Ready for Mission

Well, good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you this morning? >> Good. Good to see everyone. I am Pastor DJ. I'm the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. And if I haven't met you, uh, welcome in. Come find me afterwards. I'd love to, uh, say hello, get to know you more. And at this time, let's open our Bibles to Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4. And if you don't have a Bible, there's one in the seat back or in front of or around you. And if you don't have one, feel free to make that yours. That would is our gift to you. You can highlight it, make notes, mark it up, make it your Bible, and uh bring it back next week. And uh we would love to to continue to see you and um your Bible. As Nicole uh said, I am leaving for the Philippines tomorrow morning. So, I do ask for your prayers for uh my family and and me. And I also wanted to echo uh the Bible group uh times. I didn't have a chance to um add it to the slide more visually visually, but for you notetakers, um the week of September 13th, all the Bible groups begin and we have on Monday night. So if you're taking notes or if you want more information, you can always contact me because you register for Bible groups online, but it is a generic registration for all the cross collective. And so you select Phoenix, but when I get that, I'll just reach out directly because it's not going to be like, do you want Monday at 6:30 or do you want Wednesday at 2 p.m. It the the registration is not set up that way, but I will work with you directly with Phoenix. Uh, so our Bible groups are Monday night at 6:30 p.m. led by Scott and Donna Waldansski. And we do have a Tuesday evening home group, but uh, two things. Number one, it's full. And number two, I don't plaster people's addresses all over. Um, but we do have a Bible group that meets in a home, but they are are are packed full. Um, and then we have two on Wednesday afternoons. Uh the first one will be at 2 PM. That is a result of the Bible group survey that we did. The most feedback I got was a Wednesday afternoon time frame. So that is going to be led by Kim and Diane Boardman. New Bible group opening up Wednesdays 2:00 p.m. here at the church. And I'm excited for them. I'm excited for that to start a new one. And they are the leaders of our children's ministry first through sixth grade. So also stepping into the Bible group role. And then we also have Wednesday evenings at 6 pm. If you were here last year, we had Wednesday nights at 5:00 p. p.m. Little harder for people to get to uh for work and stuff. So talk with Roger and Kenu who lead that Bible group and we're moving that to 6:00 p. p.m. right here at the church. And if you are also wondering about what's going on with the Tuesday night Bible group here at the church that I led, I am going to be utilizing Tuesday nights to lead rooted disciplehip groups. There is more to come on that. Um, and that is a 10-week intentional disciplehip plan. It doesn't roll all year to into perpetuity. It's 10 weeks. And then my goal is to uh do rotations of the rooted groups and send people out into Bible groups uh beyond that. And um as God has incredibly blessed Cross Church, we may need to open up another Bible group. And I don't even know where uh I don't have any idea of that yet, but we may need to branch off into a a fifth one. So be in prayer for that. But um God is doing incredible things here, and I am grateful to see that. Well, over the past three weeks, we've been talking about what it means to be rooted. We're in this series called Rooted and Ready. We do a church life series every year. And after this, September 13th, actually, beginning we'll be going through the book of Job. But this week, Ready for uh mission. And then next week, our brother Ken will be preaching. I'll be gone. He's preached here before, and he's going to be preaching ready for leadership. But over the past three weeks, we've talked about rooted, specifically being rooted in worship, rooted in community, and rooted in disciplehip. The point ultimately being that we, you and I, we need to be rooted in what matters to God. And what matters to God is that we worship and exalt Jesus Christ. We live in vibrant community with each other. And that we grow in disciplehip. These are biblical sound um Christian disciplines that we must be involved in. And it is then that we learn to be ready for mission. I would call the previous three sermons, if you haven't watched them, they're online. The three rooted sermons are some we could call them maybe prerequisites to being ready for mission. Being rooted in worship, community, and disciplehip are vital and important first steps. If the goal of the mission is to get more people to worship Christ, more people to be in community with the body of Christ and grow more people growing in disciplehip in Christ, then it stands to reason that those that are on that mission are doing those same things, right? We can't call others to do what we're not doing ourselves. I mean we can but we have a word for that called hypocrisy. Um but we can but we should be doing those things ourselves as we encourage others to do them. When we are rooted in these things we are ready for mission. Often when we think of mission we immediately think of something that happens you know over there somewhere far far from here right in a land far far away. Um it is and mission work is reserved for those who are called missionaries, right? And the most mission uh we can do is support them financially, send money places. And while we do uh do that and we do support those ministries, that is not um that is not the end of missions. Or if missions were simply a trip we go on, right? It has a start and an end date. Like uh Audrey went to Mexico from this date in time or Pastor DJ and Pastor Chad are going to the Philippines from this day to this date. So I'm on mission from this day to this day. Mission starts here and ends here and then I come back and I'm done with mission. That is fake news, right? That is not true. And while we do have missionaries and it's good and right to support them financially, while we do go on short-term mission trips um to around the world, all of those in are true and good. But biblically, being on mission for Christ is part of a believer's daily walk. We can't see missions as a program. Living life on mission is the ordinary life of a disciple of Christ making Jesus known and making more disciples as they go about their day. As Paul closes out this letter in chapter 4, I'll be hitting the beginning of it and uh brother Ken will be preaching towards the end focusing on Apapaffris. I'm excited for him to do that. But as Paul closes out this letter, he gives some final instructions for the church at Colasse, if you look back in your Bible to the end of uh towards the end of chapter 3 at verse 18, Paul begins dealing with relationships, husbands and wives, um children and parents, slaves to their master. And yes, back in that day, um, there the slavery was different than what you might think of, uh, more modern cattle slavery. This is different. We can talk more about that, but slaves to their masters and the relationship Paul has there at 4:1. And these final commands here that we're going to get into in verses 2-6 not only have to do with how we relate to each other as believers, but also how we relate to the world around us and the mission of spreading the gospel. Paul is holding the Colossian Christians to a high standard. And I believe we ought to be held to the same. So this morning, I am proposing what I'm calling, it's your main, it's the main heading, it'll be up here. If you don't have a handout, they're on the tables in the back. You can grab one. A litmus test for mission readiness. A litmus test for us this morning. Not the chemistry litmus test, but the kind that asks questions to stir our hearts and minds toward evaluation of our own personal mission readiness. So, let's pray. Father, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. We pray right now that as your word goes out, Lord, that it would fall on rich soil. We take time to do as this passage says and we must continue to do and daily is to pray for the lost to pray for those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I pray for soft hearts this morning. I pray for receptive hearts. I pray God that you would make people new creations in Christ. Maybe even this morning. pray that you would give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the spirit has to say to the church at Cross Church Phoenix in Jesus name. Amen. Well, let's stand as we read God's word together. If you are able to, if you're if not, you can um stand with us in spirit. That is totally fine as we simply uh honor God's word together. I'm going to be reading verses 2 through six. A as you see chapter divisions sometimes are helpful and sometimes are not. Um I believe that Colossians 4:1 is not a helpful chapter distinction and those are not in original manuscripts. 41 is really the end of three. But beginning at verse two, Paul says, "Devote yourselves to prayer. Stay alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door to us for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. Remember this is a prison letter. He is in prison writing so that verse four I may make it known as I should act wisely toward outsiders making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person. This is the word of God. Amen. Thank you. You can be seated. Well, the first thing that we see in our text is that Paul expects them and therefore us to be devoted to prayer. Be devoted to prayer. The words stay alert can also be translated as being watchful. These are interchangeable. in watchfulness or staying alertness, if I could say it that way, is often used in scripture, most often used as a warning against personal laziness and carelessness. Jesus uses it in his prayers in the garden of Gethsemane. But I I want to pull up or use uh one reference, 1 Peter 5'8. uh another the other apostle here Peter speaking into this he says this in 1 Peter 5'8 be sober minded be watchful same as staying alert same word why your adversary the devil prows around prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour and when Jesus uses it in the garden of Gethsemane he is talking he's praying to the father pouring his heart out cuz is about to go to the cross and the disciples are snoozing, right? He's like, "Couldn't you watch with me for an hour?" He's talking about them staying awake and being alert because Satan is at work. Couldn't you watch with me? So, here Paul is saying he wants us to be devoted to the kind of prayer that is alert and watchful rather than lazy and half-hearted. And in verse three, Paul helps them out with a little prayer content. This is Paul's prayer request. And what I want you to first see is what he's not asking for. Remember, Colossians is a prison epistle or letter. He is in prison for the gospel, not for a legit crime that he deserves to be there for. He is in prison for the gospel and writing this letter to the Colossians. And Paul is not even asking them to pray for his release. That's why this text convicted me so much. If I were in prison, not for a crime or I deserve to be jailed up. if I were in prison for preaching the gospel, which is a kind of persecution that could come to a country near you. Um, you never know. We ought to be ready for that. But if Pastor DJ was thrown into prison and I had an opportunity to write a letter to Cross Church Phoenix, I'd be like, "Hey, prayer request over here. Pray that I can get out of here. I don't want to be in prison anymore. or I want to come back and hang out with y'all and pastor and and and and be in fellowship with y'all. Can you pray for me that I can get out of here sooner or later? And Paul says, "Look, just pray for us." Pray what? That God may open a door to us for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains. The mystery of Christ being the gospel going to Jew and Gentile and the whole world. And in verse four, so that I may make it known as I should. Think with me. He's saying, I'm here in prison for preaching Christ, and please pray for more opportunities for me to preach Christ. Think about it. I want you to pray that I can do more of what got me locked up here in the first place. Isn't that great? I want you to pray that I can keep doing what I've been doing all along, which is preaching Christ. And that got me here in the first place. But I just want to keep doing that. Beautiful. And so this leads me to my first little litmus test question for you to reflect on personally. Am I praying daily for the gospel to go to the lost? Now, I'm using the first person eyes's and me's and stuff for in this intentionally. I'm not asking you to evaluate your neighbor to say, "Well, the person sitting next to me doesn't ever do that." No, no, no, no, no. Am I praying daily for the gospel to go to the lost? It's an honest question worth reflecting on. How often do you or I, myself included, right, we pray for the gospel to reach lost people? Often times our prayers go a little bit like, you know, thank you for this food. Thank you for another day. Now, Lord, I need this, this, this, this, and this, and this, and this to all work out in my life. Thanks. Could you make that happen like sooner rather than later? Right now, there's nothing wrong. We are told in scripture, right? Make your requests known to God. Pour out your heart. Have your prayer requests. Ask for things. Make supplication would be another word to use. Make your requests known to God. But do we also pray for lost people who don't know Christ to come to him? Is praying that God would open doors for the word a recurring theme in our prayer lives? And the beautiful thing about this is that it's for everyone. What What if someone is homebound? What can they do? Maybe they can't go to the park and share Christ with teams that go and evangelize in the park or go out into the highways and byways, so to speak. Go out into the streets and and share Christ with people. Maybe they can't do that. What can they do? Pray that the gospel would reach those lost people and pray for those who are doing it. And this is every part of every bit a part of being on mission for Christ right where we are. A preacher I listened to for years. His name is uh John Corson. Preached uh on the radio uh church in southern Oregon. He's retired now, but he shared a story uh that I've always appreciated and it stuck with me over the years. He was visiting an elderly family member in his own family who was homebound and confined to his chair. Uh he couldn't get out of the chair. He's fa lifeending things preparing to be with the Lord but longtime Christian servant humble servant of the Lord and just felt completely useless worthless like he couldn't do anything for the Lord now that he was kind of stuck in a chair and John Pastor John was with him and said this and it always stuck with me not only because it's rhythmic but because it is true and he said this quote you're there in that chair for the purpose of prayer. He said, "Remember that, brother. You are there in that chair for the purpose of prayer." And it made an impact on his life. And that man committed to pray for that church and its ministry to believers and unbelievers until the day he went to be with the Lord. And he did it faithfully. Prayer for the mission is part of the mission. Let's not miss that. When Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." What did he say? Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest that he will send people to it. Notice interestingly, he doesn't say the harvest is uh plentiful and the labors are few. So, go do it. What are you standing here talk listening to me? Go prayer first. Now, God will send laborers into the harvest harvest. Yes and amen. But notice Jesus first command. Pray first to the Lord of the harvest because it's plentiful. Pray to God that he'll send more laborers. That is first and foremost. Prayer for our mission is part of the mission. And this takes us into verse five. Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. The word act in verse 5 is the same word we looked at last week in chapter 2 6 of Colossians. If you recall last week where Paul said, "Just as you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to what? Walk in him." Continue to walk. Same word here in in Greek is act. Same word, same command. We could just as easily say walk wisely toward outsiders. This has to do with our conduct and how we act around outsiders. Outsiders being those who are not believers. How do you and I, professing Christians, if you are, how do you act around non-Christians? is what this text is calling you to reflect on. So this is our second litmus test question for your personal reflection, right? Like my I know he don't. I know she don't. No, no, no, no. Does my conduct around the lost reflect Christ personally? It's easy to say my conduct around Christians reflects Christ. My conduct at church reflects Christ. We may put on our Sunday best, so to speak, and our Sunday tongue, so to speak. But what about when we leave here and go back into the world of daily life? In other words, is how you act dictated by Christ or the people you're currently around at any given moment in time? We see an example of this in Peter himself. The great apostle, first century church leader, even fell into the trap of not living in step with the truth of the gospel. Now, this is in Galatians chapter 2. The summary of it is basically this. Peter was acting one way around the Gentiles and another way around the Jewish people, the Jews. And when Peter did this, the text says that he was actually dragging others into hypocrisy with him. Was having an effect on others. And it says this, "And Paul, Paul's writing, he says, I but Paul opposed him to his face." Isn't that great? Not opposed him behind his back by like starting rumors about him, gossip, you know what Peter's doing. No, no, no. He opposed him to his face. Apostle to apostle opposed him to his face. Why? Because he stood condemned is what the text says. Talk about confrontation, man. Paul didn't shy away uh from calling people out. I wonder how many 21st century American churches would receive Paul as their pastor. You ever wonder? I think Paul would get run out of many churches today. I'm not even like half probably as confrontational as he was. Or I would like to see Paul lead a Bible group. He might get run out of that thing. He has high expectations, high standards. Not to perfection with this. He knows that himself. The things I don't do, I do. The things I don't want to do, I do. Oh, wretched man that I am. He wrestled with his flesh, too. Yes and amen. but has a high calling. James too. James would probably get run out of churches and and Bible groups as well. But anyways, Paul opposes Peter. It says in Galatians 2 because he stood condemned in his hypocritical actions. Now, I understand that the situation uh is a little nuanced in in Peter and Paul's day and there's some differences maybe between that and today. However, the key here is what Paul charged Peter with. There is a specific charge, so to speak, that Paul charged Peter with. And that charge was basically this broken down. His conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel. That's the bottom line. Your conduct is not in walking in or step with the truth of the gospel. There are many ways our conduct can be out of step with the gospel. When you're cussing like a sailor around all your co-workers who know you take that mouth to church on Sunday, right? Or when you gossip at lunch knowing it's sin against God, but hey, I'm not doing it in the church. Like the church is the only sacred place not to like sin. Don't forget as a believer, your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians, you are the body of Christ. This building, this brickandmortar building is not the church. We are. This is where the church gathers, but we are the church. Meaning this, everywhere you go, there's a church man or a church woman. There's the church. How you going to conduct yourself? Honest reflection. It is important that our conduct toward outsiders, Paul is saying, is Christlike, wise, and redeeming the time. That's what making the most of the time, that's the CSB translation. It means redeeming the time with them. And I love how he assumes church folks, church people are going to be around non-believers. The Christians at Colasse and that church had to go live life as well. He says, "Act wisely around them? Does your conduct reflect Christ everywhere you go?" Living on mission involves our conduct, reflecting Christ towards the lost, not just towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. And that brings me to verse six. He says, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person." As you can see, Paul continues to maintain a very high standard for the conduct of believers. Let your speech always be gracious all the time. Every of the time gracious, right? Meaning there's no time for ungracious speech. Now again, I understand that we will mess up and all that, right? We wrestle with these things and we're not perfect, but always gracious. And then he says, "Seasoned with salt." How do you do that? What does that mean? Letting your speech be seasoned with salt was a common description in ancient times of speech that is wise, clever, and even witty. If you were a wise, clever, witty person, uh you would be described a few thousand years ago as somebody whose speech is seasoned with salt. Right? Ultimately, what does salt do? It preserves and it flavors. Speech seasoned with salt is speech that preserves truth in a world in the midst of error. Number one, and it's also speech that presents the gospel in I'm going to word the use palatable uh way as we talk about salt and the pallet in a palatable way. Now, what I don't mean by palatable is that it compromises truth for the sake of the person that we're talking to. What I mean by palatable is that it's done in a in a positive, flavorful, so to speak, winsome way. Because remember, our speech must always always be gracious. Whether we're preserving truth from error or presenting the gospel in a winsome way, it must be done graciously. Ephesians 4 says, "Speaking the truth what? In love." Just because you have the truth or just because you're sharing the gospel is not an excuse to be a jerk as well. Well, it's true. So, I get to do be as mean as I want. It's the truth. That's not true. Again, bringing a little bit of Peter into this, 1 Peter 3:15 says this, "But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." Now, listen what he says. Yet, yet do it with gentleness and respect. So Paul and Peter are saying the same thing. Defend the truth. Speak the truth. Spread the gospel. But do it graciously. And with Peter, do it gently and respectfully. That's Peter's way of saying the same thing. When you do these things and have these interactions with people, yes, it can get heated sometimes when you're telling people truth. Yes, uh people will disagree with you, mock you, or even jer at you. They did the same thing to Christ. We shouldn't be surprised by that. But it's still no excuse to become a jerk yourself or to be mean or harsh. We do these things graciously, gently, respectfully. We never compromise truth, but we never use truth as an excuse to be rude, ungracious, or harsh. And so all of this is uh is to say that our third litmus test question for personal reflection, not evaluating everyone else but you, is can I graciously share the gospel with others when God gives opportunity. Part of being ready for mission is being prepared to share the gospel as God provides opportunities for you to do it. The gospel doesn't just travel through preachers. It travels through all believers who have come to believe it themselves. If someone asked you right here, right now, actually, I am right. So, it's it counts. Um, but I'm I'm just asking you to reflect on if someone asked you right now, what is the gospel? What would your gracious answer be? What is the gospel? And there are different ways to share the gospel. There's Romans road way of the master, different things uh ways to do that. But there are certain truths we got to hit when we do. Um I've talked to some people who are like, "Hey, I shared the gospel." And they'll tell me the story. And the story is I, you know, I invited him to church. That's awesome, but not the gospel. An invitation to church is different than sharing the gospel. But I love invitations to church, so keep doing it. But when we share the gospel, we need to share the truth about sin, that their sin is against a holy, righteous, and just God. and how our sin separates us from God. Ephesians 2 speaks of being dead in trespasses and sins, not dying, dead in trespasses and sins. He says, "But you were dead in trespasses and sins." And what we deserve as a result of sin is eternal separation from God in hell. It's truth. But God, but God, right? The good news, the gospel is that Christ came. That God sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary. Yes, that matters. Meaning he is unstained and unmarred by sin. And Jesus lived a perfect life, never sinning once. Not even for a millisecond did Jesus even think a sinful thought. Remember there is sin in deed and in thought. Jesus taught you can be an adulterer by looking at a woman or a man lustfully in your heart. Or you can commit murder not physically but by thinking and hating your brother or sister in your heart. So it's not just the action, it is thought in Jesus. Not even for a nanocond even thought a sinful thought. He's perfect and he goes to the cross. He humbles himself and dies the death of a common criminal. Jesus ain't the only person who died on a cross. There's thousands of people who died on a cross. His is different. Why? He's perfect. And he did not deserve to be there. But he went there. Why? For you, not for himself. He's not dying a death to pay for the sins of himself. He's dying to pay for our sin. And so he goes to the cross and though he knew no sin, he offered his life for us on the cross and he died truly died for our sin. Not that he's swooning as certain heresies go and that they they when they laid him in the tomb he was just passed out. He woke up and here I am guys. Sorry I didn't die. I was just passed out. died for our sin but didn't stay dead. Rose again. The tomb is empty. His resurrection shows his power over sin and death. Death cannot hold Christ down. Why? Because death only holds sinners down. And Jesus isn't one of those. He's not a sinner. He's a savior for sinners. And that is why he defeats death. The resurrection is a declaration that death is defeated. Not will be defeated. It already is. That's why Revelation talks about a second death. There's not just one, there's two. The second death is being cast into the lake of fire for all eternity as a result of the rejection of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Death is not when your heart stops and we have a celebration of life for you here in the church. That is not that is physical death. That is not death defined by the scriptures. Death defined by the scriptures is separation from God. And the first death is being dead in your trespasses and sin. Your offer of eternal life is there while you're alive. The second death is rejecting Christ as your savior and then being cast into the lake of fire at judgment. And you say, "So what are we called to do? It's a lot of bad news." Yes, of course. The good news of the gospel is good news because there's bad news and our sin is bad news. But the good news is Christ finished work on the cross. And you say, "What must we what what should we do?" Glad we asked because they asked Peter the same thing in Acts and he says, "Repent." Which means basically this, change your mind about sin. It's agreeing with God that our sin is evil and wicked. Agree with God that we can't work our way into heaven. Agree with God that we can't earn our salvation and believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Turn your life over to him. He is both savior and lord. A lot of people in the world want Christ as savior and not lord. A lot of people want Christ as fire insurance, but they get to just do whatever they want and sin and pile sin upon sin. And we have warnings about that in the scriptures too, right? Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. We turn our lives over to him, believe he is risen, and we believe he is coming again. That's the gospel. And if we're going to be ready for mission right here at Cross Church Phoenix, right here in our little corner of the world, 19th Avenue and Grovers, in our surrounding mission of community, of neighborhood, then it's our mission to share that gospel when God provides us those opportunities. Like I said, there's different ways. There's Romans Road, there's um gospel uh tracks, there's way of the master, there's different ways to help these get these conversations going. But we have to be about it. So as you reflect on these questions yourself, not projecting them onto others yourself. Are you ready for mission right here locally? Are you praying daily for the lost to know Christ? Is your conduct toward outsiders a reflection of Christ? And are you graciously can you graciously share the gospel with others? Good little litmus test for us this morning. I include myself in all of it. If your prayer life needs to change, change it. Mine has. If your conduct at work or school or wherever you are at home needs to change, change it. Bible believing Christians, Christian husbands who come to church and look great and then they go home and treat their wife like dirt. Problem. I'm not saying she's an outsider like it could be a Christian wife, but what I'm saying is, is your conduct in step with the gospel all the time? Not just at church, right? That's what we're called to. And can you graciously share the gospel? Do you know the gospel? At this time, I want to invite the worship team back up as we prepare for our last song. But I want you to pray with me as I close us in a word of prayer. And if there is anyone listening to my voice either in the room or online who is not a Christian would say, I'm not a believer. Um, you know, like coming around and being around here. Praise the Lord. Keep coming. I love that. Um, but today's the day of salvation. Today is the day to be saved because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. And I don't want anyone in this room, anyone in this room to die outside of Christ. Just going to put it out there for you. I don't want that because I believe wholeheartedly what that means according to the scriptures. And according to the scriptures, that means imagining in my own mind's eye their eternal suffering and punishment because of their own rejection of Christ. Not that anyone gets any pleasure out of that or that God does. He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, the scripture declares. But if you're here this morning, you say, "I don't know Christ." Let today be the last day that that's true. And you can come find me in the back or find a trusted brother or sister in Christ that you know and say, "I need to turn my life over to Christ. How do I do that? and do that now today. We baptize you. The baptism's moved because we had a wedding in here. Um but I'll put I'll fill that bad boy right back up when we're ready. But let's pray. Father, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for your word. I pray God that you would uh stir in the hearts of of your people this morning as we reflect on these questions ourselves. And maybe the questions on the outline, maybe they prompt more questions or raise more concerns. I pray God that we wouldn't just um ignore those, but that we would do something about it. God, perhaps this morning your Holy Spirit is tugging on hearts or or or drawing people to yourself. Lord, I pray that we would respond appropriately. But God, I do pray that for those who don't know you as their personal Lord and Savior, that they would that you would draw them to yourself, that they would come to believe in Christ for salvation. And I pray for those who are believers who maybe have been walking with you for a while, God. Um, how can they continue to be on mission for you in these easy ways? It does not require a 13-hour flight around the world. It requires obedience where we are in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand as we sing our last song.