WHAT AM I DOING HERE?

get a gift, be a gift

Tonight is our last service of the first quarter of 2024. Can you believe the year is almost 25% finished?! As we shift gears into a new season, I want to share some vision for the direction I believe God is leading the Bridge for the rest of this year, and I want you to listen to this message with an open heart and open ears to the Holy Spirit. I believe that you will hear something tonight that is going to stir passion in you. Something that will spark purpose in you. I believe the Lord will speak to you about your place in this vision and speak to you about His vision for your life.

In order to do that, you have to know what the Word says about His plans for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

God’s plan for you is good. It’s always been good and it will always be good. His plan for you is not based on how good you’ve been; it’s based on how good He is!

James 1:17 (ESV)

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

You might feel like you don’t have a purpose in life, but I want you to know that God didn’t give you gifts for no reason. He gave you talents and passions and gifts for a reason. Maybe that’s news to you or maybe that’s just hard to believe. It might be difficult for you to see how He could ever use some of the stuff you like. You might feel like a total weirdo. Maybe you’ve felt rejected by people, and it’s caused you to question who you are. Maybe it’s even caused you to try to change who you are for the sake of being accepted by people.

I want you to know tonight that God accepts you as you are, because He made you. Your quirks. Your weirdness. God made you to be who you are, because He wanted you that way.

Let’s pause right there and clarify something. What we are talking about right now is identity, not behavior. The world often fails to separate these two, but it’s vital for your understanding of who you were made to be and what you were made to do.

Your behavior - good or bad - is not your identity. Your performance - good or bad - is not the basis for who you are. First and foremost, you are a child of God. That should be the identity from which everything else finds its source.

What you’ve done is not your identity. Your past sins. Your present failures. Your future mistakes. They don’t change your identity. Because of that, it’s important to know that God accepts you as you are on the level of your identity, but He does not tolerate behavior that is in conflict with His holiness. Culture has told us that things the Bible calls sinful are just how God made us, and nothing could be further from the truth. You are now, have always been, and will always be God’s child. When that becomes the way you see yourself, you’ll want to behave in alignment with that identity. Behavior issues are rooted in a lack of revelation of identity. You are known and loved by God, regardless of what you have done, are doing, or will do. Receive that love and identity, and kicking the habits and sins that have plagued you for as long as you can remember will start fading.

God made you with gifts and He made you to be a gift.

1 Peter 4:10–11 (ESV)

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Our gifts and talents are for serving one another and building the Kingdom of God. They’re for bringing glory to Him and making Him known to a world that needs Him desperately.

Your gift is not to serve the culture. Your gift is meant to change the culture. It’s meant to bring light to dark places. It’s meant to be saturated by the anointing of God and send the forces of hell fleeing in every direction.

Romans 12:6–8 (ESV)

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 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.

We all have different gifts, but those gifts all have a purpose in the body of Christ.

I said earlier that I am going to share some vision with you for some new vision I believe the Lord has given us for this year. As you listen to this, what I want you to remember is that your gifts were made for this. You were made for this. What are you doing here? You’re here to fulfill the purpose that God has given you in the place where He’s meant for you to do it.

bring your gifts, use your gifts

I want to focus on three things that we’re going to be doing and the strategies we have for each of those.

1.) Building community.

[COLBY VERNAGELLI] New groups coming soon. If you want to lead a group, check out our web site. Why should you lead a group? Why should you join a group? Maybe your weird interest is for the purpose of starting a group and bringing together all those who share that weird interest in the church and inviting those outside the church who also share your weird interest.

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

2.) Building the Kingdom.

Bridge Serve Team opportunities. [BLAKE EVANS] Why do we do what we do? All of these teams are for the purpose of giving our guests and family the absolute best experience every single week. The food we serve. The smiles we give. The excellence in which the facilities are presented. It’s about bringing more dead things back to life. We can’t have revival without preparation, and we are getting ready for this place to be filled with people who need an encounter with the presence of the living God.

3.) Growing the Kingdom.

Evangelism. Multiple teams. Multiple locations. [DANNY WITTMAN]

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

respond

Habakkuk 2:2–3 (ESV)

2 And the Lord answered me:

“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it;

it will surely come; it will not delay.

Now that vision has been articulated, my question for you is this: who wants to run? I asked you at the beginning of this message to listen tonight and ask the Holy Spirit what your place in this should be. There are natural next steps for you to take (thebridgedfw.com/bst), but there is also a spiritual choice you have to make. Set aside past identities. Renounce former ways of living. Embrace the plan that God has for you. Find your place in His Kingdom. Receive the anointing to add His supernatural ability to your willingness to use your gifts for Him.