What If You Could Build the Church? | Crossroads Young Adults

In this moment, I want to talk to you for a few minutes. A few months ago, my daughter, she's three, her name's Skye, she got her first Lego set. And it's not these Legos, and it's not the real teeny tiny ones either. It's like a nice little in-between toddler Lego. And from the time she was like really, really, really small, we would build stuff. She's a builder, and so she had the little blocks, and we would just stack the blocks as high as they could go, and then she'd stare at them for a little bit, and then she would just destroy them, and they would go all over the place. And it's funny, because sometimes I get stuck in actually like building the thing, and I'm way more in it than she's in it. But I got to thinking, like, I played with Legos when I was a kid. Any Lego fans in the house? Played with Legos when you were a kid? Yeah, of course, we all played with Legos when we were a kid, and it had me thinking back to this slogan that Lego had when I was growing up. Like early 2000s, late 2000s, the slogan for Lego was just imagine. That was the slogan, just imagine. And those two words together were able to capture like the magic of a toy that was more than just a toy. Like these bricks right here, if you could just imagine it, it could be a spaceship.

If you could just imagine it, it could be a whole city. Like if you could just imagine it, it could be a castle, it could be a pirate ship, like anything you wanted it to be, if you could just imagine it, it could be that. Now, we all know this, but one Lego brick on its own, not really that cool. If you find one of these like laying around your house and it had been missing for a while, but it's just one, you're like, eh, okay, no big deal. The power of Lego is not in individual bricks. We know this, it's in what happens when all the bricks come together. The power of Lego is that you can actually build something meaningful when a lot of bricks come together and connect with one another. Now, just imagine, got me thinking about this other phrase that we've been talking a lot about around here at 1824 over the last month. We've based all of the launch nights in fall 2025 around this phrase, it's called what if. And I was thinking about it and I was like, just imagine is basically just another way to say what if. Like a month ago when we did our very first launch night in this space, I talked about a really big what if question. And the thing with what if is that it's kind of weird, depending upon how you use it, it could be a negative thing, like what if my life doesn't really go the way that I hoped it would go? That's kind of what we addressed last time.

But then what if could also be like a faith-filled question, like just imagine, like just imagine if we could build an entire city with these Legos, what you're basically saying is, what if we could put all these Legos together and connect them and build a city? It's sort of the same idea. And so although we talked about the negative, fear-filled side of what if last time, today we're gonna talk about the positive, more faith-filled, just imagine side of what if. And I believe that every person in this room wants their life to matter. I just believe that. Like you wanna make sure that when it's all said and done, and you look back on your life, you can say with confidence, I lived my life and I made a difference. And I think a lot of us are actually a little bit scared that life is gonna pass us by, and that before we know it, we're gonna get to the end and turn and look back and wonder and question, did my life matter? Was there actually significance to the things that I chose to do in my career and in my decisions, et cetera? What I wanna ask you tonight is what if God actually wants to use you? What if God actually wants to get into your story and he wants to connect it to his story? What if he actually wants to use you

to build something meaningful? Like what if your life was just like a singular brick and you were like, I don't really feel like there's anything that cool with that, but what if God actually, although he saw you as a singular brick, was actually like, hey, something beyond what you could ever imagine could happen if I could connect you and tap you into the story that I'm writing that's bigger than what you could see and understand. And the question that I wanna get at tonight is what if I was made to build the church? What if I was made to build the church? What if you were made to build the church? I remember when I was like. seven or eight years old, I got a NASCAR Jeff Gordon LEGO set for my birthday. Not a NASCAR fan at all. Not really sure why that was selected as the gift, but I really liked it because I was into LEGOs at the time, and it was the most intense and complex LEGO set that I had ever seen in my life. I mean, this thing had like thousands of pieces. The instruction manual is just absolutely massive, and I was excited to go to work on this thing because I could see the pictures on the box and in the instruction manual of the finished product, and I was like, we gotta put all these pieces together so we can get that thing. I was just excited about it. And then if you've ever really gotten into like an intense LEGO build, you would know that it's like pretty difficult actually. Like you can easily misplace really small pieces, and so I did that.

And then I also got really frustrated because a few times I just wasn't as gentle or as tender as I should have been with the part I was working on, and the whole thing just shatters, and I'm like, well, that's an hour's worth of work right there that I just completely broke and destroyed, and now we gotta do it all over again. I've lost my progress. Finally, I had the humility after hours and hours to invite some of my family members to assist me, and we completed the LEGO set. And as I was thinking about it, I was like, isn't that like the point of LEGOs is not just you get the toy when you buy it off the shelf. No, isn't the point of LEGOs that like you actually gotta not just buy the toy, but you also have to build the toy? Like you gotta put your hands on it. You gotta get the individual pieces, and then you gotta figure out how they work together, and then you can actually contribute to it and build something really meaningful. If you just stare at the bricks, it turns out nothing happens. I love it because it's not just about consuming a product. It's about contributing to the product. If you're a consumer, I mean, you can just buy the LEGOs, but if you're a contributor, you can build them. Now, I don't know if you knew this or not, but we live in a consumer culture. We live in a consumer culture. What does that mean? That means that without even realizing it, you and I look at everything through the lens of I buy things, I acquire things, I get things, I use things, I review things, and then I throw away things when they don't serve me anymore or work for me. And so advertising and your neighbors and social media and commercials and all of it just communicates to you constantly, you need more. You deserve more. Do what makes you happy. Don't do what doesn't make you happy.

You should buy that bag. You should get that thing. You need it. If you don't get it, you're going to get behind. The next thing, the next purchase is really going to be the one that satisfies. That's the consumer mindset. Now what happens when you get sucked into consumer culture and you get caught up in its current without even realizing it? What happens when you get sucked up into consumer culture? Well, there's a couple different things that I think happen. Number one is that you get shallow relationships. That's a byproduct of consumer culture is shallow relationships because consumer culture teaches you to view people as products. It teaches you to look at people, friendships, dating relationships, even relationships with co-workers, parent, I mean all of it, through the lens of what can you do for me? What can you do for me? And then when I realized that, oh, this co-worker actually can't elevate me to get to this position that I want, or when I realized this friend doesn't actually advance my social life, or when I realized that you can't give me what I want, or when the girl's not going to give me the thing I want from her, well, then I'm out. Not interested anymore because you're a product, not a person, and I don't really have time to go into the loneliness epidemic that we're experiencing as a country right now, and there's a lot of different factors that contribute to this thing, but I believe that consumer culture has a whole lot to do with the fact that we have so many lonely people in our country today. day. Number two is not just shallow relationships, it also endless dissatisfaction. Endless dissatisfaction. Because consumer culture also tells you that what you have right now is not good enough. And is never gonna be good enough. There's always a new phone. There's always a new car. There's always a new toy, a gadget. There's always a new fashion line. And guess what? You don't have it. But everybody else got it though. At least it seems that way and

it appears that way. And what happens is that the anxiety and the insecurity of missing out, of the comparison trap, and of the fear of better options, all of that together is a recipe for disaster as it just leaves us in this perpetual state of, I'm not enough. I don't have enough. And I'm dissatisfied. And I'm discontent. Lastly, consumer culture ultimately it leads to passivity and disengagement. Just overall passivity and disengagement because consumer culture says that everything exists for your pleasure and for your entertainment. Everything exists for your pleasure and entertainment which means you get to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. And so the moment that a restaurant or a business or a product doesn't entertain you or doesn't live up to your standard, well, you get to critique it. And you get to write a review about it. And you get to complain about it. And it's just free for you to be able to do that. And we get into binging and doom scrolling, like all of this stuff that just spirals me into watching everybody else live their life while I fail to live mine. It's passivity and disengagement. Now, here's what I need you to hear. If you are not careful, the consumer culture will walk with you in here. Like if you are not really paying attention and watching out, the consumer mindset will walk with you through these doors. It'll follow you into these seats and it will infiltrate your life spiritually. Like it'll get after your faith. It'll get after the way that you perceive what's taking place even in this room and in this moment right now. It'll get into your spiritual life and it'll ultimately affect your relationship with God. I was putting the finishing touches on this message Monday morning. Usually I wake up early Monday mornings. I hit one of my favorite coffee shops in the city and I like to just like press in, lock in, get some work done. Now, you ever been to a coffee shop or a restaurant or any public space for that matter and you walked in ready to get some stuff done? Lock in, head down, AirPods on. We got to crank out some homework, some work. I got some stuff to do. And so I'm ready to go. It's like 7.15 in the morning. And I realized that I am sitting next to two people who are just already having a conversation on max volume. And there's nowhere else for me to go. And I'm like, oh, I have made a huge mistake here because I'm not even trying to eavesdrop on your conversation, but there's really no other option. I can't focus on anything. I already tried to crank up the music in the headphones. Still doesn't work. You are drowning it all out. I'm still, I'm still like, still a little bitter about it. It's okay. I'm working

through it. It was tough. And finally, I just take the AirPods out and I'm like, I am just going to have to deal with this. Whatever. Focus, focus, focus. And then all of a sudden I hear and I'm catching words that these two people have met at this coffee shop this morning to talk about the churches that they have recently attended in the city. And I'm like, ooh, okay, let's go then. Kind of leaning in a little bit. And they proceed to exchange reviews. I mean, literally Yelp reviewing church. You probably know where this is going. There were no four-star or five-star reviews. And I'm listening as they say. I just went to this spot and it doesn't feel right because of this and this and this. I'm like, okay. And I went to this spot and the pastor, he said this and he did that and this. All right, I went to this spot and they're just going down the list. And I'm like, oh, okay. And then we get to the very end of the conversation and one of the people goes, and that's why we've just decided that we're not gonna be at any church. And no joke, I'm literally sitting three feet away from them and I go, oh, this is definitely making it in to the message on Thursday. Because although I didn't have all the ins and outs of the conversation, I'm sure there was some stuff I missed. I don't have the full context. Okay, I got it. Here's what I do know for sure is that you were not designed to be a church consumer. That is what I do know. You were not designed to be a church consumer.

That's not the way that it was designed because a church consumer will end up looking at God and saying, hey, what can I get out of this relationship? A church consumer will look at preaching and teaching and did they play my favorite song and just get real cynical and bitter and jaded and kind of like this as they sit there when things don't fit their standards and expectations of what things should be. A church consumer, or you could say a shopper, will bounce around to all the cool, new, trendy, wavy things in the city because for them, it's not really about getting active and rooted into a community, it's about the high of consuming a new product. And ultimately, a church consumer, they end up almost every single time passive, disengaged, and isolated because it's just not the way that it was supposed to be. And so tonight, for the last few moments that we have together, I just wanna talk to you for a few moments about what it could look like for us to get a fresh vision of what it means to be a builder of the church. I hope that's okay with you. That's what we're gonna talk about for the next few minutes. So if you were with us last month, if not, that's totally okay, but we talked about this guy named Peter.

Now, Peter is like one of my favorite guys in the Bible because he's just so relatable. He has these high highs and then like immediately after, you're like, bro, what are you doing, dude? Like you're just all falling apart. It's all unraveling, your doubts, your insecurities, your foot in mouth comments. It's just like, bro, get it together. And then I realized, I'm like, wait, I think we're kind of all Peter. And we talked about this story of Peter where the disciples are in this boat, there's a storm. Peter actually tries to walk on water towards Jesus. And the Bible says that he does walk on water towards Jesus for a bit until he gets distracted, full of fear, and he begins to sink. But Jesus reaches out and grabs him and saves him. We're gonna talk about Peter again tonight. Only two chapters later in the Bible, he has another incredibly life-defining moment with Jesus. So Jesus' influence has continued to grow. He's starting to get pretty popular. People around town are hearing about him. He's performing miracles. He's like a local celebrity and maybe even bigger than that. And so people are kind of figuring out a little bit about who this guy is, but they're also still curious and asking questions. So finally it gets to this moment where Jesus wants to figure out,

hey, what's everybody saying about me? And so the Bible says in Matthew 16, Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? The Son of Man is just a reference in the Bible to Jesus. So he just looks at his followers and he says, who is everyone saying that I am? And the disciples go, well, we've heard a few different things. Some say you're like this guy, John the Baptist. Some say you're like Elijah. Others say you're like Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. And so essentially people are trying to figure out who Jesus is and they're kind of hitting all around the bullseye. They have a frame of reference for people of past who were good teachers and who were nice guys and who were really wise prophets. And that's basically what they're saying. I think you're a good teacher. I think he's like a wise, discerning prophet. All true, by the way. where they're just missing the bullseye. And then finally, Jesus turns to his followers, his disciples, and he says, okay, I've heard what they say. Who do you say that I am? Who do you say that I am? And then Simon Peter, he's always the one to just say,

I'll take a crack at it, I'll step up to the plate. He steps up and he says, you are the Messiah. That means savior. You're the son of the living God. And Jesus replied, you are blessed, Simon son of John, because my father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. And look at this, now I say to you, you are Peter, which means rock. And upon this rock, I will build my church and all of the power of hell will not conquer it. The question, who is Jesus to you, is the biggest question that you will ever answer in your life. And the answer that you give to that question is the single most important answer you will ever give in your life. And so Peter looks at Jesus and he says, my answer is that you are the savior, the son of the living God. And Jesus says, you got it right. That's it. I'm Lord, I'm savior, I'm the son of the living God. And Jesus actually says that that confession, that he is Lord and savior is the foundational truth that he is gonna build the church on. That confession that Jesus is Lord, it's the foundational truth that he is gonna build the church on.

And then he turns to Simon Peter and says, hey, now your name is just Peter and that means rock. In it he's saying, I'm building my church on the confession that I'm Lord and savior. I'm also gonna use people like you who confess that to be true to build my church as well. So in the moment that Peter confesses Jesus as Lord and savior, he gets a new identity and a new name as a rock. The single basic brick and building essential that you need in order to construct a building. That's now his identity. And then he gets a new mission in the same moment as well, which is you are gonna help me build the church. You are gonna help me build the church. And so when you make a decision to follow Jesus, you don't become a critic. Or a cynic or a spectator or a consumer, you become a builder. Like when you make a decision to follow Jesus, you become a builder. You get a new identity and you get a new mission to be a part of. And I think Jesus is saying, hey, do you want your life to have purpose, meaning and significance? Well, I'm gonna slide an invitation across the table to you tonight because I've never been more convinced in my entire life that going all in on the mission of Jesus

to build and advance the kingdom of God through the local church, there's no better mission that you could fight for in your life. There's no better mission. I'm just convinced of that. And so Peter, Peter, the guy who almost drowned and Jesus had to reach down and save him. The guy who a couple of chapters later, straight up denied knowing Jesus three times after he said, I'm never gonna deny you. And then the same Peter who had a foot in mouth comment, and he said something really dumb and Jesus looked at him and said, get behind me, Satan. That guy, that Peter, he is the one that Jesus says, you are the rock. You are the basic building block that I am gonna use to establish my church and the gates of hell, the power of hell stands no chance against it. So you might be wondering, okay, great. What does this matter to me? Like, what am I supposed to do with this? I think that this is pretty cool that 30 years later, after this moment that Peter confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior, 30 years later, Peter writes a letter to a group of Christians that were scattered all over these different areas and provinces, and they had sort of lost the plot.

They're like new Christians. They didn't really understand what they were doing. They had lost their faith. lost a vision, they're just kind of wandering around They had lost their faith. through life aimlessly. They had no idea what was going on. They were distracted, they were starting to do things And then he writes a letter to this group of Christians they shouldn't have done, and Peter writes a letter that were scattered all over these different areas to those people to be like, hey, I just need to remind you, and provinces. you're a part of a mission. You have a new identity, there's a mission to fight for. And in the midst of all of that, Peter writes this. They're trying to figure out, what are we doing here? Like, what's the point? And in 1 Peter 2, Peter says this. Okay, you wanna know what the point is, I'll tell you. You are coming to Christ, you're coming to Jesus. He is the living cornerstone of God's temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. Peter says, okay, this is the point. As you're following Jesus, and as you're walking with Jesus, you need to remember that every single thing revolves around him. I don't know a whole lot about building infrastructure. I'm just gonna put that out there.

I'm gonna be honest with you. Here's what I know, is that the cornerstone is Jesus, and the cornerstone is the single most important stone in the entire building. It's not even close. Jesus is the cornerstone. He's the foundation. Everything rises and falls based off of his leadership, his authority, his power. He exists as the structural alignment of the church. He's the foundation. It's about him, it's always been about him, it's always gonna be about him. He's the source, he's the first. Peter's like, you wanna know what this is all about? It's about Jesus. The mission is about Jesus. He's first, he's the source. He's the one who's given the structure and the alignment. He's the reference point. And then he says in verse five, and you all, you are living stones. You're living stones. Jesus is the cornerstone, he's first. You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests and through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. So Peter basically holds up a brick, a stone,

the basic building block for the construction of a building and he says, and this is you, you're a brick, you're a stone. You're a stone, Jesus is the foundation and every single one of you, you're a brick. And God is actually using each of you when you come together to build his house. And we have the opportunity to connect with one another, to be built up into a spiritual temple, that's a dwelling place for God, where God wants to invade, where God sees that he's welcome, where God wants to reside and be present. We, tonight, have been creating a space through our connection as we bring our individual lives for God to move and operate within. There's an atmosphere, there's a building, a spiritual temple that is being created when we come together and I mentioned this before, I'll say it again, one brick on his own is not that powerful, it's really not that powerful. It's not that sexy, it's not that flashy but the brick has the ability and the potential to link up with other bricks. One thing that is so fascinating about Lego is that this guy long, long, long, long, long, long time ago invented like the basic Lego brick. He patented it so no one could take it and this is what he said when he got interviewed about his design. All of the elements will fit together. They can be used in multiple ways

and they can be built together. This means that bricks bought years ago will fit perfectly with bricks bought in the future. One thing that Lego wanted to be true from the moment it started until now is that it doesn't matter the color, the shape, the size. It doesn't matter if you got old bricks or new bricks, they can always connect with each other. You can always build something with them. You can actually come over here and connect your brick to existing bricks. You can contribute. And every time you do that, the link gets stronger and you get closer to the finished product. Building a dwelling place for God to move and operate within. And I just love how Peter calls back to the new identity and the new mission that he was given 30 years prior to be the rock and to build the church and reminds these new Christians, hey, it's still the same mission. The bricks still work and they still connect with one another. You can still contribute to this. You can still be built together and you guys need to tap in and connect to the thing that God's doing because God is trying to build a dwelling place for him to move and operate within. If you wanna be a builder of the church,

you need to understand that you are a living stone. You're a living stone. You're an active brick that can be used to build and grow God's kingdom. Living stones are being used by God to then be built onto the foundation. That's just the way that it works. I know this is a silly example. I just need you to see it because as we come together in this space, we build a space for God to move in and we get to build on top of the foundation into a house. It's not gonna be the most beautiful Lego house you've ever seen in your life, but this is what happens when people start getting together, when they start making decisions, when they start getting connected and united with one another. The cornerstone is Jesus. The individuals are living stones, but we gotta actually get in here, not viewing people as products, not viewing God as a product, but saying, God, I'm a living stone. You can use me in whatever way you wanna use me to build the beautiful masterpiece of your church that you're trying to build. That's what you can do. But I don't really know if most of us think of ourselves as living stones.

So I just want you to hear tonight, you're a living stone, and it actually gets a little better because this section of scripture doesn't just say that you're a living stone. It actually says you're also a holy priest. Now that might sound a little intimidating to you. Whoa, what could that mean? That sounds churchy, that sounds kind of weird. Priest, I'm a priest, what are you talking about? Like, no, I didn't sign up for that. In the Old Testament, that's before the time of Jesus, there was this select group of people called the priests, and the job of the priest was very significant. They would enter into the temple, a physical place, and it was only reserved for them to go into. Everybody could not go into this temple, only certain select people. The priests would go into the temple and they would administer sacrifices, food sacrifices, animal sacrifices, on the altar, and it was the way in which they cleansed the sin of all of the people in their tribe. A select group goes into this space. They perform all this ritualistic stuff, and then the sins of the people are cleansed, but the problem is that every time someone sinned, they gotta go back into the temple and do it all over again. So they're just in there constantly, day and night, day and night. Now in the New Testament, there's a really big shift

that takes place with Jesus and with the beginning of the church. In the Bible, in Hebrews chapter 10, Jesus is referenced as the high priest. So there was priests, and now there's a high priest. He's at the top. And the Bible in Hebrews says that the high priest came and laid his life down as a sacrifice, but this sacrifice was different. This was a once and for all sacrifice. A once and for all sacrifice means that when Jesus went to the cross as a perfect human, Matt talked about this eloquently earlier, he paid the price for your sin and my sin, past, present, future, which means priests don't gotta keep going to a temple to bring an animal or a food offering so that you can get right with God. Jesus actually said, I'm the high priest. I'm gonna do this one time, and it's gonna pay for everything, past, present, and future. But then if we don't gotta do the priest thing anymore, why is the Bible saying that I'm a holy priest? We don't have to do that. If Jesus already paid for this, then how am I a holy priest? And how am I bringing spiritual sacrifice? to God. If I'm a priest, and every follower of Jesus is a priest, set apart to worship God, what do I bring to God? Romans chapter 12, verse 1, it's become

one of my personal favorites. It says this, so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind that he will find acceptable. This is truly the way that you could worship him. And so the Bible says that I don't actually bring a sacrifice anymore. I am the sacrifice. I don't have to bring food or an animal to Jesus. No, no, no. My body, my life, my entire being is a sacrifice that gets laid down onto the altar. You're not just a stone that God is using to build into a spiritual house that he can move in. You are also a priest who comes into the house of God, into a room like this, not to consume but to contribute. A priest is never entering a temple looking for what he can get. A priest always enters the space that God's in saying, I'm here to give. I'm here to give. I'm here to give my life. I'm here to give my obedience. We're not just bringing ourselves into the house of God. We're bringing our gifts, our talents, we're bringing our entire lives to build and contribute to God's kingdom. And as we do that, we don't just create a space for God to dwell. We lay our life down before him as an offering that he can use however he sees fit. This is the type of worship that is acceptable in the eyes of God. So here's just what I want you to see. When you tap into the mission of God, I'm confident that over time, shallow relationships will become deep friendships. I'm confident that when you say, I'm gonna be a builder of the church, that endless dissatisfaction that haunts you in many areas of your life, no, no, no, it is going to be replaced with ultimate fulfillment and purpose. I'm confident that passivity, disengagement, it's going to turn into activity and hunger and passion to reach people and to obey God as we build his kingdom. And so my question is, what if we stopped spectating? And what if we started building? What if we stopped consuming? Showing up like, what can I get? And we actually said, no, no, no, I'm gonna start contributing. I'm a living stone. I'm a holy priest. This isn't about what I come to God to get. It's about what I come to God to give. And I'm going all in. I'm giving my whole life to build his church and to build his kingdom. Tonight we have some Lego bricks that are attached to

the walls. I don't know if you noticed them or not when you came in. You're gonna say, all right, well, that's kind of weird. It's kind of silly. I understand. It just represents you. It just represents your life, your gifts, your body. And you're gonna be like, oh man, okay. This feels like a little like cheesy kind of like. I'm like a little kid. I'm like, no, I just need a visual to give you that tonight if you are saying, hey, you know what? I am gonna reject consumerism in my relationship with Jesus. Then I want to create a space that you can actually go get something that represents your life that you are giving to God. And I was like, well, we're talking about Legos tonight, so how about a Lego brick? And it's just a little symbol. My whole life is small but has the power to be significant when it gets into the hands of the ultimate builder. And so if I'm rejecting consumerism following me into spirituality and embracing spiritual contribution through my activity, through my investment, through my building God's kingdom, in a moment I just want you to move to the side of the room and grab a brick. And as we sing a few songs, I just want you to hold that brick in your hand as a symbol of I'm laying down my life for you. for you and I want to get into a posture of worship holding this brick in my hand. This is a simple symbol through our moment of response that we can worship God together and as we do that we just get to boldly declare I'm gonna be a builder of the church. I'm gonna be a builder of the church. There's also opportunity on the sides of the room for you to receive prayer because I may go as so far to say some of you also want to do not only pull a brick off the wall and hold it in my hand but actually go to someone and say hey I need to confess I need to repent of the way that the consumer mindset has followed me into spaces where God was trying to dwell and I made it about me instead of about him and I need to say no more. I'm a builder. I'm a rock. I'm a living stone. I'm a holy priest and I'm gonna commit to building God's house and God's church so I'm gonna pray for us and after I pray I just want you to move and grab a brick and grab a prayer volunteer to pray with and we're just gonna posture ourselves as people who've received new identity and as people who are stepping into new

mission to build and contribute to the church. Jesus I thank you for tonight. I thank you that you are here among us and throughout tonight connection has been happening. Building has been happening. Jesus you've been in our midst and you are dwelling and invading this house. God in this moment would you give us eyes to see the significance of the mission that you have invited us into and may we respond to you in this moment in boldness and in confidence as we align with you saying I'm a builder of the church. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.