When the Whole Church Speaks

6 · Acknowledges the definitional range around the word 'prophecy'—from very narrow to very broad—and argues that biblical fidelity requires recognizing multiple valid forms of Spirit-prompted speech beyond prophecy

You know, everybody goes into this question of what a prophecy is with different definitions, and some have a very narrow definition. They're like, man, if you are not wearing— if you're not wearing some funky clothes and like standing in the desert predicting the end times, you're not prophesying, right? Others would say that almost anything is is prophecy. Some people have a very narrow definition, some people have a very broad definition. But if you're really trying to be biblical, I don't think you'd want to stick to the word prophecy and exclude all the other things that can be done at this microphone as well.

7 · Provides a non-exhaustive taxonomy of biblical speech forms that could legitimately occur at the contribution mic—prayer, encouragement, exhortation, evangelism, utterance of wisdom/knowledge, prophecy, testimony, praise, thanksgiving, confession—establishing the breadth of possible contributions

I made a list. It's not by any means a comprehensive list, but I just made a list of some of the areas of biblical speech. And I've got that slide up here. I don't know exactly where it is in the deck, Miss Enderby, but I think it's in there somewhere. Again, this is not an exhaustive list, but here's some things I was thinking about that we could see happen here. We could see prayer and encouragement and exhortation, evangelism. 1 Corinthians 14 talks about utterance of wisdom. Sorry, that's 1 Corinthians 12. The utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge. We could see prophecy, we could see testimony, we could see praise, we could see thanksgiving, we could see confession. And theoretically speaking, we would be open to seeing all of those things take place.

8 · Adds Scripture reading as the primary form of contribution, then reiterates the claim that most contributions will be non-prophetic forms of gospel sharing, biblical encouragement, and testimony rather than prophecy proper

We will be open and excited about seeing the congregation participate in the worship service, engaged in any number of those things. And I didn't even mention what I think is the first one and the go-to one, and that is simply to read Scripture. So I think the phrase "contribution mic" makes more sense only because much of what will happen here, Lord willing, will will not be, in anyone's definition, prophecy. Much of what will happen here is just people sharing the good news of Jesus, the Word of God, encouragements, and so on and so forth.

9 · Establishes the theological foundation by defining Pentecost's essence as the Holy Spirit giving speech to people for others' benefit, then connects this to the practical reality that the whole congregation, not just leaders, has a public speaking role in worship

The Holy Spirit is at work in all of these, and that's why I think it makes sense to talk about this now as we consider this text in Pentecost. Because what Pentecost is most fundamentally is the Holy Spirit giving utterance to people for the good of others. That's the most basic formula of what Pentecost is, the Holy Spirit giving words to people for the good of others. And so this text helps us, I think, think through some of the basics about what does it look like to go into a worship service knowing that the congregation itself, not just the people who get paid to talk, not the people who have a title in the church, But what does it look like to attend a church knowing that the congregation itself has a role to play in speaking to one another both privately and publicly?

10 · Pivots from theological foundation to practical obstacles, acknowledging that most American churches do not practice congregational contributions and that there are legitimate reasons for this reluctance

You know, as I was thinking about all this, I was reminded about all the reasons why people don't do it. If you go to the average church in America, this is not going to be an option for you. Most churches are not going to have the option for corporate involvement at this level, and there are a number of really good reasons why.

11 · Identifies time as the first practical obstacle, acknowledging cultural expectations around service length and the real pressure worship leaders face in balancing multiple elements within limited time, while gently pushing back against idealism that ignores these constraints

Right? I just listed a few, and this will prove to you that the alliteration thing isn't polished. This is actually how my brain works. I didn't try. I just listed a few. They all wound up with T's. The first one is time. I don't think it's always obvious how much pressure those who are bringing the service together feel related to time. Culturally speaking, the days of 2-hour worship services are past for most white folks, especially, you know, middle American white folks, right? There's— we used to go to services in East St. Louis, where we're close to where Angela and I lived, and it wasn't that unusual to be in a 2 or 3-hour service. But culturally speaking, we can't go there. We're just not there. Now, you can come back with all of your idealism and so on, and I would say that's wonderful. Let me know when you're leading a church and we could talk about it. There are time constrictions. You know, we did a family-integrated methodology at Crosshaven where we kept, for the most part, almost all of our kids in the worship service. You know, that doesn't make it any easier. Time becomes even more of an issue then, but it's an issue even now with our children's ministry. So one of the reasons why you don't see active involvement at that level is because There are real time restraints. We've got a lot to fit in that we know God's called us to, and it's like, well, gosh, you know, can we fit this in too?

12 · Identifies transitions as the second obstacle, noting the difficulty of maintaining worship flow with congregational contributions and the cultural equation of production value with God's presence, while acknowledging that even mature believers struggle with attention during service transitions

Another reason why people are slow to move in this direction, I think, is transitions. It is difficult to know how to fit contributions from the congregation into the service in a way that doesn't feel disjointed. Unfortunately, again, culturally, many visitors are thinking that production value equals the presence of God, right? Unfortunately, that's 9 times out of 10 when someone's coming that I love, by the way, I want them at my church, I want an opportunity to walk with them, but 9 times out of 10, they're walking in with an equation that says something like, production value equals presence of God. I want them to grow out of that. I don't want to cater to that, but I want to acknowledge that's where people are and walk with them through that process. Transitions, even for the most spiritually mature among you, transitions from one song to a next and from one component of the service to the next really do affect your ability to stay plugged in to the moment. We're just human beings. We all have really pathetic 21st century attention spans, even those of you who are homeschooled, and because you've read more books, that's all I'm saying. We all have these, these flea-like attention spans. Transitions really do matter, and it's difficult to walk people through that aren't thinking at that level because that's not what you're here for. You're not here to think through transitions, but it's difficult because there's a an unequal yoking there.

13 · Identifies the third obstacle—the biblical mandate that elders are specifically tested and appointed to teach creates tension when congregational contributions blur the line between contribution and teaching

Number 3, teaching. The elders explicitly in Scripture are entrusted after a great deal of testing and looking under the hood of their lives, they're entrusted to teach. And when you have this available and you're asking anyone in the church to participate in this, the line between contributing and teaching is a difficult line to know where we are. It's not always easy to know where we stand in that issue.

14 · Expands on attention as the fourth obstacle, describing the fear that congregational contributions might derail carefully coordinated thematic unity in worship, pulling people away from the direction leadership believes God is leading

You know, I mentioned this already, but just attention span. It is really hard to get people to— if you're trying to push in one direction corporately and you're trying to say, let's really focus on hospitality, right? Or let's really focus on— and you've spent all week crafting your songs and crafting your sermon to really get people, you know, to herd the cats in one direction, it's scary to think that you're surrendering all of that preparation to someone who wasn't involved in any of that preparation and may distract people from heading in the direction you're pretty sure God wants you to.

15 · Identifies trust as the fifth and biggest obstacle, then immediately reframes it theologically by asserting that mutual trust between pastor and congregation is not the real issue—trusting God is what matters, and this vertical trust dimension is often missing from pragmatic discussions about worship practices

The biggest reason I think that people don't do this more often is just because of trust. I think that there's just a lot of trust that's needed on both sides of the equation to engage in this. But most importantly, we should never, and this is just true at every level of our lives, we should never think that trusting one another is a viable substitute for trusting God. Right? It's not really about me trusting you. It's not really about you trusting me. We trust God. And that's sort of missing oftentimes as we think through why we do what we do at the church service.

16 · Expands on trust as an obstacle by addressing the pastoral fear of having to reject contributions publicly, illustrated through Mark Prater's story of being turned away at the mic by his own pastor and his wife's humorous response, demonstrating both the reality of rejection and the need for mature handling of it

I think one of the biggest reasons pastors fear engaging in this is because the more traffic you get where people are actually interested in contributing, the more rejections will be issued. So not every idea that someone has is a good one. Or the timely one, or fitting into the moment. And it's still a pastor's responsibility, as I think we'll see as we move through the text. It's still a pastor's responsibility to sort through that. And I know lots of guys who love their people but think, man, I just don't think Bob can handle walking down the aisle, talking to me, and then turning around and walking back rejected. You know, the walk of shame is what they used to call it. Mark Prater is the— executive director of Sovereign Grace, and he actively seeks to contribute in this way in his own church. And he told a funny story. It's a large church, and he was up pretty high up in the rows, and he and his wife were standing there worshiping, and he decided he had something he thought maybe he should share. And so he walks all the way down in front of this large church, talks to the senior pastor, and the senior pastor says, you know, I don't think so. I don't think that's going to work. And so Mark turns around and walks all the way up all the stairs and stands next to his wife, and his wife leans over and said, "Thanks for playing."

17 · Articulates the church's current pastoral policy—to encourage participation now and tighten discernment later—while adding a sixth concern about insider language alienating visitors when congregants contribute

So there's a trust issue involved on both sides. Our policy as I've come into this church has just been it's a gift that needs to be encouraged more than it's been. And so, we'll get more picky later when we have to. You know, for right now, let's encourage participation, let's encourage involvement, and then we'll learn together how to discern as we move through. So, there are a lot of issues, a lot of reasons why this doesn't always feel like it should happen. I think that it is easy in a church like this size to forget about guests and to start speaking Christianese. And you have to really discipline yourself. I have to really discipline myself not to do that, and I still fail all the time. So you fear for that. You wonder, you know, if someone's going to come up and share, are they just going to go into this swamp of Christianese and the visitor who won't understand at all what's happening?

18 · Pivots decisively from obstacles to theological conviction, arguing that not practicing congregational contributions is already a problem—the sin of omission—and that biblical faithfulness requires this practice despite the mess, because New Testament churches were fundamentally interactive rather than divided into speaker and audience

So I've given you all these reasons why we shouldn't do it, or why people don't do it, but I don't think any of them are reasons ultimately for not doing it. It. I think that the value that comes from engaging in this practice exceeds all of those possible expenses. Number one, I would say that there are all sorts of ways that we could get into trouble by practicing this, but I think if we're not practicing this, we're already in trouble. I think it's just a quieter trouble that doesn't get a lot of attention. It's the sin of omission. Rather than a sin of commission. So that even though there are all sorts of ways we can get into trouble doing this, I think if we don't do this, we're already in trouble. The Bible's pretty clear: this should be a functional part of a gathering of believers. Even with all the mess involved, we have to decide to ultimately trust God and his word. Trusting God and trusting God's word doesn't mean everything works out really well. It means we're trusting God and his word. And he will take care of us. The Bible seems to prescribe this. I think most biblical scholars could say this: it would be a foreign concept for the New Testament churches to be divided so simply between speaker and audience. That doesn't seem to be at all baked into the New Testament. It seems far more interactive, far more community-based, and so on.

19 · Transitions to the biblical text by previewing three observations: speech comes from the Spirit, it's for others' good, and even when 120 people speak in the Spirit, structured preaching (Peter's sermon) remains necessary—God ordains both congregational speech and authoritative teaching

Now, having said all that, I want to read Acts, a few passages in Acts 2 to you, and I want to point out 3 things. Number 1, I want you to see how the speech comes from the Spirit. Number 2, I want you to see how the Spirit gives that speech for the good of others. And number 3, I won't read the text, I just want to make this point: there's 120 people in this upper room, and they are all being filled with the Spirit. And they're speaking the mighty works of God, the text says. The Holy Spirit's giving them testimony and encouragement, you know, exhortation. They're speaking the mighty works of God. But after all that's said and done, they still need a guy to get up and preach a sermon, right? And you still need a guy to get up and sort of explain and process all that stuff. That just happened. That's Peter. So I'm not saying that for the sake of job security, by the way. I'm not saying, "Don't think you can do this without me because you still need it." No, I'm not saying that. I'm saying that God has both in His church. He has both. And they both do good in this text.

20 · Exposits Acts 2:4 to demonstrate the first principle—speech comes from the Spirit—noting that the Spirit gave them utterance and connecting this to all the forms of congregational speech previously listed (encouragement, prayer, testimony, confession)

So first of all, this idea that this kind of— that the Holy Spirit could actually give someone stuff to say It's right there in our text, verse 4, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues. In this particular case, it means languages. In other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. So that's the idea that it's from the Spirit. You see that they were filled with the Spirit, began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Spirit's giving them things to say. By the way, that could be said of any of those things on my list. The Spirit gives us things to say for encouragement. The Spirit gives us things to pray. The Spirit gives us things to testify or to confess. Again, broad category here. So this is all coming from the Spirit.

21 · Exposits Acts 2:11-12 to demonstrate the second principle—Spirit-prompted speech is for others' benefit—showing that the crowd heard the mighty works of God proclaimed and was led to ask important spiritual questions as a result

And secondly, it's issued, it's going for the good of others. Acts 2:11, the people that hear this are saying, "We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God. And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, 'What does this mean?' So a couple points about this. So you see that it's from the Spirit, and you see that it's for the good of others. They're proclaiming the mighty works of God. Other people are hearing those, and they're being led to these questions, these very important, helpful questions about who God is, about what God's doing, so on and so forth.

22 · Makes an application point from the text about the nature of Spirit-prompted speech—it should be understandable but not so sanitized that it avoids all offense, because biblical faithfulness will inevitably draw scoffing from some, as happened at Pentecost when mockers claimed drunkenness

First point I would make about as we're processing how to do this, first point I would make is I want you to notice how it was understandable but not unscoughable. And I made up a word just like that. It was understandable, meaning people knew what was being said. They heard the mighty works of God, but it wasn't unscoughable. I think what I'm trying to say there is it wasn't seeker-sensitive in the fullest sense of the word. Where there was no possible way for someone to look at it and make fun of it. Because part of what it means to obey God is to be willing to be made fun of for obeying God. They scoffed. They said, well, they were amazed and perplexed, but then in verse 13 they say, they're just drunk. Right? So it's understandable, but not so utterly simple that it doesn't invite people, sinners, from saying, "Y'all are crazy." Right? I'm not trying, I don't think we're trying to be above reproach on the crazy claim. I think we understand that the message of the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing.

23 · Extends the application by connecting Pentecost's reception to Jesus's own rejection, notes that weakness will always be misunderstood by non-believers, then emphasizes the third principle—that Peter's leadership role in interpreting and applying the Spirit-prompted speech remains essential

So we want to be, in everything we do, especially in this time, We want to be understandable but not unscathable. We know that's not going to be possible, and if we ever tried to aim to make everyone think we were totally reasonable, we would be far afield of Jesus, who they also thought was crazy, right? I also want to be clear that weakness will always be criticized and misunderstood because no one in their right mind pursues weakness. Except those who are following Jesus, right? And these people were weak. This wasn't— this was the Spirit using them. And I finally just follow up and say leadership still plays an important role. Peter still has to filter all of this and re-communicate it, reinterpret it through the scriptures, and then seal the deal, I guess you could say. Call the people to to action.

24 · Transitions from Acts 2 to Jesus's own teaching about the Holy Spirit and speech, expositing Luke 12:11-12 where Jesus promises that the Spirit will give His followers words to say when persecuted, establishing Jesus's own expectation of Spirit-prompted speech

I want to take you to a couple other verses, and I want you to see how Jesus thought about the Holy Spirit, specifically in the way he thought about the Holy Spirit related to speech. Okay, so I'm going to take you through some of Jesus's teachings about the Holy Spirit real quick. In Luke 12:11, Jesus says, when you are brought before the synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say. See, Jesus is anticipating that his followers will be persecuted, and he's saying, when they bring you into court, don't worry about what you'll say, for at that time the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say. This is repeated in all the Gospels in one way or another, and it's repeated twice in Luke.

25 · Interprets Luke 12:11-12 to argue against limiting the Spirit's speech-giving to persecution contexts only, asserting instead that Jesus is establishing a general principle—the Spirit helps believers know what to say across all situations, not just extreme ones

Now, I don't believe that you should read that verse and say, you know what, if I ever get arrested, for being a Christian, the Holy Spirit will teach me what to say, but until then I'm on my own. I think he's reminding them of the basic principle at work, and that is God will help you to say what you need to say. Not saying, you know, in this very unique moment when you're arrested, then you'll have— I think you probably do have unique peace and unique clarity and unique help from the Lord in those moments, But I don't think he's saying you should only expect the Holy Spirit to speak to you then. I think he's saying, remember, this is what the Holy Spirit does. He gives you words to say.

26 · Adds Jesus's teaching from John 14:26 and 16:13-14 to support the claim that the Spirit's speech-giving role is broad and ongoing—teaching, reminding, guiding into truth, and declaring Christ's words—not limited to crisis moments

So I want to support that with another statement from Jesus. John 14:26: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 16:13: When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak. And he will declare to you the things that are to come, and he will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

27 · Synthesizes Jesus's teaching to assert that hearing from the Holy Spirit is not an elite spiritual experience but 'original equipment' for every believer—something that comes automatically with salvation, not an add-on for the specially mature

So even as Jesus is communicating what the Holy Spirit does with speech, he's reminding us the Holy Spirit's going to give you stuff. He's going to speak to you. You're going to, you're going to hear God's voice if you're a follower of Jesus. If if you've been redeemed by what Jesus has done for you on the cross, then the Holy Spirit is original equipment, right? This isn't the added-on package. This is— you get the Holy Spirit when you come to faith in Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will teach you and speak to you and help you to see what God wants you to see.

28 · Corrects a potential misapplication by challenging the therapeutic gospel tendency to consume Scripture for personal well-being, asserting that the Spirit's work is not primarily about individual comfort but about serving others, even when that service involves personal pain

Now, he's doing that not entirely so that you just feel better. I think that there's a really scary tendency that I see where we're Instagramming our faith to better health, right? Like we're taking verses like we're taking medicine, and that's fine, except that just so we're clear, that stuff isn't just for you. Like you may feel terrible so that someone else may feel better. Right, like God's at work in a much broader category than you feeling good. He's not indifferent to that, but he's at work in a much broader category than that. And ultimately, if you help someone else down the road, you will feel better about your pain.

29 · Uses the image of a mountain lake with inflow and outflow to establish that Jesus's teaching about the Spirit always emphasizes outward movement—receiving from God must lead to giving to others—then rapid-fires several texts where Jesus connects the Spirit to witness and mission

So as Jesus is communicating the Holy Spirit's purpose and what the Holy Spirit does, he always talks about out. He always says the Holy Spirit's coming down. Down to you, but you need to let that flow out, right? We're sort of like that lake halfway through a mountain's descent. You know, the water's coming off the mountain, we're there, we get blessed, we're the lake, but we have to have an outflow, right? We have to have somewhere that goes. So Jesus, when he talks about the Holy Spirit, always connects it to sharing, to speaking outward. John 16:8: When he comes, Holy Spirit, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Concerning sin, because they do not believe in me. Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I'm with you always, to the end of the age." John 14:15, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be with you forever." Acts 1:8, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."

30 · Uses the 'rich people problems' meme genre as an extended illustration to set up the coming claim about spiritual wealth—believers have an abundance problem in Christ, not a scarcity problem

The idea here is Holy Spirit's there to help you have something to say as you're called to go out into the world. Now, I got trapped on a meme wormhole earlier this week, uh, and I'm just not cool enough or progressive enough to put memes up on the screen during worship service. Like, that's not me. I, I'm not there. Maybe I need to get there. But I got on the meme track of rich people problems. And they were great. Like one of them was like, finally found— it's got a really wealthy looking woman and the meme is, "Finally found a vending machine and only have $100." You know. There was another one of a nurse looking just upset and just said, "Every time." And it shows her holding her glove, you know, the medical gloves. Shows her holding her glove and this huge ring cutting, slicing the glove. Another one had a girl say, "Listen, I can't help it that I was born wealthy. Obviously, if I was born poor like you, I'd have a work ethic." You know.

31 · Connects the rich-people-problems meme to spiritual reality, arguing that Christians have an abundance problem—so much good from God that the challenge is managing wealth rather than scarcity, particularly in worship where time constraints exist because there are too many good elements competing for inclusion

So I got on this wormhole and I— this has been a favorite subject of mine for some time because I think that Christians are so wealthy in Christ that I feel like so much of what we have to do in the Christian life in a church is to figure out where to put all the goodness. You know, when I'm talking about time constraints, I'm talking about time constraints in worship service because there are so many good things. To cram into this, and they're all good, and they're all beautiful, and they all have meaning, and they all have value. And we are not miserly, or we're not poor when it comes to all the riches we have in Christ. We just have so many great things. There's so many great things. And this whole idea— speaking of means, I think I posted on my Facebook page a while back, you know, there are things that you have that people are praying for and will never receive. Be grateful.

32 · Applies the spiritual-wealth theme specifically to speech, marveling that God takes over the very organ (the tongue) that causes believers so much trouble and makes it useful through the Spirit's work, emphasizing that this gift belongs to every believer in Christ

Like, we have so much, and I'm not just talking about material things here. I'm talking about this idea that this part of our body, the tongue, that gets us into all kinds of trouble and it doesn't do what we want it to when we want it to do it. I'm saying that like, what an amazing gift that the God who created it has agreed to take it over, right? Has agreed to care for it, has agreed to cultivate it and teach it and make it useful and helpful. You know, that is so beautiful, that's so wonderful. And what's wonderful about it is that's not just one of us. If you're in Christ, that's you. You have that. That's happening in your life.

33 · Shifts to intimate pastoral voice encouraging the congregation to recognize how God uses their words to bless others without them realizing it, attributing this not to human insight but to God's faithful work through broken instruments, then extends application to marriage and parenting

Friends, I don't think you can probably understand how commonly something you say blesses someone else. That's not, by the way, a massive badge of honor to you or to the other person. You're not especially insightful, neither am I, and the other person isn't especially receptive. It's just, again, rich people problems. We have a God who works through us. We have a God who is so merciful and so faithful and so skilled that he can work through these broken instruments. And I just want you to think about the transformation that this can have on marriage, the transformation this can have on parenting. You know, there's so many areas in life where, where I don't know what to say, or I just say the entirely wrong thing. There's still plenty of me behind the wheel of this tongue. But even in those moments, God is faithful to take control eventually and give me a deep "I'm sorry," to give me words to say to bring reconciliation. We're dependent on all of that. So the Holy Spirit's at work through our speech.

34 · Transitions from Jesus's teaching to Paul's pastoral application, noting that Paul addresses the practical implementation of Spirit-prompted speech in actual church life while maintaining the same three principles: from the Spirit, for others, under leadership

We see that in Pentecost, we see that in Jesus' teachings. Now Paul, he is pastor of a New Testament church, of multiple churches throughout his ministry, and he has to deal with the practicals. And a lot of the concerns about this are tied in with the practicals. So Paul, as he's writing to the churches that he's caring for, he's getting even more practical. And he's talking, he's calling balls and strikes. He's saying this is kind of how we do this. So I'm gonna read a few of his passages to you, but I still want you to hear 3 things, right? I still want you to hear the 3 things I've talked about: from the Spirit, for others, and there's leadership involved. And in this particular case, the leadership involved is Paul, right? He's telling them kind of how this works.

35 · Reads 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 to show Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts, emphasizing the diversity of gifts but unity of source (the Spirit), and that gifts are given to each believer for the common good through the Spirit's sovereign distribution

Let me just read to you 1 Corinthians 12. This is when Paul really begins to talk about this issue. He says in 12:4, "Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are a variety of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom; and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another ability to distinguish between spirits; to another various kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. All these things are empowered by the one and same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

36 · Emphasizes the repeated use of 'give' language in 1 Corinthians 12 to establish that gifts are from God, which in Reformed theology exists primarily to prevent human boasting—everything comes from Him, therefore no ground for pride exists

The word give shows up a million times in that small section of Scripture, meaning this is all coming from him. Now, if you've been a Christian for a while and if you've been kind of in our theological playground, the stuff that the kind of particulars of Reformed theology, so on and so forth, you know that the word gave has got kind of, as far as we can see, one serious intention, one serious motivation, and that is what? What is the word gave supposed to mean? It's supposed to tell you, don't boast. It's a free gift, don't boast. This isn't you, it's Him, don't boast. This is, the word gave is so essential, it's from God.

37 · Applies the 'gifts are given' theology directly to contribution mic participation, warning that contributors will likely face rejection and hurt feelings, which will reveal whether their motives were pure, using dishwashing as an analogy for service that reveals impure motives when not affirmed

Now why do I emphasize that to this degree? Like I said before, deciding to share something with someone else is almost certainly— I don't want to be that negative— very likely to lead to hurt feelings, to your hurt feelings, very possibly to lead to discouragement, very possibly to lead to the pastor who's kind of seeing through this to say, hey, you know, "Thank you, but I don't think that's for today." Now, you're gonna know right then whether that was, whether what you were motivated by, right? Man, you ever wash the dishes? Like, just one time? If you've ever washed the dishes just one time and you're like me, now I'm growing, I'm growing, but if you, like the first few times you wash the dishes, It was really clear why you were washing those dishes, and it wasn't— there were not pure motives. Now, the reasons why the motives weren't pure is because if it wasn't noticed, affirmed, and many other things for that brave act of dishwashing, your heart doesn't respond right. You just don't feel good about suddenly this thing that you did with the noblest intentions turns out to not have had the noblest intentions.

38 · Returns to theological grounding, arguing that both the 'givenness' of gifts and their 'for others' orientation serve the same purpose—preventing pride and ensuring contributions are motivated by service rather than self-promotion

Emphasizing the given nature of this ministry, of encouraging one another, of contributing, emphasizing the givenness of it is important to keep us from boasting in it. Right? Now, secondly, this idea of otherliness. It's for other people. Again, what does that do? It does the exact same thing. It emphasizes no boasting. No pride. It emphasizes humility. Are you doing this truly for building other people up?

39 · Signals time pressure and pivots to practical implementation, establishing that because Spirit-prompted speech comes from God and serves others, orderliness is essential—God's origin ensures non-chaotic character, and serving others requires clarity

Well, I'm running out of time, and I don't want to go over on this particular subject. It's kind of thick, but I want to talk now about some practicals related to order. How does this work? Simply put, because this speech is from God and because it's for other people, order is essential, right? Because whatever comes from God is not chaotic, and chaos doesn't help people, right? Like, we want to help people, and we want people to see that this is from God, and so order is of the utmost.

40 · Exposits 1 Corinthians 14:7-12 where Paul uses musical instruments and battle bugles as analogies for intelligible speech, arguing that unclear speech—however sincere—fails to help anyone and that those eager for spiritual manifestations should focus on actually building up the church through clear communication

Again, in 1 Corinthians, this time chapter 14, Paul just talks about it this way. I think this is like— I couldn't make a better illustration. Obviously, this is inspired scripture. He says, "If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or the harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played?" So what we're not wanting to do is just to get up and say, "Look, I got a new saxophone for Christmas. I don't know how to play it, but listen!" Right? That is not pleasing to anyone. "If the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" Again, Paul's asking, Is what you're proposing to do helpful? Is it orderly? Is it clear? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. And again, that may feel good to you, but if it's not helpful, it's just not helpful. There are doubtless many languages in the world, and none without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

41 · Introduces four alliterative criteria for orderly contributions (the '4 C's'), addressing the first two: constructive (will it actually bless others?) and composed (take time to craft clear words, rejecting the false idea that sincerity excuses poor communication)

So I've got 4 ideas related to orderliness, and they all start with C. And I'm gonna be ultra cheesy and say that these are— we're gonna put the C in contribution, Mike. Okay, all right. Yes, yes, we're gonna put the C in contribution. Number 1: Is it constructive? Like, is this actually meant to bless others? How will this bless others? If it's difficult for you to imagine how it would bless others, it's probably not constructive. Secondly, is it composed? You know, there's nothing wrong with carefully weighing your words. I think we have bought into this lie that somehow speaking from the heart gives all the excuses for lack of skill. And that, you know, as long as you really mean what you say, it doesn't matter how badly you stumble over it. Boy, I wish that was true. But it's not true. How you say what you say matters a great deal. So this other C of orderliness is think through, weigh your words. How are you going to share this? How are you going to speak? What are you going to say? There's no problem taking time aside to more thoughtfully compose your words.

42 · Addresses the third criterion—consistency—requiring alignment with Scripture, the service's direction, and biblical themes, then carefully addresses the sensitive issue of male leadership, noting that if mostly women contribute, it reveals not women's disobedience but men's failure to lead

Number 3, is it consistent? And this is a really big deal. Is it consistent with the Scriptures, right? Like, is this actually true? Is this consistent with what God teaches? Is it consistent with what God seems to be doing in the service? On this particular day, is it consistent with the general themes of Scripture? Is this love? Is this gentle? One of the things I put, and I want to be super skilled, way more skilled than I'm capable of in talking about this. Men, we believe that men should be leaders. Right, that's— we believe that's what the Bible teaches. We believe you should lead. If a very high percentage of people who share are not— are women, then are we being consistent? And that wouldn't have anything to do with the women, right? That wouldn't have anything to do with them. That would have anything to do with whether they're obeying God or not, because I believe they are. What I think it points to is that someone else isn't. It's the party I referred to earlier in the dishwashing illustration. We want to make sure that we are thoughtful even at that level about this exercise and we're asking our men to be sensitive to the Spirit and to lead.

43 · Introduces the fourth criterion—caution—asking whether contributors have appropriate self-doubt and fear, then immediately notes this is rarely a problem before pivoting to ask why God so powerfully uses brief congregational contributions that often outshine hours of sermon preparation

So is it consistent? Is it constructive? Is it composed? Finally, is it cautious? Do you have the appropriate dosage of self-doubt? Do you have the appropriate dosage of fear and trepidation? Now I'll tell you, most of the time, that is not ever a problem. Most people that I've ever walked through with this, there is not a lot of bravado happening. I wanna tell you one of the reasons why I think. Why does God use this means so often? Because man, he does. I'm telling you what, when God uses this, when this happens in a local church, God will really use it to bless people. It will be my everlasting frustration and delight the number of times I'll walk out to the parking lot and realize that 15 hours of sermon prep was helpful, but so-and-so got up here and talked for 2 minutes and it really, really blessed them. You know, why does God do that? You know, besides to just be mean to me? No, why does God do that?

44 · Answers the question of why God uses congregational contributions so powerfully by asserting God's preference to work through weakness rather than polished skill, arguing that the pastor's very professionalism becomes a liability compared to a fearful contributor exercising raw faith

Well, friends, let's be gut-level true, like, please hear this: God works through weakness. God works through weakness. God works through your fear, through your insecurities, even through your feelings that you are not worthy, that you are inconsistent, that you don't know how to do this, that you're afraid of messing up, that you're afraid of crossing a line. I haven't given any of these, these boundaries to discourage anyone, because the only way we learn is is to fail. I would rather you exercise faith and trust God with your weakness than to have all of the boxes that I just listed checked, because the reason this works, I'm convinced, is because God works through weakness. I'm not going to— I can't be as weak week in and week out because I do this all the time and it shows. Like, it shows. Like, I want to be weak. I want to depend on the Lord. I want to be sensitive to the Spirit. I'm doing my best. But friends, it's just a different thing when someone says, I have something I want to share. I'm scared to death, and I'm gonna do it anyway.

45 · Expands from contribution mic to a general spiritual posture, articulating a radical openness to whatever God gives (even pain) and radical rejection of whatever He doesn't give (even comfort), prioritizing God as the source over the content of experience

This morning in my journal I wrote, I don't remember the exact words, but I wrote, if God is giving it, then I want it. If God is not giving it, then I don't want it. I'm more concerned about whose hand feeding me than what I'm actually being fed. I just want to stick here for a minute and expand and not just talk about the contribution mic. If God is giving it to me, I want it, even when it's hurtful, even when it's mostly just questions. That he's giving me, even when it's painful, even when it's scary. When God is giving it, I want it. When God isn't giving it, I don't want it, even when it makes me feel secure, even when it makes me feel strong and competent. When God isn't giving it, I don't want it even when it makes me feel good. I am more concerned with the hand that is feeding me than with what I'm being fed.

46 · Applies the 'God as source' principle specifically to corporate worship, arguing that churches cohere around shared pursuit and that this church's defining pursuit should be experiencing God in ways only possible through gathered weak people, prioritizing divine presence over human comfort

I want more of God. At some point in every church, the people who gather together week in and week out wind up sticking together because they've all agreed on what they're after. And there are churches that are after one thing and churches that are after another thing, churches that are after another thing. What I've tried to pitch to you from day one and what I'm after is I believe that I can experience God in this gathering in a way that I cannot experience him anywhere else. And I want us to show up every week with the idea that if God's giving something out, I want it. If God's told me that something special can happen here through a bunch of weak people, then I want to be here. Because if God is handing it out, then I want it. And if God's not handing it out, I don't.

47 · Closes with pastoral prayer asking for faith to lean into this practice, confessing his own insufficient dependence despite professional competence, acknowledging the congregation's varied spiritual states, celebrating the Spirit's work among them, and asking God to teach them how to steward their spiritual wealth

Let me pray. God, would you give us faith? This is just the beginning of a conversation about this particular issue, about this particular practice. We are going to have to learn and grow together, as is always the case in everything, Lord. We hold each other up, we, we counterbalance each other. So would you give us faith, Lord, to to lean in. For a number of reasons, some of which are just my sin, I don't have to rely on you to talk as much as I wish I did. I don't feel that I do. I do, but I don't feel that I do. God, there are people here who love you with every bit of their hearts, or who are struggling to love you, who are struggling to find the faith There are people here who read the Word in the mornings and try to warm up to it. They're trying to warm themselves back up to life. There are people who are seeking You, people who are thinking about You and are diligent in pursuing You. There are many saints in this place, God. We are rich. Your Spirit is at work in all of us who are in Christ, and we are rich. Would you please help us to know how to be rich in you? Would you please help us to know how to use and enjoy all that you would give us, that your hand would feed us? In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

48 · Transitions to communion by reading Revelation 12:9-11, focusing on Satan's defeat through the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of believers who did not love their lives even unto death, connecting sacrifice to witness

For our communion, I want to read from Revelation 12. Um, says, the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down to him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ has come For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even to death.

49 · Connects communion to the sermon's themes by framing the table as celebration of Christ's blood that both saves believers and empowers their testimony, inviting participants to approach as 'rich kids' celebrating God's grace rather than focusing on unworthiness

We celebrate this table as a reminder of Christ's blood shed for the sins of those who needed to be saved—everyone—of Christ's body given for everyone who needs to be saved. Christ offered his perfect righteousness for our sake so that we could be brought to God and we could begin to experience this life in God that includes him working in our midst and in our speech. We have a role to play in that great process. We will overcome through Christ through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of our testimony. So if you're a follower of Jesus this morning, I just want this table to be a touchpoint for you, as it is every week, to say, man, I'm a rich kid. Man, I'm blessed. Man, I'm full of good things because of the Lord. Thank you, Lord. Let this time be a celebration of his grace to you.