Opposition

Okay. Okay, good morning again. A little bit better than last time. I'm Chris. I'm one

of the teaching pastors here, and I'm just very excited about going through this book

of Acts. Together as a church, if you've been tracking with us, we've been seeing that Acts

starts with the gospel where Jesus dies, he rises again, he ascends to heaven, and then

as he's directing his mission from heaven where he rules and reigns, he sends out his

people into the world to spread his kingdom. And today we're going to be looking at a message

which I really feel is very pertinent even for myself. I'm preaching to myself as much

as much as possible. I'm going to be talking to you about the gospel, and I'm going to be

a little bit better. So could we just bow our heads and pray? Because I really believe God

wants to speak to us this morning. Sovereign Lord, we stand in awe of you. Open our eyes

so that we would be those who tremble at your word. Lord, we want to hear you. We don't just

want to hear you. We want to live out what you tell us. Change us. Empower us. Speak to

us. Enable us to be the people you want us to be. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Okay,

so, book of Acts. And we talked about the key verse in the book of Acts is Acts chapter 1,

Acts 1:8

verse 8, which talks about you're going to be my witnesses in, do you remember where it was?

Witnesses in Jerusalem, Poc Fulam, okay? Judea, which is Hong Kong Island, okay? Samaria,

Kowloon, good. And maybe new territories. And to the ends of the earth. And we said that being a

witness is someone who falls in love with Jesus and is just transparent about it in their lives.

And we said that that takes place, witnessing takes place in the context of building relationships

with other people, introducing them to Christian community. And it happens in the ordinary everydayness

of life. You don't have to be a superhero to be a witness. You know, it happens in your workplaces.

It happens among your interests and your hobbies. It happens among your family and your friends. It just happens

in the everydayness of life. We just look to love people, look to introduce them to Christian community.

And it's living ordinary life with gospel intentionality. So we pray that as God by His Spirit

comes and empowers us as He does the early church, fills us with His presence, that we would have the boldness

and the opportunities to proclaim them to the people around us.

And we saw that in the last couple of weeks how when God is dwelling amongst us, it changes us to be

a generous, devoted community. It changes us to be an expectant, prayerful community.

Ordinary people doing ordinary things with an extraordinary God.

That's what church is about. That's why we're here.

And so, I've just seen the kind of work that has been done in the last couple of weeks.

You know, we've seen with Soda and what's been happening with Dan and Soda.

I've also seen just a few of us guys, we've got together and we've started playing football on a Thursday night.

Very ordinary. Some of us just need to get fit.

Some of us more than others.

But we've just started playing down there, gathering a few guys with Adrian.

But going with the intention, we want to build relationships with people.

We want to engage with people down there.

And what's happened is we've gone down there and suddenly a load of people from the community have said,

Hey, can we play? Can we join in?

And we're just building relationships with them.

And last week, there was one guy who came up to the end with his wife and his little kid and said,

Hey, I'm a chef. We'd love to cook for you guys.

And I'm like, this is mission. I love this kind of mission.

You know, mission isn't always you have to kind of go to deepest, darkest Africa and just feed starving people.

Sometimes mission can be doing the things that we love and enjoy, but doing them with gospel intentionality.

And so we're doing that.

That's what we want to call every one of us in this church.

He's placed you here with gifts, with talents, with interests, in places, your work, your family, relationships.

And so we're here.

Staff is not here to run the whole church.

We're here to equip and support us to be the church with the way God has wired us.

And so our prayer is that each one of you will rise up and say, Hey, I love cooking.

Why don't I initiate something where we get together with some of the other people from our community?

And we just cook and we invite non-church friends.

And in the context of relationships, we look to be transparent about our faith.

That's the mission.

And as we're doing that, we're praying crazily, God, give us boldness.

Give us opportunities.

Help us to love these people with the gospel.

Okay?

That's the mission strategy.

That's the mission strategy in Acts.

That's what we're about here.

And so as we come in to look at the book of Acts, I'm going to look today at something we maybe don't talk about quite so much.

But it's an absolute reality if we want to be witnesses for Christ.

And I want to talk about opposition and suffering.

I know you're really excited now.

Okay?

I hear, I heard the mood just kind of go up in the congregation.

But Joyce Meyer, who is a famous American preacher, she says, God wants to do something outrageously wonderful in your life every moment of every day.

You have to be ready and expect it to happen.

That's what she says.

Now, I think a lot of it depends on how you define wonderful.

Because the first three chapters of Acts are truly wonderful.

I mean, there is just miracles.

There is power.

There is people being saved in their thousands.

There's this community coming together, loving each other.

It's just amazing.

It's truly wonderful.

Well, chapters 1 to 3, chapters 4 to 7, you then just get a whole load of opposition.

It's a spiritual battle.

It's not quite as sexy as the first three chapters were.

You see, you get persecution coming from outside the church.

And you get sin and conflict inside the church.

And this is what always happens when the gospel is going out, when it's being faithfully proclaimed.

There is always opposition to it.

And we like to kind of have the Acts chapter 1 to 3, the kind of exciting part.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

But we don't like to talk so much about 4 to 7, which is like the opposition and the battle and the challenge part.

But the thing is, the way Acts is written is, that's precisely how God's kingdom grows.

God's kingdom grows through the opposition.

And he builds his church through that.

So today, we're going to look at three things.

We're going to look at opposition, a bigger fear, and a community of prayer.

Okay?

Opposition, a bigger fear, and a community of prayer.

And I'm going to spend most of the time on the first section and a little bit less time on the other two.

So if you've got your bulletin with you, just kind of track with me through this.

Okay.

Okay.

What's happened so far is Peter and John have just healed the resident lame guy, okay, at the temple.

You know, everyone knew him as a lame Larry.

And now what's happened, he's now leaping Larry because he's been healed.

And everyone's stunned.

They can't imagine what's happened.

And Peter gets up and he starts preaching the gospel to them.

And it's a pretty direct message.

He says, it was your sin, guys, that crucified Jesus.

And he says, he rose again.

And this Jesus can restore you to a relationship with God just like he's restored this lame guy.

And you need to repent and you need to turn to him for forgiveness.

And in spite of the message, everything's going amazingly.

And then 4 verse 1 comes.

Read this with me.

And as they were speaking, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed.

Because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Okay.

Right in mid-preach, this powerful religious elite who didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead, because they were very rational.

They thought, you can't believe in that kind of thing.

And they were offended by what they were teaching.

And they felt undermined by their authority.

And so they wanted to put a stop to this Jesus movement.

And so here, mid-preach, it's like they get grabbed.

You know, it's like somebody just, five guys in kind of dark glasses and dark kind of coats coming in right now.

And dragging me off the stage.

And I'm saying, you need to believe in Jesus.

And they're dragging me away.

And 5,000 people say, I want some of that.

That's not normally the way that we preach the gospel to people.

We normally preach the gospel to people and say, hey, Jesus wants to give you love.

He wants to give you peace.

He wants to give you a happy life.

But Peter and John aren't preaching like that.

They're saying, come to Jesus and kind of get thrown in jail.

And 5,000 people are going, yes.

Now, there's something.

I mean, how can people do that?

Because there's something so compelling about the gospel message that some people will be attracted,

and even at the cost, to their own lives.

You see, I knew a guy, knew of a guy who was an Iraqi Muslim Kurd.

And he heard about Jesus.

And he was so captivated with Jesus that he wanted to follow him.

But his family found out.

And they said to him, you know, if you follow Jesus, your wife is going to leave you.

We're going to take your kids away from you.

And we're going to kill you.

And for weeks, he kind of agonized.

What do I do?

I mean, who would want to be in that situation?

But after a few weeks, he suddenly came down and he said, you know,

if what you're telling me about Christ is true,

if God, the creator of the universe, truly came down and died on a cross for me to forgive me of all that I've done to bring me in a relationship with himself,

then there is no price too high to pay for that kind of love, to pay to get into that kind of relationship.

And you know what he did?

He became a Christian.

And his family all left him.

And he had to flee from the village.

And he said, though I have had everything taken away from me, I still have Christ.

And that's enough for me.

And I wonder sometimes as Christians, even for myself, I think I've made Christianity sometimes too cheap, too easy.

And the gospel is so kind of banal that I'm barely willing to get out of bed on time on a Sunday morning to be able to worship the living God.

Let alone sacrifice my life for him.

And the question is, how precious is Jesus to us?

Because the disciples knew it.

Because you see, what happens is the gospel message will attract some people, but it'll also offend some people,

no matter how lovingly you share it with people.

Because, you know, the gospel message actually is not really...

It's a challenging message.

Because, you know, I mean, sometimes Christians are just offensive because they're narrow-minded bigots.

You know, sometimes they are.

Sometimes Christian sexual ethics in our culture is very offensive to many people.

But, you know, the thing I find underneath everything, the thing that actually really offends most people is Jesus himself.

Not the Jesus they think, but actually the Jesus who says what he says in the Bible.

Because, you know, I can talk about God to people quite a lot.

I can go around to God, and people are generally okay.

Because they're like, hey, you've got your God, I've got my God.

You know, it's fine.

I met one guy who said, hey, yeah, God's like an alien.

You know, he's kind of a superpower and this kind of thing.

And so, great, you have your God, I've got mine.

But, you know, you bring them face to face with Jesus, and it gets just a little bit more personal.

A little bit more like you've got to make a response now.

Because it's okay with an impersonal, vague God, but Jesus is not impersonal.

He's in your face.

And what Jesus says to you is, if you're religious and you think you're okay,

if you're not religious and you think you're okay, then you're blind and you're in denial.

He said, I didn't come for healthy people, I came for sick people.

And he says, the gospel is like a doctor diagnosing us as terminally ill.

And it's saying your illness is your self-centeredness, your selfishness.

You're in need of a savior more than you realize.

You're in need of forgiveness and grace more than you realize.

And if you think Christianity is a crutch, absolutely it is.

But the question is, do you think you can live without a crutch?

Do you think you can manage by yourself?

Well, have a look at all your anger problems.

Have a look at your impatience towards your kids and your colleagues.

Look at how critical and unkind you can be.

Look at the train wreck of relationships, the worry, the stress levels.

And we think we're okay?

Right?

You know, deep down, I think we know we're sick.

But we don't want that.

We want somebody to come along and say, hey, you're great.

You're fine.

You're good.

Just try a little bit harder.

That's what we want.

Right?

Because it makes us feel better.

And the gospel doesn't do that.

That's why it's offensive to us.

But if you go to a doctor in real pain, kind of throwing up, dizzy, and he says, hey, you're fine.

You're just, I've never seen anyone healthier.

Is that good news?

Have you ever had that?

Where you go to the doctor and you're like in real pain and everything, and they say, I can't find anything wrong with you.

That's the most annoying thing.

It's like, I want you to tell me what's wrong with me.

Right?

That's what the gospel does.

The gospel is good news because it's telling you, you have a serious sickness, but then it tells you, I'm going to, I've got a cure.

And Jesus Christ is the cure.

The gospel says, we're self-centered.

We worship alternative gods other than the true God.

But it's amazingly good news because God diagnoses the deepest issues of your heart that no one else is going to tell you about.

And he's done something about it.

He sent Christ to die, to restore, to bring you to himself.

And that's always going to offend people.

And as you look at the passage, the disciples say, salvation is found in nobody else.

Salvation from yourself is not found in therapy.

It's not found in yoga.

It's not found in some me time.

It's found in Jesus Christ.

And the disciples know it's true.

Look in verse 5 to 7.

5 to 7.

It's fascinating.

They're surrounded by these religious elite.

They're placed like rabbits in the midst of a pack of mad wolves, just as Jesus had been a few months earlier.

And can you imagine the temptation to kind of dumb down the gospel message in this situation?

You know, here are ordinary blue-collar guys.

You know, it's like the lifelong McDonald's cashier.

There's someone who's no real education.

They're facing the most educated elites, the most powerful people around.

You know, it's like the new cleaner of J.P. Morgan gets dragged before the global board.

You know, and they're all mad at him.

And that's what it's like here.

This is not just a scary job appraisal, though.

This is a life and death, because a few months earlier, Jesus had faced the same people.

And we know what happened to him.

But you know what it says?

Filled with the Spirit.

Despised Galilean fishermen who wouldn't get into a band 5 school in Hong Kong.

They don't fudge the message one bit.

Verse 11, they say,

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

What they're doing is they're quoting an Old Testament passage, which is about King David being rejected by the people.

And they're saying,

Just as King David was rejected by some people, but God vindicated him as the greatest king.

Well, there's a greater king who's come.

And you're looking at Jesus, and you are the guys who are meant to be building God's community here.

And what you've done is you've looked at Jesus and said,

Oh, I don't need him.

Nah, doesn't look great.

Let me just build my own thing by myself.

And they say,

He says,

Basically, you guys,

You've rejected the one stone that you really needed.

Because the cornerstone is the most important stone in a building.

It basically sets the angle,

Sets the level,

Sets how wide the building is going to be.

Everything else is built upon it.

And he says,

You guys have missed that.

But Jesus is the foundation of God's community.

And that's where you find,

When you're in his family,

You find acceptance.

You find welcome.

You find an unshakable cornerstone.

And if you're a Christian,

You're a brick in his building.

You're part of him, rooted, established.

And he's not going anywhere.

He's unshakable.

And that helps when there is intimidation to dumb down the gospel.

I don't know for you,

Where does fear tempt you to dumb down your witness to Christ?

Where does it tempt you?

Like, who is it that's big in your eyes,

Who tempts you to be intimidated,

So you run away from Christ,

And you say,

I'm going to shift a little bit from standing boldly on Christ.

You know, I went to an alumni event in Hong Kong a little while ago.

And you know those kind of events where everyone's talking,

And people are saying,

Okay, what's your name?

Where do you come from?

How long have you been in Hong Kong?

And there's always that question,

Which is,

What do you do?

Right?

And you know,

It's fine when I'm with Fiona,

Because Fiona says,

I'm a lawyer.

And everyone goes,

That's really cool.

And they say,

They kind of ask more questions.

Okay, what firm is it?

What kind of law do you do?

And you know,

The conversation goes on.

And then after a little while,

They then turn to me.

And they say,

And what do you do?

And I kind of pause for a minute,

And I say,

I'm a pastor in a church.

It's fascinating how much of a conversation killer that is.

Because at that moment,

People kind of start shifting awkwardly,

And they smile,

And they say,

Oh, I've just got to go and get another drink.

And you feel like,

Am I some weirdo in the corner?

Right?

And so what I try and do sometimes is,

Sometimes I've kind of,

Okay, I want to carry on the conversation.

So I say things like,

Okay,

I work in life and death.

All right,

I work for the world's biggest organization.

But then they ask more questions,

And it's like,

Well, actually,

I'm a pastor.

And then the same effect.

So it's no use.

And,

And you know,

I think we all have this thing.

It's like,

You know,

In the playground at school,

There's always the cool kids,

And the uncool kids.

And we all want to be in the cool kids section.

And as adults,

We do the same.

Just look at networking events.

Right?

We have exactly the same.

We all want to be,

Like,

Think that,

Important people think that we're important.

Right?

Nobody wants to feel like we're left out.

We all want to be liked.

We all want to belong.

And God has kind of designed us that way.

He's designed us to want to belong.

But the problem comes,

Not in the desire to want to belong.

But when the desire to belong,

Is too much,

Too great.

So that my fear of the shame of not belonging,

Overtakes my transparency as a witness to Christ.

You know,

I fear the loss,

Of what it will involve.

You know,

If I'm not included.

If I'm not seen as being acceptable by everybody else.

And then when my craving for approval,

Means I dumbed down the gospel,

Then people have become bigger in my eyes than Christ.

And I'm no longer trusting him as my cornerstone.

You know,

If you want to follow Christ and be a witness,

People will be offended by you.

Some people will be drawn by you.

You may be thought of as stupid and left out.

Early Christians had that all the time.

They were called the haters of humanity.

And yet,

You know,

It could be,

You may feel the left out in job promotions.

It could be you feel left out in being single,

When you've chosen not to date a non-Christian,

In your relationships.

And you feel that sense of being left out.

And you wonder whether it's worth it.

But Christ comes to us and says,

Look up at me again,

Because I am the precious cornerstone of your life.

I am unshakable.

When the church dumps down the gospel,

Throughout history,

What happens is,

It just kind of ends up running,

Kind of social club events.

It starts doing soup kitchens for the poor.

And that's all it does.

Those are good things,

But that's all it does.

And it loses,

The ability to meet the deepest needs,

In the hearts of people.

Which no one else,

And nothing else in our society can meet.

Which is the need for a savior.

A need for the grace,

That comes only from Christ.

So that's the opposition that we can face.

It challenges us,

With our sense of approval.

We fear.

That's why we often dumb it down.

But how in a pressured society,

Do we overcome this fear?

We need a bigger fear.

We need a bigger fear.

Paul Tripp,

Who some of you may know,

He says,

The only way to fight fear,

Is with fear.

It's the fear of something greater,

That disarms the fear of something lesser.

Did you get that?

The fear of something greater,

Disarms the fear of something lesser.

Spiritual growth,

He says,

Is about recapturing,

Your awe of God.

He says,

If every day I'm not wooed,

And seduced by the glory of God,

Then I'll be wooed,

And seduced by something else.

Will either be captured,

By the glory of God,

Or be captivated by our fears.

Look in verse 13.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,

And perceived that they were unschooled,

Ordinary,

Unschooled common men,

They were astonished,

And they recognized,

That they had been with Jesus.

Even the hardened rationalists of the Sadducees,

Was struck by the fearlessness,

Of Peter and John.

And you notice they don't say,

Wow,

Peter and John,

They're pretty amazing dudes.

They don't say,

Wow,

They went to really good schools,

To be able to speak like that.

They don't say,

What self-confident people.

They saw the weakness of these people.

Simple.

Not smart.

Not greatly intellectual.

Like many of us,

Like we say,

I don't have enough Bible knowledge,

I don't have enough this,

And they would say the same,

But actually what happens is,

The only thing they conclude,

Is these guys have been with Jesus.

These guys have been with Jesus.

And so what they do,

Is they threaten Peter and John,

You know,

It's going to get messy,

If they make too much of a scene out of it.

And they say,

If you talk about Jesus one more time,

Basically,

You're going to end up like him,

Nailed on a cross.

They forgot about the second part,

The resurrection part,

But never mind.

And Peter and John say this amazing line,

Verse 19,

They say,

Whether it's right in the sight of God,

To listen to you,

Rather than to God,

You must judge.

For we cannot but speak,

Of what we have seen and heard.

I mean,

How free is that?

I mean,

You,

Think of the person,

Who intimidates you the most.

Okay?

The person that you would find,

The biggest issue is sharing the gospel with them.

Think about that.

Now,

Maybe it would be your boss.

Okay?

And you could go up to them,

And tell them,

Listen,

You can fire me if you want to,

But I answer to God above all,

And I'm more afraid of him,

Than I am of you.

Wouldn't you love to be able to do that?

I mean,

In a good way,

Not in a bad way.

You know,

That's supernatural courage.

That's attractive.

Even if people don't agree with what you say,

There's something compelling about that.

And the only way,

You and I,

Can have that.

And the promise is,

If you have the spirit of God,

Which we all do if you are a Christian,

That is available to us.

The only way you get that kind of boldness,

Is if you're more in awe of Jesus,

Than the people and circumstances around you.

If Jesus is big,

People are small.

And you know,

How do we do that?

Well,

We spend time with Jesus,

Through his word.

We have to preach to ourselves.

We need to preach to ourselves in prayer.

Preach to ourselves as we're in community.

Take his word,

Meditate on it.

That word meditate means,

Chew it like a cow.

Take it again and again and again.

And so that it just becomes this sword,

In the battle that you fight with.

Because you see,

What we do in our culture,

Is we meditate on a lot of things.

We preach to ourselves a lot of things.

We preach fear a lot of the time.

I find it really,

Really interesting,

Just how much of a culture of fear we live in.

Like,

I'm on these WhatsApp chat groups.

And people send around all these scare stories.

Right?

About,

You know,

The things you can't eat or drink.

Otherwise you're going to die,

Or turn green or something.

Right?

You know,

Parts of your body you're going to drop off,

If you do this.

And,

You know,

I've been told,

Recently,

You can't eat leftovers,

Because I'll get cancer.

I can't drink cold water,

Because I won't be able to have babies.

I can't work in the job that I am at the moment,

Because I won't be able to provide my family.

And I could go on,

And on,

And on,

And all the things that I can't do,

Or I shouldn't do.

All this kind of fear that is preached at me.

And you begin to start thinking,

Oh,

Yeah.

Maybe it's right.

Maybe if I stand up for Jesus,

People are not going to like me.

Maybe if I do this,

People are not going to do this.

Maybe I'm going to lose my job if I do this.

And all this fear,

We preach to ourselves.

And we compare ourselves to everyone else,

Who seems greater,

Don't we?

And then it makes us even more afraid,

Because we look at where we're at,

And where they're at,

And we think,

Oh!

You know,

Just go in the school playground,

And talk to other parents.

That's enough to scare you.

Right?

And what happens,

Because we're so desperate to be in the in crowd,

And we don't want to be left out,

That we end up scared of what are just kittens.

And then we say things like,

I don't have time to read my Bible,

But I've got time to stress.

I've got time to stress.

And we don't see that God's word,

Is there to kill your fear,

By giving you a greater fear,

Which is an awe of God.

We need to preach to our fears,

Day by day.

Isn't it stupid,

To be afraid of a kitten,

And be completely nonchalant,

With a lion standing behind you?

Right?

Because if you see,

That the lion behind you,

Is the creator of the universe,

He holds your breath,

He holds your life,

He holds your death,

He has numbered your days in his hand,

He speaks and it happens,

He knows the past,

He knows the present,

He knows the future,

He's never gone for advice to anyone,

He's never been counseled,

He's never googled anything,

To get information,

He's never made a mistake,

He's put every president in the place,

And he decides when they come,

And when they go,

He decides when the stock market rises,

And when it falls,

He was here before the oceans,

He's going to be here at the end,

He flung galaxies into space,

And he sets the weather on its course,

He stands over history,

And is the Lord of eternity,

That's Jesus,

The lion,

And you,

If you're a Christian,

You're adopted in his family,

You have unique access to his throne,

You have the ear of the president of the universe,

And he accepts you,

He forgives you,

And he loves you,

And he loves you,

And he loves you,

And he can put your boss in his job,

And he can fire him at will,

He's his judge and his hope,

He's your friend's greatest need,

He's your family's greatest hope,

He is the one who will come again,

To restore all of creation,

He's the king,

And he will rule,

And one day every knee will bow to him,

Whether it's Donald Trump,

Xi Jinping,

Anybody,

Everybody,

Will bow the name to King Jesus,

And you and I will reign with him,

That's the lion that we have,

As our king,

And yet we're so afraid of kittens,

Do you see the difference it makes,

If you're preaching that to yourself,

Day by day,

Because what happens is,

The kittens in our life,

Of the people,

Of our boss,

Of our families,

Of our fears,

They just become smaller,

In the sight of when you see,

The bigness of God,

And that means,

I can be weak,

I can be ridiculed,

I can be left out,

But it's okay,

Because we've got Jesus,

And that's enough,

You know,

I know this,

Many of you know this,

But I forget this daily,

I forget it,

There's this kind of delete button in my head,

Which resets to fear again,

And we think,

If I'm too radical,

With Jesus,

Maybe I'll lose,

Stuff,

And the secret to our fears,

The solution is to preach to them,

Is to spend time with Jesus,

To gain a bigger fear,

Final point that I'm going to make,

Which is,

A community of prayer,

You see,

We've seen,

There will be opposition,

When you preach the gospel,

There will be both people attracted,

And people who are opposed,

We will see that we'll be tempted,

To dumb down the gospel,

We'll see that actually,

The thing which will help us,

To not do that,

Is when we have a greater fear,

Of King Jesus,

And we spend time with him,

We're preaching the word to him,

And finally,

A community of prayer,

Do you notice what Peter and John,

Do straight after this?

It's not like they're like,

Woohoo,

We kick their butts,

You know,

They're not doing that,

Okay,

Because they're threatened,

And the threats are real,

Threats are real,

I think they're actually quite scared,

They feel a little scared afterwards,

You know,

It's okay to feel afraid,

You know that?

It's okay to feel afraid,

God sometimes doesn't override,

Your feelings,

Because their lives are on the line,

But not that,

They're not relying,

On their own strength,

To be bold,

Look at verse 23,

When they were released,

They went to their friends,

And reported what the chief priests,

And the elders had said to them,

And when they had heard it,

They lifted their voices,

Together to God,

And said,

Sovereign Lord,

Who made the heaven,

And the earth,

And the sea,

And everything in them,

You see what they did,

When they were released,

They went to their friends,

What do we do,

They go straight back,

To their friends,

Which is their church community,

And it's here,

That they know they belong,

You see when you're struggling,

When you're intimidated,

When you're fearful,

When you're stressed,

Where do you go,

Do you withdraw,

Do you kind of just go into running round,

And round the thoughts in your mind,

Lick your wounds,

Or do you run,

To your community,

You see one of the functions,

Of community group,

Is where you can be real,

About your fears,

And intimidations,

And the things which make you struggle,

To walk with Christ,

But you're brought into the light,

And then together,

You pray together,

And you speak God's word together,

And you encourage each other,

With a bigger fear,

And perspective of God,

Last thing I want to share,

Just look at the prayer,

That these guys pray,

Because you know,

There's different kinds of prayer,

There's a kind of help,

Kind of prayer,

And then there's a kind of regular,

Kind of prayer,

When you do kind of regular,

Kind of prayer,

Do you notice what,

How you pray?

It's really interesting,

How often we're just really so focused,

We're so quick to mention,

All of our needs,

Right?

Do you do that?

You know,

Bottom half of the Lord's prayer,

Give us our day,

Our daily bread,

We do it something like this,

We do,

God,

Thank you,

That you're good,

I've got to say thank you,

Because that's kind of part of the deal,

And then we go,

Okay,

Thank you for my friends,

Thank you for my pet dog,

Now God,

Here's what I really wanted to ask you about,

I really need this job promotion,

My kids are really sick,

I really like that boy over there,

And I'd like him to like me,

You know,

Thank you again,

Because my mom told me,

I should always say thank you,

In Jesus' name,

Amen,

Okay?

Now that's not necessarily a bad prayer,

God graciously answers those kind of prayers,

He loves us to run to him,

With anything,

And everything,

But the problem with that kind of prayer,

Is you'll never get a bigger vision,

Of God,

You'll never get a bigger vision,

Than your fears,

Opa,

From your palms,

To none of the dreams,

It's hot,

In your place,

Because if your friends,

And my dad might have a big communication,

But you're never to learn yet,

Though it's no shame,

It's in your amiga in my mouth,

I work too,

And then I will never get one side of him,