- Well, it's great to have you guys back
for another week of Life Group.
Thank you so much for the investment
you make in other people
those of you who are leading groups,
or opening your home, or meeting with people in restaurants.
This is, in so many ways, the purest form of the church
and we build each other up as the body of Christ.
And that's what we're doing in this message here.
We're talking about who we are
and what we're called to be in Christ.
The message here is called I'm In.
Last week we looked at I'm Invited to God's Family.
This week I want to talk about your specific role
in the church as the church.
I'm invaluable to God's work through the church.
Let's talk for just a minute about the church.
There's an interesting Greek word ecclesia
that's often translated as the church.
The word ec it kind of means out of
clesia comes from the root Greek word kaleo
which means called.
Translators will translate ecclesia as the church.
Some people would say that a better term
is actually assembly or a very literal translation
is the called out ones.
We're called by God to gather to go
into all the world to represent His love.
I want to talk about your role in the church,
but first let's just have a little bit of fun
and build each other's faith up
about how God is working in the church.
You came to Life.Church for the first time at some point.
Maybe someone invited you,
maybe you were driving by and came in,
and you had an initial impression.
Maybe you thought why is this guy on a video screen,
this worship style is different.
You may have loved it, you may not have.
What I'd love to know is this:
what did you love about it that brought you back?
How did God work in your life in such a way
that you decided I want to come back
and be a part of this assembly, this called out group.
What was it about the church that drew you back
and how has God impacted your life through the church?
Let's go ahead and talk about it now.
What brought you back
and how has your life been changed through God's church?
All right, for the next question
it should be hopefully a little bit fun,
but first I want you to read a big portion of scripture.
I'd love for you read first Corinthians Chapter 12, 12-27.
It's a big text.
First Corinthians Chapter 12, 12-27.
And we're gonna read a metaphor that Paul talks about
that the church is just like a physical body.
That there are so many different parts,
and every part is important,
every part needs the other parts of the body.
And so, First Corinthians Chapter 12, 12-27
if you'll read that, and then just for fun
let's talk about this:
if you were one part of the body, the physical body
what would you be?
Are you an ear?
Are you the eyes?
Are you the nose?
Are you the mouth?
Are you the feet?
I would probably say that my role would be the mouth.
I would encourage people with God's truth.
You might say you're the big mouth whatever that is.
But what part of the body are you?
Are you the heart?
Are you the appendix?
Are you the legs?
Are you the arms?
What part of the body would most represent
what you would be if you were one part of the body?
First Corinthians Chapter 12,
and then if you were one part
of the physical body as the body of Christ,
what one part would best represent you?
Okay, so the first two questions hopefully were easy.
This one really, really, really matters.
You, if you're a follower of Christ, you're a part
of a larger body, the church of Jesus Christ.
Not just Life.Church but God's church at large.
And as his church, every person has a gift
and every gift matters in the work of God in the church.
The question that I want you to answer is this,
and this is incredibly important is this:
what is your part in the body of Christ?
What's your role?
What are you uniquely created to do?
What contribution do you regularly make?
And a lot of you, you'll have an answer immediately.
You might be a prayer warrior.
You might really feel called to impact kids,
and so every week you serve as switch.
You might really have a heart for families,
and so you rock babies.
You might really want to communicate love
last week's message about people being invited
and being welcomed, it just burns in your heart,
and you're somewhere on the host team.
You might represent the church outside of the church.
There is a way you minister to people
and you represent Jesus every single day.
Or you may sit back and you may say, "You know what?
I kinda just go to church,
but I'm not really yet making a contribution."
And so this may stir you to think about
what's your part in the body of Christ.
I want you to think about it.
If you're not doing something right now,
using your gifts then there's something
that God wants to be done that's not being done.
And I pray you hear it, I pray that you feel it.
That your part may not be that visible,
but every part is important.
You were created by God, He gave you certain gifts,
He gave you a passion.
You care about something more than other people.
He placed you at this moment, in this time in history
because you are best suited right now to use your gifts
as the church to show the love of Jesus in the world.
Big question in God's family, in the body of Christ,
in the church, what is your part, what is your ministry,
what is your role, what is your calling?
What is it that God has created you to do
as His church to make a difference in this world?