to church just on Sundays, but yet this should be a launch out point. And I want to carry around one of those buzzers from like, taboo, this little game we used to love playing, taboo, that like someone says the wrong word and you buzz them. It's like just for me, I want to kind of like, no foul, that you don't go to church, you are the church.
Dan Franklin: [00:12:10] Yeah, and this is something, you know, we joke, we're like, we don't want to be the word police and all that. But it is something that over the last, especially the last couple of years, I've really tried to discipline myself to say when I talk about the church, I want to actually be talking about the church. And so I've tried to totally rid the phrase, go to church, I'll say I'm going to the church campus, I'm going to a church gathering. We're not going to church, we're going to worship with the church, just to get our minds around this idea that the church doesn't exist, and then we may go into it, we are the church.
Dan Franklin: [00:12:45] And this passage, what Paul is done here is all set up, it's framing, for what we then get to read in verses 6 through 8, when he talks about how we apply this, and maybe this is the more familiar part of the passage. And you can kind of look at it now on the screen or in your Bibles, Troy and I will talk through different parts of it. But this isn't the only time Paul gives a list of spiritual gifts, he lists seven gifts here, it's clearly not meant to be all of them because in First Corinthians 12, he lists a whole bunch of other gifts, there's some carryover, and there are some unique ones in each list. Paul is not looking to say, here's all the gifts, and that's it. He's meaning to highlight the idea that the gifts that the Spirit gives us are various. In fact, the Apostle Peter, in First Peter chapter 4, refers to them as expressions of the manifold grace of God. In the Greek, it's almost the varied colored grace of God, like a rainbow of colors, that comes to all of us in the different ways that our gifts are given. So we see some of them listed here, but one of the things that stands out, and Troy's going to walk us through this is, Paul talks about how we use these gifts in a unique way. He doesn't just say use the gifts; he highlights the manner in which we're meant to use the gifts.
Troy Spilman: [00:13:54] Yeah. So there's like an appropriate attitude you could say that goes with each one, or a characteristic. So, you know, you think of some of those that he lists here, he lists prophecy, well, then he says, do it according to your faith. Giving, don't just give, do it generously. Leading, do it diligently. Extending mercy, do it cheerfully. So with each gift, there's this matching or appropriate attitude or characteristic that we just need to be aware of, where we want the heart to also just be engaged. We can serve in such a way where the heart can be miles away, you know, where there's this total disconnect, I'm just kind of going through the motions. So he doesn't want us just to do the act, he wants our heart to be there as well.
Troy Spilman: [00:14:41] And so if you look at some of these, so you look at prophecy, we could do it lacking in faith or being heavy-handed about it. Giving, we could do it meagerly or reluctantly. Leading, we could do it lazily or half-heartedly. Showing mercy, we could do it grudgingly, or having resentment, because maybe we didn't get appreciated the way we kind of thought or hoped we should. So, for instance, just kind of walk this through a little bit just with our heart also being engaged, not just going through the motions. Imagine I buy you some wine, not wine, roses.
Dan Franklin: [00:15:18] That's OK, too.
Troy Spilman: [00:15:19] Roses for my wife, you know, and I'm going to get these roses, and I bring them to her and she's very happy with them. But then I go on to talk about how much of a pain was to get these roses for her, right? You know, the first store I went to, it was sold out, so I had to go across town. The line at the store was so crazy long, it was going into the aisles. And then inflation, man, the roses cost like twice as much as normal. Here you go, honey, I love you so much. Right, that wouldn't really fly too well. So there's this attitude that needs to go with it, we want our heart to be connected also.
Dan Franklin: [00:16:00] And I think it's significant, just as you said that he talks about doing these, maybe the carryover phase you could just say, giving ourselves to these things passionately. I do want to give a quick warning on this, though, it maybe relates a little bit to hearing last week, and Gary was talking to us about generosity and giving. You know, there's that verse in Second Corinthians chapter 9 that says, "God loves a cheerful giver." God loves a cheerful giver. There's something, I know nobody in here has ever done this, but there's something that Christians can do that we can kind of trick ourselves in this. That we can say, well, God wants a cheerful giver, I'm not currently cheerful about the idea of giving, so I shouldn't give because my heart wouldn't be in the right place. God doesn't want me to give when I'm not cheerful, so it would be bad, it would be hypocritical, for me to give when I'm not cheerful. And of course, this is foolish, if you live that way, you're rarely, if ever, going to be cheerful about your giving. The idea that would be a little bit like us saying, you know, well, I don't really feel like taking care of my baby today, so it would be hypocritical for me to do something I wouldn't. It's like, no, take care of the baby, who cares how you feel in that moment.
Dan Franklin: [00:17:08] When we're serving, we could sometimes, we could look at all this, and we could say, well, my heart's not really in it, so I should wait until my heart's totally there. If you are waiting to serve until your motives are perfect, you will never serve. The search for perfect motives, I think is a fool's errand, you are always going to have some mixed motives, I kind of want to be recognized, I kind of want to be part of the team, that's part of the idea that we're still carrying our flesh around. But the idea that's so powerful here, is that when we're serving, we are acting by faith and the idea that this is going to bring greater good than any selfish thing that we can do. So don't wait until your emotions are all there, serve by faith, and give yourself to it.
Dan Franklin: [00:17:51] You know, we'll talk more about this later, but did you see in that video at the beginning of our service with Robert Crosby serving with LIFEkids? It is obvious, this is not a guy who gets paid for this, man, he is giving himself to this ministry above and beyond what's being asked, and that's what's talked about here. And so here's what we're going to do, we're going to come in a couple of minutes and we're going to talk through sort of very tangible next steps.
Dan Franklin: [00:18:17] But before going to those, we're going to take a pause and we're going to get to watch a quick video that's just going to walk through some of the things that we as a church family have got to be a part of during the last year. And the reason we're going to do this, is we just want to remember what are the things that we're capable of, and what are the things that God can do when we're really functioning together as a body and every person is bringing their gifts to the table? So let's watch now and just get a reminder of some of the things that God has done through and in this church family during this past year.
Dan Franklin: [00:20:30] Awesome, and many of you were a part of a lot of those things that we got to do. That is just a taste, we just wanted to get that reminder of saying, man, when we function, when people are bringing their gifts, when we're functioning as a team, even during the strange season, we're half the year we were outside, we still got to see God do some pretty profound things in us and through us. And so what we want to talk about now is sort of next steps. We've walked through the passage, we see our calling, we want to talk about during this season of rebuilding, where we're at, and how we want to respond. And so, Troy, why don't you walk us through that?
Troy Spilman: [00:21:06] Yeah. So you might see one of these cards, Rebuilding Season, right there, if you have access, just pull it out, we're just going to walk through this. And you know, it's a season for a reason, the idea is, we're not just trying to shore up a couple of spots, like we really thought about this, this is actually like a rebuild. You know, just with the last couple of years, things have radically changed, and it's impacted us, so there are not just a few spots, there are certain areas that we just need to rebuild altogether.
Troy Spilman: [00:21:37] Ok, so as you look on the back, there are a lot of different ways for you to serve. Let's start off with LIFEkids, you saw in the video how much fun they're having. Who doesn't want a kindergartner riding on their back, like my daughter had one? It was so great, just the fun and joy they got to have at that camp. But they have a blast, it's fun, but they're also passionate about Jesus. So to be up and running, we need 50 more people to start the nine a.m., this service, for LIFEkids, not just a few people. I think in our minds, we don't understand exactly what it takes to have a service, you have to have a rotation, you have to have a backup, and so we need about 50 people. Now, positions are open for both the nine a.m. and the 10:30, but the start of the day is really subject to how many people sign up. Dan, I know you have a passion about this with the kids.
Dan Franklin: [00:22:28] Yeah, I mean, this is... A quick question, you know, because right now we have live kids going at our 10:30 service, we don't have it going at the 9:00 a.m. service. How many of you think it's a good idea for us to get it going at this service? A lot you guys are like, don't let him trick you, I'm not going to raise my hand. I'm not going to do the thing where if you raised your hand, you signed up. Here's what I'm just saying, I don't think that there's any of us that are like, ah, who cares? We recognize, you know, we had some families show up last week, for the first time at our church, and they showed up at the 9:00 a.m. service and they were really gracious. But we were like, all right, we don't have LIFEkids during this service, your kids are welcome to sit in the service. We believe so strongly in the ministry of this church to the children that God has entrusted us with, we are getting to be a part of demonstrating the gospel to the lives and to the young hearts that God has given us.
Dan Franklin: [00:23:21] And so a couple of things on this. First of all, what Troy was just saying, you know, we talked to Lori and Lori said, you know, if we get 50 more people on top of what we have right now, we'll be really well situated to have thriving LIFEkids at both services. And in one sense, you could look at that and say 50 people that that's a bunch. 50 more people should not be a problem for a church our size, this is very, very doable. And some of you will absolutely thrive in this, some of you are waiting in the wings, and LIFEkids and ministry with children, that will be your thing, that's what God has built you for. For some of you, you're not necessarily built for it, but you can do it. And especially during the rebuilding season, you could say, hey, I need to step forward, before I could kind of sit back and other people would take care of it, I need to step forward. And even if you're saying I want to help, but I don't want to be around any kids, I feel like I'm kryptonite to kids, it's going to ruin things. You can serve even if you're not interacting with the kids because there are different administrative ways to serve, this is such a significant thing that we're a part of.
Dan Franklin: [00:24:28] And even as we talk about this, you know, we need more people, but we have awesome people serving right now who are helping, and I want to give a special shout out. Some of you in here right now are some of our junior helpers, junior high and high schoolers, who are helping out with LIFEkids, and you guys are killing it. You guys have been amazing. Every adult that I talked to, who works with the kids, raves about our junior helpers. So you guys have stepped in and served and filled the gap and used your gifts, and it's fantastic. And we have adults who are giving their time, you know, we saw Robert in the video earlier. Lauren, who read the scripture for us, is one of the storytellers. We have people who are really carrying this, and we want to see more people step forward. So we're looking at February 20th, we believe on that day we will be starting LIFEkids at this service, but we are not customer service to all of you. I want to make sure that's clear, we are not as a leader saying, hey, we're going to give you the product of 9:00 a.m. LIFEkids. We're saying this is our plan, this is our vision, we're moving towards it, we can only do it if the body of Christ steps up and says we'll make this happen. So there's a possibility we could get to February 20th and say, we're not quite there, we've got to still work on it. We believe we will be there, but it's dependent on us, as a church family, coming along and saying, this is that important, we will make this happen. There are other things we'll talk about, but obviously, LIFEkids is a central part of our rebuilding right now.
Troy Spilman: [00:26:05] It is. And some of the roles, we tend to think, oh, if I'm not that teacher type, that's not really me, there's a lot of ways you can be involved. You know, media, if you have an index finger, you can do the media, you move a mouse, even I can do it. You check in families, do the storytelling, leading kids in worship. And really, you don't have to have a great voice because they won't hear you anyway, because it's pretty loud in there, but you got to be able to do something, you know, hand motions, so there are lots of ways for you to be involved.
Troy Spilman: [00:26:34] Ok, so if we go to the next category, it's Serve at LBF. So remember that video with the drone shot, and you saw all this activity going on down there? Well, that just doesn't magically happen, it takes a team, it takes an effort of volunteers and staff. And so we could use more volunteers just serving here at church to make the Sunday morning experience happen. So we have a Sunday morning Set-up team, we have the Coffee House and Cart. I mean, Lord forbid that our coffee runs out or something goes wrong there, right, it could be like a disaster.
Dan Franklin: [00:27:07] That's right, is the church service without donuts, even a church service? You got to wonder.
Troy Spilman: [00:27:14] We have guest services, directing traffic, you have ushers and greeters, you have the tech team. And yes, we will train you if you have a willing heart, we will train you to do this. A life group leader, or life group lesson editor, which is a little more on the book end side, a little more of the study side. We also have, you know, just a need for volunteers in our office during the week. And so, there are lots of ways for you to be involved right here.
Dan Franklin: [00:27:43] All right. And we're also, and this is exciting, we're also going to talk about things outside this campus and outside, maybe the internal ministries here, to talk about local outreach and then global outreach. So talk us through the local opportunities.
Troy Spilman: [00:27:57] Ok, well, this is kind of been the exciting thing since a lot of our global stuff has been shut down in the last couple of years, we still support missionaries, we support those that are out in the field, but primarily we've been looking here because we really feel like the mission field has come to us. And so what we've done the last few years, we identified 12 different organizations that are making a difference right here, and so we don't want to reinvent the wheel. We basically come alongside them and try to help them do what they do, but better. And so that's really been the whole plan, we have [inaudible] attached to each one, so we have volunteers that we could use to breathe life into these different works throughout our community.
Troy Spilman: [00:28:33] I'll just give you a couple of them. You have Adonai, so Adonai is coming alongside families that have a child with cancer, or some other terminal, or long-term illness. So you can imagine just the heartbreak there, or the difficulty of that, but yet, we want to be able to come alongside them, let kids be kids. So like at Halloween, we did this huge event. So this is really run by Pam and Mark, who really runs this, and so they could use more people to jump in and be able to help. And this is a mission field, folks, there's a lot of families that know nothing about the Lord, or the church, and so we want to come alongside and be able to help them.
Troy Spilman: [00:29:18] Adopt a School, we just want to be a practical support to our schools, let them know that we care, we love them, we appreciate what they do week in and week out. So, even during COVID, we're delivering, you know, Starbucks coffee to them and pastries, we did lunches, sometimes we'll even do special gifts for the classroom during Christmastime, and so this is just an effort to let them know that we appreciate what they do and serve in our community.
Troy Spilman: [00:29:41] Crossroads is a halfway home for women, and so these women come out of prison and some of them have been in prison a long time. So we had a group of ladies recently, they went over there, they barbecued, cooked some food for them. But then they also gave each one a quilt that was handmade, you should have seen the tears, and they were so touched because they don't really have much as far as like personal possessions, and so it was so great that they had something that was custom made for each one of them. It really was a moving experience to be able to see, just that they were so touched by the love just in a very practical way.
Troy Spilman: [00:30:15] We also have a digital outreach ministry, which we've just started during COVID. And we work in the organization, they put out Christian video content, and they can be on topics like forgiveness, or even hurt, or pain, asking some tough questions. Well, most people watch it around like midnight to 2:00 in the morning, and so they will actually respond back, you know like they have a question about something you want to know more, and then so it comes through us and they live in this area, and we respond to them. So we've actually been able to start a lot of great conversations, you could be a part of that.
Troy Spilman: [00:30:49] I also just wanted to touch base with our UCRC, which is our Upland Community Resource Center. We signed a lease for this back in March of 2020, and I just thought, was that just the stupidest thing ever? I just signed a lease, and then three weeks later, you know, COVID hit and so...But God has really used that bad timing in that location. God is using it in a powerful way, so we're able, this year, to be able to help almost a thousand families with issues because some disruptive event comes into their life. And so we're able to work through a process to help them with housing, employment issues, deal with food insecurity. We even have a pantry there; we have volunteers that help run that. And so there are some ways that you can be involved, just what we call our leaders there, our volunteers, are ambassadors. So we need education ambassadors, if you have some skills that you could help people with, that could be personal skills, employment skills. We also need community ambassadors, which develop community connections, speaking events, networking, creating awareness in our community. And then also, information ambassadors, where there's like website development, social media, public relations, all of that.
Dan Franklin: [00:32:02] And then, after a couple of years of not being able to have anybody get on a plane and go, we have some stuff going on this year with our global outreach.
Troy Spilman: [00:32:11] Yeah, so it's been two years this year, this summer, particularly, we're looking to send out four teams. They might be a little scaled back, you know, it might not be as many as we've sent in the past. But yet, the first place we're going to be going, which a lot of you over the years have been involved in this, is building homes in Mexico over Memorial Day weekend, so we're looking to do that again, to be able to send a team down there. The organization we work with, they actually help us also with outreach, like we're able to go throughout the community to be able to share the love of Christ with those right there. But some of these families, they don't have a place of their own, they live in some kind of tight quarters, maybe a friend or a neighbor like in the garage or something, so they would have their own place, and so God's really easy to open spiritual doors. I really believe that doing physical projects, meeting people's needs, opens spiritual doors.
Troy Spilman: [00:33:02] So we have that. We also are doing something different where we're sending two teams to Alaska. So there's a camp, and so this is an outreach deal where they basically fly into these native villages in the surrounding areas, and they bring youth back to the camp. Now, there are lots of issues these youth go through, it's very dark spiritually, there's a lot of abuse with drugs, alcohol, sexually, physically, and so this is a safe place for them. And so we want to send a mature team that is able to be counselors, come alongside them, and love them in Jesus' name. So that's an exciting new thing we have going on. When I was there, actually earlier this year, a few of us scouted it out. Alaska is amazing, I'd never been there before, the huge forests you have the river's kind of run through it, the mountains. But yet there's also, there's this beauty, but in the midst of it, there's a darkness that we can answer through Jesus.
Troy Spilman: [00:33:59] And then the last one we're looking at is Kenya. So working with Hope Matters International, our own, you know, William and Michelle, but also the Bouma's, the Bouma's are there, and I guess they're just killing it, they're doing so great that it continues to expand that ministry. So right now, there's basically like a U-shaped hospital, they're in a rural area, and they're looking to kind of finish it off, we're going to make like a big O, or a circle, with a courtyard in the middle. But to finish that off, that would be actually some construction would be needed to create two more O.R's. You'd have two more operating rooms because demand continues to climb, more medical workers are going there, so we need a construction group, but also to use some medically minded people to be able to do some outreach. Yeah, so that's what we got.
Dan Franklin: [00:34:46] It's exciting, and just as we get ready to move on this, how do people respond? What are the next steps for getting involved in any of this?
Troy Spilman: [00:34:55] Ok, so you could take this, check the box, give it to one of us right outside in Next Steps, or down lower at Guest Services. So you can check some boxes, you're not signing your life on the dotted line, if you check the box, that really just means you're interested and you want to know more about it, one of us will follow up with you. You can also just scan the code there, the QR code, that will take you to our website where you can just sign up online. Or you can go straight to our website just through your phone or when you get home as well. And so if you come out to Next Steps, I'll be out there, others will be out there, to basically answer any questions that you have. Maybe there is one of these you just want to know more about, we'd love to be able to fill you in and answer any questions that you have.
Dan Franklin: [00:35:37] All right. In fact, I'm going to let Troy get going, he's going to get out there, get a couple of minutes ahead of all of you to be out with everything. And I want to just, as we close the service, I just want to do a couple of things. I want to read a quote for you, and then I want to read a passage as a benediction for us.
Dan Franklin: [00:35:55] So most of you know tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I want to read a quote from a speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave, the speech is called The Drum Major Instinct. And I know what you're thinking, you're shocked to find out that there's at least one speech other than I have a dream that Martin Luther King Jr. gave. But he gave at least one other. I think more, I'm going to do some research. In this quote, he's talking about the passage in the Gospels, where Jesus says, "The greatest among you will be a Servant." And here's what he says, "And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important -wonderful. If you want to be recognized -wonderful. If you want to be great -wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness. By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant." Let's be those servants.
Dan Franklin: [00:37:24] I'm going to ask you to stand and let me just read a couple of verses from that passage that's referred to in this quote, from Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 through 28, "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. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”. Amen. Amen. God bless you the rest of this Sunday.
Recorded in Upland, California.
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