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So we're in John chapter 17, continuing with. So this is Jesus' high priestly prayer, as you might see it in your Bible. So just a reminder of the context, Jesus, he's at the Last Supper with his disciples. He knows he's going to the cross. That very night he'll be betrayed, arrested. And again, remember his life wasn't taken from him. He gave his life. But before all that happens, he prays for his disciples. And last week Adam talked about just the glory and thinking about glorifying God and how Jesus says, you know, Father, the hour has come. Glow your Son that the Son may glorify you. So he knows he's headed to pay the debt of sin on the cross to become that sin sacrifice. But here within this section, I just wanted to look at, so it's directed at Jesus' disciples that are present with him. But I believe there's principles within there that are for everyone who's in Christ. And we'll talk about a little bit about what that means. And just another thing, this is the only long prayer of Jesus recorded in the Bible. So it's the only lengthy prayer we have. And I think prayer, I read this quote, genuine prayer often reveals a person's innermost being. John 17 is a unique opportunity to see the nature and heart of Jesus. Genuine prayer reveals a person's innermost being. So as we read this, I want you to look at what is important to Jesus, what's important to God, what's in him, but then also what does that reveal to us who are in Christ? And I agree, if you could read a transcript of all the prayers I've prayed the last month, you would get a clearer picture of who I am and what's important to me. And something I love is when my son Luke, who's out of the room, don't tell him I was talking about him, uh, he's almost four years old, and when he prays, when he volunteers to pray at meals these days, uh, one of his recent prayers, this was last week, went something like this. And see if you can catch what's important to him. He said, Thank you, God, for this food. Thank you, God, for mom, dad, and Toby. Thank you, God, for Paw Patrol. And thank you, God, it's almost Christmas. Amen. This was a week ago. He's an optimistic young man. But our prayers really reveal what's important to us. So if I if we could read a transcript of what you've prayed the last week, what would it reveal about you? So as we read this prayer of Jesus, see what is important to Jesus. Because we're going to see that being in Christ means you're his, and that's important to him, that you are one, that we should be one, united, but you're also hated. You're protected, you're sanctified, and then lastly, you are sent. So are you in Christ? And it should serve as an encouragement, exhortation, and maybe a little swift kick in the pants if you are in Christ, of what is important to me. So let's read. John chapter 17, verse 6. It's a little lengthy, but follow along with me. John chapter 17, verse 6 says, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them, and I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the Son of Destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. Let's just pray as we get started here. Lord, I thank you for this prayer. I thank you for what it reveals about who you are and what we have in you. God, I pray that you would soften our hearts, not just to hear your word, but to put it into practice, and that you would be glorified in you alone. I pray that in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so being in Christ. First thing I see from this prayer, when you're in Christ, it means you are his. You are his. You belong to him. And kind of starting there, do you know if you are in Christ or not? Just a little plug for Pete's 930 evangelism course. It's right in there, the gospel, the good news of Jesus, that our sin separates us from God, holy God, but that he loves us so much that he would go to the cross, die for us, and that our only hope of salvation is to put your trust in him, and you now belong to him when that happens. The moment you're born again, you belong to him. You're adopted into his family. Can you say with certainty, yes, I am in Christ? Because again, it's a hundred percent the person and work of Jesus. Your trust has got to be in that, not Jesus plus fill in the blank. Jesus, yes, he's great and all, but also how good I no, it's got to be just Jesus. So starting there, if you are in Christ, and how about you, sometimes I still lose sight of the fact that that's where my identity should be rooted in. In Him, that I belong to Him, that I'm a child of God. What are some other things we like to root our identity in? Our career, our job, right? I'm a fill in the blank. Or maybe your role as uh, for me, husband and father. Does that start to become the most important thing about my identity? Or your personality? She's the funny one, the talented one. That's that's the strong silent type. Does that start to become who your identity is rooted in? Or is it I'm his? I belong to him. Those other things are important, but they're just aspects. And see what Jesus commends his disciples for in verse 8. He said, For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. Being in Christ means you hear the words of Jesus, you receive them, and believe them. Don't underestimate that. And then verse 9, he says, I'm praying for them. This prayer is specifically directed for his disciples. In verse 20, which I won't touch on too much for Peter, Adam, whoever's covering that next week, he says, I don't ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. But in verse 9, he's saying, I'm praying for them. I'm not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. And you might say, What? Why is Jesus not praying for the world? Doesn't he love the world? Yes. For God so loved the world, he gave his only son, right? But Jesus, knowing he's going to the cross, is praying for his disciples here, knowing what they're going to endure. But look at the end of that. Don't get too distracted. They are yours. They are yours. If you're in Christ, you belong to God. In verse 10, he re-emphasizes this. He says, All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I don't want you to miss that he's claiming deity here. That what's God's is his. If you're a follower of Jesus, you belong to Jesus. You belong to God. And Jesus used that word mine. Have anyone any of you in here heard the word mine lately? Mine. Maybe it goes something like this. Mine. I'm looking for young parents. Parents of young children. Okay. Or teachers of kindergartners or seventh graders? Mine. Mine. Jesus is saying you're mine. But how does God's possession, if you're in Christ, how does God's possession of you affect your daily life? How often do you think about, how often do I think about, and thank God, hey, I'm in Christ. I belong to Him. How should that change my thoughts, my words, my attitudes, my behavior? And too often I think we center our identity on what we say is mine, instead of the fact that Jesus says, You're mine. So what do you say is mine? Maybe your time? Bank account? Family? Clothes, possessions, seat at church? It's mine. Actually, back there. Mine. Are we being shaped by what we're trying to wrap our arms around? Because if we can remember our identity in Christ, is that I get Christ, and that's greater than anything this world has to offer. That's why Paul can say in Philippians 3, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. Can we say the same thing? Jesus is mine. Praise God. I consider everything else as loss because of that surpassing worth. In verse 10, at the end of verse 10, so he's saying, All mine are yours, yours are mine, but I am glorified in them. Remember, he's talking about imperfect people. And yet, he uses a verb tense here. Any grammar teachers in the room? Grammar teachers? Okay. Me neither. Perfect indicative. Anyone remember that from school? I had to Google it. Jesus is using the perfect indicative verb tense. And this is important because of what it means. So he's saying, I'm glorified in them. He's using this verb tense that's expressing a completed action with lasting present results. So he's saying he's already glorified in them, but there's going to be present results. He's already glorified in his disciples here. Because it's, and I read this quote, it's an accomplishment in part and will be more fully realized in the future of the Spirit's work. Think about that. If you're in Christ, God is glorified just in that fact alone that you are his. Peter, James, John, the rest, did they behave perfectly? No. A short time later, they're going to abandon Jesus. And yet Jesus is saying, I am glorified in them. Your identity in Christ brings him glory. I read another quote that said, Jesus doesn't merely want to dwell or live in the believer, but to be glorified in you. So being in Christ means you're his. You belong to him, but it also means you are one. We should be one. When you're in Christ, you're part of the body of Christ. If you remember that analogy used in Scripture. And Jesus knew that unity for his followers is a crucial thing, and not just unity for the sake of unity. Like just getting along to get along and just agree to disagree. But unity actually reflects the nature of God Himself. At the end of verse 11, Jesus asks that they may be one, even as we are one. That they may be one. This doesn't mean never ever voice a differing opinion amongst the body of Christ. In fact, I think Pete was encouraging people at the last congregation meeting. You know, please, if you feel convicted, vote with your conviction. Don't feel like you got to just agree with everything. But are we making it about us or are our eyes in the same direction on Christ? Are we united in Christ? Think about how you and I can help unite the body of Christ. Not just preserve it, but help unite the body of Christ. Because I've been so thankful for the unity present here at Cross Point. But how can you, how can your family, how can you help promote the unity in the body of Christ? If I show up to a Sunday service, which I've done before, and say, I'm gonna get in there and then talk to as few people as I can and get out, is that helping promote the unity in the body of Christ? No. If you come here as a consumer, what am I gonna get out of this? Kind of like you're going to a show or the movies, is that promoting the unity of Christ? No. If you hear God's word but refuse to obey it, is that gonna help unite the body of Christ? No. Isn't it great when our bodies, all the parts are working how they should? They got the same goal in mind. Last week my neck decided to try to divide my body up. I've hit, I know I've said this before, so this isn't the first time, but I've hit that age where I woke up and just my neck wouldn't turn that way. It's annoying. It feels like I'm getting old. And I know some of you are saying, just wait, kid. But it's frustrating when a part is not working how it should. If you're in Christ, you have a spiritual gift to offer the body of Christ. And again, this is not so we glorify one another, but it's for the glory of Christ. These 12 guys, I mean, they replaced Judas after he's gone, but these 12 guys, they're gonna be on the front lines of getting this news out there. And Jesus knows them being one is so important. Same character, same mission, same purpose. It's crucial. And what's at stake here is huge. Like if you're on a sports team, somebody that plays sports in school right now, or have played sports, or just at your job, if you're not united, what happens? You lose the game, maybe, because everyone's just out for themselves, out to just get their own stats at work. Everyone's just out for themselves. It's not really the workplace suffers, but what's at stake for the body of Christ is souls. The testimony of our unity glorifies God and is also a witness and testimony to the world. In Philippians 2, Paul said, Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord, and of one mind. So are you helping unite the body of Christ or helping divide it? In verse 13, we see a part of this is that Jesus says, That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Jesus prayed his disciples would not just be joyful or happy, but that they would have his joy, the fullness of the joy Jesus had. Yes, Jesus was a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief, but he had the fullness of joy, because he had that unbroken fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. So, yes, he lived in a broke, he came, he dwelt among broken, sinful people like you and me, but he had fullness of joy. We get to carry around his joy. When we're united, what a joyful thing that is, isn't it? So being in Christ also means you're gonna be hated. You are hated. You might say thanks. But no thanks. I don't want to be hated. And I think there are two responses to this, typically. Either you run from it or you embrace it and seek it out. Maybe you say, you know what? What Jesus says in verse 14, I don't really like it. I don't want to be hated. He said, the world has hated them because they're not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 1 John 3 reminds us, don't be surprised that the world hates you. So we can either run from that or run at it. Maybe you like to avoid conflict at all costs, keep my faith as private as can be, walk on eggshells around everybody, and just avoid the hate. Or, like this one third grader who on a field trip to an orchard was standing on a rock, so it's a bunch of us, kindergarten to eighth graders, and here this little third grader about this tall stands on a rock and says, Who will fight me? And I kind of loved it because I was like, this kid wants to fight an eighth grader, he's like this tall. And I think sometimes, depending on your personality, maybe how you're wired, you might be like that. Yeah, let's go. The world hates me. All right, let's go to him. Bring it on. I'd say those are both unwise options, bad options, running from the hate or eagerly running towards it. What I see from Jesus' disciples in the book of Acts is they didn't let the hate they might receive, and they did receive from the world, dictate their actions of glorifying God. They didn't run towards it, they didn't run from it. They just did what they needed to do. And think about why are followers of Jesus hated by the world? Because he said we're not of the world. We don't belong to the world. And Satan is opposed to God. Belonging to God, being in Christ, means you are now in opposition to the evil one, to his followers. And that can be a scary thing. But I want to remind you that 1 John reminds us, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. You don't have to fear. We don't need to run towards that hate, and we don't need to run from it. With spiritual matters, there's not there's no middle ground. There's no, well, I'm going to be neutral. You're either in Christ or you're not. And if you're in Christ, Jesus says, whoever is not with me is against me. Whose wrath would you rather face? The wrath of creation, of Satan and his followers, or Almighty God? I don't want to face the wrath of Almighty God. He is all-powerful. The world might seem powerful. There is some power there. Being in Christ means, yes, you're hated by the world, but you are loved beyond belief in Christ. Don't let the hate you might receive dictate your actions. Especially if it's like, man, I feel the Holy Spirit moving. I should do X, Y, or Z. It's accordance with His will, but I don't know what they're gonna say or what's gonna trust God, be obedient. Obedience is really the success there. So in Christ, you're hated by some, but you're also protected, you're guarded. You are protected. There's a lot of uncertainty out there in the world. But to have the certainty that in Christ your soul is guarded, that gives me great peace. In John 10, Jesus reminds us that no one can snatch us out of his hand. He said, no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. In verse 12, he talks about how he's kept them in your name. I've guarded them. He's protected his disciples. And notice that in verse 15, he's not asking that they be removed from the dangers, from the brokenness of the world. He says, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. He's not asking to remove them. He's not asking to remove us from the danger, the circumstances, but the spiritual evil. Because think about it. How bad would it have rocked the early church if one of Jesus' closest disciples did something, you know, gave into temptation, did something terrible. How negatively does it affect the name of Christ when you find, you know, this prominent Christian pastor or public figure does something awful, cheats on their wife, or steals money or whatever it might be. He's asking for protection from the evil one. And I don't know about you, but I realize in thinking through Jesus' prayer that I ask, probably for every um ten prayers of protection, I'm usually asking nine for physical protection for myself, my family, for whoever it might be, and like one for spiritual protection. There's nothing wrong with praying for, you know, traveling mercies, all that stuff, protection for your whoever. But couldn't we and shouldn't we be praying more for spiritual protection? Lord, guard me against temptation. Guard them against temptation. Help me not to fall prey to these lies and this deception. And by the way, I thank you. For those of you, some of you told me, like, we pray for you, pastors, we pray for you. I really am thankful for that. And know that I'm going to start praying for you guys for spiritual protection more and more. But who are who or what are you looking to for protection or safety in this world? Where do you find your security? Again, think about that list earlier. Maybe it's your bank account, your personality, your status. Is that where you feel protected? I've got this much money in the bank. Um, I've got this going on, this many doctor visits next week. It's less than 10, so we're good. What do you carry around inside of you that makes you feel secure? I think about again about my son Luke. We were reading to him Peter Rabbit, and turns out Mr. McGregor gives kids nightmares. And we showed him Toy Story 2 on a car ride. Thought that was the only kids' DVD I had. And turns out that big chicken guy, you know, who steals woody, also gives kids bad dreams. So what does Luke do? I love. I said to the 830, I I gotta not share so many illustrations with Luke, but what did he take to bed with him for like a couple weeks? He took a Nerf gun to bed. I'm pretty sure it was loaded. Maybe not. I don't know. He said, you can't put this in your bed with you. You might shoot yourself. Um so our compromise was you can put it under the bed. And it was like, okay, okay, Dad, okay. And that helped him sleep at night. Why? Because he knows he's got something to keep him safe. What are you looking to other than God for protection? And how much more important should we put on spiritual protection? Somebody at the 830 came up to me and said they pray every morning. He and his wife pray Ephesians 6, the armor of God. It gets them in that mindset of, hey, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. There's spiritual forces at work that want to see you fall into temptation, to drift from God. In Christ, you're protected. Pray for that. You're also sanctified in Christ. Sanctified. It's just a big word that means set apart. Sanctified, set apart. This definition I found, I think, sets it pretty clearly. Being set apart by God for a special holy purpose, transitioning from a life of sin to one dedicated to Him. It's both a one-time positional status of being declared holy through Jesus' sacrifice and a lifelong progressive process of being transformed into his likeness. So at the moment of being born again, becoming a child of God, you are set apart. God sees you as holy, as the righteousness of Christ covering you. But then there's the progressive sanctification where it's we still struggle with the flesh, don't we? We still give in to temptations. I still do. I don't know about you. No, I know you do. We all do. But you're that doesn't have to be what defines you. Your mess-ups. You are sanctified. You're set apart. Can we embrace that? And Jesus prays for that. In verse 17, he says, he asks God, he says, Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. Sanctify them in the truth. And then in verse 19, he also says, again, for their sake, I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in truth. Jesus prays multiple times for sanctification. We should lean forward and take note of this is important to Jesus. It should be important to us. But I think it's not important to me as much as it should be because it's painful. Sanctification can be painful of God showing you, this needs to change, Tim. That needs to change. That behavior, that belief, whatever it is, needs to change. Are you seeking sanctification in God's word? Are we spending time in God's word, being sanctified by his word, spending time with him in prayer? Or do we come up with excuses? Today was a really good one, wasn't it? Where'd that hour go? Do we want to be sanctified by Christ? When you're in Christ, you're already set apart, you're already sanctified, but sanctification should be a priority. And again, not so people praise you and say, look at you. You're pretty great. But it should be to glorify God. Because what's amazing is when you are being sanctified, some people will notice. The people closest to you will start to notice God working in you. And that's an opportunity to point to Him, to glorify Him. I can't do this on my own. This is the work of Christ you're seeing in me. Give glory to Him. I'm not talking about anyone here, so don't start any rumors. I've run into a couple elderly couples who they were married for a long time, but you get the sense they act like they hate each other. You know, married 60 years, but you know, this old battle axe, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, well, do you even love the person? Sure, you made it 60 years, that's an accomplishment, but it seems like you haven't grown closer. The quantity of time doesn't equal closeness of relationship necessarily. Is that what we want a relationship with Christ to look like at the end of our life? Like that old, old married couple that still kind of look at each other like they're just acquaintances? Does your relationship with Christ look the same today as it did the day you first came to surrender your life to Him? I don't care if you've been married, married. You've been in a relationship with Christ 60 years or six days, there should be some steps, some baby steps, even just a little bit, praise God. You've got to submit to the sanctity, I've got to submit to the sanctifying work of God. And again, not so people praise us, but for the sake of the gospel. To give him glory, to be a more effective ambassador for him. It matters. That's something I certainly could pray more fervently for in my life and for all of you as well. And I realize I pray this most for our two sons. Almost every night I pray with them that they come to faith in Jesus and that God would mold them, sanctify them to be men of courage, character, integrity, and wisdom. That's just kind of priorities in my head. I pray for them. Why do I pray that consistently for them, but not for myself or for anyone else? Because I'm very aware they are my two little representatives out there. They're my boys. They're our boys. When they do something not so great, like chop off their hair with scissors they found, say, that's that's my boy. When they do something, you know, wonderful, like just say thank you or hello to the greeting team, say, yeah, that's my boy. Those are my boys. In a way, they they represent me. You and I get to represent the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean hide your mistakes, because that could very easily turn to a culture of let's pretend like we're all good. Pretend like we don't have any dirty baggage under the hood here. No. God is a God of truth. We can be honest when we mess up. We should be honest and open and say, listen, God's still at work in me. Right? Like if you saw my attitude over this last week, there were moments where I struggled. God's at work in me. We're not going to hide or cover over our flaws, but understand that we get to represent Jesus. Because being in Christ means you're sent. You don't just hang out at home and just, you know, build the walls, start a family compound off the grid and never talk to anybody. For a while I was telling Kate my dream job was to be a lighthouse keeper. Turns out it's harder than just changing a big light bulb, but I thought it sounded great. Get away from all the conflict of the world, all the people. Is that what we're gonna do? Just hide ourselves away in a bunker and wait till Jesus returns or we die. Jesus is saying, if you're in him, you're sent. You're sent out into this broken world, rubbing elbows with sinners like you and me. And being in Christ means I'm not seeing my identity in this world, but an ambassador for Christ. 2 Corinthians 5, I'm just gonna read part of it. 2 Corinthians 5 is one of the most clear pictures of what it looks like to be an ambassador. He says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. And then he says, He's given us the ministry of reconciliation. And we're entrusted with the message of reconciliation, of God reconciling people to himself through Jesus. Therefore, this is 2 Corinthians 5.20. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And then he gives the gospel in just a succinct way. For our sake he made him, Jesus, to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. You're an ambassador if you're in Christ. Jesus prayed in verse 18. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. Jesus was sent. He obeyed and he went. Adam talked about it a bit last week. Think about that. Jesus traded the glories of heaven, being rightly worshiped, not having to deal with frustrating, annoying people like you and me. He traded that to come live amongst us. Amongst sinful, prideful, broken people who treated him like garbage, who wanted him dead. He traded the glory of heaven for that. Because he loved us. He loves us. So yes, you're hated by the world, but you are so loved. He doesn't tell these guys to just start an off-grid community. He tells them, go. You and I have that same ministry. Go. Or as you go. At your job tomorrow, school, extracurricular activities, whatever you do, you're an ambassador of Christ. You're sent. You're a missionary right where you are. And we get to represent him. I want you to think about that for a minute. The one true living God who created the universe, the galaxies, all the animals, you and me, we get to represent him to people. Did anyone say yikes in their head? When we can hold on to that, that I am sent, that should change our week. That it's not just going through the checklist, the to-do list, but looking for opportunities to be an ambassador for Jesus. I know I've said it before. We'll keep saying it. Something like 90%, Pete, help me out. Is it 90% of people out there? Yeah, higher. 95? More? Okay. It's staggering. 95% of people in Ulster County, just outside these doors, do not have a relationship with Jesus. You might say, but I know so many Christians, people that call themselves Christians. 95% don't have a saving relationship with Jesus and are headed for eternal separation to hell. Do you care? And I'm asking myself that too, because I can so quickly get wrapped up in my weekly to-do list, the things I got to do. When it's like, man, there was an opportunity yesterday. A guy at Forsyth Park who had two little kids himself starts a conversation about these peacocks or whatever. And part of me thought, man, this might be a good opportunity. Just, hey, this might be kind of weird, but what do you think? Where are you from? What do you think about Jesus? Blah, blah, blah. You know, something simple. And I bailed. You and I aren't going to do it perfectly, but can we at least take it, seize the opportunities in front of us? Maybe it's even your neighbors around you. Kate does a great job of this. Let's bake them something. Something that tastes good. That always opens the door. Hopefully we're done with snow. Shovel, help someone shovel. Look for those opportunities to be an ambassador to Jesus. For Jesus, to your to your neighbors. So in this prayer of Jesus, we get a glimpse of what's in Christ. What's important to him, what matters to him. Are you in Christ? Have you put your trust in Jesus, in Jesus alone? If not, this prayer is not for you. And you might say, Great, Tim, thanks for nothing. This is kind of like when Kate does bake those wonderful treats. Like this happened yesterday. Kate was making brownies, and Luke and I both run in the kitchen. And thankfully Luke said it first, but he was saying what we were both thinking. Is this for us? No. If you're not in Christ, this is not for you. But don't tune out there. Jesus offers that invitation to you. This is what's possible for you in Christ. If you are in Christ, you get to be his. You get to be part of the body of Christ. Yeah, you'll be hated by some, but you'll be loved by God Almighty. And you'll be protected. Your soul will be guarded. You're sanctified. You're set apart. You get to experience His continuing sanctifying work in you. And then you get to be His messenger to the world. So if you're not in Christ, I want to invite you. Please do not leave here without talking to somebody. Ask questions. What are those barriers getting in your way of being in Christ? And if you are in Christ, can we embrace this? Can this be what our identity is rooted in and not whatever else we do? Would you join me in prayer? Lord, I thank you for this prayer you gave us. I thank you for how much you love us. Thank you, Lord, that you offer us life, that you we get to be yours and all that that entails. I pray, Lord, that you would help us not to run from the hate or run towards it, but just to be obedient to you. Help us to care about all the people that are not in you, just in our backyard here. Lord, give us broken hearts for the people who need to hear your good news. Help us, Lord, to be honest when we mess up, to not try to pretend like we got it all figured out. Help us to depend on you and to be just your ambassadors in this world. And I pray that all in Jesus' name. Amen.