You Don't Need a Platform You Just Need a Starting Line

• TRANSCRIPT

  A few years ago, I was talking to one of my friends, Paul, and he was talking about this new app he had which was helping him to run. And he said to me, "Megs, do you wanna download this app?" And I said, "Mate, I am not a runner. I'm not a runner, so no, I'm not gonna download the app, but thanks for the offer."

  And then he also said to me, "Well, everybody actually is a runner." And I thought about that for a minute, I'm like, "That's really deep." Okay, um, I don't want to. I don't wanna, I don't wanna do it. Okay. That was the reality. But I used to think there were two types of people in the world. There was people that were runners and people that were not runners, and I fit, fit into one of those two, and you might put yourself into one of those.

  But then the more that I thought about it, it's actually not about whether you can run and whether you can't. It boils down to this one fact: there are those who start and those who don't. And it's the same in everything in our lives. There are those people that start to learn a skill, and then over time it develops into something else, and there's those that don't, and for different reasons we don't.

  But there's not really the you cans and you can'ts. There's those who start, put in the work, and do, and those who don't. And so in this series that we've been looking at for greater things, I wanna have a little bit of a look at what Jesus spoke about again. We're gonna have a peek at the scripture that we've started to look at in the very first week, and it's from John 14:12-14, and it says this just to remind us, "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."

  And I don't know about you, but I've read a lot of things about Jesus and the things that He's done and how He had miraculous things. He was radical, He was challenging, and I look at that and go, "I'm gonna do greater stuff than that?" I'm gonna be honest, most of the time I'm struggling to figure out what to have for lunch every day.

  And so I personally, when I read this, I feel sometimes the overwhelm. I don't know if you've got that, the overwhelm of what is expected of me, little old me. I feel the weight of that responsibility, and why? Well, the main reason is because I'm looking to the finish line. It's again, it's a little bit like that marathon.

  I'm looking to the finish line, and I'm forgetting that there are first steps that need to be taken. And so when we're looking at this greater things, if we look too far ahead, it could stop us from ever starting when all He's asking us to do, to do is to take the first steps. And I don't know about you- But anything new in my life, when I look at the way in which my life is, it feels scary 'cause I'm like, "I don't have space for anything new."

  Is there anybody here? I don't have space. I feel like I don't have space for anything new, and I've been talking to people for a long... I'm a, I'm a talker. I talk to random people all the time. All, like, I'm not joking, all the time I talk to random people. And I, I speak to them and I hear about their, like, they're telling me their life stories in almost three to five minutes, no lie.

  And this is some of the things that I've noticed within, within me and within other people as well. First of all, the first thing that I notice in most people is we're trying to survive. Most people are just trying to survive in their everyday life. Whatever's getting thrown their way today, my goal is to make it through this day.

  I'm trying to survive. And then because we're trying to survive, we then go, well, particularly me, I'm a schedules and organization person, I'm like, "Well, I'm gonna put some schedules in place. I'm gonna do some organization to help me to try to survive." Go through that way. And then once I'm doing all these first two things, I recognize how exhausted I am, and then I'll go, "Oh, I need a bit of a spiritual reprieve.

  I'm so tired from trying to survive and do all my schedules and my organization. I need a little bit of God in my life." And then I go and I take my little slice of my spiritual reprieve. I go to church and join in with the people there, and I go to family gatherings, and I, I go and do my little bit of reading.

  And then when I'm in there, I hear that God tells me to go and love others. And I look at that and I'm like, "What? This is so overwhelming. I'm just trying to survive. I'm trying to get my schedules organized, and you want me to go and then help other people as well?" And so what can end up happening is we try to manage our life.

  And Pastor Kev spoke of this in the first week. We try to mella- manage our lives, and we split it into two sections essentially. The first section here is our secular life, and then we have our sacred life that we try and chuck in, and God gets this little slice of our week, and we wonder why we feel like we're on the merry-go-round of life, and we're going round and round.

  Same thing, different day, different month, different year, same problems. Round we go, and that is because we forget that we are actually not operating from the right operating system with faith as the original operating system. And so when we're trying to start anything new in this system where we're just trying to survive, we're just holding on, it never actually gets any traction.

  And so the, the fantastic things that I hear maybe in a family gathering, by the time I've left those doors out there, nothing ever happens with it because I go back into that whole thing. And so when Jesus says to me, "Guess what, Megs? You can do and go, go and do greater things," we can tend to go, "More things?

  I need to do more things?" I'm already doing things, God. You want me to go and do more things? But it's not actually more things. It's not more things. This is what we wanna have a look at today. And so once we get through all of that, we go, "Well, there's a good way to do this, I'm just not gonna start. I'll just stay where I am, I'll come back next week, and I'll just do that again, and I'll do that again, and again, and over and over."

  And what this really is looking like is actually a failure of vision. So it's a failure of vision. And I, I love to look up phrases and find out the definitions of them. So when I looked up vision, this is the definition of vision, "The ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom."

  Now, when we're running our lives, we're trying to run our lives on our own, trying to survive, doing our schedules, getting everyday stuff done, essentially, the plans and the imagination for our future are coming from us. We're trying to orchestrate that for ourselves, and I don't know how clever you are, but I'm not that clever.

  But I try. I try. But when faith becomes this operating system of your life, when the sacred starts to join in with your s- um, everyday life, your secular life, it becomes one, it starts to change because what starts to happen then is the plans and the future of your life actually come from the wisdom of God, and that is the Holy Spirit.

  And so when I start to go, "Oh, hang on a minute, it's actually not more things, it's the right things. It's the greater things. It's not more." The plans are not meant to be the plans I've come up with in my head. If they are, they're gonna usually fall flat, 'cause like I said, my ti- my tiny little brain compared to what God knows.

  I need to hand it over to be able to achieve the greater things, and straight away, my life feels a little bit less overwhelming. If God's asking me to go and do something, I'm not so overwhelmed by it because guess what? It's not actually me that's doing it. I am becoming a vessel for Him to do what He wants to do.

  And this is what I wanna unpack for us today, 'cause your life will change. I can guarantee your life will change when you start living this way, 100%. So let's have a look today at Jesus, though, 'cause, you know, it's Jesus. You don't wanna just listen to what I have to say about it, let's hear what Jesus has to say about this.

  But I wanna do a little bit of research, tiny. I love to research stuff from the Bible, go deep down dives. But we're gonna do a little bit of research and think today about some actual facts about what Jesus says about our everyday life, not just spiritual hour. One day a week, but when we start to include this into our life.

  And first of all, let's have a think about Jesus and his earthly ministry. Now, we've already talked a little bit about this this morning, which is great. But Jesus, he grew up in one area in that part of Israel, and he didn't really do... Like, he did all of his studies and learnings, and he was listening to God and all those sorts of things, but it was when he was 30 years old that God said, "Now it's time to engage into the next part of the plan that I have."

  So 30 years old, and for the next three years, that was when his mission was to go, and he was basically re-educating people. He was going around and challenging people. He was telling them, "Ah, that was what it used to be like. This is the new thing that's coming." And to help him with that, he chose 12 disciples.

  His 12 disciples that he ended up pouring so much into to help re-educate the people that were around. And this actually happened in a relatively small region of Israel, roughly probably the size of New Jersey. Okay? So here's a little visual of Israel at the time of when Jesus was around. And so a lot of what Jesus did was that he ended up going from Galilee through to Judea, Samaria, up and down, up and down th- throughout those three years, and he just walked.

  He just walked everywhere. And the people that he met, he shared with them, and the Spirit would lead him to somewhere, and he would go and work in those areas. And he would just walk in this region, small region of Israel. Okay? And as he did that, the disciples, they did the same thing. The disciples walked with him everywhere, up and down in this region, re-educating, re-pointing people back to Go- what God wanted to do.

  And you can actually... I love, I looked online. You can, you can plot out the actual maps of where Jesus walked based on scriptural information. For some of you, you're like, "Well, why, why would I need to know that?" I really find it interesting. And so you can actually see, oh, in this bit of scripture, where did Jesus walk?

  Oh, wow, he did that, and he did that. And they've, they've calculated that around that three-year period, he walked for around five thousand and twenty-nine kilometers by foot. That's a lot of walking when you think about it . You know? And so all this is happening over those three years, busy, walking around, telling people, sharing.

  And then what is happening? It's all about to come to an end, and this is what we've just been talking about with Easter, Palm Sunday today, the start of what was about to become the end of Jesus' earthly ministry. So he's gone through the trial, he's entered the city first, he's gone through the trials.

  He's died. Three days later, he's risen, and then it's not long after that when he actually comes and he's reunited with his disciples again, and they come together to, in Mount of Olives. Now, the Mount of Olives here in Bethlehem. So here's Jerusalem here, and Bethan- uh, not Bethlehem, Bethlehem's there.

  Bethany. Okay? So the Mount of Olives is in Bethany, and Jesus had said to them, "I am going to get you to come and meet me in the mountains." And so they've made their way to the mountains, and then Jesus strolls on in.

  Can you imagine how excited those guys would have been? Like, you've seen Jesus die. You've heard that he's come back. Some of them maybe have seen him, and Jesus is like, "BRB. I'm back, guys." They'd be like so excited. "Oh, what? Everything you said was true. You finally came back. Oh, wow." And then Jesus is like, "Yeah, guys, I'm back.

  So listen in. I got something to tell you." And I'm gonna read from Matthew for he- here today, and it's in Matthew twenty-eight, and this is what Jesus said to them up in... So this is just after he has risen. He's finally coming back to all of the disciples, and I'm going to actually read from verse sixteen to eighteen, and then we're gonna read on nineteen and twenty onto here.

  But it says this, and it's titled The Great Commission. He's just come back, guys. This is what he wants to tell them. "Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. And when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some of them still doubted. Jesus came and told his disciples, 'I have been given complete authority in heaven and on Earth.'"

  And then we pick it up here. "'Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.'" Continuing on. "'And teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age.'" Now, I can imagine those disciples are like, "Hang on a minute.

  You just got back, and now you're telling us to go? And not just down the street. You're telling me all nations?

  Speaker 2: Are you a bit crazy?

  Speaker: Jesus, um, weren't we doing this together? Isn't the band back together again? Aren't we all gonna be continuing on?" And I think with the disciples, they probably also read through the lines.

  "If you say you're gonna be with us always through the end of the age, that means you're not coming. I can tell you're not coming. So we have to do this on our own?" I can imagine they would have felt a little bit overwhelmed by that. And I think the disciples were definitely expecting that God was gonna continue what he had started, and they thought, "Great, Jesus is back.

  We're gonna keep doing what we always did. We're gonna follow Jesus around, and we're gonna start doing this." And Jesus is like, "Uh, not quite, guys. New game plan. New game plan. It's actually you guys that are gonna do it now." But Jesus, you're the, you're the boss. You're the one that does all the stuff, like, we just follow.

  "New game plan, you're gonna do it now." Uh, talk about overwhelm, I think I'd be slightly pooping my pants at that. But all their apprenticeship, all of their preparation was actually coming up to what Jesus wanted them to do next. And so Jesus then walked with them for only another 40 days, and I can imagine all the questions they would have had.

  "Jeez, what do I do if this happens? Okay, you're gonna ... What's gonna happen in this? Uh, have I got this right? Have I got this..." They would have been trying to drag as much information as possible from him. And then while they're still freaking out about all that, the Great Commission, Jesus then finally adds the last piece of the puzzle just before he's about to leave his earthly ministry forever.

  And we can read this in Acts chapter one. And I've been studying Acts with my village, and we've been unpacking some of this. It's very cool to read. But in Acts chapter one, I'm gonna go from six, and we're gonna read through to, to eight. But chapter one verse six says, "When the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, 'Lord, are you gonna free Israel now and restore our kingdom?'"

  I love what Jesus says. "The Father set those dates. It's not for you to know." It's like a parent, you know, with a kid that keeps asking. Just, just stop it. "'But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power, and will tell people, and you will tell people about me everywhere, in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'"

  So they're still waiting. They're still kinda waiting for him to, like, do something. Like, "Come on, Jesus, surely it's not us." "No, it is you. I'm not joking. It's you guys. You're gonna be doing it from now on. But don't worry, I've got the last piece of the puzzle, it's the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to leave that for you."

  And then he literally ascends into the sky. Wee! Oh. And it says they're straining to see him as he leaves, and they're probably looking around going, "What? That was it. Oh, man. Okay, we've gotta wait for something." They probably didn't even know exactly what it looked like that they were waiting for, but they're like, "All right, if Jesus says it's us, it's our turn, guys.

  Ball's been handed to us. Help." "Come back." That's what I'd be saying, I think. You know, in that period of time, Jesus was a carpenter. He could've built a pretty special building, right, for all of his disciples to be in, and gone, "Guys, this is where... This is HQ. After I leave, HQ right here. All come to HQ. Work out some plans in HQ.

  Go on out from HQ." He could've left a fully developed leadership team. "All right, so we're gonna go... This guy's the boss, all right? He's gonna tell you guys what to do, and then you go from there." It'll probably be John, 'cause he loved John so much, right? Um, but he didn't. He didn't do any of those things. He hands off the entire redemption story to 11 dudes.

  And, but he says, "Don't go just yet," 'cause you'll stuff it up basically. "Don't go yet. Wait." And then 10 days later, that's when the Holy Spirit came, which is very cool. "Wait, 'cause I'm gonna send a helper for you." And then when we look at this, um, image here, he says, "You're gonna go in, um, Jerusalem, you're gonna do Judea," going out further, "Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth."

  And so start off just where you are, little circle. Tell these people. Then Judea... He was very specific, wasn't he? Then spread out, tell the people in Judea, then into the people in Samaria, and then to the ends of the Earth. And what doing? Doing what? Going to make disciples, not converting people. I'm not going to convert you, and convert you.

  Great. Tick, tick, tick. Great jobs, guys. Ticked off. Did you do Bethany? Good. Did you do Emmaus? Fantastic. Who did Jericho? Yeah, I did Jericho. No, it wasn't that.

  Meet with people. Teach them to be like I have been, that you have learnt, and then you, now that you know, you go and you teach that person. I can't actually reach all the way up over to here. That's your job. I've done, I've done here. You keep going. And this is the ripple effect of the gospel. And when, I believe when Jesus said, "You will do greater things than these," that's the greater things.

  That is the greater things, because we get to talk to someone that Jesus physically could not talk to now,

  and we have the ability to now carry on what he started. And so what did those disciples get to choose to do with that information? Well, they chose to start. They could've been given that information and gone, "Nope, I'm not gonna do that." Instead, they chose to start. And you know how I know that they chose to start?

  'Cause I'm literally standing here in Australia right now, knowing about what happened to Jesus, and it was left to those 11 guys. I would not have known if what they had started to do, that God released in them through the Holy Spirit, hadn't have happened. So we know that this can actually happen, the ripple effect.

  'Cause there are those who start and those who don't. And Jesus' ministry, it was for a finite period of time in one location, but the plan was, that's okay, I don't need to be physically Jesus in every single place, because I am physically Jesus in every single place through the body of Christ. And so when I think about Easter, I get super excited because Easter, yes, it was a redemption story, but when Jesus died, when he resurrected, and then when he ascended, it actually started an entire awakening.

  An awakening of the body of Christ. A releasing of the Holy Spirit, so now we all get to play. And so now we have a global movement of people that get to be spirit-filled and go out into the world and do exactly what Jesus said all that time ago. We should be very excited about that. I am. I'm very excited about that.

  'Cause that's God's strategy. God's strategy for redeeming the world is us. That is nuts, but it's true. God's strategy is us, and you, people online, you are actually already positioned for greater things. But do you believe it? That's the difference. Do you believe that you are already positioned for greater things exactly as you are now?

  Exactly as you are now, you are ready if you're willing to start and partner with him. For me, when I first heard the, the Great Commission, I did freak out a little bit, 'cause I thought, "I don't even wanna ask Jesus to use me, 'cause he's probably gonna send me to Kyrgyzstan or something."

  Exactly. Where is that? Yeah. And I thought, "Ah, as soon as I open myself up to Jesus and go, 'Use me,' where's he gonna send me? Ahh!" Um, but you know what I've realized over time? It's about starting where you are. People are gonna be called to Kyrgyzstan. It hasn't been me. Fair. Can't even speak the language.

  But-

  Speaker 2: Yeah

  Speaker: What Jesus did. That's what Jesus did. He started where he was. He chose disciples from the lake that he walked past. He chose his disciples from the town that he lived in. He walked around and saw the people that were ready, and the right ones to be able to connect with, and then they chose to walk with him Yeah They chose to walk with him, and they learnt, and then they found somebody else and said, "Hey, why don't you walk with me?

  I wanna show you some stuff about this amazing guy called Jesus. And, um, you don't have to become like me. Let's just both become like him- Yeah ... and we do it together." That is what the Great Commission is, and it takes the overwhelm off when I'm like, "So I just get to be myself?" Yeah. "And just listen? All right, I can do that.

  I can learn to do that." A few weeks back, um, myself and Ruth, we were invited to... It was actually a very special event, I feel, um, where the government is starting to think around how do we support people in our community here on the Gold Coast who are going through grief and loss, and are also carers for people that are unwell, and they're looking for ways in which we can get lots of different agencies, different groups that s- support, including spiritual groups, and, um, that can come alongside and just help people in times of need.

  And we have felt very, I guess, blessed and honored that we got invited to this discussion. And on the day, they had so many different people on the panel, and they were all sharing around different areas that they work in, like Alzheimer's, and working with indigenous peoples, and they're all sitting up and talking about what they're already doing.

  And I was like, "I don't even know half of this stuff is happening. It's fantastic." And, um, one of the ladies that was up there, her name was Carolyn Grooves. And Carolyn Grooves, her story, she's older now, I'd say she'd almost be late 70s, and she has been through cancer three times, and she has beat it three times.

  Like, come on. That is amazing. But she was on this panel, and she was sharing about the fact that she has felt like she was so close to have losing her life for lots of times in her life, and she realized that after the last time, she's like, "I need to help other people. I wanna just give all my time in being out, b- able to go out and help other people in whatever way that looks like."

  And she serves in so many different areas. But one of the jobs that she does is, she was sharing her story, she is something called, and she doesn't like the phrase, but she is now something called a death doula. And what she does is she goes into hospitals the weeks before some people are about to pass away in palliative care that have no family members, and she just goes and be's with them, and she talks with them for a couple weeks, and then when they're about to die, they get a phone call and she goes in, and she just holds their hand as they die.

  Oof. Tell you what- Takes a special person to do that, right? And so she was talking a little bit about that, but there was one phrase that she said that stood out to me, and it was the main thing I took out of the entire day, and it was the simple words. She said, "I just get to sit with people and I'm walking them home."

  One phrase, it hit me hard. Real hard. I, I think I even turned to you, Jan, I was like, "Oh my God." Walking them home. And this is how I see Jesus has called us to be. This is what God's saying. He says, "Go and make disciples, disciple them, baptize them, teach them how to follow me, help them understand scriptures and how they're applied in their own life, and then invest...

  get them to invest in someone behind them, and then we all get to walk home together." We're all walking home together. And the image that came into my mind is that I get to hold the hand of the Holy Spirit, and then for me, I get to hold the hand of someone behind me, and we all, we all go together. We all walk home to the Father together.

  And I was doing a little bit of research about holding hands. There's actually, um, I don't know, h- there's... It's an intimate moment when you hold someone's hand. Apart from the prep kids at my school are like, "

  Speaker 2: Ugh." "Mr. Jake, high five."

  Speaker: That's a true story, every day. Um, but when you hold, you know, when you hold someone's hand, it is lovely.

  Um, but I did a little bit of... I'm like, I bet you there's something about holding hands that's super special physiologically. So I did some medical research on it, and there's definitely, um, health benefits around stress, lowering of stress, lowering of bru- blood pressure, easing of pain, just from holding someone's hand, and this is the reason why.

  When you have the physical contact of holding a hand, it stimulates the pressure receptors in your hands, it reduces your cortisol, and it triggers the release of a ho- um, something called oxytocin, a hormone called oxytocin, which is called the love hormone. Come on. Whoo. When you're holding the hand, it releases the love hormone.

  Yeah, baby. Don't tell me that's like... I reckon God did that on purpose, personally. So when you get overwhelmed with the great commission of going to tell people about Him, you don't need to. Just be yourself, follow Christ, follow the Holy Spirit's guiding, and reach out and grab someone's hand and take them on the journey with you.

  And I want to just ask you today, where would you see yourself at the moment? Where would you see yourself in that process? Of feeling like you are empowered to be able to do that, to be able to look into your world and see what God sees, and follow what He's maybe telling you to do. Are you thinking, "Yeah, I am totally prepared and ready for that," or, "I've never really thought about that"?

  That's okay. There's going to be different levels of that spectrum, but the reality is we're being invited to start. We're being invited to start, and for some of you, your first step is going to be getting to know God more. This Easter, press in. Find out more about what Jesus did. Discover that for yourself.

  And then for those of you that maybe you've been doing that for a long time, and you're like, "Yeah, God, I'm 100%, I'm with you, I'm gonna do this," then for you, it's just waiting to say, "God, use me. Holy Spirit, use me in the way that you want me to be used," and then start to look out for the people in your life.

  And straight away, you're gonna start to build momentum. You're gonna start to build momentum in your life. And just like those marathon runners, when they first start, it starts off with the little jogs, like, on your timer on your app, and then before you know it, you're sprinting. Well, we're probably not sprinting in a marathon, but you're running, and you're crossing the finish line.

  It has to come with a starting point. If you never start, you're gonna stay where you are. But if you can make the starting point not about the finishing line, but at least start crossing the starting line, we can see some lives really changed. So a couple of practical things today, really practical question or application.

  You can ask God already to share with you His vision. You can ask Him that. You feel like, "I have nowhere, no idea where to start," begin praying and saying, "God, can you show me your vision? What is your imagination and your plan for my day today?" And just take it day by day. That's, that's it. Just take it day by day, and then begin to see who is it that God's highlighting in my life.

  One person. I'm not saying go out and change the whole Gold Coast today, every single one of you need to have 15 people decided by the end of next week. One person, one person that you could begin to have an honest conversation with around faith, around spirituality. "What do you think about Jesus? Just tell me.

  What do you think about Jesus?" One person. Begin to maybe invite them for a walk. Talk about some things. Just open up the possibility of them wanting to be curious and finding out more about Him. Show up in their life in unexpected ways. That's always a really good one, especially if the Holy Spirit's told you to do something, and you're like, "I don't know what this means."

  I'm just gonna go do it. And it means so much to that person 'cause they know God saw them. That sort of stuff happens every day when we open ourselves up to it. You don't need a curriculum. You don't need a curriculum to do that. You just need to make yourself available. Now, my shoes here, you might be wondering why have I had these here the whole time.

  They're very ... These are my current runners. Now, I've Runners. It's funny. That's real funny. Um, I already told you before, I'm not a runner. Okay? But I am a walker. I do like walking. And want to show you the, the, the soles of my, my shoes. Look at these. They're completely worn from walking. Which reminds me that if I choose to walk with God, it makes an impact.

  Oh, it makes an impact on soles. Yes.

  That's a fresh one, guys. That's good. That was not planned, but, uh, Holy Spirit, thank you Jesus for your message here today. Um. Come on. Come on. Just walk off. That's real, though. Come on. It, it does. When you start walking, you make an impact on soles. That's great. Oh, wow.

  Just start, everybody. The ripple effect is real. The ripple effect is real when we start to take it seriously, when we believe, "I can do this because God's with me. It's not about me. It's about His Spirit in me. It's about me saying, 'God, use me. Take me. Help me to find someone that's lost and hurting and needs to ha- find hope, and help me to have the conversations.'

  Not my job to do it, God, but you working through me." And when we start to do that, we begin to cross the starting line. And as a church, the Church of Christ, there's a lot of ... The, the body of Christ is huge in the world. But there's a lot of people that still don't know who He is. And so for us, we wanna make sure that we are forever moving forward.

  And this morning, just as we are finishing up, we're gonna be singing this one song, and I want to give you opportunity to think about the words in this song. But I'm gonna pray in a moment, but here are some things that I invite you to pray about. First of all, maybe your first thing is just accepting the Holy Spirit into your life and saying, "God, I just wanna make myself today, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you, Holy Spirit, to come and use me."

  That's a beautiful prayer to have. You might need the prayer to recognize that God is releasing you and already has released you from the things that are in your life and wanting to move you forward. You might just wanna ask him for help. Like, "Help, God. I don't know how to do this. I need help to start."

  And ask him to just accept everything that you're giving to him. Offering it all to Jesus. And in this song it says, "Jesus have it all. Jesus have it all. All my days, all my life, all my skills. Jesus, just use it in the way in which you wanna use it." And this is how the greater things begin to happen in our world.

  So I'm just gonna pray for us now, and then we're gonna begin to sing. But take this moment now, 'cause every great movement in history started with someone deciding that one person was worth the work and worth the effort. And our church here actually becomes a movement the moment that we actually get to do that ourselves.

  So Father, we just thank you that, um, first of all, you sent Jesus. And this week as we head into remembering about what it is you did for us, Jesus, the sacrifice you made, we just pray for new eyes to have the vision of you, God. The vision to see people the way you see people, and Holy Spirit, a vision to see where you are leading and guiding us.

  And Father, we just pray for all those people in our worlds right now, the one, the one person that you are wanting us to see in new lives today, that we can walk with them, that you make their hearts open to the message that we are about to bring. But God, we just give all of this to you, Jesus. We thank you, Holy Spirit.

  We welcome you. Father, just take everything we have. Use it for your glory, God, and we thank you, Father, for just being with us and seeing us and saying, "Yes, that is exactly all I need, for you to offer it all back to me." Amen.