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Hello and welcome to the
Middletown Baptist Church podcast,

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where we are proclaiming the
truth to the world.

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In this podcast series, we're
going to be looking into biblical

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words that have great
significance to our faith.

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The name of this series is
called the Word of the Week, where

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once a week we will dive
deeper into these words that we are

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familiar with in Scripture.

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So come along with me.

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Let's study the Word of the week.

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Pastor Josh here.

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The word of the week is gift.

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We're continuing on in our
series looking at the spiritual gifts

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listed in Romans chapter 12.

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And we started last week
looking at the very first gift listed

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here in Romans chapter 12.

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And that was the gift of
prophecy, the gift of proclaiming

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the truth of God to those
around us.

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So the Bible spoke there of
those individuals that are supernaturally

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gifted to proclaim or to
preach the truth of God.

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That doesn't mean that
everyone that preaches has this gift,

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but we know that certainly
some individuals are gifted by God

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through the Holy Spirit to
effectively proclaim the truth boldly

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in faith.

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And so the Bible goes on to
tell us there in that verse In Romans

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chapter 12, verse number
seven, about the next gift.

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And that is in the King James
Ministry or service.

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The word their ministry
literally means to serve, to do things

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for other people in the name
of God.

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And so the Bible says here
Romans chapter 12 or Ministry, let

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us wait on our ministering.

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So basically, what it's saying
here is if we're serving, focus on

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our service and be patient in
that service for the Lord to do it

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for the right reasons.

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There are many passages of
Scripture that speak of this idea

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of service.

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We go back to our original
passage that we started with in 1st

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Peter, chapter 4.

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1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 10,
says, as every man hath received

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the gift, even so minister or
even so serve the same one to another.

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And so the Bible commands us
to serve one another as God has gifted

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us.

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And so this individual that
has been gifted in the area of service

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is going to naturally have a
heart for serving others, naturally

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putting themselves behind
other people.

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This takes a level of humility.

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And so it says, even so
minister the same one to another

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as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God.

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If any man speak, let him
speak as the oracles of God.

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That would speak more to the
gift of prophecy or the gift of teaching.

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But then it says, let him do
it as.

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As God has given him the ability.

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But then it says, really there
in, in that passage, those that are

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going to minister.

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And so there's going to be
people that are going to be proclaiming

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the truth of God.

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And there's going to be people
serving possibly behind the scenes

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and not getting noticed, maybe
not even getting credit.

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And so the Bible says it takes
a level of humility to be a servant.

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And Jesus gives us that
greatest example of the servant in,

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in many passages of scripture.

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But one that really stands out
to me is John 13, when he washed

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the disciples feet there right
before he would go to the cross,

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knowing in in his deity that
one fellow there would deny him and

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another fellow would betray him.

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But yet he still washed their
feet and showed that servant heart.

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And he even let them know that
that was an example for them to follow.

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We know that other passages of
scripture, like Philippians chapter

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two tell us that we should
have the same mind as Christ did.

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That it says let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ

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Jesus, who being in the form
of God, found that robbery to be

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equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation and took

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upon him the form of a servant.

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So Jesus took the form of the servant.

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So therefore as believers we
are called to do the same.

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And may I remind you that
these gifts of the Spirit are not

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just for us to look at and
say, well, you know what, I have

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this gift, so I don't need to
think about another gift.

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No, even if you're not
naturally or supernaturally gifted

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in the area of service, all of
us are called to look to not only

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serve God, but to serve others.

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I think of another passage of
scripture that really highlights

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this truth and that's in the
book of Ephesians.

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You know, a lot of times in
our lives we are willing to serve

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those that are easy to serve,
or maybe we're even willing to serve

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those that love us, which is a
great thing, that's a natural thing.

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But the Bible tells us to not
only serve those that are easy to

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serve, not not only to serve
those that love us, that care for

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us, but we are also to serve
people that might be difficult.

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We are to serve people that
maybe have even wronged us.

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And at the end of Ephesians,
chapter 4, we see a very interesting

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passage.

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It's a passage dealing with
the idea of putting off the old man

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and putting on the new.

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So, so getting rid of bad
things in our life, getting rid of

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the sin in our life, and then
replacing that with godliness and

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so putting off the old,
putting on the new.

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Well how do we do that?

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Well, we allow the Spirit to
take control.

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It's not our hard work, it's
not effort that allows us to sin

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less in our life and to do
more godly works.

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It's the power of God working
through us.

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And so it's yielding to the
Spirit, it's dying to the flesh.

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And so to be a servant, to
effectively serve, we must die to

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ourselves, to our own desires,
to our own wants, and even sometimes

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to our own needs.

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And so the Bible talks there
in Ephesians chapter four about doing

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good things in the place of evil.

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And he gets to the very end
there, Paul does in Ephesians chapter

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four.

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And he says, and be ye kind
one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving

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one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

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And so there's this idea of
being tender hearted, being forgiving.

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And we know that as the Lord
has laid out for us, that we are

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to love our enemies, we are to
show kindness to them, we are to

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forgive, we are to forbear, we
are to not necessarily overlook wrongs,

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but we are to be willing to
serve others that might not be easy

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to serve.

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And so that's the element of service.

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That's the gift of service.

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Someone being able to serve
even when there's no praise, someone

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being able to serve even when
there isn't a earthly reward.

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We know the Bible tells us
that there is a heavenly reward for

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that service.

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And we know that as we serve,
there might even be elements of praise

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and there might even be
elements of people noticing what

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we're doing.

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But ultimately we don't do
that for people to notice us.

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We do that for God to notice.

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And ultimately we do that
because we are servants of the King.

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And so we do that because we
love him.

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So the way that I would word
it is this.

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The gift of service is a gift
given to us to love love others as

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Christ has told us to love
others, to serve others as the Lord

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has called us to serve others.

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And we do that.

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We, we love others because we
love God.

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We serve others because we
love God.

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And so the service to others
is service to God.

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And so we go back to Romans
chapter 12 and we look at that passage

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of Scripture and we see that
one of those spiritual gifts is the

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gift of service.

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And so I would encourage you
to think about and to pray about

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what areas of service that you
can display for the Lord, but also

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to others around you.

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Remember, the spiritual gifts
are not there just for our own sakes,

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but actually they're there to
edify others, to build up others,

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to bring glory to God.

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So when we think about service
from that perspective, it helps us

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out immensely when it comes to
those times where we're tempted not

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to serve.

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And so for those people that
are gifted in that area of service,

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hey, you know what?

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You're.

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You're not going to be as
challenged as much as maybe some

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other people are.

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You're going to see the bigger picture.

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You're going to understand
that it's not about you.

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You're going to understand
that you don't need the praise.

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You're going to be willing to
say, hey, whatever I can do, I'm

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going to do it.

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How can I help you?

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How can I lift?

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How can I lift someone up?

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The word, their service,
literally in the Greek, is the word

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that we get deacon from.

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So, so we have the office of a
deacon within the church, and that

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that office is there to
display service.

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And so all of us are called to
that area of service in our life,

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whether we're gifted in that
area or not, Whether we're in the

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office of a deacon or not, we
are all called to serve.

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And so serve God and to serve others.

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And so I would encourage you
to think about that, pray about that,

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and allow yourself to be
willing to be challenged by God to

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say, you know what, Laura?

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Where would you have me to
serve you?

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Where would you have me to
serve within the church?

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Where would you have me to
serve in my community?

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Where would you have me to
serve in my family?

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Sometimes that's an area that
we overlook.

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But we.

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We think about these areas of
service, and then once God recognize,

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or once we recognize what God
has for us in the area of service,

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we then need to be willing to follow.

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We then need to be willing to
commit and to put ourselves in a

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place where we can submit to
the Spirit.

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Because all of these gifts are
manifested by an obedience to the

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Spirit, by a yielding to the Spirit.

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If we are in our flesh, if we
are acting in our flesh and responding

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in our flesh, we're not going
to be doing the things that honor

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God.

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We're going to be doing things
that honor ourselves.

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And so we can have the gift of
service, but we serve so that we

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can receive, or we serve for
ulterior motives.

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But when we're acting in the
flesh, we are able to serve with

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that agape love.

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We're able to serve with humility.

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We're able to serve with sacrifice.

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And that's the exact way that
Jesus gave us the example of service

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in.

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In the word of God.

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And so I'm thankful for his
service, and I'M thankful for my

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opportunities to serve and I
hope that you are as well.

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Well, next week we're going to
come back and we are going to look

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at the gift of teaching and I
hope that that will be an opportunity

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for you to learn more about
these gifts and hopefully discern

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what gift or gifts that God
has blessed you with in your faith.

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And so thank you for listening
here this week.

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I hope that you have a
wonderful Christmas and I hope that

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you are able to celebrate that
wonderful time of the year with family.

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And let us celebrate the
coming of our Savior, but let us

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look forward to his coming again.

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Well, we know that God loves
us and we're thankful for that love

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and I hope that you can rest
in that here today.

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Well, we'll look toward
talking to you next week.

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God bless you.

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Take care.

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We'll see you soon.

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Hey, I really appreciate that
you listen to the Word of the Week

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podcast.

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If you have any questions
about the podcast or or about our

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church, Middletown Baptist
Church, you can find more information

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about us on Facebook or
YouTube or you can find the podcast

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on NBCPodcast.org you can
contact me directly at Josh Massaro

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at middletownbaptistchurch.org
stay tuned for future Word of the

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Week episodes where we dive
deeper into words that impact our

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life according to scripture.

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Thank you so much.

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God bless.

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We'll talk to you soon.