Bigger than Your Battles - From Overwhelmed to Overcoming

So, um If you're gonna work with Native Americans, you're gonna learn a lot about Eagles.

And uh I just I knew about the Eagles already.

They came and played the Giants twice a year at Giants Stadium, but this is the ones that that fly and those didn't.

And Uh the um interesting thing about eagles I've learned is how they react to a storm as opposed to other birds, because other birds, when they see a storm coming, they vamos, they go, they disappear, they hide somewhere.

I was uh we have some really very impressive thunderstorms in our area and when there is a big one sometimes I'll text my family and say Um I would have called you sooner, but my phone doesn't work under the bed.

But um the fact is that the eagle literally will kind of be there on the edge of the nest, and the closer the storm gets, he's like, come on!

Come on, bring it.

Bring it.

Let's go.

And ultimately when the storm hits and all the other birds have flown the coop, he gets out there and he is able to be carried by the currents of the storm. until he is soaring well above the storm.

So instead of the storm frightening him and and scattering him It takes him higher than he's ever been before.

That's my prayer that as we're together even these three nights, that what has been overwhelming to us as we anchor ourselves to the things that are bigger than all of that. and move from overwhelmed to overcoming, that the storm may lift you higher than ever before.

Part of that involves A mission that is bigger, as the title says here in your notes, than your battles.

Snatch others from the fire and save them.

That's the mission Jesus came for.

It's the mission he calls us to be involved in, to follow him into that mission.

For people whose only hope is a rescue.

Those Chinook and Blackhawk helicopter pilots, if you read the whole story, really hesitated to go in.

They said, we have never flown such a dangerous mission before.

But they knew their lives depended on it, and they took the risk to go in and rescue them.

And there is this rescue mission that you and I have that we may forget about.

Or be afraid of.

But this mission is literally bigger than all the other battles.

And it in a sense, if you understand your mission, it lifts you like that eagle in the storm.

It lifts you above.

The battles that are in your life.

You still have those battles, but you understand those battles put you in a place to be the rescuer coming into some people's lives.

There's just uh millions of causes, it seems like, and and we see them on the news all the time, and people are all passionate uh and even angry about their cause.

But for all the causes there are on this planet, noble and not, there's only one cause that changes a heart.

No other cause has the power to change a heart.

There is one cause that changes someone's eternal destination.

And that is the rescue mission of Jesus.

It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that we know so well, and we're surrounded by people who have yet to hear it or understand it.

And it is a mission that, if anything, has been intensified by what we all been going through.

Look, it's been hard, hasn't it?

But you have a savior you're doing it with.

Imagine people who are facing all this uncertainty and anxiety and fear.

No security for the future, all their gods failing them, so to speak.

And they're doing it without a savior.

They're doing life and death without a savior.

You're doing it with him, it's hard.

We have the good news that can introduce them to him.

So Let's go for a second anchor.

Last night we talked about the light that is always there, the great faithfulness of God that we download every new morning.

Let's talk about a mission that transcends the battles that we have.

Now, here's what Jesus said we are.

Let's look at what Jesus said about the position We have in the world, Matthew chapter 5, he gives two examples.

You probably know this.

You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything.

Now there's salt, okay?

Except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

You are the light of the world.

A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.

Now, the question is, what do salt and light have in common?

One thing, they change their environment.

Yes, salt will keep things from decaying and rotting and getting worse.

See, the more distasteful things become in our world, the more the salt is the difference maker.

The darker things get in our world, the more the light is the difference maker.

You notice in your notes it says in a world of stiff gospel headwinds The losses have lowered walls.

Right now, the gospel is thought of by many people to be intolerant, angry. judgmental.

It is not welcomed most of the time.

But there's something about the desperation And all the futility that's been exposed by the pandemic that has actually lowered the walls around hearts in many, many cases.

It is time for the light to do what the light does.

And that is to dispel the darkness and make the difference.

Along the way here in the next few minutes, you're gonna uh meet just very quickly some of the people that will be a part of the Your Hope Story series uh in uh in the months to come.

But they uh they are telling their stories.

I watched and listened to a young man named Luciano and his perspective on when he was lost.

I remember what it's like to be lost.

And I wish somebody would have told me this good news, the best news ever.

That Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

God wants people to be saved.

So by the grace of God, I'm going to try to do everything that I can.

To share that with other people.

Listen to those words, it makes me sad.

I wish someone had told me.

I've talked to people much older than Luciano who finally came to Christ when they were 50 or 60.

I said, did you ever hear the gospel before that time when you made your commitment?

No.

Do you think you knowing what you know now you had been around Christians?

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

But nobody told me.

What about the people in your world, my world?

And now he says, because I know what it feels like to go without Christ, I cannot let other people be that way.

So let's let's get down here at the second anchor.

Okay?

Here's the second anchor.

It's a life-saving mission. that lifts our focus, a life-saving mission that lifts our focus from today's battles which we might be really mired in, to the eternal future of people we know.

It's a higher focus.

Instead of just being down here with all my battles.

I am now looking at the eternities of people I know.

So now it's time to look at a couple Bible heroes as we we did last night.

And both of them became, and I know this is a bad word during the pandemic, but I think we can redeem it, super spreaders, not of a virus. but of life.

Super spreaders to a hope-starved world.

And here's what they're going to model for us.

Two ways. to have a magnetic influence for Christ.

Fasten your seatbelt.

This is going to be fun, I think.

First one we're going to look at is Daniel.

One in the Old Testament, one in the new.

And Daniel shows us, I'll tell you what, I call it a difference-making life.

Let's find out from him what would a difference-making life look like?

What are its characteristics?

Daniel.

He was living in a time like no other.

We talked about Jeremiah and all the people being taken away to Babylon.

Daniel was one of them, because he was a promising young man.

We find him in a situation he did not choose.

Does this sound familiar?

A situation he didn't choose and he didn't want to be in Huh?

That was been me the last few months.

Swept into a hostile culture, hostile to his faith.

But he becomes an amazing agent of change with all that going on, including on two pagan rulers from two different world empires, Babylon and Persia.

Maybe you know about a place you don't want to be in.

But that's where Daniel became an agent of change, in a place he didn't want to be in, a situation he did not want to be in.

Now Babylon is gone.

Persia is now ruling the then known world And uh and uh Darius is the is the ruler at that time, and he th is tricked into throwing Daniel in the lion's den.

He can't reverse it. because of the law of the Medes and the Persians.

He calls to Daniel in an anguished voice, Daniel, servant of the living God.

He calls God Daniel's God, a living God, has your God, whom you serve, continually been able to rescue you from the lions?

Obviously we know the rest of the story there.

So you see the incredible influence.

I want to know how this guy lived But it isn't just Daniel who finds himself in a situation he doesn't want to be in and understands it's for a holy purpose.

For example, Miriam, she was in a situation she didn't want to be in for sure.

My friend Bob, her husband died of Lugarinx disease, and it wasn't fun to watch the process.

But here's what she discovered.

Listen to what Miriam says, being in a situation she didn't want to be in.

He takes threads of your past And he begins to weave those together, and I find out there are a lot of widows that don't know God.

When we started getting together as widows and opening the word of God and loving on each other and praying for each other's Widows were bringing their neighbors and friends who are widows who weren't believers.

And some of them became believers in that group God used my widowhood to become an evangelist to people I would have never connected with before.

Awesome.

What an example.

She said I've got a mission that happened to me and put me at what the way I was positioned in the lives of these people who were lost and now are found is because of one of the probably the worst thing that ever happened in her life That's understanding your salt and light wherever you go.

So, Daniel, show us what is a what does a winsome life look like?

Because as you know, there's a lot of animosity toward Christians today and some of it is our fault.

We're thought to be surveys show it angry. condemning , political, all kinds of things that they can't see Jesus for that.

Number one, Daniel was known for respect.

He was known for giving respect And he was known for earning respect.

We can't look at all the scriptures, but in Daniel 1, verse 8, and we'll look at just introduce it.

You'll see that he's in a jam here.

He's been selected for this incredible leadership development program sponsored by the king.

And but it's now they're asking him to eat that which he considers unholy. by uh by his faith.

He resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine.

He's going to be in trouble here.

And he asked the chief official for permission. not to defile himself this way.

And so Daniel, notice how respectful he is?

He didn't just say, well this is stupid or I can't do this against my religion.

He has a very respectful way to handle a very delicate situation.

Peter would like that.

1 Peter 3.

15.

Peter says, the guy who chopped off ears.

He says, look how we're supposed to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

Do this with gentleness and, hmm?

Hmm?

Respect.

So when you represent Christ, people should feel respected by you.

Then, um, so not only did he give it, but he earned it.

You see how he gave respect, earned respect.

That's a very winsome quality.

Write this down.

It's not in your notes.

Respect is the currency that buys spiritual opportunities.

You'd be the best French friar they ever had at McDonald's.

Or whatever.

I remember We had many Jewish friends when we were living in the New York area.

And I remember when Doug invited uh his Jewish friend in Junior High to go on a junior high youth group trip.

And when he got and and we got word that his father was furious when his son got home because he had um the the youth leader had preyed on the bus for protection.

Yeah.

This so offended the uh his Jewish daddy said you'll never see Doug Hutchcraft again Doug and I went down to the local candy store and simply bought for uh Randy we bought a we bought a um chocolate dreidel which was a a toy for that particular holiday season of the year.

But it was a chocolate draidel.

Cost two bucks.

Doug went by, dropped it off.

The next day I I had somebody said, uh, Dad, uh there's a man at the door.

It was his dad.

I'm thinking, oh, he's big.

I'm not as big.

I'm thinking I got an angry dad at the door.

He came in, he was very gentle.

He said, Ron, he said, there were two times of the year, Christmas and Easter, when we in Brooklyn, us Jewish boys got chased by the Christian boys wanting to beat us up and calling us Christ killers.

I've never known a Christian like you.

What had we done?

Just showed a low respect for their holiday?

Spent two bucks on a chocolate draidel?

Respect is the currency that opens the doors to spiritual opportunities.

Then Daniel also.

Another word about the winsome life is connect.

Connect.

Look at what he did in a hostile culture that was very different than the faith of his people.

Here's what you can do.

You would because we're in a culture like that.

You can cocoon and just say we're gonna withdraw into our little Christian world and and be safe and be holy and be pure, we can cocoon. in which case I forfeit all influence on lost people, or I can compromise and and kind of get worn down by the culture.

Or I can connect, this is what Daniel did.

He connected in every way possible that he could do righteously with the people around him to influence the people of that culture.

See, um your tribe that you're in, whether it's recreational or associational or occupational or generational or whatever it is, we all got different tribes, is your divine assignment.

To be the voice and the hands and the heart of Jesus there.

Listen to John's take on the tribes that he's in.

John?

One of the tribes that God has positioned me to to reach are other professionals.

And I have that open door because uh I am a professional.

I'm one of their peers.

I think a lot of the people that I deal with I I know that are kind of intellectuals or they're they're successful people, but I feel like What's most important is that they hear about Jesus.

This tennis tribe that I have, these people, uh they're lost.

They don't know who Jesus is and uh and I feel like uh I'm the only opportunity that they have to hear about Jesus.

Wow.

Well he knows why he is where he is He is there to be the representative of Jesus, whether it's the tennis tribe or he's a he's the head of a dental association, whether he's a professional tribe, whatever it is.

Now, but your attitude has to be this.

Hear me on this.

It's not about winning arguments.

It's about winning hearts.

And that's a whole different approach.

So, uh respect, connect, see your situation changes, but you're always his ambassador.

And uh so and we'll come back to that in a minute.

So uh with uh Daniel, he also prepares.

That's a word now.

I made it a word.

And I'm not going to go look it up here right now scripturally.

You have the references here, but basically what it says is that the only thing that Daniel's critics could have against him was that three times a day Kneeling facing east toward Jerusalem, he would pray to the God of heaven.

This is a man who knows how to stay pure.

But stay connected to lost people and change hearts with that as we showed.

He has a secret.

He has regular interaction with headquarters.

That's where you remember who you really are.

And who you really are.

And then you can go back and help other people get connected to that.

Capture isn't one other word that shows what he did.

He captured.

What did he do?

He captured natural opportunities to speak about his amazing God.

Daniel 2 is an example.

Daniel 2.

27.

No wise man, this is when he's supposed to tell what the dream is can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about.

But that God has given that.

There is a God in heaven Who reveals mysteries?

This is his chance.

He's got an opportunity from this dangerous situation to start talking about his God in heaven.

He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.

You see other references here that you can take a look at as well.

You capture natural capture natural opportunities to tell about your God, like Cindy did.

Listen to this.

One of my piano students got in trouble one time and her mom came to talk to me.

And in the process opened the door and I opened my mouth and her heart opened to Jesus.

Wow.

Piano teacher But she understands that's her clever disguise.

She's an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

And when God opens the door, you'll see there's an example you can look up later.

When God opens the door, you go in boldly.

Let's just put it this way.

Truth needs embodiment.

I need to see what this truth, what this gospel, what this Jesus looks like in something I can see You remember when the mother church, they called it in Charleston a few years ago, the the um AME church, where that young shooter went in and sat for an hour in the prayer meeting on their invitation.

And then ended up killing nine people at Emmanuel AME.

Awful, awful, awful crime.

I watched the coverage as people gathered out by the church whose loved ones had died there.

And I was struck between the conver in a conversation between Anderson Cooper and Mark Garagus, the acclaimed defense attorney.

Here are some of the things they said.

There's so much pain here, but there's so much grace.

All those people whose loved ones had died there.

Just kept talking forgiveness.

Mark Garragus said, I've never seen such an outpouring of forgiveness.

It's shocking.

One of them said, as dark as dark has been, the light is much brighter.

And Anderson Cooper said this really hit me.

There is so much grace here.

Amazing grace.

It's not just a song.

That's embodying.

That's embodying.

Always say Jesus does.

So that kind of of a difference-making life really is the thing that opens the door.

And the world desperately needs a different kind of Christian than they're seeing many cases. who winsomely and respectfully and lovingly both shows and tells Jesus Now, let's go over to the Apostle Paul here real quickly.

Because he's the other part of this.

Yeah, a disarming message.

You've got a a difference-making life, and then you have got A disarming message.

Paul's in a lousy situation.

He's in prison, a Roman prison, from which he wrote Philippians, Ephesians, and the pastoral epistles.

And uh in Philippians, and uh we get we get some insight into a disarming message.

He's got a very uncertain future, maybe like you do.

He does not, well, don't we all right now?

We're not sure how to what's going to happen.

He's got extreme limitations, you might say, chained to a guard all day.

But somehow he is able to get the gospel to the throne room of Caesar.

Here we go again.

How does this happen?

Well, five keys to winning a heart.

You'll see them in what Paul has, and we'll just quickly go through them.

But first, we asked our friends.

I think we turn people away from Jesus is what we ask them when we hear some things they said.

A lot of lost people don't have someone being compassionate in their life.

And if a person who says they represent Jesus and God somehow, if they're not compassionate Who's gonna be compassionate?

When a person's really hurting and they're not um saved, instead of putting our arms around them and being compassionate, we say God works everything together for good And they don't want to hear that at that moment they want the hug.

Maybe you don't have an answer for 'em.

You just have to hug 'em and and hold on to 'em and until they're able to heal a little bit, you know, and and put and trust back in the Lord.

Responding in a religious conversation instead of showing empathy or concern.

Being fearful and anxious like the rest of the world and And maybe getting into the politics of the whole thing rather than focusing on the eternal There you go.

We're done.

No, no we're not.

Here we go.

Listen, a positive package.

That's that's the first uh first part of uh key to winning a heart.

Coming across, you're the package for the message.

So Paul in Philippians 4. 4, what is he saying in the midst of this lousy situation?

Rejoice in the Lord always, I will again say it, rejoice.

He is the joy boy in jail, chained, not sure about his future.

He is joyful in spite of awful circumstances.

If you are, you're a great package for Jesus' message.

No wonder soldiers came to Christ.

They come in all grumpy, you know, and here's this joyful prisoner.

It's hard to resist that.

And then Paul also talks about gentleness.

He says in chapter 4, verse 5, he said to be, let your gentleness be evident to all.

So what are we talking about?

A guy who brings the gospel across joyfully and gently.

Natalie is that kind of person.

Natalie is a is an introvert, basically, by her own description.

She's she's shy.

You say, I'm not the type to share Jesus.

Well she would say she isn't either.

But listen, she's got a beautiful little package and she's found her way to spread hope.

I am a thinker, I'm an introvert, so I love to just sit down and write out my thoughts And so every week I take an experience that God has led me through or a way that I've found hope in this world and I just write it out and I share it with others.

I love coffee dates, I love going out with people and just sitting with just a drink between us. thing about stories, especially as a believer in God, is the power of the Holy Spirit and how He moves through our stories.

Someone will tell me, you know what, this was exactly what I needed.

I want to keep telling stories that invite people into hope.

Ha ha.

That's awesome.

So you you you're talking here about the joy and the gentleness, you see hope there.

That's an attractive package.

By the way, let me just say this, my brothers and sisters.

Today, one of our challenges is to avoid the swamp.

And it's called social media. where there is so much anger, all kinds of griping, grumbling, name-calling, Battles, conspiracies, all over the place.

Listen to Philippians 2.

14.

Paul said, if you're going to shine like stars in the universe, First, do everything without grumbling or arguing.

Hello?

Boy, so much that we see today that people are publishing with each other's grumbling or arguing.

2 Timothy 2.

23.

I read this and I thought, ooh, don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments.

Because you know they produce quarrels.

That is not a positive package.

Secondly, an ambassador attitude.

Oh, Paul, of course, said in 2 Corinthians 5. 20, we are Christ's ambassadors.

God makes his appeal through us. imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God.

And I love, we won't look this up, but in Philippians 1, 12 and 13, he says, I an ambassador in chains.

Most people would have just said, dear friends, I am in chains.

He said, no.

The chains have given me as my most recent ambassadorial assignment.

I've been assigned by the highest authority there is to represent him in chains.

That changes how you look at all the situations of your life.

Your situation becomes your assignment.

You're an ambassador in the hospital.

You're an ambassador in pain.

You 're an ambassador in a long line to get a shot or an unemployment line.

You're an ambassador on social media.

Ambassador at Walmart.

Or a donut shop.

You're an ambassador.

You are the face of Jesus to them in that situation.

Elizabeth understands that.

Let me tell you, she worked for a guy in banking. who uh after actually our president's retreat decided that God had put him in a position of influence to talk to people about Jesus.

And he did for months to come.

She he really affected Elizabeth, who worked for him.

But listen to how the tragedy got her started.

He had a plane crash.

Um was a pilot, private pilot and didn't survive.

I don't think he knew he had that little of time, but he spent that 18 months.

Um telling people about Jesus and the difference uh that it uh Jesus had made in his life.

There were people brought to Christ that I never would have dreamed would have been.

It's my turn now.

Throughout the day, um, I'll pray for opportunities.

To do your God's will.

It may not be as a banker, it may be as a counselor, as a parent speaking to a parent, as to somebody who's spiritually lost.

That's an ambassador She understands that wherever she is, she's been positioned by God.

Your situation changes, but you're always his ambassador.

Just changes your life to see that.

So whoever you're with, get this now.

Whoever you're with is your mission.

Why?

Because you are a rescuer and in your little bag You have a life preserver, and that's why.

This is symbolic.

Keep it somewhere to remind you That you're always his rescuer.

The third thing is a powerful prayer.

And many of you know the three open prayer.

Colossians 4, 3 and 4.

We won't look it up, but it just says this.

Paul says, please pray that God will open a door for our message and that we will proclaim it clearly as we should.

Our three-open prayer that is the way to get started in a conversation about Jesus, Lord, open a door, which is a natural opportunity to bring up Jesus.

Lord, open their heart.

God will do his part.

And Lord, open my mouth with the right words, the right approach, the right tone.

Bob's an attorney.

Bob understands that.

Listen to him.

One of my prayers is, Lord, open up the natural opportunities to talk about Jesus Christ with whoever it is you bring me into contact with.

And I go on to say, Lord, prepare their hearts ahead of time before I get to meet them, to receive whatever it is you have to say through me.

And Lord, don't let it be my words.

The three-open prayer really helps because it reminds you who's really involved in this transaction.

Alrighty, five ways to win a heart.

You've got a positive package.

You got an ambassador attitude.

You got a powerful prayer, and you've got a story-wrapped salvation.

Just you could look at Acts 26 and you'll see for yourself there where Paul he's in front of a king.

How does he get to Jesus?

He tells his story.

See, people are threatened by a second or third person gospel where we're saying you're a sinner, you need Jesus.

But a first-person approach to the gospel is largely unarguable.

Once I was blind.

Now I can see.

Yes, I was blind.

Yes, I can see.

Elizabeth, she's got a quick example here for us, just how what she has to say.

We've heard the about stories a couple of times.

Listen to her conclusion I think people are really open to your own hope story and how that can give them hope in their lives.

There's so much hopelessness in the world.

The words that we sh share and the stories that we tell um can make it all the difference in somebody's life and If you are sharing your own story, nobody can argue with that.

Nobody can deny that that didn't happen.

Speaking from your heart, from what's happened to you, it's contagious.

This is why This is why we are going to introduce to small groups all over the country and we hope the world a series of videos called Your Hope Story.

Because your story could change their story.

First of all, your story about how his story changed your story. could change their story forever.

A story-wrapped salvation.

It's a first-person gospel that diffuses defenses.

Last of all, kind of save the best for last.

Just Jesus.

Just don't get distracted into religion and politics and all kinds of issues and No, just Jesus.

Paul said from his prison cell, all I care about is that God uses this.

The Christ will be known.

That's what I want to know.

He said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

And then uh and then in Philippians, the important thing is that Christ is preached He's the one who said, when I was among you I knew nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Listen.

Charles Spurgeon said If they perceive that he loved them and gave himself for them, their hearts are stolen away.

Tell them about Jesus in his cross.

Don't get waylaid.

Don't encumber this message with other things.

This is the again the only message that can change a heart and change an eternity.

The stakes are pretty high.

They're eternal If you look up Daniel chapter 12, you will see there that it says there are two places people will end up.

Some resurrected to life, some to death.

And then it says, those who lead, and this by the way.

It's on the headstone where Karen 's earthly remains are.

And it says this.

Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.

Whatever you've accomplished on earth But those who lead, you lead them to righteousness, you lead them to Jesus.

You got that forever.

This is the mission that lifts you out of The stress of just the battles you're fighting on a day-to-day basis and takes you to that higher place.

This is what motivates our friend John and all the tribes that he's in.

There are uh a lot of uh my friends who are coming down with cancer and sicknesses.

God's gonna c uh come down like with a shout at any time and and and and then it'll be over for them.

And I I want uh more than ever to talk about eternal life because I know hell is eternal and I don't want to see anyone going there.

I don't want to see anyone going there.

For people in your world, hope needs a messenger.

Hope needs embodiment.

And hope needs a voice.

You are so desperately needed in their lives.

Don't fail them.

Don't fail him.

We were um We were with uh our own Eagles Wings team North Dakota and um there was a massive storm and this storm this is gonna sound familiar from last night but this is a whole other story And we were there for the third night when one of our warriors would give a public invitation, and that's where the miracles take place that we are historic of young people choosing Christ, Native American young people in front of their community.

But the problem was a storm was a summer storm was racing toward us.

Once again, we prayed against that storm and said, Lord, please give us a chance to bring them to you.

Literally, like right beyond the basketball court.

The storm stopped and stayed there.

For a couple hours.

The locals would later say to us, this never happens.

Our storms in the summer just race through.

It was great.

We took the team back to the church basement where they were staying.

That's when the storm came.

Knocked out all the power.

We were in the middle of debriefing the evening.

All of a sudden we were in pitch blackness You could tell by the screams of the girls and the couple of us guys.

And it was, it was, it was just, you know, suddenly you can't see a thing.

Everything is disoriented.

And it took just not very long, but somebody managed to find a candle in there, I don't know how, and uh and they f and they found a match.

And they lit that one little candle while the rest of us are just sitting there like, oh now what?

And I can't, it was just one little candle.

But it changed everything.

One candle in the dark.

Those people in your family.

Your workplace.

Your friendships.

Your hobbies.

Your school.

You got this in your bag tonight You are their candle.

Without which it would just be dark Forever.

You're their candle in the dark.

Let's pray Lord, forgive us for allowing smaller issues and smaller causes and just the stresses of everyday life and our fear to keep us from being the ambassador you saved us to be. to snatch others from the fire and save them.

Remind us, Lord, that in the midst of losses and battles Our assignment not only stays the same, but becomes more intense, and more opportunities come from our battles than anything else.

I pray for my brother or sister, with whom we are connected tonight, in their home or wherever they are.

May they be that make a difference life.

Winsome, respectful, loving, connected And may they carry that disarming message in a positive package with a three-open prayer.

And a message that is very simple, but life-changing powerful.

Just Jesus.

I pray in that name.

Amen.