Open Doors

Hey everyone, this is Josh from Encounter Church

Henley, and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Thank you. Amen.

Amen. Thank you so much. for having me. It's

such a joy to be in Adelaide. I am from Melbourne,

but no complaints, Adelaide is the best. I love

getting to visit. And so yeah, it's such a joy

to be here and to share on that passage as well.

But I wanted to give a little bit of context

on who is Open Doors? How did we begin for those

who maybe have never heard of us before? And

so Open Doors has been serving the persecuted

and strengthening the church for over 70 years.

So a little bit before I was born, maybe some

of you were around, I don't know. But it began

back in 1955 by the name of Brother Andrew was

our founder. So some people have heard of Brother

Andrew or the book God Smuggler. But we began

back in 1955 where Brother Andrew was a young

27 -year -old Dutch missionary and he began smuggling

Bibles behind the iron curtain to get them into

the hands of believers who were under oppressive

communist regimes. Not just to deliver Bibles,

but to deliver hope, to remind the body of Christ

who were remnant. They were just a few Christians

by themselves. who were isolated and alone, and

to remind them that the body of Christ was actually

praying and standing with them. So that's him.

And then the next slide is the blue beetle car.

And he would pray this famous prayer, which became

known as the smuggler's prayer. And he would

pray this at every border. He would say, Lord,

you make blind eyes see. Now I'm asking you to

make seeing eyes blind. pretty bold prayer to

go up to the border with a car full of Bibles.

He would have them in the front, he'd have them

in the back, he even would have them on the passenger

seat just to really test if they would see them.

But miraculously they would open up suitcases

and not see the Bibles sitting right there. And

there's a famous interview of him 20 years into

the ministry where the interviewer asked him,

Bibles ever been discovered and he says by God's

grace not one Bible has ever been discovered

and So so many Bibles were able to get into the

hands of believers from the very beginning of

the ministry And so these days we have different

types of Bibles We have these, which are audio

Bibles. And so what's really cool about these

is when if they're discovered, you can just take

out the little SD card and it looks like a radio.

And so our team is very creative these days.

We have little ones, big ones, solar paneled

ones for people who are illiterate. There's no

point giving them an actual Bible if they can't

read. And so it's all context based. um as well

which is really awesome so $20 gets a bible into

the hands of a believer um which is really amazing

that that can happen so there'll be an opportunity

to give later today if you'd like to a bible

um but we also don't just deliver bibles we also

do a few other things so we do discipleship and

training so believers who come from other religions

don't know the word of god they they have the

heart to serve they have the heart to pastor

but we give them theological training. We also

give them persecution preparedness training.

So preparing them for persecution, that it's

actually not a bad thing. It's actually can be

a byproduct of following Jesus. And how do we

respond? We pray, we forgive those who persecute

us. And so that's very radical when you've grown

up in a culture where it's you. you turn back

and you attack them too, but teaching them what's

the biblical response to persecution. We also

provide practical support. So believers are often

the last to receive aid. So it goes through the

government or it goes through the mosque. And

so Christians can be specifically excluded from

support. This includes like rebuilding churches

that are bombed or burnt down. help rebuild them.

And then finally, one of my favorite things we

do is what we call presence ministry, which is

in -person visits. So you might be the only Christian

five hours away from another church. You won't

get the opportunity to gather on a Sunday, but

our teams will travel hours just to meet with

one Christian family or one believer to pray

with them, to sit with them, to encourage them.

And we know that just makes such an incredible

difference. That's kind of a bit of an overview

of some of the different ways that we work. One

of the things that we also do as a ministry is

we put together what we call a world watch list.

As you can imagine, there's a lot of need. And

so what we do is we put together the top 50 most

dangerous places to be a Christian. So I think

that's the next slide. Yes, perfect. crushing

it. This is the top 50. I know it's really small,

but I have a bunch of cool booklets out there

that you can grab. Does anyone want to guess

what is number one? He's on it. North Korea is

number one. And there is the next slide, which

is the top 10. There you go. A little bit easier

to see. But this is the top 10 most dangerous

places to be a Christian. So this is based on

both pressure and violence. And so we put this

together every year. And it's the most authoritative

list on Christian persecution worldwide, which

is really amazing. And so this helps us direct

the attention to where is the greatest need.

because we estimate there's 388 million believers

who face high or extreme forms of persecution.

So one in seven Christians around the world face

this high or extreme forms of persecution for

their faith. And that since I began in Open Doors

three years ago, that's gone up 30 million since

2023. And so we know that persecution continues

to increase. And you might be wondering, are

you seeking to end persecution? We're not. We're

not seeking to end persecution because we know

it's promised. 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 says, anyone

2 Timothy 3:12

who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted.

And so we read throughout scripture, persecution

is promised. So we don't seek to end it, but

we seek to stand alongside believers in the midst

of it. We want to encourage them. We want to

strengthen them. We want to support them because

they are on the front lines of evangelism. They're

in these dangerous places to be a Christian and

they choose to go out and share the gospel with

people around them. And so I'm going to share

a bit more about that. But that's the heart of

our ministry is to strengthen what remains. And

so I wanted to share a little bit about Asia

specifically, because I know that's a particular

heart of yours. And so across Asia, two in five

Christians face high or extreme forms of persecution.

It's a region that's not just marked by dramatic

violence, but what we kind of call squeeze persecution.

So when you have pressure to conform back to

your original religion, so you can maybe meet

in an underground church, you can maybe meet

with a few other believers, but From the outside

it can seem calm and it can seem normal But there

is this constant surveillance constant squeeze

that's going on around you And so believe is

a facing intense pressure through surveillance

through intimidation discrimination and restrictions

Designed to kind of squeeze the faith out of

your daily life out of your daily walk with the

Lord And so for those interested about North

Korea, it's once again number one for many, many

years. And every citizen is classified under

three different places, three different categories

under the system son ban. And the three categories

are the core, the wavering and the hostile. And

so you can guess which the one the Christians

fall into is the hostile. So you're deemed hostile

to the state if you're a Christian. This doesn't

just affect you, it can affect up to three generations

of your family. So if you're caught to be a Christian,

you don't just go to a concentration camp or

a labour camp, or you could either get killed

on the spot, but three generations of your family

are affected as well, simply because you choose

to follow Jesus. In China, which is number 17th

on the World Watch List, the pressure is systematic.

You may have heard last year there was a coordinated

attack to arrest a number of key pastors within

China from the underground church and so 30 key

pastors were arrested in the space of one week

and they were arrested with indefinite sentences

and put in prison because they were pastoring.

and also recently a law has been put in place

so under 18 year olds are banned from attending

church completely forbidden and so you can imagine

that is the whole next generation of the church

forbidden to go to church and hear the gospel

and yet we still are seeing testimonies so about

a month ago one of those Chinese pastors was

actually miraculously released from prison, which

we praise God for. He was miraculously released

and was able to be reunited with his family,

which was incredible. And so that is the testament

to the power of prayer is that we're seeing pastors

be released from prison, which is really, really

amazing. And so that's a bit of context into

Asia. I also wanted to give you a bit of a bigger

scope of a little dive into. Africa as well.

And so there's a beautiful one minute video that

I'd love to share. Just a heads up, it's a little

bit confronting. So yeah, just be warned, but

I'll give you a bit more insight. So thank you.

Yeah, so that those are our brothers and sisters

in Christ. And that's just a small glimpse into

as you saw 12 Christians a day are killed. in

Nigeria simply because they're a Christian. And

so in light of the passage I'm going to share

on today, I wanted to remind us that this isn't

a hypothetical passage for the persecuted church,

where King Jehoshaphat is hearing about a vast

army that's coming against him, that's surrounding

them, that's coming to attack them. This is not

a false nice little story for the persecuted

church. It's a reality. they're having people

come and specifically attack them because they

follow Jesus. And so whilst we are surrounded

by different challenges and obstacles and very

real situations here, we can be reminded by the

persecuted church what is their response and

what can we learn from this passage. Because

what does it look like to actually continue pastoring

when your life is being threatened? What does

it actually look like for your family to continue

to follow Jesus when your kids are being persecuted

in their school? They won't get the marks that

they want because they're a Christian. They won't

get to play with other kids. They won't get to

live to their school because they're a Christian.

And so how do believers actually continue to

stand strong when they're watching loved ones

be killed right in front of them? They're identifying

their loved ones by their clothes after fleeing

their communities. And so what I love is that

King Jehoshaphat is not standing in front of

a theoretical problem either. He receives news

that a vast army is coming to attack the kingdom

of Judah. And the first thing that we see in

the scripture is Jehoshaphat was afraid. I love

that he wasn't super brave. He didn't have it

all together. He was afraid. And I think sometimes

we also can think that the persecuted church

is cool, calm and collected. But they're afraid.

They're afraid for their lives. They're afraid

for their loved ones. They would love to live

a comfortable life. He was the king. He was the

king. He was meant to have it all together. And

yet he was afraid. And a little bit of context

for you, he was a godly king. He did some amazing

work. He established religious and civic order

in Judah. Earlier in 2 Chronicles 17, we're told

that he walked in the ways his father David had

followed and that his heart was courageous in

the ways of the Lord. The Lord had established

the kingdom. He had great riches and honor. And

in fact, because of the fear of the Lord, the

surrounding kingdoms did not war against Judah.

And so this attack would not have been expected.

They had done all the right things. They were

following Jesus. They were following Him. And

yet this attack comes. And as I mentioned earlier,

when we do persecution preparedness training,

it's because sometimes we can forget that following

Jesus actually can come with persecution. It

doesn't, God doesn't promise us an easy life.

He doesn't promise us a life free from suffering,

but he promises to be with us in the midst of

it. When we read John 16 33, it's Jesus talking

to his disciples saying, I've said, told you

these things so that you might have peace for

in this world you will have trouble, but take

heart, I have overcome the world. And so he doesn't

promise us a life free from suffering, but he

promises to be with us. And so the first thing

that we see in this passage is Jehoshaphat resolved

to inquire of the Lord. Mike, get the passage

up. It might be helpful, thank you. He resolved

to inquire of the Lord. He resolved not to go

to the military officials, not to figure out

a great strategy in human strength. he resolved

to inquire of the Lord. And if you read throughout

the Old Testament, there's the kings that inquired

of the Lord, and there's the kings that did not

inquire of the Lord. And we all know which works

out better. So he inquired of the Lord. He knew

that unless the Lord Almighty intervened on their

behalf, there was no way they could defeat these

armies. Because in case you didn't notice, there's

actually three. three armies that have combined

efforts to come against one. So three against

one doesn't usually work out very well. But they

sought the Lord, they looked to Jesus and they

set their gaze towards the Lord. The people of

Judah came together to seek help from the Lord.

Indeed, they came from every town in Judah to

seek Him. They sought the Lord, they set their

face towards Him. And I love when we look at

Isaiah 50 verse seven, this is a beautiful passage

because it says, the sovereign Lord helps me.

I will not be disgraced. Therefore I have set

my face like Flint and I know I will not be put

to shame. Set your face like Flint. And this

picture of sometimes when we think looking, it's

just a glance. But it's actually an active decision

that he made to turn away from something and

turn towards something. He had to turn away from

looking at the armies that were very close to

attacking. They weren't far away. He didn't have

a lot of notice. They were imminent. But he turned

away from the present situation and he turned

to look towards Jesus. Because we can't do both.

The premise of looking means that you have to

turn away and you have to look towards. You can't

do both at the same time. And so we see that

picture of setting our face like Flint. We also

see this in Hebrews 12 as to fixing our eyes

on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Such a beautiful picture of as we look to Jesus,

he is the one who is the author and perfecter

of our faith. And I love that because the responsibility

isn't for us to suddenly get a lot of courage

or get a lot of faith, but it's actually as we

look to Jesus, He is the one who is the one who

perfects our faith and perfects our belief. And

we also see this with Jesus. When He was walking

on the earth, He was resolved to do the Father's

will. He resolved to follow the will of the Father.

He inquired of the Father on what to do, on how

to respond. And then we also see this, yeah,

throughout scripture. And we have the choice,

what are we looking towards? Because it's very

easy to look towards the present situation, to

look towards the obstacle, to look towards the

diagnosis, to look towards the pain. to look

towards what is being magnified around us. But

would we make the decision as Jehoshaphat did

to look towards Jesus? Because you cannot continually

fix your attention on Jesus whilst allowing your

circumstance to have the final word over your

perspective. You cannot look at the things around

you and be magnifying them and also look towards

Jesus. You have to choose. What are you going

to look towards? And that is going to be the

decision of you're going to have to turn away

from things. You're going to have to turn away

from the situations and magnifying them. He had

to make the choice, turn away from the armies

that were about to approach and make time to

look to Jesus. I love this particular verse was

what brought me to this passage. And it's full

in this particular passage. This was the one

verse that stood out to me. For we have no power

to face this vast army that is attacking us.

We do not know what to do but our eyes are on

you. We do not know what to do but our eyes are

on you. Charles Spurgeon says of the words look

unto me he said it's one of the shortest texts

of scripture but it contains the whole gospel.

It contains the whole gospel because when we

follow Jesus we look towards Jesus. We decide

to go all of my old life is done, I'm turning

towards Jesus. But sometimes as we grow in our

relationship with the Lord, we choose to continue

to start looking at our situations, at our circumstances,

at what's happening around us. And we forget

to look to Jesus. And I want to encourage you

today that... So much of what enables our brothers

and sisters in Christ to continue to go through

these challenging situations is because of where

their focus is. It's because of what they're

magnifying. The more you behold something the

more you magnify it, the more you begin to reflect

it. But when we behold Christ, we reflect Him.

And when we behold the light of the world, the

darkness of the world around us grows dim. I

know some of you might know the hymn of, and

the things of earth will grow strangely dim in

the light of His glory and grace. And that is

the evidence of really what we see with our brothers

and sisters in Christ. It's not that the suffering

disappears, it's not that the persecution disappears,

but what they behold, what they are fixated on,

enables them to see it through a proper perspective,

through the light of Jesus. And so I want to

encourage us that, yeah, what we give our attention

to informs our perspective. As we behold something,

we become like it. And we want to behold Christ.

And I think also what we see in this next part

of this passage is it's really easy to spend

a lot of time and energy thinking about the problem

and actually spending really little time seeking

the Lord about it. We can talk a lot about the

problem and we can talk a lot about the challenge

and we can actually spend a really small amount

of time asking the Lord about it. But I love

this prayer that King Jehoshaphat prays. I'd

love to encourage you to read it because when

he begins praying, it's striking how little time

he spends talking about the army and how much

he spends talking about the greatness of God.

He begins with who God is. He says, Lord, the

God of our ancestors, are you not the God who

is in heaven? You rule over the kingdoms of the

nations. Power and might are in your hand and

no one can withstand you. At the midst of this

crazy situation of having three armies coming

against you, he begins his prayer by saying,

you are great. No one can withstand you. And

it's just incredible because It's not, once again,

not diminishing the problem, but seeing it through

the lens of how great God is. He remembers what

God has done. He speaks about the faithfulness

of God as, did you not drive out these enemies?

Did you not achieve this? Did you not come through

in this situation? And I want to encourage us

as we pray, are we dwelling on the situation

or are we reminding ourselves of who God is,

of what He's done, of what He's accomplished,

of who He is? Because I can promise you our brothers

and sisters in Christ are stirring their faith

by reminding themselves of who God is and what

He's done. Whether small or big, that might be.

whether it's just you had a good week or you

had some sunshine come out on an afternoon, whatever

it might be, can we magnify the Lord together?

And can we remember His power? And can we view

the problem through the lens of how great God

is? I saw this displayed when I got to visit

some of the team in Southeast Asia and we met

this incredible woman and She was sharing about

how it was an Easter Sunday a few years ago and

this man came to the church with a backpack on.

They all were gathered together in a church similar

to this and all of a sudden he came in the back

of the building. The associate pastor was sitting

on the front row. He quickly became disturbed.

He turned around. He saw this man had entered

the back of the building, put his arm around

the man, walked him out and all of a sudden the

bomb went off. completely exploded. A bunch of

motorbikes were lined up outside the front of

the church and because of the fuel in them they

lit on fire. And so within moments the whole

church was on fire. There was 200 people inside.

The kids had gathered for breakfast that morning

and within moments many of them had died. passed

away and they had to break the church in three

parts to get everyone inside out. And so this

woman that we spoke to, she lost 34 of her close

friends. A number of them were small children

that day. And yet we spoke with her and we heard

her story and she said, God is in control. We

may not understand it. We don't know why this

happened, but God is in control. She saw this

situation through the lens of God's sovereignty.

She said that these two young kids actually slipped

down a crevice of a stairwell and were protected

from the fire. She kept testifying of the Lord's

goodness, and it wasn't the absence of pain and

suffering, but it was through the lens of seeing

God is sovereign. Even when I don't understand,

I trust that He is Lord. And so I want to encourage

us that it's not an absence of fear, but in the

fear that Jehoshaphat was experiencing, he turned

to Christ. He didn't turn to his own man -made

efforts. He didn't turn to controlling the situation.

He turned to Jesus. He turned to the one who

could do the impossible, who could move on their

behalf. And we see that. One of the other things

I see often when I speak to persecuted Christians

is we'll ask them about persecution. We'll ask

them, what kind of persecution do you face? Obviously

our teams know, but we're asking them and often

they make this comment of saying, minor troubles,

minor afflictions. They're just minor afflictions.

And I've often wondered, how can you say that?

Because they'll list things that we would not

consider minor. at all. But I'm reminded that

they're viewing it through this verse in 2 Corinthians

4, where Paul writes, So we do not lose heart,

though our outward self is wasting our way, our

inner self is being renewed day by day. For this

light momentary affliction is preparing for us

an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

as we look not to the things that are seen, but

to the things that are unseen. This light momentary

affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight

of glory beyond all comparison. And so they call

these things momentary afflictions in light of

the glory of eternity. And this is the perspective

that our brothers and sisters bring to us, something

that we can forget, the weight of knowing eternity.

The things of earth grow strangely dim in the

light of his glory and grace because of eternity,

because of the completed work of Christ. And

so when we read through this passage in Second

Chronicles 20, we know the ending. We read it,

you know, just a few verses later. But in the

midst of that situation, it looked impossible.

They had three armies coming against them. And

yet if you continue to read the passage, they

stepped out in praise. That's all they did was

step out in praise and all of a sudden the three

armies turned on each other and then the kingdom

of Judah just got to step in and collect the

spoils of the battle they didn't even need to

fight. And I was reminded of this in the context

of the new covenant that we get to live in. The

kingdom of God that we get to walk in, the victory

that we get to walk in because of the work of

Jesus on the cross. The price that we should

have paid, the debt that we deserved, Christ

won the victory for. He won the victory for.

And so when we think of the persecuted church

looking at eternity, they're reminding themselves

of the victory on the cross. They're reminding

themselves that whilst the war around them is

real, the attacks, they are surrounded. They

are intimidated. They experience surveillance

on every level. And yet they're reminded that

the ultimate victory, the ultimate battle has

already been won. It's already been decided.

It's not a contentious battle. It's not a like,

maybe it'll work out. No, the battle has been

won. The victory has been secured in Jesus. And

so they can have confidence that despite not

understanding the situation they're in, despite

the challenges they face, we can be assured that

we are on the winning team, that Christ has won

the victory for us. And so whilst King Jehoshaphat

stands there and he says, I don't have the answer.

I don't know what to do. He says, we do not know

what to do, but our eyes are on you. They're

looking to Jesus for their strength, for their

hope, for their trust. And so I want to remind

us that the reason why we look to Jesus is because

He's victorious. And when we look to Him, we're

reminded that we're actually seated in heavenly

places with Him. That the same Spirit that raised

Christ from the dead lives in us. And so we ourselves

can be victorious. in the midst of things going

around us because we are sons and daughters of

the living God. I love how John Scott puts it

he says the powers of evil are real but they

are defeated powers. Christ reigns above them

and his people share in his victory. This changes

how we see the natural because the temptation

is to interpret heaven through what we see around

us but we see through our scripture that it's

important to interpret what we see through the

reality of heaven and so that's why this prayer

is so beautiful in second chronicles because

he starts the prayer with this is who god is

this is what he's done this is what he's accomplished

and through that lens i know you know what to

do lord so our eyes are on you because we fight

from victory not for victory we know that we

already have the victory. And so we just invite

the Lord into the challenges that we're experiencing,

knowing that we've already won the victory and

that the Lord wants to speak in the midst of

it. And so we then see later on in this passage

in second Chronicles, this beautiful moment of

all the men, verse 13, all the men of Judah with

their wives and children and little ones stood

there before the Lord. They waited on His instruction.

They waited to see, what are you going to say,

Lord? We're not going to act. We're not going

to freak out. We're going to invite you in. And

I want to encourage you that our teams, yes,

we have great strategies. Yes, we have great

teams that are working in over 70 countries around

the world, all local teams. But one of the pillars

of what we do is prayer. We pray. We ask the

Lord, where should we go? Should we meet in this

place? Lord, would you help us to see the surveillance

cameras? Would you help us to have wisdom and

insight into where to meet, where to go? Because

the Lord knows. He knows what's happening and

he wants to protect his people. And sometimes

it's in ways that we don't expect. And we see

this explained in this passage beautifully. It

was not this great military strategy. It was

stand still. and I will fight the battle for

you. Just go out and do not be afraid and do

not be discouraged. But something I just want

to point out is the spirit of the Lord came upon

Jehaziel son of Zechariah, goes on his names.

He was just an everyday person. He wasn't the

king. He wasn't the military official. He was

just someone in the crowd. He was a Levite. He

was a worshiper. He's a musician. He was just

like you and me. He didn't have a title. He didn't

have a particular role. But the Lord encouraged

the people through him. He encouraged the people

through the faith and the courage of this young

man to step out and say what the Lord wanted

him to say. And I just wanted to encourage you

and I that, yeah. He can use anyone. He can use

you and I to encourage one another. And whenever

we meet with our brothers and sisters in Christ,

they are so encouraged that people in Australia

would be praying for them. They are blown away

by the fact that we would be praying for them.

And so I wanted to just close up by saying, please

read the rest of the passage. It's amazing. But

have we forgotten what Christ has already accomplished?

Have I forgotten maybe where I'm seated with

grass have I been overwhelmed by what I'm seeing

around me And I don't want to diminish that in

any way But you and I we have our own challenges

here The Lord wants to meet you just as he meets

our brothers and sisters in grass He wants to

meet with you. He wants to encourage you. He

wants to Show you that you are not alone that

God is with you and he wants to be present in

your situation. And so I want to encourage you

when maybe you've gotten your attention fixed

on your situation, on the economy, on the market,

on sickness or disease, whatever it might be,

would you turn your gaze back to Jesus? And that

means turning away from some things that maybe

you've been magnifying, maybe you've been trying

to get research together, maybe you've been trying

to be more informed. But I want to encourage

you, Jesus has the answer. He's the one who can

give you the insight that you need. He has the

answer. And He, as we behold Him, we reflect

Him, and we're reminded that the light is not

overcome by darkness. It's not overcome by darkness.

And so whilst persecution continues to reign

around the world and continues to grow, we know

that the victory is won, that Jesus is seated

at the right hand of God. And we do not have

to be afraid, but we should turn to Christ. And

so we might not know what to do, but would our

eyes and would our attention be on the Lord?

And so I have another short little video I want

to play and I do want to encourage you if you

do want to respond today, would you pray for

the body of Christ? Would you pray for your brothers

and sisters in Christ? We have some beautiful

prayer guides that I can give you and you can

sign up for every two months. You receive just

a little prayer guide with a little line for

each day to pray for. And if you'd like to give,

as I said, $20 gets a Bible into the hands of

a believer. You'll see these on your seats. Simple

QR code, you can put in whatever amount you like

to give. Maybe you can give $2 a month. Like

that's one Bible a year, whatever it works out

to be. You can give that and just put in counter

Church Henley and then we can update on the global

collective impact. Or I've got card and cash

out there as well. But I just love to encourage

you. What does it look like for you? It might

be different, but this is the body of Christ.

and we get to encourage one another. And so I

pray that their stories have encouraged you as

much as our support and our prayers can encourage

them. And that's the mutual partnership that

we have. And so I'd love to just pray for each

of us in this moment. Dear Heavenly Father, we

just thank you for the privilege it is to gather

together on a Sunday. Maybe we've taken that

for granted, Lord. But we think of our brothers

and sisters in Christ who don't get together

freely, who might be sitting in their homes,

worshipping you in secret under their breath,

Lord. We think of them, God, who continue to

go out and serve you, Lord, despite the challenges,

despite the cost that comes with that. And so

Lord, we just think of them and we ask Lord that

they would feel your love, they would feel your

peace today. And we ask Lord that they would

be reminded that you are King, you are Lord,

you are sovereign. And even when we don't understand

what's happening around us, we know Lord that

we can fix our attention on you. And so we pray

for each and every one of us gathered here today,

Lord. Maybe we've had our focus shift on what's

happening around us and we've lifted our gaze

off you. Think of Peter walking on water and

the moment he lost sight of Jesus and looked

to the waves around him, he began to sink. And

so, Lord, we just invite you to encourage each

of us, Lord, to turn our attention back to you,

Lord, the author and perfecter of our faith.

And so we give you this time together Lord and

we ask Father that you would stir and encourage

our faith to step out in boldness and to continue

to pursue you Lord. In your name we pray, Amen.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you.