Godly Leaders

Okay, well good morning everyone. Happy New Year to you. It is so lovely to welcome so many of you

back after holidays. Hope you had a great time. Wonderful to see you again and lovely to meet

some new faces this morning as well. Know that you are so welcome with us here and genuinely know

if there's anything that we can do to serve you as a local church, it would be our delight to be

able to do that. Let me invite you to come expectantly to the book in the Bible called

Titus. You might want to grab a Bible, your own Bible that you came with or one in the pew or

maybe you want to scroll on your phone, a little inside tip for finding Titus. It's in the New

Testament, one of the letters towards the end. It's in among these clusters of T's. So you get

1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. So it's the last of the T's. So if you find yourself

in one of those T's, you know roughly where to go. As you're turning there, let me give you a big

invite to our prayer and pizza evening tonight at 6.30. We're going to do a big prayer push this year

as a church just to embed and try and gather everyone into the prayer life of the church.

More details on that will come in the next couple of weeks. But for tonight, we're going to stick with

a time of half past six for some pizza, eat together, and then we're going to move straight

into a time of prayer, finishing up roughly half seven, maybe just after half past seven.

If you got one of the prayer cards on the way in tonight, this is supposed to be the focus for the

month, the things that we're praying for as a church, as well as the usual church activities.

We want to be a church that just blesses others and gives away prayer. So we are praying tonight for

Charlotte Chapel, just giving away prayer, praying for another church in our city. They've told us how we

can pray for them. And we're also going to be praying for, as Ian alluded to, UCCF and their

events week, which is happening this week. So particularly if you're a student here tonight,

whether you're at Edinburgh or elsewhere, or maybe particularly you love the work of UCCF,

it was a huge part in my growth as a Christian. Or if you're just a student, we would love to pray

particularly for you tonight. So please do come along if you are in those categories. It would just be

lovely to be able to do that with you. So that's 6.30 tonight. Do grab one of those cards

on the way out. Now I've waggled on the tea long enough that you should have found Titus, hopefully.

But this is what we do as a church at the beginning of every single new year. We do it to shake off the

Christmas new year grogginess, and we do it to get the caffeine into our spiritual systems, as it were.

We do a short sermon series from a book in the Bible that reminds us who we are,

what we believe as a local church, and why we exist. Have I left the clicker down there? I know

it's in my back pocket. There we go. So this is Titus chapter 1. So come with me, we'll read it

Titus 1 · chapter mention

together, and then we will hear God's voice as we unpack it a little bit together. So Paul writes

this. This is chapter 1 we're going to take in this morning. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to

godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of

time, and which now at his appointed season, he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to

me by the command of God our Saviour. To Titus, my true son in our common faith, grace and peace from

God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put

in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. An elder must be

blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild

and disobedient. Since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless, not overbearing,

not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather,

he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy,

and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught,

so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For there are many

rebellious people full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.

They must be silenced because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not

to teach, and that for the sake of dishonest gain. One of Crete's own prophets has said it.

Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons. This saying is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply

so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the

merely human commands of those who reject the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to

those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences

are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions, they deny him. They are detestable,

disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good. And God will add the blessing to his inspired word

this morning. As we get into Titus, let me let you into a conversation that we had with one of our

children when they came back from school a few months ago. And it was the day after one of those

Monday school strikes. If you remember, we had lots of them a few months ago. And we asked her,

what did your friends do yesterday? And she said that one of them had a yes day.

Now, I don't know if you're familiar with this modern day fad. It's taken from this Netflix film

that came out in 2021. If you've got a couple of hours, there's better things to do with your time,

but you can watch it if you go home. But see the strapline of this film. For a whole 24 hours,

kids make the rules. And the whole thing of the film is that for 24 hours, mum and dad have to say yes

to everything that their children suggest. And the whole idea behind this film is that life's really

dull and boring when you just say no. And actually, real fun is to be found when you say yes to whatever

you desire and whatever you want in the moment. Now, we've actually watched this film.

And I have to say, if ever you're looking for a film that captures the spirit of our age,

then you would do a lot worse than capturing the message of that one. See, our ruggedly

individualistic culture, it prizes self-expression. Now, the bigwigs, the people who get paid tons of

money at Netflix aren't stupid, they know that impulse living is attractive in our world.

And because this is the air that you and I breathe every day as we live our lives in this world,

I imagine that like osmosis, some of it has made its way into our systems probably way more than we

realise. Are you like me in that every so often you pause and you think to yourself,

am I missing out? As a believer in Jesus, am I missing

the whole reason that I'm kind of designed to find joy and happiness in this world?

Do you know, this letter of Titus has wonderfully reminded me of both the privilege and the joy

of being able to say no to the way that our culture and our world thinks and lives. Now,

why on earth would you do that? The answer is that the disciple of Jesus has had their eyes

opened to something way better. Now, here is Paul, verse 1, come with me to the text. He's writing to

his son in the faith called Titus, which I always think is a wonderful name, at verse 4. Titus is this

guy who we meet in a few other places in the New Testament. He's playing his part in the unity and the

growth of the early church as well as one of Paul's travelling companions. And the two of them likely

preach about Jesus and plant this church on the island of Crete. Now, I tried to put the map up

there rather than images of the island, lest you get distracted by the thoughts of summer holidays.

Yeah, there they are on Crete. Now, if you look at verse 12, you'll get a little glimpse into

Cretan culture. What are the people in Crete like? They say the Scots are tight. They say the Irish are

cheeky. They say Londoners are rude because they never speak to you on the tube, right? What about

Cretans? Well, see Paul quotes from one of Crete's greatest thinkers, this man called Epimenides.

Do you see it in verse 12? He says this about his fellow Cretans. He says,

Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy glutted. Now, that's a slogan I don't imagine the

Visit Crete Tourist Board are going to use anytime soon. Crete in this day is an island famous for

having no wild animals, which means that David Attebra and his team aren't going to pitch up

on Crete and shoot a nature documentary. But the joke that they make about Cretans is that the fact

that they have no wild animals is more than made up for the fact that they have tons of wild people.

Wildlifes. And this is where Paul pitches up with the gospel. And you think to yourself,

surely when it comes to people that are going to maybe make lightly converts,

surely there's what we would call lower hanging fruit.

Surely there's easier places to go to make inroads with the gospel in this day.

But here's the thing that Paul is convinced of, that the only thing that has the power to create

a spiritual and moral revolution on the island of Crete is the gospel.

It's the only thing that's going to transform the lives of the people on this island.

This message about the crucified and risen Jesus.

And because that's true, I think this letter invites us to pray big gospel prayers

and have big gospel ambitions this year.

Here's the question I've been asking myself all week.

Am I convinced and are you convinced as we look out on our city and all the people and all the businesses

and all the dreams and all the influence that there is here,

that if there is to be leaders who do the right thing, truth winning over untruth,

people putting other people first, different generations not just speaking past each other,

but coming together as one, if there's to be that kind of revolution in our city,

then the only thing that's going to do it, the only thing that can deliver the goods is the gospel.

The only thing that's going to transform our society is this message about Jesus Christ.

And dear friends, know that the church are right at the centre of it.

Now, here's what I want you to see.

I want you to see what the church are called at verse 1.

Do you see it?

Don't miss the term.

It's so easy to skip over the introduction to letters like this.

But actually, this is one of the most detailed and long introductions we get in Paul's letters.

He wants Titus to know things.

He wants him to know things about the church.

What are they called?

They are called God's elect.

Now, let that phrase both stretch you and thrill you this morning.

Because that means if you are a Christian here today, that that is no small thing.

How often we just write it off as if it is.

If it's just another lifestyle choice amongst the thousands of others that we could pick in this world.

No, no, no, no.

Paul says, if you're here today, you love and follow this Jesus.

That is an incredible thing.

As ordinary as you think your life looks.

Know that it's anything but ordinary as far as heaven is concerned.

It means if you're a Christian here today, this word, it's all caught up in this word.

That God the Father in eternity past, it was his pleasure to choose you and give you to God the Son.

And at a moment in time, which we've just celebrated at Christmas, God the Son, he came.

He took on our flesh.

And at that point, he took a name called Jesus.

Jesus, the man who lived the perfect life, the one that we couldn't live.

The Bible's word for that is his righteousness.

Jesus, the man who died the death that you and I should have died on the cross.

The Bible's idea for that is substitution.

And on the third day, Jesus rises from the dead.

He later ascends to heaven.

And from heaven, the Spirit was sent.

And he came and he applied that work of Jesus to our lives as we heard and as we responded to the gospel.

Just think about that for a minute.

That every time eternal life surfaces in Edinburgh, sorry, eternal life surfaces in Edinburgh every time that we talk about Jesus.

And the Spirit, he dwells in our hearts so that we can share and know the love that the Father has for his Son.

And we can live for that purpose.

Do you see?

To be a Christian is no small thing.

And verse 1, Titus is to work to help the disciples on Crete.

Do you see?

What's he to do?

Help them grow in their knowledge of the truth that will in turn lead to godliness.

Do you see that word?

Godliness.

And don't confuse that word with goodliness.

This is not about our determination to turn over a new leaf.

This is not about us cleaning up our act on the outside.

You know, there's a woman in the States called Jen Wilkin.

She's just a brilliant thinker.

Just love reading her work.

She puts this so much better than I can.

I thought about paraphrasing it and I thought, no, we'll just give her the quote.

Here's what she says.

If we focus on our actions without addressing our hearts,

we may end up merely as better behaved lovers of self.

No, godliness is different from goodliness.

Godliness is how the grace of Jesus transforms us on the inside

and produces Jesus-like fruit for his glory and by his grace on the outside.

What's going to work on Crete?

What's going to convince people of the truth of the claims of Jesus

is when the ordinary people of this island see in Christians

the effect of a transformed life.

Now, I hope that encourages you here today.

We're going to see this as we travel through this letter

because you might think, my Christian life is anything but extraordinary.

You think what you're doing in your life is anything but extraordinary.

You think nobody notices me.

Friends, this tells you that God has got purposes for your life.

Good works is a huge theme in this letter.

Don't underestimate the power and the witness of a transformed life

wherever you are, whatever you're doing.

You see, if Cretans are liars,

in other words, if truth is negotiable, if truth is moldable,

if Cretans are knowing as being evil,

and I take it that just means people are encouraged to let their passions run wild,

and if Cretans are knowing as being lazy,

which may well be a reference to their work ethic,

do you know what?

It might just also be a fact that people just live for today

and they never think about tomorrow.

How striking then, throughout this letter,

that Paul says Jesus' people will be marked by things

that are completely the opposite of that.

They will be marked by a love for sound truth,

and sound is just the opposite of diseased.

A love for sound truth,

a desire for self-control,

and a zeal for good works.

Now, how different, strikingly different,

is a community like that

going to look on an island like Crete?

How different is a church like that

going to look in a city like ours?

It was the late John Stott who said,

it's only dead fish you go with the flow.

And see, crucial to all of this

is the leaders of this church.

The Bible's word for leaders of the church is elders.

That's why you get that word elders here.

The men who are tasked with being

the Christ-like servant leaders of the church family.

See, Paul's concern in this letter

is the passing of the leadership baton

from him to Titus.

And also he's concerned for the generation of elders

who will come both alongside Titus

and come after Titus.

That's what Titus is to put into order at verse 5.

And as you might expect,

leadership in the church

is radically different

from leadership in the world.

Do you want a little fun fact about Crete?

Didn't know it until this week,

so it was really cool.

Do you know why Cretans are known as liars?

It's not a joke.

It sounds like a joke, doesn't it?

It's not.

It's because they claim to be the place

where Zeus was born.

Right?

Apparently that's where Zeus is born, on Crete.

People love that fact on Crete.

People outside Crete look in and say,

no chance.

Really hot potato topic in this day.

Zeus, the chief Greek deity,

considered to be the ruler,

the protector,

and the father of all gods and humans.

Now, regardless of whether or not

that fact is a fact,

if that's fake news in our terms,

think about what that potentially means

for how leadership and how power

are viewed in Crete.

If you are breathing the air every day

of the guy who is famously depicted

as carrying a thunderbolt in his hand,

surely on some level,

that's got to subconsciously work its way

through your system and into the mindset

as you consider the power and influence

that you have,

even as small as it may be.

Why does Paul have to mention

that Christian elders are not to be arrogant

and quick-tempered and violent?

Could it well be that that is just

what you default to doing with power

and the influence that you have in Crete?

You know, my brother who works in finance,

his phone went off the other day.

Someone had liked his post on LinkedIn.

Now, some of you will be on that.

I don't even know whether it's a social media site or not.

Some of you will have no idea what I'm talking about.

It's a place where you,

online, you just upload your CV and credentials

so that the wider world can see.

And I asked him, I said,

do you like using LinkedIn?

LinkedIn?

And he said, well, kind of in my field,

you have to.

And this was his line.

He said, it's the app of shameless self-promotion.

See, in our world, friends,

you and I are used to composing

and putting together CVs

that say to a prospective employer,

this is how high and how willing I am to jump.

Whereas the CV of a Christian leader says,

not this is how high I can jump.

A CV of a Christian leader says,

this is how low I'm willing to stoop.

Christian leadership is not about following the man

with a thunderbolt in his hand.

Christian leadership is about seeking to emulate the man

who has a cross on his back.

And when Paul talks about elders here,

do you notice how he doesn't primarily talk about structures?

You know, as important as they are,

I take it is pretty context specific

when you think about structures in a church.

Nor does he talk about competency.

He talks here primarily about,

and you see it,

he talks about character.

And what you get here is just a contrast

between good leaders and bad leaders.

The type of which there are clearly many

who are prowling around the church scene in Crete

and who are peddling a distorted and a false gospel,

who are seeking to deny the sufficiency of Jesus

and his death

and the transforming effect of grace,

who are saying,

you kind of need to clean up your outside act

and do stuff.

Whereas that is not what the gospel of grace says.

And you might be saying to yourself,

why should I care about elders?

Let me just say,

we should all care about this

because the stakes are really, really high.

You go wrong here,

you appoint the wrong kind of elders,

you let the wrong kind of people have influence,

and there are disastrous consequences

for the health and the well-being of the church,

not to mention, I think,

particularly in Crete,

the reputation of the gospel.

And I had someone tell me the other day

how they refuse to buy brew dog beer anymore.

And the reason is

that they simply detest

how the owner has abused his power

and has treated his employees

now that that whole thing has been made public.

You understand, don't you,

if you're in leadership

and it goes wrong there,

the disastrous effect

for the renown of Jesus

as it can have on a city.

Eldership really matters.

Let me just say there are five of us men

who do this here at Brunsfield

who serve in this role.

There we are on the screen.

The reason that Pete and JT's names

are in white there,

just to clarify,

is simply just the color contrast.

They're not special.

Special, okay?

But consider this

permission

to keep us accountable

that we are serving you

by doing this

and by being this.

We should all care

about leadership in the church.

Just really quickly,

there are two things

that are telltale signs

that someone is elder material.

Remember, Paul is saying to Titus,

you need to appoint men like this

to lead the church.

They're going to give themselves

for the good of the people.

Let me just say,

before we get into this,

it's our joy to serve you

as elders here.

It really is.

It really is.

I get to do this full-time.

These guys do it.

A mixture of part-time.

These guys do it

on top of full-time jobs,

looking after children,

all the rest of it.

Can I just say,

don't say this to me,

but go out of your way

to thank these men.

I see,

I see how hard they work for you.

How they labor,

how they toil,

how they visit,

how they write emails,

how they plan.

They do this

on top of everything else

that they do,

and they do it

because they love Jesus

and they love you.

Here's the first one

we were talking about elder material.

It's the fruit of his life.

See, the world makes a distinction

between someone's public

and private life,

and I guess that their private life

is considered less important

than simply their ability

to do the job.

When it comes to eldership,

it is completely the opposite.

It's completely the opposite.

And maybe you're here today

and you're not a Christian.

We love that you're here.

Maybe can I just ask you,

do you see

the examples

and the effects

of bad leadership

as you look at our world?

I want you to know,

and God wants you to know,

that in his church

this should be exactly the same.

Maybe you're here today

and you've been burnt

by the church over the years

by bad leadership.

How do you say that?

I'm so, so sorry

that that has been the case.

Know how God feels about that

when we see the standards

that he wants in his leaders.

You know,

a good indicator

that someone is going to be

good at loving

and leading the spiritual family

of God.

Paul says,

look at how he loves

and leads his

biological family.

And I take it

that doesn't mean

that just only elders

are the ones who are married

and have a family.

I don't think that's

the application here.

But I think Paul's saying

if you want a good guess

at how he's going to be

at leading the

spiritual family of God,

look at his own life.

If he has one,

does he have children?

Do his children,

and I take it the word there

is talking about

young children still at home,

how are they with him?

Does he take the time?

Can you see it

to nurture his children?

Does he enjoy them?

Does he see them

as a blessing in his life?

Is he bringing them up

to know Jesus?

And talking to families,

what does his wife say about him?

The person who sees him

when no one else is watching,

the person who sees him

when his guard is down,

how does he relate to her?

Is it clear to everyone watching

that he has eyes for her alone?

Does he seek to show hospitality?

I take it that's more than just

does he throw a decent dinner party?

This is more akin to

does he welcome

and does he love strangers?

Is his home a place,

a safe place of refuge for people?

And why does that matter?

It matters because

does his heart reflect

the God of radical hospitality?

You know, they always say

that you should dance

like no one's watching.

Well, an elder friend

is to be this

when no one's watching.

He's not putting it on.

This is not his game face.

He comes

and this is just who he is.

Consider the fruit of his life

and equally consider

the truth from his lips.

Do you see verse 9?

Does he hold firmly

to that trustworthy message

as has been taught?

Does he know the gospel?

Does he love the gospel?

Does he hold the gospel?

Again, because it's the truth

that's going to lead to godliness.

It's the truth

that's going to lead

to the flourishing of this church.

It's not about how well

we're able to do events.

It's not about how structured we are.

What is going to transform

this church

and continue to do it

for God's glory

is the truth.

It's the truth.

Now, in our world

where in 2016

the word post-truth

was declared to be

the word of the year

by the Oxford Dictionary.

And there's a lovely

little irony there, isn't there,

in the truth

that that word

is actually two words,

but we'll let that go.

Into our post-truth world,

see when the going gets tough,

an elder who's worth his soul

is not going to shapeshift

with the changing seasons

of culture.

No, an elder will hold

steadfastly to the truth

of the gospel,

be willing to take the hit for it

because he loves it

and he's convinced of it

and he loves Jesus.

He loves Jesus' people.

And that means

as elders,

as we lead through

our teaching,

notwithstanding the place

of creativity up here,

what you will find up here

is nothing

but an unashamed commitment

to unoriginality.

Now, this is Tim Chester.

He's written a great commentary

on this called Titus.

He says it like this.

He says,

peddling orthodoxy

is not a great way

to make a name for yourself.

Sell books

or draw a crowd

because by very definition,

it's all been said before.

And let me just say,

we are committed as leaders

to being teachers

who just say

what's been said before.

For generations before us,

for millennia before us,

that's the truth of Jesus Christ.

Why?

Because God's word

is eternal.

And that's what we need.

The truth will lead

to godliness.

See maybe the offensive angle

in this at verse 9.

Why does he do this?

An elder,

so that he can encourage

others with it.

Do you know in our world

where it's all too easy

just to position yourself

in a social media echo chamber

and you just surround yourself

with opinions

that you just agree with?

A loving elder

will know

that what is nicest

for you to hear

is not always

the best thing

for you to hear.

He will put

your eternal destiny

before your present comfort.

He will have

that word

because he loves you.

Let me just ask you

to just broaden it out

a little bit.

Friends,

do you have people

in your lives

who will tell you

the hard things

that you don't want to hear?

And you know

that they will do that

because they love you.

Not that they're nitpicking

or they're out to get you.

You know that they love you.

Do you have people

like that in your life?

I take it that's why

we need each other,

that we can speak the truth

in love to each other.

See the defensive angle

on it as well.

He will refute

those who oppose it.

Clearly knows,

Paul knows the situation

in Crete

where these false teachers

are on the prowl.

Verse 10,

he calls them

rebellious people

full of meaningless talk

and deception.

I take it he's really strong

on this

because he loves Titus

and he loves

what God is doing

through this church in Crete.

Paul exposes their motives.

Verse 11,

do you see,

for dishonest gain.

Clearly,

whatever they were saying

was enough

to unsettle these Christians.

People,

Paul says,

verse 16,

are people who profess

to know God

but who deny him

by their works.

You know,

we went for a walk

on New Year's Day

across the moors

where my parents live,

just outside Glasgow.

We realized we'd brought

outside boots

for two of the children

and not one of the children.

So Grace is on this walk.

She's wearing her trainers

and she's jumping in

and out of muddy puddles.

And it doesn't take us long,

or sorry,

it didn't take long

before those trainers

were absolutely soaking wet.

And we utter

the classic line

that you always

utter as parents.

For goodness sake,

you're soaked

right through.

And I take it Paul

is saying here

that an elder

is a man

who is soaked

right through

with the gospel.

You ring him

when the pressure

gets tough,

that's what's going

to come out of him.

And he is the flip

of verse 16.

He will be somebody

who claims to know God

and he shows it

by his works.

Now listen,

our time's gone,

but let me just finish

with this thought.

You know,

we started thinking

about a little girl

who had a yes day.

Just as we close,

let me tell you a story

I heard recently

about a man

who had a no day.

He was a Church of Scotland

minister from years ago

who ministered up

in this tiny village

in the north of Scotland

called May.

Right?

You'll never have heard

of May.

I had to Google it

where it was this week,

but it is famous

for one thing

and one thing only.

It's got a castle.

Royal family,

occasionally I think

have gone there

over the years.

And the story goes

about this minister

in this church,

this elder,

that the Queen

happened to be up

in that neck of the woods

one time

on her Scottish trip.

And the minister

was called

by the Queen's aide

and the Queen's aide

really simply said,

would you join

the Queen and I

for dinner?

And this minister,

he turned it down

because that evening

happened to be

the church prayer meeting

and he made a commitment

to eight of his fellow

parishioners,

the story goes,

to be with them

and to pray with them.

So slightly kicking himself

that he missed

the opportunity,

a while later,

the phone goes

and it's the QM,

the Queen Mother's aide again

and he said,

the Queen got your message

and she wants you to know

that you made

a really wise choice

and actually you can

come round for dinner

tomorrow night

if you want.

And listen,

a good elder,

just as we finish,

will be a man

who is not dazzled

by the glitz

and the glamour,

a man who's not

swayed by public opinion,

a man who's not

swayed by celebrity status,

a man who's not

seeking platform

and likes,

a man who's committed

to God's truth

and he's committed

to the people

that God has called

him to love

and to serve.

So that is why

Paul says,

that's why I left you

in Crete.

Let me just let you

into the verse

that we're going to

think about next week

and I think this is

the heart of the letter

but let's just finish

with this and you'll

see the themes

that we picked up

on a lot of today.

Chapter 2,

verse 11,

Paul writes this,

for the grace of God

has appeared,

bringing salvation

for all people,

training us

to renounce

ungodliness

and worldly passions

and to live

self-controlled,

uplight

and godly lives

in the present age,

waiting

for our

blessed hope,

the appearing

of the glory

of our great God

and Saviour,

Jesus Christ.

Father,

we thank you

so much

for this morning

and we thank you

for your word.

And Lord,

I just pray

that as a church

this year,

we would be marked

by a radical

dependence on you.

Father,

as we

we want

our church

to be,

as the Lord Jesus

said,

a light

that's shining

on a hill,

Father,

that others

would look in here

and that they

would see

the grace

of Jesus

that truly

transforms.

So Father,

I pray,

maybe pray

for myself

and for the other

elders here today,

Lord,

that you would help

us to lead

like Jesus.

Lord,

would a love

for him

spill out

into a love

for the people

of this church

and a renown

for your name

across this city.

Father,

help us

to be

a people

who live

self-controlled

lives,

upright in every way

as we wait

for the returning

glorious

Jesus.

In his name

we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.