So anyways, on to Lisa's sermon. Regretably, this post comes at the tail end of a series of sermons on "What Every Believer Should Know." Fortunately, the Wednesday sermons have the notes available online (the 9/14 notes are located here). Lisa, as well as brother Paul Osteen, have been covering points involving what happens when we accept Christ. The previous 8 points covered were:

1. We got saved.
2. We were born again in our spirits.
3. We were forgiven and our past was completely erased.
4. We received eternal life.
5. We became children of God.
6. We became temples of the Holy Spirit.
7. We were given the privilege to bear the Name of Jesus.
8. We were given the privilege of using the Name of Jesus.

Tonight's sermon picks up on ... you guessed it ... #9:

Your Place Of Ministry In The Body Of Christ:
9. When we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we became a part of the Body of Christ.
I Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 1:22-23, Ephesians 4:3-16

The section of the sermon that springs from Ephesians 4:3-16 hits most directly on the message I took from it, so here's the excerpt in full:

³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:

"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men."

⁹(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Here's a transcript of Lisa touching on this:

So many people have the mindset that hte ministry is just for the clergy ... It's just for the pastor. But I just want to challenge you to change your thinking and begin to think big like God thinks. You see, he sees you as a valuable part of the Body of Christ. And he sees the potential that He's put in you. And the fact is, God has called us all to fulfill the great commission, Amen? He's called us all to help and bless other. And every believer is a minister in the eyes of God. ... Now the second point I want to make is this: The Body of Christ needs you. That's what the Bible says. Did you know that we need your input. We need your personality. We need the gifts that God has put in your life? There are people who need your ministry.

This leads wonderfully into Ephesians 2:10:

¹⁰For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The power of that message fits with a few strengths I can relate to over my own life. Professionally, I'd learned that my strengths were in seeing where there was an opening with the people I was working with and filling the niche left open. Every successful team venture I'd been a part of has that in common. So when Lisa follows up with the command that we find our place of ministry within the Body of Christ, it registered very easily with me. Still, it's a daunting call. This isn't Wal Mart we're trying to fit into ... it's the Body of Christ. Still, I gave myself a challenge when I committed to Lakewood: I wouldn't disappear into some back row seat and be an invisible member. That puts a bit of a burden on me to find my place to fit in and be an effective part of the church. One I'm still working on.

Two more bits of Scripture help this take root:
Romans 12: 4-8:

⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. ⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

1 Peter 4:10:

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

Lisa sums it up:

Identify the God-given gifts that you have and use them to serve others. Start identifying, pin-pointing. What are my gifts? What is it I like to do? Because whatever God gave me the grace to do, I want to use them to help other people.
...
What motivates you? What fulfills you? What makes you happy? What makes you have joy in your heart? Do you like to work with people one-on-one? Do you like to work with groups? Are you an organizer? Do you like to work with children? Maybe your a musician. Maybe you'd rather work with your hands. Maybe some of you have the gift of mercy. You would rather just go visit someone in the hospital. Maybe you're a social person, you like to fellowship with people and encourage people. You see, all of these things, if you will identify them, they will help you know where God wants to use you. Because God gaveyou those gifts for a reason: to be a blessing to the Body of Christ.
...
You need to let your personality and your gifts just shine for the glory of the Lord.

And that brings us to the birth of this blog ... personality and all.

Intertwined with Lisa's sermon were a few lessons about how our life experiences - good and bad - help make us the people we are and how these experiences allow us to minister in our own unique way. One of the examples Lisa gives is of Tongela Clark, Lakewood member and author of "Dropped Out, But Not Knocked Out." The point being that our life experiences create the means by which we bring a unique and growing experience with Christ to the overall body. It's a great way of putting our negative life experiences in perspective. As Lisa quotes Tongela: "God turned my mess into a message." So, perhaps coincidentally, I found myself scribbling down a particular passage of Scripture that seemed to speak to me prior to service. I got interrupted as the music started up, so I stopped writing about halfway through. But once I realized where the sermon was headed, I flipped back in my journal and made sure to finish it off:

John 9:1-3

¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

³"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

And that pretty accurately sums up where I intend to go with this here blog. What has happened to me will be used so that the work of God might be displayed in my life. It's my hope that there's an audience out there that grows from this blog and that allows me to grow from the interaction of this online format. So feel free to ask questions, offer whatever greater insight you have to offer, etc. The comments section of each post allows that to be done easily.

For now, a journey of a thousand miles begins with one more step. So it'll be a gradual encounter we have here. Feel free to bookmark the site, subscribe to the RSS feed if you know what that means. I hope whoever finds this enjoys it.

Note: Sermon transcripts are limited by my own ability to accurately transcribe. Any errors are mine. I promise to inquire at some point in time about posting MP3 clips of services to help offer the best possible summary.