SPEAKER_04: This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_04: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandProquay.org.
SPEAKER_03: So, Father, we submit and we surrender to your kingship, your lordship, your beauty, your authority, your goodness, your power.
SPEAKER_03: We say this morning, we align with your rule and your reign.
SPEAKER_03: Because in Hebrews it says that by the powerful word of Jesus, the universe is held together.
SPEAKER_03: And my confession, and maybe yours, is my words can't hold my world together.
SPEAKER_03: So I need your words.
SPEAKER_03: I need your ways.
SPEAKER_03: And oh, we submit and surrender to your will.
SPEAKER_03: So come, Lord Jesus, come.
SPEAKER_03: Holy Spirit, give us eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus, would you go before us in this text and make a way?
SPEAKER_03: Together we say the words that ravage your heart.
SPEAKER_03: Speak, Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Your servants are listening.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: You never see church.
SPEAKER_03: Well, good morning.
SPEAKER_03: I'm Chris.
SPEAKER_03: I pop in about every couple months, so thanks for letting me hang out with you.
SPEAKER_03: Um, pastor some microchurches in Franklin, Tennessee.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I'm nobody real important, um, but I'm here to give you uh an important word from God's word.
SPEAKER_03: Uh praying for Neil as him and Marcy are out leading a marriage retreat.
SPEAKER_03: Uh Lord, I need them to come to my house and help us out.
SPEAKER_03: I'd be nice if they could make a stop there.
SPEAKER_03: We'll start swapping.
SPEAKER_03: Um I was with our microchurch leaders uh just this last Wednesday and just reminded them hey, your microchurch is never going to be healthier than your marriage.
SPEAKER_03: So we can do all the equipping tools and techniques that you want, but what God wants done in the church first, he does through his leaders, his marriage, and in your home.
SPEAKER_03: So stop asking your church to do what you're not doing in your home.
SPEAKER_03: I would never talk to you that way.
SPEAKER_03: I talked to them because I have a relationship.
SPEAKER_03: I didn't realize how bad it sounded until I heard you guys a oh, I thought it was really encouraging.
SPEAKER_03: Might need to pull up on the gas a little bit.
SPEAKER_03: Um, you guys are uh in the book of Acts, by the way.
SPEAKER_03: I come with my churches and my family's blessings.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, they're praying for you.
SPEAKER_03: You guys have been such good friends to us.
SPEAKER_03: Uh what a what a beautiful church.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't mean the building, I mean you guys.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, thanks for the musical worship.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's just a joy and a treasure to be here, and I want to honor your presence.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, thanks for getting here.
SPEAKER_03: It's not easy sometimes.
SPEAKER_03: There's a lot going on, uh, and there's a lot of reasons to flake out and fall out.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and you're here, so I pray that you would hear uh directly from your father in heaven.
SPEAKER_03: We're in Acts chapter 2.
SPEAKER_03: I want to read a couple verses starting in verse 42.
SPEAKER_03: Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 42.
SPEAKER_03: They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Everyone was filled with awe.
SPEAKER_03: It's really hard for me to hear superlatives because I have a teenage daughter.
SPEAKER_03: And it's everyone, always no one.
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, pump the brakes.
SPEAKER_03: Can we get back down into facts?
SPEAKER_03: It's not everyone.
SPEAKER_03: But this apparently, absolutely, everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.
SPEAKER_03: Now all the believers were together and held all things in common.
SPEAKER_03: Sold their possessions and property, distributed proceeds to all as they had need.
SPEAKER_03: Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house.
SPEAKER_03: They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all people.
SPEAKER_03: Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
SPEAKER_03: I'll say the word of the Lord, if you will say thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_03: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Love that passage, right?
SPEAKER_03: It's what all of us church planners quote when we go out and oh, we're gonna do the church the right way, okay?
SPEAKER_01: All right, no one's ever tried it.
SPEAKER_01: This I'm the first person that ever read Acts chapter two, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna get back to a biblical definition of church.
SPEAKER_01: It's great.
SPEAKER_03: Uh well uh most US church fators are young, cocky, and arrogant.
SPEAKER_03: I'm just old.
SPEAKER_03: So uh what that was part of the DNA when we were uh planting local church.
SPEAKER_03: We call it local church because I want to be able to say with integrity, your tithes and offerings belong to your local church.
SPEAKER_03: Uh no, not a good one.
SPEAKER_03: I'll stop saying that.
SPEAKER_03: Bad joke.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but looking back in here, right, we've got this template of how the church is exploding, and it's an incredible blessing, right?
SPEAKER_03: It's a blessing to each other.
SPEAKER_03: God is blessing them, they're blessing each other.
SPEAKER_03: And there's a story I'm reminded of by an author, Henry Nallon.
SPEAKER_03: Um, if you're French and snooty, it's Henri Nallen.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'm neither of those things, so I'm gonna call him Henry.
SPEAKER_03: Uh Henry back in the day, he was a prolific writer and teacher.
SPEAKER_03: He was at Notre Dame, Harvard, Yale, all those fancy schools, and then he just up and leaves and turns his back on a prestigious academic career, and he goes to Ontario at La Arche Daybreak, which is a residential community for people with intellectual disabilities.
SPEAKER_03: So here's like this Ivy League amazing religious professor.
SPEAKER_03: By this time he had some notoriety, Life of the Beloved.
SPEAKER_03: He wrote with such honesty and frailty that a lot of people, including myself, were just attracted to his writings about how we are the beloved of God.
SPEAKER_03: Well, in this book, he tells a story they're getting ready for evening prayers at the community that he's serving at.
SPEAKER_03: And so while he's getting ready, uh Janet, one of the residents, comes up to him and really forcefully interrupts him and goes, Henry, I want a blessing.
SPEAKER_03: Um and he's changed uh trained in the liturgical tradition.
SPEAKER_03: So he says, absent-mindedly, I took my thumb and I traced the sign of the cross on her forehead.
SPEAKER_03: And I said, Bless you.
SPEAKER_03: And he turns around to do something, and she shouts, No, that won't work.
SPEAKER_03: I want a real blessing.
SPEAKER_03: And he realized in that moment that he'd kind of been a little bit rote and ritual and demissive.
SPEAKER_03: And so he said, I'm so sorry, Janet.
SPEAKER_03: How about after the prayer meeting, um, I'll give you a real blessing?
SPEAKER_03: She seemed okay with that, went into the room.
SPEAKER_03: He thought, I don't really know what a real blessing means.
SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, I'll figure it out by the time we get to it.
SPEAKER_03: So they get done their prayer meeting, everyone's sitting in the circle, and then uh at the end he says, Uh, uh I just want everybody to know Janet has a special request.
SPEAKER_03: She asked me for a real blessing.
SPEAKER_03: Before he could get the sentence out of her mouth, she stands up and starts walking towards him.
SPEAKER_03: So he does what he normally does, right?
SPEAKER_03: He's got his vestment on, which is a big robe where you can barely see the hands like this, and he puts his hands out like this and begins to speak a blessing.
SPEAKER_03: Well, as he's getting the words out of his mouth, she runs and wraps her arms around his waist and buries her head in his chest and looks up at him.
SPEAKER_03: And he stops and he looks at her, and he says, Janet, I want you to know that God sees you.
SPEAKER_03: He thinks you're special.
SPEAKER_03: Your smile is a joy to everyone in this home.
SPEAKER_03: I know that you've been feeling sad lately, and I want you to know that that's okay.
SPEAKER_03: But you are not alone.
SPEAKER_03: We love you, and God loves you.
SPEAKER_03: Tears just start streaking down her face, right?
SPEAKER_03: So she lets go, he releases her, and he's like, Okay, good.
SPEAKER_03: She got a real blessing.
SPEAKER_03: And as soon as she shits down, everybody's hands shoot up.
SPEAKER_03: What do you think they wanted?
SPEAKER_03: A real blessing.
SPEAKER_03: He said, So it went on like that for about an hour.
SPEAKER_03: And he said, but the most special moment came when a 21 24-year-old orderly who was working in the room raised his hand from the side of the room and said, Am I allowed to have a real blessing?
SPEAKER_03: And he came over, he hugged Henry and he said, John, I just want to let you know your presence in this community is so valuable.
SPEAKER_03: I know you get discouraged sometimes by the way that the system works and the effect that it has on the patients, but I want you to know God has a purpose for your life, and we are so glad that you are here.
SPEAKER_03: Henry wrote this after that.
SPEAKER_03: That evening I recognize the importance of blessing and being blessed.
SPEAKER_03: We all need ongoing blessings that allow us to hear in ever new ways that we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will always remind us that we are guided by his love on every step of our lives.
SPEAKER_03: I think this is what's happening in Acts chapter 2, and I think it's what you want to happen in your community, a real blessing.
SPEAKER_03: When we started out local church, we started out with this question: what would make the gospel good news to our neighbors?
SPEAKER_03: How could we, as real people, really bless the people we are in a relational circle with?
SPEAKER_03: And it's not going to start with the most gifted, skilled musicians and ministers, but it's going to start with ordinary people living ordinary lives on mission and message with Jesus to be blessed and bless other people.
SPEAKER_03: And it's especially this for a lot of people who are in my age and stage of life.
SPEAKER_03: What are we going to say to my children who have looked at our casual and ritualistic Christianity and said, nope, that doesn't work for me?
SPEAKER_03: I want a real Christ and a real Christianity.
SPEAKER_03: How can we be a blessing?
SPEAKER_03: How can we, full of grace and truth, move into the neighborhood and get skin on the grace and love and mercy, redemption and reconciliation of Jesus Christ and translate it into the everyday lives of ordinary people.
SPEAKER_03: Now, the reason I think this text is so important, by the way, is because I think you have here the double helix or the DNA of the church.
SPEAKER_03: I think we have some common practices, some common commitments that we need to make sure, hey, this is always going to be present here.
SPEAKER_03: And I think blessing is all over this, right?
SPEAKER_03: Because that's how this story started out.
SPEAKER_03: What God wants more than anything is a family, and sharing makes that family work.
SPEAKER_03: And so he creates in Genesis chapter 1, 1, male and female.
SPEAKER_03: What does he do as soon as he creates them?
SPEAKER_03: And he blesses them.
SPEAKER_03: That's in your soul.
SPEAKER_03: As a man or a woman or a human being, you were designed to receive the blessing from your Father in heaven.
SPEAKER_03: It animates you, it releases you, it empowers you.
SPEAKER_03: And if you think in some cultures, right, you want to talk about blessing, it's God's favor.
SPEAKER_03: We can go through all the Hebrew definitions of Barakul, right?
SPEAKER_03: Barakul Adunai, blessed be the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: But one of the connotations in a Middle Eastern culture is actually a friendly greeting to bless someone.
SPEAKER_03: You would see them and you would kiss them on the cheek, maybe hold their hand.
SPEAKER_03: So think about this.
SPEAKER_03: When Adam and Eve first show up, the first thing they see is joy in the eyes of their father, a smile on his face, and he blesses them with a loving attachment, with provision, with intimacy, with a job, with purpose, with resources, and folds them into their arm, kisses them on their cheek, and says, You are my beloved child in who I am well pleased.
SPEAKER_03: I believe that raging in the heart of every human in this room and in this world is a desire for blessing.
SPEAKER_03: A desire to be seen, known, loved, to have purpose, to have attachment, to have something to offer, to know that someone else is happy to see me.
SPEAKER_03: And I think we're all wrestling for it either the right way or the wrong way.
SPEAKER_03: It's fundamental, right?
SPEAKER_03: We saw this when Jacob wrestled with God for the blessing.
SPEAKER_03: He's holding on.
SPEAKER_03: He's obviously overpowered.
SPEAKER_03: His hip is out of socket.
SPEAKER_03: But what's he doing?
SPEAKER_03: He's got a five-point submission hold on his fifth metacarpal and going, I'm not letting you go until what?
SPEAKER_02: Until you bless me.
SPEAKER_03: Until you give me a new name.
SPEAKER_03: Until I know that you see me in the midst of my chaos and confusion and all of my riddled motivations and manipulations.
SPEAKER_03: If you're close, I'm grabbing a hold of you with everything I've got, and I'm not letting you go until you bless me.
SPEAKER_03: I want a real blessing.
SPEAKER_03: One that makes a difference in my real life.
SPEAKER_03: And one that I can really stake my life on and find that it's possible to live a different way.
SPEAKER_03: Not a moral platitude, not a hand-me-down teaching, not something you think is true.
SPEAKER_03: I need an encounter with God that blesses me so that I can bless others.
SPEAKER_03: And I think we see this here, them wrestling with the blessing, the outpouring of God's activity in Acts.
SPEAKER_03: So here's what I want to do.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna kind of walk you through something, a tool that was really helpful for me.
SPEAKER_03: I talked about it on the men's retreat when I was here, but they've forgotten everything I said.
SPEAKER_03: And so I'm gonna try to remind them one of my key axioms in life is I don't need to be instructed, I just need to be reminded.
SPEAKER_03: 90% of the things you're telling me, you're like, oh yeah, I know that.
SPEAKER_03: I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_03: And it's really hard not to hear my wife's voice in my head right now.
SPEAKER_03: But again, uh they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, got this from a guy named Dave Ferguson.
SPEAKER_03: And uh, when I was a younger minister, I wanted to be really cool and come up with everything.
SPEAKER_03: Now that I'm older, if it's already out there and better, I'll use it.
SPEAKER_03: So this is from him, and it's better, and we use it in all of our microchurches.
SPEAKER_03: Um, it's called the Bless Rhythms.
SPEAKER_03: And so you just look up just simple anachronym, takes the word blessed, right?
SPEAKER_03: Um, and it talks about everything that you'll see in this passage here.
SPEAKER_03: And it was really interesting.
SPEAKER_03: Um, there's a guy, Jeff Vanderstelt, who did incredible work in missional communities for the past 20 years, who I would consider somewhat of a guru, right?
SPEAKER_03: In small uh communities seeing discipleship and transformation.
SPEAKER_03: And I happened to be at a conference with him, and I'm like, bro, just tell me.
SPEAKER_03: The past 50 years, all the things that you've done, like, what is I'm trying to simplify it in discipleship.
SPEAKER_03: If you could simplify one thing and go, this is this is the thing, what would it be?
SPEAKER_03: He said, bless rhythms.
SPEAKER_03: I would do bless rhythms in my family, in my church, and in my relational circle.
SPEAKER_03: And I went, huh?
SPEAKER_03: Okay, let's take another look at that anacronym.
SPEAKER_03: I thought it was a silly anacronym.
SPEAKER_03: So this is it.
SPEAKER_03: Bless rhythms.
SPEAKER_03: B, you begin in prayer.
SPEAKER_03: L, you listen and engage.
SPEAKER_03: E, say it with me.
SPEAKER_03: S, serve, and then s, share your story.
SPEAKER_03: All right?
SPEAKER_03: Simple.
SPEAKER_03: It's a way that we can bless one another, bless each other.
SPEAKER_03: Simple thing at the dinner table.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, did anybody get to bless anybody today?
SPEAKER_03: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_03: Hey, did you pray for someone else beside yourself?
SPEAKER_03: Yes, great.
SPEAKER_03: You bless somebody.
SPEAKER_03: Anybody bless anybody today?
SPEAKER_03: Were you at lunch?
SPEAKER_03: Did you listen and engage with someone and ask them more than two questions, or just wait for your turn to talk?
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I picked up a pencil for someone who dropped it today.
SPEAKER_03: Awesome, serve.
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
SPEAKER_03: We're blessing.
SPEAKER_03: We're here.
SPEAKER_03: We are blessed in order to be a blessing.
SPEAKER_03: So now I want to, the context in which this drops into, I want you to see in our scripture here, right?
SPEAKER_03: You got Acts chapter one, which has come before Acts chapter two.
SPEAKER_03: You guys were talking about some of that last week.
SPEAKER_03: God's sovereignty and man's responsibility and Peter's sermon, right?
SPEAKER_03: Acts chapter one.
SPEAKER_03: Holy Spirit drops like liquid napalm.
SPEAKER_03: Okay?
SPEAKER_03: It burns up doubt and division, and all of a sudden, they are unified, they are together, and they are on fire, and they have a mission and a message that they're going to share.
SPEAKER_03: Acts chapter 2, recently reinstated Peter, rips off this sermon, and all of a sudden, what happens?
SPEAKER_03: 3,000 people come forward and fill out commitment cards.
SPEAKER_03: Can you believe it?
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: And after that Billy Graham revival, that's how we got the church we have today, right?
SPEAKER_03: Wrong.
SPEAKER_03: You had 3,000 converts, you didn't have any disciples yet.
SPEAKER_03: How did the church take 3,000 people who said, Jesus?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03: I believe in him and transform them into Christ's followers, devoted to his mission, his message, and his way, so much so that when Acts chapter 7 happens and persecution breaks out and they can no longer have a large group gathering, it spreads like wildfire through the persecuted Roman Empire, house to house to house to house.
SPEAKER_03: How does that happen?
SPEAKER_03: I believe the linchpin is right here in Acts chapter 2 and verse 42, and especially with this sentence.
SPEAKER_03: And they devoted themselves.
SPEAKER_03: And he devoted himself to be salt and light and to surrender and submit to the mission and message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: Some of us need to reaffirm our baptismal vows.
SPEAKER_03: They devoted themselves.
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't hard, it wasn't simple, right?
SPEAKER_03: Fellowship, breaking the bread, and the prayers.
SPEAKER_03: And they were filled with awe and wonder everything they had held in common together, took care of people's needs, had favor with everybody, and the Lord continued to add to their number daily.
SPEAKER_03: This is how the church moves forward.
SPEAKER_03: And so they devoted themselves.
SPEAKER_03: God reveals, we respond.
SPEAKER_03: God reveals, we God reveals, we respond.
SPEAKER_03: That is how it works.
SPEAKER_03: That's how intimacy works, that's how a relationship works, and that's how the Church of Jesus Christ will work.
SPEAKER_03: But here's the problem our stubborn pride, our satanic self-sufficiency, and we don't need anybody else, our isolation and our toxic shame becomes a barricade and a blockade to God's blessing that He wants to pour in you so that He can release it through you.
SPEAKER_03: What dare I say, like honey through a rock?
SPEAKER_03: So that people can taste and see that the Lord is good.
SPEAKER_03: How can we become a message that incarnates itself and moves into our neighborhood?
SPEAKER_03: How can you, Grand Parkway, become a community known?
SPEAKER_03: We're wrestling with the blessing.
SPEAKER_03: We want to figure out how much of a blessing we can be to put down the kingdom of God on earth in front of our neighbors and our neighborhood.
SPEAKER_03: And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the breaking of bread, the fellowship, and the prayers.
SPEAKER_03: Let's just kind of walk through this uh a little bit, and then you just ask the Holy Spirit kind of to put a highlighter on.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I needed to be reminded of that this morning.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there needs to be some intentionality.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I need to go home and I need to sit down with my husband, and we need to rework our calendar because right now we're serving our idolatrous kids.
SPEAKER_03: I got four kids in four different schools and five different activities.
SPEAKER_03: Pure chaos.
SPEAKER_03: I'm like leaking hundred dollar bills out of my back pocket.
SPEAKER_03: Waiting on having a conversation about leftovers.
SPEAKER_03: That's how I'm trying to make up money.
SPEAKER_03: My kids are like, I don't want any leftovers.
SPEAKER_03: Fool, you've never been poor.
SPEAKER_03: Making me mad.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: What are I'm telling you, at the end of the day, it's our habits that are gonna produce our holiness, right?
SPEAKER_03: Holiness sometimes means loneliness, but then after that, how can you get together with someone and go, hey, here are the core habits we decided to live by as a family in a church?
SPEAKER_03: And they take priority.
SPEAKER_03: I literally have to get my wife's analog, right?
SPEAKER_03: She wants a paper calendar.
SPEAKER_03: Um, we're we're so crazy right now.
SPEAKER_03: Um, the one comment that will probably put us back in marriage counseling is if you say it with a sneer, did you put it on the calendar?
SPEAKER_03: I it's been told to me a hundred times.
SPEAKER_03: I said it once and it was a mistake.
SPEAKER_03: But you're looking, you're going, okay, we got this, this, this, this, this.
SPEAKER_03: Uh okay, where's family dinner?
SPEAKER_03: Okay, where's our opportunity to serve?
SPEAKER_03: This is who we are as a family, and we're trying to do these things in the context of the community and the commitments that we've made, but sometimes those commitments have superseded the one that we made a long time ago.
SPEAKER_03: And that is I'll love the Lord God with all my heart, soul, strength, and my, and I will love my neighbor as myself.
SPEAKER_03: So B is begin in prayer, right?
SPEAKER_03: We believe in extraordinary prayer and fasting.
SPEAKER_03: Prayer always proceeds and then God exceeds.
SPEAKER_03: Prayer proceeds, God exceeds.
SPEAKER_03: I pray out of God's glorious riches.
SPEAKER_03: He's got He's got a lot of resources.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: May strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
SPEAKER_03: And I pray that you being rooted and established in love together, may have power together with all God's things, to grasp how deep and how wide, how long and how high is the love of Christ, and to know that that love surpasses knowledge.
SPEAKER_03: Now to him who's able to do what?
SPEAKER_03: Oh, exceedingly, abundantly, more than you could possibly hope, think, dream, or imagine.
SPEAKER_03: Kick it up, kick it down.
SPEAKER_03: Hallelujah, right?
SPEAKER_03: Extraordinary prayer fasting.
SPEAKER_03: Are your prayers too small?
SPEAKER_03: Like just think what you're asking for.
SPEAKER_03: Chances are God's gonna exceed that.
SPEAKER_03: Now it may not come the exact way, shape, form, or fashion, right?
SPEAKER_03: But you gotta know you're trusting him.
SPEAKER_03: God sends that provision.
SPEAKER_03: Here's what I need.
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes he sends that provision to remind you, and sometimes he builds your character to remind you that you can do more with less.
SPEAKER_03: Either way, he's exceeding some of your expectations all the time.
SPEAKER_03: It begins with extraordinary prayer and fasting.
SPEAKER_03: When's the last time you skipped the meal and said, God, I'm hungrier for your presence than I am for food?
SPEAKER_03: Why is it the most neglected thing from the Bible that we see that people have done for centuries?
SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_03: I'll tell you what, because I recently rediscovered it, it's a forced crisis and it sucks and sabotages you from all your old coping mechanisms and energy to think that you can do anything about it.
SPEAKER_03: Problem too is our prayer life, not much life in it sometimes.
SPEAKER_03: We utter dry, lifeless, faithless prayers that pitifully fall out of our parted lips and lie on the floor.
SPEAKER_03: That wasn't to God.
SPEAKER_03: That was to a religious rabbit's foot.
SPEAKER_03: What would it take, church, for prayer to be our first option and not our last resort?
SPEAKER_03: What would it look like to be in constant conversation?
SPEAKER_03: Whether God is so good that you're not always asking him for stuff, you're actually listening.
SPEAKER_03: And going, what do you need from me?
SPEAKER_03: I just wanted to be close to you.
SPEAKER_03: I was 16 years old in my youth group.
SPEAKER_03: They asked me to pray one time before service.
SPEAKER_03: I got really nervous and said out loud, they're like, uh yeah, please.
SPEAKER_03: So I just jumped right in.
SPEAKER_03: Dear Lord, thank you for this day and thank you for this food.
SPEAKER_03: Please bless it to our bodies and our bodies to your service.
SPEAKER_03: Two things was evident after that prayer.
SPEAKER_03: One, there was no food.
SPEAKER_03: Two is I had no relationship or intimacy with Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: I just spouted off a rote prayer from memory with no engagement and no intimacy.
SPEAKER_03: I think we need a little bit of life back into our prayer life.
SPEAKER_03: And again, if you want to have extraordinary prayer, I had somebody tell me this once.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, whatever you're doing now is ordinary.
SPEAKER_03: Add one thing to it, guess what?
SPEAKER_03: It's extraordinary.
SPEAKER_03: Keep doing that until it becomes ordinary, and then guess what?
SPEAKER_03: Try something else.
SPEAKER_03: Guess what?
SPEAKER_03: You've got an extraordinary prayer life, extraordinary prayer and fasting.
SPEAKER_03: So, two questions I want you to, I'll put these all up at the end of this, but two questions I want you to be thinking about is how can you make prayer your first response instead of your last resort?
SPEAKER_03: And then what's one thing you could add this week to your prayer life to make it extraordinary?
SPEAKER_03: I'm just gonna carry a sheet of paper in my pocket.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, so analog.
SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna take the notes section out on my phone.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm gonna ask the Lord to give me five names of people I see this week that start praying for them and bless them.
SPEAKER_03: Just see what happens.
SPEAKER_03: By the way, see what happens when you start praying consistently for someone.
SPEAKER_03: Just watch.
SPEAKER_03: Your spiritual intendant is up if things start happening that you you can't possibly explain.
SPEAKER_03: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_03: Have fun with it.
SPEAKER_03: Um, so listen engage, right?
SPEAKER_03: And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.
SPEAKER_03: And listen, selling their possessions and belonging, and they held all things together in common.
SPEAKER_03: Fellowship, and one of the things a fellow fellowship has to have in order to exist is you have to share.
SPEAKER_03: A koinonia, that's part of that word there.
SPEAKER_03: And part of that is sharing our ears and our attention.
SPEAKER_03: And the second one in blessed rhythms, it says, listen and engage.
SPEAKER_03: The reason we I think they had to add engage is some of us listen, but we never engage with what we hear.
SPEAKER_03: How do they know who has need?
SPEAKER_03: How do they know how to distribute everything that they're sharing?
SPEAKER_03: Someone is listening, and someone is engaging in doing something about it.
SPEAKER_03: I think listening and engaging, although we think it is simple, I think it's absolutely critical that we learn how to bless each other with the gift of listening and engagement.
SPEAKER_03: And there was this incredibly bold statement that that led to in this text.
SPEAKER_03: And all who believed were together.
SPEAKER_03: Church, have we lost our sense of together?
SPEAKER_03: Who are your together people?
SPEAKER_03: Oh, by the power and the blood of Jesus Christ, may we have the courage to crush the idols of narcissism, consumerism, and individualism, which are wreaking havoc upon our church life in the sense that we have no sense of together.
SPEAKER_03: We have no sense of commitment or devotion.
SPEAKER_03: We are driven to distraction so much so that we truly can't even listen and engage with the person in front of us.
SPEAKER_03: Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I gotta go.
SPEAKER_03: And it's almost at epidemic proportions.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't say that um as hyperbole, but like as trying to use scientific language.
SPEAKER_03: Here's some stats, and mind you, by the way, this was before COVID.
SPEAKER_03: 2003, UCLA researchers discovered the physical effects of loneliness on the brain.
SPEAKER_03: They discovered that it produces the same sense of physical pain in that part of the brain.
SPEAKER_03: That when you're lonely, no one's listening, engaging it, you're excluded or rejected, it stimulates that same area.
SPEAKER_03: Time magazine called loneliness the next great health epidemic, on par with obesity and substance abuse.
SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of words.
SPEAKER_03: Let me condense it for you.
SPEAKER_03: They said that loneliness reduces stress that leads to inflammation, all this fun stuff.
SPEAKER_03: They said loneliness has more devastating effects on your health than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
SPEAKER_03: So here's the good news.
SPEAKER_03: If you got a lot of good friends who listen and engage, smoke them if you got them.
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: Just kidding, students.
SPEAKER_03: I know you're vaping.
SPEAKER_03: Um I love smoking a USB pork.
SPEAKER_03: Go back for a second to that quote.
SPEAKER_03: Um, anyway, don't worry about it.
SPEAKER_03: Uh they said the the 18 to 24 year olds are the ones that are being most directly affected by that.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, look around.
SPEAKER_03: That's the people you don't think about in your church.
SPEAKER_03: They become no man's land.
SPEAKER_03: That demographic.
SPEAKER_03: Invite them over, listen and engage.
SPEAKER_03: Make them feel connected to an extended spiritual family.
SPEAKER_03: Do you have any idea of the power of truly listening and engaging?
SPEAKER_03: Dallas Willard said it this way: the first act of love is giving attention.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus recorded 307 questions in his gospels.
SPEAKER_03: Do you think he knew the answer to those?
SPEAKER_03: Why was he asking him?
SPEAKER_03: He was listening and he was engaging.
SPEAKER_03: I wonder if we can't, church, develop a contagious and compassionate curiosity about the human soul living next door to you.
SPEAKER_03: Be kind because everyone you meet is fighting a fierce hidden battle.
SPEAKER_03: And just take some time and ask some good follow-up questions.
SPEAKER_03: One time we were uh working with our youth and walking through this, and what we did was we actually had them put their phones in a different room, sit down, face one another, and give them four questions to ask one another to develop conversational skills.
SPEAKER_03: It's the best night album I said.
SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, did you know this about such and such and such and such?
SPEAKER_03: You mean the girl you've been friends with for eight years?
SPEAKER_03: True, I think it's it's a skill and an art to listen and engage, to ask follow-up questions.
SPEAKER_03: Recently I took a coaching class, not like for sports, but for people.
SPEAKER_03: And their big thing is you hold back from advice and telling people what to do, and you're trying to lead them to clarity, right?
SPEAKER_03: First five minutes I'm talking, I'm having to fight everything down on me as a prophetic pastor and go, all right, here, I can tell you what your problem is, and here's your solution.
SPEAKER_03: Let's save some time, let's go.
SPEAKER_03: And I mean, it's just come, it's I'm choking it back.
SPEAKER_03: And I would be patient.
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, okay, tell me a little bit more about that.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, show me how you arrived at this conclusion.
SPEAKER_03: Great, what about this?
SPEAKER_03: What about this?
SPEAKER_03: Hands down, every single time we practiced it in our cohorts about this, about minute 15, every person broke down crying.
SPEAKER_03: Because they uncluttered their prefrontal cortex, and it took them 15 to 20 minutes to actually say what was really going on in their life and what they needed help with.
SPEAKER_03: The power of patience, the power of presence, and the power of listening and engaging and asking thoughtful, inspired, Holy Spirit-directed questions while you look with a compassionate curiosity that reflects the eyes of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: So, a question I have for you is who the person, who can you practice listening and engaging with this week?
SPEAKER_03: Just wait, like watch the Holy Spirit drop it like this and go, that person, spend a little bit more time.
SPEAKER_03: Get a little bit of curiosity around that.
SPEAKER_03: And then who is the person you trust to listen and engage with you?
SPEAKER_03: Because here's what I know in a room this size, we we've we've got some Green Beret ninja Christians, right?
SPEAKER_03: You're the ones that do it all.
SPEAKER_03: You're always serving, you're always doing this, you're the person that everyone comes to talk.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, you need to talk to so-and-so, sister so-and-so.
SPEAKER_03: She's a great listener, right?
SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
SPEAKER_03: Who does that for you?
SPEAKER_03: Or are you isolated in your pride that you're the person who can't have anything wrong with them?
SPEAKER_03: And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, fellowship breaking of bread, and the prayers.
SPEAKER_03: I'll try to move quickly here, but this is my favorite one.
SPEAKER_03: Eat, right?
SPEAKER_03: Every day they broke bread from house to house.
SPEAKER_03: They ate their food with glad and sincere hearts.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, my favorite statement from John McLare is the gospel in one sentence.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus ate good food with bad people.
SPEAKER_03: You can come up with your own one sentence one, and if it's until it's better than that, I'm sticking with that one, okay?
SPEAKER_03: That's the summary of the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus ate good food with bad people, right?
SPEAKER_03: The table is where acquaintances become friends, and friends become family.
SPEAKER_03: Here's the problem.
SPEAKER_03: Here's some more stats for you.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, we've lost table fellowship.
SPEAKER_03: We've lost a table, we're losing it.
SPEAKER_03: And here's what some research has told us about what it looks like to have family meals together.
SPEAKER_03: Number one factor for parents raising kids who are drug-free, healthy, intelligent, and kind human beings: frequent family dinners.
SPEAKER_03: Number one shaper of vocabulary in young children.
SPEAKER_03: Say it with me, frequent family dinners.
SPEAKER_03: Number one predictor of future academic success for elementary school's children.
SPEAKER_03: One of the best safeguards against obesity eating disorders, frequent family dinners that exude a positive atmosphere, the variable most associated with lower instance of depressive and suicidal thought among 11 to 18 year olds.
SPEAKER_03: Just so we're clear, that's not a silver bullet.
SPEAKER_03: You can have all the family dinners in your world, and you can still have a child with depression and suicidal ideation.
SPEAKER_03: Okay?
SPEAKER_03: And can still struggle at school.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: We're not saying that's the cure.
SPEAKER_03: What we're saying is there is evidence that it is beneficial to the human soul to share a meal together, to lock eyes and listen and engage with one another and have a sense of identity, that this is the story I fit into, and this is a place where I belong and I matter, and I can come and celebrate my successes, and I can also come with my failures for support and encouragement about how to move forward.
SPEAKER_03: No, we're not talking about that.
SPEAKER_03: Here's Jesus' eating stats, by the way, in the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_03: That one by somebody once said it this way.
SPEAKER_03: If we want to look to Jesus, as the author and perfector of our faith, in Luke, he was either going to a meal, eating a meal, or on his way to his next meal.
SPEAKER_03: Would you have spent that much time eating if you were the son of God and you had three years to establish the kingdom of God and disciple and start a movement that would last for the redemption of humanity?
SPEAKER_03: Would you have spent like two and three hour meals with people?
SPEAKER_03: I think eating and meal sharing makes the gospel good news to our neighbors.
SPEAKER_03: I think we got fast food and a high caloric diet that has no nutritional, emotional, or spiritual density in our lives.
SPEAKER_03: What does it look like to carve out the table once again?
SPEAKER_03: Now you may be saying, Chris, breaking a bread, is that the Lord's Supper or is that the love meal share that there is?
SPEAKER_03: It's both.
SPEAKER_03: I think it's both.
SPEAKER_03: And you guys do a great job of doing Eucharist and Lord's Suppers here, making coming forward.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love it.
SPEAKER_03: Just don't forget the second half, which is actually opening up your home and sharing a meal with someone.
SPEAKER_03: And you can do it at restaurants, I think it's great, but don't forget, leaders of the church, hospitality is a requirement of leadership.
SPEAKER_03: Something happens when someone comes into your space, whether that's your apartment, whether it's highly furnished, whether it's dirty, no matter what it is, when you invite people into your space, you're being getting close to what Paul said in Thessalonians.
SPEAKER_03: Because we cared for you so much, we were happy not only to share the gospel with you, but our lives as well.
SPEAKER_03: Some of the biggest hurdles that we have to get over in the microchurch world is we're embarrassed of our homes.
SPEAKER_03: But I can tell you all the stains on my couch and my carpet.
SPEAKER_03: All right.
SPEAKER_03: It is well used.
SPEAKER_03: When we first started opening up our home for mirror sharing and gathering purposes, I see everything that's wrong with my house.
SPEAKER_03: And the Holy Spirit said, you need to go first so other people have courage when their house isn't perfect.
SPEAKER_03: I got no problems when it comes to that with discussing my sin life, but when you're actually in my home, it's like, oh, I don't want you to see this.
SPEAKER_03: No.
SPEAKER_03: Koinania.
SPEAKER_03: Share with what you have and what you've been given.
SPEAKER_03: There's a reason why Jesus made eating a sacrament.
SPEAKER_03: I want you to listen to this quote from Alan Hirsch.
SPEAKER_03: Sharing meals together is one of the most sacred practices we can engage in as believers.
SPEAKER_03: If every Christian in a family regularly invited a stranger or a poor person in the home for a meal once a week, we would literally change the world by eating.
SPEAKER_03: Do you agree with that statement?
SPEAKER_03: Will you do anything about it?
SPEAKER_03: One of the things that we try to do is how do I start making more at every meal?
SPEAKER_03: How do we go?
SPEAKER_03: Hey, Wednesdays is the night where if you want to invite a friend, you can.
SPEAKER_03: And by the way, if you have kids, they're the greatest evangelists ever.
SPEAKER_03: Hey, invite a friend to dinner.
SPEAKER_03: Always make more.
SPEAKER_03: I was sharing this with a couple I married.
SPEAKER_03: My wife discipled a girl named Mel, and then she married a guy named Muhammad Akalut.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're welcome.
SPEAKER_03: We called him Mo.
SPEAKER_03: Straight up Arabic, Muslim descent, converted to Christianity, great guy.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm telling him about meal share and he goes, thanks for helping me out with it.
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, what?
SPEAKER_03: He goes, man, every time we made dinner, my mom would make like way too much.
SPEAKER_03: And I didn't realize it was in case any of our uncles or brothers stopped by.
SPEAKER_03: You're a little bit more closer to Jesus' culture.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: Make more so that when someone's coming, you're not freaking out.
SPEAKER_03: And by the way, it doesn't have to be good food.
SPEAKER_03: Seriously.
SPEAKER_03: People just want to be fed.
SPEAKER_03: And at some point, yeah, up your game.
SPEAKER_03: I started as a microchurch pastor in meal sharing.
SPEAKER_03: We meal share every time we gather.
SPEAKER_03: And I was contributing nothing.
SPEAKER_03: And so I started to get disciplined in food preparation.
SPEAKER_03: Man, I can make some grits, cheese, and bacon that is lights out.
SPEAKER_03: Grilled chicken, I've started to step it up.
SPEAKER_03: I'm doing an awesome job.
SPEAKER_03: And then all of a sudden, um, we have like 16 of our microchurch leaders that come over Wednesday for equipping, and the first thing I do is feed them.
SPEAKER_03: And so three hours, I'm making Aussie sausage rolls, I'm making these Ruben pickle bites, right?
SPEAKER_03: I'm making barbecue chicken dip.
SPEAKER_03: And they're like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_03: I'm praying for them why I'm preparing.
SPEAKER_03: And cooking for them makes me love them more.
SPEAKER_03: And in the words of one of our great women of faith, I can't fix it, but I can feed it.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm an introvert.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't like eating lunch.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't want to be trapped spending that much time with you.
SPEAKER_03: Start meal sharing, start sitting down, start truly being present.
SPEAKER_03: And at the table, nine times out of ten, you can do all the blessed rhythms.
SPEAKER_03: You can pray, listen, and engage.
SPEAKER_03: You can serve and you can share your story.
SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm running out of time.
SPEAKER_03: I'm loving it, okay?
SPEAKER_03: We'll we'll pick up the next half of this sermon when I come back next time, okay?
SPEAKER_03: No, finish it.
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: They devote themselves to the apostles' teaching, uh, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer.
SPEAKER_03: So uh this is the S for serve.
SPEAKER_03: When we serve, we are making visible and viable expression of Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: I believe that service is the sign language of the saints to a world that has gone deaf to the message of Christianity.
SPEAKER_03: Question for you on this What's your favorite way to serve?
SPEAKER_03: And who can you call to help you serve?
SPEAKER_03: Don't do it alone.
SPEAKER_03: You know what my Easter preparation was this year for sermon?
SPEAKER_03: Helping a single mom change a battery out of her son's car, then hearing that the brakes were totally out rubbing on the rotors.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know how to fix brakes or rotors, but I was the one who heard it.
SPEAKER_03: And so guess what I did?
SPEAKER_03: I decided to share that with somebody I knew who could fix brakes.
SPEAKER_03: And I said, buddy, I've always wanted to learn.
SPEAKER_03: Let's go.
SPEAKER_03: And for three hours in the middle of Holy Week, we put rotors and brakes on a single mom's son's vehicle who said this when we asked him about it.
SPEAKER_03: I didn't want to say anything because I knew it would cost too much money.
SPEAKER_03: What's your favorite way to serve?
SPEAKER_03: And who can you serve with?
SPEAKER_03: A lot of times the Lord will call you ways to serve that you're not very good at.
SPEAKER_03: So guess what?
SPEAKER_03: Call your friend who is.
SPEAKER_03: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_03: There you get fellowship as well.
SPEAKER_03: Serve and then share your story.
SPEAKER_03: This is what I put under the apostles' teaching, right?
SPEAKER_03: The apostles are sharing their story in their encounter with Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: They're going back to the Old Testament, they're making a cause for Christ, they're preaching and they're teaching and they're doing signs and wonders, right?
SPEAKER_03: They share their story, they share their lives, they're sharing their interactions with Jesus.
SPEAKER_03: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_03: So when I say share your story, I say share your story in light of God's story and how he's been working in and through you.
SPEAKER_03: Because once you're starting to uh pray for people, you're starting to listen, you're starting to eat, you're starting to serve, there's going to come an opportunity for you to talk about Jesus Christ and what he's done in and through and for you, right?
SPEAKER_03: And in a narrative way.
SPEAKER_03: It's also what we do in every microchurch.
SPEAKER_03: Every day we're on a text thread and we walk through scripture together every day.
SPEAKER_03: And someone tweet uh texts out, hey, this is what I thought about this scripture.
SPEAKER_03: We so want to be saturated and marinated in God's story that his words and his wills are second nature to us.
SPEAKER_03: But the problem is most of us don't think we have a story to tell, or we have a story, but we've never interpreted it, or we've never learned it to tell it in a compelling way.
SPEAKER_03: You've got so many stories about how God's worked in and through you, we need to learn how to share them.
SPEAKER_03: It's the last thing I'll tell you, and then we'll do some uh reflection questions.
SPEAKER_03: Uh and forgive me if I love this.
SPEAKER_03: I just uh I love it when science is catching up and academics to the truth of what's happening here.
SPEAKER_03: I don't do that in a vindictive way, I do that in a all right, check it out.
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
SPEAKER_03: Ben Thompson, um, it went Boston University, postdoc at Yale and Harvard.
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: He uh has been studying uh uh recovery groups, right?
SPEAKER_03: Uh he's an alcoholic who got sober and then worked in prison and then in private practice, and he's noticing what is what some of the key components to people actually letting go of that old identity and embracing a new way of living and behavior.
SPEAKER_03: Well, he coined the term narrative identity.
SPEAKER_03: So two things usually happen when someone makes a turn.
SPEAKER_03: One, they self identify with a group, okay?
SPEAKER_03: Whether that's a church.
SPEAKER_03: Whether that's a recovery, whether that's a family, they're like, oh, this is where I belong.
SPEAKER_03: And this informs who I am.
SPEAKER_03: It's one for narrative identity.
SPEAKER_03: The second thing is, he says, you listen to someone else's story and you experience their thoughts, their emotions, and their feelings, and you make them your own, and you believe the outcome that happened for them is actually possible for you.
SPEAKER_03: Narrative identity.
SPEAKER_03: What is uh Dr.
SPEAKER_03: Ben Thompson telling us there?
SPEAKER_03: He's only telling us what the gospel already said, right?
SPEAKER_03: I've been crucified with Christ.
SPEAKER_03: I no longer live, but I identify with Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And the life I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.
SPEAKER_03: Already telling us what we know, right, about the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: We are a part of God's family, and God's not ashamed to be called our God.
SPEAKER_03: We have that group identity, we have that individual identity, and we know when we hear people's stories, it changes us.
SPEAKER_03: Second reason I tell you that story.
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
SPEAKER_03: Ben Thompson came to live with us as a college student when he was 20 years old, and I was first learning the power of telling my story, not just the pretty parts, but the ugly parts.
SPEAKER_03: He's one of the first people that I told it about, and he said that day changed the rest of my life, and I've spent the last 25 years trying to offer what you shared with me and your story to other people.
SPEAKER_02: Share your story.
SPEAKER_02: You'll have no idea what God will do with it.
SPEAKER_03: Begin in prayer, listen and engage, eat, serve, share your story, right?
SPEAKER_03: Devote ourselves to apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: So on the screen is a couple questions.
SPEAKER_03: I ask you just to kind of pick one and maybe discuss it as a family or as an individual and go, hey, how can we make this an intentional rhythm this week?
SPEAKER_03: How can we get our faith into practice?
SPEAKER_03: And how can I wrestle with the blessing that I'm receiving and then offering it to others?
SPEAKER_03: Let's listen together.
SPEAKER_03: Got a couple quick video announcements, and then I'll speak a prayer blessing over us, and we'll be dismissed, and you can pass by all the angry people in the lobby because I went long.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.
SPEAKER_00: This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.
SPEAKER_00: Our hymn sing is next Sunday, April 30th, from 6 to 7 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the student building.
SPEAKER_00: Join us as we sing the hymns of the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone is welcome, so bring a friend.
SPEAKER_00: Men's Breakfast is a great time to eat and pray together.
SPEAKER_00: It is this Tuesday, April 25th, from 5 45 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: to 7 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the student building.
SPEAKER_00: We hope to see you there.
SPEAKER_00: Camp Arc registration opens today.
SPEAKER_00: This camp is for our 18 months through entering kindergarten children.
SPEAKER_00: It is from June 20th through the 22nd, from 9.15 a.m.
SPEAKER_00: to 1 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the kids' building.
SPEAKER_00: Each day there will be a variety of activities including gymnastics, bounce houses, water activities, and more.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, today is the last day to register for our women's spring Bible study class, Armor of God Standing Firm.
SPEAKER_00: It is a four-week-long look at Ephesians 6 and the armor God gives us so we can stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: It starts this Wednesday, April 26th from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: in the gathering room.
SPEAKER_00: To register for our events, please head over to grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you have questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.
SPEAKER_03: Dear God, thank you for this food.
SPEAKER_03: Just kidding.
SPEAKER_03: May God be gracious to you and bless you and cause his face to shine mightily upon you.
SPEAKER_03: May you be filled with a great joy and generosity.
SPEAKER_03: May there be awe and wonder at the signs of the saint serving and blessing and eating and listening, engaging with one another.
SPEAKER_03: And may this week may we be devoted to the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and the prayers.
SPEAKER_03: In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: You are dismissed.