Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign Good morning.
[00:00:12] Speaker B: I missed y'.
[00:00:13] Speaker C: All.
[00:00:15] Speaker D: Let's stand and let's worship together.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Giver of every breath I breathe Author of all eternity Giver of every perfect thing to you be the glory Maker of heaven and of earth no one can comprehend your words. King over all the universe to you be the glory me Sing it out.
I'm alive because I'm alive in you that's true.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: And it's all because of Jesus I'm alive because of Jesus I'm alive and it's all because the blood of Jesus Christ covers me and raised this dead man's life all because of Jesus I'm alive.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: I'm alive.
[00:01:45] Speaker B: Are you alive?
Giver of every breath I breathe Author of all eternity Giver of every perfect thing to you be the glory Maker of heaven and of earth no one can comprehend your word. King over all the universe to you.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: Be the glory.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: And I'm alive because I'm alive in you and it's all because of Jesus I'm alive because of Jesus I'm alive and it's all because the blood of Jesus Jesus Christ.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: Jesus.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: That covers me and raised this dead man's life and it's all because of Jesus Every sunrise sings your praise the universe cries out your praise I'm singing freedom all my days now that I'm.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Alive.
[00:03:09] Speaker B: And it's all because because of Jesus I'm alive It's all because the blood of Jesus Christ yes it is that covers me and raised this dead man's life and it's all because of Jesus and it's all because of Jesus I'm alive because of Jesus I'm yes.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: It'S all because the blood of Jesus.
[00:03:46] Speaker E: Christ.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: That covers me and raise this dead man's life and it's all because of Jesus I'm alive.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: I'm alive.
[00:04:07] Speaker C: I'm.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Alive.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: All because of you.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: All because.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Of you.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: Good morning church family. How are you today?
It's good to be here with you. Go ahead and grab a seat.
I want to welcome you to our service this morning. If we haven't had the opportunity to meet, my name is Rob Zimmerman, lead pastor here at Westgate and just thrilled and excited to be here worshiping with you today.
If you are a guest again, I want to give you just my special welcome.
We want to encourage you whether you are a guest and new here today for the first time or even over the last couple of weeks or months. If you are looking for a way to get connected here into Westgate Chapel and our various ministries. The great first step to do so is to fill out a connection card. And that connection card is in the pew in front of you this morning. You can pull that out. I'd encourage you to take a moment and fill that out. And as we wind down our service today, you can actually take that card out to our guest center in the main lobby. And they would love the hosts that are there would love to exchange that card as you give it to them. They would give you a small gift back to say thank you for being here. But also they would just love to answer any questions you may have about how to get connected. And so we'd encourage you to do that this morning as well as you are looking to stay up to date with all of the events and things that are going on, especially as we begin to move towards our fall launch. Please be sure to be watching and download our Westgate Chapel app. It is the best way to stay connected with everything that is going on. So please be sure to check that out this morning.
Also this morning. This morning we have got just a very special morning and service planned as this is our partner Sunday.
We are blessed to be able to work together and partner with many different people and organizations in our greater community to show and share the love of Jesus. Our vision statement is that we want to intentionally share the love of Jesus with our neighbors and the nations. And this is an active way that we do this by partnering with various organizations and people. And today you're gonna get to some really great stories about what God is doing and how he's moving and some of these partnerships and relationships. And we want to encourage you to think about how you can get connected and use your various gifts in serving the Lord in our community with some of these various partners. If you were able to grab your sermon notes on the way in today, you'll see on the inside that there are a whole listing of our partnerships that are there. We would encourage you to check that out. But again, today you're gonna get to hear specifically from three of but as you saw when you came in today, we've got our partner fair set up. We got tons of donuts and fun stuff that's happening over there. I would encourage you as the service closes today to be sure to stop by to talk with our various partners and look for different ways to get connected.
Now one of the great blessings that we also have this morning is that we have got with us a couple of our international workers who are here for a very short time flying out tomorrow, but as Julieann comes up on the stage, would you please welcome Paul and Lydia. Eric's back as they come and share a small update.
[00:08:06] Speaker E: Obviously we say Guten Morgan now to each other.
So if you don't know Paul and Lydia, these are our friends, these are our West Gators.
And a little quick backstory about Paul and Lydia when they joined Westgate in 2018ish.
In my office around 2020, 2021, Lydia came to my office and was like they've been serving and getting involved in different areas of the church. And she's like, we keep talking about on ramps for our local partners. It'd be so fun if they like brought them and the church could have an actual chance to just make their next step right then and there. And so the very first partnership Sunday was born. 2021 it was a little Calvin who's now five and a half was on Lydia's hip. Couple granola bars over in the east entrance. So just to see your vision come to life is so fun.
[00:08:53] Speaker C: And they flew in just for this.
[00:08:54] Speaker E: They sure did. That's right.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: I'm just kidd.
[00:08:56] Speaker E: Just kidding. They got to see their family, but they are our West Key people.
And a year and a half ago, well before that, they felt they were serving in student ministries and outreach admissions and kids ministry and they felt the Lord stirring them. And so through exploration and short term missions and going to Germany for a short stint, they said yes to being full time international workers with the Christian and Missionary alliance. And they serve as dorm parents at Black Forest Academy. And dorm parents is definitely not what we typically think of when we're like, oh, they're missionaries, you know, we have our other global partners that we in missions emphasis week in October we talk about church planting and schools of evangelism and things like that. But dorm parents is a little different. And what they do in condren is they have 20 girls that live in their dorm, high school students that come from different countries. I think Hannah is the only one from Germany. They are all from different countries in Europe, Asia, Middle east that come to school so that their parents who are missionaries can stay on the field. And so they provide a safe place. You'll see photos of real life. It's busy, it's a giant living room and packing lunches and meals and there's lots of fun formals and silly dress up events but a lot of just everyday life with these girls so that they get a great US education and continue their education back in the state and that their parents can stay on the mission field. So will you guys tell us what have you seen God doing in this last year and where there's so many stories. Just tell us, tell us what you got. Yeah.
[00:10:30] Speaker F: I think it's safe to say that dorm parenting is one of the most rewarding and most exhausting things that we've ever done in our life.
But it's also really cool because we get a front row seat to how God is working in these young ladies lives and in their parents lives Also.
Share a couple quick stories. We have one girl, her name is Mary and she came to us with a really kind of troubled school history and had been labeled as a really dramatic girl and not really believed. And it was really cool for her to come in build relationships with Paul and I that we became trusted adults in her circle. And as she really processed the oh, I really want to live the way God has created me to live. I want to be the best version of myself. These are my thoughts and feelings. Here's the right way to act, moving forward. And just tons of really cool conversations and life growing lessons that she had at her time at Black Forest, which has really prepared her to succeed in college.
It's so sweet to get that front row seat and be a partner in that. We have another girl, Casey, who really struggled with anxiety and depression and middle of high school her parents came to her and they sat down and had a conversation about how she was doing and how they could help her. And one of the topics was what about boarding school at Black Forest Academy?
And they sent her away and when she came to us, she didn't really believe in God and wasn't a fan and now is on fire for God and is wanting to become a missionary herself and tell others, you know, about God's love. And so those are just a couple stories of our girls really thriving in the space that we were able to provide them.
[00:12:21] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah. When David and I got to visit in April and we just lived everyday life of the dorm life, we're like, wow, this is a lot. But the girls were just, you know, with the meals and just the continuous togetherness and rides and this and that, just life, but amplified but seeing your family just walk well through it and then hearing the girls be like, we love bfa. They're devastated if they don't get to go back to bfa. They're excited. So that's different than what we think. We think, oh, they're sent away or whatever. No, these kids want to be there and most of them are so grateful and they said this is the best school we've ever been to. They found great community there. And so it's is a profound ministry that you are doing to those 20, but also to all of their families.
Will you tell us, Paul, as you go back tomorrow and walk into this next year again, we don't get to have you here for our missions emphasis week like we'd like in October, but tell us how we can partner and pray this next year.
[00:13:16] Speaker G: Yes. So there's a lot of ways that you guys can come alongside and partner with us, one of which, like Julianne said, is through prayer.
Julianne mentioned we leave tomorrow, so we fly in tomorrow. So there's a very evident, tangible way that you can pray along with us. Smooth flights, but also training starts tonight, which clearly those two timelines don't line up. So as we land and come into training late, just pray for really easy, smooth landing if you will not jet lag, the ability to jump right in and spend time with.
Well, when we land also, you'll see up here the first one, I love that it's priority one. So Lydia and I and our two boys, Noah and Kelvin, are often very busy with all of the girls in the dorm. And so we really value our time to stay together and united and believe that's an essential part for us to do our ministry well. So pray for us as we spend time together that the time can be impactful and meaningful and that we can carve out that time to do that. Well also as we jump into a new school year, that means we just finished an old school year and we graduated.
Several girls, seniors in high school are headed, most of them back to the US to go to college here.
But that means we get a bunch of new students this year. So we've got eight incoming new girls and we also have a new resident assistant, which means new team dynamics, new team planning, new team work, all that type of stuff, which is a wonderful, beautiful opportunity, but one that we have to intentionally invest in. Well, and as those new girls come, that means for those parents that they are saying bye to their daughters and sending them off to boarding school. We talked to several parents who say the hardest job they've ever had on the mission field is sending their kids to boarding school. And they know it's the right decision.
So it's a they, they're confident it's the right decision. It doesn't make it any easier of a decision. So pray for those families and pray for us as we partner with those parents who are sending away their 14, 16, 17 year old daughters to boarding school as they step through that. And then upcoming, we've got a great fun transition coming. And Stork dorm, which is our dorm, we are moving. So our building is 300 ish years old, a little bit older than this place.
And with that comes the evident issues in being in an old building. And so BFA has been blessed with the opportunity to move into town into a new dorm building, which is great because it opens a lot of new beds for families to send their kids to bfa.
But with that, that obviously means we have to move. Some of you guys have moved homes for maybe four or five people. We're moving homes for 25 people.
So that's going to be a lot of work. And so pray for us as we step through that, but also pray for us as we look at what that could look like to partner with other churches to send teams to come help.
Yeah, that's us.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: That's you.
[00:16:33] Speaker G: To send teams to come help us move and mobilize those dorms.
And then also pray for our home here in Sylvania.
Our renters are leaving this next month, so pray for a smooth transition as we look to refill that home here in Sylvania.
[00:16:51] Speaker C: Awesome. Well, we will no doubt be praying for you guys. Would you thank the Erics for coming and sharing with us this morning and please be sure to connect with them after the service. They'll be out in the cafe area. We would love for you to be able to stop by, encourage them, talk with them as well. At each of our entrances is one of their prayer cards. If you don't have one of these, we would love for you to grab it off one of those tables. You can take it home, put it on your fridge, put it on your bathroom mirror. A place where you will consistently see it and be reminded to be praying for them as well as many of our international workers with the Christian Missionary Alliance. They are raising some of their support to be on the field and are still looking for some of that support. And so if you would be interested in partnering with them financially, on the back of the prayer card is a QR code that you can look into supporting them in that way as well. With that being said, we want to take just a moment to welcome each other to our service today. So would you please stand, find somebody you haven't said hello to yet today and welcome them to our service.
[00:17:52] Speaker E: Well, hi.
[00:18:04] Speaker A: It's it.
Come all you weary Come all you thirsty Come to the well that never runs Dry drink of the water come and thirst no more Come on you sinners come find his mercy Come to the table he will satisfy taste of his goodness Find what you're looking for For God so love the world that he gave us Is one and only Son to save us Whoever believes in Bring all your failures Bring your addictions Come lay them down at the foot of the cross Jesus is waiting he live with open arms Coming to his open arms For God so love the world that he gave us his one and only Son to save us. Whoever believes in him will live forever the power of hell Forever Defeated now it is well I'm walking in freedom for God so love God so love the world.
[00:21:06] Speaker B: Praise God, Praise God from whom all blessings so praise Him.
Praise him for the wonders of his love.
Praise God Praise God from whom all blessings come Praise Him.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Praise him for the wonders of his love his amazing love For God so loved the world that he gave us.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: His one and only Son to save.
[00:21:57] Speaker A: For God show Love the world that he gave us his one and only Son to save us Whoever believes in Him Believe forever the power of hell Forever Defeated now it is well Walking in freedom for God so love God.
[00:22:29] Speaker B: So love the world.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Bring all your failures Bring your addictions.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: Come lay them down at the foot.
[00:22:44] Speaker A: Of the cross Jesus is waiting God's will.
[00:22:53] Speaker G: Amen.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: In the darkness we were waiting. Without hope, without light.
Till from heaven you came right There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets.
To a virgin came the world.
From a throne of endless glory to a cradle in the dirt.
[00:23:40] Speaker B: Praise the Father.
[00:23:44] Speaker A: Praise the sun.
[00:23:47] Speaker B: Praise the Spirit.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: 3:1 God of glory to the King of Kings.
To reveal the kingdom coming and to reconcile the lost.
To redeem the whole creation. You did not despise the cross.
For even in your suffering you saw to the other side.
Knowing this was our salvation.
Jesus, for our sake you died.
Praise the Father.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Praise the Son.
Praise the Spirit.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: Free in one God of glory Majesty.
Praise forever to the King of Kings and the morning that you rose.
All of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good.
For the Lamb had conquered death and the dead rose from their tombs. And the angels stood in awe. For the souls of all who come to the Father are restored.
And the Church of Christ was born.
Then the Spirit in the flame.
Now this gospel truth of old shall not re.
Shall not faint. By his blood and in his name, in his freedom I am free.
For the love of Jesus Christ who has resurrected me.
Praise the Father.
Praise the Son.
Praise the Spirit, three one God.
Glory, Majesty.
Praise forever to the King.
A King of Raise the Father.
Praise the sun.
Praise the Spirit.
3:1 God of glory, Majesty.
Praise forever to the King of Kings.
Praise forever to the King of Kings.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: Would you join me in prayer?
God, we praise you. We thank you so much that we can gather together in your house this morning and worship you.
God.
May we never take for granted this gift that we've been given to be able to freely worship you.
To come and to lay down all of our burdens, all of our worries, all of our failures, whatever it may be.
We can come to the foot of the cross.
We can come to you, God, and seek you and know, God, that you love us, that you are for us, that you are pursuing us.
And God, it's what gives us so much confidence as we gather here this morning. Morning. And we worship you with all of our hearts, focus our hearts on you today. God, Holy Spirit, speak into our hearts and speak into our lives that we would know how it is that you want to continue to develop us and to transform us to be the people that you have designed for us to be.
As we come to this time of worship and our offering, God, we give back to you of our tithes and our offerings because our desire, God, is that it would be a beautiful offering to you. That it would bring great joy as we give this expression of our dependence upon you in all ways. And our prayer, God, is that you would take it, that you would use it and multiply it so that more people would come to a saving knowledge of your son, Jesus Christ.
But at the same time as we give God, we pray that you would continually be transforming our hearts and helping us to see your vision, God, and how you desire for us to. To be a part of it. We love you and we worship you together and it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen.
You may be seated and we're going to take our morning offering now. So if you're on the center aisles, you can grab those offering buckets and we're going to pass them out to the sides. They're in the corners on the balcony and we'll be passing those in. And let's just take a moment in worship through our giving together this morning.
[00:29:35] Speaker E: Sa.
[00:30:05] Speaker C: Well, it is good to be back with you all if you are again new today or over the last few weeks.
I have been off for the month of July. One of the things that our church leadership blesses me and my family with is the ability to take a couple weeks of Vacation, but then also have a couple weeks of working sabbatical, where I spend time just prayerfully seeking the Lord. As we begin to develop and work through the vision for this coming year, beginning in the fall, even as we begin to launch into our fourth year of our deep roots, broad reach vision together.
And it has been a really great time. One to be done with school. Amen. But then to be able to reconnect with my family. And one of the things we did is we were planning a summer vacation. We thought that we were going to go to Charleston, South Carolina, see a new place that we hadn't been. And then on a whim, we decided because we saw that there were cheap flights out of Chicago, to go to Idaho, of all places, somewhere we hadn't been. Rochelle's uncle has a home in northern Idaho that they just got this last year. And so we made a quick decision as an entire family to jump a flight to northern Idaho. You'll see a picture up here on the screen of us together.
Just that beautiful, beautiful scenery. We did a ton of hiking. You know, I always pictured Idaho like Utah, this barren desert. Not a lot of stuff there, but when you go up into the north, it is gorgeous. We did a ton of hiking. In this next picture, you'll see our very early morning flotilla on the first day as our whole family and Rochelle's uncle and aunt, we got out on kayaks and paddle boards, went and went out to a bald eagle preserve, which was really cool to be able to see them in their natural habitat. And then the third picture that you'll see here really kind of defines for me not only the beauty of what we got to see, but the peace that God has and rest that God has been giving to me. And when I look at this, to me, I remember as I sat in that kayak and took that picture, I was like, man, this is just one of the most peaceful, restful moments. And for me, probably the greatest gift of this year's kind of time off and sabbatical has been after a very busy season, to be able to get some real rest and to come back to work and feel ready to run. And so I want to thank our leadership just for their investment, not only in me, but in my family and the time that you give us to connect and to be together. But also, I would be remiss if I also did not thank Pastor Adam, just Isaac Villa, also Norm Weimer, for filling the pulpit and preaching over these last four weeks and doing a phenomenal job. Would you thank them with me for their filling.
It was a blessing for me to be able to sit back and to watch online and to be one of those at home people, right? And watching and just being encouraged by their word. And I think one of the things that most thoroughly blessed me, not just their teaching, though the Holy Spirit was powerfully speaking to me through their messages, but it was also by how I recognize that God has deeply blessed this specific body of Christ with so many people that are gifted in so many different ways. It reminds me really of what Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter 12.
In First Corinthians, chapter 12, in the beginning of the chapter, chapter, Paul starts talking about the various different spiritual gifts, some of them that God gives to those who follow him.
And he says that through the Holy Spirit, that we are empowered with varying different gifts to carry out the ministry that God has called us to and prepared for us. Sometimes those are gifts that are given to us for a lifetime, and we use them our entire lives as spiritual gifting. At other times, we see that God empowers us through the Holy Spirit for ministry that may be for a specific moment or period in time, a specific ministry that he calls us to for a short period. But whatever it is, what we see is that Paul, after explaining how these gifts are given to us, Paul goes on to say these words, beginning in verse 12. You'll see them on the screen.
He says, for just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many are one body, so it is with Christ.
For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free. And all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
If the foot should sit because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body.
That would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear should say, I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God has arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as. As he chose.
If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts and yet one body.
What Paul does is he paints for us this very beautiful picture of the church as God designed it. And as he continues importantly, he stresses these Things he says that the church, or the body of Christ, Christ is made up of many members or individuals, you and me.
God has given each individual varying different gifts.
And he uses the illustration of the physical human body to help us to see how each part works together perfectly to make up the whole and to fulfill its ultimate purpose.
In other words, each member, each individual, each gift is essential to the mission of God. None is greater than the other. He says that when one suffers, all suffer, because we're all working together, doing our part, supporting the other members to accomplish together the call of Christ.
And he says later in First Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 27, these words he says, now, you are the body of Christ, Christ, and individually, you are members of it.
When we typically read this passage, though, I find in the church that we almost always place it in the context of the local church. Now, this isn't wrong. That is a correct application. But if that's as far as we actually take our understanding, then we miss the even greater message that is being spelled out for us here. Because the body of Christ is so much more than just the local church, just the church that you go to. The body of Christ is made up of all believers all around the world, of all different nations and languages and tribes and tongues, all who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who are working to accomplish his mission. And one of the greatest tragedies, I believe, that exists today in Christ's body, in our world world, is that we often see ourselves as separate entities, sometimes even seeing ourselves as competing against each other. Different churches, different ministries, different organizations.
Rather than being unified together as Christ's Body, we are often splintered and as a process, less effective. It's one of the reasons at Westgate Chapel that we have strategically look for opportunities to partner with other churches, but also with other organizations and people to advance the mission of God in our community and throughout the world. And one of the key reasons that we strongly emphasize each year what we call our partner Sunday, what we're doing today is because we want to strengthen partnerships with others as we seek together to intentionally share God's love with others, our neighbors. But we also want to provide you with opportunities to use the giftedness that God has given to you, working together with other partners in the global body of Christ to accomplish God's mission and God's purposes. And today we're going to take a time to highlight a number of our partners.
You'll see those on the inside of your sermon notes, as I pointed out earlier. But you're going to get to hear from a few of them some incredible ways that God is doing some cool stuff in their ministries and organizations, and also some very key ways that you can get involved. But before we bring up our partners, I actually want to invite up another couple to join me on stage. You're very familiar. Julianne was up here earlier, our outreach and missions director. And secondly, one of our elders who also serves in outreach and missions, Isaac Villa. Would you welcome them as they come and join me?
Hey, guys.
[00:39:31] Speaker E: Hey.
[00:39:32] Speaker C: It's good to be back and be here with you this morning. And would you take a moment and just share? Obviously, you lead outreach and missions here at Westgate. Isaac, you are super involved and we found out a really good preacher that's going to be on my schedule a lot. But saying, setting that aside, you love everything about outreach and missions. And can you tell us what is the best thing about serving in this space and partnering with other people and organizations in our community?
[00:39:59] Speaker H: We started here as a family on a Sunday where we were shown church in the street. And we were super excited with the local partnering serving that we got to do. And ever since we've been here, we've done that during COVID we did a food drive. We've served with a lot of different local partners, international partners. We were just at TNC a few weeks ago. So I love you. The on do that with our friends and our life group with our family. It's just been a real blessing to go out and be a blessing in the in the local area.
[00:40:27] Speaker E: As for what I love about outreach admissions, I could just take the whole time sharing the fact that our church has an outreach admissions director is a profound idea. And then just as far as highlights, again, seeing the Toledo church, the north west, Ohio, southeast Michigan brothers and sisters coming alongside the community, all with the same mission. You said earlier that we're not competing and I love that togetherness. This town is very special. And the way that God has united the churches and open doors, there's clearly spaces where his favor is and it is a joy to be a part of it. And so every second Wednesday of the month, we have our missions prayer.
And actually this month, it's the 3rd, October, August 20th. But that is just a time where we get to really hear new stories every month of ways that God is at work. And so sometimes when my faith feels real small and I'm just feeling tired, I keep hearing like, look at God drawing people to himself. Look at people, our brothers and sisters in the community taking faith filled Risks. We pray for both local and global missions. And I drive away every Wednesday night. It's the most simple prayer time. But I feel just, like, churned up and, like, empowered to go walk with Jesus after that missions prayer time. So that's my favorite part of the month because each of our partners, you'll get to hear a couple today. They have amazing stories, and that is all about God, Jesus, he's the big deal. And so outreach and missions, it's fun. I hope you guys will keep joining us as we figure out how to be a church that sends and is part of it.
[00:42:02] Speaker C: That's awesome. And you're going to get to hear some great stories this morning. I want to take a moment to invite up to join us on the stage, Natalie Calo, who is guidance counselor at door elementary. Wes Blood, who works with water for Ishmael Global Opportunities, working with international students. And also Jim beach, who is working with high school students in our community with West Toledo Young Life. Would you welcome them as they come this morning?
[00:42:33] Speaker E: All right, I'm gonna get to introduce my friend Natalie to start us off.
So Westgate, we have this thing called missional teams, and that's really just West Gators that have seen a need in the community or a place where God is at work and said, yes, let's figure out how to be the church around this thing. And so here are some of ours listed. These are teams that you guys can all be up to, part of where again, God is at work and we want to support the way he's doing it. So each of these people is represented by just people. You, you, us together saying yes to meeting that need and showing and sharing God's love. And we have this door missional team. And it started five years ago. Wesky has been doing things with door for many years. Thanksgiving baskets and reaching the the Royal Village mobile community across the street and things like that. But five years ago, when we were really settling in on our vision, we felt the Lord really saying yes to figure out what partnership with door could look like. And again, it took. It was right in the middle of COVID if you guys remember, five years ago. So it's hard to say what. What could church, church partnership with the public school look like?
We said there's at this point now preschoolers through third grade, 425 of them. And we didn't know exactly what would that look like, but we started praying. And then about three years ago, we met Natalie and she is the guidance counselor. So this isn't her Home church. But she left. She's here today with us as one of us just has opened the door and she is the one that has connected us with so many meaningful opportunities at door. You'll see some photos at door at least elementary of us doing their fun events alongside the parents Club. There's some cupcakes for teacher appreciation in the heart of COVID All our middle schoolers wrote notes to each teacher and gave them a cup and we wore our masks and brought them. Just trying to figure out what it looks like to show up for the staff and the students there. And then in these last few years, Natalie's just opened the door to meet tangible needs with families. Around Christmas time. She coordinated our middle school serve with the helping with some of the landscaping in their courtyard and then she oversees our having tutors and readers come in during the school day. You can see Chad up there.
And so she just stands. This is above and beyond. That is not her job description. But she has said yes to having a church partner. And so I'm excited for you guys to hear from our friend Natalie. Thank you, God for giving us Natalie. Natalie, will you tell us what it means to have a church partner? Yeah. What has it been impactful? Well, first of all, what has it been impactful just for you, being a guidance counselor through these last few years.
[00:45:18] Speaker I: Good morning everyone.
You know, when Julianne asked me to come and speak, I said okay, yeah, you know, I talk in front of 400 and something kids, you know, all the time. So this is no big deal. Well, this is a big deal. So yes, but so I'd like to start out by just thanking everyone here today and letting you know that the, the time and the efforts and the prayers that you share with our students are so meaningful and we just appreciate all of the, you know, thoughts that you have for our school, our school family and for the Springfield schools. And really the, the most impactful thing has been that our students are so resilient and they overcome so many different challenges that we don't even realize they're going through.
As Julia mentioned, you know, in Covid, we had the challenge of a lot of working single families that the parent was trying to work and teach their child from home on a Chromebook and just the amount of stress and strain that that caused and then with the church, being able to fill in to provide things like hats and gloves and Christmas gifts when there would not have been that gift given to them if not for you and for the church family is just life changing and we're just so grateful. And then to have a staff, to know that, you know, they're supported by you, you know, it lets them to be able to collaborate and to feel supported in the as well. So it's just, it's meant so much to everyone at the school and in the community as well.
[00:46:59] Speaker E: And you have a tough job. As I said, you're standing in the gap for these little people, but also their families in the hard situations. And this year alone, you've shared many obituaries of parent passing and saying, will you pray for us? Because you're walking with these kids through hard things. And it's lots of kids and lots of families and lots of hard things. And so what does it look like, how you do. What does it mean to you to have someone in the community in your corner. Us. What's that like?
[00:47:25] Speaker I: It means so much. It really does. You know, sometimes, you know, as little people, they may think that no one cares about them, but just to know that there are people out there and they see people coming into the building and spending time with them.
We saw the picture of Mr. Church Chad, as he's affectionately called. And Mr. Church Chad works with my most very extra special friends, the friends that never miss a day of school, if you know those types of friends. And he just, he worked a little friend named Chad also. And it was the two Chads going down the hallway and the kids looked forward to him coming week after week after week.
He came to our field day.
It was just, you know, just the commitment has been amazing. And then Julie Ann also has been to the building so many times and always brings a beautiful, positive spirit and her energy is just amazing. And to be able to provide those gifts for our students that otherwise wouldn't have had anything for the holidays, it means so much. So again, just thank you so much for your support of our schools. And again, donating the gloves and the mittens. It seems so small. School supplies. It seems so small, but they, they don't have it. If not. So.
[00:48:43] Speaker E: Yeah, yeah, thanks for standing in the gap for us. Is there anything else you want our church to hear as we're talking about partnership and door?
[00:48:51] Speaker I: Just that, you know, maybe you don't always hear how much we appreciate things.
It doesn't have to even be monetary. It's, you know, just praying for the school, you know, as you go past, if you go past our school on King Road there, sing a little prayer for our students as you drive past the school because for being so little, they have so many challenges that they're working through.
And then just to see that they're able to grow and be resilient and move forward and go out into the community and do great things, it means so much. So thank you for believing in us. Thank you for praying for us, and we're so grateful for you.
[00:49:32] Speaker E: So Door elementary again, there we have a missional team. Natalie will be out at the table. Thank you for giving us your Sunday.
And we'll plug the date now. We also have a lot of fun at Door with our Halloween Howler and the Dragonfest. And so October 22nd is our next big fun family event that we provide for the school. So I hope you guys will join us.
[00:49:54] Speaker C: Well, not only do we have many missional teams, there are many local organizations that we also partner with. And you'll see these as well in your notes this morning. But you'll see that list that is there on the screen. Water Fresh Mail, Global Opportunities, that Neighborhood Church, the Bella Vita Network, and the Pregnancy Center. Also our Keep Watch prayer ministry, a number of significant ministries that we partner with to show and share the love of God in our community.
Oftentimes, we are also financially partnering. So when you give to Westgate, you help to support these varying different ministries. But this morning, we have the privilege of having Westgate Blood with us, who is representing Waterfish Mail and Global Opportunities. Yeah, please, please welcome him.
Wes has been here a number of times, and before we dive in, I wanted to just kind of do what we do at some of our international gatherings, like the Thanksgiving dinner. Have a simple moment of trivia together to see how you how much you know about what is happening at the campus of University of Toledo with international students? So question number one is up here on the screen and it is this. How many international students and scholars were at the University of Toledo in the spring of 2025? Is it A, 1362, B, 1855, C, 1788 or D1591? Shout it out. A, B, C or D.
All right, there you go. Keep track because whoever loses amongst your friend group is buying lunch. All right, the answer is C, 1788. Pretty good.
Question number two, which country had the greatest number of international students at the University of Toledo in the spring of 2025? A, China, B, India. C, Nepal, D, Iran. Shout it out.
And the answer is India.
Excellent. Now, if you're in a tie, this is your tiebreaker.
Get it right or you're buying lunch.
Here we go. Number three. How many years has West Blood been serving international students in a Professional sense, if you will, in the greater Toledo area. Here we go. 14, 16, 18, or 20. Shout it out.
Lock that answer in and the answer is 20.
Excellent. Good job.
Well, Wes actually began as a pastor in the Toledo area and got connected with international students and as you'll hear, has been connecting with them for much of his life and has been working with Water for Ishmael and Global Opportunities over the last 20 years.
And Wes, I would just ask you this morning, as you've been serving and sharing Jesus with international students, our community, over these past many years, what is it that drove and continues to drive your passion for this ministry and our community?
[00:52:54] Speaker D: Well, good morning, Westgate. It's great to be here again and thank you so much for your partnership. Your church has gone to the next level. Not only are you participating in our programs, you've started your own outreach to international students, international friends. That's another thing you can check out, too. But what. What ignited my passion was really my parents.
My mom and dad began inviting international students into our home when I was 22 years old.
And so literally all of our lives, we decided, Margie and I decided to do the same thing. When we got here to Toledo 31 years ago, we met our first international student family from the university. And they're just amazing, amazing people. There are, you know, Acts 17 says, God arranges the times and the places where people live. And so these students that have come from all over the world, literally all over the world, about 8, 88 countries last year, they have chosen Toledo as their international home. But God has placed them here. And so it's just amazing because they come from some countries, that many of them, it's very difficult for them to hear the gospel. And not only are we free to share about the love of Jesus with them, but they're free to hear for the first time.
And so the opportunities are amazing, the people are amazing. That they would do a degree in a language that's not their own, just so inspiring to me.
And, you know, they're going to be leaders. They're going to take that degree and be a leader somewhere in some field. And so we have the next generation of world leaders right in our community. So I just can't think of anything more strategic to do.
If God could showed me something more strategic to do, I'd do it. So I'm stuck here for 20 years.
I love it.
[00:54:42] Speaker C: So that's great. Well, and Wes, you definitely have had opportunity to see a lot of different ways that God is working amongst international students. In our community. What are some testimonies, though, that you've seen recently that show the power of Christians welcoming international students in our community?
[00:55:00] Speaker D: So just a couple weeks ago, I was picking up furniture from some students that were moving around, and one of them was from India. And he. He. We. As we were chatting, he said, I have a Westgate family. And so he had come to the Thanksgiving dinner. Another great thing to do.
Super, huge outreach. He met a family there. They folded him into the family. And he was just. So. You should have seen his face. He was just beaming that he had a Westgate family.
Then I want to tell you quickly about Randy and Michelle. Michelle, they came from Southeast Asia. That's not their real names.
So Randy, we helped him with furniture. We invited him to the hospitality program. He signed up. He got matched with a really fantastic family from another church, and they folded him into their family. They invited him to church. They invited him to small groups. They got involved with his. They didn't just do the fun thing once a month, which is what you're. You know, it's a tough assignment, but. But.
So he chose to follow Jesus. And a couple years after he met this family, he got married. They threw a wedding party for him, and he and his wife also spent some time at another church. They ended up getting.
She became a believer, and they were baptized. So the cool thing is.
So Randy and Michelle. So Michelle is now. They're doing a Bible study with. With her sister. So they're now reaching out to their own friends and family with the gospel.
And all of that came from a big kingdom effort right here in Toledo. And I think that's just.
That's just a picture to me of how. What happens, like you said, when the whole Kingdom works together.
[00:56:47] Speaker C: And, Wes, you said something profound in the first service that I want to make sure we draw out that this is kind of a unique time in our culture. Culture for reaching internationals. Could you say just a word about that quickly?
[00:56:59] Speaker D: Well, as you know, immigration is kind of crazy right now, and all the internationals are feeling it. The immigrants, the refugees, the international students.
There's a little bit of uncertainty. I just heard a story from somebody else telling me they had lost a friend because that person is just so not feeling welcome. And so anything that we do to reach into their lives right now speaks 10 times louder. The love of Jesus is 10 times more powerful right now just because of the situation we're in.
[00:57:34] Speaker C: Yeah. So how can we, as the church, play a very significant role in welcoming the nations, partnering with global Opportunities and water for Ishmael.
[00:57:45] Speaker D: Well, we've so Thanksgiving dinner. The Ifriends Water for Ishmael has tons of opportunities to volunteer.
If you're retired, you could help drive and bring. We have students that would love to study English, but they can't get there. They don't have. They don't have transportation.
So you can volunteer in a class.
We have. You can help with furniture if you've got a pickup truck and would like to help. Or if you want to just bring a student to the warehouse and we'll help them with our truck.
We have conversation partners. If you're a young 20 college career age, we'd like to match you with a conversation partner to help them with English. Biggest thing we're going to need is the hospitality program.
We need families that will welcome students. And you got a tough assignment. You got to do something fun with them once a month. So how many people do something fun once a month?
[00:58:43] Speaker J: Like eight of you?
[00:58:46] Speaker C: Ten really boring lives.
[00:58:48] Speaker G: Rob, we gotta talk.
[00:58:49] Speaker C: We need to spice them up so.
[00:58:51] Speaker D: You don't even have to do anything. Just. What if you have kids having a birthday or soccer game? You know, just bring them along and just welcome them into your family. But it's a huge opportunity. We'll have that at the table.
But there's just lots of on ramps to get into. Welcome international students. Students.
[00:59:10] Speaker C: That's awesome. There are a number of different ways, so I would encourage you to stop by the table and again with each of our partners in this space. Not only are there great opportunities to reach international students, but that neighborhood church who has been a longtime partner of Westgate Chapel at their table. We would love for you to connect with them as they're reaching, especially many, many young people in one of the most impoverished areas of our community. They have a lot of experience, exciting things that are happening. Be sure to stop by. Keep Watch is a great prayer ministry that goes into our schools and prays over them regularly. Be sure to check out and talk with the leaders of Keep Watch about how you could be a part of such a powerful ministry. And then of course, Bellavita and the pregnancy center, a very longtime partner. We would love for you to stop by and talk with them as well. But would you thank Wes for coming and sharing with us this morning?
[01:00:03] Speaker H: All right, finally we're going to talk about our local people partners. And they serve in a parachurch ministry. And these are our people, our Westgate people who've chosen to jump into the secular world. And in all these cases in school Settings to share the love of Jesus. They raise their own funds, they look for prayer from all of us. You can see on our list we have the beaches with young life, Mindy with FCA and the Georges and the Fertigs with crew. And today we have from the beach family, Jim Beach. Welcome, Jim. We're going to be asking him a few questions and what he sees in youth ministry. So Jim, what have you seen God or how have you seen God moving through campus ministry in our area?
[01:00:39] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:00:40] Speaker J: The last couple years, one of the biggest encouragements to me is we have a growing number of volunteer leaders who are really in kids worlds, young life. We specifically have a heart for disinterested kids. And that is why young life exists, is to try to reach kids that are disinterested in Jesus. And because they're not interested, they won't come to us just by definition. And so we have to go to them. And we spend a lot of time volunteer. Young life leaders spend a significant amount of time just in kids worlds getting to, getting to know them. And something that's been really encouraging to me this last year we noticed have more than a few leaders that are actually coaching sports at high schools that they didn't even play in high school, which I think is hilarious. So if you're at a sporting event, you're like, our coach is awful. It might be because of young life in that community now I'm realizing that. But anyway, it's been really encouraging seeing them get more and more plugged in. God has provided people in some spaces that give us that welcome us and that's been really helpful.
[01:01:46] Speaker C: Helpful.
[01:01:47] Speaker J: Another thing is we went to camp this last summer and from in west Toledo, which right now is Northview and Southview High School, we have clubs kind of around schools like that. And we had 87 kids and leaders go to young life camp this summer, which was pretty amazing.
And at camp, you know, we share the young life camp is to share the gospel with a kid who's never heard it before. And so all the messages are sharing the gospel. Gospel for somebody. And many kids that are involved in young life have never been part of a church or very rarely ever stepped foot in a church. And they very rarely have heard the gospel. And at the end of the week, leaders get to have one on ones. The ones that lead their cabins are the same leaders from home that they've already gotten to know throughout the school year. And so two quick stories from our one on ones that I had this summer, one kid in my cab and, you know, I got to ask him at the end. So where do you stand with Jesus? Do you want to have relationship with Jesus? And he told me, well, I do, but I kind of want to just keep it casual.
And I was like, okay, what do you mean by that? Because that could mean a lot of different things. That could mean maybe he's interested, but he's not there yet. Or it could mean he doesn't understand what it means to follow Jesus. And I said, so what do you mean by that? And he goes, well, I do want to follow Jesus, but I got a lot of other things that are like more important to me. And so I'd like to just have that too.
And I told him, well, you know, that'd be kind of like when I asked my wife to marry me, if she said, yeah, I will, but I still want to date other people as well.
And I got to clarify for him that, you know, following Jesus means leaving everything else behind and we get to have him.
And he decided not to follow Jesus Christ at camp. And 30 minutes later, I have another one on one with a kid and I ask him where he stands and he's like, well, yeah, I want to follow Jesus.
And it's. And he's. He's really serious. He gets emotional.
He goes, does anyone say no to that? Like that question?
And I was like, yes. Lots of people say no.
Lots of people say no.
But it was a really cool season of getting to walk around through that with kids who. And we ended up having 39 kids make first time professions of faith at camp this summer, which was really cool.
[01:04:14] Speaker H: Jim, what is, what does partnership with Westgate mean to you as someone who attends here?
[01:04:19] Speaker J: Yeah, Bridget and I are active members here at Westgate and it's really important to us because young life's not a thing that's separate from the church. We don't want it to be a thing that's kids do instead of church. We're just trying to reach kids that won't come. That's our main heartbeat. And. But we see young life and you know, I know crew is the same way. And fca like, kind of like Rob was saying, we're not separate from the church, but we're also not a church. Young life isn't church. We're more like arm of the church, trying to reach kids and bring them in. And you know, I have a young life mentor of mine that says, you know, success isn't 39 kids doing the say so at camp. It really isn't success. Is 10 years from now if kids are a part of an active member of a local church. And so it's really important for Bridget and I that we're active members of local church. But then also, you know, Westgate is very encouraging to us. They are, they started supporting us financially and we didn't even ask.
But more than just that, there's just so much love and support and you know, also Dan and Luke and you know, Steve before them. Just very encouraging. And it feels like we're partners reaching our community, which is really fun.
[01:05:35] Speaker H: Awesome.
[01:05:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[01:05:35] Speaker H: If you'd like to work with our people partners, they'll have booths out there that you can visit.
Prayer financial support is great. But also if you know students that want to get involved or you have a student that you'd love to see involved, whether be on the University of Citadel campus or via one of the local high school schools, talk to Jim, talk to our partners with crew and with FCA as well. So Jim, thank you for joining us.
[01:05:59] Speaker E: Thank you, partners.
[01:06:00] Speaker C: Thank you.
[01:06:02] Speaker E: We love this church.
We are going to jump into our next step. So when we talk about serving, like Lydia five years ago said, we need to have an on ramp. What's the next step? We have gifts given so many next steps ready for you to go again. We have this partnership fair, but we want to just be a church that has is going to help you figure it out. What does it look like to take a next step? So if you look in your sermon notes or on the app or whatever, we always talk about five ways to engage in missions and that is.
[01:06:36] Speaker B: The.
[01:06:37] Speaker E: Way that we all can participate again. Sometimes we think it just means to go as a missionary and we're not all supposed to go like Paul Almedia. Some of us are supposed to go, but it looks like other things too. And so the first one we always talk about when we engage in missions is through prayer. As I said, we have a missions prayer gathering every second Wednesday of the month. Except this month it's the third, come on the 20th. It's amazing. It is so encouraging. And I have this QR code here. It's our next step in missions link. But sign up and say I'd like to get that email. Every month we get requests from our global and local partners and it's the prayer requests of the hard things and it's also the praises of the great things. And so every month there is encouraging updates from each of these partners that are here.
And it is an encouraging time. As I said, going home every time I'm like this is the best. This is what it means to be a part today also in our partnership fair we have this little silly activity we're creating our little prayer frogs and if you heard this very annoying but yep, let's go.
We if you guys remember It's Raining frogs campaign in 2001, there's 110 of these frogs all around Toledo which kind of represents the northwest Ohio, southeast Michigan black swamp area. We'd love for you to take and make a little prayer frog with praying God's heart for our community and where you're set to pray for one of our partners or in a sense space where you are showing and sharing God's love in our community. So that's prayer. We also talk about sending or sending sometimes looks like giving and we have listed all our local partners and missional teams and again Westgate gives a small amount to each of our partners each month to say yes, we believe in you but again they are all based off your guys support. So thank you for doing that. We'd love for you to keep checking out more about them.
We also talk about welcoming as Wes said in Acts 17, we believe the international students and people have come or just people coming here for school from other cities in Ohio or other states in America. But we also believe that you us we are here in 2025 for a reason and God doesn't have that as an accident. And so we want to be aware of the people coming that we're here to receive. So we want to welcome in Jesus name. We talk about going again. That might mean going overseas but also that means just finding a place to serve here. If you're like I don't know where to start. Today is an excellent day to take a step and talk to someone or fill out this card and next step and Stephanie and I will connect with you about engaging with our partners. The last one is mobilize. We talk about, oh sorry I skipped Fall serve. We prove every season we have fall, spring and summer serve. Westgate just provides a ginormous list of opportunities. We ask our partners, what does it look like to serve? Well whether it's an individual one time or a weekly or monthly serve or something for a life group to do, we want to come alongside our partners. And so this list is always changing as partners say hey, we haven't something come up, we add it to the list. And so we are launching our fall serve. So as you're planning your fall, we'd love for you to pick a thing that you could Be a part of, look through that list, pray what it looks like to get involved. And then in January at the turn of the new year, we'll provide for the next many months. And then in May, we launch the summer. And just around and around we go. We want to have on ramps for you guys to serve with our partners when we talk about going. And then the last one is mobilizing. And so today maybe you thought, oh, I want to share this with someone.
Share it right as we are hearing things and prompted or connecting up to person to someone else. Let's just be the church that does our role of being one body, but many members with different gifts. And so that's what we're all about. We have many opportunities. We would like you to figure out what's your one next step. And maybe you know already as we ask ourselves that, or maybe we are going to find out when we go talk to in the partnership fair and just staying a little longer and making a connection. Maybe you're already serving. You just want to give someone to hug and encourage them. That is awesome. So we want everybody to know what their next step is and we will be praying for you to do that. Speaking of prayer, instead of just talking about praying for our partners, we're going to actually have a moment right now to pray for our partners and so you will see our partners. You guys can come step into your positions. We have all our partners represented here today that we want to just lift them up before God. These are are our brothers and sisters doing hard work, gospel work. They are going out to their spaces in the community day after day, week after week, year after year for many of them. And we just have a space right now. And so we would love for you to pray for our partners. And we will pray scripture or words or just whatever the spirit leads. And we're just going to take a couple minutes. So I love for you guys to stand up and actually go to our partners and just start praying again. A simple prayer of encouragement and then I'll wrap it up in a couple minutes.
[01:11:58] Speaker A: Sam it.
[01:12:49] Speaker J: Sa.
[01:13:15] Speaker A: Sam Jesus Sa.
[01:14:38] Speaker E: Lord Jesus, we come to you with many voices. As you said, one body. We are the church.
We thank you that you hear our prayers. We thank you that we have so many stories shared, but so many more stories to share of you at work through our brothers and sisters who are here today representing our missional teams, local partners, our local organizations. God, each of these people have said yes to you that yes, they will go and yes, they will raise support and yes they will do take faith filled risks to go to hard places and we want to come around them as the church. Whether that looks like regularly praying or giving or serving alongside them, connecting them with someone we know and then welcoming others. Lord, may we just be found faithful to come alongside our partners. Well Lord, we pray for endurance and perseverance in their hard ministries as they show up to in to meet tangible needs and also to meet spiritual needs. Lord, we just pray for continued fruit in their ministries. We pray for continued partnership and just show us what it looks like to do this thing together. We do. Thank you that Toledo is a united church. This southwest, southeast Michigan, northwest Ohio community is united and what a privilege it is to be part of that God. So we pray that today will be a yes day for us to say yes to you in relationship. As we keep talking about the power of the good news and then also as we talk about that good news, we want to share it with others once it changes our lives. So thank you for these people. We thank you for this church. We pray that today brings you so much glory in Jesus name Amen.
[01:16:32] Speaker B: Come set your rule and reign in our hearts again Increase peace in us we pray unveil while we're made Come set our hearts ablaze with hope like wildfire in our very souls Holy Spirit come invade us now cause we are your church we need your power Power in us we seek your kingdom first we hunger and we thirst Refuse to waste our lives for your our joy and pride to see the captive hearts released the hurt, the sick, the poor and peace we lay down our lives for heaven's cause we are your church and we pray Revive this earth.
[01:17:54] Speaker A: Build.
[01:17:55] Speaker B: Your kingdom here Let the darkness fear.
[01:18:01] Speaker A: Show your mighty hand Land heal our.
[01:18:06] Speaker B: Streets and land Set your church on fire Win this nation back Change the.
[01:18:17] Speaker A: Atmosphere Build your kingdom here we pray.
[01:18:31] Speaker B: Unleash your kingdom's power Reaching the near and far no force of hell can stop your beauty Changing hearts. You made us for much more than this Awake the kingdom seated us Fill us with the strength and love of.
[01:18:56] Speaker A: Christ.
[01:18:58] Speaker B: Christ we are your church we are the hope on earth Build your kingdom here Let the darkness fill show your mighty hand Heal our streets and land Set your church on fire when.
[01:19:28] Speaker A: This nation change the atmosphere Build your.
[01:19:35] Speaker B: Kingdom here we pray.
[01:20:10] Speaker A: Build your kingdom.
[01:20:13] Speaker B: Here Let the darkness fear show your mighty hand he on streets and land Set your church on fire Bring this.
[01:20:29] Speaker A: Nation back Change the atmosphere Build your.
[01:20:36] Speaker B: Kingdom here we pray Amen.
[01:20:54] Speaker C: Well church family as we close our service this morning as Always. Our prayer team will be here at the front, on each side of the room. And you know, if you've been walking through hard things and you just need someone to talk to, or maybe you're looking for prayer, for healing, or maybe there are things that are going on in your friends and family life that you would just like someone praying with you about, we'd encourage you to come and our prayer team would love that opportunity to pray with you. This morning.
As we close, I want to leave you with this passage of Scripture as Paul picks up and talks about In Romans chapter 12, this same idea he says, for 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, judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
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 we, though many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others.
We have different gifts according to the grace that is given to each other 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, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. And if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. God has given each one of us, as individual members of his body, different gifts, but also different ministry opportunities to go out and to continue to push forward his mission of showing and sharing the love of Jesus with other people. And he exhorts us, Paul does here again in Romans chapter 12, to take those gifts and to use them in the power of the Holy Spirit with everything that God has given us to go out and to share that with other people. And I love that. Paul, as he moves into the next section in verse 9, begins with these words, Love must be sincere that each of these gifts that we have that are given to us by the Holy Spirit, that we are to use not only within our local church, but broadly as the Body of Christ, the global body of Christ. It is a reflection of the love of Jesus as we go out, not only using our gifts to love other people, but by reflecting his love in the way we do in partnership with each other under the banner of Christ as the head of the Body. So church understand the giftedness that God has given you. He desires for you to be used in the purposes of his kingdom of showing and sharing the love of Jesus. How does he want you to do that this week? Connect. Connect with some of our partners, talk with them as the service closes and look for ways that you can be a part of what God is doing through his body and you are an essential part of it. God, thank you so much for this morning and the chance that we have had to worship together. I just pray that you would fill our hearts not only because of the testimonies that were shared of how you're moving and working but with an understanding through your Holy Spirit how you desire to use each other, each one of us within your global body of believers to show and share the love of your son Jesus Christ with the world that surrounds us. Give us spiritual eyes to see those opportunities and to walk into them to the glory of your son. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. We look forward to worshiping with you next week. We'll see you then.
[01:24:42] Speaker A: Sam.
