Some other announcements I'd like to highlight is that the First John memorization study and practice that we've been taking signups for, today is the last day for that. If you would like to participate in this, there is a link there. If you have questions about it, you can reach out to Pastor Peter Chung directly.

But what a really fruitful thing to try to retain the scriptures into your heart, into your mind, and have it readily available, especially a book like First John, where as it talks about just the core of what genuine Christianity is, it'll be a great study. So please sign up for that.

For all the men in the room, again, whether you're in high school or college, young adult, married, we're having a men's prayer on Saturday, November 23rd at 8.30. So please mark your calendar and come for that. We would like to have a headcount, just so we know in terms of facility and preparations wise.

So there is a link on the app for you to click and just go directly to sign up for that. We're also going to be making the link available on our Facebook site and other means as well. Lastly, communion service is going to be on Sunday. So please make sure, again, we are asking that people take time to prepare their heart, to think about the Lord's sacrifice, examine your heart, and again, really being in prayer too, anticipating our Lord's return.

So please take time, come prepared as we participate in the communion table together on Sunday. Okay. This morning, we are continuing our special series through the topic of church covenant and the membership commitments that you make. And we've communicated that these are things that we hope every church practices, these are things that we hope every single member practices and commits to.

And I would like to give just a quick review of the various commitments that we've already covered, communicating again that these are things where it builds on each other, they're all interlinked, and these are what we believe to be from Scripture, God's expectation of you in the life of the church.

The very first thing as foundational to us was the commitment that I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, that your relationship with Christ is the foundation, it is the resource, it is the context by which you do everything in church. Number two, Pastor Peter Chung covered for us that I confess that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, which has ultimate authority over my life.

What God has said stands the test of time, and it is His word that we submit to and practice. And so, you know, he said, "You know, a bare minimum, let's commit to coming together and studying." Right? Bible study, that's the bare minimum. Number three, Pastor Nathan covered for us that I commit to a life of devotion, to prayer regularly, interceding for the leadership and the members of BCC, that a natural reaction to knowing God, to seeing His sovereignty, to seeing His love, every aspect of seeing God, you're going to respond with prayer, that you're going to engage your God.

Right? So, with that said, today, we're going to do a skip and jump to number seven on the sheet of our membership covenant, but it flows. It, again, all interlinks together. And the commitment is, "I commit to building up and strengthening the body of Christ at BCC by developing and using my spiritual gifts." Okay?

And this commitment, again, interlinks with the others and has its foundation in the realities of our relationship with God. And it is a vastly important one to understand what generally in a broad perspective God is desiring for you to do. And so, as I say that, I want to introduce this commitment with a little bit of a personal testimony too.

Not necessarily of my salvation, but after salvation, I wrestled through some of the core, I guess you could say, top-level questions that a lot of people wrestle through, which are the questions of, "What is my purpose? What are my gifts? Where do I fit? What am I supposed to do?" And then at the end of that, if you're wrestling with those questions, and let's say you hit some major hurdles in life where what you thought you were going to do didn't happen, maybe you weren't as valuable to some people as you thought you were, now all of a sudden you start thinking, "What am I even worth?" Okay?

Now, I had these kind of questions in my life at various seasons, and of course, they're difficult, and it's our God-given responsibility to wrestle through these things. Now on a spiritual level, all those questions have an answer in Christ, right? Our purpose is found in knowing and living and walking with Christ.

Amen. That's true. In terms of our value, our value is not found in myself. Our value is found in the person of Jesus Christ. That's also true. And it requires an incredible amount of faith, trust, and submission to accept that, right? We are by nature so prone to establish, secure ourselves, and it requires an incredible amount of just personal surrender to say, "Lord, I will find myself in you." And to the question of value, to the question of worth, I'm not going to find it in the world, but I'll find it in you, and that's our relationship with the Lord.

So I had that moment. I remember when I was young, recently saved, and then I was all confused, and then I wrestled with what am I going to do because I got saved right at the end of high school thinking about college, where I'm supposed to go. Got those little letters that reject you, you know, "We don't want you at our school." "I don't want you either," you know.

Going through those, that kind of like certain walls. They're small walls, but at the time when you're young, they seem huge and insurmountable. But I wrestled. And I remember having moments when I said, "God, I surrender. I surrender everything." And I remember praying like, "Lord, all those certain things I want, I surrender all that to you.

I'll even be a pastor." I said that when I was young. That's all I knew at the time, you know, that if you're going to really surrender, you say, "I will be even a missionary or a pastor," right? That's all I knew at the time when I said it.

But the thing is, just being honest to you, I meant it. But what's weird is, although I meant it, I felt weird that I didn't feel clear as to exactly what I was supposed to do. Now someone might say, "Well, you're on Collegian, so at the time, you're not supposed to know what you're supposed to do." Maybe, ideally, you should, and for some people, you do.

Great. But a lot of us, we don't. You're just trying to establish yourself on what you want to do. So then I started asking myself, "Well, what do I want to do?" Okay, confession time from me to you. My heart actually is very ambitious. I tell people I'm competitive, I'm ambitious, and they're like, "Really?" I just hide it well, okay?

If I were to confess, I want to do everything. When I was in high school, I had dreams of being a real estate mogul. I actually got a real estate license when I was super young. I did property management. I got involved with commercial property, and I was like, "I'm going to own this block," right?

I wanted to own everything. And then I realized, "Oh my gosh, that's so greedy." And then so I was thinking, "Oh, serving people, I want to be a chef. I really enjoy cooking. I want to be a chef." So I looked into like San Francisco Culinary Arts School and realized like, "That's expensive." I wanted to be a mechanic because I love cars.

I wanted to do so many different things. Why do I share this? Because I want to prep for you this dilemma, the problem. The problem is these major questions are very confusing. What am I supposed to do even when I'm surrendered to Christ? Where's the direction that I'm looking for?

And it doesn't help because my flesh takes that opportunity about what should I do, and it jumps in there and it's like, "I want to do this, and I want to do that." So although my heart was surrendered and I wanted to do ministry or at least serve the Lord in some capacity, my flesh also said, "Well, I want to do all this other stuff." And now I was very confused.

Now fast forward, I started to trek along just learning scripture, and I was so convinced. I said, "The Word of God is the living and active Word of God. And I want to be a part of giving people this precious treasure, the sweet honeycombs, the light, the direction, and the guide to our feet.

I want to give this." So I told everybody, "I think I really want to be a pastor." I signed up for seminary, and my first year in, I wrestled like crazy. I got in there, and then I went, "Oh my goodness, what did I sign up for?" Legitimately, and again, I'm just trying to be open with you, I sat there a couple of days, just staring off into space, but knowing myself right now, I'm a young man at age 24.

I took a break after college and then went in, and I was like, "I myself, I don't think I'm qualified for this. What in the world am I doing here? What if in reality, I don't have the character to even qualify for this position?" I was so discouraged. And then seminary, you get late nights, you're in the library, just looking off into space, and the motivation to keep studying almost died.

And then my flesh jumped in. The next day you go to class, you look around, it's like, "That guy's here? I'm great." Every church would want me, all of a sudden my pride just took the best of me, and all of a sudden I was like, "I think I'm fine." And that's just stupidity and pride, and comparison with other people.

And then later on as I was graduating seminary, I saw certain other men in seminary where I looked across the room, and these older gentlemen, like 50 years old, they had just brothers who have gone before. They just had like four or five kids, they were in class with me, again, I'm half their age literally.

And I was looking at them not like, "Oh," you know, I was just like so inspired because it wasn't so much that, "Oh, they're older and they're here," it was because the way that they received the teaching from the professor, they were like bright-eyed, they were like taking notes, and sometimes they were moved to tears in class.

And I'm sitting there thinking, "This is pretty dry stuff, I'm not sure why you're crying." But the reason why is because when I talked to them, they've got 20 years of ministry under their belt, but they're like, "The weight of the church is so great. I don't feel adequate to lead them.

I need this for them." That's when I was just broken and I realized, "Who am I to think I'm going to get out of here and then I'm going to lead the church?" I felt super discouraged. I hope I am sharing with you appropriately the kind of confusion that I had coming out of seminary, wondering, "What do I do?" And I don't know if you are also struggling with that, "What do I do?" And let me ask you a question to pose it to you.

If you were counseling me and young little Mark came up to you and was like, "Well, I wanted to do this, I wanted to do that, I wanted to do this, I wanted to serve the Lord, be a pastor, blah, blah, blah, blah." What would you say to me?

Maybe you would say, "I know what you should do. First thing you should do is calm down, man. You want to do way too much. You're going to do a million things and not do it really well." And sometimes you know these questions are big questions that don't get answered in a day.

They're not easy questions where it's like if I flip a switch, "I get it. That's what I need to do." Silly me, I just didn't know, right? Many of these questions don't come in terms of the answer in that kind of easy fashion. We know that. God is going to lead you through these things.

Okay, now, here's the reason why I set up for you that problem and dilemma of what do I do is because through just going to Scripture and then learning what is God doing in this generation, it brought for me such clarity. And more specifically, what is God doing in the church?

Because yes, I can intuitively understand the church is very important to the life of the Christian. But what is the Lord doing in the church answered for me so many of those questions, not exhaustively, of course, not in a way that perhaps I was thinking, and definitely I still have the responsibility and you have the responsibility to keep asking the question of the Lord, "What would you have me do?" But I realized that question gets indirectly answered when you look to Him and you ask, "Lord, what are you doing?

Do I see it? God, what have you been doing? What are you doing now? How are you working? What are you engaged in?" And so, with that said, that's how I want to introduce to you the commitment that we are to commit to building up and strengthening the body of Christ at BCC by developing using our spiritual gifts.

Now, let's read 1 Peter 2, verses 4-9. Please turn down your Bibles. For the first segment of this sermon, we're going to be here in 1 Peter 2, verses 4-9. And I'm going to read it to us. It says this, "And coming to Him as a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God.

You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture, 'Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.' This precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

For they stumble because they are disobedient to the Word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you, you are a chosen race, a real priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Let's take a moment to pray.

God, as we hear your Word pertaining to the building up of your church, I pray, God, that you would grant to us a perspective that is not natural to us, but Lord, is of a revelation that you have given about your plans. And what's more, we recognize, God, that your plans, Lord, far exceed anything that human ingenuity can design and anything that we ourselves can build with our hands.

And we recognize, Father God, that we have the unique privilege to be a part of this mighty work, the mystery of, Lord, so many people being brought together and being made one in the name of Christ. And so we pray that today we would both receive an appreciation for your work, but also, God, we would develop a conviction and a commitment to build your church.

We thank you, it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. So as we think about and tackle this idea of, "I commit to building the church and strengthening the body," clearly, one of the things that we have to discuss is the motivation to do so. Because I think, honestly speaking, when I look at our congregation, I'm so encouraged.

Many of you are here already with the sentiment, "I want to serve. I want to participate and engage." What we want to do now is to really rehearse and to focus our attention on the rationale, the impetus, and the motivation. And what I'd like to say is, as I look at the passage of 1 Peter 2, it is teaching us that building the church is directly derived from who you are.

So the rationale and motivation comes from who you are. Let's take a second look at that passage in 1 Peter, and we're going to draw those observations. I've underlined them for you, but take a look at verse 5. Take a look at verse 5. It says, "As," so you also, "as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." There is so much being said there, but what's absolutely clear is that you are living stones.

Jesus Christ being the primary first one that is set, that sets the pattern, that sets the line, that sets the foundation for everything else that is being built. But you, in essence, you are a living stone. What's more, what's being built then is a spiritual house, a spiritual house of holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices.

In the next slide, I have for you various other things that you are. Take a look at verse 9. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people of God's own precious possession. I want you to think about that, just delineate. The perspective here is that you, in essence, are living stone, spiritual house, royal priesthood, holy nation, a people.

Now, immediately then, that application then has its meaning for a lot of things we are not to be. What am I talking about? Well, for one, we are not general inspectors when we come to church, but rather we are, brothers and sisters, in construction of which you are a piece of it.

You are not an outsider who is a general inspector coming into the church and saying, "Well, let me see how your programs are. Do you have a children's ministry? Do you have this and that?" Now, are you allowed to do that? Yes. Why? Because your children are important. Why?

Because discipleship is important. But if someone comes into the church and says, "You don't have a missions program? You don't have a missions pastor? I don't know. I'll see you later." That, to me, communicates a very weird and interesting perspective. You are a living stone that's going to be a part of this build.

Why do you come in like a general inspector checking off like, "Do you have this? Do you have that?" Again, I don't want to make it so extreme. You are allowed. What's more, it's wise for you to look at those things. But I'm asking you to think about a perspective.

If ever we thought, "You know what? I'm just going to come and go and come and go as you please," do you see these pillars moving going back and going back? Why am I saying this? Because I want you to actually have the metaphorical perspective. You are like this pillar.

You are the living stone that's building this spiritual house. You should see yourself like, "You know what? There's a gaping hole in this ministry." But you're the pillar. You're the two by four. Maybe you think you're like me. It's like, "I'm a short two by four. I don't fit." But nevertheless, you are the piece.

You're the piece that's supposed to go and support that part rather than thinking that you're some consultant. "I'm going to come in here. I'm the expert builder. I've been doing this for 20 years. You do this, this, and this, and this, and it's going to stand. I'll see you later." That is not our role.

As a matter of fact, don't you think that could be very arrogant in the eyes of God? The master architect of the church who is the one who's designed every piece, who's designed its foundation, its furnishing, its purpose and use, and he's designed all of it. People now in this generation, I've seen articles like, "Let's redo church.

I don't like this whole sermon thing. Why do I have to do it this way? Let's make church fit those people. Let's make church fit those individuals," or whatever it may be. And you think about that, and it's like, "Yes, that might sound well-intending, but when you consider the architect, don't you think that's arrogant?" That's true.

We are not the architects of this church. God is. So who are we? We're the living stones that are a part of the build. And when you think about your involvement in the church, you have to think in that fashion. I do not have the prerogative of the architect to come in here and just dilly-dally, and I want to do this, I want to do that, but if you're asking me to do other stuff, I'm just not going to do it.

But rather to have this fully invested, involved mentality, because I am a piece of the construction, here I am. Let me help build this church. That's the right attitude. Amen? Now, what's more then, I'm not going to spend extended time on this because this is for a future commitment of attending and being present, but I want you to think about that.

If we are a spiritual house, then building doesn't mean like, "Oh, you know what? I helped make sure that everyone is here on time. I'm the guy and the enforcer who makes sure people don't have their coffees, and everyone's here," and then you skip out on worship service. No.

You come ready to worship, eager to give God praise, and in your own personal heart attitude of like, "I'm so excited to be here. I love singing to God. I love hearing you sing to God because praise, glory to Him," that attitude in and of itself builds the church.

Why? Because what God desired is the unified voice of His congregation coming together and singing praise to His glory. Right? You showing up, you're building. You're the piece, the living stone here. Amen? Okay. So, that's the first part. The other part I want to now talk about is that I have this cross-reference for you in Ephesians chapter 4, that not only are you supposed to show up, again, we're going to talk about that more in the future, but you're supposed to be as a living stone engaged in the service of the church.

Yes, that's right. We in this generation, I believe, not, again, I'm not trying to accuse you or something like that, but there is this common feel within this generation where the mentality is we're going to first build this church and we're going to establish an awesome service and experience for you.

You're going to come experience it, and that's how the church grows. That's not how the church is actually described in this passage. Here in Ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 through 16, this is what it says, "And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers." So God, in his wisdom, established certain functions and roles within the church, but then look what he says, "For the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ." Question, who is doing the building and work?

The church, the saints. All the individuals of the church are to join in. The saints are to do the work of service and the building up of the body until we all attain to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we're no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." Meaning, this build is going to be spiritual in maturity, growing in the likeness of Christ, growing in the strength that the Lord provides.

And what he says is, verse 15, "That you all, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by whatever joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Brothers and sisters, this is not something new to you, but we are rehearsing this.

God has this masterful plan that every single one of you be an integral part, that we are contributing to the growth of the church, and it is not, it is not for professional craftsmen. It is not for the guy who has 35 years of experience planting and building churches.

It is for every single saint in this room. Amen? Now, we all might not have the same capacity. We all might not have the same set of skills, but nevertheless, the responsibility of the building up of the church is squarely on ourselves, the church. And that's why when I thought about it, when I was sad, I gained clarity.

I loved it. I asked our elders for help, thinking through all that stuff. They're so gracious. But as I started to realize, "Oh my goodness, our church has a vision to worship God, to proclaim His truth, build His community, and evangelize the lost," I was like, "Hey, men, sign me up." And then realizing that me signing that covenant as a member, I am fulfilling the purposes of God.

This is the way He has designed it. I don't sign the covenant as a pastor, you guys. I sign that covenant as a member because the building up of the church is currently God's program. The community of faith, you might think it's just a human institution. It is not.

God has said the mystery by which so many different people here and now are joined together, it points to the power of Jesus because it's only in His name by which we're gathered. And when therefore this church is built, it will point the finger, not at one man, not at one individual, not at a program, it's going to point the finger at the power of God.

And therefore, the church must be built. Letter B, moving forward, the next rationale as to why we must commit to building up the church and strengthening the body is because of what God gave you. First was because of who you are, and now what I'd like to talk about is what God has given you in relation to spiritual gifts.

For this, we're going to take a long journey from in the book of 1 Corinthians 12 and go all the way through chapter 14. So please turn your Bible there. The rationale and motive to continue to build and strengthen the church comes from what God has given you, specifically concerning spiritual gifts.

So we're going to walk through 1 Corinthians 12, and I just want to highlight that the church of Corinth, very interesting church, it is a church kind of like a lot of people describe it as a problematic church because they do have a lot of problems. It straight up begins with like, "I thank God for you, but man, why are you so divided?

How come so many of you guys are jockeying for position, so arrogantly putting yourselves above others? You literally try to fight for the front seats, you fight for the first foods. Oh my goodness, can you please go home?" Like, that's what some of the tone of the book is.

But interestingly, in the midst of all that, Apostle Paul commends them because this is a church that was fervently trying to use their spiritual gifts. Problem. In the fervent try to use their spiritual gifts, there was disorder in the church, right? There's all kinds of chaos, and a little bit of that flesh also introduced itself in the practice of gifts.

So first, we take a look at a section in chapter 12, verses 1 through 3. Let me read it for us. It says this, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led.

Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus is a curse,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." Notice how he contrasts two thoughts. Prior to, unaware, lost, confused. And I'm sitting there saying, "That's me," right?

And then you just follow wherever it may go. What is the gift to the church? The gift to the church is that you have the light of truth, and your spiritual gifts that you have in the church is in accordance with the truth. That is a unique privilege. Some brother said recently, I was talking to him, he said, "Man, you know what's really interesting is in such a relativistic generation and world, we see people are actually hungering for something that is objectively true." Yes?

The church is given that privilege, to have the spirit of truth in us. So I'm talking about the commitment to build. Think about this. I'm using this as a means to say the spiritual gifts that we have abides with us with the Holy Spirit, abides with us in truth.

Moving forward to the next portion. In verses 4 through 11, he says, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons." Take a moment there to pause and realize not only has God given spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit as a common good for the church, He has given a variety of them.

What we're supposed to appreciate here is both the harmony and the union that we have, but also the variety. Are there different functions? Yes. Are there different ministries? Yes. Are there different effects? And the answer is yes. Moving forward, verse 7, he says, "But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to other the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit. And to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy.

To another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills." I would like to summarize that by saying that God has given you, meaning us, the collective one body, a variety of spiritual gifts, and that is actually good.

He is saying this was the will of God to vary the gifts in the church. So then let's talk for a little moment. Okay, that seems fine by me, but if you actually look at church history, if you even look at common church practice in our day, there is a weird phenomenon.

There is this weird instinctual desire in some people to conform everybody to one singular line. I have been a part of certain services. I got saved at a Methodist church down in San Diego, and it was great, and I got saved there, but they practiced a lot of these things.

It was like, "Everybody get together. Today we're all going to learn how to speak tongues." Now at the time, I didn't know any better, but now that I look at certain things, it's kind of like, "Hmm, but not everybody has the exact same gifts. Why are we so trying to bring everybody into one mold?

What if the brother can't? What if a sister can't?" That could potentially be confusing. Now I want you to think about it another way. Sometimes when I go to school in Kentucky, some of the brothers talk about their churches, and over there, a lot of churches have choirs. And some of you guys who have grown up in the church, maybe you guys have heard of the horror stories of choirs and how much problems they cause.

And sure enough, I talk to some of these friends, and they're like, "Oh man, the choir director and the pastor, they're at odds, and they fight over budget," and stuff like that. Now let's imagine for some odd reason, I'm like, "I'm going to start a choir." And let's imagine, just imagine with me that I was inspired, I was singing, and I was like, "We need to have a choir." And then I did one of those things, you know, I do the announcements, I'm like, "Everybody sign up." And in order to get you to sign up, I did the whole shebang.

I rhymed, I was like, "Join the choir, we are in, you know, dire, whatever it needs," and all this kind of stuff. And I like did a song and dance up here, and then I impressed you all, right? And then at the end of the day, I was like, "Yeah, let's look at the sign up," and only six people signed up.

And I look, and I'm like, "Oh my goodness, it's the rest of the leaders. They didn't want me to feel bad, so they signed up," right? Now imagine if all of a sudden I came angry, "Why aren't you guys signing up? What you don't want to sing? Scripture says sing to the Lord." I could pound the pulpit and be like, "We need to have this choir." And then I start getting at you like, "Wait, you, why aren't you part of this choir?" Right?

Now part of it is, again, what I'm saying is there is this weird phenomenon where sometimes we expect what I'm convicted by, you must do, right? And sometimes I even hear this. I went to a missions rally. Missionary came up. He's a godly man, but in his enthusiasm, he's like, "All of you are missionaries, and you better go.

You know why? Scripture says go. You're all missionaries. Go." And I'm sitting there like, "That's encouraging, but at the same time, I'm not sure if that's the right way to do it because some of the people aren't ready to go. Some of the people have desires and convictions to reach out to different types of people.

Some of these people, I need them to stay. I don't want them to go." Now I'm sharing with you this stuff because why? Scripture is making an emphatic point. As I walk through this passage, you're going to notice Apostle Paul is making a repetitive, emphatic point. God has varied the gifts, and this is to your good.

And therefore, if you look at Romans, the next cross-reference, Romans 12, verse 4-8, this is what he says, "For just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function," he says it right there, "they don't have the same function. So we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly. If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his serving, he who teaches in his teaching," and it goes forth on and on about the various gifts.

But I want you to not miss the point because I am, yes, giving this emphatic point, not just simply, "Hey, let's appreciate the fact that you're all different. I love you and I thank God for every single one of you. I mean it. I'm not just saying that, I mean it." But that's actually not the point.

I hope you're catching what I'm saying. Yes, on thank you cards, I write to our church people, "Thank you so much. Really appreciate you. God has made you each individually different and I love you." That much is true. But the point is, because he's made you different, you need to exercise.

Let me repeat that. Because he's given the church variety, you need to exercise. I said, because of what God has given the church, we must commit to build. No individual can sit there and say, "You know what? There's plenty of people doing what I do." No. You as an individual, if it's Alex, if it's Connie, you as an individual, you are the individual God is using in your unique place.

Yes, everybody can speak. Yes, there's a lot of people who can sing. But God has made you to be the workmanship, the carrier of his grace, and how you speak into other people's lives, and how you manifest the light that God has given you, that's God's design for you.

And think about it this way. Some of you guys are Lakers fans, super excited this year. "Oh my gosh, we've got this amazing center, small forward. We have the best small forward ever. We've got a decent point guard. We have shooting guards. We have coaching." Now, think about all this, okay?

People spend millions to build the team with perfect pieces, the variety of this. But then all of a sudden, to your dismay, the center who's like seven foot tall, 300 pounds is like, "No, I want to shoot threes like Steph." And you're like, "What are you doing? You belong in the center." It's like, "No, I shoot threes." Do you know how frustrating that is?

And imagine if the whole team said that, it's like, "Nope, not setting a rule. I'm the guy who's going to shoot the three." So the coach gets upset, it's like, "No, you guys are varied. You need to exercise your role." It's like, "Nope, I'm sitting on the bench unless you let me shoot threes." Now that part of it, I get convicted because I'm not so much rebuking you, I began the sermon by saying, "Oh man, one fleshly way that I responded to my confusion in asking the question, 'What should I do?' was to put my foot down and say, 'Well, I'm going to preach.'" But imagine, number one, to the church.

Some guy walks in here and is like, "I've been a consultant, man. I know how this thing works. Let me in and I'll show you how everything runs and we're probably going to sit here and be like, 'Nah.'" But then think again, always the consideration of the master architect.

One of the things I was so convinced, convicted by, just like pierced me deep is like, "Yes, you may be learned, you may have a seminary degree, but if you demand in the household of God to be this one singular role you've set your heart to, now you're useless because what if he wants to use you somewhere else?" And I went, "Oh my God.

Okay, there are multiple arenas where I need to surrender. Not only whole scale God, I started with God, I want to do whatever you want me to do, but one of the things I recognize again in clarity is, man, God desires us to build the church and we need to continue to seek that end." Now again, it is our responsibility to keep asking the question, "What would the Lord have me do?

How has he uniquely gifted me? Where are the needs around me?" And all those questions, it's not always instantaneous, but you need to keep doing that. However, the passage is pretty clear. We need to be a part of this build because God has varied everything and we have it in the church.

And so, the next portion of the passage, chapter 12, verse 12 through 26 says this, "For even as the body is one and yet has many members and all the members of the body, though there are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of the one spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many." Remember how I said he repeats this idea? Here he goes again, "Appreciate the individuality that God has designed into this collective body." We should do that. And then what's more, verse 15, "If the foot should say, 'Because I'm not a hand, I'm not part of the body,' it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.

And if the ear says, 'Because I'm not an eye, I am not a part of the body,' it is not for this reason any less a part of the body." And we should hear that and hear the exhortation. Another way that my flesh comes out sometimes is the boohoo flesh.

You know what that is? It's like, "Woe is me. I can't do anything." So he says, "Oh my goodness. I'm not an eye, boohoo. I can't be a part of this body." Brothers and sisters, no pity parties for us. If we are ever said in our minds, "No one needs me.

No one even cares," that is actually false. Is God no one to you? Oh, we shouldn't think that way. God has designed it so that there are members of the body where with our human eyes, they seem pretty unpresentable. They have very little to offer maybe. But Scripture says we are all a part of a body, indispensable, and therefore we cannot have the boohoo mentality.

Continuing on, verse 17, he says, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members." Oh, pause there for a moment. Who has placed the members? God has.

Who is building the church? The Lord is. "Each one of them in the body just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members but one body and the eye cannot say to the hand," in this arrogant tone, "I have no need of you." Or again, to head to the feet, "I have no need of you.

On the contrary, it is much sure that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor. And our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it." Brothers and sisters, we can never have the prideful, "I can do solos" mentality.

The fact of the matter is we are absolutely interdependent on one another. That is how God has designed it. There are times, again, I hope I'm not like overly giving attention to my weakness or even my overcoming weaknesses, but I have to share, you know, in personal testimony. There are times when I get super self-conscious and I start comparing myself in every fashion.

I'm not a visionary like our senior pastors. I don't have the memory and intellect. I don't have the wit of a previously pastor Aaron was here. I always thought like, "Wow, he's so witty and so sharp. I want to be funny." Like, I would say that. And I'm like, "Oh, gosh, what am I doing?" You know?

Because regularly I wish, like I study but I can't retain it, so I sometimes am envious. Like, "Oh, I want to be like Pastor Peter Chang." I feel like Pastor Nate has a work ethic like just far beyond me. I'm like, "Oh, gosh," you know? And our elders are so steady and calm and patient.

I mean, we could always do that all day long, right? But this passage is speaking very clearly to us. God has so designed us so that we are not one man who has every single character trait and therefore can stand and literally sit there and be like, "I don't need you." You just can't do that.

And that's good by the design of God. Why? Because as we collectively do that, again, we're going to give glory to the Lord. And so, the next portion of the passage in verse 24 says, "But God has so composed the body giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that," and here it is, "the purpose of God, so that there may be no division in the body, but that members have the same care for one another.

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." This right here is it. To me, this was such a motivation. Prior to building the church, that there be no division in the body. When I think about the church, what am I caring for?

Am I caring for the people? That people are actually growing, that I will carry their burdens with them, that there be no conflict in the church, that what burdens me is almost like a parent's heart. God forbid that my children would be at each other's throat, but what gives me joy is when my children love each other.

That is the kind of mentality we should have. Now I want to quickly move to this next portion. The commitment that we talked about said, "I commit to building and strengthening the body," but it also adds, "by developing and using my spiritual gifts." And this passage, the reason why I'm going through such large swaths of it is because it speaks to that element of our commitment, the spiritual gifts.

So I'd like to turn your eyes to verse 27 through 31. It's right up there on the screen for you. And what I'm saying is, in terms of spiritual gifts, the scripture is actually emphatic. You should be seeking spiritual gifts. Let me repeat that. The scripture is emphatic. You should be seeking to grow in your spiritual gifts.

This is what he says. Verse 27, "Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it." And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, and third teachers, the miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. And look at this interesting list of rhetorical questions.

All are not apostles, are they? And the answer is no. All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?

And all of those are answered with the answer no. And then he says this, "But earnestly desire the greater gifts. I will show you still more excellent way." The way I hear that is, to the man who feels like, "I have no skills." And he asks this question like, "Do you have the gift of teaching?" It's like, "No, I don't." "Do you have the gift of this?" It's like, "No." And then you're sitting there wanting, "I wish I did." What's really interesting, he says, "But seek this greater gift." And what I'd like to highlight to you is you know what chapter is next.

It's 1 Corinthians 13, which is famously known as the wedding chapter of love. But in context, before we read it, I want to remind you that this chapter is in the context of chapter 12 and 14, which is talking about spiritual gifts in the church that you should use for the common good.

So as a matter of fact, 1 Corinthians 13 isn't even about your marriage. People have used it like, "How do you light a fire in marriage so that you're strong in your love relationship?" It's not about your romance. It's not about lovey-doveys. As a matter of fact, in context, it is about the gift you should exercise and give to the church for its building, for its strengthening.

This kind of love is the love that you should have for the church. And this is where, again, for me, I was challenged. There is such a priority for me to love the body of Christ. So let's read. 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy, I know all mysteries and all knowledge. If I have all faith as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love does not brag, and it is not arrogant. Brothers and sisters, I want to share with you something. Our church leaders, yes, we have people sign off on a membership covenant that says, "I will serve." And we want you to serve, and so when you become a member, we give you this sheet.

It's a new members packet, and it has all like 32 different teams that you can join. But we definitely don't want you to have this mentality where it's like, "Sure, I'll do it. I get it. It's part of your membership. Sure, everybody has to pitch in. It's kind of like tax.

We'll do it." Please don't misunderstand us. That is not our heart. We don't even want you to do it because, "Well, you said so, so I'll just do it. I'm compliant." Like, that's not even the mentality we want you to have. You understand what we are saying, that the building up and strengthening of the church, we want it to be an overflow of your love.

We want it to be a part of your vision. This is what God is doing in our generation. That's what we want you to feel. And so no, we don't have 15 ways that you can just check this off. We don't have five top priorities of where you have to serve.

And yes, although it might feel like some people said, "Oh, every time I ask, how can I serve?" And then the first thing comes up, it's like cleaning ministry, right? But we don't want you to misunderstand this. We want you to have this heart of Apostle Paul. He is thinking love for the people of Christ.

And that's what we want you to have. So that you don't become, the back part of that is, if you do that, where you just do stuff without love for the church, what do you become according to this passage? The annoying person who just, "Bang, bang, bang," right? The guy who profits nobody.

You're just like busy, "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And then you realize you look up, you haven't helped a soul. We don't want you to be that. Amen? Now, for the sake of time, we're going to move forward to chapter 14, verse 1 through 4. The passage is very emphatic.

Should we be seeking spiritual gifts? And you understand what I'm saying is yes, you should be seeking spiritual gifts. And for those of you who have already recognized, like, "Wow, I have the gift of administration. Wow, I can talk to people. Wow, I could ask questions and people feel comfortable around me." Great.

But every single one of us should grow in the avenue of love. And yes, the passage is very clear. Pursue love, yet desire earnestly this spiritual gift, but especially that you may prophesy. It's chapter 14, verse 1 through 4. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God.

For no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who's prophesied speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church. So what I'd like to say is you see the dual action.

Remember in Ephesians, Apostle Paul said, "Speaking the truth in love we are to build." And this passage likewise reiterates the same truth. It tells you seek to grow in your gift of loving. And he says, "Seek to grow in communicating actual truth that people can understand." For the benefit of the hearer, for their sanctification and their edification.

And within this there is a, again, piercing conviction. Verse 4 says, "The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church." I want to start wrapping things up by going through with you chapter 14 because he is going to communicate. Use one case example about tongues to talk about your heart attitude that will edify everyone.

I'm going to start reading. And what I'd like to do is highlight for you every time Apostle Paul mentions this concept of who are you edifying. I'm going to start again in verse 1. "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God.

For no one understands. And in his spirit he speaks mysteries, but one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church. Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy, and greater is one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may," what?

"Receive edifying. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what will I prophet you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching? Yet even lifeless things, either fruit or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp?

For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning.

If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me." Verse 12, listen to this. "So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church." Underline, highlight, and star that one.

Whatever you are doing, seek the building up and the strengthening of the church body. Have you moved beyond, moved beyond the childish ways of what does this church have for me? Have you moved beyond the childish thinking of I don't feel comfortable? Have you moved beyond, well, no one's reaching out to me yet, to rather have the initiative I am zealous to build, to build this church?

Verse 13, "Therefore, let no one who speaks in a tongue pray." Sorry, I just read that the wrong way. "Therefore, let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then?

I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise, if you're blessed in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of ungifted men say the amen at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?" You see that?

How are they going to participate with you in the thanksgiving, in the worship? And the answer is, if you're more concerned about your role, if you're more concerned about your use of gifts, they won't. For you are giving thanks well enough, but the person is not what? Edified. I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.

However, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than 10,000 words in a tongue. I hope you are seeing what I'm saying here. When I thought about myself, before I used to think, "Oh, there's a balance of really seeking my role and position versus making sure to prioritize." But actually, Apostle Paul says, "No, there is a clear order." There is a clear order.

I would like to put it another way. This modern thought that you have to reach self-actualization is completely overrated. The kind of thought you were taught in grade school, and yes, our parents being well-intending, constantly saying, "You have to be self-fulfilled. You have to reach your grand potential," overrated.

It's not wrong. It's not sinful. It's not the worthless, crazy things of the world. It could be good. But there is such a higher priority that Apostle Paul is thinking. He is looking at the body of Christ saying, "The edification of the church comes first." And when I heard that, when I was thinking through this, again, for me, I was so humbled.

I don't need to be what I always thought I would be. If I'm used by the Lord for the edification of the church, I say, "Amen." Let me wrap this up by reading the last section. He says in verse 20 to 26 of chapter 14, "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking.

Yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. In the law it is written, 'By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to me,' says the Lord. So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers.

But prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe. Therefore, if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all.

The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.

Let all things be done for edification. Brothers and sisters, I do want to remind us, we are not just different, but worlds apart from any other community. You may belong to a ping pong club, you may belong to a bike club, you may belong to some kind of political club.

That kind of community has a sense of community based on function, based on practice. We have in God a certain identity where our essence is united by the Spirit of God. And when scripture says that by that power and by that identity, you are to continue to build what God is currently doing.

And what I want to say is, every single individual has a part in it. No matter what we see with our human eyes, every single one of you, and this is not the kind of mantra and cliche speaking of some politician. These are the very words of God. God has by his own design composed the body that though we are one, we are very, all contributing to the building up of the body.

Amen? Let's pray. Lord, we take time to recognize that what you are doing has, it reaches far, far back into history. And we realize God, the means by which we accomplish what you are doing, Lord, the depths of which we will not even understand fully in this time. The sacrifice of your Son, the working power of your Spirit to unite us to your Son.

Lord, it's crazy to think. And then to think now, Lord, that the privilege of all of this, the spiritual truth you have expressed in your church, which you have designed to be the revelation of the magnifical wisdom of God. I ask, Father, Lord, that you grant to us both understanding and appreciation, but most more the heart of excitement and commitment, Lord, that we want to be a part of building your church and this all to your glory.

We thank you, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.