Freedom And Service

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Lord God, thank you this day. Thank you for just being in your presence, and the ability that we can stand in your presence as your children, that we are no longer slaves to fear. And we need not fear and be anxious, Lord, about all the decisions before us, but instead, as your children, Lord, know that you just bless us, you are with us, you promise to be ours, and we want to make decisions, Lord, that reflect your goodness and grace in this world, that are wise decisions, that make the most of opportunities, that truly serve others and glorify you. And so we ask, Lord, that you'd send your Spirit today to open our hearts and lives, that we would be truly teachable, receptive to all that you have in your word today for us, and that we would live into it, Lord, the rest of this week and the rest of our lives. All this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So, we are in part two of a three-part series on divine direction and making decisions, and today we're going to be looking at a number of passages from the book of 1 Corinthians, and we're going to start with this one in chapter 9, and we'll get back to it a little later, but I want to read this out to you right now. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law, though not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I might share with them in its blessings. So, we're going to be looking at that today, but I already forgot. Like I told the graduates that I forgot already. Isn't it amazing? We're going to pray for them. And we've got four people that have been integral in this church in a number of ways. I don't know if they're all here right now today, but a couple of them are. So, Wyatt and Lisa and Davina. If they could come in. Is Davina in here right at the moment? DJ, can you find Davina and get her here? Because we're going to pray over the graduates, okay? That would be good. Come on up. Okay. Come on up. Yeah. And Valerie is the last, but I think she went home for the weekend. Is that right? Yeah. And we've just really been blessed over the last four years. Four years. Hey, it could be five or six if you're like most students, right? But four years or we have truly been blessed by the three of you deeply in so many ways. You have served and given of yourself. I just I. Wow. Right. And we want to celebrate with you today this milestone. And knowing it's a milestone, there is a lot before you. So Davina, she is graduating from the College of Education with a degree, a certification in teaching. Right. And some fortunate children out in Lehigh Acres will have her for fourth grade next year. Right. And Lisa is going doing the thing that I would do going to graduate school. Right. She's to USF getting a master's in social work because that's the only way that really then she'll have a lot of opportunities to serve. And because with the bachelors, it's a great thing. But these days, a master's is what it takes to really be able to focus on where you want to be in social work. And why it. So congratulations there. And why it is graduating with a degree in software engineering. So you need if you need software engineer. He's the man. And let me tell you, he is actually getting a special award this Wednesday at FGCU. But sorry, not everybody can just show up. Only five guests. Right. And it's for civic engagement that he excellence and civic engagement. How many students usually get this? Ten out of nine hundred or a thousand or more. Fifteen hundred. Two thousand graduating. I don't know. How many are graduating usually? Yeah. Do you know? Do you have any idea, Vicki? I don't either. What do we know? I'm just adjunct. I don't know anything. They keep me in the dark. Anyways. Yeah. So that's a great privilege. He's done so much work. He has done our website here. He's done our app. He has done video after video. All sorts of stuff behind the scenes. I really don't know how we're going to work without you. But all three of you. It's like, gosh, I don't know. It's going to be tough. We're going to have a tough transition after this class is leaving. But let's pray for them now. Lord God, thank you so much. Thank you for the gifts that these three have been. And for Valerie as well, Lord. The four have been to us in so many ways, Lord. You have given us the privilege of getting to know them. And to see your work ...