What Now? (Acts) | Courageous Compassion - Week 3

You've seen them. Someone in line at the grocery store or out and about whose life is hard right now. You feel something. And then you move on. Not because you don't care but because you don't know how it will go.

This week in Acts 3, Peter and John are on their way to the temple when they pass a man who has been lame from birth. And they do something most people don't. They move toward him. We explore what it looks like to live with courageous compassion and a simple, repeatable pattern any follower of Jesus can practice this week.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Wonderful to see all of you this morning. I was just thinking as we were worshiping, and I just love being a part of a church that doesn't talk about worshiping God. We worship God. We don't talk about praying to God. We pray to God. I mean, we talk about those things as well. But we we're not experts. We're not theologians. We are practitioners. We are followers. We are students. That's what the word disciple means. That word means learner. It means apprentice. It means students. And all of us gathered here this morning are in the same boat and we're in the same classroom, looking to the same teacher, not me. We're looking to the rabbi Jesus this morning. And we're continuing a new series through the book of Acts. For those of you who are here for Daffy Weekend, we're so glad to have you. And you know, you'll probably be back when this when it gets a little bit warmer, and we don't blame you for that. And also when you get back, we'll still be in this series in Acts. This is going to take us for the next several uh months. But I want to just start with a question this morning. How many times has this happened to you recently? You're at Stop and Shop or you're at Marine Home, one of those places, and you recognize someone, maybe the next aisle over. You know who they are. And you know enough of their story to know that maybe things aren't great right now. And you feel like, man, maybe I should check in with them. Maybe I should say something, you know, ask how they're doing. And as soon as you start feeling that, your mind kicks into high gear, and and then you begin to think things like, I really shouldn't bother them. You know, they're probably in a rush. They're here to do something. They pick something up. I don't even know what to say. I don't want to make this awkward. You know, mind goes into overdrive. And so what you do is you tell yourself, oh, I'll just catch them another time. I'll catch them another time when they're not in a hurry and I'm I'm not in a hurry. And so you look down at your phone and you you you just simply move on. Why do we do that? Why do we do that? Unless it's just me. And if all of you are saying, nope, that's never happened, it's probably just you, Pastor, you need to repent and get right. I receive that. But I have a feeling we've all experienced this and probably do on somewhat of a of a regular basis. Do we do that because we don't care? Is that it? Do we ignore people that we know, even who people that we know are maybe struggling? Do we ignore them because we don't care? You know, is it a is it a lack of compassion? Is that why we we move on? I I think it's something else, actually. I've given this question a lot of thought this week. Do you want to know what I think it is? I think in situations like that and other situations, we move on. Like we move on from the person, we move on from the situation, we move on from the moment, not because of a lack of compassion, but because of a lack of certainty. And what I mean by that is we're standing there in the moment, and we don't know how it will go. We don't know what's going to happen next. And so that fear of the uncertainty sort of gets us moving and we move on from the moment. Something I've been struck by this week, here in the book of Acts, is as the story unfolds, we're challenged to see these very kinds of moments that I'm describing, not as random encounters, but as divine moments, appointed moments. Specifically, they're moments when either the kingdom of heaven breaks into our world or it stays underground. It's those moments where that's decided. I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles or on your Bible app to Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3. While you're turning there, I'll just sort of put a plug-in for some devotion resources. Every week on Sunday, we post a teaching summary and a quiet table. We'll call it a quiet table guide, a sort of a devotional guide for the week. We post those to our website on the blog. And so if you wanted to just sort of revisit some of what was said, some of what was taught, or maybe you missed a week or something like that, you can always go to the website, read the teaching summary, and go from there. We also have a new podcast where all of our teachings now are on Spotify and Apple or wherever else you listen to your stuff. And so you can just search for Summer Street Church there. Here's what I think we're gonna see this morning. I think we're gonna see how the kingdom of God breaks into our reality, breaks into our world through courageous, compassionate people who boldly move toward others, choosing obedience over outcome. All right, in Acts chapter one, here's what we saw. We saw that Jesus promises the kingdom, and he tells his followers to wait. His followers do wait. They go to a house in Jerusalem, they're waiting. In Acts chapter 2, the Spirit arrives, meets them there, the kingdom comes, and the church of Jesus Christ is born. And here in Acts 3, we begin to see what happens next. The kingdom can't stay confined. It can't help but break loose, break free. Like a like a good virus, it spreads through a contagion that just continues to move at a rapid pace as it spreads throughout Jerusalem. And we'll see as we continue to move through Acts and to the outer regions and then ultimately to the ends of the earth. Follow along with me as I read, starting in verse 1, Acts chapter 3. One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer at three in the afternoon. And now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. And Peter looked straight at him, as did John. And then Peter said, Look at us. And so the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. And then Peter sorry, I just said that part. Forgive me. Then Peter said, Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. And then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate, called beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. And while the man held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade. When Peter saw this, he said to them, Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us at us as if by our own power or godliness we have made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of your fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. You disowned the holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life. But God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is in Jesus' name, and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can see. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God. Peter and John have somewhere to be. You know, the clock's ticking, right? They got to be at prayer by three. It's the three o'clock prayer time, and they're on their way. They don't have time for all of this. They're on their way, but as they're walking, they pass a man who's been lame from birth. And they probably recognize the man as a guy who's been being brought to the temple gate every day. All the people who pass him know him. All the people who attend prayer, they know him. They recognize him. They know who he is at least. They've seen him. And he's there, he's asking for money. And that's all really anyone expects of this man is that he will beg and ask them for money. I think it's really all he probably expects of himself. I mean, this is what this is the life that people in his situation, in his circumstance were sort of relegated to in this day. The people mostly just move on. Why? Because this is just how the world is, right? Uh in this world, some people are blessed to be able to walk, to go to prayer, and other people can't use their legs and they have to beg for money. That's just the way the world is. But now we have Peter and John who come by and they refuse to accept the way the world is. And why do they refuse to accept what everybody else accepts? Because they know how the world can be. They've seen it with their own eyes. Peter and John have seen some extraordinary things, haven't they? The most extraordinary thing being the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. See, before Jesus was raised, poor people stayed poor. Before Jesus was raised, sick people stayed sick. Before Jesus was raised, dead people stayed dead. But Jesus didn't stay dead, and so everything else is changed. Peter and John know something that most people don't know. They know that that old world, that old order where things stay as they are always, that world was dying. It is passing away. And that there is a new world that's breaking in. A new world, a new order, a new way that is breaking through the surface of the very ground that they walked on, like the daffodils in April. One day you don't see the kingdom, and the next day you see it. Oh, there it is over there. Oh, there it is over there. Oh, there it is over there. It's springing up all around us. Peter and John knew that. They're living in that new reality. A new kingdom that is being established by a king who had overcome and overthrown every evil, every problem, including death itself. And so Peter and John, they just simply refuse to move on. Do they have to be at prayer at three? Whatever. That can wait. They refuse to move on, and instead they move toward. That's the basic movement I want to get us to sort of think about today and this week. Moving on or moving toward? This is the pattern and the practice, I think, of everyone who follows Jesus. We're all meant to move toward others, especially those in need. Look at verses three and four again. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. And Peter looked straight at him, as did John, and then Peter said, Look at us.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Look at us. Look at us.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

You know, it'd be easy to read this moment between Peter and John and this lame beggar as a moment of compassion. That Peter and John ultimately have compassion, and that that's what this moment is about, the compassion of Peter and John for this man. And it is a moment of compassion. But it is more than that. Surely some of the people who walked by this man had some compassion toward him. They cared for him in some way, maybe in the best way that they could, maybe by giving him something when he asked them for it, some money. But what else could they do? I think a lot of us feel the same way. When we look at the people in our lives and the people in our community, the people that we're in our family, in our neighborhoods, people we're in relationship with and do business with. We see people all over the place in desperate need for God's love, in desperate need. And we care for them, but what can we do? I mean, maybe throw them a little bit of money if they need it. I mean, we're sort of in the in a very similar situation, I think. We see the way that the world is, we care, we have compassion, but what can we do? It's the it's it's it's it's important that we recognize that this moment here in Acts chapter 3, and moments like the one I talked about at the beginning at Stop and Shop and at Marine Home and wherever we run into people, that those moments in this moment require something more than compassion. It's not enough just to love. It's not enough just to care. It requires something more than compassion. Moments like this, kingdom moments, require courage. It takes courage. It's not enough that we care because the kingdom of God grows not through compassion alone, but through people who express that compassion courageously by moving toward others. Compassion that does more than just move you emotionally, it moves you relationally to engage, to risk stepping on some toes. Compassion that moves you toward the other. Everyone else notices this man in Acts chapter 3 at some level, but they just simply move on. Peter and John, what do they do? They move toward. And when they move toward the man, the scripture says that he gives them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Verse 6 says this once they have the man's attention, then Peter said, Silver or gold, I do not have. You know, it's easy for us to read this, you know, because we know what's gonna happen in the story. You know, we know how the thing ends. But but Peter's courage, he has some sort of courage, not because he knows how it's going to end, he doesn't know how it's going to end. Peter is not a fortune teller. Let me tell you something. I know we had these amazing stories of people getting up and walking in the scriptures, in the gospels, and in the book of Acts, throughout the scriptures. I know we have these amazing stories of healings and miracles, and we we see that and we know that, but not a single one of them were guaranteed. There's no guarantee that when Peter says to this man, pick up your mat and walk, or take my hand and get up, that the man was actually going to do it. Peter has courage to move toward not knowing exactly what's going to happen. Peter moves toward the man, not because he knows what is going to happen. He moves toward the man because he trusts the name of Jesus. That's where his courage comes from. I mean, Peter and John aren't blind. They can see how the world is, they know what this man's life is. They just simply refuse to accept it. Because they know that the kingdom of heaven is breaking in and it's bringing this new reality. And in this new reality, they can look at a lame man and say, before Jesus died and rose from the dead, lame people stayed lame. But now that Jesus has risen from the dead, lame people don't have to stay lame. And so because we trust Jesus, the name of Jesus, we will risk, we will act in courage, we will move toward those in need. I mean, these people have seen Jesus come back from the dead and they're filled with both compassion and courage, and so they do something about it. And so Peter speaks the name of Jesus because it's Jesus who's defining the new reality. The whole world is different because of Jesus. Peter is courageous. I think there's this moment where you can really see it. After Peter speaks the name of Jesus over this man. Peter speaks the name of Jesus over, but before Peter sees any evidence that God's doing anything, there's a moment where Peter speaks the name of Jesus and then he reaches his hand down. Speaks the name of Jesus and reaches his hand down to help the man up. This is the moment of courage. Anything can happen here. Anything can happen. Embarrassment, failure, nothing. But something does happen. I was thinking this week, gosh, what how would the story have gone if the guy wasn't healed? Like, what would Peter have done? What would he have said? And and I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. All we do know is that he did stand up, and that had Peter and John not stopped and just continued on, there's a very good chance that this lame man would have died lame. And the kingdom of God would have remained underground in that moment. But because of compassion and courage, this moment of reaching, without knowing the outcome, the kingdom of heaven breaks in. That's that takes guts, man. That's that's what courageous compassion looks like. It looks like stopping everything when we notice need, someone's need for God's love and another person. It looks like invoking and inviting Jesus into that situation and reaching out our hand to help that person up. That's what courage looks like when we're actually living it out. You know, we know how the story ends. Like I said, he's healed, he's walking, he's leaping, he's praising God. Peter doesn't know that. What Peter did know was the right thing to do. Peter didn't know what the outcome was going to be, but he knew what the right thing was and he did it. He reached out his hand. But Peter made a choice. You know, I love stories like this because we can't hide behind, well, Jesus was also God. You know, Jesus heals these people and he raises Lazarus from the dead and he feeds 5,000. You know, and then Jesus is like, hey, as the Father sent me, I'm sending you. Here you have the Holy Spirit. And we're like, yeah, but it was Jesus. Like, we can't do the stuff that Jesus here's just a guy, a fisherman. An ordinary guy, Peter, doing this courageous thing. He's choosing to obey whatever the outcome. And so rather than us leap to, oh my gosh, this week I gotta go to Marine Home Center and heal somebody. No, before we like start getting freaked out about that, let's wait a second, let's take a step back. All right, let's take a step back. They might be at Stop and Shop. No, I'm just kidding. All right, so we're gonna. I want us to think about okay, could I ever grow in boldness to the point where I would be willing to enter, to move toward and reach my hand down, not knowing what the outcome was going to be? Could I take a step toward more boldness, to grow in boldness? And I think Peter's showing us the key here. How do we grow in boldness? How do I, gosh, I can never do it? How do we grow? You can do that. In fact, you're called to do it. You're a servant of the kingdom of God. You have been sent into the world as ambassadors of God's love and the kingdom of heaven. You can do it. We must do it. We are called to do it. This is what it means to follow Jesus. So how can I grow in boldness? And Peter is showing us that we grow in boldness when we choose to obey when we don't know what the outcome is going to be. Every time we choose to obey, not knowing the outcome, we grow in more boldness. Because either we step into a situation, we go, wow, God really moved. God really showed up, and that fills us with boldness. Like, I've got more boldness. I can be more bold. I can do this more. I can take on more. Whatever God you have for me, show me. Either we grow in boldness because God shows up, or we grow in boldness because nothing happens and everybody's still okay. I'm okay, you're okay, no damage has been done. Like, what's the worst thing that can happen? The worst thing that can happen exists in our minds, but it only exists there so long as we move on from people and don't engage, don't step in, don't move into people's lives. And even as I'm saying this, I'm confronted with this idea that I think this is very much a culture problem.

unknown 21:59

Uh

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Some of us come from cultures where moving in and stepping on toes and getting in the thing and moving toward and it's like normal. But a lot of us in this room have grown up in this culture, this New England culture. I'm telling you right now, this is not the culture of New England. At least as a six-year studier of the culture of New England, an outsider looking in, trying to figure out what makes you people tick. It's not natural to butt into somebody's life here. And that's what it can feel like. And so we've got to overcome a couple of layers here. We've got to overcome some personal emotional layers. There's the this is a fearful thing to do to step into people's life. We've got to overcome a cultural layer that's like, nah, this is not really what people do around here. People kind of, if if I get into their life, then they're going to get into my life. And I don't like, right? I mean, there's all this stuff going on. We've got to get past that. We've got to grow in boldness. And the only way to grow in boldness is to take some small steps to step in, to obey, to do the work. Whenever we see someone in need to step toward the person. You know, the outcome, you know, when we when we're too focused on the outcome, we ask questions like, will this work? Will this work if I help try to help this word or do this thing? Will will this be received if I have a word I want to share with this person? You know, will this go well? But but when we are thinking about obedience, obedience asks a different question. Obedience asks, if Jesus were me in this situation, how might Jesus move? What might Jesus say? What might Jesus do here? Peter couldn't control the outcome, but he could choose to obey, and that's what we're called to do. And because Peter obeys, of course, we see here the kingdom of heaven breaks through the surface in an incredibly powerful way. Again, don't think for one second that it's Peter being powerful. The kingdom didn't break in because Peter was powerful, it broke in because Jesus was there. Jesus was there. And Jesus is at Marine Home, and Jesus is at Stop and Shop, and Jesus is on the stop, on the job site, and Jesus is in the classroom, Jesus is in your boardroom, Jesus is there. And if Jesus is there, then the potential is for the kingdom to break out at any moment. Using people who step in with courage. Peter himself says, Hey, it wasn't me. Verse 12, when Peter saw this, he said to them, Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us? It is by our own power, our own godliness we made this man walk. And then in verse 16, he says, By faith in the name of Jesus, this man who you see and know was made strong. It is in Jesus' name and faith, that the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can see. This isn't about you sort of becoming a super Christian all of a sudden and walking out there and like becoming like, you know, Apostle Daniel. Hello, Apostle Daniel, how are you? Did you hear Apostle Daniel his shadow heared healed someone this week? It was amazing. No, that's not what's being required or asked of us. It's not, it's not become better or or do more or get really skilled at this. No, it's just stepping in. Jesus is there. It's just our willingness to trust that Jesus is present and that Jesus is responsible for the outcome. The kingdom of heaven is already here. You know, if we look, we'll see a simple repeatable pattern in this story that I think anyone, any follower of Jesus can uh can follow. And so it might help as you're thinking about growing in boldness and beginning to step into, not move on, but move toward people in need of God's love this week. It might help to think about sort of embracing this way of going about your day. I'll give you just three words real quickly. This is the this is the pattern. It's notice, nurture, and name. Notice, nurture, and name. Peter and John, what do they do? The first thing they do is they notice here's a guy in need. I mean, that's the first step. If we're too busy, we're not gonna notice. If we just packed our lives full of busyness, we're not gonna notice people around us. It's just not gonna happen. Some practical factors here. If we're in our head all of the time, we're constantly thinking and we're ruminating and we're fearing and we're concerned and we're anxious and we're all up in our head, we're not gonna notice. If we're self-consumed, if we're thinking about what people are thinking of us, or we're thinking about just ourselves, or it's just not gonna notice other people. It starts with noticing, which is harder than it seems, but it's something worth practicing. Peter and John, they notice. And so noticing for them, it looked like stopping. It looked like paying attention, it looked like learning to see what everybody else had learned to ignore. They had seen it so much. They become so familiar with the need around them, they stop seeing it. But Peter and John never stopped seeing, they noticed. And then they nurtured. After they noticed the man, they nurture. What do we mean by nurture? What we mean by nurture is nurturing whatever it is that God is doing in the life of this person, in this need, in this moment. Nurturing it means just stepping into it, like stepping toward the person instead of stepping away from them, moving toward them instead of moving on, engaging the person. We see that when Peter and John, you know, go to the man, we we see them, you know, look in my eyes. There's a very human connection there. Peter says to him, Look at us, look, look. The man was probably used to people ignoring him and not looking, looking the other way. It must have been a shock for him to look up at Peter and John and for him to see the compassion in their eyes as they looked at him.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Look at us.

SPEAKER_00 28:01

That's nurture, engaging. And then, of course, Peter takes him by the hand. He's involving himself in the need of this man. And then finally, they name, you know, Peter names. He says, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. And this is really important. If you want to live this pattern, this kingdom pattern that we see in the got in the book of Acts, as the kingdom is breaking out in Jerusalem and then it's going to break out and spread all over the world. And it's continuing to spread today on Nantucket and everywhere we live and work and breathe. The kingdom is on the move. It's continuing to move, and it does in every generation. And so, if we want to be these kinds of followers of Jesus, which I don't know if there is another kind of follower of Jesus, if we really want to follow Jesus, then we'll take seriously this pattern of walking through our day, uh of noticing and of nurturing, and then finally here of naming, of speaking Jesus into the moments, these ordinary moments that we encounter along the way. And this is where I think most of us hesitate. I think some of most of us probably in this room, not even some. I think most of us are probably decent at noticing. And I know that for a fact that there are people in this church family who are really good at nurturing as well, moving in. What can I do? I'm bringing you something to eat. I'm taking care of this for you. We have a community full of people like that, but it's really, really beautiful. But a lot of us, when it comes time to naming Jesus, we pause. Now, if it's with the church family, fine, it's easy. But other people sometimes we pause. Why? Because that's where it gets a little bit risky. That's where we have to have courage. It's not that we don't care about the person, it's not that we don't believe in Jesus. It's it's that we don't know, again, what will happen next. What if I speak the name of Jesus with this person and they get really angry? What if they don't want to hear about Jesus? What if they had a bad experience in the church? What if they have another religion and then this is offensive to them? What if it's awkward? What if they shut down? What if I get it wrong? What if nothing happens? Well, if we don't speak the name of Jesus, nothing will happen. And so a lot of us, because it's risky, we stay back, we hold back, we stay in compassion and we never step into courage. And so I want to challenge you and encourage you with this sort of trick that I've learned. When you find yourself thinking, I don't know how this will go, let's go all kinds of directions. I don't know if they're you're standing in the right place. When you're like, I don't know, you're in the place where obedience matters the most. Because again, boldness is not being certain of what's going to happen. It it's obedience in the moment of uncertainty. And obedience, I'm suggesting in this moment is reaching our hand down or across or up. It's reaching our hand up, making the connection. This matters so much. Because the kingdom breaks in when we are willing to move toward. I'm gonna give you a trick about naming Jesus in just a second, but I want to just make the point that there is no kingdom of heaven on Nantucket without Christ. We can all agree to that. We all agree to that. Without Jesus, we we we shouldn't even be here. What are we doing? Why'd we get up this morning to do this? There's no kingdom without Christ. But it is also true that the kingdom will not break in without the courage of ordinary followers of Jesus. Ordinary followers of Jesus. Why? Because God has chosen to bring the kingdom through his people. It's God's thing. Ordinary people, people who notice, people who nurture, people who name. All right, so here's the invitation this week. The invitation this week, I'm just gonna give you one very simple practice. The practice is this it is to look out for somebody. Just be on the lookout. You can maybe even pray before you leave the house. Lord, help me notice the person. Don't let me be checking my lipstick in the mirror when I drive through that intersection for lots of reasons. But especially I want to be on the lookout for that person. Be on the lookout for that moment because you will have this moment this week, I can almost guarantee you. Anyone feeling nervous yet? It's going to happen. It always does. It'll be that moment where you can move on or you can move toward. And when that moment comes when you've noticed, you know, I want you to nurture and I want you to speak the name of Jesus. Okay, so here's the thing. How do I do that? How do I, after noticing and nurturing the love of God with this person, how do I speak the name of Jesus into the situation? It seems kind of awkward. Do I just say Jesus and then like run away? Like, how do I is this supposed to work? Uh the simplest way, and there are other people in this church family that may have better ways to do it. The simplest way I have found to invite Jesus into the situation is to ask a question. It's a very simple question. And I can't think of a single time I've asked this question and someone didn't respond positively to the question. And the question is this can I pray for you?

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Can I pray for you?

SPEAKER_00 33:35

That's it. Okay. Some of you already worked out in that split second, you've worked out a way around it, and you're gonna tell them, I'll be praying for you. And that is not the same thing. That's not the same thing. Can I pray for you now? Can I pray for you now? And then just pray a simple prayer. What does a prayer like that sound like? I'm not good at praying. I don't like praying out loud. I can't even imagine praying like, you know, in the fastener's aisle at Marine Home. Like, what am I supposed, you know, what is this gonna what do I do? And I just want to encourage you to just pray a very simple prayer that has just a couple of components. Some it might sound something like this. Heavenly Father, I'm gonna use Emily. Heavenly Father, I pray for Emily. So just name the person. If you don't know their name, just Lord help me. Holy Spirit, come remind me of this person's name. Heavenly Father, I I pray for my brother, I pray for my sister, I pray for my friend. Right. I pray for Emily. Meet her in her need. And so what I'm praying there is something a little more specific. Provide for her what she needs. If the need she's expressed to me is I need God to provide. I'm sick, I don't know what's going on. The doctors don't know. Lord, come and heal Emily. See, I want to pray specifically her name, and I want to pray specifically for the need in the name of Jesus. It's not just a tag on, it's not like a sincerely BRB in the name of Jesus. No, this is everything. We are invoking the name of the risen Savior. On the earth, in the reality of our brokenness, and we're saying, Come, Holy Spirit, may your kingdom come right here on this aisle in this person as it is in heaven. May your kingdom show up. Now, this might feel big to you, it might feel small, I don't know, but either way, it will be bold because you will be choosing obedience over outcome. But that's how you grow your courage. This is where the kingdom of heaven breaks into ordinary moments. It's when ordinary people filled with the Holy Spirit have the courage to notice, who make the choice to nurture, who decide to move toward and to speak the name of Jesus into the people around them. That's when the kingdom comes. And so when the moment comes this week, don't move on. Don't move on. The appointment can wait. The meeting can wait. The client can wait. Your boss can wait. And if he has a problem with that, you tell him to call me. All right? Life can wait because these moments aren't interruptions to life. They are life. This is where life comes. Life in Jesus. Don't move on, move toward. And as we move toward, may the kingdom of heaven come on Nantucket. Amen. Let's all stand together.