Good evening.  Now let me state up front, tonight will be more like a sermon than usual Sunday nights, but the rest of the lessons will be more discussion generated.  So bear with me.  Tonight we are going to begin a new series that is designed around Discovering The Way God Has Shaped Me.  I believe that the best way to spend your life is discovering how God has shaped you to serve Him working through some kind of ministry.  In I Peter 4:10-11 it tells us about this idea.  Listen to what it has to say, I Peter 4:10-11 says, “1”

Now, I believe that anyone who attends Fly Branch for any length of time without hearing about the need to have and area of service has missed one of the major values of our ministry.  If someone attends our services and simply SITS and just SOAKS in the messages without SERVING, I believe that their faith will SOUR and their spiritual life with SUFFER.

I found this interesting quote once, and I believe it applies well to what I just said.  “Impression without expression leads to depression!”

The Bible is pretty clear in telling us that we are to DO something with our faith!  Turn with me to James 2:14-18.  Here in this passage, we are reading about putting feet to our faith.  Here is what it has to say, James 2:14-18 says, “2”

You see, our faith is always connected to something, and that is action and obedience!

Each week you will find part of this on the front of your bulletin, and each time that you enter the doors of the church, you can find it posted on the wall as you enter.  Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Well, the mission statement of Fly Branch Church of Christ goes like this: We have a three fold purpose: Gather – We come together to worship and praise GOD.  Psalm 34:3 says, “Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.”  Grow – We nurture people to commit to a closer walk with the LORD.  Ephesians 4:12-13 says, “To prepare God’s people for the works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  Glorify – We proclaim and lift up Jesus so that the lost may see and find HIM.  Romans 1:16 tells us, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

Therefore, because of our mission statement, our goal for this class is to help you discover how you are “SHAPEd” and to challenge you to find a ministry based on what we discover over these next few weeks.

Before we move on this evening, let’s just open with a word of prayer.  Let’s Pray!

The backbone of this class is based on the following truth: Your ministry will be determined by your shape!  What God made you to BE determines what He intends for you to DO.  You will discover the purpose you were created fro when you understand the kind of person you are.  This is key to knowing God’s will for your life!

God is consistent in His plans for each of our lives.  He would not give us talents, spiritual gifts, and all sorts of life experiences and then not want us to use them.  He has created us to be used.  When we review and study God’s creation in our lives we will discover the ministry God has for us…the unique way He intends for us to serve Him.

Imagine being dressed in a uniform, given a glove, great cleats, a beautiful swing, the ability to hit from both sides of the plate, incredible speed, natural athletic talent, and then you spend your life sitting in the stands instead of playing.  A total waste, right?  That’s the same idea with Christians who don’t discover and use their ministry that God has given them.

When you look at a sporting event, the point of the huddle is to get into the game.  Every Sunday we are in a holy huddle, and the purpose for this huddle is the same as any other huddle, it is to get us into the game.

Now I believe that there are 2 results of discovering the ministry you’ve been shaped for: one is increased maturity, and the other is fulfillment in life.

Now, through the next few weeks, you will be challenged to do a few things.  One, you will discover your unique design or SHAPE for ministry and commit to developing and using your God-given gifts and abilities in serving God and others.  Second, you will be challenged to select and begin serving in the ministry that best expresses what God made you to do.  And finally, you will be challenged to continue growing and maturing in Christ, your character, gifts, and abilities for better service, and remain sensitive to His leading.

Now, let’s see what the Bible has to say about Ministry.  First, tell me what ministry is to you?

Well, the Greek word is “diakonos” which means “to serve.”  That is were we come up with the title Deacon, but please realize that we are all called to serve.  So, ministry is using whatever God has given me to serve Him and the needs of others.

Next, who is to do ministry?  What do you think?

I want you to look at parts of Ephesians 4:11-12 with me.  It says that, “(God) has given…pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for works of ministry, so the Body of Christ may be built up.”

So, the pastors or teachers and leaders are the preparers, and the people are the ministers.  So realize that my job is to minister to you and to prepare you to be able to minister to the church and to others.

Now, answer me this: where are we to minister?

Well, I believe that there are 3 areas that we can focus on.  First, we need to minister to the Lord.  In Acts 13:2 it talks about ministering to the Lord…  Second, I feel that we need to minister to believers.  I think that as we consider ministry, it is important that we don’t overlook those who are already believers in Christ.  There are many times in life when they need just as much ministering to as anyone else.  And finally, we are to minister to non-believers as well.  The main purpose of us using our talents and abilities, aside from worshiping God is to win the lost to Jesus.  When we go and we minister to those who are outside of Christ, we use what God has given us, and we allow God to do the rest in winning that person over to Christ.

Now, let’s take a look at our ministry purpose.  What is the purpose of ministry?  We seek to achieve the goal of our ministry by fulfilling these 5 purposes of the church.  First, to communicate God’s word.  That is Evangelism, and in Ephesians 3:10 it says, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known…”  One of the purposes of the church is to spread the word of God.

Second, to incorporate God’s family.  This is the idea of Fellowship, and in Galatians 6:2&10 it says, “Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ… Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”  You see, another purpose of the church is to have good fellowship among the people who attend.

The third purpose is to celebrate God’s presence.  In this aspect we learn about true worship, and in Matthew 4:10 it says, “Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan!  For it is written; “Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”” And later, in John 4:23-24 it says, “3”

When it comes to your personal shape, whatever you do should bring worship to God.

The fourth thing is to educate God’s people.  This is what we call Discipleship.  When we minister to others, the whole idea is to disciple them to a closer walk with Christ.  We are to cause people to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

And finally, we are to demonstrate God’s love.  This is the whole idea of real ministry, and in John 13:35 Jesus says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  You see, we are to display the character of Christ.

Those 5 things are the entire purpose of the church.  When we meet together, and when we have services and other activities, if we are not accomplishing at least one of these purposes, then we are falling short of the calling that God has set forth for us.  In everything that we do and are involved in here at Fly Branch Church of Christ is supposed to be designed around meeting those needs.

So, how has God shaped you?  In Job 10:8 it says, “Your hands formed and shaped me…”  God has been molding and shaping you for ministry ever since you were born.  In fact, God started uniquely shaping you even before you were born.  Listen to these verses from the Living Bible translation; Psalm 139:14-16 says, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!  It is amazing to think about.  Your workmanship is marvelous… You were there while I was being formed… You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.”

After reading those verses, I believe that they tell me 4 things.  First, I am wonderfully complex.  God went all out on me, and made me the very best that He could.  Therefore, secondly, I am unique as God’s original masterpiece.  Mankind was the best thing that God created, in fact, after creating it, He said, “It is good!”  Thirdly, I was created with meaning for a purpose.  Isn’t it amazing to know that God created you and had a purpose for you before you were even born?  And finally, God gave me my personal shape.  We are all shaped differently so that more things can be accomplished.

Romans 9:20-21 says, “What right do you have, a human being, to cross-examine God?  The pot has no right to say to the potter: Why did you make me this shape?  A potter can do what he likes with the clay!”  Each of us are different, and we should be happy with what God has blessed us with, and more importantly, we need to use that to serve Him in ministry.

As we begin to close this evening, I would encourage you to go home and to take a minute or two and truly thank God for his work in your life and for giving you the shape that He did.

Now, as I said earlier, ministry is determined by 5 personal factors.  This series is called Discovering My Unique SHAPE.  Over the next 5 weeks here is what we will be discovering about your shape.

S – Spiritual Gifts.  How has God gifted you?  Congratulations!  You are gifted!  We will give you an overview of spiritual gifts and help you to identify which ones you may have been given by God.

H – Heart.  What do I love to do?  Monitoring your heartbeat will help you to clarify what you really love to do.

A – Ability.  What natural abilities do you have?  Applying your abilities will help you appreciate the natural talents and vocational skills you have been given by God.

P – Personality.  Where does my personality best suit me to serve?  Plugging in your personality will help you to see how your God-given temperament can best be used in ministry.

E – Experiences.  What experiences have I had?  Examining your experiences will help you review your history to discover how God has prepared you for a unique ministry that only you can fulfill.

As we go through each week, hopefully we will all be given a new view of the way that God has shaped us and we will begin to fulfill the ministry that He has set aside for us to complete.

Let’s Pray!