Commitment is me and my power — I can do it!
Surrender calls us to yield our lives to God first.
Commitment is saying that I’ll do better.
Surrender is having the confidence that God will do His work through me as I live my life.
Commitment is me and my best effort.
Surrender is me allowing God’s power and competency to work through me.

When we learn and live out this principle, we experience the rest and peace that we were meant to have. Then our passion and desire is not grounded in self-effort or self-determination which won’t last. It will be grounded in Christ in us (Galatians 2:19-21).

1. Use your experiences to learn humility.

Matthew 5 [3] Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

2. Use your experiences to help you trust God even when you don’t understand what’s going on.

2 Corinthians 1 [9] This happened so we might learn to trust not in ourselves, but in God.

When you’re flat on your back the only place that you can look is up. Often, that’s the place where God gets our attention.

3. Use your experiences to build character.

Romans 5:4 “We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope.”

4. Use your experiences to accomplish God’s purpose in your life.

2 Corinthians 1 [3] All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. [4] He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.

Romans 8 [28] And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

You know what’s awesome about the ending of the story of Job? He humbled himself before God, He learned to trust God, he grew in character and he forgave his friends. He did all of this before something incredible happened to him: The story of Job ends with God blessing him twofold. God doubled everything that Job had. What God made you to BE determines what God intends for you to DO. God didn’t just WIRE you so you could be unique. He did it so your life would matter. So that you could have significance and impact and meaning with your life because you use it to help others. It’s time to explore and use your own personal wiring for God.

1. Recognize that every talent and ability is given by God.

2. Use your talents and abilities for God’s glory.

Colossians 3 [17] And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him… Anything can be done, any of the abilities given can be used for the glory for God.

3. Discover God’s plan for your life by using your talents and abilities.

Philippians 1 [6] Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

God wired us for a purpose. We’re called to glorify Him and serve Him – to know Him and care for others. The talents and abilities that He gave us determine His plan for our lives.

We are all familiar with the Good Samaritan story in Luke 10. You can summarize it like this:

The robber came along and said to the guy hurting on the side of the road –

What’s yours is mine and I’m going to take it!

Then the priest and Levite cam along and said –

What’s mine is mine and I’m going to keep it!

But then the Good Samaritan came along and said to the hurting guy on the side of the road and said -

What’s mine is yours and I’m going to give it to you!

God is trying to tell us that finding real fulfillment and finding real purpose in life comes from having a contributor mindset not a consumer mindset. God wants us to use our talents and abilities to serve and care for others.

In v.39, Mary listened to Jesus. She was more of a Golden Retriever = people-oriented, calm, easy-going, dependable, and quiet. In v.40, Martha shows that she’s a Lion = task-oriented, practical, productive, strong-willed, independent, decisive, a leader. How did Jesus deal with these two different styles? In v. 41, Jesus “carefronts” Martha in her weakness of being overly task-oriented.

In another passage in John 11, Jesus deals with the death of their brother Lazarus. In 11:21-27, Martha, the Lion, challenges Jesus; Jesus is firm with her and connects with her style by teaching her. In 11:32-37, Mary, the Golden Retriever, is upset so Jesus weeps with her and connects with her style or personality.

Understanding someone’s style helps us get along better with them and even get into their shoes the way Jesus did. At TCU, we want to be a church where we appreciate each other and foster an environment where people truly experience the love of Jesus for them.

There are lots of different ways you could classify personality. Scientists and psychologists have been trying to do it for years. There’s the MMPI — Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. There’s the Myers-Briggs Survey. There’s the Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis. There are many different ways and all of these ways are helpful but they’re all limited because you’re unique. For simplicity, Gary Smalley, a marriage counselor and author, summarized four personality styles in his book Making Love Last Forever. He compares the four styles or personality types to four different animals. Your style may be one of these animals or a combination of the animals.

LION – extroverted and task-oriented, Visionary, practical, productive, strong-willed, independent, decisive, leader

OTTER – extroverted and people-oriented; Outgoing, responsive, warm, friendly, talkative, enthusiastic, compassionate

GOLDEN RETRIEVER – introverted people-oriented; Calm, easy-going, dependable, quiet, objective, diplomatic, humorous

BEAVER – introverted and task-oriented, Analytical, self-disciplined, industrious, organized, aesthetic, sacrificing

Basically, we all tend to be strong in one of these areas and have one more of these styles to a lesser degree.

Carefronting is being honest and real about how you’re feeling – but doing it in humility and putting the other person’s feelings ahead of your own. What if we approached each other like this when conflict arises? What do you think would happen in the body of Christ? I think there would be unity and love and less gossiping and exploding in anger on each other. A positive, healthy sense of unity would be preserved and foster in a church.

Then, look at v.16 in Ephesians 4. “From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped – when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Everything in the human body is useful and plays some key role. Every part contributes to the health and beauty of the body. No muscle is useless, no nerve is useless, no artery or vain is useless. What would happen if one part of the body stopped functioning? The whole body may suffer. It’s the same with us — we are all vital — serving is a team effort. As we begin to serve in our area of giftedness – we begin to experience the purpose that God has given us in the body of Christ.

Your spiritual gifts determine how God wants you to serve Him. Once you understand what your spiritual gift is, that was given to you the moment you were saved, it answers a lot of questions, like “What’s God’s will for my life?”, “What does He want me to do now that I’m a Christian?”, “What should be my ministry?”, “How should I spend my time?”, “Where should I focus my life?”, “What is God’s will and purpose and plan for me?” What kind of vocation would be best for me? All of these factors are answered when you understand your gift. Every Christian is called to serve the cause of Christ, but your spiritual gift shows how you particularly are to serve Him. If you’re gifted in organizing then God wants you to be an organizer. If your gifted in teaching then you need to be a teacher. If you’re gifted in encouraging others then you ought to be a small group leader. If you’re gifted in reaching non Christians you ought to be an evangelist.

Whatever you’re gifted in determines how you’re to use your life for God. This is where personal fulfillment and genuine happiness are found. Happiness and fulfillment in life come from investing the resources that God has given us in order to do what He has uniquely wired us to do. That’s the “W” in WIRED. WIRED has to do with joining God in His work in this world by using our spiritual gifts for Him and others.

Look at v. 13 — the whole body is unified because everyone is beginning to live out their God-given purpose. There is an ever increasing appreciation for the heart of what Christianity really is – loving, holy living, enjoying God, sharing His story with people and reaching out to others in need.

According to v. 14, being unified in our spiritual maturity in Christ brings stability in a church community. Stability means that a maturing follower of Christ is not shaken by those who throw things at them to cause doubt and confusion. They’re able to discern bad or even harmful teaching as a result of being unified together as a body and as a result of becoming spiritually mature. In v.15, because we have reached a level of maturity and relational connection now, we can therefore be more real with each other (“speaking the truth in love’) which causes us to grow even more as a church community.

As followers of Christ, we all have one or more spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are God-given abilities to serve others beyond our normal capacity. Working spiritual gifts are the category of gifts that are ministerial.

In Ephesians 4: 11, some of the working spiritual gifts are mentioned:

Prophets – those who speak strongly about God’s Word
Evangelists – those who express the good news of Christ to people who need Him
Pastors – those who care for the spiritual well-being of God’s people
Teachers – those who communicate God’s truth in a way that people can understand and apply it.

Other working spiritual gifts are mentioned in Romans 12: serving, encouragement, giving, leadership and showing mercy. All of the gifts are needed. If we don’t use our gifts, others will miss out.

In Ephesians 4:12, we see that exercising our spiritual gifts helps others discover what God made them to do for him (v.12). The word translated “equip” means two things: repair or mend as in a fishing net and it also means to prepare something so that it is ready for use. In the church, I find that people are one of two stages of spiritual development. They either need to be repaired – i.e., broken lives that need mending first – or they need to be unleashed into ministry because they are spiritually ready. Preparing means coaching, facilitating, mentoring, modeling, empowering and motivating them.

As ministry leaders, we need to discern if people need some mending or healing first – or are they ready to serve. People are in different stages. As we get to know each other, God asks us to be either menders to help people heal – or preparers to help them to discover their own giftedness and begin to use it to love and care for others.

Eccl. 4:10 – If one falls down, his friend can help him up.