WATCH CHAPEL VIA LIVESTREAM 10 A.M. EACH WEEKDAY Facebook.com/Cedarville/live YouTube.com/CedarvilleUniversity cedarville.edu/chapellive SERVING THE LOCAL CHURCH The following is an excerpt from a March 15, 2023, chapel presentation by Matt Carter. Listen to his full sermon at cedarville.edu/CarterMar23. Over the last 10 years in the United States, we’ve seen a 50% decline in people that claim the name of Christ. I believe we are approaching the idea of doing church in the wrong way. I think the way we have viewed laypeople is one of the biggest reasons that the church is declining. We have this idea there’s this group of professional Christian leaders, pastors, and that sort of thing. There’s this other group that just consumes from the professional Christian leaders. But that is not the way the Bible lays this thing out. God gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, preachers, and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, to go out into your sphere of influence and be a minister for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God has something in store for you that’s probably bigger and more amazing, more God-glorifying and more impactful, more eternally significant than you could ever imagine. In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.” Whatever you could even conceive that God might use your life for, for His glory, God is able to do far more than you could imagine. “According to the power at work within us.” You have inside of you right now the power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave. Ephesians 2:10 says “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” You are the handcrafted artwork of Almighty God. You’re not just some cookie-cutter human, some person He’s creating without thought. He was designing and creating you. He wrote your life story. You’re His piece of art. We were created in Christ Jesus for good works. God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. There are things that God intentionally designed you to do. Tell Him, “I believe that You’ve planned this out in my life, and that You’ve given me the power to do it. And, so, my answer to You, whatever it is, is yes.” You have a gift right now if you’re a Christian. It’s in you. The power of God is going to take over, and the Kingdom of God is going to get built through it. That is why you were created. Go out there and serve broadly. Serve your local church, the poor. Go fight for the glory of God, for the Kingdom of God. You follow Jesus, you stay in love with Him. You serve until you experience the power of the resurrection coming out of you. And then you do that wherever God takes you. Live every day seeking first the Kingdom, using your unique design with the power of God. God’s going to use you in ways you never dreamed. Matt Carter is a church planter and Vice President of Mobilization for Send Network. Cedarville Magazine | 25 CHAPEL NOTES
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