# Ready for Mission

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Rooted and Ready
Date: August 30, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/ready-for-mission

## Summary

Are you ready for the mission God has for you? What if your story is the key to unlocking someone else's faith? How can prayer transform your everyday conversations into divine opportunities? Join us as we explore being rooted and ready for Christ's mission. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

0:00 · What we see throughout scripture is there is one answer you can give for your faith

0:04 · that no one can take away from you, and it is your story.

0:09 · The one thing that you know if you know Christ is that you are destined for a life of eternal

0:16 · torment from Him, but because you know the Savior of the world, because this Book has

0:21 · told us about Him, you can proclaim that to the world around you.

0:30 · Today we are continuing on in our series, Rooted in Ready, and we're in week four of

0:36 · a five-week series where we've talked about how do we be rooted in all that God has for

0:40 · us in God's Word and knowing who He is and being ready to do His work.

0:46 · As we've gone through this journey, we started in week one saying we must be rooted

0:50 · in worship, and we unpacked what it looks like for a cross-church service here, that

0:56 · Sunday as we gather together, the importance of gathering together is we get to gather

1:01 · as believers and as not-yet-believers, and we get to pray through, to praise through,

1:08 · to preach through, and to practice God's Word in our everyday lives.

1:13 · Two weeks ago we talked about we need to be rooted in community.

1:16 · The reason we do Bible groups, the reason we meet during the week and from Sundays

1:21 · through Thursdays is we get to study God's Word, but we also get to do life together.

1:26 · We get to make relationships in the church, and maybe today you're sitting here and

1:30 · be like, I don't know anybody at this church because you're trying to hide in

1:32 · the shadows and be like, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact.

1:35 · We want to see you, and we want you in a Bible group where you get to do life

1:39 · and do community. You can sign up for one right after service and our table outside.

1:43 · Last week we talked about being rooted in discipleship, and Pastor Jackie did a great

1:47 · job walking through our path of how do we be rooted and literally going through a 10-week

1:53 · discipleship journey, and we're going to be rolling more and more out to our church

1:57 · in the coming months of how do we grow deeper in our faith.

2:02 · But as we root and we root and we dig and we dig and we get deeper and deeper,

2:08 · what does it lead to? And today we shift the focus from being rooted in these things

2:14 · to being ready for what God has. And today as we talk about being ready for mission,

2:20 · we come to Colossians chapter four. And if you have a Bible,

2:23 · you can open that up and turn there with me. But in Colossians chapter four,

2:27 · we're going to be starting in verse two. And as Paul moves us along, and last week

2:33 · used this phrase of you're being rooted and built up in Christ, we ask, built up for what?

2:40 · You see, if there's any gardeners in the room and you're like, maybe,

2:44 · can you garden in Phoenix? You can. When it's 110 out, you just need lots of shade,

2:49 · lots of water, and lots of prayer. I have none of those three things for my plants

2:53 · in my backyard because they're all dead. But any gardener knows that the purpose of

3:00 · trees and shrubs and bushes of any kind is you don't pick them out for their roots.

3:05 · You don't be like, man, that tree, it's got baller roots, right? I can't wait to plant those in the

3:11 · ground. You plant it for what comes above ground, for the leaves and the fruits and for what it

3:19 · offers as it grows bigger and bigger. You pick a tree for the fruit that it produces,

3:25 · for the shade that it gives, for something that your kids or your grandkids can climb up in.

3:30 · Do kids climb trees anymore? I don't think they do. You said yes, I'm glad. I remember falling

3:37 · out of trees, testing the strength of my bones, and it was great. I've never broken a bone. I

3:42 · thought I was Superman for a while there, but my brother still hurt me a lot, so I don't think

3:46 · I was. But it's like, we like, we build these trees and we plant them for what we see

3:51 · and can do. But here's the thing. When you look at a plant, the roots are not the point.

3:59 · The roots are simply the power supply for what that turns into. Last night, we had, we celebrated

4:07 · my oldest daughter's 10-year-old birthday, and she wanted to have a sleepover with her friends,

4:13 · and I'm like, no. 10, 10-year-old girls in my house, I'm like, no. That's not going to

4:21 · happen. And my wife's like, hey, I got this idea. What if we do a sleep under? I'm like,

4:26 · you used a word. I don't think that means anything. And the genius she is, she impacted

4:30 · for me. She's like, okay, how about we have them over for a party. They wear their pajamas.

4:35 · They watch a movie. They do everything you do as sleepover, but it's 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

4:40 · The parents pick them up, and then they go sleep at their own house, and I'm like,

4:44 · salt. Let's do it. And she's, okay, now you got to take the three younger kids,

4:49 · and you got to be gone from four to eight. And I'm like, wait, what? Where do I take

4:53 · these kids? So I got home at eight o'clock last night, and it was like karaoke with

4:58 · kids bopping. Oh my goodness. Everything was pink, and it was crazy. But I got home,

5:03 · and we sent all these kids out. I'm like, it's 8.05. Leave my house. And then as we get them

5:09 · all out, we get the kids in bed, and I'm like, oh, it's going to be a great night.

5:14 · I'm going to sleep. I can't wait to preach tomorrow. It's going to be a fantastic Sunday.

5:19 · And about 11 o'clock, I heard some storms rolling in. Maybe some storms hit your house,

5:23 · depending on where you're at, because if you were like two blocks over, it didn't hit your

5:27 · house, apparently. But some storms hit the house, and all of a sudden it rained really hard.

5:31 · And at about 11.40, my lights went out. But then about 30 seconds later, they came back on.

5:36 · I'm like, oh, false alarm. That was good. And then about 11.45, my lights went out

5:41 · and stayed out for five hours. I was one of lucky 2,000 homes. At five hours, it took APS

5:51 · to fix my power. I was literally going, looking out my window to see my neighbors. I'm like,

5:56 · are they with me? Am I going to flip some breakers? They're like, nope, it's dark,

6:00 · it's dark, it's dark, it's dark. And as I'm looking, like in this moonlit horror movie,

6:04 · somehow I can see the outline of the homes. There's not a single light on my street.

6:11 · No power in those houses. And as those houses were not powered, it literally looked like,

6:17 · I'm like, I hope someone isn't breaking my house. I'm going to have to stab someone

6:20 · anyway. But I was like, it was like out of a horror movie, because those homes without power

6:27 · were completely useless. Fun fact, you know what doesn't work in your house in Phoenix

6:31 · when you have no power? Your AC. We found that out real quick. Five hours with no AC

6:39 · with five kids somehow ending up in my room or four or three kids, five people in my room.

6:44 · It was not fun. But here's the thing, church, when we talk about the power,

6:49 · we have the power of God's word who supplies us the roots we are rooted in.

6:55 · But the question becomes, what does it make us ready for? When the lights are on,

7:00 · when the power is flowing through us, how does it move us? How does it push us? What does it move

7:07 · us to? And here's the question over this passage today in Colossians chapter four

7:12 · that we need to ask and we need to spend some time letting Paul answer

7:16 · is how are we ready for Christ's mission? How are we ready for his mission? When he's

7:22 · rooted us, when he supplied us, when he's powered us, how are we ready for what he has?

7:30 · And Paul today is going to answer this with four words. Every one of them starts

7:34 · with where you would not expect a mission strategy to start. And the very first thing

7:40 · we see is we must pray for opportunities. Pray for opportunities. Check out verse two

7:44 · of Colossians chapter four. He says this, devote yourselves to prayer. To prayer.

7:52 · Stay alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open a door

8:02 · to us for the word to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains.

8:11 · Take some time in breaking down these two verses that are just filled with power.

8:15 · As we see how we start this mission is it starts with Paul says we need to pray for

8:20 · opportunities. And here's when we say this, you start in verse two, he says devote yourselves.

8:26 · Now this is not a quick little blessing over dinner. Maybe you're like mean,

8:30 · we ask our kids we're like who wants to pray and sometimes they raise their hands. Sometimes

8:34 · we got a call on someone. My five-year-old Arlo loves to pray for meals right now.

8:39 · And we can't understand a word he's saying. He's like whispering. You're like what is it?

8:44 · He's like amen. Well we're done. Don't know what we prayed for but we're done.

8:49 · But Paul here is not describing like hey pray for my food that I don't get sick when I eat something

8:54 · that should make me sick like make it good. Like he's not saying that. Instead he uses a

8:59 · word that's a word for holding the rope and refusing to let it go. And then he's saying

9:06 · keep at it. But then he goes he's like stay at your post and stay alert in it. He says

9:11 · your eyes should be open. Paul is describing a prayer that watches the world. It's a prayer

9:17 · that is looking for something. It's a prayer like the motorcycle cop that hides on the corner

9:21 · of course he wants to pull over every single person he can because he is just not happy

9:26 · and wants to give out tickets. I don't know what that is. I might have got one in a

9:29 · minivan about a year ago and I'm still bitter about it. But Paul here is describing this

9:36 · prayer that's alert. That's devoted. That's with movement and don't miss the last phrase

9:42 · of verse two. He says it's with thanksgiving. This is the fuel that goes into our prayer.

9:49 · As we pray for the lost those who don't know Jesus yet the same way others have prayed for

9:55 · us. Here's the deal if you're a believer in the room the only reason you know Jesus

10:00 · is because of the grace of God and I guarantee because there are some faithful

10:05 · saints and other Christians who prayed for you. And Paul is saying now you pray for those

10:11 · who don't know Jesus yet with the same ferocity that other people prayed for you with thanksgiving.

10:17 · But then this prayer what is this prayer looking for? And he tells us in verse three

10:24 · he says it's a door. Now catch the scene for a second because this is one of the most

10:29 · remarkable prayer requests in the Bible is Paul is writing this letter from prison.

10:34 · And as Paul is writing this letter from prison and he is literally

10:38 · in chains he does not ask them to pray for his release. I'll be honest I was praying last night

10:45 · all night long for my AC to turn back on and I have no service at my house. Only Wi-Fi.

10:52 · You know what also doesn't work without power? Wi-Fi. All right you know the only text I got

10:57 · was two texts from APS first saying 315 it would be back on. I'm like well and then it

11:01 · was 415 and then it went away and they're like not even telling you after that. And I

11:07 · was praying for it to come back on praying that God would do. But Paul's like hey don't

11:12 · pray that I'm released from prison. He's like don't pray that I have a better cell

11:16 · or a faster trial or a better outcome to my situation. Instead he says pray for a door

11:25 · and not a door out of prison but a door into a conversation. A door for the word. A door

11:32 · for an opening to speak the mystery of Christ. See this this this this scene right now.

11:40 · There is a man in Paul who is praying in chains in physical chains. He is praying

11:49 · though for someone's spiritual chains to be released. He's praying that God would open

11:57 · a door. Paul the greatest missionary who ever lived did not believe he could force a door open.

12:03 · Doors are opened by God and God alone. Our job is to ask to watch and to be faithful when

12:09 · they do. In church this is where the mission starts. A mission for God does not start on

12:17 · our feet. A mission for God starts on our knees in prayer. Which means the first mission

12:23 · you ever walk to is a prayer list. A prayer list of the neighbor on your street that drives you

12:30 · crazy. A prayer list of the parents in your kid's school. Well you know they're crazy

12:37 · and that's why you need they need Jesus right. You're praying they either find Jesus or find a

12:41 · new school but praying for them on the list either way is praying for the family members who

12:46 · walked away from God is we have to be stubborn enough to keep asking God for the door to open.

12:55 · In November 1844 a man in England named George Mueller wrote five names in his prayer journal.

13:02 · Five friends who did not know Jesus yet and he began to pray for them every single day

13:07 · sick or healthy home or traveling every day he prayed for them. 18 months later the first one

13:14 · came to Christ. Five more years after that the second and just think about that first 18 months

13:20 · he's like man this is a good trend it's gonna get quicker. Anyway it's five years for the

13:24 · next one and then six years for the third and the last two. Mueller prayed for them every day

13:32 · for over 50 years. He died in 1898 at 92 still praying and both of those men hear this they

13:40 · came to faith in Christ after his funeral.

13:46 · Somebody asked him near the end how he could keep praying with such confidence

13:53 · and his answer was essentially they are not saved yet but they will be.

14:02 · He says how can it be otherwise I am praying for it. That's why oftentimes here at Cross

14:08 · Church when we talk about the Bible and scripture we say if you don't know Jesus yet

14:13 · because I'm confident that the word of God does not return void that as we proclaim it as we live

14:18 · it as we preach it as we share it it does not return void and in our personal lives and we

14:24 · are telling people about Christ and we are praying about it it is not they might not know

14:29 · him but as they don't know him yet but we pray expectantly for God to move. Now when God

14:36 · opens those doors what is the second thing that we see in this passage is we not just pray for

14:41 · the openings but we also prioritize the gospel. Check out verse four as he continues on he's

14:47 · like why are we praying he says so that I might make it known as I should. So that

14:57 · I might make it known as I should. If you are a note taker if you underline in your

15:03 · Bible or circle or write notes on key words inside a passage this one to mark is the word

15:10 · it because Paul is very clear about what goes through the open door when the door opens that

15:18 · God opens it's not his opinions it's not his politics it's not his complaints about the food

15:24 · in a Roman prison which I can't imagine was good but he's saying that it that goes through

15:30 · door is the mystery of Christ the gospel itself and Paul says he wants to make it known as he

15:38 · should which when he says as he should it means that it's made known clearly and plainly

15:44 · without bearing it under a pile of other things and notice something humbling in this verse

15:49 · Paul who I would argue Paul is the second wisest man to ever walk the earth next to Jesus.

15:55 · I would argue Paul is probably the greatest theologian that has ever been on this earth

15:59 · next to Jesus because he wrote most of the New Testament inspired by the Holy Spirit.

16:03 · Paul who is the greatest church planning strategist that we've ever seen he is asking

16:09 · other Christians in this church at Colossae that you pray for me that when the opportunity

16:15 · comes I say the right words. Paul's like let me not say something dumb let me just say

16:23 · the right thing let me point them to Jesus in church this is huge because this is where we

16:29 · lose people when the door finally opens with our neighbors when the co-worker finally asks why

16:35 · you have a hope when that conversation that all of a sudden comes forth that conversation

16:41 · does not all of a sudden need your take on everything that is wrong with the world because

16:45 · we could give it. That conversation doesn't need your politics of saying why everything is

16:52 · that conversation doesn't need your conspiracy theories which may be true but it doesn't need

16:57 · them in that conversation that conversation needs Jesus and Jesus alone. Here's the deal

17:06 · is we can talk about God for 20 minutes and never get to the cross. We can defend

17:12 · Christianity all afternoon and never introduce anyone to Christ. Paul sat in chains and told

17:18 · another church plainly these chains have actually advanced the gospel the prison did

17:23 · not shrink his message it sharpened it made it clear when everything else was taken from him

17:29 · the one thing he had left to say was the mysteries of Christ above all else

17:35 · and what Paul is telling us to do here is to keep the main thing the headline and guys here

17:42 · the headline when we tell people about Jesus is Jesus is God that's where we start and that's

17:50 · where we finish that Jesus is God and the fact that he has saved you Jesus is God and the fact

17:56 · that he has created everything Jesus is God and the fact that he can he loves other people

18:00 · Jesus is God and that he walked among us Jesus is God and that he died for our sins Jesus is

18:05 · God we start there we continue there and we finish there we tell people why we believe he is

18:14 · God what it means that he is God and how he changes everything you see an open door and a

18:21 · clear message still need one more thing as we go along with being on this mission that we are

18:27 · ready for and that God pushes us to is we actually need to show up manage that continue

18:34 · down this path and the third thing we see is what you need to protect your time check out

18:39 · verse five as Paul is continuing down in this passage he tells us to pray he tells us to

18:45 · make sure that we are very clearly prioritizing the gospel but then he tells us protect our

18:51 · time he says act wisely towards outsiders making the most of the time two things happening

19:02 · in this sentence first Paul mentions this word outsiders now here's what I love is Paul is

19:09 · assuming that you know people who do not know Jesus yet Paul is assuming that when he's writing

19:17 · to the church at Colossae and he's writing to cross church 2,000 years later that you know

19:22 · people who are not just followers of Jesus and then we're in a big old holy huddle and the

19:27 · only people we know are other people who love Jesus and we're like Whoville and we just hold

19:31 · hands and sing songs and everything's kumbaya he's like you know the jerk that cuts you off

19:37 · on the freeway they're probably in your Bible group I'm just kidding uh that you know

19:43 · lighten up a little bit it's all right we're good here right you guys are tense uh we're

19:48 · just still going he's like you should know people in your workplace that do not know

19:53 · Christ you should know people at your kids school and your kids should know people there's

19:57 · assumption he says outsiders people outside the church realize in the next three years

20:04 · in surprise we have 60,000 people moving to our city I bet a whole bunch of them

20:13 · don't know Jesus yet and Paul assumes there are people that we are in conjunction and

20:21 · circulation and relationships with that we need to talk to but then the second thing he

20:26 · in this verse is making the most of the time in the original language that phrase is a market

20:33 · word it means to buy back you would buy back something and Paul is using it is he would

20:39 · buy back the time and many of us know I don't have to convince you like time is slipping

20:45 · away on a shelf you blink and time moves I'm blinking and my kids are getting bigger as I

20:51 · can't even imagine it right I'm a 10 year old this week like what happens you guys think

20:57 · I'm 15 so you don't even know how that math works but you blink and time moves quick and

21:05 · so fast and Paul says you need to make the most of the time you have I want to do a

21:11 · little math with you because I've got great feedback every time I do math in a sermon

21:15 · I just get these common cards do more math right you guys love it so much

21:22 · do a little math okay researchers say and I think this is crazy low I don't think this is

21:27 · accurate but we're gonna go with it researchers say that the average American now spends about

21:31 · seven hours a day looking at a screen that's phone tv tablet seven hours honestly it's probably

21:39 · low okay and but we'll go with it you run the math on that seven hours and you run it

21:45 · across a year you know how many days that equals any math whizzes out there yep I knew it

21:51 · that equals around 106 full days a year out of 365 106 of them are staring at a screen

22:05 · I guarantee that's more than you spend staring at your spouse or your kids

22:10 · and here's why we say that I'm not saying that to make you feel guilty or bad because

22:15 · you might work on your screen you might rest on your screen and those are good things

22:20 · but the next time the words come out of your mouth I'm just too busy I don't have time

22:29 · and man I hear that all the time everyone's busy I would say everyone and their mom is

22:34 · busy that's accurate right everyone's busy and they always say I'm so busy I'm so busy

22:39 · I'm so busy busy is a relative term busy is a trade-off we choose how we spend our time

22:47 · and Paul is saying to make the most of it church we have a time problem literally and preparing

22:54 · for this sermon I used to get on my phone these like screen reports weekly and they would

22:59 · convict me on an iPhone like you spent this average per day I actually and I haven't got

23:04 · those for like a year and I'm like what's up with this so I found it in my settings I

23:08 · turned it back on they don't send you that report anymore and then every week it erases

23:13 · so I'm like trying to check it on Sunday how bad did I do last week I tried to get my numbers

23:18 · real high and the preparation so I could kind of work myself down some of you will get that

23:24 · but they don't even do it anymore and why because I think Apple's like we're not going

23:28 · to show the stats because they're too depressing we just want you to keep staring at the

23:32 · screen forget these numbers ever exist they'll erase day by day and we won't worry about it

23:36 · but here's the problem is we have a time problem and Paul is convicting us he's saying use it

23:44 · wisely pray for the door to open prioritize the gospel make it clear when it does and then make

23:51 · sure your time is spent doing the right things but then here comes the question when that

23:58 · happens and all of a sudden we prayed to share with someone and all of a sudden

24:03 · God's put us in front of this conversation what in the world do we say and that's where Paul

24:10 · gives us our last point we see in this passage is you must persuade your community with the

24:16 · gospel persuade your community with the gospel check out verse six that's just an amazing

24:19 · verse I love this small little passage here he says let your speech always not sometimes

24:29 · always be gracious and seasoned with salt so that you may know how you should answer each person

24:41 · I love this verse because Paul tells us two things he tells us the flavor

24:46 · and the aim of our conversations when we are sharing Christ first he gives us the flavor and

24:53 · he says to be gracious to be seasoned with salt now think about what salt does and I don't want

24:59 · to throw my mom under the bus but she's probably not going to watch this that's not a big deal

25:02 · she goes to a different church she's pretty locked in there it's great she watches me twice

25:05 · a year on Easter and Christmas Eve so this will fly under the radar but growing up my

25:11 · my mom did not season things as they should have been seasoned and here's the deal if you

25:17 · add salt and pepper on your food that are not chips or french fries all right then

25:22 · you did not cook that food good to begin with and there was not enough seasoning

25:27 · in the recipe that you made to start my wife will like call me when she's making dinner

25:33 · or something she's like how much like seasoning do I put in how much salt how much pepper how

25:36 · much this and I'm like just use your heart she's like I can't do that I'm like well

25:44 · that's because like you don't have the art of cooking like where you just feel it

25:48 · like this needs more just throw it in there you see the purpose of salt is to bring out

25:56 · flavor to make the food taste better to make it not bland to be better and our speech is

26:01 · the same we need to have more grace something that people taste but also something that makes

26:07 · them thirsty and when our speech is seasoned with salt we not only see they're like oh I

26:15 · hear about that God that's interesting but also I want to know more about him

26:20 · now some of you when you hear this voice this verse you've been applying it all wrong

26:24 · because you're you're not seasoned with salt but instead your speech is just straight up salty

26:31 · and that's not what Paul is saying here because we've known some Christians who have

26:35 · some salty speech and people walk away and they feel like oh man that was a rough conversation

26:41 · like I don't even know what I think they just told me I'm going to hell like what just happened

26:44 · like Paul is not saying have salty speech Paul's not saying when cut someone out use some

26:49 · salty fingers on the jaw on the road instead Paul is saying that is seasoned with grace

26:56 · and love that it's giving people who Christ is in wanting them to have more

27:03 · but then he also gives us the aim and the aim of this is not that it be gracious seasoned as it

27:10 · should but so that you may know how you should answer each person again if you're a note-taker

27:18 · underlined circle whatever you do each person now here's what's important about this is this

27:22 · is not a script this is not a memorized pitch to fire at someone every time someone

27:28 · asks you about Jesus Paul expects you to know the difference in how you talk to different people

27:34 · for example the 20 year old asking you if God is even real and the widow who is asking you

27:41 · where God was when her husband passed away and the co-worker who thinks church is just after

27:47 · their money those all those all need very different responses one of those needs evidence

27:54 · that God is real one of them needs comfort that God loves you and one of them might need to watch

28:00 · your life and see that you're not a hypocrite over the long term you see the same gospel

28:06 · but a different door into it and knowing the difference is a skill that's why I'm super

28:13 · excited is last week pastor Jackie as we've been unpacking this rooted and ready he gave

28:18 · us kind of the pathway and the roadmap that we're rolling out to our church and we say

28:23 · how do we move from just attending church and maybe some of you watching online maybe you need

28:28 · to start attending church all right but how do we move from just being in the chair to moving

28:33 · across the path that is getting closer to Christ in closer what he has for us and we talk about

28:38 · we need to be rooted last week talking about rooted discipleship and we're going to be

28:42 · starting taking people through these 10-week courses in this rooted material and they'll

28:46 · hear more information in the coming months for that but one thing where our staff is working

28:50 · on and putting the final touches on to create is this class that will be rolling out in the winter

28:56 · called ready to share it's like how do you share your faith not how do you say like a few things

29:02 · and like read it off a cue card that Jesus God Jesus died for your sins and those are all great

29:06 · things but how do you share your faith with your gracious tongue and your words that can

29:14 · impact the world around you and man I'm so excited that next season as we're going to see

29:20 · how people go through this how we can better be on mission for loving and sharing with the world

29:27 · around us but Paul in this passage he takes these four things that's all asking and answering

29:35 · the question of how are we ready to be on mission for Jesus Christ and you put these

29:41 · four together that we pray for opportunities that we prioritize the gospel that you

29:46 · your time when it comes and then you persuade your community with the words that come from

29:51 · this book and here's the truth that is standing over all of this is that you will never be ready

30:00 · for mission the mission of Christ that he has given us until you are ready to share your story

30:09 · you see Paul in this he tells us that our job is to talk is to share is to tell other people

30:19 · about what Christ has done now some of you tensed up when you heard mission and sharing

30:24 · and sharing your story because you're like oh I thought that was your job like you're on stage

30:30 · like I feel like I need a seminary degree I feel like if I was in fries and people start

30:34 · asking me questions I would fail the theological exam and he's like I don't know if I have all

30:39 · the answers that's what chat gpt and clod are for once you feed it the right information

30:43 · and make sure it's not heresy right but Paul instead here he's showing us the one

30:51 · and what we see throughout scripture is there is one answer you can give for your faith

30:56 · that no one can take away from you and it is your story throughout the gospel Jesus

31:03 · came into contact with a lot of different people and in John chapter 9 is one of my favorite stories

31:08 · where a guy who was blind his entire life he had never seen anything he had lived this way as a

31:14 · beggar as a blind beggar he had helped his entire life and he comes and he meets Jesus

31:19 · and Jesus opens his eyes and all of a sudden you can see and after the guy gets pulled in

31:24 · by all these Pharisees and religious leaders and they're grilling him they're asking him

31:28 · like how did your eyes open like did you see an angel do you see this and they're like

31:31 · all these theological questions and he's like and he's like he doesn't know any of the answers

31:35 · but then in John chapter 9 he gives this great little line I love this he's like I don't know

31:40 · any of the answers to your questions but he says this but one thing I do know I was blind

31:49 · and now I can see church there is one thing you know if you know Jesus Christ that you

31:56 · are a sinner and that he has saved you that one thing that you have known is your life

32:04 · in your sin was a wreck but there is this god man Jesus Christ who came down here to earth

32:11 · to walk in human skin to know what it looks the Lord it feels like to be in a broken place

32:18 · he lived a perfect life he died on the cross for our sins the place we deserve because

32:25 · of our failures he rose from the grave as only he could and the one thing that you know if you know

32:32 · Christ is that you are destined for a life of eternal torment from him but because you know

32:38 · the savior of the world that he takes all your sin away and he is your savior because this

32:46 · book has told us about him and you can proclaim that to the world around you

32:51 · you know

32:54 · you see this is what we know that we are to tell our story of how Christ has changed our life

33:08 · and I know that's scary and I know you see that be like I don't know if I'm equipped

33:14 · to do that but you are more equipped than you think you are

33:18 · and it starts with continuing to show up continuing to be in community continuing to

33:26 · learning more about Jesus but it also starts with recognizing how hurt our world is

33:36 · let me bring you back into my morning at 12 a.m which I think is considered today right

33:44 · I poked outside my window and the houses were still all dark so I tried to go back to bed

33:52 · at 1 a.m I came back I'm like please aps just say you're lying and I and I looked out all

33:58 · the houses are still dark it was so depressing 2 a.m woke up again went to check and I woke

34:06 · up was actually stood up was more than accurate and checked again still dark 4 a.m

34:12 · and I could just see out in my neighborhood usually I don't even see people because they

34:18 · just run into their house and don't try to talk to anyone but it was a special kind of

34:22 · depression with all the power out all the life of the houses just looking so grim

34:30 · and dead that something was wrong

34:35 · finally my aps bills at work got the power up at 4 45 and at 6 30 when I was driving to church

34:44 · this morning all this said in all the houses had lights on the outside and the inside on

34:55 · and it was like the neighborhood came alive not with people just the buildings they

35:00 · were talking to each other and I was getting a different turn but all of a sudden you could

35:05 · see the life in it and when the power was not there it just looked so dead in destitute

35:12 · and here's the deal we live in a comfortable country where for honest we don't have to deal

35:18 · with the power being out in our lives very often we have the comforts we have the AC

35:25 · we have the cushy lives but are we recognizing that for so many in our communities

35:34 · the mental and the emotional and the spiritual power is out

35:42 · and guys our world doesn't have the answer our world tries to light those for a second

35:48 · and it dims real quick our world says pursue this money pursue this lifestyle

35:56 · pursue these relationships and you'll be fine and there is empty and powerless

36:03 · and depressed and anxious as ever before

36:09 · do you see the world around you who need the spiritual power in their lives

36:16 · that only Jesus Christ can provide and are you going to be the people who pray for the

36:26 · opportunities to bring that light into their lives so here's how I want to end today

36:34 · in front of you there's a prayer card and I want to ask you guys to grab that prayer card

36:39 · all of you grab it even if you're not going to turn it in just at least act like you're

36:43 · participating in this all right but grab that prayer card and I want you to write a name

36:52 · of who you need to pray for who does not know Jesus yet

37:02 · could be a family member a co-worker someone at your kid's school could be a neighbor

37:12 · who's name do you need to write down will you pray for them not just today but continuously

37:22 · to see how God can open a door maybe that door will open next week maybe it will take

37:29 · years like George's story to open that door but will you pray for it and will you be

37:40 · the light of this world with a world that knows nothing like him

37:48 · and who desperately needs the power and the salvation of Jesus