NOV 26 2017 | Ephesians 4

Sea Change Church · "Ephesians 4" · Dr. James Smith III · November 26, 2017
Ephesians 4
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Once again, it's good to be here in your presence in the Lord's. We are blessed. We're actually breaking a tradition this morning. Typically, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is pretty light attendance. So thank you. And we honor the Lord, the Spirit, for bringing you here today. I'm celebrating by wearing glasses up here so I can see what in the world is in the sermon notes. Welcome once again. I'm Pastor Jim, for those of you who've come in a little bit later.

And this is an unusual message this morning, in a sense, probably in several dimensions. But one of them is that I'm going to share for about the next 20 minutes or so. And then as an illustration, as an example of the biblical principle that's illustrated in our text this morning, the life metrics of divine thanksgiving, I'm going to turn it over to somebody else. And they're going to go for about seven to 10 minutes.

So it'll be within the usual goalposts of our sermon length. But it'll be a combination, a tag team. We did something like this in the spring. A few of you may remember with Chris Peterson when we were preaching on outreach, inviting others to Jesus. And Kristen was kind enough, who has a special gift in that area to come and share with us. I'm staring over at you. You can wave your hand if you'd like. And also we had Samantha. I don't know if Sam is here this morning or if she's away.

But in any case, she was sharing, having just made a commitment to Christ herself. And so very special. So similar principle today. The life metrics of divine thanksgiving. Here's how we start. First, hope you had a blessed thanksgiving. We're looking forward to Advent Sunday next week. For the last several weeks, Pastor Adam Stattmiller has been preaching on a couple of very significant themes.

One of them is called contentment. And he and I had good conversations about that as preparation was being done. And then more recently, something about wealth and about the stewardship of wealth and about money and its role or the role it shouldn't have in our lives. But one of the things that struck me as he began this series on October 1st was that oftentimes a favorite word in our culture is more.

More. What do you want? More. More. Years ago, I had a counseling appointment with an individual and he sat and we were talking about some of the struggles he faced within himself but also relationally. And ultimately, he came up with a phrase that I've not forgotten. And that is, I spend a lot of time chasing things I don't like to impress people I don't like.

I thought that was profound. I said, try that again. He said, well, let me change it. He says, I spend a lot of time chasing things I don't need to pursue the friendship of people I don't like. Isn't that an interesting statement? And we spent some time doing that. I don't know if that rings a bell, obviously, with a few of us here. I don't know how that works for you, but part of it was just this profound sense that more and more and more was a driving force, whether because of a sense of accomplishment or of image or of acceptance or whatever it might be, in the midst of it all, he'd lost a piece of his soul.

And so Pastor Adam's series, I take notes, up to you, of course. This is La Jolla Christian Fellowship. You may or may not make friends with a pen this morning, right? In sermon notes. But I went back through my sermon notes on what Pastor Adam had preached, and really a beneficial time. So what I want to do is play off of that sense of where he's been these last few weeks, but also to honor the gift of Thanksgiving.

We live, as he says, in a often competitive culture that sees, quote, discontent as the new religion. That often discontent, you know, my spouse isn't doing well enough, you know, I don't like the way my car runs or looks, I'm not fond of my relationships, boy, if my family was just better. I had a guy say to me once, boy, you know what, I'd be a better dad if I had your kids.

I said, what do you mean? He said, I mean, I'd be a better dad if I had your kids. I said, what do you mean, right? He says, well, your kids seem to like you. You know, they do things with you. You play games. You do this kind of stuff. He says, my kids are, you know, I'll let you fill in the blank. But he says, so if I just had your kids, I'd be a better dad.

I said, I think you might be missing something. Let's talk about that, right? So, you know, so for many of us, there is in the culture this temptation, boy, I think I'd be a lot better off if my circumstances were just a lot different. If I had, you know, much better income stream, you know, if I looked more Gucci, you know, whatever else it might be, right?

And that whole sense of attitude, Adam has followed us through. But as Jesus followers, we're not immune to that. So often there is that temptation to say, faced with the needs that are around us, we are tempted to think, sometimes in terms of our own shortfall, so we disqualify ourselves from some of the good things. Sometimes with a sourness that really kind of poisons us and turns us away because we think, you know, we got a little bit of the short end of the stick.

But in that situation, one of the phrases that he coined, that Adam coined, was abrica Jesus. Anybody else remember that? That was in October. He says, sometimes we think of prayer as an abrica Jesus. Somehow, because he loves us and because he wants to supply our needs, then if we just, you know, pray it up, then we've got it. There it's going to be.

And until we do, there is sometimes a deep dissatisfaction which echoes more at times of the culture around us than our situation really merits more certainly than it does God's word. Our middle son, Andy, who's a surfer. I get wet once in a while. But he's a surfer. And one of the things he said, the more profound thing is we were down walking the boardwalk in PB.

And he looked out and he said, you know what? And of course, I didn't. And he said, you know what? You can't really shape the waves, but you can shape how you ride them. And I thought, that's really cool. I'm going to remember that. That's true of life. You can't really call what waves you're going to get, you know, what the intervals are going to be, where the wind's going to come from, all the rest of it.

But you can decide how to ride them. And so that's part of what this message is about this morning. And so Adam said, be careful of Abracadabra. By the way, the inventor of Abracadabra was a guy, again, a historian, 200 years B.C. His name's in here. Serenus Simonicus. So that plus Adam got Abracadabra. That may sound a little familiar to us. What I want to say this morning is in the next paragraph.

And if you miss everything else, you can go home and read the scripture passages. There's three of them. But the moral of it is in paragraph two. Will you join me there? I'm waiting for eyes to drop down to the page level. Okay? Good. There's some of us there. And with that, it's this. Often we forget that our Lord's provision isn't necessarily more, but what?

A match. Our Lord's provision isn't necessarily more, but a match of resources exactly fitting his divine purposes in our lives and communities. The master supplies all our needs, little Philippians 4.13, in a way that fits his projects and his recipes. It is, to use the Greek, a metron. That's where the word metrics of Thanksgiving comes from.

It is a measure, a metron, befitting his kingdom work. In other words, as God supplies our needs, it may or may not look like more. But what's near to the heart of God is that his supply of our needs is a match. It matches what our actual needs are. It matches what his best designs are for our lives. It matches people that we are called to touch, opportunities that we're called to rise and pursue.

It matches exactly the mission that God has for our lives. That measure, that match of his supply. Fill in the blank. It's familiar now as a saying. Where God guides, God what? Provides. Where God guides, God provides. And that's foundational in all of this. So recognizing that our gifting, our influence, and our faith have limits. That we are limited people.

That we have boundaries around us. There is only so much that can happen. I'm looking over to my left here. And Garrett said that he and Deborah were going to be away. But I was going to ask Garrett to stand and say, Quite frankly, once in a while, I have to fight off jealousy toward Garrett. Garrett. Why? Garrett makes me look like I'm standing in a hole.

Right? Garrett looks like he could eat five Thanksgiving dinners and not gain a pound. There's Garrett. Right? So he gave me full permission. He says, I think I'm going to be away. But he said, go ahead. Anybody get the idea here? There's plenty of room for jealousy in our parking spaces. God says, I've got a provision that matches my purpose for you.

As a coach. That's got my purpose for you in your contours of life. As an artist of your life. As someone who is eager to provide a feast. To prepare a table before you. I've got a recipe here. Now, let me give a couple of confessional aspects, if I may. I wasn't always a bargain as a kid. But I love my parents. Yes. But there's two little illustrations that I think paint the picture.

One of them is the day in which my mom was cooking a dinner. And I said, this is great. Can I help? And she said, yes. And I said, she put a little salt in. And I said, oh, good. So I took a whole little blue keg of Morton salt and put it into the meal. Was it a better meal? No. Right. Right. There should be in a recipe of food, but also a recipe of life, a measure.

An appropriate measure in that recipe. That's what God wants to give. Let me say it differently. My dad, who worked for the city of San Diego for years, built manholes. One of the things of working underground was he often got dust in his eyes, got dirt particles in his eyes. And he came back, and after using urine and ocusal and all those other things to try and get this crud out of his eyes from working about 15 feet deep underground, I saw this happening, and it wasn't working.

So his youngest of three boys came in. I filled a pitcher with water, and I poured it over his head. Right? Did that help? No. No. Did it get him wet? Yes. Right? Sometimes it looks like more is better. Sometimes the key is in the precision of the match. And so can we remember that as we go forward into this season? And carry a spirit of thanksgiving with us.

It's not always about more. Can it be about more? Sure. Can it be that God blesses an investment? Sure. Can it be that health is recovered in a way that we'd like deeply for ourselves or others? Absolutely. Absolutely. But the key is a match of God's purposes in our life and how faithful our Lord is. And so with that, three scriptures, and I'm just going to read the scriptures this morning.

You'll notice that uncharacteristically there wasn't someone standing up and reading a focal scripture and then being seated during our service to prepare the way. Three scriptures. And I'm just going to read them off the text. I encourage you to join with me. Number one. Quote the Apostle Paul. To each of us, grace was given according to what? The measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive, a host of captives, and gave gifts. And he gave some apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature person, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ's.

End quote. That's from Ephesians chapter 4. There is the measure of the gift that he has given us. Now, in John 3.34, that's not in your notes, but you can add it, of course. John 3.34 says that upon his Son, upon Jesus, the Spirit was poured out without measure. Elsewhere it says he did all things well. And I had some fun, as Chris is doing multiple hats this morning.

Thank you so much for that. But Jesus could do all things well. We can do, and we are gifted to do, a few things well. One of the things, as someone asked me this last week, one of the things that got me further involved in ministry as a pastor, beginning back in the 1970s, and I want to say again, you know, 35-plus years into this, I never get tired of seeing the Lord work.

And that includes what he's doing these days here, and out on the road, and over where I teach at Bethel Seminary. But in that, people began affirming spiritual gifts in me. You'll notice the references, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4. Those are some listings probably partial of the number of gifts that the Spirit can give. So I want to ask this morning, once again, what's your gift?

If you look at those passages, or if you look at various ways of looking, you can even use strength finders, as we have here before. What are your strengths that are God-given, and can be cultivated and utilized more fully? Strength finders list 34 different strengths. Everyone here has some mix of those different areas. If you're curious, you know, you can look that up on the internet.

Biblically based, there are discussions of spiritual gifts. So years ago, I realized I didn't have all of them. Could God stretch me sometimes, so that I did a function over here, or a ministry over here, and then I kind of moved back to where I was when that emergency or that crisis was over? Yeah. I can tell you that I have spoken in tongues exactly two times.

Now, some of you may have that spiritual gift. Some of you might be a little uneasy about those who have a spiritual gift, because you're looking for the translator who doesn't show up, right? The interpreter. Whatever it might be. Two times. I can say that. Is that characteristic of my gift? No. But God moved me in that moment to be an instrument of his.

I'm saying it because, for me personally, beginning back in those early ministry days, I had people say, we think you've got these spiritual gifts. We think you've got a gift of pastor-teacher, which surprised me. We think you've got a gift of wisdom, which is knowing what in the world to do with what you've got. And we think you've got a gift of paraklesis, a Greek word that can mean comfort, exhortation, or encouragement.

Now, I'll leave it to you. If you want to talk about spiritual gifts after the service, or if you say, I don't think you have that gift. I think you're, you know, kind of going from AM to FM up there. So anyway, you know, but I'll leave that to you. The point of it is that we have limited gifts. There is a measure of the gifts that we have. Anybody here ever wish you had a different spiritual gift?

Right? I'm seeing some twitching. This is fun. A couple people scratching the back of their head. One of you scratching your neighbor's head. That frightens me. In any case, you know, you get the idea. But there is a measure of the gift that he has given us. And that is a wonderful, a wonderful kind of blessing that God has. There is that fullness. And we identify with him.

It says, We grow into a unity of the faith and the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. We grow up into an expression of the fullness of the gifts that God gives us. And as he nurtures those in our lives, we are so blessed. An invitation this morning. Maybe go back and read Romans 12. 1 Corinthians 12. Ephesians 4. And think again about the gifts that God's given.

And saying, Lord, can you magnify that in ways that please you and exactly fits the needs in my life? And of course, we can have any gift that's there. But as it says in 1 Corinthians 13, if that is without love, it's fruitless. If that's without love, it clanks. Eventually, it proves inauthentic. So, God, we pray even now that whatever gifts you've given in this congregation, in this church family, that you will accompany that with love as a special grace that ties together all the acts and all the activities that we have in Jesus' name.

Number two, it's a measure. Quote, We are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are, the Greek word is, clueless. Clueless. They are without understanding. We will not boast beyond our measure, but what? Within the measure of the sphere, which God has appointed to us as a measure, to reach as far as you, for we are not overextending ourselves.

Can I underline that? Maybe you'd like to underline that. We are not overextending ourselves. What Paul says in this passage, 2 Corinthians 10, is that we simply have confidence, we find our place within the measure of the sphere, within the boundaries that God has given us. Let me share a word personally. I don't know how you envision, as you pray, envision Jesus' ministry in ways in which we can identify with our Lord.

But I want to tell you once in a while, especially as I'm walking around the lake, out in Lake Murray area, and I'm looking at the waters and the hills and up to Cowles Mountain and all the rest of it, I'll think about a moment that may have taken place, I suspect it did, in Jesus' own life, where he was perhaps seated on a hillside, looked across the open expanse, and saw a village he would never visit.

Those people would never meet him face to face. Why? Because he incarnates had human limitations. He ministered in the sphere that he had. The appointed round of ministry, the boundaries of that, Jews, Samaritans, whoever else, men and women, boys, girls, bond, free, all different kinds of ethnicities, without favoritism. Jesus ministered there, but there were villages he didn't reach.

Anybody think of that? Besides myself. Talk about limitations. How must that have touched the heart of the Son of God to look out and to say, Father, you've given me a mission in this region, in this area, but you know what? I got a bunch of these quack, you know, apostles here, and I'm going to turn over to them a great commission and through them to other disciples that will follow and it's going to be up to them to follow up on this because I'm only able to do so much.

I can't here in this incarnate body be two places at once. I can't do that. So, with that, as it says here, there is a sphere that God has given us and Paul says, I recognize mine and I don't overextend myself. There's only so much you're meant to do. There's only so many people you can reach. There's only so many places you can be. There are limitations that we face and rather than kicking and kicking, we acknowledge boundary lines.

Now, the word there, again, is the word, the word canon, boundary lines. Where else is that word used in Christian faith? The canon of scripture. Right? Ever think about that? There is an Old Testament. There is a New Testament. 39 books, 27 books, 66 books total. And in that, there are boundary lines. Now, some of you know, and this, I'm not bragging or complaining, I got a doctorate from Harvard in church history.

Okay? And I've studied all kinds of these documents that are outside the New Testament in the first three centuries. You know, the Gospel of Fred, you know, things like, you get the idea, right? I mean, they're out there. If you ever want to talk about that, let's talk about that. I'm glad to go there. But there were boundary lines in terms of what was inspired as the authentic word of God.

And that New Testament, I can read with confidence as a historian, as well as a believer. Because I've read most of the other stuff that's out there that's really kind of interesting. So, in any case, with that, it's simply to say, there are boundary lines around our life. we are only meant to have a certain kind of influence and so much. We can only do so much.

All we can give to dear people around us is opportunities. We're not here to force anybody's hand. And we're certainly not here to put anyone down for not following what we wish they'd do. But we give these opportunities, these open doors. Let me ask, what is God's intended sphere of influence for you these days? so that, like the Apostle Paul, you're not overreaching yourself.

Or you don't fall into the pit of competition. Notice the beginning of that passage once again. We are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. Jockeying competition as a way of life is something that Paul recognizes and puts aside. Do we realize that there is such a thing as bad Thanksgiving? Anybody notice that on Thanksgiving?

So what gets the gong? You know, what is it that's bad Thanksgiving? Write this down if you'd like. Luke chapter 18 verses 9 through 14. And it grows exactly out of this practice of this sort of raiding and one-upping other people. Remember this story? Very simply, Jesus was there in an open square and they're going up to the sanctuary and there was a publican and there was a Pharisee.

And the Pharisee said, I thank you, God, that I'm not like this moron. Is that bad Thanksgiving? Uh-huh. Right? I thank you that I'm not an idiot like this fool. I thank you I'm not a lemon here. This guy is, you know, just really awkward, clumsy, falls over. You know, I thank you that I'm much more distinguished. I thank you that I've arrived. Thank you so much.

Right? You get the idea? That's bad Thanksgiving. The occasion of that was this jockeying that says, gotta get ahead, gotta make a splash, gotta, in Paul's own language, overextend, overreach into somebody else's territory and business. We lay that aside. Okay? There is a measure of the gift of Christ in us. We don't have it all, but how wonderful it is that his gift to us exactly matches what we're called to be and do in this day.

We can relax otherwise. There is also a sense of the sphere that God intends. We can only have so much influence and so much of a territory and God says, bless you. Jesus says, I know what that's like and so we follow him in that and don't wind up, you know, kind of playing roller derby with each other so you can bump somebody else or even torture ourselves with what we think is a production line.

When God doesn't say production, he says, fruitfulness. Look at the season. Look at the moment. Know where you are. Thirdly, I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, Romans 12, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your rational spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect through the grace given to me I say to everyone not to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

There is only a certain amount of faith that I have, folks. Only a certain amount at this point that you have. Is that set and can never be changed? No. We can grow in that as it pleases the Lord, as we utilize it and develop deeper capabilities and so forth, but there is a measure of faith that he has. Let me say very simply over the years in Starbucks language, I have learned not to quibble with God whether my faith is tall, grande, or venti.

Anybody know what I'm talking about? Oh God, oh God, I just, I'm just so edgy, I just wish I had venti faith. Give me more venti faith. And God says, how would you like to use the tall faith that I've already given you? Whatever it is, whatever measure, it's the real deal. Jesus said, if you've got faith like a grain of mustard seed, go, plant it. The man in Mark chapter 9 who says, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief.

I'm under construction. I'm still learning it. Jesus doesn't rebuke him. He starts where that gentleman is and shows him best next steps by grace. Loves him. Loves him. So with that, I'm tempted, but I'll resist temptation. Show of hands, how many of you feel sometimes that you just kind of want more faith? If I just had more faith, if I could really just crank it up, right?

Just pump it, right? This is called, with limitation, Starbucks theology. Think of it perhaps, right? Every one of us in this room who seeks to follow the words of our Lord Jesus Christ seek God to follow God's word, live by his spirit and by his word. We have at least tall faith. Can we believe that today? Amen? We have tall faith. Now, maybe it's grande for other purposes.

Maybe it's more demonstrative or maybe it's more compelling or maybe it's whatever it is. God will take care of that whether it fits or not. Okay? That's his business. Maybe it's even venti. But there's the real deal. And so with that, we find a gift that God gives. What's God building in your life? If God is the great architect of life, what's he building?

He wants to supply your needs exactly to measure what's under construction. What's the team that he's gathering with each one valued? What's the sphere of influence? What's the recipe as you assist him in preparing a table? Let's thank God as we move from Thanksgiving into Advent, especially for his son Jesus. and also for the way in which we have a measure of health and resources.

Contenere, the Latin Christian saw tener means to have even in Spanish today. It means my life contains all I need to be fully alive and serving God. And this extends also just before we make the invitation up to our next speaker. This extends also to our perception of the land in which we live. May I say it that way? On the opposite side of your worship notes, there's a passage from George Washington in the first decree for Thanksgiving, 1789.

And he thanks God for the blessings, not absolute, not that it's total and full, but he says, I thank you for the degree of these things that you have given us. And God's still doing that in this land. Let's start by thanking God for the degree of peace and the degree of grace and the degree of strength and all those things that we might see around us and then pray even more fully that God's kingdom would come.

We are, to echo back to Adam's earlier message, we are people who, excuse me, in our lives are not complacent, but we are content. Complacent means I'm getting exactly what pleases me and I'm just going to cling to that whatever it costs anybody else. I'm just going to kick back. But the contentment we get from God means your life and mine contain just what we need.

I have been inspired since coming to this church by a number of you people here and now with new people coming in by more of you. I want to invite someone up who has been a just fallen down inspiration to me who has learned to live with limitations and praise God and bear fruit. Her name is Bev Adler. Bev, will you come? This should still be on? It is. Good. And let's see if you can hear Bev.

Can you put it back? I'll put it any place you'd like. So I can stand here. Yeah. I think that's good. Can you hear me? Okay, great. Well, thank you, Pastor Jim, for having me share today about the measure of faith and grace that God's given me. He didn't know what a significant time Thanksgiving is in my life and so I hope you'll enjoy this as I share. But I'm so grateful for the measure of grace and faith that's God given me in my life.

My first gift of grace was a godly heritage with both grandmothers having fasted 40 days which is so unheard of in this day and age. And I was raised in a missionary home and family where our values were trusting God in all things, living sacrificially as our service to God and pursuing God's purpose as the focus of life. This provided a firm foundation for being empowered by God through the measure of grace he has given me to find him in the challenges of life.

My focus has changed from living and doing for God to being empowered by his grace. On Thanksgiving Day when I was 22 years old, I went through a windshield and had over 250 stitches in my face. By God's amazing grace I experienced a deep sense of wholeness being the same person on the inside even though I was unrecognizable on the outside. It was God's grace when Kai and I met the next Thanksgiving Day the last day that I took a bandage off my face because I didn't want to wear it to our Thanksgiving dinner.

and he didn't even notice my scars and said I was the most beautiful woman he'd ever met. Thank you. We were married the next Thanksgiving weekend. So because of this experience of wholeness when Zach was diagnosed as a baby with cerebral palsy and we were told that he wouldn't walk or talk or have intellectual function God gave me a vision of him being whole on the inside no matter what his limitations were on the outside.

When Zach was about eight years old and I'd been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy for about three years he at that time walked with a walker or knee walked and mostly used a wheelchair. Well one day he watched me walk across the room and he said Mama you walk funny and I stopped for a minute I didn't know what to say so I said well how do you walk and he crawled off the sofa and knee walked across the floor and he said I walk just fine.

I knew that he had attained a great sense of wholeness from that experience and others similar. He's always had the attitude in life that you might have a problem but there's nothing wrong with him. It's a great miracle of God's grace that today he walks about two and a half miles almost every day down on Mission Bay and Crown Point. He's a one-armed golfer and a black diamond downhill sit skier.

And besides that he's got a great personality don't you think? Thank you. So after being told that I would eventually become a quadriplegic diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when he was five I came to the realization that I just needed to be like Zach. He's been a reflection of God's grace throughout my whole life in many ways. A unique way that God's grace works in our family is through a concept of interdependence.

the health needs that each of us have has enriched our knowledge of health practices that we have all benefited from. Therapy, exercise and special equipment that Zach's needed has given me experience and expertise for things that I've needed as well. The ketogenic diet and brain food that we've found for Zach for a seizure condition has ended up being the best diet to prevent cancer and to prevent mental decline as we age.

And when I grocery shop Zach is my strong right arm. I couldn't do it without him. These examples of interdependence benefiting us all are God's great measure of grace in our life. God's gift of grace has enabled me to face three cancer diagnoses and learn to manage it as a chronic condition. I've not had a sick day in eight years with integrative treatments.

Praise be to God for that. Kai is God's greatest gift of grace in my life. Although he doesn't have a gift of service he serves Zach and I tirelessly to meet our needs in every way that we do need because of his love and devotion for us. Also serving the church with his gifts and God and pursuing and pouring his strength into a business he believes can save lives with pure air and make the world a safer place.

Yesterday was our 39th anniversary. Thank you. It actually fell on a Saturday as it did in the year we were married that Thanksgiving weekend. And I'm so grateful for God's grace in our marriage. We love the grace filled marriage material that the group that we're leading now on the second Friday night here in Fellowship Hall of the Month because it shows how to minister grace to our spouses and our primary relationships and so all you married and engaged couples are invited.

Because of my challenges I'm more aware that most my need for God's grace and strength which has become my lifeline. I've learned the limitations of my own grace and strength. They're not that big. Not that grande or tall. If we were a normal family God's grace wouldn't be so evident in our lives. I've come to believe that my calling is to be a reflection of his grace.

I encourage you to offer up your life to God both strengths and weaknesses and ask him to transform them by his grace so that it's his grace that you have to extend to others. 2 Timothy 1.9 says he has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

Zach has an encouragement to share. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. when face with a mountain I will not I can't I can't do it I need it when face with a mountain I will not quit I will keep on striving until I climb over, try to pass through, try to under these, or simply stay, and simply stay and turn the mountain into a miracle with God's help.

God loves you, and so do I. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Isn't that beautiful? Yeah. Yeah. Welcome to La Jolla Christian Fellowship, where all kinds of different things happen, and we find ways to praise God. And I'm just so grateful, Beverly. I mean that. Zach, Kai, thank you for the sweet gifts. The measure that God gives us. The measure of faith, the measure of the gift, the measure of the sphere.

Our lives don't have to be controlled and driven by more, more, more. Let's start where we are. Let's celebrate God's goodness. Let's celebrate God's goodness. Let's do it. Let's do it. We're going to ask the prayer team to come up. And if you'd like prayer after the service, come up. You could also talk, may I say it, to the Adlers. I'd be glad to talk with you.

Others would. But there's a wonderful song. It's called The Doxology. It goes, Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him above, you heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Will you stand with me?