Peter and Cornelius - Alyssa McKnight

[SPEAKER_00]: Hello everyone and welcome to one for those who don't know me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure you're like who's this random person up on the stage But my name is Alyssa and I work in the children's ministry here at one So

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's my kids' loot that's over there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So being off here, talking in front of adults and youth, I guess, is a little bit different to what I'm used to.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm used to people about this big, but that's okay.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to start this sermon the same way that I start a lot of the kids' services.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want you all to close your eyes if you want.

[SPEAKER_00]: And imagine the start of this story with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: The story will be looking at today begins with two men, who are by nature, nation, and occupation very different.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two men who live in different cities, who have never met each other, and I'm sure never planned to.

[SPEAKER_00]: Can you guys see them in your mind's eye?

[UNKNOWN]: Great.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, there's two men in the most important way are similar.

[SPEAKER_00]: They are two devout men who are praying and waiting on God.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right, you can open your eyes now.

[SPEAKER_00]: Please don't fall asleep.

[SPEAKER_00]: We've only just started.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the first men we meet today is Cornelius.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius was a gentle, a Roman centurion, which means he was a professional, battle-hardened commander.

[SPEAKER_00]: He lived and commanded in the city of Caesar Rea, which was the Roman administrative capital of Judea.

[SPEAKER_00]: the heart of Gentile power.

[SPEAKER_00]: Moreover, Cornelius was a centering of the Italian cohort and the lead troop of men recruited directly from Italy.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was an influential figure in Roman power.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, that's not all we know about Cornelius.

[SPEAKER_00]: The scripture also indicates that Cornelius was a devout man who gave generously,

[SPEAKER_00]: His heart was searching, and more than just searching, it seems that he was pretty committed on Israel's God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius was sincere, devout, generous, and prayerful, but he still needed to hear the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that brings us to our second person today.

[SPEAKER_00]: The second manual and man that you were imagining was Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure that Peter might be a little bit more familiar to lots of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter was a Jew.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was an eyewitness of most of Jesus' teachings, and first handedly heard a lot of what Jesus said.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and now it was a teacher and leading the early church.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is where we pick up our story in Acts chapter 10, verse three.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have your Bible, it's open up and read along with me.

[SPEAKER_00]: About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision, an angel of the Lord come in and say to him,

[SPEAKER_00]: Cornelius, and he said, him and Tara and said, what is it, Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: And he said to him, your prayers and your arms have ascended as a memorial before God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now, send men to dropper and bring back one Simon, who is called Peter.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is lodging with one Simon, a Tanner, whose house is by the sea.

[SPEAKER_00]: When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants a devout soldier from among those who attended him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And having related everything to them, he said them to drop up.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up to the house drop about the sixth hour to pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: and he became hungry and wanted something to eat.

[SPEAKER_00]: But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.

[SPEAKER_00]: He saw the heavens opened up and something like a great sheet descending from it.

[SPEAKER_00]: There we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: Being let down by its four corners, are upon the earth.

[SPEAKER_00]: In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there came a voice to him, rise Peter, kill and eat.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the voice came to him again, a second time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, God has made clean, do not call common.

[SPEAKER_00]: This happened three times, and the thing was taken up to heaven, back up to heaven at once.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let us pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, God, I thank you for the opportunity to come here and to hear your word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, I just thank you that you're among us, what I pray, that you are preparing our hearts for what is about to be said, Lord, and that as we relate it to our own lives, Lord, let it fit so perfectly.

[SPEAKER_00]: God, I pray, that you will, yeah, give us the attention and the focus, Lord, I pray, of any distractions that they will, they will be quieted, Lord, and we'll just be able to focus on your word and your Holy Spirit as it comes and prompts us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, these two men who are very different are both praying and they are giving complimentary visions.

[SPEAKER_00]: Each different in some way, but can commanding different actions, but pointing towards the same outcome, which we will see later.

[SPEAKER_00]: And both preparing the recipient's hearts and minds for the profound change that is about to occur.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what is interesting and what we're going to explore today?

[SPEAKER_00]: is Peter and Cornelius's responses to their vision.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's start by looking at Peter's response first.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Peter's vision, God commands him to rise, kill, and eat the animals, reptiles, and birds that were within this great sheet.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what is his reply?

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter says, this is in verse 14, by no means Lord, or in the NIV, Peter said, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a response.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who else is there thinking, Peter, do you know who you were talking to?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, by the way, that he says Lord, after the word no, Peter does know that it is God he is talking to.

[SPEAKER_00]: That it is God, he is saying no to.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, what is key to point out here is that Peter isn't maliciously denying God, but he is honestly confused.

[SPEAKER_00]: Refusing to eat these unclean or what he thought was unclean food, most likely impetus mind was an act of obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: He is being faithful to the dietary laws within the law, or the Torah, but it's also deeper than that.

[SPEAKER_00]: These laws defined Peter's identity.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were core to his religion and what it meant to be Jewish.

[SPEAKER_00]: But Peter's vision is not really just about food itself.

[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, God uses the food to represent a group of people, the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: At that time, Peter would have seen Gentiles like Cornelius as unclean outsiders.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jewish customs made entering a Gentile's home and eating with them, defiling.

[SPEAKER_00]: And along with these laws and customs, there were generations of trauma and hate between the Jews and the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: For Peter, he's no Lord, is not just about following some random law.

[SPEAKER_00]: I imagine Peter might be questioning.

[SPEAKER_00]: He might be saying, if this is truly what you are commanding me to do, God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if I go through this, if I go to the Gentiles house, if I eat with them, if I share the gospel with them, accepting them like a brother, I am in some way betraying everything I thought up to this point, I understood about what it means to be Jewish.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm sure we can understand Peter's response of surely not, but.

[SPEAKER_00]: By no means, I am allowed to go eat with this man.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, while Peter's response is understandable, he is still denying God.

[SPEAKER_00]: His Jewish traditions are limiting how he thinks God can work and who he thinks God can reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: The boundaries that Peter has placed around God is limiting Peter's ability to be obedient.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me say that again, the boundaries that Peter placed around God is limiting Peter's ability to be obedient.

[SPEAKER_00]: But in some way, isn't this response so typical of all of us in this room?

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't we also pray for moments to be obedient to God?

[SPEAKER_00]: That God's will will be done in our life, that He'll shade up the ground of all our tradition, break down the walls of all our religion.

[SPEAKER_00]: But when that moment actually comes, do we respond like Peter?

[SPEAKER_00]: Do we say, surely not God?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's too difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: or that's too confusing or I'm quite comfortable here in what you've already provided for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe that doesn't align with filling the blank tradition or limitation that I have put you in.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm not saying that you shouldn't be discerning, you most definitely should test spirits and prophecies and words, but my question is, when the time comes,

[SPEAKER_00]: a your heart and mind willing to be completely shifted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it seems incomprehensible, like for Peter, or not what you had planned.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's Peter's response, and let's compare this with Cornelius's response.

[SPEAKER_00]: An angel of the Lord comes to Cornelius and inverse for Cornelius says, Oh, Cornelius stared at him in terror and said, what is it, Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are response that is?

[SPEAKER_00]: In the midst of terror or and confusion, he says, what is it, Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: He's open to what God is about to do in his life.

[SPEAKER_00]: On that day, it seems like Cornelius was more responsive to God than what Peter was.

[SPEAKER_00]: Peter had put God in a box of limitations, but how dangerous is that?

[SPEAKER_00]: How dangerous is it to our own faith and to the growth of those around us to limit how we think God can work?

[SPEAKER_00]: Spursion writes something really good about this.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, shake yourself up a little, my brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're too precise, may the Lord set you on fire and consume the bonds of red tape.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you've become so improperly proper that you cannot commit a proper improper pricey

[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a little bit confusing, but just wait.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then, pray, God, to help you be less proper.

[SPEAKER_00]: For there are many who will never be saved by your instrumentality while you study propriety.

[SPEAKER_00]: By the sound of that reaction, I think a lot of you were like me and needed a re-wording.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I re-worded it for us all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wake yourself up a little, my brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you have become too careful and controlled, may the Lord stir a fire in you

[SPEAKER_00]: If you are now so overly proper that you cannot risk doing something a little unconventional for the right reason, then ask God to help you become less concerned with appearances.

[SPEAKER_00]: Many people may never be reached through your ministry if you are always studying what is proper instead of acting with courage and urgency.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit convicting for all of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It sounds very harsh, but isn't it so true?

[SPEAKER_00]: Our minds are often focused on having control and trying to know everything that they limit God's capabilities.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are not willing to be unconventional, courageous or urgent, and just like Peter, we're not trying to be disobedient.

[SPEAKER_00]: We are just living according to the categories we've always known.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, what unconventional opportunities to share God's word and to make disciples are we missing out on because of these categories.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's only until we break down the walls, the box of rules and limitations that we put God into can we follow God's calling without objection and hesitation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Without saying no, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but that leaves me in a place thinking, how will I ever do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: My mind is only little.

[SPEAKER_00]: How am I views on God meant to be limitless?

[SPEAKER_00]: If the human mind by its nature has limits.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, God is so gracious and merciful that He doesn't just stop at our limitations.

[SPEAKER_00]: James Roskup writes, it is one thing.

[SPEAKER_00]: to say no to God in prayer out of defiance.

[SPEAKER_00]: But another, to say no in a heart that is obedient, but misunderstanding how things fit.

[SPEAKER_00]: God discerns and is patient to teach the receptive to do what he wants.

[SPEAKER_00]: As he now just Peter, along by his word here, and us by the completed scripture.

[SPEAKER_00]: So God knows, after all, he did create us, little mind and all.

[SPEAKER_00]: He knows that we don't get everything right on the first try and he will be patient with us until we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what this quote really highlights is that God discerns and his patient to teach the receptive what he wants.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see this clearly with Peter,

[SPEAKER_00]: God doesn't just send the vision once and Peter refuses and God's like, oh well, you've lost your chance.

[SPEAKER_00]: God sends it three times.

[SPEAKER_00]: God understood that Peter needed a bigger emphasis to break through his rigid tradition and was kind enough to provide it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And God will do the same with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: If our hearts and minds are receptive,

[SPEAKER_00]: He will prepare them to be changed.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it might be in a matter of minutes, days like here in Peter's case, or a much longer amount of time.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God is not a God of confusion, but of love and kindness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, he will be loving and kind as he upturns all of our assumptions about him and reshapes our understanding to align with his.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see in the rest of Acts 10 and into Acts 11, how God continues to break down Peter's traditions and opens his mind.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what attracts from a man's transformative event in Christian history, this is.

[SPEAKER_00]: The church opens up to a whole nation of people who are desiring God and yet were shut out.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's read what happens in Acts 10, verse 44, while Peter was still sharing these things.

Acts 10:44

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the believers from among the circumcised, who had come with Peter, were amazed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because the gift of the Holy Spirit was being poured out, even on the Gentiles.

[SPEAKER_00]: For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God.

[SPEAKER_00]: water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, and they asked him to remain for some days.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit falls upon the Gentiles in a way that closely mirrors pentacost in Acts 2.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is undeniable that this is God's doing, and Peter knew this.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the following chapter, the believers back in Jerusalem, so who didn't witness any of this, were criticizing why Peter had gone into a Gentile's home and eaten with them, preached to them, except to them like a brother.

[SPEAKER_00]: They were like, we don't do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as Peter was explaining all that had happened, an Axel 11 for 17 Peter sets.

[SPEAKER_00]: So if God gave them the same gift, he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could stand in God's way.

[SPEAKER_00]: What a profound transformation of Peter's heart and mind, going from no Lord, to who am I to stand in your way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that is my challenge to you today.

[SPEAKER_00]: How can you go from no Lord to who am I to stand in your way when God calls you to do something?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that is a big question.

[SPEAKER_00]: Definitely one that I have no perfect answer to.

[SPEAKER_00]: But something I believe will need consistent work and commitment in my life.

[SPEAKER_00]: After all,

[SPEAKER_00]: We are limited humans and get caught up in our own plans.

[SPEAKER_00]: So my new question for you, up here on the screen, is are you willing to put in the time, effort, and prayer needed to stay obedient to God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because it will be a journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not like you get it right once and you'll get it right again the next time.

[SPEAKER_00]: It will herb and flow, but God is patient and just throughout it all.

[SPEAKER_00]: but just are you willing to put in the time, effort, and prayer needed to stay obedient to God?

[SPEAKER_00]: I have been lucky enough to have God radically shift my life in the matter of a week, recently.

[SPEAKER_00]: God called me to something, I was definitely not expecting and all that I could do was say, yes, God, who am I to stand in your way?

[SPEAKER_00]: And in the midst of this uncertainty, following God without being able to see much of the path ahead of me,

[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted a few things about how to shift my mindset from no board to who am I to stand in your way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I am by no means perfect at this, but these are a few things that helped me.

[SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully they can help you too if you're going through something similar.

[SPEAKER_00]: God taught me to abide in Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: To abide means to abode in something.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't help all.

[SPEAKER_00]: but to dwell and to reside.

[SPEAKER_00]: It means to be, it means to be in continued, close, and permanent relationship with something.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like when you're in the Holy Spirit intertwined, like when you lock your fingers like this, there's no way of separating you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And in John 15, we're called to abide in God, wrong button, here we go.

[SPEAKER_00]: in verse 4, abide in me and I in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am the vine and you are the branch.

[SPEAKER_00]: As this is Jesus talking, whoever abides in me and I in him, he is it that bears much fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: For a part from me, you can do nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: If anyone does not abide in me, he will be thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branch gets gathered and thrown into the fire and burnt.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you abide in me and my words in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I love the scripture for multiple reasons.

[SPEAKER_00]: Firstly, we are called to abide in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we are assured that the Holy Spirit will abide in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: The first six words, seven words up there, says, abide in me and I in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a true, it's not a one-way street.

[SPEAKER_00]: But as we draw near to God, God draws near to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: As we abide in God, God or the Holy Spirit abides in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because of this,

[SPEAKER_00]: We will experience Christ-like character, obedience, and love that we could have never produced on our own.

[SPEAKER_00]: But this scripture goes further than producing fruit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says that those who abide in God and God's word abides in them will receive whatever they wish.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's in the last little sentence up there.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is possible because the natural outcome of abiding is that our will aligns with God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let me say that too again, the natural outcome of abiding is that our will will become will align with God's.

[SPEAKER_00]: And therefore, what we want will mirror what God already has planned for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: So bring it back to us.

[SPEAKER_00]: In moments when we are called, when God is calling you into the unknown, this might be about maybe a current situation or a bad upcoming decision.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or a relationship, you don't know what to do with.

[SPEAKER_00]: I encourage you to abide in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now it's really easy to say abide in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's really easy to say, yeah, I'll do that.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what does that actually practically look like?

[SPEAKER_00]: It is spending time in prayer, in reading and studying the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: The basics, but these are the foundations for a reason.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have never mastered these, but as you grow in them, as you grow in your Christian journey, you were called to deeper levels beyond what you initially thought was possible.

[SPEAKER_00]: We see in Acts 10, both Cornelius and Peter, what are they doing when God encounters

[SPEAKER_00]: They are praying, and they are in entirely different stages of their Christian journey, and yet they are both still obediently abiding in God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And out of their prayer, out of their relationship with God, God encounters them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now God can encounter us in every different way, not just when we're praying, but

[SPEAKER_00]: a posture.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is our heart posture to abide in God and these are practical ways to get to that point and will help but is ultimately about our heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I ask you, are you abiding in God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not in the sense that you quickly pray or read the Bible to tick a box, but are you making

[SPEAKER_00]: in God is he your dwelling place and if he truly is your will will become his, your no Lord will become who am I to stand in your way.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I invite you all to reflect with me back

[SPEAKER_00]: Who have you been keeping at a distance?

[SPEAKER_00]: Assuming God would not welcome or use or pursue them, is there someone God is calling you to see differently?

[SPEAKER_00]: Not as a problem or as an outsider, but as a person made in his image and within the reach of his grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Who is your Cornelius?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you don't know, then ask God, pray that he will show you someone for you to go and reach, and say, yes, God, who am I to stand in your way of that?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or another question, what is your no-z Lord?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are the categories that you have learned to live by?

[SPEAKER_00]: What are the limitations that you have attributed to God?

[SPEAKER_00]: That inhibits you from saying, yes, God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Is it a view or a tradition that God is challenging like here in Peter's case?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you trying to uphold a certain appearance or a certain reputation that is getting in your way?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you too complacent with what is comfortable that you're not willing to step out in boldness?

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's your no-lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is, I encourage you to challenge and wrestle with it because whatever is holding you back is only harming your faith and those that God is calling you to reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe you're here for the first time thinking, what on earth is all of this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Or maybe you're someone thinking, God can't work through me.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is not my story.

[SPEAKER_00]: This might be for other people, but it's definitely not for me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I can tell you right now that that is far from the truth.

[SPEAKER_00]: The whole point of God calling Peter to reach the Gentiles is to prove that God is for everyone.

[SPEAKER_00]: No, there is no limit to God's reach.

[SPEAKER_00]: The apex of Acts 10 is in chapter, sorry, is in verse 34 and 35.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, when Peter began to speak, oh, then Peter began to speak.

[SPEAKER_00]: I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but it accepts from every nation, the one who fears him and does what is right.

[SPEAKER_00]: No matter who you are, if you love God very much, or if you are here in the church for the first time today and don't really know what's going on, God knows you.

[SPEAKER_00]: He sees you and he loves you.

[SPEAKER_00]: God shows no partiality, no background, no nation, past, personality, weakness, decisions can ever place you beyond God's grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Because Jesus, through Jesus, because of Jesus, all who believe receive forgiveness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you willing to be bold in God?

[SPEAKER_00]: Perhaps your step today is trusting Jesus for the first time.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it is allowing him to challenge a boundary that you have carried for years.

[SPEAKER_00]: Either way,

[SPEAKER_00]: May our response be, yes, Lord, who am I to stand in your way?

[SPEAKER_00]: So let me pray, Father God, I thank you that you show no partiality.

[SPEAKER_00]: I thank you that your church is open to everyone from any walk in life, who believe in you and trust in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you, that through Jesus, forgiveness and new life is offered to everyone who believes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Look at, forgive us, for the times we have placed limits around you.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the times we have allowed our traditions, our fears, our comforts, our assumptions to stand in the way of your obedience.

[SPEAKER_00]: But thank you, that you are loving and faithful.

[SPEAKER_00]: I pray Lord that you will reveal places where we are still saying no Lord, where we still need your grace and kindness to help change these assumptions so that we can be obedient.

[SPEAKER_00]: Give us receptive hearts.

[SPEAKER_00]: help us to abide in you through prayer, through your word, through the leading of your spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let Lord let it not be a tick of a box that we do these things, but Lord let it be out of a place of true desire to know you more, Lord, to let our will become yours.

[SPEAKER_00]: Borden, when we do not understand what you are doing, teach us to trust your character because we know that you are loving and that you are faithful and that you are a generous Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that nothing you are calling us into can be any different from that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Borden, when following feels uncomfortable or uncertain, give us courage to obey.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord show us the people that we may have overlooked, avoided or kept at a distance.

[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to see them as you see them, Lord valued and within reach of your grace.

[SPEAKER_00]: Make us bold and compassionate as we share the good news of Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord may our response to your leading become yes Lord, who am I to stand in your way?

[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to surrender our plans and assumptions and our lives over to you, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let our true prayer Lord, our true post to be post to your will be done.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your kingdom come, Lord, in your name, Jesus, amen.