Putting Down Roots: Week 6

Welcome to Church at the Crossing. My name is Andrew, and if this

is your first time, if you're new to Church at the Crossing, I'm

so glad that you chose to be here today. Today we are finishing our

message series that we've been in and it's a series we've been calling putting down

Roots. In this series, we are studying the Book of Collossians, and

in Collossions chapter two, we read it says you are rooted in Christ Jesus.

And so this whole series we've been talking about how our roots are in

Jesus. And today we're gonna wrap this up by looking at the last chapter

of Collossians. That's Collossians chapter four. And in this section we're gonna read

and learn about how to share the message and the good news of Jesus.

And so I want to start by sharing a story today. It's a story

about a young man that I know. This young man was in high school

one summer when he went to a Christian summer camp. And the summer camp

was hosted on the college campus of a university. And all week long,

this young man and other high schoolers were learning about the Bible. They were

learning about Christian faith, Christian doctrine. They were learning about world religions and

the debates about faith, and towards the end of the week, this young

man and the other campers were given an assignment kind of a workshop to go

into the community in the college campus and engage strangers in conversation about faith.

Some people call this evangelism or witnessing. And so this young man was going

to go and talk to strangers about Jesus, and the camp gave him some

tools. They gave him some talking points that they gave him certain tools,

like one of them was called the four Killer questions, and the killer questions

were like debate techniques like how do you know that's true? Or what do

you mean by that? Or what difference does that make in your life?

And I think the fourth one was what if you're wrong and you die?

So just some little small talk, right, So, armed with his killer

questions and his tool as, this young man went out and he started to

talk with strangers and try to talk about Jesus and faith. And he talked

to a handful of people that afternoon, and after a few hours he went

back to the camp and rejoined the rest of the campers, and they debriefed

their experience. Now I want to ask you that day, what do you

think how many people did that young man lead to faith in Jesus? Zero?

And another question for you, who do you think that young man was?

That was me? And I've come a long way since trying to argue

about faith. Today, I want to talk about a better way to sharing

the message and the hope of Jesus. Because the good news of Jesus is

the greatest news in the entire world. The good news of Jesus is life

transforming news. It's the greatest news because it's the news that there is a

God who has created us, and who has loved us so much that he

would become a human being, that he would walk in our shoes, that

he would suffer what we suffer, and most of all, that he would

die in our place, paying the price for our sins so that we could

be forgiven so we can have eternal life. This is great news. And

if we were to take time today in this space, each of us has

a story to tell of how you have experienced the good news of Jesus.

If we were to take time to hear these stories, we would hear stories

of marriages that were healed, addictions that have been broken, depression that's been

removed, a hope that's been restored. We would hear so many stories here

of God's provision and God's goodness because you've experienced his grace. You've been forgiven,

you've been saved, You've been redeemed because of Jesus. Now, imagine

for a moment, just think what would your life be like today if you

had never heard the message of Jesus. What would your life be like if

you had never been transformed by the grace and the love of Jesus. What

would other people have to say about you if you didn't know Jesus. What

would your family be like? Your relationships look like? What insecurities or struggles

or sins or fears would you be fighting today if you didn't know Jesus.

Jesus is a solution. We've been changed by Jesus. And there's a community

here that we live in with so many people who don't know about the good

news of Jesus. They don't know that there's a God who has endless love

for them, who wants to lead their life and transform their life and give

them hope and give them purpose. There are so many in our community living

in darkness, who are living trapped in bondage to sin, to addiction,

who are living in suffering and in brokenness, and Jesus is the hope for

our community. You know, each week I often review some of the prayer

requests that come into our church. They come in on the connect cards there

and the seatbacks are digitally through email, and so many of the prayer requests

I read have the names of family members and relatives and friends that we are

praying for who are not Christians, but we want them to become Christians.

We want them to be transformed by Jesus. We want to see our world,

our community, our families changed by Jesus. And Jesus calls you and

me to be a part of this work in sharing the good news message.

When Jesus was on earth, he was talking with his disciples just before he

went back to heaven, and he gave some pretty clear instructions to them and

to us. Jesus said this in Acts one eight. He said, you

will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends

of the earth. You and I are Jesus's witnesses. Notice, look at

this text closely. Does he say you'll be my politician. Does he say

you'll be my activists or my protesters. He doesn't say that you'll be my

soldiers. And he doesn't get hyper spiritual and say you'll be my spiritual gurus

or my monks. He says you are my witnesses. And what does a

witness do. A witness gives testimony. A witness retells what they have seen,

what they have heard, and what they've experienced. That's what a witness

does. We are called to be his witnesses. And so the question that

we're asking today is what is a Christian witness? What is a witness for

Jesus? What is a Christian witness that a witness for Jesus. Well,

we're gonna take a look at the text of Colossians, chapter four, and

let me give some background here. Colossians was originally a letter that was written

by Paul, a leader in the early Church. This was written in the

first century to other Christians, giving them instruction and helping them follow Jesus and

So here's what Paul writes in Colossians for Starting in verse two, he says,

devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, and pray for us

too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we

may proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I'm in chains. Pray that I

may proclaim it clearly, as I should now look closely. Here at verse

three, Paul writes, pray that God may open a door for our message.

A Christian witness is a life that opens doors for the Gospel of Jesus

through words and actions. Christian witness is about opening doors. And this is

the big idea today. This is the main point. There's one thing that

I want each of us to remember today when we walk out. If you'll

remember this big idea, open doors for the Gospel. Open doors for the

Gospel. The Gospel simply means good news, the good news that Jesus died

for our sins and rose from the dead to give us eternal life. You

and I, through our witness, we get to open yours for the Gospel.

Who you are, how you live, what you say. It opens

doors. So the other people who are outside the Gospel can come inside the

faith. Let's keep reading in our text. Here in verse five we read,

be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of

every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt,

so that you may know how to answer everyone. Notice here in the

first line of this verse, be wise in the way you act toward outsiders.

This scripture makes an assumption that there are insiders and there are outsiders.

Insiders are Christians. Insiders are those who have put their faith in trust in

Jesus. Insiders is someone who says, I am a sinner, I need

God's forgiveness, and I'm gonna follow Jesus. That's an insider, and an

outsider is somebody who is not a Christian, who has not put faith in

Jesus, who has not trusted in Jesus. But the good news is that

God will it's everyone to come on the inside. God wants everyone to come

inside the family of God, and our witness opens doors so that others can

come inside the Family of God. Last summer, my wife Lauren surprised me

for my birthday by making reservations at a secret, hidden restaurant here in Indianapolis.

That's right. It's a secret restaurant. It doesn't have a sign,

it's not publicized or advertised. In fact, it's a secret restaurant that's inside

of another restaurant, a public, well known restaurant. And so we arrived

at the public restaurant, and we went up to the host and we gave

like a password or a code word to confirm our reservation, and then the

host escorted us, led us through the main restaurant, through the dining room,

throughout the past other customers, through the kitchen, and then we came

to the secret dark door. And I can't remember exactly, but I think

the host had a code word or a secret knock that opened the door to

this secret, hidden restaurant. And inside it was really small. It was

this tiny maybe room for ten or twelve people. It was beautifully decorated,

and this little restaurant was called a sound space or a listening room. And

what that means is every part of this restaurant, from Florida ceiling, the

architecture, the furniture, everything was perfectly designed and perfectly placed to have perfect

sound acoustics so you could listen to music on old record players and the food

was delicious. There's just this awesome, awesome experience. As followers of Jesus,

we have the secret to eternal life, and it's a secret that must

be shared. And we are opening doors so that other people can come into

eternal life. We are opening doors so that others can come inside the family

of God, so that they can live the life that God created them for

now. I believe that there are effective witnesses for Christ and there are not

so effective witnesses for Christ. And as we talk about having an effective witness

for Jesus, I want to describe two extremes of Christian witness. There's two

extremes. On one extreme we have what I'm calling the bully witness, and

on the other extreme is the boring witness. The bully witness is somebody who

argues for Jesus. A bully witness wants to be right and prove their right.

That story I told about summer Camp earlier would be like a bullied trend

toward being a bully witness. Argumentative, have you ever seen a Christian arguing

about things? Or have you heard someone use Bible verses as evidence, like

to prove something or a cross examining somebody to get a point across. Jesus

did not call us to be his defense attorneys. Jesus called us to be

witnesses giving testimony, not lawyers giving an argument. Instead of opening doors for

the gospel, a bully witness often closes doors in people's faces. Now,

on the other extreme is the boring witness, And the boring witnesses is somebody

who is a Christian, but they don't really talk about why they follow Jesus

or what their faith is. They might go to church, they might read

the Bible, they probably listen to Christian music. But a boring witness is

somebody that's very quiet, shy about what they believe. And it's the attitude

of you know, I'm gonna mind my own business. I'm gonna be a

good person. I've got my beliefs, you've got your beliefs. We can

get along as long as we don't bother each other. It's a boring witness.

Instead of opening doors for the gospel, a boring witness stands in the

door in waves. A bully witness closes the door, and a boring witness

stands in the door in waves and says Hey, you know, if you

need anything, let me. I'm just gonna do my Christian thing. You

do your thing. But I believe there's a better way. I believe there's

a third way. It's not the boring witness, it's not the bully witness.

I believe it's the biblical witness. It's what Jesus calls us to.

It's what the apostle Paul and Classians four is describing. I believe, as

we look at this text, we're gonna discover three components of a biblical effective

Christian witness. And if you will adopt these three components, if you will

practice these three components, you're gonna see God do things in your life.

Your faith is gonna grow, your confidence is gonna grow, your joy is

gonna increase, and you're gonna see people come to know Jesus. You're gonna

see lives transformed, and most of all, you're gonna see the power of

God working through your witness. You want to know what these three components are,

Let's look at our text. Look at verse five. We read walk

in wisdom toward outsiders making the best use of time. This is the first

component of an effective Biblical Christian witness, live wisely. Live wisely, opening

doors for the Gospel begins with the choices and the decisions that you make on

a daily basis, the habits, the patterns that we make on a regular

daily basis, your behavior, your conduct, how you speak about others,

how you treat others. Think of it this way. It's like opening the

door so that others can get a glimpse into your faith. And I want

to be really clear by what I mean by live wisely. This does not

mean live judgmental. There are plenty of Christians who are judgmental, plenty of

Christians who shame others, look down on others, and project this idea I'm

better than you because I'm a Christian. Living wisely is not about judgment or

shame. Living wisely is suppos to elicit the question why it's supposed to create

curiosity? Why are Christians different? Why are Christians unique? Think of it

this way. It's it's like the college student who decides I'm not gonna get

drunk at the party, and it's not because I'm better than you. It's

because I want to honor Jesus with my body and my decisions. It's like

the couple who decides they're gonna honor God with their sexual intimacy and marriage,

not because I'm better than you, but because we want the best for our

marriage, and we want the best for obeying God. It's like the parents

who tithe off of their income and they model and show their children how to

trust God for provision, not trust in a paycheck or trust in the stock

market, but trust Jesus. It's the co worker who forgives when they're wronged

and doesn't try to get even a revenge. It's the employee who shows up

early and stays late because they want to give their best. They're not working

for a human boss, They're working for serving for the Lord. See,

it's not about right and wrong behavior. It's about character and conduct in a

life that is affected by the Gospel and reflects the Gospel. I know so

many Christians who are living wisely to open doors for the Gospel. You saw

David up here a moment ago our youth pastor. And one thing that you

may not know about David is that during the school year, David volunteers to

help coach a boy's sports team at one of the local high schools. Here

he's not paid for. He's volunteering. And often on Thursdays he will leave

work early to go coach rain or shine, and I've seen him on some

rainy days and then he will return for Thursday night service. And David's living

wisely. He's making the best use of time by being an example to these

boys of building relationship, of building trust, opening doors for the Gospel.

It makes me think about another Christian that I know. One day, she

showed up at work and was totally surprised when an entire higher department at her

company quit overnight and then went and joined a competitor company out of spite to

hurt the former company. And my friend and the remaining coworkers were devastated.

They were shocked, and then they had to scramble to pick up the pieces

of what was left behind. And my friend told me that while the other

co workers started getting toxic and grumbling and had resentment and bitterness, she saw

an opportunity to bring more of Jesus into her environment. And she started talking

about her faith, and she invited other co workers to begin praying with her

for her company and for their boss. And she told me that she felt

like God had put her in this negative situation to bring more of his light

and more of his love. That's what it means to live wisely. You

can live wisely through your choices. Your witness is opening doors to give a

glimpse to your faith. And so here's my encouragement. Start by asking yourself

this question. Does my daily life open doors or closed doors for the Gospel?

Does my daily life open doors or closed doors for the Gospel? Do

your choices reflect the Gospel? Do your relationships, how you treat people,

the friendships you have, does it reflect the gospel? Does how you spend

your time and your money reflect the Gospel? Your daily choices living wisely making

wise choices can be an open door to reflect the Gospel. Let's keep reading

our text here and look at verse six with me. Paul writes, Let

your conversation be always full of grace and seasoned with salt, so that you

may know how to answer everyone. Notice our text tells us that our witness,

we must speak the Gospel with grace, Speak gracefully. This is the

next component of an effective biblical witness. Speak gracefully. Remember those two extremes

of a poor witness, The bully witness and the boring witness. This text

does not tell us to be argumentative or to be aggressive or to fight for

Jesus. That sounds like a bully witness. And it doesn't say just be

quiet, be unnoticed, be silent. That's a boring witness. The text

tells us to speak with grace, to be vocal, and it also says

to season our conversation with salt to be interesting, to be flavorful. I

really enjoy a salty snack. I enjoy pretzels, peanuts, French fries.

I love French fries. If you offered me French fries without salt, I

would just not enjoy that very much. Have you ever been in the grocery

store and seen the peanuts or the cashews that advertise fifty percent less salt.

Well, I think that's one hundred percent more boring. I want a salty

snack. Our witness should be the same. When we speak about the gospel,

we season it with grace, and we season we make it interesting,

we make it engaging. It's not supposed to be flavorless and brand and boring

and end. Our witness is not supposed to be bitter, angry, combative,

judgmental, harsh, supposed to be seasoned with salt. Now, let's

just be honest. For some, the thought of talking about faith is scary.

For some, the idea of bringing up the Gospel or Jesus is intimidating.

It might feel stiff and awkward and uncomfortable. But I want to notice

one thing in our text. If we go back to Colossians four, verse

six, it says, let your conversation be always full of grace. You

don't have to get up in front of a crowd and give a speech.

It says, let your conversation. It's conversation. It's the words that we

say. But I think some of us get so much in our head,

like we gotta give this presentation with a power point and a handout, that

we would rather just be quiet because it seems overwhelming, it seems intimidating.

But here's my encouragement for you today. When you speak about Jesus, when

you speak with grace, when you seize in your words with salt, with

the love and the grace of Jesus, God fills your words with power.

It's not your job to convince or change someone's mind. Let God do the

transformation. He uses your words. There is power in your words. And

if we don't speak the gospel, there is no power. Romans ten,

verse thirteen puts it this way. Everyone who calls on the name of the

Lord will be saved. But how can they call on him to save them

unless they believe in him? How can they hear unless someone tells them.

We gotta tell him, We gotta tell him. How will they hear unless

we tell him? For some, it's just sharing what God has done in

your life, describing how He's healed you, always transformed you, how he's

changed you. For some, it's a conversation over a meal or while working

together on a project. For many, it's a simple invitation to church or

to small group. But whatever it is, speak with grace, be interesting,

like salt, be flavorful. And I also want to say that many

times you'll see transformation immediately when you share the gospel, you'll see someone's heart

transform immediately. And often it takes a long time. It's not immediate.

Often it takes many conversations in a lifetime or a long time of relationship.

I'll give you an example from my life. I became friends many years ago

with Larry and Larry and I were in the same community and we were working

on a community project for an organization there, and we met regularly to work

together. And I felt God put on my heart that he wanted me to

share the Gospel with Larry, and so when we would meet together, I

would gently steer our conversations towards things of faith, and Larry had a lot

of questions about my faith because Larry kind of had a little bit of a

religious background but didn't go to church, didn't follow Jesus, just had a

lot of questions. And I would end most of our meetings by asking,

how can I pray for you? And then eventually Larry became comfortable enough to

pray with me when we entered those meetings. And after some time of building

our friendship, Larry had some bad things happened and Larry was dealing with some

grief and loss and disappointment. So Larry reached out to me for advice,

and I met with Larry, and this was an opportunity to show more of

God's love to Larry, and and I listened to Larry, and then I

shared a story from the Bible about God's love and God's hope got to share

a little bit of the gospel. And then later on we were sharing a

meal together and I was prompted by God just to simply ask the question,

Larry, do you believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead? And

Larry looked at me and said, yes, absolutely. I believe that this

was a huge change from when I first met Larry. A little while later,

at another meal, Larry opened up about the past and about some childhood

pain and some difficulty, and Larry said, I believe God saved me from

that life. And then I was able to give Larry a Bible and explain

how to read it and how to understand it, and Larry began reading the

words of Jesus and walking with Jesus. Now, I want to point out

a couple of things. First of all, asking the question how can I

pray for you is a lot better than what if you're wrong and you die?

But I want to point out that this transformation didn't happen overnight. Can

you guess how long that journey was with my friend? Those highlights were just

a few highlights from a three year journey of conversation of building relationship. Larry

didn't need an argument. Larry didn't need evidence, Larry didn't need a presentation.

Larry needed a friend who would listen to questions and who would speak with

grace and show Larry who Jesus is. Your conversation can be graceful. So

I encourage you today to ask yourself this question, how do I speak about

my faith with others? How do you speak about your faith with others?

Because God has put you in your situation. He's put you in your classroom,

in your workplace to bring encouragement, to share his truth, to share

his love. He's put you in your family, in your neighborhood to be

the hope and the love of Jesus through your words. And don't fear because

Jesus is gonna give you the right words to say. He's gonna give you

the wisdom and there's power when you speak the gospel. How will they believe

unless someone tells them. We're gonna tell them. So far, our text

has showed us that an effective biblical witness it includes livewisely, speak gracefully.

And there's one more component, and that is pray consistently. I think it's

the most important, most critical components to an effective wis pray consistently. Notice

our text in verse two, we read, devote yourselves to prayer, being

watchful and thankful, and pray for us too, that God may open a

door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ for

which I'm in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should.

Paul uses the word prayer in each one of these verses. Pray,

pray, pray, pray. I think prayer is really important to an effective

Christian witness. Prayer is the supernatural work of activating God's power for transformation.

Prayer releases more of God's love. Prayer opens more doors for the gospel.

If you've been here at Church of the Crossing before, you've seen our prayer

partners who are available in the front at the end of services to pray with

us. And one of our prayer partners was sharing with me recently that she

keeps a prayer wall in her home with prayer requests people that she's praying for

it. And you can see in this picture that some of it's been blocked

out just to protect some privacy and confidentiality. But you see that at the

top there are names and initials where it says she's praying for them to come

to faith in Jesus, a relationship with Jesus, prayers for family, for

friends, all of these things. Prayer releases more of God's love. It

opens more doors for the gospel. Now, you may not have a chalkboard

in your home, but all of us have some type of prayer lists,

whether it's in a notebook or on our phone, or even if it's just

a mental or something in our heart that we keep. We have a list

that we're praying for. And we have people that we love and care about

that we want to see come to faith in Jesus. We want to see

them transformed by the good News of Jesus. Prayer is the supernatural work of

activating God's power for transformation. And so if we're gonna pray consistently, this

is why today when you came in, you received one of these sticky notes.

If you would go ahead and take this out now, and if you

didn't receive one, just most and our ushers would be happy to get one

for you. And while I'm speaking, I want to invite you to take

a pen that you have there with you and write down the name of somebody

that you care about who is not a Christian, somebody that you want to

pray for to come into relationship with Jesus. Go ahead, right now while

I'm talking. You can write that person's name down and you're gonna take this

home with you. You can put it in a place that will be a

reminder to pray, refrigerator, the car. It might be a co worker,

it might be a relative or a family member, somebody that you know,

someone in your life that's not a Christian. Just write their name down

and then and then circle their name. Now you might be asking, well,

what do I pray for? How do I pray for this person?

Well, here's what I would say. First, pray for opportunities. Pray

for opportunities to speak to them about Jesus. Pray for opportunities to show them

the love and the grace of Jesus. Next, pray for soft hearts.

Pray for their hearts to be softened to the message of Jesus. Pray for

their hearts to be open and soft to the message of Jesus. Next,

pray for their ears to be open, that their ears would be open to

hearing the message. And then pray for their eyes. Pray that their eyes

would see their need for Jesus, see their need for His love and forgiveness.

Now, if a name doesn't come to mind right now, just draw

a circle and take it home and begin praying, and let God tell you

what name needs to go in that circle. I believe that many of us

here want our loved ones to come to faith in Jesus. We want to

see the people we care about transformed by the power and the grace of Jesus.

I know that there are heavy hearts here. I know that there are

names on these sticky notes that we care about that we're burdened forth. And

I want to end a day by sharing a story that I recently came across

about a father and his daughter. And I want to tell you up front

that this story doesn't have an ending yet. We're still waiting for the ending.

But here's what the father wrote. He said, while living overseas,

our daughter secretly converted to a false religion. I was angry. I had

no idea what this religion was really about. I told her that after she

moved out, she could do whatever she wanted, but while she lived with

us, she would attend our church. To this day, I will forever

regret those words. I began to study that religion relentlessly. I would wake

up at three in the morning and study for four hours daily. I would

find out a new incriminating piece of evidence about that religion and call my daughter

and it would turn into a horrendous argument. The scriptures to me were a

sword, and I was going to do anything I could to pummel my daughter

into understanding we were right and she was wrong. Then the father says that

God changed his heart, and he says, while there is still hurt in

the relationship with our daughter, my wife and I continue to grow. My

anger has subsided, and we have opened our door. It's the big idea

today opened doors. We have opened our door to share the good news of

what Jesus did and who he really was. We still feel devastated, but

we are happy, and we pray for opportunities to reach our daughter in love.

A story is still waiting for an ending, it's waiting for a new

beginning. But today your story doesn't need to wait. Your story can have

a new beginning today. And I believe that there are two responses to the

message we heard today, I think the first response is for those of us

who hear that story and you can relate to the father in that story,

that you have a loved one or someone you care about, a friend who's

not a Christian, or maybe they were once a Christian and they've walked away,

and you have felt all the feelings. You've felt sad and angry and

embarrassed and afraid, and you know arguing is not gonna work. You also

know avoiding isn't gonna work, and you feel like it's out of it's beyond

your control. That's because it is. But I believe today that God wants

to do a new beginning in your heart. That God wants to do something

new in your heart. He wants to heal some wounds in your heart.

He wants to bring some comfort to you today. And I also believe that

God wants to say to someone today, it is not your responsibility to change

someone's mind. Somebody here needs to be set free from that burden. That's

that another person's salvation is your responsibility. No, your responsibility is to be

a witness, to open doors for the gospel and let God do the transference.

So we break off that shame or that guilt. In the name of

Jesus, I said, there are two responses today. I think the second

response today is for anyone who's listening and you identify with the daughter in that

story we just heard, that you are have been hurt by Christian bullies or

family that's judged you and condemned you or rejected you. And right now you

know that you are separated from God. You know that you are living a

life of sin or you are living in brokenness, that you are far from

Him, you're not following him, and you know that if you relate to

what I just said, I want to ask you to look at your sticky

note right now, if you are disconnected from God, if you are far

from look at your sticky note. And you probably know that your name belongs

on the sticky note, I want to ask you a look at me.

God knows your name, God knows your past. He knows the ugly stuff,

he knows the sinful stuff, he knows the things that you think are

completely secret in him, and he knows all of it. But more importantly,

God is telling you today that he sees you, he hears you,

and he knows you. And today He is reaching out and he's inviting you

to come into relationship with him. Today can be your new beginning. Today

can be a fresh start. So I want to invite you right now if

you would to pray with me. Let's close our eyes and bow our heads

together. And today, if you recognize that you are living separated from God

and you want to have a fresh start in a relationship with God, I'm

gonna ask that you just simply repeat this prayer after me in your heart.

Say, Dear God, I admit that I'm a sinner and I need your

forgiveness. I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the dead to save

me. And today I confess Jesus's lord of my life. I want to

come inside your family God, and now I want to pray for all of

us here today, everyone who's listening. Father, God, would you bring

comfort to those who need some comfort today? God, would you also bring

some boldness? God, for those who are burden for loved ones, burden

for friends who need to hear the gospel message? Did you give them boldness?

And God, would you give them wisdom and how to share and show

love and be a witness. God, we pray today that there would be

opportunities, even in this week. God, that there would be opportunities for

us to show more of your love, to answer questions, to share the

good news of Jesus. And most of all, God, would you increase

our faith to trust you with results, trust you with transformation. And we

pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.