Music from Celebration Sunday

Sunday Morning Music

So Good by Renovation Music

What A Beautiful Name by Hillsong Worship

Made A Way by Travis Greene

All Created Things by City Wide

How Great Is Our God by Chris Tomlin

Let It Be Known by Casey J

Amazing Grace (Reason To Sing) by The Sing Team

Night of Worship

We Sing As One by Young Oceans

Come Thou Fount by King's Kaleidoscope

Praise The Lord Ye Heavens Adore Him by Young Oceans

Father You Are All We Need by Citizens & Saints

Jesus Paid It All by Kristian Stanfill

How Deep The Father's Love by The Dispatch

Before The Throne by Citizens & Saints

In Tenderness by Citizens & Saints

Kingdom Come by Elevation Worship

Build My Life by Housefires

Sermon Recap | Participate Like Parts of a Body

We don’t all have the same function or gift and that’s good! The body works together as the individuals understand their functions and use their gifts together. 

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith. -Romans 12:4-6

God, in his grace and mercy, gifts each of us with specific ways that we are called to contribute to the body. 

These gifts differ (1 Corinthians 12:14-21) and that’s a good thing! God knew what he was doing when he put us in a body together.  For us to be a Jesus-Centered Family on Mission here in Columbia, we have to understand that as Christians, all of us are gifted. All of us are called to serve. All of us have a role to play. 

Three pushbacks people have:

1. I don’t have any gifts. Your job is not to analyze your gifts and determine if God did a good job or not, but instead, put your gifts on the altar and offer them to serve in love for the building up of the body.
2. I don’t have that gift. Not having a specific gift isn’t an excuse to disobediently refuse to grow in Christlikeness that all of us are called to walk in. 
3. I don’t need other people’s gifts. The truth is, we all need each other. 

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. - Romans 12:6-8

Three Categories of Spiritual Gifts:

1. Gifts that serve with your words: prophecy, teaching, exhortation.
   Words have power! For a refresher on this topic, listen to the sermon, “Wisdom and Words” from our “Proverbs” series.  
2. Gifts that serve with your hands: serving, acts of mercy, leading
3. Gifts that serve with your stuff: generosity

*Tune into the blog later this week for a post that breaks down each spiritual gift in more detail 

Three Next Steps:

1. Try something. Serve! All of us are called to have a posture of service. If you’re not serving somewhere, go to midtowndowntown.com/serve. 
2. Try everything while looking for the best fit. Don’t wait for your giftedness to be needed; Jump in and contribute. If you don’t know what your giftedness is, chances are, you won’t discover it until you start serving. 
3. Specialize. As you learn more and more of your gifts and strengths, try to shift more and more of your time in that direction. This is going to require saying, “no” to some opportunities. 

Staff Spotlight | Renew Your Mind

During Week 1 of our current sermon series, “Jesus-Centered Family on Mission,” we discussed the importance of pressing into Jesus as individuals in order to become the family that Christ has invited us to be as His church. 

Romans 12:2 calls us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. In order to accomplish this, we must remind ourselves of the gospel every day, over and over. One way to do this is to spend time identifying the lies we are tempted to believe, replacing those lies with the truth of the gospel, and then thinking through practically, what applying this truth to our lives could look like.

Several members of our staff took time last week to share how they are currently renewing their minds. Our hope is that these truths would both serve to encourage you and challenge you to think through the specific lies that you are believing as you take time this week to apply the beauty of the gospel to those lies, so that as a church, we can be transformed to look more like Christ. 

Jon Ludovina: Teaching

Lie: Ever since the “Sloth” sermon during our “Proverbs” series this summer, I've been realizing how tempted I am to believe the lie that rest and replenishment are found in doing nothing, vegging out, and watching TV. 

Truth: Sloth is a rejection of purpose and real rest is found in connecting with Jesus, not just getting away from my responsibilities. (Proverbs 13:4 and Isaiah 30:15)

Personal Application: Even though it's not my natural personality bent, I actually thrive when I diligently plan intentional rhythms for my rest and for my family. Getting away from all my responsibilities leads to cyclical patterns of just wanting to veg out more which causes things to pile up and become overwhelming and depressing. Diligently planning, executing those plans, and resting toward Jesus actually brings freedom and purpose to my soul. 

Tim Olson: Church Planting Candidate

Lie: I'm only at peace if I am in control of my present, future, and have everything figured out.

Truth: God upholds me and directs my life. He offers me a better peace by resting in Him, and not in controlling all the outcomes of my life.  (Psalm 119:165). 

Personal Application: In the past, I've tried to figure out the solution to my stress, then pray towards the outcome I desire. God is teaching me to run to Him first with my anxiety and fear, trusting Him to provide all peace.

Laura Jones: Kidtown

Lie: God expects me to do "big flashy things" for Him in order for my life to be significant.

Truth: Jesus' life, death, and resurrection have made me righteous. Jesus set a clear pattern for us by taking the posture of a servant. God does not need me to do anything for Him. Instead, He graciously invites me to be part of His mission to rescue the world through small unflashy acts of faithfulness. (Philippians 2:2-8; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31) 

Personal Application: This looks like daily faithfulness to abide in Him and obey Him in all of the small, seemingly insignificant duties of life. It helps me to remember the saying, “Everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to help mom with the dishes.” I must remind myself that I'm a perfect 10 in Christ. Jesus empowers me to serve in the small, repetitive, and mostly unnoticed ways. I'm transforming my mind to not despise the small things but enjoy them because Jesus is with me. 

Jay Hendricks: Music and Production

Lie: I believe that more sleep, scrolling through social media, watching football, doing nothing, will be life-giving and refreshing. 

Truth: Prayer, the Word, and resting in God's promises give me what I need. 

Personal Application: When I feel the need to "retreat" from life for a moment, I remind myself that what I desire is available through journaling, praying, reading the Word, and surrendering my time, my work, and my failures to the Lord. One practical application for me has been deleting apps that have been mostly life-sucking. So now when I open my phone (when triggered by boredom), I have few things to run to before I am reminded that what I'm seeking is refreshment, not retreat. Then I try to pray, sit in silence and remind myself of scripture or journal. 

Nick Johnston: Communications

Lie: The lie I often tend to believe is that my worth is tied to my performance. Fear of failure makes me want to escape from reality so that I don't have to deal with things.

Truth: My worth will never be tied to my performance. Instead, my worth is a result of Jesus' perfect performance, where he gave me his righteousness and took my sin and shame.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Personal Application: When I realize that my identity is firm in the finished work of Christ, I'm able to embrace reality. The truth is that at times I will fail, but Christ never will and so that frees me up. It's okay for me to not be perfect because I'm already credited Jesus' perfection. 

Sermon Recap | Belong Like Parts of a Body

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members,[a] and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. - Romans 12:3-5:

Church unity looks like one body with many members.

4 things that threaten church unity:

1. Consumerism - A pervasive mentality that treats church as a provider of spiritual goods and services. Marked by the question, “What am I getting out of this?” 
2. Conflict - Sinful people always end up having conflict. The only question is whether you let that conflict drive you away from unity or into greater unity through forgiveness, repentance, grace and reconciliation. 
3. Circumstances - If Jesus is central, then His call to belong to each other as a body dictates how we build the rest of our lives. When He isn’t, we will always have excuses that prevent us from commitment. Our schedules reveal our priorities. 
4. Condescension - A prideful comparison of viewing yourself as smarter and more important than other people in the body. 

No matter which mentality you are tempted to believe, the answer for all of us is grace. Jesus’ body was broken so that we could be brought together as one body in the church. 

Sermon Recap | Transformation vs. Behavior Modification

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

Romans 12 captures what God designed the church to be: a Jesus-centered family on mission. If you lose any of the three parts (Jesus-centered, family, mission) you no longer have a healthy church.

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 5: 13-14

As the church, we are called to be salt and light but we can’t be the church we’re called to be if you’re not becoming the person God intended you to be; The more that you come to look like Jesus, the more that we come to look like a Jesus-centered family on mission. 

In light of what Jesus has done, we are each to present our bodies as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1; Galatians 2:20)

There are three things that we must become dead to as we offer ourselves as living sacrifices:

1. self-rule/autonomy
2. worshipping the things we used to worship
3. certain ways of thinking/patterns of thought (Romans 12:2)

In order to be transformed by the renewal of our minds, we must remind ourselves of the gospel over and over again. This week, think through the lies/certain patterns of thought that you are tempted to fall into. Then, practice renewing your mind by replacing those lies with the truth of the gospel. And finally, ask yourself, “What is the practical application of this truth?” Consider writing this down on a notecard that you can look at throughout your week, as together, we fight to be individuals who are becoming the people that God intended us to be so that together, we can be a Jesus-centered family on mission.