Pastor Gail – Reading the Word
Please remain standing for the reading of the Word.
Today we’re going to read from Ephesians 2:4-10: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace that you have been saved, and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms of Christ Jesus. In order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
I love this passage. I like it a lot in the Greek. We’re His masterpiece. We are His workmanship. His masterpiece is an incredibly beautifully created image, picture. I don’t know about you, but I make a lot of mistakes. But when I read this, I get this picture in my mind. That He sees me because He sees me covered by the blood of Jesus. He sees me as this beautiful masterpiece. You may not see me as a beautiful masterpiece, but He does. You see the warps, and the bruises, and the wrinkles coming. But isn’t it wonderful? He sees us through Jesus.

Pastor Gail – Prayer for future leaders
Amen, Amen, Amen. It’s all about Jesus. I want everybody who is 30 and under to come up front. You are thirty years old, and under. Alright, I need you up front. Sarah, I’m sorry, you’re more than 30. I’m 39. Please, I don’t want to displease anybody. Oh, hallelujah, see this group, Yeah!
For about 3 days now, the Lord’s been really dealing with my spirit. Even though I say that I’m 39, forever and I am 39 years old, the Lord is saying, ‘We need to lift up, we need to pour into, these people up front.’ Amen.
I’m very burdened, for you to be free, much freer than my generation ever was, to worship the Lord, for you to find God’s heart, to walk in God’s heart, for all of us. I wish there was somebody little that could stand on my shoulders, but for you to, ‘Ole’, ‘Ole’ come here. Can you put him on my shoulders? Hallelujah, Amen, Amen. Ole, we’re going to support you. You’re going to do more for Jesus. You guys are going to do more for Jesus. More, more, because you are going to love Him so much, and nothing is going to stop you. Amen. You’ll never be ashamed. You’re going to be so proud that you are followers of Christ, and we’ll be there clapping you on, amen.
This is that day. I felt like the Lord said today. If you’ll throw away your program and you worship me. Because it’s all about Me. I will be with you. To encourage this next generation, and you’re not really the next it. You’re it NOW! To encourage you now. Yes, amen. Amen, Amen.
Victor is getting ready to leave for a little while. And the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night, that we need to pray for him. And then all of you. Not for you just to, you know, oh we prayed a little bit and God bless you. No today, let’s pray. Today let’s pray. We’re going to pray for you today, amen. For every step, step-by-step following the Lord, and we are going to be the support, amen. Ole, I’m supporting you, you know that.
Would you stand. Would you reach out your hand? Would you lift your voice? Because your desire Is that these young people, oh, whatever come against them they will know, I am more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. God can heal this body, amen. God can lead you, amen. You have a hope in a future. God has plans for you. To give you a hope and a future, Jeremiah 29:11. Declare today, let’s raise our voices, in the name of the Lord, today, hallelujah.
God, we pour into these young people God, our prayers this morning. Lord as we support them God, oh Lord to live for you God, to be all that you want them to be that nothing will stop them. I can’t hear you, raise your voice, let’s raise our voice. Let the enemy know. We’re going to stand with these young people. Hallelujah, hallelujah. The call of the Lord is on your life, and you know it. All be free in the name of the Lord. God is almighty. We support them in the name of the Lord, hallelujah.
Now, I want another two or three that’ll just come up, and stand around, find each one of them and stand around them. Just tell them you love them. Spread out, Anastasia, spread out a little bit more, so that…

Pastor Gail – Announcements
Praise God. Well, I want to share a few announcements, while we get ready to take our tithes and offerings.
I think most of us have finished our summer vacations. And you look good. Want to remind you on Wednesday night, we have prayer at 7 o’clock. And if you cannot come to the building, we do have it on Zoom. And the church is also open Tuesday through Friday at 10 a.m. We have Bible study following prayer on Wednesday night at 7.30. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s been really good. And so please, if you’re out grocery shopping and just visiting someone, stop by here for five minutes. Just come in and pray a little bit. It’ll bless you and it’ll bless the Lord.
And our care groups are in our homes. They have begun. And if you would like, if you’re not in a home group or you would like to be in one care group, it’s just so wonderful. Please let me know in the office or let Leto know. And I want to remind you sometimes we forget, but we do have what we call is Joseph’s cupboard. We often have people come in off the streets that are hungry. They need some food. We have people that need clothing. So, we’d like to encourage you when you shop, if you wouldn’t mind, don’t buy the dented cans. If you won’t eat from the dented cans, don’t bring the dented cans to church. Do you understand? I mean, we want to give people, if we’re going to have a good food, give this, give them good food. Bring something excellent to give to people. All right. Evy will keep the dented cans to fix something for church dinner. We’re so thankful that we have the opportunity to give.
So, if our ushers would come forward, our young women. Yes, I’ll call you young miss. You’re like me, I’m 39 forever. All right. Stavro will pray for the offering.
On the board inside, if you would like to give by data transfer or online, there’s instructions. Such a blessing to give to the Lord first before anything else and see what miracles He will do, amen. Thank you. God bless you. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Pastor Gail – Main Message
Today is communion Sunday, and I just really believe that we’ve had the presence of the Lord in a very rich way today. So, I’m not going to take a long time to talk to you from the Word. But I want to share just a few thoughts.
Next Sunday, brother Anton will be sharing part two. So, I want to thank the Lord for Vasilis, who is going to translate the word today. Would you come forward? Yes, praise God. We’re glad he’s still here. Amen. And, Mr. Eric, I’m so thankful for Eric and Lars, for everybody that helps us so much.
So, Lord, we give you the word today. Lord, we thank you that we’ll be able to celebrate at your table today. You are worthy of it all. Thank you, Father, for the privilege of being in your presence. In Jesus’ name.
We’re talking today about, just a little bit, I’ll make an introduction to the motivational gifts. This is a word or a picture, if you look in a particular Scripture we’re looking at. The different words that are in there. I love that the Holy Spirit, He doesn’t just function or move in our life in just one way. But He wants to bless us in many ways. And in case you didn’t know it, every believer in Jesus Christ has at least one spiritual gift, one gift from the Holy Spirit.
It’s unscriptural for you to say you have no gifting. Sometimes I hear people say, I don’t have any gifts, I don’t know what they are. It’s one thing to say, I don’t know, and that’s okay, I think in the next few weeks you’re going to figure that out. But don’t say I don’t have any because you do. The Lord is the giver of every good and every perfect gift, and we are His creation. Amen. And He gives His children gifts for us to give them away for His glory.
Very quickly go down, Mr. Eric, to the passage of Romans 12:4-6. This week and the next week we’re going to be looking in Romans. “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 the gifts differing according to the grace that is given us, let us use them…”
Then let’s go to 1 Peter 4:10, I think it’s the next slide. I’m sorry, I don’t have that up there in Greek. “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” I want to encourage every one of you today, even if you don’t know what your gift is, leave here saying, I have a gift. I don’t know what it is, but I’m going to find out.
Amen, and I believe the Lord will reveal it to you. He gives us gifts for His service. The gifts from Holy Spirit, from the Father, Son, and the Spirit, they are different, but they have some common things. Each gift, is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s presence. And as we read, the gifts each one is for the common good. To build up the body of Christ. We are not islands, we don’t stand alone, we don’t live alone, we live with the Lord together, amen. We don’t tell the Holy Spirit what we want. But He will determine what is the best one to give to you.
The motivational gifts, which Brother Anton will speak about more next week, what they specifically are. They reveal the personality of God. They are very practical in nature. And they describe the inner motivations of a person that wants to serve Jesus Christ. These gifts help shape your personality. They help direct your thoughts and attitudes, and actions.
For example, I’ll just use myself. I believe I have the gift of exhortation. That’s like encouraging. And it’s in there, and it’s just part of my personality. I might not even know you. But I might why not walk up to you. ‘Hi, I don’t know you, but I just wanted to tell you what a great smile’. Your gifts, the ones that the Lord has given you, at least the one, it does reflect in your personality.
And I believe understanding your spiritual gift is essential for fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. They’re not just personality traits. No, no. But they are empowerment to serve God in His Kingdom. Hallelujah. To edify the church as we grow together. And when we recognize our gift, and we live in that gift, and we move in that gift, it allows us to align more closely with God’s vision and mission.
Eric, I want to embarrass you, but I need you to come here really quickly. Can you, in one minute, tell everybody what you told me this morning? One minute, no more. One of Eric’s gifts, is to care for the hurting and the broken.
I’ll interview you. Eric, you were just in the United States. And what did you go there to do? I worked with Samaritan’s Purse doing flood relief in Texas. They had horrible floods. And I was able to share the Gospel many times.
He’s there working on the flood, helping people get homes, and helping people rebuild their lives. It’s like a mercy gift, amen. And while he is helping people find how to rebuild their home, the phone from heaven was ringing. ‘Share the Gospel.’ And he shared the Gospel. And some of those people gave their hearts to the Lord. Wow!
Where we begin to understand our gift, and some of us learn more and more, many, many more gifts. But he will line up with God’s vision and mission. To bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth. So sometimes we think our gifts work only in the church. Oh no. They really should work probably more outside the walls.
We’re supposed to take His love outside on a mission to the world. And as we, each member, learn to exercise our gift, the body of Christ becomes stronger and stronger. And then we become more confident in Christ. Amen. My confidence, is in the Lord. He is the source, of strength and light. Amen and hope, amen.
The empowerment of the Spirit, it helps personal growth. And therefore, as each one of us grow, we grow together. And we will have a greater impact on the world. We read the Scripture a little earlier, you don’t have to go back, or you can go up if you want, but 1 Corinthians, there are various gifts. I think it’s verse 6. Let’s use them.
We have different gifts. We are graced with different gifts. Let’s use them. The Lord is calling us today. As we saw these young people up here, He wants us together to be knit together, building up one another, as a community, to bring light and change to the world.
Everybody knows this, we preach this a lot. It is, if we call ourselves a body, then there are different parts. We are not all legs; we are not all arms. But there are different functions. And the Lord wants us to understand what function we have in this body. But if I am an arm, and I think it would be really cool to be a leg. And so, I try to act like a leg, well nothing is going to work out. That’s why the Lord wants us to understand each one of us, what our motivational gift is, what our gift is.
Your dominant gift will color everything you do. It’s true. It will affect your personality, your actions. But as we grow in that gift, more will be revealed. There are unlimited numbers of ways those gifts can be used in our lives. So, what do I do if I don’t know what my dominant gift is? It’s very simple.
Pray and obey the Word of God. Think about something today. That gives you great joy. And it might be earning money. I don’t know. Did you know there could be a motivational gift of giving? I would love for the Lord to send us lots of people that want to make lots of money. That would be alright with me.
What brings you joy? Too often. We feel like we’re swimming upstream all the time. If you’re trying to do something and it just doesn’t feel comfortable, then maybe you’re fighting against what God wants you to do. And that’s why we’re here today. Each one of us is placed illegally in the body of Christ.
If you’re fighting against what God wants you to do, I cannot be the teacher that Anton is. I cannot be the teacher that Brian is. I started to say something else by sight, I’d say that. I cannot play and write music, like Victor can. And it’s okay. It’s okay. Each one of us need to find out what gives me joy. And do that thing. And ask the Lord to build it to be an excellent gift in your life that builds up the body. I know that Anton will talk about this next week. But I thought I would introduce a funny little story.
To just real quickly express different motivational gifts. Some friends were gathered in a friend’s home. They’ve eaten dinner and the hostess is bringing out dessert. And the tray tips over and the desserts go everywhere. It was a mess. And here is… Did you do that? Here is just an example of how some of them responded.
The person with a prophetic motivational gift. I want to reveal things like this happen when you’re not careful. How about someone with a serving gift? Oh, let me help you clean it up. That’s Evy. And the teaching gift. Now, the reason, let me explain why the tray fell, Mr. Anton. You need to always be balanced. How about the exhorter? That would be me, kind of. Well, next time… Let’s just serve dessert with the meal. The person that’s a server. I’ll be happy to buy another dessert. Mercy. Oh, don’t feel bad. It could happen to anybody. I just thought it would be kind of good this morning for us to see, as an example, how these things work in our life. And the Lord wants you to know that you have a dominant gift.
But more than one, probably. We want to encourage you to find that one dominant gift. We need to let God out of the box. And trust as you ask, as you pray and read His Word, He will let you know. God wants this church, this local church, to be full of His gifts. Ministry gifts, motivational gifts. Manifestation gifts. Amen.
Everyone, I remind you today, has received a gift. Some are speaking gifts. There are different kinds. But all the gifts are to glorify God. They’re to be used for others. And they are done by the power of God. Amen. It is the underlying force that pushes you to do what you do, the good things you do, not the bad things. But we’re getting ready now, if Victor and Brian, you’d like to begin to come, Cielo.
We’re getting ready for communion this morning. And I want you to remember, I’d be really good. I could keep you for whole sermon, but I really shorten it today. We have different gifts. But the greatest gift was the one that Jesus Christ, that Father God gave us. The greatest gift was salvation. And I think sometimes we can forget that.
When the world, I was thinking about this on the trip. When you get a gift nowadays, it usually comes in a package. There are twisty ties. And there’s staples in the box. There’s plastic all around it. It takes forever to get the gift out. And I was thinking about that.
Religion is like that. It’s got twisty ties. You have to be like that. It’s got a security clip on it. If you go through that door, you’ve done something wrong. The package is all tied up. Plastic wrap all over it. It can hardly break free. And lots of times you get a present, but it’s almost worthless because it needs batteries.
My son used to tell me, Mom, if you’re going to give me a gift, please make sure if it needs batteries, buy them before you leave the store. What is the use of a gift with no power? But when God gave the greatest gift, he included the power. And the great thing about this gift from God, it doesn’t have a box that’s really hard to open. No twisty ties that you have to work to get off. No security class that… You’ve done something wrong. God says, here’s the gift. It is Him, My Son, and all the power you will need to live a life of victory. And that’s the beginning of understanding what your gift is today.
John 1:12 says, “As many as received him, amen. He gave the power to become his sons and daughters, amen”. We can get caught up in what’s my motivational gift, what’s my manifestation gift. But I think the first thing is, remember to get back to the roots, get back to the basics. Jesus came, lived and died and rose again. He’s the Father’s gift to you and I. He lives in us.
A power to face every single day. The Holy Spirit was not just given to be forgiven. He was given to empower us to live in victory. To live in victory. This is a messy world, but I tell you what. We are more than conquerors.
I believe what the Word says. That you and I, as we walk together, as we live in the Spirit together, as we live on mission for Him together, we can read the book of Acts. We can see how powerful the church was in the early days.
But I believe the Lord wants to get us ready to do greater things in these last days, to be more powerful, to see that we have to walk and rise again, amen. To see healing, amen, to see healing. To see people that don’t know Jesus, to come alive and live in true life, amen.
Jesus loves us. He loves us so much. And as you ask Him each day, all be in me. Oh Lord, take all of me, live through me. We will find, a love unending, a hope forever, a joy that never runs dry. We will find power to walk on water, amen, to pass through every storm. Amen, amen, and we don’t do it alone because Jesus goes with us, amen. If Jesus goes with us, we can go anywhere, amen.
And He’s called us to go together in the power of the Spirit if you’re here today, and you wonder what your gift is, amen, the Lord will show you, but He wants you first to remember the greatest gift of all is having Jesus in your life, amen.
If you don’t know Him, ask Him today, come into my life, I need You. I’ve been trying it on my own, but oh, I need You, Jesus. I want to live for You. I believe honestly that Christians are the most courageous people in the world. The most courageous people in the world, because we’re not following the systems of the world. We live for another Kingdom, one that will never end. So, He wants you to know your gift, first Him, first Him, and then the gift that your personality, your life works out of. To be on mission with Him.
We have a purpose. We have a vision. God wants you today to open up your heart in a fresh new way. We’re getting ready to sing a song, to worship the Lord, and as we do, we’ll have four stations around the room today, five, six, good six. Leto will assign different people in the room. I think Leto, you have a group too, but different sections in the room. And when we take communion in the room today, we’re going to ask you to go to one of these sections. And don’t rush. It’s about the family. The family coming to the table of the Master.
It’s the family, sitting together, in the presence of Jesus Christ, the greatest gift that’s ever been given. And be thankful for Him. So, I’m asking the leaders of each group, if you’ll just hold on. I’ll read the instructions. We’ll all do it together, but we’re going to worship for a second.
Amen. Who is like the Lord? Who is like the Lord? Who is like the Lord?

Loukia-Maria – Prophecy
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