All right, let's pray, Lord, as we continue our series Ctrl + Alt + Renewed. Lead and guide us in Jesus name. Amen.

Good morning, everybody. So today is our second week in our Ctrl + Alt+ Renewed series. For those of you maybe who are, this is your first time here. We're just kind of as a reminder, we're primarily focusing on Romans 12 this month. And to kind of just give a little backstory to Romans. We find the believers in Romans are kind of in conflict with one another.

There are the faithful Jewish believers who had to leave because of persecution. And when they come back, the Roman believers, formerly, I guess you could say they were Gentiles, come into the church and they see that they're not acting and doing things that they felt should have been done. And there's this huge conflict. And Paul has to write a letter to tell him to basically knock it off, stop it. But he goes on, and he starts out with eight chapters of explaining that we're saved by grace.

And then chapters 9, 10, and 11 talk about the fact that we're not just a church of what we believe, but also we're a body. At one point in there, it says, we're grafted together. Take two trees and we become body. One group, one body.

And last week, we focused on this premise of being transformed.

We are being transformed by God. But what does that now look like, practically? What does it mean to live as a body of believers?

So this last week, you all enjoy the heat that we experienced? No.

Okay, good. How many of you aircon went out? Mine went out this morning. Or I should say it didn't go out, but it's not pushing cold air, so that's something I gotta deal with later. But I think it was Wednesday.

At some point, I noticed as I was sitting and working that the power kind of flickered and went off and then went back on. I thought, oh, that was weird. Okay, whatever. And not 20 minutes later, everything just went. Was out.

And not only was the power out, the stove was out, and heaven forbid, the WI fi went out. I was shut off from the world. Okay, that's technically not true because I have my phone. I could connect my lap, my iPad to my phone, you know, to do work and everything, to upload stuff, but it's not the same. It was minimized, minimal connection.

Today we're talking about Reconnect. How many of you have a car that you can connect your phone to? The Bluetooth system, that you can use Waze or Google Maps to navigate to, play your favorite playlist on Spotify? Or Apple Music or maybe a podcast to be able to connect, to be able to talk to people. And what if the Bluetooth goes out? Then you're frustrated because then you can't see your screen. It's not acting as it should. And when we become disconnected, how do we feel? Some of us maybe feel a little anxiety. Maybe some of us might feel a sense of relief. Finally, I have no ability to talk to others. This makes me happy. Others, you have a destination, and you're not on the freeway for 15 minutes. You're on city streets bobbing and weaving left, right. There's a sense of control that we talked about that we essentially have to lose, and we have to reconnect, get plugged into Jesus, who can trans our life. And what does that look like, not just for us personally, but also with the body of believers.

So we're going to look at a number of passages today, and the first passage, actually, I want to go to. I just. I'm going to read it because there's a lot we're going to discuss. Okay. But here's a picture of some passages that we're going to be looking at briefly.

Okay. Colossians 2, 19. They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Now, as a body believers, okay, we're all part of the body. We all play a function, such as some of the fingers, some are the eyebrows, some are the feet, some are the appendices. Right? Some of them are the little pinky fingers and toes. Whether big or small, important what we see in value, the reality is we are all one body. There are some parts we definitely have to protect and to guard. Some may value.

Like, would you. Would you. Okay, how about this? Would you. Would you rather lose your eyesight, or would you rather lose your hearing?

Or would you rather lose your sense of taste? Would you rather lose your ability to talk? None of us want to lose that. Right. And they're all important functions of the body.

But in order to be able to talk, to speak, you have to have a brain. You have to be able to connect the body. Yes. If you want to move, you got to have feet and legs. Right. If you want to pick something up, the fingers can't just grab. You have to have an arm. We all function together as one.

But who is the head of the body? Christ Jesus. Okay. And so Jesus being the head, we then are also part of the body. We all have a part to Play. But if the body has lost connection to the head, that which supports the whole body, that's being held together by ligaments and sinews. God wants us to grow together.

Okay, now, as a question, I want to propose to you. Okay. Have you ever felt out of sync with Bluetooth? It can be frustrating because you need to get information or you need to talk. What if we're out of sync with God?

What if we're out of sync with Jesus? What if we're out of sync with even our church family, Our. Our church body here? Or have you ever driven and you just put the car on cruise control? You've gone long distances, for instance, you know, I made several trips to Arizona. And when you're pushing the gas pedal for three, four hours, that can get tiring. So you can put it on cruise control, save your leg a little strength. But is it possible? Do we cruise control through our lives? Do we cruise control even with our relationship with God or even here at church? Okay, and when we put on cruise control, what happens? I think we get a little too comfortable. Have you ever been driving? You have cruise control and all of a sudden there's something that is in your way and you have to stop or pull over around. You barely hit.

I was driving with a buddy of mine from Oklahoma to California, and we were outside. I think it was somewhere outside. We just crossed into Arizona. It's like three in the morning. And there was a boat literally in the left lane that had fallen off its trailer. And at 3:00 in the morning, am I wide awake? No, but I had enough sense to recognize it for what it was. I thought I was seeing things. I got onto the right lane, barely passing it. If I'd hit it would have been disastrous not only for us, but also for the people in the car that were just in front of the boat. Being in sync, being connected. And not just having a bar connection, because you might have one or two bars, but if you're trying to do a zoom call or you're trying to FaceTime, you need a little bit more than that. If you want to watch a movie, you need a little bit more than one or two bars. You want to be fully connected.

When was the last time you were truly, truly humbled? When were you truly humbled? Last time? Months ago. I had a conference that I had to attend to.

And so I was gone from Sunday to Wednesday. And when I'm. I was in the desert and I looked around to see what could I possibly do because I had some Free time on day two in the afternoon and there's a wave pool out there. And so I brought my board and I paid a pretty penny to have a one hour session. And I got out there and it was 130 degrees with 80 degree water.

And I, you know, when I walked into the water, it felt okay. Was not as warm as I thought it was. It maybe felt actually like it was in the 70s. But after an hour of working really hard, it's so weird. You're in water but you're dehydrated. Does that make sense? It was the weirdest feeling. I did not like it. I was exhausted. But I thought, hey, you know, I checked the wave and I, and it was an intermediate wave, you know, I've been surfing for many, many, I know how to catch waves. The problem is I'm not in surf shape right now.

I maybe get out maybe a couple of times a year now, and usually it's maybe one to two feet. My schedule does not allow me to catch good waves because when it's good, I'm usually busy. And it wasn't an impossible wave, but it was more difficult than I thought. And also it wasn't salt water. Salt water, you're a little more buoyant, you don't have to work as hard. They were saying you'd have to paddle three extra times. It's like, what are you talking about? And so we get positioned. I'm just gonna be very honest with you. I barely caught any waves.

I paid a lot of money to not catch anything. It was so frustrating. And I, and because I'm not in surf shape, I'm dying as I'm paddling. Like, where did all of that cardio, cardio strength that I had, it had disappeared in the last five, six years. Before COVID I was very, very fit. I got lazy during COVID and since then I tried not to apply myself as much. And so when I do hard activities with my friends, I suffer. So I've made a commitment to get in better, better shape. But I'm trying to surf and catch these waves and I told everybody, hey everybody, you're more experienced, I'll go last. And I just could not catch a wave.

I probably paddled for 30 waves. After a couple you're already tired, but doing this over and over, and when you fall, it doesn't just pitch you down and then you can pop up. It was actually pushing me down. And all the years I've surfed, I've never had that. Usually because it's not that deep. I might bounce on the bottom. I could just jump right up or I could just. I could swim easily to the top. It was at a point where, because the way that the wave pool was designed, there was a channel in the middle, and you have all of this water pushing forward intentionally. It's like a little channel in the middle of this.

Of this wave pool, not only pushing you down, but pushing you towards the shore. And so when you grab the board, you have to actually paddle to the side because it's a loop. It pushes to the shore, and then you go on the sides and actually helps you paddle back out. And after doing this for so many repetitions, I just got exhausted. And towards the last 20 minutes of the session, I caught a wave and it pushed me down further than usual.

And I started to have to hold on, grab onto my leash, to pull myself to the top. Out of the many years I've surfed, I've never had to do that. And I actually got a little scared. For the first time that I've surfed, I've surfed in bigger waves. Never, never had a problem. But I was also maybe 20 years old, now I'm older, and I realized I could get hurt or I could potentially drown.

Now, I've watched surfers, big wave surfers, they have these vests now that you can wear, and for so many years, why can't you just pop back up? And I realized that day I am way more vulnerable than I ever thought I could be surfing. And so, in a way, I'm glad it happened, because not only did it show me how physically far I am, I am from what I used to be able to be capable of. But this is not a joke, and I don't think life should be taken as a joke. I think being humbled was a good thing because, hey, maybe there was.

You've noticed Hurricane Marie. I can't tell you how good the surf was. And it was chewing me up inside because all these guys are catching these, the most amazing waves. And I know for sure if I went out there, I could have easily drowned. So I'm glad I didn't go out.

It was a reminder that you need to take baby steps sometimes just because what you could do, you're maybe not capable of. And even as a Christian, I think we're constantly humbled. And that's not a bad thing, because ultimately, where does our dependence come from? Our strength? It comes from Jesus. But when was the last time you were truly humbled?

Let's go to Romans chapter 12. Okay, we're going to stick mostly today in Romans 12, Romans 12, starting at verse three. All of this is in connection, okay, to being humble.

By the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

And so when we, as we read this, it's basically Paul is saying, hey, don't let your head get so big. But also maybe take stock of. In your walk with Christ or just in your daily, daily life, do you ever think, are my actions, do they reflect Jesus? Do they bear good witness to Jesus? And also my family? Do I carry myself well? Or do I come across as extremely arrogant? Or is it possible? Do we come. Do we try to become too pious, too humble? We'll come back to that in a second.

So try not to think too highly of yourself.

Simon Sinek, in his book Leaders Eat Last, he shares success when it comes to a team. And he found himself humbled and actually a bit amazed by the character of the men and women who serve in the armed forces. And this is when he'd taken a trip, I think, to Afghanistan. And before he'd gone, the assumption was, these are a special class of people, they're better than us.

But when he went to Afghanistan, he experienced a different experience. So when they got to Afghanistan, their trip, eventually, at some point, they became very stuck. And what happened? Mortars and rockets came in, and so the base was under attack. And as he watched everybody, he said, service.

This is what he took from service. As he observed, people, service means giving to others with no expectation of. Of anything in return. Fulfillment, calm, security, peace of mind, confidence, all come from a willingness to serve others. Because only when I decided that I would look after others did I find calm, security, peace of mind. And then he continues to go on that they have a special role in defending the country, but they are not just in a class by themselves. He concludes that all of us can become a good leader by serving others. He says the rank of office is not what makes someone a leader. Leadership is the choice to serve others, with or without any formal rank. Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown. They rush into the danger. They put their own interests aside to protect us or to pull us into the future. Leaders would sooner sacrifice what is theirs to save what is ours, and they would never sacrifice what is ours and to save what is theirs. This is what it means to be a leader.

Yesterday, as Bill kind of reminded that yesterday was 911. And I even 25 years later, it still hits me. And there's beautiful stories of people who selflessly sacrifice themselves for them, for others, to get others out. And I think there's another part of 911, though, that we don't always talk about, and I mentioned it earlier in Sabbath school today, is this. There were thousands of people stranded in Manhattan that they couldn't just jump off and swim across. And so there was an armada of boats, of tugboats, of ferries, of fishermen, sailboaters, you name it, who realized there are people stranded on the island. And for I think it was over several days they went and moved thousands of people off the island. Nobody said they had to. It was because they wanted to, as an act of service to others. I'm going to put myself in danger potentially, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to help bring these people to safety. So seeing others.

There's a quote that says, you're not humble, though, because you're small. You're humble because you're part of one, but you're one part of something bigger that needs the other parts also. What do I mean by that?

Let's go back to Romans 12, starting at verse 4. Romans 12, verse 4.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, though we met, though many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others, we have different gifts according to the grace given each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage encouragement for it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

So Paul lays out some gifts, some potential gifts. This is not the only set of gifts. There are many gifts that God has blessed us with that maybe we know and serve with them already, or we don't quite know yet. But in doing so, God has called us as a church body to go out into the world to love others, but also to be a blessing and to serve others with the gifts that God has given us already.

Now, God made you different for a reason, placed you in the community for a reason, and has a purpose that only you can fulfill.

As Christians, are we different? I think we are. Compared to the rest of the world, we can be very different. Is different bad or good? Yes, because I think that we can definitely, as I think I talked about this last week, we can be different, but we can also stand out for good to have a purpose, to draw others. God has placed you in this community, though. Not just to be here, but also, how can you make a difference not just in this community, but on Florence, on Lakewood, in Norwalk, Southgate, Bell. Wherever we all come from, God has placed us to be able to minister to others wherever we are.

And we're here for that purpose of being able to share the love of Jesus with others. That all may know the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we all do it in a way that God gives us gifts and puts us in places to be able to serve God. And the scary part is sometimes you may be the only person at that moment to be able to complete that job. Does that sound scary? I don't think so, because I think that God also equips us to do so. And even when we feel like we're ready, hopefully we have enough humility to say, lord, prepare me.

But God has made you different for a reason, placed you in this community for a reason, and has a purpose that only you can fulfill. So we talked a little bit about the gifts as well. Did you notice something about this, about prophecy, being an encourager, all those other gifts? It was something. I just realized that as I was reading them, none of them have to do with being up here on the platform.

How many of you would love to talk from the platform? How many of you love to speak from the platform? None of you. All right. That's all right. Because to be honest, there are days I don't want to be up here. I was talking to somebody, I think it was Erlinda, and she asked me, do you ever get scared coming up here? And I tell her every Sabbath, if I'm not nervous down there, I get scared. I do, because I want to make sure that what I share is not what I want to be brought forward, but what God wants, but also to do in a way that honors God. Okay, so. And every week I open myself to somebody seeing something and misunderstanding it, you know, but we all do. Every conversation we have. Could we be misunderstood? Absolutely. Unfortunately, that's part of life, because people don't want to take the time to truly invest and truly listen.

It's sad because, I don't know, maybe this is just my observation and I'm wrong, but I don't think we listen to each other. We listen enough to know how to reload and fire back with what we believe is right. Can you get anything accomplished by doing that. You can't. You truly want to make progress.

The other person has to understand and know that they are seen, they are heard, and that you care, even if you disagree. We can't expect people, we just say something and they just automatically say, you know what, you're right. When they believe whatever they believe in for the last six months to 80 years of their life, we have to take time to listen, understand where they are coming from. So God has made you different for a reason, placed you in a community for a reason, as purpose only that you can fulfill.

Let's jump to Ephesians, chapter four. Ephesians, chapter four.

That's going to be to the right. Okay, it's after Galatians. Ephesians, chapter 4, verse 1. Here's something. There's some perspective as well as we talk about, okay, God's called us. Well, what does that mean then? And what does that mean as well as a body? How do we respond as a body?

Verse 1. As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all.

Now, first I especially want to touch on. It says, be completely and humble and gentle. Is Paul saying we should be pushovers, though? Should we minimize ourselves? I think sometimes we get humility and meekness wrong for just rolling over. God has called us to be humble, yes, to listen, to serve. But does that mean we're a pushover and we should be taken advantage of? Was Jesus taken advantage of being humble and convicted? We can move forward with grace, but also don't. I think we sometimes use humility as an excuse of like, I'm just not good enough. I'm not great. I'm. I'm not worthy. Then learn. Learn the gift that God has blessed you with. Try it. I think we sometimes feel like I'm not good enough. We all probably feel that at some point. But God doesn't want us to just be a fan, as we've kind of talked about in the past.

Are we a player or a fan? Do we want to actually be involved? Or do we just want to sit on the sidelines hoping and praying that somebody else will do the job for us or on the Opposite side, those who love to express their opinions and critiques. But if you're in the game, do you have time to listen the critiques? You don't. Listen to your coach. Work with your players and move forward.

Take the gift that God has blessed you with and honor God by using it. Get on the court and play.

So don't undervalue yourself. Do not undervalue yourself. Last. Last verse.

We'll try to go to 1 Peter. Okay, that's to the right. First Peter is just before Revelation. First Peter, chapter four. First Peter, chapter four, Verse 10.

First Peter 4, verse 10.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so with one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides so that in all things, God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, power, forever and ever. Amen.

What gifts did Peter list? He didn't list a specific gift because the ways that you can serve and honor God are vast. How can you honor God? What are some of the things that you're passionate about in your life or you feel convicted about? How can you honor God with those gifts, those talents or beliefs?

The last thing I want to leave with you is this. God has given you a gift so that you can be a blessing to others. God has given you a gift so you can be a blessing to others. To others.

One of the gifts that I love that honors God and brings us all together is the simple one right now is music. Right? Because they provide the opportunity to be able to express, to sing our joys, our sorrows, whatever it is, and honor God. Some have the gift of hospitality. Some have the gift of cooking.

I was watching a video yesterday of two chefs. They traveled to Korea, and they had the opportunity to visit someone's farm to pick all the produce. And then the homeowners cooked a meal for them. And I'm not gonna lie. I have a couple friends who are chefs, and I hate cooking for them.

Why? I am not a trained chef. I learned how to use the microwave and Google and I YouTube recipes. In fact, one of my closest friends, Andrew, he's like, dude, I go to 7-11 for dinner sometimes because I was so scared to prepare a meal for him. I didn't want to disappoint him. And one of our friends as well, Jordan, like, if I had a last meal, I would want him to make it because he made the best meal I've ever had. I feel insecure.

But the chefs went to this farm, and for once, they got to be served by this couple who prepared an exquisite, beautiful meal. Stuff they had never tried. And the whole time, they're just. Their mind is being blown of all these different flavors and tastes that they'd never experienced before. And they got to experience it.

Sometimes it's nice to be able to experience the grace and love from somebody else. I can't tell you where. I can't tell you how many times where a friend when I just needed somebody to just. Maybe you have the gift of listening and discernment and being able to share something, and you can trust them with it, and they can help you find direction. That is a gift.

So what is it you're passionate about that can be a blessing to others?

This week, in all of your relationships, okay, in all of your relationships, whether it's work, it's family, church, your neighbors, etcetera, where do you naturally think of yourself first? Is that a possibility? What would change if you flip that priority to one specific area? If you think about this, okay, if you think about any of your. What's your spouse, your co workers, whatever, do you think of yourself first or do you think of them and how. How can you serve them? Name one gift that you sense God has given you. And I don't want you to just think, okay, maybe you can practically think about it right now, or if you have the opportunity, write down one specific way that you can also serve God with that gift. And I don't want you just to write it down. I want you to apply this gift through the month of September, and I want you to share the lessons you've learned with a fellow church member or maybe your spouse, whoever. I want you to not just write it down. Think about it.

I want you to do it. Okay? What is one gift that you sense God has given you? If you're already using that gift, continue to honor God with it. But what if there's also maybe another gift that God wants you to use?

Ask God. Hey, God, is there some other way that I can serve that I have never done before? And if so, grant me the wisdom and the courage to apply that gift. Can we do that this month? Amen.

All right, my friends, I hope and pray that as you continue, as you hit control, alt, renew in your life, as you reconnect with God and you reconnect with others, may God place you in a way that you can be of service to others. Want to let you know. So you're not surprised as well. I'm taking some time off, so as of this Friday to the end of the month, I'm going to be on vacation. So thank you.I want to thank the team for allowing me to have this time off. So my greatest wish as Bill continues this series Ctrl + Alt +Renewed, I pray that your life will be renewed, that you may be a blessing to others and to serve and honor God with everything.

Father in heaven, thank you not only for all that you've done, that you give us life, a new life, Lord, it's our desire to be transformed by you as we talked about, to be renewed and as we've talked about though now how do we relay this to the body of Christ and also to those that perhaps we've never met. Help us to find that gift if we don't know what it is and if we do, help us to best maximize and to honor you with it, Lord, where we may be scared of trying something new, give us courage in spite of our fear that others may know who you are and find that joy that we have all experienced here, that the world may know you. In Jesus name everybody said Amen,

Grace and peace, everyone.