1 Corinthians Chapter 12:21-24

You're gifted.

You're unique. I think one of the problems we hit is we see somebody that we think, oh, that's good. They do this or they do that. Oh, I want to be like them. God doesn't need another them.

He needs a you. Because if you become somebody else, then the world doesn't have a you. And how strange that in the body of Christ, so many of us are trying to be somebody else that we're not.

Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. God chose you to be you.

You're gifted in some ways to fit in and to be a blessing to others. Find out how that is today as Pastor David continues in 1st Corinthians chapter 12. But before we join David, have you ever considered the Bible as a whole? It's more than just a history book, a book of poetry or a series of stories to share in Sunday school class. The Bible is one book with one central message.

You heard me right. There is one main message in the Bible and David McGee is ready to share that life changing message with you in his latest DVD entitled One Book, One Message. Join David as he takes you from Genesis to Revelation and unlocks the most profound truth of all the scripture. You'll never look at the Bible the same way again. The DVD One Book, One Message is our gift to you when you call to support Cross the Bridge today.

You can call 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com. Now here's David McGee with today's teaching. Turn with me to 1st Corinthians chapter 12. The title of today's message is Dismembered Body Found. Dismembered Body Found.

Thought that might get your attention. This chapter is talking about the body, the body of Christ. And Paul is using this picture of the church at Corinth being the body of Christ. We're going to pick it up with verse 21 says, and I cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you.

Nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather those members of the body, which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. So just like the human body, you know, there's parts that are seen and unseen. The body of Christ, parts are seen and unseen, but every part's important.

It's staggering the amount of energy and time and effort that goes on in this place, so we can have service here on Sunday is staggering. And all that's unseen by most. A lot of it's to be honest, a lot of it's unseen by me.

And then we have the media team who takes the teachings and it puts them together and edits them for the radio and all that's unseen. These things that are unseen are so important. The roles that people do are so important. And understand too, that that's part of that commitment. As you get involved, it's returning that commitment. When you give, it's returning that commitment. And it joins us together more. And it really does make a difference in your life. Why?

Because everyone, every one of us wants to belong to something that's bigger than ourselves. God put that in you. God put in you. He has put eternity into your heart. That's why part of you is not satisfied with temporary things. When you have eternity in your heart, just getting something, a new trinket or a new house or a new car, that's not going to deeply satisfy your soul.

Why? God has put eternity in your heart. What's going to satisfy that? Doing something for eternity. Well, what can I do for eternity? You've got lots of opportunities in this place.

There's opportunities out there. When you invite somebody to come to church with you, it's walking that eternity out. When you help serve here, that's eternity in your heart.

When you give, that's eternity in your heart. And these things, they will bring a deep spiritual satisfaction to you. But friend, if you don't have those things, guess what? You know they're missing. You can't just float through life.

Church, hop, shop, bop around. You got to get to a place and then you bloom where you're planted. And sometimes it's hard. But remember, He is worthy. He is worthy. God is worthy of that commitment.

Hebrews chapter six, verse 11 says, for God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers as you still do. Our great desire is that you keep on loving others as long as life lasts in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true.

That's a really couple of deep verses. In other words, God is watching what you do and He will reward you. And as you pour your life out, you will be rewarded eternally. And the hope that you will be rewarded eternally comes true. Every now and again, I'll hear somebody say, well, I don't care anything about heavenly rewards.

You will one day. God set us up, created us to desire to do something for Him. He talks about it in His word. He talks about rewarding us in His word. Matthew 19 says, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last and last first. That's a great verse for any of you that maybe you help out with sparkle. Maybe you leave a husband who's fussing about you serving God.

God says, I will reward you a hundredfold. Maybe at one time you had an immaculate yard where every blade of grass was in place. And then as you drew close to God and started helping the kingdom, well, maybe every blade of grass isn't in place, but did you really gain eternal spiritual satisfaction from that?

If you're a landscaper, I apologize. See, this chapter talks about this body and how what you do is important, how everything everybody does in the sense of a church is important. I've been in ministry for 20 years and done a lot of things. It always amazed me when somebody would do something for God and do it halfway.

I don't want us to ever do anything like that. Why? You're doing it for God. Do it in excellence.

Do it with passion. And everything you do is important. And if you understand that everything you do is important, no matter how small it is, how seemingly insignificant, when you understand that God is going to reward you and then the eternal scheme of things that really is important, you know what? You'll begin to pour your life into those things. And it'll change your life and change the life of people around you because people will notice that.

Now, here's what's interesting, friend. When you do that in the church, you know what happens? You begin to do that outside the church. And when you begin to walk in excellence outside the church, guess what happens?

People notice. You will be blessed in this life from that. Why? Because people you work with go, man, that dude Steve, man, whenever he does something, boy, he does it 110%. Oh, I have a special task. I have a promotion. And keep in mind that one day as we come into the presence of God, Matthew 25, 21, his Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.

You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Now, this is an interesting story that Jesus tells. He goes to these three guys and he gives them talents. Now, talent was a form of money, but it's an interesting word that's used in this story.

Why? Because God gives every one of us talents. And he gives this one guy 10 talents and he really uses them and he gives this guy five talents and he really uses them and he gives one guy one talent and he goes and buries it.

He comes back and he goes to the guy with 10 talents and five talents. But notice that verse, he says, hey, that's great. You're faithful in the small things. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Do you understand as you use your gifts, you'll be entering into the joy of the Lord.

And if you're not using your gifts, there'll be something missing. Not just in the body and the church, there'll be something missing in your life. Colossians 3 23 says, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. Or in the New Living Translation it says, work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Whatever you do, whatever your job is, you do it for God. If you're a teacher or a landscaper, construction person or engineer or whatever, do it as unto the Lord.

And remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward and that the master you are serving is Christ. I used to travel around and do music and teaching and we traveled with full PA and lights and stuff. And I remember years ago we pulled up to this one church and he saw all the gear and he said, ah, you don't have to, you don't have to do all that. We're a small fellowship. I said, nah, I'm going to, I'm going to do it. So he said, no, really, you don't, I don't know how many people will be here. So I'm going to set everything up, set the whole thing up, lights, sound. It might've been a dozen people there that evening, but they were blessed.

Amen. And the guy came up to me and after he goes, you know, I finally figured you out. I was like, talk to my wife then because I said, what is it? He goes, you're doing this completely for the Lord.

And it doesn't matter who's in front of you. I said, yep. Later on in my life in ministry and the home study, six months for about six months, it was mostly my family, my wife and three kids. You realize I did not miss a Thursday or Sunday.

I never got together and that is just y'all. God honors that kind of thinking. When you say, no, God, you told me to do this. I'm going to do it with the best of my ability, with all of my heart, all my mind, all my soul. God's looking for people like that. And if you'll be one of those people, God will bless you. He'll bless you in this life. He'll bless you in the life to come. But the body, we're talking about this, we need each other.

You realize that? That's not bad theology, that's solid theology. Yes, we need God, but we also need each other. And to put it real bluntly, I need you, you need me and we need each other. I need you, you need me and we need each other. Now, if you're sitting there going, oh, I'm really kind of uncomfortable, man, God wants to heal you of that because we need each other. The human body, the way everything works in harmony and it's just amazing.

Some things in your body just do small things, but they're very important. And that relates back to this chapter, it relates back to this church. Life lesson, this body, this ministry and everyone who helps in any small way is making a big difference. This body, this ministry and everyone who helps in any small way is making a big difference. Do you know a powerful way you can make a difference is keep those your invited cards with you. You'll be amazed if you keep those cards with you, how many doors God will open for you to invite other people. Now, occasionally I'll give all the cards out that I carry and then I'll want to invite somebody and I won't have a card. And man, I hate when that happens because I know I can make a difference in somebody's life. Do you realize you can make a difference in somebody's life? Just by simply asking how they're doing and listening to their answer, giving them a card, inviting them to church.

Maybe they never come, but they just need to know that somebody cares enough to invite them. You're listening to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. We'll return to the teaching in just a moment. But first we have a brand new DVD that we would love to send to you. It's called One Book, One Message. In this powerful DVD, David sweeps through the entire Bible to help you understand the main message of all of scripture. Once you grasp this amazing truth, you will never look at the Bible the same way again. One Book, One Message is our gift to you today when you call with a gift of any amount to Cross the Bridge.

Your gift helps keep us on the air, encouraging you and others. So call today. The number is 877-458-5508.

That's 877-458-5508. Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Friend, do you have a heart for the lost? I invite you to send us the first names of your lost loved ones and we will have hundreds of people praying for them. Just go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and you'll enter their name. And if you put your name and email address in there, I'll send you free resources to equip you to pray and teach you how to reach your lost loved ones.

Please don't wait. This is so important. So please again, go to crossthebridge.com and click on the prayer button and send us the first names of lost loved ones.

We'll send you some free information and together we can partner to deliver the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world, the whole book for the whole world. Now let's return to our study. Verse 24 says, But our presentable parts have no need, but God composed the body, having given great honor to that part which lacks it.

This is kind of in two ways you can look at this. First of all, your vital organs are covered usually. If your vital organs are not covered, you got issues, there's problems going on in your body. And there's some parts of the body that, you know, I don't know, that perhaps aren't that glorious. If you eat liver, you know, cleaning everything up, that's not that glorious of a job, but you certainly need your liver. You know, the body of Christ, if you will, has the livers who clean stuff up, whether that's sparkle or spiritually trying to address issues.

Platelets, you don't really see platelets even in the blood, but they help clot the blood. Extremely important. Again, so much that goes on here in this place is behind the scenes, it's unseen. But without these unseen things, this church, this ministry wouldn't happen the way I asked. You know, we're talking about the body, and let me take a rabbit trail for a second. I'm talking about the body, and some of you, when I say body, you have a negative thing going on in your head, and you think about yourself in that way. You think about your body in a negative way.

Let me think about your body for a second. Start with your toes, your feet. How would you change your feet? What's wrong with your feet? You think your feet are too big, too small, too wide?

What? And then your calves. Are your calves too small, too big? Your knees, are you not need?

Do they go out? Your thighs, do you think you have too big thighs? Do you think your hips are too big, too small?

What? Go up, guys. Are your arms not big enough? Are they too big? Is your neck too short, too long? Your hair, your eyes, what's wrong with them? Too round, too small, too this, too that? Whatever you just said bad about your body, you just insulted the God of this universe who created you uniquely just the way you are, and he knows better than you how you should have been created. Some of you've listened to too much garbage in your life. God forbid, maybe in your own family people said things.

Let go of that. God created you the way you are. If you're big boned, he created you to be big boned. He created you this way, he created you that way. Psalm 139 14 says, I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are your works that my soul knows very well. Jeremiah 1 5 says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you before you were born. I sanctified you, I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Isaiah 44 2 says, thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb who will help you. Fear not, oh Jacob my servant and you, Jeshurun whom I've chosen. Psalm 139 says, thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.

Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me even as I was being formed in utter seclusion as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

And every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me? Oh God, they cannot be numbered. I can't even count them.

They outnumber the grains of the stand. And when I wake up, you're still with me. Some of you actually need to apologize to God about the way that you think about your body. Because he created you like that.

And again, let me assure you, he knows better than you do about everything. You know, some of you just came to hear that little part right there. You're gifted. You're unique. I think one of the problems we hit, if we see somebody that we think, oh that's good, they do this or they do that. Oh, I wanna be like them. God doesn't need another them.

He needs a you. Because if you become somebody else, then the world doesn't have a you. And how strange that in the body of Christ, so many of us are trying to be somebody else that we're not. Life lesson here is God chose you to be you. You are gifted in some way to fit in and be a blessing to others. God chose you to be you. You are gifted in some way to fit in and be a blessing to others.

It's strange. We come to the conclusion that we're unique. And then when we discover that, there's a fear. What I mean is you go, wow, I'm different. And then it's like, I'm different. Yes, you are. And sometimes we think, well, I can't let anybody know.

The secret's out. Just from the outside, you look different. If you got up in the morning and you looked in your mirror and you saw me, you'd be frightened, right?

That's not right. That's just to see me. You're unique.

Praise God. You would not believe, we talked about writing a book. While we were moving into this building so many times, the right person with the right skill would walk in at the right moment to complete a task. Over and over and over. Now, how did that work?

Because each person was different. Let me tell you a little story. When I came back to the Lord, I left secular music.

I was a rock musician by trade. And I left it. I mean, left it. I mean, on the flight home, I said, God, there's two things.

I love you. Coming back to you, there's two things I am never going to do again. I'm never going to travel for a living and I will never going to travel for a living and I will never play music publicly ever again. I'm done. Don't use the word never when you're talking to God, okay? Because at that point in time, God looked at me and thought, oh, you know what? He doesn't want to do this music thing.

I can use him. Amen. So then I was in a church and it was a good church, you know, in some ways. But there really wasn't necessarily a place for a rock guitar player. But then the way I started playing music again as an elder came and he said, hey, I hear you're a musician.

I say used to be. He said, well, I go into the restroom and I do studies in there. I need somebody to go in there and do worship courses and stuff. Will you go with me? I said, yeah, I'll go. It wasn't a big concert or signing an album deal or anything like that. Now I got to tell you something that's interesting. I'd been out of the scene for, I don't know, two or three years, hadn't played my instruments at all. That day I told him yes, I would go to the restroom. Within a week, I had three different offers from secular bands, good offers. And I was like, man, this is weird. It was almost like spiritually speaking, I'd stepped down and said, God, I'm going to use my gifts to serve you. And the devil's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I've been using those.

I would like to keep using those here. I didn't take the bait. And so even now, you know, our worship here is, I understand it's somewhat unique.

I think that's part of its power. But it's a style of worship that not every church in this area is doing. I appreciate you folks who you kind of put up with the music to get to the teaching and, man, I understand.

But what you also need to understand, if you're one of those, you need to understand that some people call and some people come because they're drawn by the music. As a matter of fact, I was prayerfully considering not being in a worship team here anymore. And I was in a leadership meeting.

I said, I didn't ask. And I made the statement saying, nobody's going to get saved because I play guitar. And somebody said, you might be surprised. That's a uniqueness. You've got a uniqueness. God wants to use your uniqueness.

And the whole time you're going, well, I need to be like this. Now don't listen to that story and go, oh, I got to play a guitar. No.

That's the exact opposite of the point. You're already gifted to do something. God wants to use that gifting for the kingdom. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said he would not turn anybody away who comes to him. And he came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness.

Those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we would love to hear from you. You can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ. If you've been encouraged by this ministry, contact us today. Your prayers and financial support help keep us on the air encouraging you and others. Call today and we'll send you a copy of Pastor David's brand new DVD entitled One Book, One Message.

You'll be blessed by this overview of the Bible and it will forever change how you read the Scriptures. To get your copy, call 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508. Or visit us online at crossthebridge.com. While there, make sure to sign up for the free email devotionally. Also, if you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 9 and 1130 Eastern. Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There you can watch Pastor David teach from his home church, The Bridge, in Kernersville, North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening. We hope you'll join us next time as we continue to cross the bridge.