Committed to the Full Gospel in Community.

I'm going to invite you to slowly make your way back to your seats. As we do, we want to welcome our newest member to the community, Miss Amelia, who's in the back over there. Not only is Amelia our newest member, but she's also my niece. I'm a little extra excited to welcome her into the New Culture family. We're so excited for a healthy delivery and a beautiful baby girl. Congratulations. Let's see if she sleeps through Auntie's preaching.

Happy Sunday. My name is Abbie, and I'm so excited that you guys are here today on this beautiful summer day. We've been going through a series on the book of Acts here at New Culture, and we titled this summer series Set Apart Summer.

We're looking at what it looks like for us as followers of Jesus to be fully ready for the things that God has in store for us in our lives and in the city and around the world. In scripture in the Old Testament in Joshua, before they crossed over into the promised land, there was an invitation for them to consecrate themselves. God was getting ready to do mighty, powerful things among his people, but first he says, consecrate yourself today for tomorrow. I'm going to do amazing things among you. That word consecrate means to be set apart and to be fully devoted.

That's what we've committed to this summer: to say, what does it look like for us to live so set apart and fully devoted to the ways of Jesus? We have the Daily Rhythms journal, which is walking us through a morning prompt to pray, a midday prompt to acknowledge God's presence, and an evening prompt to examine and gratitude so that we can be practicing daily repentance and daily prayer rhythms with the Lord so that we can be fully devoted to following the ways of Jesus.

We've been reading through Acts and how it started with the day of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit ascended on his people and empowered them to go and preach the gospel. It's been this whirlwind for the early church. It starts as this lovely gathering where they all share everything, and then next thing you know, people are in prison for preaching the gospel. Then miracles are happening and they're in prison again. Last week we talked about Ananias and Sapphira and how their disobedience resulted in their death. Essentially, there's this emphasis on the need for us to fully obey the Lord so that we can take part in all that he's doing right in front of us.

If you want to catch up, you can do that on our podcast. But we're going to jump in today. Every single week we have a so what and a now what. So if you're taking notes, here's what we're focusing on: we need to stay committed to the full gospel as a community.

Committed to the full gospel

I want to talk about this word committed. It's an adjective describing someone who's dedicated, loyal, devoted to a cause or belief or relationship. This word implies a strong sense of responsibility and determination to fulfill obligations or achieve goals. When someone is committed, they're willing to invest time, effort, resources into something they believe or value deeply. Commitment involves consistency, perseverance, and a willingness to prioritize the object of commitment above any other interest or distractions.

That's how we're going to talk about this idea of commitment to the full gospel of Jesus and commitment to that as a community: to be committed is to be fully invested, to prioritize above anything else, to persevere with consistency and no other distractions.

Acts 5, we're going to read this entire story about the growing influence and challenges that the church continues to have following the day of Pentecost. They perform these miracles and preach the gospel and find themselves in prison once again.

The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade. No one else dared to join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number daily. As a result, people brought the sick into their streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as they passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the jail and brought them out. Go, he said, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about the full message about this new life. At daybreak, they entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin and the full assembly of the elders of Israel and sent to the jail for the apostles.

Acts 5:12-21

Let's pray over the word. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much today for this text. We thank you that these words hold so much weight and meaning and life. We ask that your Holy Spirit would speak to us through this text today. God, we want to hear from you, and we want to leave here transformed and walking more in your likeness. We ask, Lord, that these words would transform our hearts and our lives and that we too would be obedient to the invitations of your spirit today. We ask this in your name. Amen.

We see here that the apostles are performing many signs and wonders. What I love about this is that it's exactly what Jesus told them was going to happen. We read about this many times in the Gospels when Jesus is with his disciples. He's telling them, this is going to happen. It's kind of like when the weather channel says it's going to rain, and you're like, sure, it's going to rain. And then when it's pouring down and you have no umbrella or rain jacket, you're like, oh, they were right. I imagine that's what's happening here.

Jesus told them time and time again, this is what's going to happen. And they're experiencing this. One of the times he tells them this is in Mark 16:

These signs will accompany those who believe. In my name they will drive out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will pick up snakes with their hands, and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all. They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.

Mark 16:17-18

They're starting to see this happen, where they're praying for people and people are becoming well. They're starting to experience that on the day of Pentecost when they're speaking in tongues. John 14:12, Jesus says:

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the work I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I'm going to the Father.

John 14:12

Jesus is telling them, I'm going to leave, but you'll have my Holy Spirit. He says that at the beginning of Acts before the day of Pentecost. Jesus prepared them for this moment, and they're seeing this. The people are coming, they're getting well, they're getting healed.

But what I love about what happens here after they have been beaten for preaching the gospel, an angel appears to them and says this in verse 20: go stand in the temple courts and tell the people about the full message of the new life. The full message. And they did just this.

The full message was yes, there was going to be healing and there was going to be all of this, but there was an invitation to follow Jesus in both his death and his resurrection and to be made new, not just for here on this earth but for all of eternity. The apostles didn't shy away from this. The way that they lived this out was by continuing to be beaten, continue to be pushed down, continuing to suffer with Christ and walk in that new life and believe for more.

Have you ever had someone try to sell you something, saying this is going to change your life? It was prime day this week. Everybody's trying to sell you a blender or something, and you're like, I know you don't care if it changes my life. You just want the affiliate percentage.

But they were really committed to the gospel because they knew, this is actually going to change your life. When you actually believe something is going to change someone's life, you want to tell them about that. There have been some summer colds going around, and I've been withholding something I swear by. I've put friends through this where I take really warm little shots of apple cider vinegar and cinnamon and lemon and honey. It burns your throat in the best way possible, and I've literally sat with friends in my living room saying, just try this, just try this, I promise it's going to heal you, it's going to make you better. Everyone's like, this smells gross, this feels gross. I still don't know if anyone's actually said it works, but I swear it works for me. So I'm still going to try with anybody who's coughing around.

But there's something when you've experienced it and you know, even that I'm like, it's going to burn for just a minute, but then it's worth it. And you see that with the apostles. They kept going, they kept going because they experienced Jesus in such a real, intimate, transformative, healing way. How can they not? I don't care how many times I get beaten for this. How can I not keep preaching and telling you about this?

This is one of those moments where I want to put ourselves in their shoes and think, what was that really like for them? What level of being set apart and fully devoted were they living in to be able to endure that type of life? These were real people following Jesus, walking in faith in the same way that we have to walk in faith, saying, God, I'm going to trust you even through the suffering. I'm going to trust you and I'm going to keep telling people about this because it's worth it. And I know it's going to change their lives.

They were committed to living and preaching the full gospel. That when we say yes to Jesus, we are saying yes to that relationship for all of eternity. We are receiving his forgiveness, his mercy, his grace. But on this side of eternity, we also recognize there's going to be pain and suffering, and we're going to need to rely on Jesus in powerful, intimate ways and his Holy Spirit.

Obedience through opposition

Acts 5:22 goes on. It says:

Arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, we found the jail securely locked with the guards standing at the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were at a loss, wondering what this might lead to. When someone came and said, look, the men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people. At this, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force because they feared that the people would stone them.

Acts 5:22-26

So the apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. He said, we gave you strict orders not to teach this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.

Think about what's actually happening. They're being brought into people that have the power and authority to end their lives right then and there. This isn't just a casual conversation. This is intense. And this is what Peter says to them:

We must obey God rather than human beings. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead, whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him on his own right hand as Prince and as Savior, that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

Acts 5:29-32

Peter was fully devoted to following and continuing the ways of Jesus. He went in and he's preaching the gospel. He's saying, God raised Jesus back to life. He's reminding them, we know what happened. Jesus came back to life. He ascended into heaven. He's preaching the full gospel in this moment.

What we see here is that they were committed to obedience through opposition. It's really easy for us to be committed when things are easy, when things are going well for us, when we're basking in the glory of God and all his many blessings. But it's a little bit harder to continue to be obedient when you're facing intense opposition.

I felt like the question I was asking when reading this was about that phrase, we must obey God rather than human beings. I think a question we have to ask ourselves, and it might take some honest reflection, is who are we reporting to right now?

The easy answer is like, I report to God, right? We can all say that. But sometimes it takes us a moment to step back and really think. Right in this moment, like today, who am I reporting to? Whose voice am I giving permission to have the loudest authority in this moment?

I was thinking about a story when I was a student chef in college. I can cook sometimes decent things and half the time I burn it, but we're all growing, right? There was a guy that oversaw the kitchen. His name was Greg and we called him young Greg. Then we had a big Greg that was like over the entire cafeteria and everything. He was the main Greg. It was always a little hard because they constantly contradicted their instructions. Have you ever been in a job where two people are telling you two different things and you want to do the job well, but one of you always thinks I'm wrong?

One day I would have to make lasagna for hundreds of students. I'd be back there just layering the pans and all the things. Sometimes we're cutting fruit and you would come in and get your instructions. Little Greg told me that day, and he was the one that was harsher, just like, do this, do that. I was like, okay. He's like, all right, you're going to cut the pineapple exactly like this. So I'm cutting the pineapple. And then big Greg comes in and he's like, why are you cutting it like that? And I was like, well, what do you mean?

He's like, I want you to spiral the pineapple. And I was like, you want me to what now? He's like, this is how we do it. He was trained at Disney or something. This is how we do it. It's easy. He shows me. Next thing you know, these pineapples and then big Greg leaves and little Greg comes back and he's like, what are you doing? Why are you cutting the pineapples like that? I'm like, well, big Greg. The second that I said that, he's like, okay, go ahead, do it right. Because he knows at the end of the day, that's the one that we're really reporting to here. He's the one that's going to come look at my pineapple and say, well done, or no, you failed.

We think about that sometimes where we, every single day, are reporting to someone. We are placing someone's voice as the highest level of authority in our lives. Is it God?

In this moment, it was so clear to Peter that these people could have come up and been like, okay, all right, we'll stop. And maybe we'll go preach over here. Or maybe we'll try to be under the radar. But no, he doubled down to say, God's the one that I report to. God's voice is the one that has the highest authority in my life. That's who I'm listening to.

Who do you report to? Because your response today of how you live the gospel and preach the gospel and obey Jesus is often a result of your belief in who you report to. If you report to your budget first, if you report to family or spouses or your schedule first, that's going to impact how you live out the gospel.

When we talk about hearing the voice of God and reporting to God's voice above anything else, I think that's where sometimes people get really whack, where they're like, well, God told me to do this crazy thing, and I report to God. And you're like, I don't know what God you're talking about, because I don't think he'd ever say that.

When we talk about reporting to God before anyone else, we're saying yes, we listen to the voice of God, but we constantly have to say we're listening to the voice of God in the context of the word of God and the community, the family of God. We're listening to the Holy Spirit. We're listening to the holy word of God. We're listening to this in the context of this holy community of God.

The voice of God in your life is always going to make sense when you process it through the lens of Scripture in the heart of God, but it may not always make sense when we process it in the world. But it's always going to make sense when we process it through the lens of Scripture and through the lens of the heart of God. There's some weird text from the Old Testament, right? So if you just read one verse and then you're like, God said this, well, yeah, technically it's in the word of God, but we got to process it through the whole word of God and God's heart and his character.

Doing things in the lens of community is also so important for us to say, hey, this is what I'm feeling God is telling me to do. This is what I sense the Holy Spirit saying. The Holy Spirit wants to speak to us. Sometimes he's going to invite us to do things that don't make sense to our schedules, that don't make sense if we're pursuing comfort, that don't make sense to our budget, that don't make sense to even maybe people around us. But to say, okay, if God's saying this, does this line up with the heart of God, with the character of God, with who God, I know God to be in Scripture? And then let people in on that process.

These apostles and Peter in that moment had that type of courage to say, this is who I report to. How do you get committed to that, investing your life so much that you're risking your life and physically putting your life on the line?

We're going to keep reading in verse 33. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. So now they're hearing him say this. I can't imagine the power trip they're going through. Are you kidding me? We're the ones that literally have the power to take your life, and you're going to tell me you're not the boss right now? That is some strong stuff happening.

Then a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin:

Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do with these men. Some time ago Thedas appeared claiming to be somebody, and about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed. All his followers were dispersed and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in this present case, I advise you, leave these men alone. Let them go. For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourselves fighting against God.

Acts 5:34-39

His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Once again, after saying we obey God, they're beaten, they're flogged, they go out.

What did they do? Verse 41 says:

The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped preaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Acts 5:41-42

This is wild. How would you respond if you were beaten, you were released, you had an opportunity to fight for your case for freedom, you do the right thing, and you're like, God, I choose you above everything else. And right after that, you're rewarded with getting beaten again. How would you honestly respond to that? I'd probably cry a lot. I'd question everything. I'd probably find any excuse I could to stop.

But no, they kept preaching. They didn't stop going out and sharing that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus came to heal and restore and save all that is lost. This was them living the gospel and preaching the gospel. It's because even before this, they were committed to counting the cost of what it meant to follow Jesus. Committed, invested, prioritized above everything else.

Every decision they made, every move they made, they didn't just make it saying what makes sense to make me comfortable, what makes sense to make me secure, what makes sense to make me prosperous. No, they said, God, how can we preach your gospel? What makes sense for us to keep sharing the good news of Jesus?

In Luke, Jesus prepared them for this before he sent them out. He said, take nothing with you. He said, leave everything behind. Even strong language of saying hate, which was translated to love less than anything else. Hate your mother, your brother, your family, your sisters. They counted the cost before they went out. When we think of the disciples and hear the stories of Jesus walking with them, saying come follow me, it sounds like just a big, beautiful gesture. They were mesmerized. They left their jobs, their careers. They just followed this rabbi and were drawn to him and left their families to follow his ways. That was radical living.

They were committed and invested in continuing to count the cost and live the cost of following the gospel. And then they rejoiced.

Committed to community

One of the reasons here at New Culture we practice something called a rule of life, which are these shared practices, and we always have our cards available for us to take and be reminded that we want to be people constantly practicing the ways of Jesus so that we are formed into his likeness. What I see here is that these people, the apostles, their default was to rejoice in suffering.

Even this morning, our coffee pot has been broken, and when I'm navigating how we're going to make coffee, any slight little thing, I'm going to be honest, my default is not always to rejoice. I'm not comparing that to their suffering in any way. But when anything happens, what is your default? How do we get it so our default, when we're pressed, when we're beaten, is to rejoice in suffering?

They walked with Jesus. They prayed like Jesus. They lived like Jesus. They laid down their lives like Jesus. As we practice the ways of Jesus, the more time we spend in prayer, the more times we spend in Scripture, the more times we spend laying down our lives for the gospel, we are going to be formed in the likeness of Jesus so that our default will be that we will say, thank you, Lord, that I am worthy of suffering like your son, Jesus.

But how did they get here? I think they were committed to the ways of Jesus, but one of the biggest things I see is that they were committed to doing this together as a community. They were committed to community. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stop preaching, teaching, proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. It wasn't just one or two at this point. There was a community of people that together were committed to this.

What does that look like for us as a community to be ready to say, I don't care what happens to me? In our context, it might not look like physically being flogged, even though that happens to Christians around the world and is happening to Christians around the world even today. But what does that look like for us to say, no matter what, I continue to get up and say my entire life is centered around being committed to the full gospel of Jesus and preaching and making him known?

There are a couple of things I want to talk about here. We need encouragement, empowerment, and an eternal mindset in order for us to endure. They had endurance when it came to preaching the gospel. But I see here that there was this culture of just encouragement. We read in Acts 2 and Acts 4 about how they provided for each other's needs.

Can you imagine living in a way where you know, I'm always going to be good no matter what, because I have a community around me that's going to encourage me, that's going to empower me to keep going? Not say, if even when I'm beaten up, I would be looking for someone to say, you've served the Lord enough, take a break. That's what my flesh would want. But we need to be a community committed to saying, no, God has more for you. Keep going. Take time. Rely on the Holy Spirit to empower you and have an eternal mindset.

They were not living for today or for the riches that this world has to offer. That's so clear in the way that they lived. They weren't living for even physical health or well-being. They were living to preach the gospel, the good news of Jesus.

I'm going to bring out a little illustration. I always laugh. I was never a youth pastor or children's pastor, so I'm not really good at this, but I try for you guys. For you visual learners here today, I want you to think about it like this. On our own, we sometimes are like a bunch of ingredients, right? We got some blocks of cheese, a little tomato, some carrots, all stuck together, a little bunch of carrots, a mushroom. So we have just ingredients. Some of them on their own are maybe better, stronger than others. But I was thinking this week as I was making banana bread. I'm getting out the flour, the bananas, the eggs, all the ingredients. When you lay it out, it's just a bunch of individual things. What is the purpose? What do you do with all of this?

Well, when you lay all of them out on their own, you can't really do much. But what happens when you follow the instructions and you start cooking something and baking something? All of a sudden when you put the different things together, it starts to make something really beautiful.

Here's what I want you to think about. If we were to make a soup or make a stew, what starts to happen when you blend ingredients together? Or if I'm baking this banana bread, all of a sudden when it comes out, the eggs are no longer just eggs. The flour is no longer just flour. It has been blended together. The eggs have quite literally been beaten in the process of being blended together. Now it's made something beautiful, but it took every single ingredient losing their identity in the process to be a part of something greater.

That's what it looks like for us as the church to come together and say that I'm willing to invest myself fully to the full gospel as a community. I'm willing to go in with all that I am, my unique identity that the Lord has given me. It might get a little messy as we get mixed all in together, trying to blend all these different personalities, gifts, talents, strengths. But if we can learn to say, at the end of the day it's no longer about my individual identity, but I am now a part of something so much more beautiful. I am a part of the church of Jesus. Together we can encourage one another. We can empower one another. We can bring out the gifts, strengths, and talents in one another that maybe we didn't even know we had. We rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to go and make Jesus known in more beautiful, powerful ways.

But that takes us being committed. It takes us investing. It takes us leaving everything else behind and trusting the process. Because if you've ever cooked or baked, you know that there are a lot of instructions and steps you have to follow. For us, we look to the word of God as our instruction manual. We look to the ways of Jesus. We have these shared practices as a church because we're saying, when Jesus was here on earth, what was he doing? How do we follow the ways of Jesus and the instructions he left for us? And I see that so clearly in Scripture.

If we're going to be people that endure a life committed fully to the gospel, the instructions we have, we need to do it together. The other thing I think about with this is that if you've ever made even like normal bread, I remember growing up, we would do this. You would bake the dough and you would let it rise for a few hours. Then me and my brothers would always fight over one of the things. I don't understand the science behind it, but you would come in and you would punch it so that it goes down and then you might let it rise again. It was this process of letting the bread do its thing. If we would have just thrown the ingredients in and thrown it in the oven, it would be terrible. That's not what the instructions say to do.

I think sometimes we want the quick, we want the easy, we want to just show up together at church on Sundays and be a community like we did it. But this is just the beginning when we gather together. These are moments for us to encourage and empower one another. The real beauty of us being the church is going and living it out in our daily lives and being committed to one another.

The real beauty of us coming together as a church is starting to make efforts and time to see one another so that we can encourage one another and empower each other throughout the weeks so that we can continue to preach the gospel.

Commit to community

My now what for today is commit to community because I believe that's a key piece for us growing as a community that Jesus is inviting us to be here in this city. Here are some of my practical encouragements and challenges for you.

I want you to think of who you can be praying for this week. One of our daily rhythms is to take breaks throughout the day. We recommend that's a great time to intercede and pray on behalf of someone else. I want to invite you this week to spend at least three or four of those times praying for someone in this church community, praying for someone in your community, and praying for them to be encouraged, empowered, equipped.

I want to challenge you a little bit more. Even if you are newer here, we are constantly moving, coming and going in downtown Madison. To connect with someone that maybe you haven't connected with in a while or before here in this community, reach out and try to find a time to connect.

When I look at the early church, they weren't just gathering once a week and saying, we'll see you, to report back. They were intentional in the way that they committed to one another. They knew what was happening in each other's lives. That didn't just happen. It doesn't just happen when you're trying to create something good and beautiful. It takes time. It takes intentionality. And sometimes the process is a lot longer than we would like it to be.

My encouragement today is for us to say, let's keep going together. Let's be committed together. Because I want to see the hope of Jesus alive like never before in this city and everywhere we go from this place. If we're going to be committed to preaching the full gospel, we're going to need to do that together as a community, which means we have to invest in one another. We have to encourage one another. We have to equip one another.

I want to invite you to stand with me as we close in prayer. I want to invite you to just take a minute and close your eyes and invite the Lord to show you, as we talk today, that they were people fully committed to the full gospel of preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus. I want to invite you to just ask the Lord, is there any way that you need to recommit to living that type of life, committed to the full gospel? Would you just invite the Lord to show you? Holy Spirit, would you show me any ways that I need to be more committed to preaching the full gospel?

The next is thinking about how the people obeyed through opposition. There was just that clear sense that Jesus had the final say. I just want to invite you to take a moment today and allow the Holy Spirit to speak and reveal. Are there any voices that you've been listening to over the Lord? Whose voice right now has the final say? Is it your schedule? Is it your finances? These are all real things, but is there any way that you just need to say, Lord, I'm listening? Would you take a minute and invite the Holy Spirit to speak?

And finally, I just want to invite you, if there's any way that you need to count the cost of what it means to really follow Jesus, and in that same way say, God, I'm committed to you no matter where you take me. I want to give you space to do that, to maybe name some of the things you've been walking through, things you're like, oh, this is costing me. But to just take a moment to just once again say, but Lord, you're worth it and I'm willing.

God, we do that today. We just say we're willing. Lord, I thank you that we have the honor and privilege to be your hands and feet. God, I pray that you would help us to be people that are committed to preaching your full gospel, the full message of this new life that you came to give us. This life that has hope, that has healing, that has restoration, that is promised for all of eternity.

God, I pray for any ways that we have been listening to other voices that you would continue to reveal those things to us, of things that have been speaking louder than your voice, of ways that we have been listening to anything other than you. Would you continue to show us that so that we can obey through all opposition? We could follow you in all ways.

God, I pray just even for some of us that are feeling like I feel like I'm counting the cost right now. If there are some here today where you feel that and you're going through hard things, just be reminded again that this is not our home. Holy Spirit, would you empower those that are feeling that way today? Would you remind us to have an eternal mindset that this is not our home?

Yes, in this world there will be suffering, but you have promised us new life and we get to start living in that here and now, and someday we will experience it fully. God, I pray, would you give us the strength to endure?

I invite you to even just pray over what it looks like to come together as a community as I close this in prayer today. God, we thank you for the gift of every single person in this room, whether we know each other or not. I thank you for the way that you continue to bring people together that are unique, that you have gifted, that you have anointed, that you have called.

God, I pray that you would help all of us to be people that are willing to be fully invested in community, that we are willing to step in and say, it's not about me, it's not about my identity, but it's all about the gospel of Jesus. I'm willing to step into the mess. I'm willing to step into the process. I'm willing to step in however long it takes, because God, we want to see your kingdom come here in this city.

We thank you for the ways that you see you at work. We thank you for the ways that you're moving, and we say we want more. God, I pray, would you help us even in the simplest way to pray for one another? Would you help us to encourage one another? Would you help us to take time to invest into one another so that we can endure the living a life of preaching your full gospel? So that all may find hope and home in you, Jesus.

We thank you. We praise you. And we ask all of this in your name. Amen.