Reaching Out

Good morning. It was several weeks ago, I had mentioned, I got up over the greeting,

I mentioned that we had gotten to go overseas.

We went over to Germany and Italy. My wife has family over there and I'm in

Germany and Austria and her cousin was getting married in the mountains,

at a vineyard in the mountains of northern Italy.

You kind of got to go. Like, you can't just, like, miss that.

So we did. We went and we made a vacation out of it. And like Ed said a couple

weeks ago, we got to see some really amazing sights while we were there.

You know, we just getting to go see these cathedrals that people spent their

lives, literally their entire lives, committing their craft to.

And they would never see those structures finished.

You know, we got to see where Augustine was baptized. St. Augustine was baptized.

You know, my son August, his name is actually Augustine. We call him August.

We never actually called him Augustine, but that's his name.

We got to see where, you know, this ancient historical figure was baptized, which was really cool.

We got to see the Colosseum where, I mean, people were brutally killed.

It's a heavy place, including Christians that were there.

But one of the highlights for me was going to a slightly less touristy spot.

It's this road to the south of Rome. It's called the Appian Way.

And we had to take a city bus to get down to it, and then once you were there,

you still had to walk a little ways, which my five-year-old and his smaller

legs was super excited about. And.

What we know about this road is it's an ancient road. It's been there,

I mean, just since really since the founding of Rome.

It is the main thoroughfare. If you're coming from the south,

north into Rome, it's the main thoroughfare that people would take to get there.

And Rome had all of these roads that would go out from it into the corners of the empire.

But this was the one from the south. And we know that Paul walked on this road

when he was entering Rome. We

know from Scripture that he walked on this road as he was entering Rome.

And at the time that he's coming, he would have been a prisoner.

He had been before the Roman officials, the Jewish people were kind of mad at

him. And he's in front of the Roman officials. And he's like,

I appeal to Caesar. And they're like, well, off to Caesar, you will go.

And so he goes to Rome. And this is a really tumultuous journey to get there.

But he finally makes it to Rome.

And he would have come in on this road. And this road is like 300 and something

miles long. So obviously, we didn't see the whole road.

But we saw the very last part of it that he would have walked,

really the day that he would have been entering into that city.

And for me, up until this point in my life, like I'd said the other day,

I've never really walked in a place like Italy or Rome that's mentioned in the

Bible, much less a road that the Apostle Paul walked on.

And it's kind of surreal to walk on that road. We can pull a picture of it up really quick.

It's a beautiful road. I mean, it's gorgeous. You've got the original basalt

stones that are there on the road, and there's this beautiful setting.

You're walking along there and you've got forests around you and you've got

these beautiful fields. You've got vineyards and all these villas that you're

walking by. I'm going like, that's pretty nice.

We passed one villa that had a sign on it that said the blessing of solitude.

And my introverted heart skipped a beat as I read that.

I was like, oh my gosh, like vineyards and villas and solitude.

This is like the dream. I mean, right here.

And so we walked, you know, several miles, you know, down this road.

I'm sorry, we're in Europe, several kilometers. They don't believe in miles.

So a couple of kilometers, I guess, down this road. And eventually,

though, we walked this way and we turned around. And something happened when we turned around.

We had been walking on this road that Paul has walked on, but now we're walking

in the direction that Paul walked.

And I began to think, he's coming up on Rome. It's a place he's been wanting to go.

What's going through his mind? What's he thinking as he's walking this road?

Towards the beginning of the book of Romans, we find out what he was thinking.

We know what he was thinking.

And this was written before this moment, but it tells us where his heart is.

Beginning in verse 7 of Romans chapter 1, it says, To all who are in Rome,

Romans 1 · chapter mention

loved by God, called as saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of

your faith is being reported in all the world.

For God, whom I serve with my spirit and telling the good news about his Son

as my witness, that I constantly mention you, always asking in my prayers that

if it is somehow in God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

So we see right off the bat, this is a place he's been wanting to go.

He's been praying to go to this place, to Rome. But why? Let's keep reading.

For I want very much to see you, so I may impart to you some spiritual gift

to strengthen you, that is to be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

Now I want you to know, brothers, that I often plan to come to you,

but was prevented until now, in order that I might have a fruitful ministry

among you, just as among the rest of the Gentiles.

I am obligated both to the Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish,

so I am eager to preach the good news to you also who are in Rome.

So he's coming to Rome for encouragement, both for them and for himself,

but he's there to preach the good news of Jesus in this city.

What's Paul thinking about as he's entering Rome? He's thinking about that.

This is a place he gets to preach the good news, this cultural center that has

roads going out of it to every corner of the Roman Empire.

Meanwhile, I'm walking this road distracted by the villas and the vineyards in the solitude.

Let me be clear. Like, I don't think it's wrong to vacation.

Okay, so don't hear that.

I think the Bible calls us to work and it also calls us to rest.

But in that moment, the villas and the vineyards represented distractions.

How often do we get distracted by the things that the world throws at us?

It's so good at providing us distractions.

And so we paused as we began to walk and we prayed. We prayed that God would

give us a greater heart for the gospel.

And we asked that he would help us with the distractions of the world around us.

And as we continue in our series, Church Unpacked, we get to this week titled Reaching Out.

And what do we mean when we talk about reaching out? Because you don't really

have to be a Christian to reach out to someone.

You can be a boss and you talk to your assistant, hey, can you please reach

out to this person, schedule a meeting with them.

You can be a group of friends and you see a friend that's in need and you say,

hey, let's reach out to that friend because I think they really need a friend right now.

So as Christians though, what do we mean when we talk about reaching out.

So what we generally mean in a Christian context is we mean something similar,

reaching out to a person, but rather than just reaching out to make a connection,

we're reaching out to make a connection with the goal of bringing the good news

of Jesus to that person or group of people that they might come to know Jesus as well.

And conceptually, I found that this is something that Christians generally agree

with and know they should be doing it.

We love the stories of Paul and other evangelists through history that's crazy

stories that they get to tell.

And we know we should be reaching out to people who don't know God yet.

But then we look at people like Paul in the Bible and we say,

yeah, but I'm not really gifted like he was.

I'm not bold like Peter.

Or maybe we feel too intimidated, worried because we don't know all the arguments.

We don't know if we're gonna be able to answer all the questions.

Paralyzed by what ifs rather than the actual experience of the moment.

We're worried because we don't know how to start a conversation,

or we feel awkward and worried about rejection.

Maybe even we have sin in our lives, and we wrestle with, like,

how can I tell people about Jesus when I'm struggling to follow him myself?

So where do we start in all of this? So I want to take the next few minutes,

really, and talk about this. I want to talk about our mission that we have.

I want to talk about the message that we've been given, and I want to finish

with a method of reaching out.

So we'll start with a mission for reaching out. We're going to start in Luke 15.

We're going to look at two parables that Jesus tells a group of listeners in

Luke 15. And actually, there's three parables in this chapter.

I preached on the third of the three just a couple of months ago.

So you can go listen to that if you would like to. So we're just going to focus on the first two.

So beginning in verse 1. All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him.

And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

So right off the bat, we're given a setting and a setup for what Jesus is about

to say. There's two primary groups that are here.

You have the tax collectors and the sinners, and then you've got the Pharisees and the scribes.

The tax collectors and the sinners were the people who really the Jewish people,

the Jewish culture, and really the religious elite of that time kind of looked

down on. They're the people who aren't following God. They're not doing the

right things with their lives according to the religious leaders of their day.

And you've also got the Pharisees and scribes. And they're the religious elite

who follow God and do everything right, or so they think.

But notice what they're doing in this passage. The tax collectors and the sinners

are approaching to listen to what Jesus is saying.

And the Pharisees and the scribes are there to complain and accuse about what's going on.

And we see this pattern with Jesus over and over and over again.

The religious elite accused Jesus

of hanging out with prostitutes and tax collectors, the sick and unhealthy,

unfaithful sinners, people of

other faiths, the unclean, to which Jesus looks back at them and is like,

yeah, and your point?

Because he did hang out with those people. He did share meals with them,

which at that point in history, they would have looked at sharing a meal as

almost endorsing of their lifestyle.

Maybe Jesus had a different mission than what they realized.

Jesus was a little bit scandalous for his time. I think he's actually still

a little bit scandalous for us.

And so the question again, though, is why? Why would he do this? What's the point?

And so Jesus did what he often does, and he tells them stories.

So beginning in verse three.

So he told them this parable. What man among you who has 100 sheep and loses

one of them does not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?

When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders. And coming home,

he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them,

rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.

I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner

who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need repentance.

He then continues with another similar story. Or what woman who has 10 silver

coins, if she loses one, does not light a lamp, sweep the house,

and search carefully until she finds it?

When she finds it, she calls her women friends and neighbors together,

saying, Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost.

I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents.

He starts with the story of someone who has a flock of sheep and notice how

he draws you into the story.

What man among you who has 100 sheep?

This isn't just a story about God and what he's doing. He's inviting us into the story with him.

And so we're told this man leaves his entire flock to go and find one lost sheep.

And it's important to remember here, this is a parable because I hear this question

all the time. Well, what happened to the 99 sheep?

Well, it's a parable. we're given the information that we're given,

we don't really know what happened to the 99 sheep.

But the emphasis seems to be more on the one anyway.

And he's going on a mission. This man is going on a mission until he finds it.

This isn't a quick, like, going out and kind of surveying the land.

Okay, I don't see it anywhere.

You know what I mean? If it got separated from the flock, it's probably kind

of sick and weak anyway. Maybe we just count this one as a loss.

No he's not going to stop it's until he finds it.

And we see the same theme in the second parable as well. As a woman loses a

silver coin, probably worth about a day's wages, and she lights a lamp,

she sweeps the house, and she searches diligently for it.

This isn't a quick overview of the house.

There's a deep cleaning, implying that it's not easy to find.

She's got to work to find this coin.

And here's the thing. Are these things valuable? Sure, they're valuable.

But they're not of infinite worth, necessarily. One sheep is not more valuable

than 99, and one coin worth a day's wages is valuable, but not necessarily life-changing in its value.

But who is it that defines value? It's the one who is searching.

It's the one who defines the value of something.

When my five-year-old comes in and he's like, Dad, I lost my ball. I'm like, okay.

Doesn't bother me that much. Go find your ball. And if I'm not home,

there's a good chance I'm going to come home, and he's going to have dumped

out every single bin in the house trying to find this ball. He's like the opposite

of the woman cleaning her house. He's just making a mess of everything that's there.

And you walk in, he's like, Dad, I found my ball. And you're like,

Dad, that's what you were looking for?

And he's like, well, yeah, but it's got Spidey on it. And you're like,

oh, it's great, wonderful.

But I'm not the one defining the value of that ball. He is. And he's going to

great lengths to find it.

And they're giving great value to these things they're searching for.

Eugene Peterson was a well-known Christian author.

And at his funeral, his son, Leif, spoke and said that throughout his father's

life in ministry, he really only had one message that he preached over and over

and over again. And he would whisper it into their ears as he was putting them to bed at night.

And he would say, God loves you. God is on your side. He is coming after you.

He is relentless.

That's at the heart of this parable God's mission for the lost is not one of

ease and convenience but of searching and never giving up to the very end,

he's got a mission he's coming after you he's relentless.

Matthew 28 18 through 20 is a famous scripture about reaching out Jesus is about

to ascend into heaven and he's commissioning his followers and here's what he says,

all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth go therefore and make

disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the

son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe everything i have commanded you,

and remember i am with you always to the end of the age,

When I read this, I don't hear ease and convenience.

Going to all nations doesn't sound like something easy to do.

It sounds like a commitment.

And I have trouble teaching my own kids to obey all that God has commanded.

And they're in my own house.

This requires an investment of

our time and our gifts to accomplish the mission that God is giving to us.

And of course, Jesus set the ultimate example for us when he comes and he dies on the cross for us.

We're gonna get to that a little bit more in a moment.

And so when the mission is accomplished, we get this real beautiful picture,

and an exciting picture to go with it.

When a sheep is lost and it can't keep up with the flock, there is a good chance

that it's weak or sickly. And so we have this person who goes out there and

they find the sheep and they put it on their shoulders.

They're not putting the burden of returning home on the sheep.

He's carrying it, just as God does for us.

And what do you do when you have been on a mission that's really hard?

When you've set a really big goal for yourself and you're trying to accomplish

it, you know it's going to be hard. You're going to go out there and you're going to work for it.

And you do it and you accomplish it. What do you do? You celebrate.

You might throw a party, but you're going to celebrate in some way, shape, or form.

And that's what this scripture is telling us that when one sinner repents heaven

and the angels celebrate their return home this is exciting.

The word repent is an interesting one that simply means a mind that has been

changed, but not like, you know, I wanted salad and I changed my mind and now I want pizza.

It refers to a change in one's way of thinking that results in a different belief,

and a change in the direction of one's life.

Something deep within you has changed and caused you to live a different way,

to look in the world at a different way and to even look at yourself in a different

way than you did previously.

Do we see the mission that God has? God loves us enough that he wants to see

the world that he's created healed and restored.

And he so desires it that he's relentless in his pursuit of calling us to repent and turn towards home.

And then when we do, he's ecstatic.

But what message could be so impactful to us that we would change our very beliefs,

about the world and ourselves?

And what message would be so impactful that we would then want to take that

message and tell everyone else about it?

Well, let's look at that message.

One of the things I really appreciate about poets and songwriters is they tend

to write things in a way that I don't necessarily think about all the time.

They write things in ways that cause me to think because they present things

in maybe a non-traditional way.

And so they might say something that kind of catches me off guard or catches

us off guard as we're reading it and we go, wow, that was a really interesting

way to say that. Kind of makes me think about it a little bit differently.

And I was reminded of a song this past week called Embracing Accusation by the

Christian artist Shane and Shane, two guys with the same name.

And I want to read these lyrics to us, but let me get to the end before you

pass full judgment because it's a bit interesting, the lyrics that are here.

So let me just jump into it. I'm going to read it rather than sing it for your

sakes. So kind of like poetry.

So the father of lies comes to steal, kill, and destroy all my hopes of being good enough.

I hear him saying, cursed are the ones who can't abide.

Here's where it gets a little crazy. He's right. Hallelujah, he's right.

The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed, that I'm cursed and gone astray.

I cannot gain salvation, embracing accusation.

Could the father of lies be telling the truth of God to me tonight?

If the penalty of sin is death, then death is mine.

I hear him saying, cursed are the ones who can't abide.

He's right. Hallelujah, he's right.

The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed, that I am cursed and gone astray.

I cannot gain salvation.

And then we get to the bridge. The devil is singing over me an age-old song

that I am cursed and gone astray, singing the first verse so conveniently over

me, but he's forgotten the refrain.

Jesus saves.

It's a clever way to present the gospel to us and these half-truths that the

devil reminds us of so often, that we are broken and filled with sin.

All right, here we go. We are broken and filled with sin, that we fail at following

God and living up to his standards every single day.

The devil is so quick to remind us of this, but he's scared to death that we'll

hear the rest of the story, that Jesus saves,

that this Jesus, he's the one who comes with a message of salvation from the

guilt and the shame that we carry every day, that he comes to redeem our past

unfaithfulness with his faithfulness,

that only he can give us the worth and meaning in this world as he comes and

lays down his life for us as he dies on the cross.

Jesus saves.

That's a message that changes us at our core. It can cause us to live a different

life than the one that we're living.

That's a message that once it gets into us, we can't help but want to tell other people as well.

It was probably more than 15 years ago now, I think, but there's a guy named

Penn Jillette. He's part of the illusionist group Penn & Teller.

He's an outspoken atheist. And they kind of mingle with people after the show and everything.

And he went after the show mingling with people, and this man walks up to him

that had seen his show, and he hands him a Bible, and he had written a message in that Bible.

And we don't know what that message was. He didn't say.

But it's interesting because you go, I wonder what his reaction was,

like this outspoken atheist. And he actually got online, he posted a video.

And it's really interesting, one of the things that he said.

He said this, how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?

How much do you have to hate somebody

to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?

I mean, if I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you

and you didn't believe that truck was bearing down on you, there's a certain

point where I tackle you.

And this is more important than that.

From what I understand, this didn't change him. He didn't become a Christian

that day. He's still an atheist. But he's right.

We have a message that saves lives. And not just for right now,

but for all of eternity. It saves lives.

Why would we not want to proclaim this to the world? This is the best news ever.

As I mentioned earlier, I think there's a lot of reasons that we come up with

why we don't. Fear, worry.

We feel unqualified, ill-equipped.

And so I think it's worth looking at how we share the gospel, the method of what we do.

And if you're excited at this point that I'm going to tell you exactly what

to say, you've got your pens and your pencils ready to go, I'm about to greatly

disappoint you in this moment because I can't tell you exactly what you should say to somebody.

I mean, it gave you a little bit, just a simple gospel presentation right there,

but read the stories in the Bible.

They differ depending on the situation people are in.

Peter talking to a group of non-Jewish people is very different than Peter talking

to a group of Jewish people.

Paul oftentimes points to Jewish history. Other times he uses cultural examples

and sometimes he tells his own story.

It's almost like we're gonna have to wrestle with this a little bit.

But you're not alone in that wrestling. In Ephesians 6, we have Paul finishing

up his letter to the church at Ephesus.

And he's finished writing this really amazing section of Scripture. It's filled with faith.

Stand, therefore, in God's armor with truth like a belt, righteousness like

armor on your chest, sandals with the readiness of the gospel,

the shield of faith to extinguish the enemy's attacks, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit.

This is exciting faith-building language right there.

And then just a couple of verses later, he says this.

Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth,

to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this,

I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I might be bold enough in him to speak as I should.

Now, I know that we're not all called and gifted like Paul was.

Mario just talked last week about the body of Christ, and we all have different

gifts that's going to look different in different people and how we walk this out.

But the Bible does call us all to be reaching out to the people around us.

And even if we're not gifted like Paul, we're still called to it.

And I think he gives us some good principles here that we can lean on as we

look at reaching out ourselves. So where does Paul start?

He starts with prayer.

Paul is asking for prayer. Maybe that's where we should start as well.

Paul is praying that God would give him the message to speak.

The Apostle Paul apparently didn't know what he was going to say in every situation, and that's okay.

He's trusting God for the message in the moment.

I found in my own life, I so often, I'll be meeting with someone,

and I just pray before I get there, God, would you give me an opportunity to talk about you?

And he almost always answers that prayer.

It's amazing. So often we're in positions where we don't know what to do,

how to reach out to someone, how to help someone, how to share the gospel with someone.

But do you know who does know? God.

Maybe we should go to him first. Talk to him about it.

See what he has to say. If he's truly as passionate for the loss as scripture

says, which I think he is, he's going to answer that prayer.

And we see this pattern of prayer all over the New Testament.

In Colossians 4, we see Paul asking for prayer so that doors will be open for

the gospel. In 1 Thessalonians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 3, we see them asking for

prayer so that they can preach the gospel effectively and faithfully.

In Acts chapter 4, we see the disciples praying for boldness to preach the gospel.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 13, they pray for Paul and Barnabas' mission that's about to

Acts 13 · chapter mention

take place as they're going out to preach the gospel.

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas pray in prison right before an earthquake happens,

and then they preach the gospel to the jailer, and he and his entire household are saved.

Go and read about the historic Moravian church. In August of 1727,

it was the children and the youth who began to pray, and then their parents picked up on it.

And it turned into over a century of 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-week prayer in

their community over a century.

And many today credit this as the beginning of the modern Protestant missionary movement.

Maybe we should start with prayer.

Going back to Ephesians 6, I also want to notice Paul's tone that's here in

the prayer, or in his request. Pray also for me.

I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough.

As we reach out to those around us, it's so important that we embrace our weakness.

So often we view Paul as this perpetually bold man ready to just charge hell,

at a moment's notice. But look at his prayer.

That I might be bold enough. He sees his lack, that he's not strong enough. He's not bold enough.

And he needs God's strength and God's message to accomplish the mission.

Scripture so often calls us not to our strengths, but to our weaknesses.

In 2 Corinthians 11, 29, and 30, Paul is addressing people who have been boasting

in their own religious strength that they have.

And he says, who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble and I do

not burn with indignation?

If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses.

And then he boasts about his weaknesses. Go read Acts 22 and Acts 26 as he tells

his own story about how he persecuted the church,

persecuting the very people who believed what he now believes and how it's God's

grace who comes and changes him, not by any strength of his own,

but it's God who comes and changes his heart.

Go and read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Go and read about these disciples.

The story is not about the great things that they did. It's more about how they

screwed up and failed and needed to be rescued by Jesus.

When we are weak, he is strong. When we boast of someone in need,

we boast of the one who solves that need.

And it's our own stories of broken lives encountering God, not in the midst

of our strength, but our weaknesses that invites others to do the same.

We live in an exhausting world today. Do you think that it might be encouraging

to some people that there's rest from the brokenness that we live in?

That there's still hope after the darkness of sin seems to have ravaged our lives.

The truth that we are cursed and gone astray, but met with the truth of a Savior coming to our rescue.

That is our story. That is your story.

Not someone else's story or something that you read in a book.

It's your story of how you met the risen King who has raised you to life when you needed it most.

That's a story worth repeating. That's a story worth telling.

And we can tell that story. And afterwards, we can rest in God's peace.

Paul's prayer request is that

the message may be given to me and that he might be bold enough in him.

It's ultimately not his strength or his boldness or any message that he could

conjure up himself. It's about the strength and calling of his Savior.

In 1 Corinthians 3, 6, Paul, again, is talking about the conversion of the Corinthian

people and how they came to know Jesus. and he says, I planted,

Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

What he's saying here should really both comfort us and drive us to our knees at the same time to pray.

We can't save anyone. Only God does that.

It's not by our efforts that anybody's saved, but by the life,

the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, the people are saved.

We can share about him. We can talk about him and we should share about him,

and talk to other people about him.

But at the end of the day, God is the one who causes the growth and salvation in people's lives.

And Jesus knew that not everybody was gonna respond favorably.

In Luke chapter 10, he's sending out the 70 to go and proclaim the gospel,

Luke 10 · chapter mention

to go and prepare the way. He's gonna go to these different towns and cities and he sends them out.

It says as sheep in the midst of wolves, which sounds really encouraging when you think about it.

And in verse 16, he says this.

Whoever listens to you, listens to me. Whoever rejects you, rejects me.

And whoever rejects me, rejects the one who sent me.

We have to realize that even Jesus himself, the perfect evangelist, was rejected.

This message of the cross is not one that everybody's going to accept.

Not everybody's going to come to the realization that they are sinful and in need of a savior.

And that's not up to us.

We can't save anyone within our strength. But we can rest in the peace of knowing that Jesus is king.

And he's the one who draws men to himself.

But let it not be because we didn't tell people about him. let it not be because

we didn't spend our lives reaching out to others for the sake of the gospel,

and whatever it is that we put our hands to,

and so as I pray to close this out this morning I pray that we might walk the

path of a prisoner on his way to Rome,

praying earnestly in his lowliest state that God would bless him make him bold

and grant him favor with all,

that he would meet so that he could tell them about this gracious and glorious

and merciful and forgiving Savior. Let me pray for us.

Jesus, we need you every day.

And God, we do want other people to know about this great message that you've

given to us, God, that you've changed our lives with.

And so I pray, God, that you would give us the message.

I pray that you would put people on our hearts right now that we have in our

lives that need to hear of this really good news, the best news that could ever

meet our hearts and our souls.

And I pray that you would give us the message to go to them with.

And I pray that you would give us the boldness to speak and say what needs to be said.

God, I thank you for this mission that you've given us. And God,

I even thank you that there's no way for us to accomplish it without you.

So would you help us today, Lord Jesus? Would you give us opportunities?

God, your word says that we plan our ways, but you order our steps.

Would you order our steps this week, God, to encounter people who don't know you yet?

Would you give us a message for them? straight from you, as ambassadors of you,

your life, your goodness, your resurrection, and your death.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, for who you are. We thank you for saving us. Thank you for loving us.

In the name of Jesus, amen.