SPEAKER_00: Before I read the sermon text this morning, I'm going to read the front page of the bulletin.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how long it's been since you've read it.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to read it every once in a while, just to be reminded of this mission that God's called us to.
SPEAKER_00: Alexandria Presbyterian Church is a welcoming community of believers, rejoicing in the gospel, transformed by its power, and responding with grateful hearts in service to our God and world.
SPEAKER_00: We long to taste the glory of God in such an astonishing way that the city of Alexandria will be drawn to the majesty and mercy of our great God.
SPEAKER_00: It is our desire that our worship will serve as an authentic model to our city of the possibilities for a transformation of individuals, families, and a city encountering the glory and the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: May God make us more and more such a church.
SPEAKER_00: This morning I'm going to read three excerpts from Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in this sermon series, Serving Our City and Our World in the Name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I think in each one they illustrate to us what our calling is as followers of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: And there went up also to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants.
SPEAKER_00: And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was the seventh year of the king.
SPEAKER_00: For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: For the good hand of his God was on him.
SPEAKER_00: For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Reading from Nehemiah.
SPEAKER_00: So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.
SPEAKER_00: Then I arose in the night and a few men with me, and I told no one what my God had put on my heart to do for Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.
SPEAKER_00: I went by night by the valley gate to the dragon spring into the dung gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down, and its gates had been destroyed by fire.
SPEAKER_00: Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.
SPEAKER_00: Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the valley gate, and so returned.
SPEAKER_00: And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
SPEAKER_00: Then I said to them, You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned.
SPEAKER_00: Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.
SPEAKER_00: And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words of the king had spoken to me, and they said, Let us rise up and build.
SPEAKER_00: So they strengthened their hands for the good work from Esther.
SPEAKER_00: And they told Mordecaiah what Esther had said.
SPEAKER_00: Then Mordecaiah told them to reply to Esther, Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
SPEAKER_00: For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise from the Jews from another place.
SPEAKER_00: But you and your father's house will perish, and who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecaiah, Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.
SPEAKER_00: I and my young women will also fast as you do.
SPEAKER_00: Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.
SPEAKER_00: Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the reading of God's powerful, precious word.
SPEAKER_00: Let's ask his divine help.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you for the examples that we have read about, the stories we will hear about.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we know that you do love cities still today.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, teach us how to go forth and serve our city in the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: In this season, from this message, we pray in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Different callings, one mission.
SPEAKER_00: As we saw last Lord's Day, the whole church, the whole gospel, the whole city.
SPEAKER_00: This is our calling.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm going to do this morning is overlay those concepts with looking at these specific examples that we just read from, Ezra and Nehemiah and Esther, and ask God to show us what He would have us to be doing with what we have.
SPEAKER_00: The whole church, every member, every member, not just ministers, not clergy, not just officers, elders, deacons, church staff.
SPEAKER_00: You.
SPEAKER_00: God calls to be part of his kingdom-building program and exercise.
SPEAKER_00: Clergy and laity, male and female, younger and older.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to use all of us in this project.
SPEAKER_00: This morning I'm going to ask you, would you pray that God would show you where he wants to use you?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not normally a step kind of preacher, but today I've got some steps.
SPEAKER_00: Pray, look, and step.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray as we go through the sermon series?
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray and ask God to show you where He's inviting you into the building of His kingdom in our city?
SPEAKER_00: I find in my life that really it usually is much more effective if I start with prayer and not just looking around.
SPEAKER_00: I can look around and miss a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00: How about you?
SPEAKER_00: I can see sometimes the forest and I don't see the trees.
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray?
SPEAKER_00: God, as we go through this sermon series serving our city, and again, last week, if you were here last week, we put up on the slides, this is the gospel hub.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we come on Sunday morning to be fed God's word, the preaching, the worship of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we get fueled so that God can send us out.
SPEAKER_00: We gather to be scattered.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that you're believing that more and more.
SPEAKER_00: And that the time on Sundays is a time of spiritual renewing and transformation.
SPEAKER_00: The equipping.
SPEAKER_00: We come on Sundays to be equipped.
SPEAKER_00: I am so excited and encouraged as I look around on Sunday nights.
SPEAKER_00: About 250 people are coming back on Sunday nights to be discipled.
SPEAKER_00: To be equipped.
SPEAKER_00: From the youngest to the senior.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're disciples.
SPEAKER_00: This Christian faith is not just about making a profession of faith and then getting lost.
SPEAKER_00: That happens too much today in too many churches.
SPEAKER_00: People become members and they just never really enter in.
SPEAKER_00: That's not for you.
SPEAKER_00: God calls us to be followers of Jesus Christ, to be disciples, to be equipped.
SPEAKER_00: Look around.
SPEAKER_00: What are the needs in the body of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: If you don't know, if you're looking for direction, even as you're praying, feel free to ask one of the pastors.
SPEAKER_00: Ask one of the staff.
SPEAKER_00: Ask one of the elders, ask one of the deacons.
SPEAKER_00: And that can be helpful.
SPEAKER_00: I think of the many times where people have approached me with the question, Pastor, what do you need?
SPEAKER_00: What does this church need right now?
SPEAKER_00: I think of an example just two years ago, right about now in the end of the summer, when a family came in and the father, husband looked me in the eye and he said, Pastor, I've been, our church has been, we've been in good churches for many years and we've served in many ways.
SPEAKER_00: What does APC need now?
SPEAKER_00: I appreciated the question.
SPEAKER_00: It's a good question.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, in particular, we have great needs, growing needs in ministries of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to talk about that a little bit more later, not needs mercy ministry per se, but just the needs in general.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, we project to have the lowest team of deacons we've had in a long, long time.
SPEAKER_00: Many years.
SPEAKER_00: We have mercy ministry needs all around us in this community.
SPEAKER_00: This place, we're no longer at 2405 Russell Road, kind of tucked away in the residential area.
SPEAKER_00: We are 1300 West Braddock Road, a great facility, a great visibility.
SPEAKER_00: The phone calls of people calling in for needs is growing dramatically.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for that.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we want.
SPEAKER_00: But we need more people entering in to be part of this ministry.
SPEAKER_00: And then step.
SPEAKER_00: Look and step.
SPEAKER_00: Step out.
SPEAKER_00: Step out of your comfort zone.
SPEAKER_00: It's good for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's good for the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Take a risk.
SPEAKER_00: Do something you're not sure you can do, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: You have Christ in you.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we are.
SPEAKER_00: This morning we're going to look at this through the lenses of these three Old Testament leaders, Ezra, about the time of 440 B.C., Nehemiah, about 430 B.C., when his ministry was in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And then Esther.
SPEAKER_00: Her ministry was in the capital city of Persia at that time, 460 B.C.
SPEAKER_00: God used three very different people, perhaps with very different personalities and temperaments, gifts, but he used them in a wonderful way, bringing them together to build the city, the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Queen, let's start with Esther.
SPEAKER_00: Esther, Queen, Esther, Queen for Xerxes, the king at that time.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to ask you to consider, would you read even the next week or two?
SPEAKER_00: Would you read through the book of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther?
SPEAKER_00: They're great books, fascinating history.
SPEAKER_00: And it will just be more helpful, I think, in understanding where we are in the sermon series.
SPEAKER_00: So I can just tell a few highlights.
SPEAKER_00: Esther, a woman beautiful on the outside, which got the king's attention, a beautiful woman on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: How did God use her?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the king was captured by her beauty.
SPEAKER_00: The king invited her into his harem.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the story, there's a wicked, evil man named Haman who hated the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: And Haman was able to coerce, really, kind of dupe the king into a very unjust law to exterminate all the Jewish people on the face of the earth wherever they could be found.
SPEAKER_00: What does Esther have to do with this?
SPEAKER_00: Well, her very godly uncle Mordecai sends word to her, look, you need to step up.
SPEAKER_00: There's a job for you because you have the king's ear.
SPEAKER_00: And she said, I don't have the king's ear.
SPEAKER_00: I can only go in when I'm invited.
SPEAKER_00: You know, her predecessor had been killed.
SPEAKER_00: Mordecai said, Pray and ask God to show you what you can do.
SPEAKER_00: And she did.
SPEAKER_00: She prayed and she fasted.
SPEAKER_00: And she said to Mordecai, you get all the Jewish people to pray and fast.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll, by the grace of God, I'll do what I can.
SPEAKER_00: And so we read Mordecai's words to her, who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
SPEAKER_00: God used her courageous action.
SPEAKER_00: She prayed and she prayed and she fasted and she got an audience with the king.
SPEAKER_00: And she was able, God used her to change the heart of the king.
SPEAKER_00: To write a new law.
SPEAKER_00: He revoked the edict that he had already given to exterminate all the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: And God used her to bring about a new just law.
SPEAKER_00: Oh.
SPEAKER_00: When the righteous flourish, the cities rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Change the unjust laws.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been called to an Esther ministry?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I've seen so many Esther ministries as pastor here for all these years.
SPEAKER_00: Those of you that are working on Capitol Hill, those of you that are in the legislative branch, the executive branch, the judicial branch, even called.
SPEAKER_00: But not just you.
SPEAKER_00: So many more.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in a position where your voice can be heard to bring about justice, to bring about equity, to change the laws of the city, the schools.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it doesn't stop.
SPEAKER_00: Where can your voice be heard so that the city will see righteousness exalted and not evil?
SPEAKER_00: Ray Bachy, uh inner city Chicago pastor years ago, said this.
SPEAKER_00: Let Esther's harem represent every unclean political or commercial institution or structure where evil reigns and must be confronted.
SPEAKER_00: He sends his people into the dens of iniquity to change unjust laws.
SPEAKER_00: He does, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: To work for fairness, equity.
SPEAKER_00: How could God call Esther to be the spouse of a polygamist, pagan, Persian king?
SPEAKER_00: It makes a lot of us evangelicals uncomfortable, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: How could he do that?
SPEAKER_00: He did.
SPEAKER_00: And he used her in an amazing way.
SPEAKER_00: No, has God called you into some kind of Esther ministry?
SPEAKER_00: Let me say right now, okay, don't get all tied around the axle here.
SPEAKER_00: What's my specific ministry about the categories I'm going to give you?
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, the categories might really just kind of strike you.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, I see that.
SPEAKER_00: But this is sometimes the lines are blurred.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes God calls us to multiple ministries as well.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see.
SPEAKER_00: We need urban people more than ever.
SPEAKER_00: We need more Esters now than ever.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just a little spiritualized bedtime story for your kids, the story of Esther.
SPEAKER_00: We need people who are willing to get called into the dirty politics.
SPEAKER_00: Whether it's on Capitol Hill or whether it's in businesses or military, wherever it is.
SPEAKER_00: God wants to use your voice.
SPEAKER_00: God wants you to make a difference.
SPEAKER_00: Business, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_00: Let's call that the Esther ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just say one more word about the Esther ministry.
SPEAKER_00: When God puts you in places and spheres of influence, don't fall in love with the palace.
SPEAKER_00: That happens in Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: Don't get intoxicated with the power, the access.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let that happen.
SPEAKER_00: God's calling you into the palaces of this, of your opportunity, not to be seduced by the power.
SPEAKER_00: He's calling you to make a difference with the power that he gives you, to make the change that's going to be most helpful for the righteous, for the city to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Esther ministry.
SPEAKER_00: What about Nehemiah ministry?
SPEAKER_00: Nehemiah, also a Jew, was a thousand miles away from Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He was in a very heathen part of the world, the Persian Empire.
SPEAKER_00: He was the cupbearer to the king.
SPEAKER_00: You might think, well, what was that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that was a very influential position because he was guarding the life of the king.
SPEAKER_00: He was like a bodyguard, Secret Service.
SPEAKER_00: And he was doing well in his job.
SPEAKER_00: And he could have stayed.
SPEAKER_00: He probably had a great, great retirement plan set up for him.
SPEAKER_00: As long as he kept the king happy and kept the king alive, we read that he had a great relationship with the king.
SPEAKER_00: He probably, it would have been a very comfortable for him to stay there in that position.
SPEAKER_00: But as he heard about the needs of his fellow Jews back in Jerusalem, a thousand miles away, God broke his heart.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that the city was in ruins.
SPEAKER_00: He thought that maybe he could make a difference and he prayed.
SPEAKER_00: For four months, he prayed before he did anything.
SPEAKER_00: He prayed, he looked.
SPEAKER_00: He stepped.
SPEAKER_00: He went back.
SPEAKER_00: He went back, as you could call him a city planner, addressing the infrastructure of the city, leading to safer streets.
SPEAKER_00: And that's a problem, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: You know, I've lived here 32 years.
SPEAKER_00: The streets of DC are getting more and more violent, unsafe.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I've seen it's waxed and waned a little bit over the years, but they not just DC.
SPEAKER_00: We need people who are protecting the public, whether that's the military, law enforcement.
SPEAKER_00: He inspired people, he enrolled people, he empowered many to join him in rebuilding the infrastructure of the city.
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: Has God called you to a Nehemiah ministry?
SPEAKER_00: And look, it's so expansive.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying a few illustrations.
SPEAKER_00: Sarah, I think that's what you're doing with children, teenagers with special needs.
SPEAKER_00: Stepping in where a lot of people aren't stepping in, and bringing the love of God into their community, into their life.
SPEAKER_00: Casa Cherilagua, right down the road.
SPEAKER_00: We've been involved in that for many years.
SPEAKER_00: The Lamb Center, Young Life, Young Lives, Sanctity of Life Ministries.
SPEAKER_00: They're all around us.
SPEAKER_00: APC is the privilege of partnering with them.
SPEAKER_00: One Voice Fellowship, a church that we planted several years ago for the nations.
SPEAKER_00: The list goes on.
SPEAKER_00: The opportunities are many.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I ask, has God called you to a Nehemiah ministry?
SPEAKER_00: And again, I'm going to say, Don't get hung up on categorizing all this.
SPEAKER_00: These are just maybe useful examples for you to consider what your ministry might be.
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, with the Ezra ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Ezra was a priest, clergy.
SPEAKER_00: The text we read said he set his heart to study the law of the Lord to do it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't you love that phrase?
SPEAKER_00: You know, you can teach and not live what you teach.
SPEAKER_00: He lived what he taught.
SPEAKER_00: He set his heart to study the law of the Lord to do it and to teach his statutes and rules.
SPEAKER_00: This is what it says in the seventh chapter of the book of Ezra, which really amazes me.
SPEAKER_00: Arta Xerxes the king, as far as I can tell, was not a believer.
SPEAKER_00: Was not a follower of the true God.
SPEAKER_00: But he heard about him.
SPEAKER_00: This is the letter he wrote to Ezra.
SPEAKER_00: You know his credential letters?
SPEAKER_00: To Ezra the priest, a teacher of the law of the God of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Is that remarkable?
SPEAKER_00: Artaxerxes must have known from Ezra's life that his God was the God?
SPEAKER_00: This polygamist, king?
SPEAKER_00: Got his attention.
SPEAKER_00: So where do we need Ezra ministries in Alexandria, Washington, D.C., P.G.
SPEAKER_00: County, Montgomery County, Fairfax County, Arlington.
SPEAKER_00: Where do we need Ezra ministries?
SPEAKER_00: Not just clergy from the pulpit like I am today.
SPEAKER_00: Ezra ministry opportunities are all around us.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example.
SPEAKER_00: The book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, I think you're going to see that a lot of you have been called to Ezra ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, our God.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is one.
SPEAKER_00: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
SPEAKER_00: And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: I command you today, shall be what I command you today shall be on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You shall teach them diligently to your children.
SPEAKER_00: And you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates.
SPEAKER_00: Have you been called to an Ezra ministry?
SPEAKER_00: If you're a parent, you sure have been.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a grandparent, if you're a covenant kids teacher, if you're in the nursery ministry, the list goes on.
SPEAKER_00: Where is God opening doors for you to bring the word of God clearly to people who need to hear the word of God?
SPEAKER_00: Don't take it for granted.
SPEAKER_00: Trust me, it's not happening everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen automatically in a church.
SPEAKER_00: It only happens as we see it, as we pray it in, as we step out in faith and say, God, would you please use this ministry as I teach the Word of God?
SPEAKER_00: It's not just for evangelists.
SPEAKER_00: When you tuck your kids in tonight, when you say goodnight to them, you speak words of truth.
SPEAKER_00: You speak words of grace to them.
SPEAKER_00: You pray for them.
SPEAKER_00: This is Ezra ministry.
SPEAKER_00: So I ask, has God called you to an Ezra ministry?
SPEAKER_00: The spiritual transformation of people, yes, but also the social transformation of places.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what we've been saying in this series?
SPEAKER_00: God not only loves people, but he loves places.
SPEAKER_00: He loves cities.
SPEAKER_00: Where do we get this idea in the evangelical world that this is just the city is a place to be avoided at all costs?
SPEAKER_00: Where did that come in?
SPEAKER_00: That's not from the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: That fortress mentality, not from the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: God, while we're here in the city, use us, use me to be salt and to be light.
SPEAKER_00: Can you pray that prayer?
SPEAKER_00: Only all three people working together could get this massive job done.
SPEAKER_00: A priest, a woman with influence who could work in the justice system, and a city planner.
SPEAKER_00: God used them all.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he works.
SPEAKER_00: Clergy, laity, male, female, younger, older.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the room, your voice will be heard.
SPEAKER_00: If you're not in the voice, excuse me, if you're not in the room, if you're not part of the conversation, your voice will not be heard.
SPEAKER_00: Your voice needs to be heard in your business, your voice needs to be heard in your family, in your home, your neighborhood.
SPEAKER_00: There's no sphere where it's not needed.
SPEAKER_00: He will use that, but he wants to build his kingdom through secular institutions, through his people, working with excellence, integrity, and faith.
SPEAKER_00: He said earlier, for such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: For such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: This is not 2020.
SPEAKER_00: We're not at 2405 Russell Road.
SPEAKER_00: I've had a lot of good conversations this week with staff about this.
SPEAKER_00: It's 2023, the fall.
SPEAKER_00: We're at 1300 West Braddock Road.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you have started coming since we moved here.
SPEAKER_00: God's going to send many more, I believe.
SPEAKER_00: Are we ready?
SPEAKER_00: Are we ready to welcome, to receive, to teach, to disciple, so that many more people will go out to serve their city, their world in the name of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Last thing I want to say.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was in a palace too, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was in the greatest palace of all.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus left the greatest palace of all to come to rescue you and me.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't cling to the power.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't live for comfort.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus was living for comfort, you wouldn't be here today.
SPEAKER_00: Nor would I.
SPEAKER_00: You know that.
SPEAKER_00: Can you be in the palace, but not seduced by the palace?
SPEAKER_00: Don't live for comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Don't live for your comfort.
SPEAKER_00: Don't live for your convenience.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has something bigger for you, and he has something bigger for me.
SPEAKER_00: He has something bigger for this church.
SPEAKER_00: I'm calling you into it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: To join me.
SPEAKER_00: To join the elders, the deacons, the staff.
SPEAKER_00: This is something that we need to do together, the whole church, the whole city, with the whole gospel.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we can do.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't say if I perish, like Esther said.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, when I perish.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm going to have to lay down my life to serve you.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have to lay down our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Not to save people, but to serve people.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to mean some discomfort for us.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to mean reprioritizing our lives.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to mean differences in our schedule and our time and our talent.
SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
SPEAKER_00: That's good for us.
SPEAKER_00: But to follow our king, why would we expect anything less?
SPEAKER_00: Will you join us?
SPEAKER_00: Will you join us as we serve our city and our world together in the name of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, you move cities and people and places like no one else.
SPEAKER_00: I pray this morning that all of us would pray and ask, would you show us the opportunities for ministry that you're inviting us into?
SPEAKER_00: Would we pray?
SPEAKER_00: Would we look?
SPEAKER_00: Would we step?
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, you are indwelling us by your Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, the the possibilities are staggering of what you could do in us and through us.
SPEAKER_00: For your glory, in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.