The Audacity of Grace

Celebration church, it is so great to be with you. You can go ahead and take your seats. It truly is an honor, a real delight that I get the opportunity to open up the Scriptures with you. And my first time in Austin actually, first time at Celebration Church, and I have just loved worshiping with you guys. I mean, for a start, how great are your worship band right here? Aren't they off the chart? This has just been brilliant. I absolutely love your country, incredibly grateful for the USA, and in fact there are two reasons why I love America so much. The first reason why I love the USA is actually because of your pastors, Pastors Joe and Laurie. They are some of the most brilliantly amazing people on the planet. In fact, let me say this, maybe if you're in church today and you're just checking things out, maybe you came at Easter and now you've decided to come back, and maybe you're really wondering like, everything looks great up front, but what's it really like behind the scenes? Allow me for a moment just to peel back the curtains so you can have an insight into what this church is actually really all about. You might not know this, but Pastors Joe and Laurie, along with a whole bunch of your team here at Celebration, just Jacob and the guys who are all outstanding, they have been traveling over to Europe now for a whole bunch of years because they really want to build the kind of church here that helps around the corner and around the world. And Joe and Laurie have been investing into pastors that are leading some key and significant churches all over the UK and Europe, and honestly they have a heart to just see church done well and in a way that is strong, that really does represent the kind of church that you're a part of here. Like that's what you're a part of, a church that helps around the corner and around the world. And I'm just so grateful for your leaders, my friends.

But just one more time, can we just give a great big round of applause and show some honor and some love for Pastors Joe and Pastor Laurie, we love you both. Now the second reason why I absolutely love America is Walmart. Now as an Englishman, I just want you guys to know that you are able to buy in a size and a scale and a quantity things that are just unheard of for us in England. So for example, Tylenol, we call it paracetamol, Tylenol. You guys are allowed to buy it in giant tubs that can take like 500 tablets in one go. In England, we're only trusted with a box of 16 at best, and you're only allowed to buy one box at a time. So I'm grateful for Walmart because whenever I come to America, like normally if my wife is not traveling with me, she'll text me and say, make sure you bring back the Tylenol. But what started to happen is now all of her friends text her to tell me, and my friends text her to tell me, like I am walking through customs on the way home, and my bag and rucksack is rattling like crazy. I mean, if it doesn't work out in the ministry, I could technically become a drug dealer. So I'm grateful for Walmart, okay? Let me introduce to you my family. This is my tribe. There is a photograph of my wife, Emma, who is at the back there. And we've got three boys, Joash, Isaac, and Solomon. Our eldest boy got married to a beautiful girl from Northern Ireland. Her name is Jessie. And they have rapid-fired two beautiful babies called Ezra and Elia. And they are my clan, and I absolutely love them all. And in fact, the greatest honor of my life is the fact that every single Sunday, we get to just build church with them. In fact, my wife and I were church planters, and we planted church in a city where less than 2% of the populace is willing to go to church. So it really is quite apples and pears. So my greatest joy is knowing that these guys are all serving, building Liverpool 1 Church

back home today whilst I'm with you. And it's my favorite thing to do, spend time with my family. And there's nothing more that I love more than going on holiday, taking a vacation. In fact, a couple of years ago... So we went to Egypt. We'd never been there before. We went to a place called Haggadah and we arrived at this resort and we were met by a guy who introduced himself to me as Egyptian John. He said to me, listen, whatever you need on this trip, whatever you need, you come and find me, call me down and I will be there to help you. I was like, Egyptian John, that sounds wonderful. This is gonna be a great vacation. So on about the third day, the air conditioner in the hotel room that we were staying in stopped working and everything was getting really hot. So I went around the resort and I found Egyptian John and I said, hey, the air conditioner is broken or it's empty, it's not working, but the room is getting too hot. He looked at me really confused, looking at me up and down and he goes, okay, Mr. Luke, Mr. Luke, no problem. I fix, I fix. I was like, great, thank you, Egyptian John. At the end of the day, we were turned to our hotel room and the temperature was still sky high.

The air conditioner was still malfunctioning. So I again went and found Egyptian John and I was like, John, there's a problem again. The air conditioner is empty or it's broken, it's ran out. I don't know what's going on, but for real, like it's just too hot in the room. And again, he looked at me all confused, looks at me up and down and then he did something which honestly was a little peculiar for me, but he reached out and he grabbed my hand and we went hopping and skipping and marching across the resort, which was a little bit bewildering to me. And then we went into our hotel room where he was so proud to point out to me what he had positioned around the sink in our bathroom. And this is the image that I was met with as a result of Egyptian John's endeavors. There were 13 tubs of hair conditioner. I said, no, John, it's the air conditioner. If there is one thing I do not need in my life, it's hair conditioner right there. The truth is I wasn't expecting that. And isn't it funny though, we all have times and seasons in all of our lives when things take place that maybe just blindside you and you weren't expecting. As church planters, when Emma and I planted Liverpool One, we spent the first four years just trying to desperately gather a crowd

up to like a hundred people. And it was so difficult. And then it took a number of years for the hundreds of people to start gathering in church every single week. But I remember a number of years ago, we had just taken on for hire this significant theater venue right in the center of Liverpool City. And it was such an exciting time for our church. Like hundreds and hundreds of people were coming on a Sunday. People were getting saved. People were being baptized. We just launched in this new venue and it was so exciting. And that Sunday felt like we're living the dream. This is everything that we've been praying for. And then it was only 24 hours later on the Monday that Emma and I were sat in the senior consultants room at the hematology ward at our local hospital where the consultant broke the news to us and said, Emma, you have stage four blood cancer. And in that moment, I can honestly say, I was not expecting that. We didn't see it coming. It blindsided us completely. In fact, for the next two years, our life became aggressively turbulent. For two years almost, we were in and out of hospital all the time.

It was round after round of chemo after chemo. And obviously chemotherapy brings all of the challenges that come with it. And there is no husband on the planet that wants to watch his wife go through that. Everything became aggressively, violently turbulent. You know, for us, it was cancer in that season of our lives. But I think that the idea of life, having seasons that get turbulent is something that we can all relate to in part. Now, it might be different for each and every one of us, but we all know what it's like to experience seasons like that. For some of you, it is a health situation. Maybe you or a loved one has just been given a diagnosis and it feels like somebody has picked your entire world up and poured the entire world out. contents upside down. It feels like everything all of a sudden has surprised you, it's blindsided you, you didn't see it coming and now life feels turbulent. For others of you, it's not a health diagnosis but life has become turbulent in the business or at work. Inflation, the cost of living, the cost of employing, like all of a sudden your five-year plan that just a few years ago felt so certain now feels ambiguous and almost as though you're not sure what the way forward is gonna look like. For you, life just feels violently turbulent. For others, it's about what happens in the family home. Like when you got married and you walked down the aisle and you looked into each other's eyes and you swore to one another, I do. Now seven or eight years on you're looking at the other person thinking, maybe I don't anymore. I'm like you're just not feeling it like you used to and now all of a sudden it feels like what happened between us. You're not getting on, you're arguing, it feels like there's tension at

every step of the journey. For others in your family unit, it's about being a parent or a grandparent because now you're watching your teenagers and they're making decisions and you're wondering to yourself, why are they doing that? If they keep pursuing on that path, it's gonna lead to a train wreck. Why won't they listen to me? And it just feels like you're being blindsided by a series of events that you just didn't see coming. And what I found is that in those seasons of life that you didn't see coming, that blindside you, that make you feel like life has become violently turbulent, is that it's hard to remain faithful to Jesus in those times. In fact one of the most challenging elements for our life as Christ followers today is still believing that God can still use you even when your life feels aggressively turbulent. I don't know about you but I am so grateful for God's Word. I absolutely love opening up the sacred scriptures where we can delve into the lives of those that are recorded within it and we can hear and read of the testimonies, the fears, the failures, and as we lean into their lives we can be helped to navigate our own. And I guess that what I want to do today is jump into a passage of text from Acts chapter 2. But the context of this passage is Jesus has already been arrested, crucified, and then resurrected, brought back to life by the power of God the Father, and then he ends up meeting a bunch of his guys and they even have dinner on the beach, and then he ascends to heaven where he's now seated at the right hand of the Father. But what we find in Acts chapter 2 is that we find that it's now the early formulative stages of the early church. And what's happening is that we see that Peter, the disciple, has been entrusted with the responsibility of almost launching the early church. So let's jump into a passage of text that's found in Acts chapter 2 verse 14. It reads that then Peter stood up with the 11, raised his voice, and addressed the crowd. Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you. Listen carefully to what I say. In the interest of time we're not going to be able to read the entire chapter, but what takes place now is Peter, he goes on to deliver one of the finest speeches ever recorded. This is one of the clearest and

most concise examples of exactly what God has been up to on the planet, about how God the Father has sent Jesus as his one and only Son to put on flesh and walk amongst us. And he explains to the Jewish listeners that it was you that have crucified Jesus, but he was in fact your Savior. And it is just this amazing and most brilliant speech that Peter gives that really launches the early church. And in fact the result of this speech that Peter gives is also recorded in verse 41. It tells us that those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. There were 3,000 people on that one single day that listened to Peter's speech and felt so compelled that they chose to put their faith and trust in Jesus on just one day. This is a landmark moment for the life of Peter. You know in the same way that you experience landmark moments too. Like on the day that you walk down the aisle When you say, I do, it's a landmark moment. You know, like when you give birth to your first baby boy or your baby girl, it's such a landmark moment. You know, like in the way that when you pass the test, you get your driving certificate, you make the grade at college, it's a landmark moment. Well, that was exactly what Peter was experiencing on this day as thousands were added to the early church and it started to grow. But it's interesting that it wasn't just a landmark moment for Peter, it was a landmark moment for the entire early church. I mean, this was the message that changed everything for all of us. This was the message that gave us complete understanding and clarity

of exactly what God had been up to in the world. This was where we are told that people who thought that they would never be accepted by God the Father were invited into a real and authentic relationship with Him. And yet it is so surprising to me that this landmark moment, this landmark speech was given by Peter. Because the reality of it is when you consider the lives of the 12 disciples, there was only really two of them that made big significant mistakes. And one of them was Judas and it really didn't end well for him. But the other, well, it was Peter. So how come, why on earth was it Peter that was giving this landmark moment speech? Because he was so bold, he was so brave, he was courageously spearheading and leading the way that this is the direction for the launch of the early church. But how was this even possible when you consider the context and the history of Peter's life? Because the reality of it is there was a time and a season in the life of Peter where things became violently turbulent for him also. There was a time and a season in the life of Peter where he was blindsided and he got everything that he was not expecting.

What I love about the scriptures is the way that it recalls people's failures and it allows us to lean into their lives. And this specific thing was done surrounding Peter's life in Matthew 26, when it records this epic failure that he makes. The text reads, Peter replied, "'Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.' "'Truly I tell you,' Jesus answered, "'this very night before the rooster crows, "'you will disown me three times.' "'But Peter declared, even if I have to die with you, "'I will never disown you.' "'And all the other disciples said the same.'" Those of you that are perhaps unfamiliar with the life story of Peter, Peter did in fact go on to do everything that he promised Jesus he would not do. So the context of this passage of text is Jesus and all of the boys are having a dinner and Jesus is letting them know of everything that's about to come. And he's saying, guys, some of you are gonna fall away. And Peter is like, not me, Jesus, no way. Even if I have to die, there's no way that I'm going in an opposite direction to you. But then the passage of scripture goes on and it tells us verse 69,

"'Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard "'and a servant girl came to him. "'You also were with Jesus of Galilee,' she said. "'But he denied it before them all. "'I don't know what you're talking about,' he said. "'Then he went out to the gateway "'where another servant girl saw him "'and said to the people there, "'This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.' "'He denied it again with an oath. "'I don't know the man.' "'After a little while, those standing there "'went up to Peter and said, "'Surely you are one of them. "'Your accent gives you away.' "'Then he began to call down curses "'and he swore to them, "'I don't know the man.' "'Immediately a rooster crowed. "'Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken. "'Before the rooster crows, "'you will disown me three times.' "'And he went outside and wept bitterly.'" In my Bible, I've highlighted and underlined those two words, Peter wept bitterly. This was the moment in Peter's life where he recognizes that he is in essence screwing his life up. This is the moment that Peter recognizes

that even though he promised Jesus that he was gonna be bold, brave, and courageous, he had now outworked the very. The opposite of that. This is the moment that Peter realizes that he had just done everything that he swore to Jesus he would not. He's let himself down. He's let the team of disciples down. He's let Jesus down. And now he weeps bitterly because as far as Peter is concerned, at this time in his life, Peter is done. Peter is finished. As far as Peter is concerned, this is not recoverable from. This is fatal. Perhaps if I use one word to describe what Peter was thinking and feeling in this moment is that Peter was utterly broken, which is yet all the more surprising to me because the broken Peter that we find in Matthew 26 is not the broken Peter that we find in Acts chapter two. So how was it possible that broken Peter was somehow restored and chosen and selected to be the spearhead, the leader voice, the courageous, the bold one in Acts chapter two that delivers the launch of the early church? How was this even possible? My youngest son is called Solomon

and he loves two things. He loves playing drums and he loves football, which by the way, guys, is real football. It's the one we play with our feet, okay? I got a phone call from the school nurse a couple of years back and she rings me up and says, hey, we're gonna have to get a paramedic to come and take Solomon to the hospital. He's injured his arm in football and we think that he may have broke his arm or his wrist, but he needs to go to A&E right away. At the time that I received the call, I was just around the corner. I said, don't call paramedics. I'm already here. Let me come and take him. I will get him there way quicker than you. So man, he was in so much pain. He's crying, he's grimacing. He's just in anguish and he's in agony and we get him into the A&E room at the hospital, the hotel. Can you tell him a little jet lag right now? So we get him into the hospital and you might be wondering, well, what is it that a pastor would do? What would a pastor be like when he's taking his son to the hospital? Are you praying over him? Are you praying for him

and all of the other patients on the ward? Are you praying for the medical staff that are about to treat him? No, Pastor Joe would do that. What I did was I took photographs of him thinking that I might need this in a message at some point in my life. So here is Solomon and they tell him that he's broken this one particular bone in his wrist and it's really awkward for them to get to, so they're not able to cast it. So what they had to do was put him in this splint and he was told he'd have to wear this for like anything between six to 12 weeks. So the doctor sits him down and says, Solomon, I need you to listen to me. We can't cast your arm, you have to wear this splint and I need you to rest your wrist for six weeks and then we're gonna X-ray you again. Solomon responds to the doctor and he says, but I can still play the drums, right? And the doctor says, no. Solomon, no, absolutely not. Six weeks, no drumming, no writing, no nothing and he is horrified. I get him in the car and we drive back to our house and I just tried to reiterate everything that the doctor had said. I said, look Sol, I know that you're gonna wanna go home and play drums but like the drums are out of bounds for you.

Under no circumstances are you to be on that drum kit. I know that you play them every single day for hours but for real, I will be so mad with you if I hear those drums going. For the first three days, there was just silence in our house. It was wonderful actually but on day three, I was having a cup of tea down in my kitchen when all of a sudden, I could hear the low frequency tones of a kick drum going and then the full drum kit started to play and I was mad. I was furious. So I ran up to the top of our house and we live in an Edwardian house so it's over three floors. I ran all the way up to the top and I'm not gonna lie, I was a little bit out of breath. So before I went in, I just had to gather myself because I didn't want him knowing that I was out of breath and not able to run up the three flights of stairs anymore and I barged into that attic room where he was playing drums like crazy and I was just about to go absolutely at him. In fact, you don't even need me to tell you about it because I can show you it because Solomon in his teenage wisdom had decided to record the whole thing. This is for dad's purpose, so he doesn't think I'm not drumming with two hands. So I'm just going to record my drum session. Right, I don't understand why you're drumming.

I've recorded the whole thing to prove I have used one hand the whole time. So it is just here. Look how many minutes are on the video. Look how many minutes are on the video. Three and a half minutes, one handed, haven't touched a stick with my left hand the whole time. I'm not acting, I'm a good drummer with one hand. I had to prove what I was doing yesterday. Are you arresting that lad? I've recorded the whole thing for him. That'll make it worse. I'm not touching a stick. Well go on then, play with one hand. That kid drives me mad. You know that evening, I was speaking with Solomon and I was trying to say to him, you know mate, listen, why don't you just avoid playing drums for this next season because I'm worried that you're going to keep going on the drum kit and eventually temptation is going to get the better of you and sooner rather than later you're probably going to end up using both hands and that could knock your recovery back and I don't want you to do that. And he sat there silently for a moment and then he just looked up and he said to me, Dad, I'm broken but I can still play. When I think about how Peter the disciple was used in Acts chapter 2, I believe that Peter knew the same truth also. I think that there was something that Peter had realized that there was still a way for him to be included in the game that God wanted him to play even in spite of his history, even in spite of his mistakes, even in spite of his past failures. I believe that Peter knew and understood that he had been called by God to do something significant in the world and his world and he knew that even though he was broken that he could still play.

Now the question does still remain, how did he do that? How did Peter know that? Well I think that there is a secret clue that's in the text from the first passage of Bible Scripture that we read together from Acts chapter 2 because it tells us about that day of when Peter stood up. It tells us that Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. In other words, what I want you to see is on this landmark moment when Peter stands up and declares everything that God had been doing on the earth. He didn't do it on his own, he didn't do it in isolation, he didn't think that he could carry it all in his own strength but it tells us that he was backed by the eleven. He had eleven brothers in his world supporting him, encouraging him, strengthening him, building him up for all that God wanted to do in him and through him. And what's fascinating to me is that these eleven brothers that were backing him in Acts 2 were the same eleven brothers that had seen him fail in Matthew 26. These were the same eleven that will have heard Peter with their own ears listening to him declare his undying loyalty to Jesus and then they watched him throw everything away. When Peter was saying, I'd rather die than walk away from you Jesus, it was this same eleven that had witnessed all of that happen. In other words, there was for Peter an environment of audacious grace and inclusion that enabled Peter to stand up with such a boldness and sense of vigour and confidence and certainty. It was that that enabled him to move past his past because there were eleven people giving him grace and Peter did not need audacious grace from the crowd. He needed grace to be given to him and afforded to him

by the ones that were with him. the closest to him, the ones that not only knew the best of Peter, but also knew the worst of Peter. This idea of grace is a constant theme throughout the entire New Testament. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12, verse nine, he says that my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in your weakness. When we think about grace, we'll often think of it in terms of favor, like something that we just didn't earn, and that's absolutely true. But the original Greek word is a world called charis, and it doesn't just mean favor that is undeserved. The grace that God gives and pours out to each and every one of us is favor, yes, but it's also power that you didn't have. The grace, this audacious grace that God gives is also not just about overlooking your sin, it's about restoring you and enabling you to become something brand new for a purpose that God has for your life. That's how Peter was able to do what he did because of this audacious grace. I just wonder how did it happen on that day? In Acts 2, when Peter's about to get up and read this brilliantly scripted message, were there 11 brothers just stood behind him? Was Matthew there?

Was he whispering to his ear saying, come on, Peter, you've got this, Peter, I'm with you, Peter, you can do this. Was Nathanael stood next to Matthew saying, come on, Peter, you've got, let's go, Peter, the old is gone, the new has come. Was Philip stood next to Nathanael saying, yeah, come on, Peter, you've got this, you can do this. Like, I just wonder, would there ever have been in Acts 2 if Peter did not live with the 11 around him, supporting him. And now when you think about how that worked, it makes so much sense to me because what we find as we interrogate the scriptures is that it makes perfect sense for us to understand how Peter bounced back from his failure when we consider the intrinsic details that God has instituted in the very first book of the Bible for us, in the book of Genesis. We're told that there is a mandate that God places on all of creation to flourish, to take ground, to pursue, to go after it. In fact, what we're told in Genesis 1 is that there is a system that is being created that gives mankind the ability to always create more. Genesis 1, 28 tells us that God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. This was the original mandate for creation. This also is the mandate for you

as an individual follower of Jesus to multiply, to grow, to have fruit hanging from the branches of the trees of your life. But equally, this is the mandate for the church today also. But the question is, what is it that's needed for multiplication to happen? Intimacy. And we're not gonna make this a science lesson because the last thing is you don't need that from me. But if you want your life to grow and be progressive and to move forward into all the good things that God has for you, it requires intimacy. Now, intimacy really is this, it's other people with whom you take your mask off with. Because the problem with intimacy and the reason why we're often reluctant towards it is because the moment you take off your mask, it means that you're gonna show people the real version of you, the authentic and honest version of you. And let me tell you celebration, if there's anything that the devil would want, it would be to keep you reluctant towards God-shaped relationships and people with whom you can take your mask off with. Why? Because the moment you stop taking your mask off, there's no multiplication because multiplication only happens through intimacy. There was a time and a season

where Emma and I had been for the best part of eight months living on a chemotherapy ward. And man, we were so full of faith. We were praying so much. We've been fasting more than we've ever fasted in our entire lives. And we were so expectant that at the end of this eight-month block that we were gonna go in and have a meeting with the hematology consultant. And it was taking place on New Year's Eve. And we were so full of faith that he was gonna turn around and say to us, guys, you're done. Everything that we planned had worked. And now you can just go and continue the rest of your lives. That's what we were believing for. We went in, it's New Year's Eve. Everybody's now getting ready to go and party and bring in the new year. Sat down in that office, the consultant turns around and he says to us, you're gonna have to do the whole thing again. That moment, I have never seen my wife cry. She curled up into a ball on the floor and she just kept saying to me, I can't do it again. I can't take the physical pain, I can't do this again. And I picked her up, carried her out of that hospital. We made a promise to each other that throughout that season

that we were gonna trust God more than any other thing and we were gonna not live our lives Googling stuff. Well, that night I broke my promise to Emma. I went and Googled everything. I tried to figure out exactly how I was gonna fix this because hey, I've been a policeman so why would I not be able to find a cure for cancer, right? Created this habit where every single night until 3 a.m., 4 a.m. in the morning, I would stay up and I would read all of these medical journals and papers. And I would try and understand exactly how chemotherapy would work in her body. I would try and understand what the different drugs and chemicals would do. I'd try and figure out how doxorubicin and vincristazine and rituximab would all respond to the CD20 on a blood protein because that was the issue in her blood. And this went on for weeks. And for weeks, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat. I feel like I wasn't a particularly great husband. I feel like I wasn't a particularly great dad but I'm trying to figure this out. My heart's beating fast all the time. I'm anxious. I think I'm getting depressed a little bit. And I just can't see a way forward because the more I'm trying to look into what the fix is, the more I'm realizing that I haven't got a fix at all. It all came to a head one night.

It's about three o'clock in the morning, just completely and utterly overwhelmed with everything that I'm reading on this screen. In that moment, I prayed, God, would you come and get in between everything that exists in the space that is between where I am and everything that I'm reading on a screen. I need you in that moment. It's like the peace of God came into my room, breathe again, catch my breath again. And the prayer helped. But let me tell you what I did the very next day, which as a British man is completely counter-cultural because we like to keep our masks on. Next day, I rang one of my best friends. He's actually on our board in our church. And I took my mask off, I said, this is me. I don't wanna be a pastor anymore. I'm not a very good dad right now. I've been a very good husband. I can't fix the cancer thing. Do you know what this is gonna look like for us? In that moment, he said, hey, listen, he goes, let me carry you for a while. He goes, I'm gonna reach out to you every single day. We're gonna get you some of the best help in our city that is gonna be lined up to get you through this. Let me gather a group of guys around you that's gonna pray with you every single day and send you scriptures and encourage you.

They became my 11. And I look back to that moment and I don't think I would have made it unless I'd have had a moment where I'd take my mask off and say, this is really me. My beautiful Emma, she is fit, strong, healthy, healed today and preaching her heart out in another part of Texas. But in closing, I just wanna let you know, guys, you can find Jesus on your own, but you can't follow him on your own. And in order for God to do all that he wants to do in you and through you, he's always gonna do it through the people that he entrusts to encircle and encompass your life. So you could be in church today and maybe you're an attender, maybe you're somebody that looks on everything that's happening here and you love it, but you still stay reluctant to relationship and you still stay reluctant to get into a small group because you say about you, they wouldn't accept me if they knew the real me. You say about you, no, no, you don't understand my relational past, they wouldn't accept someone like me. You say about you, they wouldn't accept me because of my secret sin and my habit that I'm locked in with and I don't know how to get out of. wouldn't have someone like me. Well, I just wanna be an English voice in your world to say,

we absolutely would have somebody like you. In fact, the church is not built on perfect people, but on imperfect people that are all looking towards a very wonderful, strong and perfect God, but it needs you finding the 11. Would you do me the honour and allow me to pray for you? Can we close our eyes and bow our heads all across this room today? Heavenly Father, we come to you right now. Lord, I pray that you would cause there to be such an openness towards our willingness to be relational with people that love your name and help us to be honest and authentic enough to take off our masks. Lord, help us not to ever be reluctant towards the very thing that you have positioned in all humanity for us to get strong again, through friendship and brothers and sisters. Help us, oh God, to live in the call and all that you have for us. Help us to be all that you desire to see hanging off the trees of our life. Help us to expand your kingdom, because God, today, we can all say that we may not be the most able, but we are available to be used by you for the good of your kingdom. So let your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Everybody said, amen, amen.

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