Ephesians 5-30 says, For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. We are part of Christ himself. So we are his arms who are reaching out. We are his voice calling out to a lost and hurting generation. We are his feet that are going and pursuing those who don't know him.
Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Our relationship with Jesus isn't simply for us.
We are in Christ and a part of something bigger and more important than ourselves. Find out just what this is today as Pastor David continues in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Before we join Pastor David, we want to let you know about an outreach opportunity that could bring hope to countless prisoners.
This month, Cross the Bridge is teaming with men and women like yourself. In order to provide Pastor David's devotional book, Cross the Bridge Every Day to Inmates. When you call today and help support the ministry with a gift of $25 or more, we'll send you a book and also provide one to a prisoner in need. To take part in this important outreach, call 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508.
Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Now here's David Magee with his teaching, Your Finest Hour. Turn with me to chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians. Verse 26 says, and if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. And if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. This is talking about us, the body of Christ. Now as we've been through here, we've discussed that there's the body, the local church, and then there's the worldwide church, big C, everybody who believes in Jesus as their savior. I think often we overemphasize our differences with other people who are saved and maybe they believe something different about music or maybe the pastor wears a robe, maybe they preach different, teach different, sing different, but they believe in Jesus as their savior.
And so we can walk the road with those people. But here it's more local, I believe. And it says in the New Living Translation, which is a translation that I go to different translations when I'm reading.
It's a great study tool. It says if one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. And if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
Let me ask you a question. When you hear that somebody you know has gotten, I don't know, a promotion, are you happy for them? Now yourself, your old nature, the old way, the selfish way goes me. I should have got that promotion. That's the old nature.
The new nature should rejoice because somebody else in the body of Christ got a promotion. What if somebody you know gets a new car? What's your reaction? I don't know why they got to have a car like that. I don't have a car like that. Or you go, oh, that is so cool. They got that. That is awesome, man.
I know that's got a great safety rating and a good maintenance and Consumer Reports thinks that's it. Man, God bless that brother. That's the Christ-like thing to do, to rejoice when somebody else, something good happens to somebody else.
That's your new nature. And the flip side is, you know, if somebody suffers, suffers with them. But back to this, if God bless, do you allow envy and jealousy to enter in? If somebody else gets, whatever, if somebody gets a new house, a new job, takes a nice vacation, do you let envy and jealousy creep in because you didn't get it? That's one of the surest ways to live a discontented life. Because somebody else is always going to have a nicer car. Somebody else is always going to have a nicer house. Somebody else is always going to have a nicer job. Somebody else has a nicer vacation, and on and on and on and on. And if you're always looking around going, it's like a little kid at Christmas.
What'd you get? And see, we of all people, they're called to love one another, should rejoice with one another when something good happens. And somebody's going through a tough time to be sensitive to it. The Super Bowl, you know, as the teams play, at the end of the game, one team will win, one team will lose. And somebody, if they're on the losing team, after the game's over, they're not going to be running around going, I got 400 yards, man. Yeah, we lost, but I got 400 yards.
No, the team lost. And you know what's interesting is part of this is we're talking about the body. There's an interesting parallel. When I was younger, man, I think back, you know, when I was playing rock and roll and stuff, and the things that I would put my body through and sleep in an hour or two a night and pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing. There was really, in my immaturity, there was not a hesitation to damage my body. Now, many of us in here had bad habits during that phase of life, too. Our immaturity led us to not even hesitate to damage our bodies. But as we get older, as we mature more, then we want to take care of our bodies, don't we? My father had a saying, and I'm sure you got it from somewhere else, but it's a great one. He said, you spend your first half of your life giving your health to get wealth.
You spend the last half of your life giving your wealth to get health. A lot of wisdom in that. And you know it's the same with believers. If somebody's not hesitant to hurt the body of Christ, to speak against it, to speak against what God's doing in a place, automatically, you know, that's an immature believer. But if somebody wants to take care of the body and say to somebody, you know what, you really, that's inappropriate, you shouldn't say that. That's probably a mature believer, because they're caring for the body. So that which is true physically is also true spiritually. And you need to realize that. Because if you hear that and you go, oh, that's one person or a couple of people and I'm disconnected from that, you're not getting it. We're a team.
We're together in this. If one team scores a touchdown, what does the rest of the team do? Oh, I wish you'd thrown it to me. Maybe a couple of them do think that, but they don't, you know, they don't suck. They're like, yeah, we scored. It's awesome. See, there's something in our spiritual maturity that we need to grow from being all self-centered to being a team member and seeing the connection.
When one person comes forward here, that's a team win. Because a whole team of people, people that were in the church last night cleaning it up. Yesterday, clean up. People coming in this morning cleaning up. Media people getting ready. Children's ministry people getting ready.
Parking lot people getting ready. And everything goes well and they come in here and they get in here and their mind is able to focus on what I'm talking about. And at the end of the service, boom, they come forward. That's a team win. And we should celebrate it together.
Why? Because if you're part of what's going on here, that gets charted to your spiritual rewards and accounts. That's kingdom thinking. So this chapter is talking about, hey, there's unity. And yet that doesn't mean that we're all the same. We all have different tasks, different personalities. So there is diversity, but what makes that all work?
Maturity. And so this chapter has brought us through unity, diversity, and maturity. And you see this in a couple of different places. You see it here, 1 Corinthians 12. You also see it in Romans 12. You also see it in Romans 4.
It's the same path. What is unity? Simply put, unity is caring for one another. It's caring for one another.
What is division? Competing with one another. Competing with one another.
It's sad that sometimes the body of Christ does compete with itself and people get hurt. Back to the Super Bowl analogy. You're going to see interesting things, but it's also interesting some of the things you will not see. You won't see a lineman go to the line and go, you know what, quarterback, I heard something about you and I don't think I'm going to block for you anymore. Matter of fact, I'm going to let the enemy come on in and get you.
Because I read in the paper, you make too much money. You won't see that. And in the huddle, you won't see a head pop up and go, you know what? I got a better idea.
I know you're supposed to be the leader and the visionary here, but I think I got a better plan. By the nature of that person's actions, you know what will happen? Go to the sidelines now. Do you realize, talking about teamwork, body, you understand hopefully how God sees you. If you've asked God to forgive you of your sins, you are wrapped in the robes of the righteousness of Christ. God does not see your sins. Let me ask you a question.
How do you see other people? See, because if you see them any other way than God sees them, worse, if you talk about them, do you understand that literally you are doing what the Bible calls bearing false witness against your brother or your sister? He's a mess up. He's a sinner. He did this and he did that. God calls him righteous.
Who are you to call him a sinner? This is for the church down the road, but y'all are here. I know y'all don't ever do this. Andrew Carnegie said this, teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision, the ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. That's a good quote, isn't it?
I love the way it allows common people to attain uncommon results. You're listening to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. We'll be back to the teaching in just a moment. This month, we're focusing on prison ministry and I have the chance to sit down with Pastor David. Pastor, what is Cross the Bridge Prison Ministry all about? With Cross the Bridge, we're all about getting people to take the next spiritual step, showing them what that is, and teaching them the blessings that come with that step. Now, for a lot of people, that's the step of salvation. They're lost and they need to accept the salvation and the forgiveness of Jesus. And then they need to learn how to follow Jesus by learning about his Word.
And Cross the Bridge helps with both of those. We present salvation with every radio message, and we also help disciple people by teaching them the Word of God. And so, the prison ministry is consistent with what we do at Cross the Bridge, and that is present salvation and teach the Word of God to help people become disciples.
Pastor, we know that sharing the Word of God is always important to you. And why is it so important to get God's Word into the prisons as well? Our prison system is built around trying to change the lives of people who've made bad decisions. And yet, you can't change a life without changing the heart. And that's where God's Word and God's Spirit are so powerful. They can change a life.
They can change a heart. We can share the Word of God with somebody. You can help send us into the prisons to share the plan of salvation, see that prisoner get saved, and then begin to disciple him and teach him the Word of God so that when he gets out, he is different than when he came in.
Thank you for sharing, Pastor. If you're listening and agree with David about our need to help those in prison, we would love to hear from you. You can call 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508. And when you give $25 or more, we'll send you a copy of Cross the Bridge every day. Not only that, but we'll match your gift by sending another copy of David's devotional to an inmate in need. Also, your gift of $200 or more will provide a case of 10 books that will be used to help change lives for eternity. Again, that number is 877-458-5508.
Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Look at verse 27. Now you are the body of Christ and members individually. So you are an individual, and yet you're part of something bigger. And yet, you know what, friend?
You know this. God has placed eternity in your heart. You know that you're an individual, but you also know that there is a completion that happens in the body. And if you don't have this, you will look for it. And friend, if you don't get it from church, you will look in some dark corners for it. You'll look for it in bars, clubs, worse. There's a unique fellowship when somebody sitting at a bar drinking together, sharing misery.
Why? Because they want to belong to something. And friend, there's a part of you that is lonely for the body of Christ if you're not a part. And we've got a group here, leadership, pastoral, elders, deacons. We are committed. We've given our lives, literally given our lives, committed to the people here. And some people have returned that commitment and say, yes, I'm committed to here. Some still on the fence, I understand that. Maybe you've really been hurt.
But it's when you come off the fence that you're going to experience this thing where the loneliness is just going to, it's going to leave because you realize that you're really part of something, part of something that's making a difference. Romans chapter 12 says, for as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. Romans chapter 12 says, for as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function. So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Having them gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Use your gifts.
Use your gifts. Watching the Super Bowl, you will not see a line man go, you know what? I think I want to be quarterback and I'm going to start a new team. Who's with me? You won't see that. They understand it's a team effort. So many parallels, man, except see this is not just a game. This is eternal. Whoever wins the Super Bowl wears the crown for a year, if you will.
What we're talking about? Crowns for eternity. Ephesians 5 30 says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. We are part of Christ himself. So we are his arms who are reaching out. We are his voice calling out to a lost and hurting generation. We are his feet that are going and pursuing those who don't know him.
The life lesson here is we are in Christ and part of something much bigger and more important than just ourselves. If my body hurts, I have to respond to that. If I certainly ache, the rest of my body compensates for that.
My foot hurts and the rest of my body compensates for that. When I was a youngster, I asked my mom, I said, my brain hurts. She said, they call that a headache, honey. Okay, I got a headache.
I was learning the terminology. But when one part of the body hurts, the rest of the body compensates and loves on it. That's what this chapter is talking about. Someone in this fellowship hurts and the rest of us hurts. Romans 12 15 says, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Ephesians chapter four says, there's one body and one spirit just as you were called and one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
One God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. Let's read verse 28. And God has appointed these in the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers.
After that, miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. So we see here in verse 28, the diversity that exists in the body of Christ. And let's understand that they are, there's room, there's space, there's place for every person. Do you realize that if every person in here today said, you know, I want to start serving here. Do you realize we would be able to find a place for each and every person to serve?
There's that much to do. Especially as we stand far beyond these four walls. What happens when somebody doesn't step out? Well, they miss out.
The kingdom misses out. They don't get blessed. We don't get blessed and they're not discovering their God given abilities. But oftentimes we go, well, I don't know if I'm gifted. You're absolutely gifted. If you're sitting here, you're gifted. If you're listening on radio, you're gifted. You're watching on television, you're gifted.
You're watching in Greensboro, you're gifted. God gives gifts to each and every person. That's not even a question. The question is, are you using your gift?
I can't answer that for you. You answer that one. The life lesson, God has given each minister or ministries different gifts. You go, wow, wait a minute. I'm not a minister.
If you're in here or you're listening and you believe in Jesus as your savior, you are in full time ministry. You're called. It's not just a few.
Oh, well, you know, there's some that are just called in there. We're all called. Some of us hear it.
Some of us listen to it. Some of us heed it. Now the callings are different. I'm called to be senior pastor. That's a different calling probably than yours, but we're all called. We're all ministers. We all are the priesthood of believers is what Martin Luther said during the reformation.
Now this first travel is an interesting thing. It says appointed in the church, first apostles. Now apostles, that word comes from apostolo in the Greek set apart to send out on a mission.
Notice it says first. What's interesting because going back, this church did not start like most churches. There wasn't a demographic study and say, Hey, let's plant a church here. God just burned my heart. I traveled for like eight years, travel around the country, teaching the Bible, doing music. God said, I got something different for you to do. So he sent me to start a work and apostolo comes from apostolos or apostle, a delegate, especially in a bastard of the gospel, officially a commissioner of Christ. Romans 10, 14 says, but how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him and how can they believe in him if they've never heard about him and how can they hear about him unless someone tells them and how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?
Same word, apostolos, without being sent. That is why the scriptures say how beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring goodness. It's the second prophets. What is a prophet? It's not just somebody who foretells the future. It's somebody who speaks to people on behalf of God. What I do on Sunday morning is prophesying in a sense that I'm speaking to you on behalf of God. I take what he's already said in this book, I mix it with what I think he wants to communicate to you and I'm speaking to you on his behalf.
That's a heavy responsibility. That's the second in the movement. And then what happens? Then teachers saying, hey, this is how you do it.
This is how you serve. Being that example and after that miracles, gifts of healings, helps, administrations, variety of tongues. As a matter of fact, let's understand, I know some of us struggle in this area, but in the New Living Translation, it's kasihalia in the Greek. In the New Living Translation it says here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who do miracles, then who have the gift of healing, those who can help others, those who have the gift of leadership and those who speak in unknown languages. Do we believe in that? Well, a better question is, does the Bible teach it?
And if you find a difference between your doctrine and what the Bible teaches, your doctrine needs to change to what the Bible teaches. But when we're talking about gifts, I've heard people say, I'm seeking the gift of leadership. I'm seeking this gift. I'm seeking that gift. I want to have the gift of healing. I want to have the gift of teaching.
No, no, no, no, no. Don't seek gifts. Seek the giver. Because as you seek Jesus, guess what happens? You get the gifts. But if you seek the gifts, you could get sidetracked. I know a lot of people, good people, people love God, but they've been sidetracked by the gifts. But if you seek the giver, you'll never be sidetracked. And your focus will be on what your focus is supposed to be on. 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. God is using Cross the Bridge to impact lives across our country, including the lives of those currently serving time in our nation's prisons. While materials provided by Muslim organizations continue to increase within our prisons, our distribution of Pastor David's book, Cross the Bridge Every Day, has been making a significant impact for Jesus with prisoners. And you can help continue that outreach by calling today. When you call today with a gift of $25 or more, we will send you David McGee's devotional book, and then match your gift by sending a copy to a prisoner in need. And if you are able to give a gift of $200 or more, we will send a case of 10 books to inmates who are without hope. Help us reach those in prison. Call today at 877-458-5508.
That's 877-458-5508. Or go online to crossthebridge.com. 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.
