Becoming an Agency of Hope

My name is Adrian and one of the pastors here. Welcome to church. So glad to be here and today I got to share God's word with you. I'm very excited about that. And before I jump into God's word, I thought I'd just give you a little update on our family. It's a picture of us recently. This is our family. Oh, aren't people laughing? Is that a good sign? All right, anyways, so here's my family, my funny family, I guess.

Our daughter Ella is six and she finished her first, she's fresh off her first year of school, elementary school, so we survived kindergarten. And I did so much homework this year. It was crazy. And she's losing teeth left and right. She's like three wiggly teeth right now. Man, anyways, it's a bloody mess. And she's maturing way quicker than I'd like.

Our three-year-old right there in the middle, her name is Penelope, and she is our more rambunctious one. I don't know if you can tell from this, but she's like super rambunctious and spunky. She's starting to talk a lot more. So one of the things she likes to say at night, she's our night owl. Ella, we'll put her down and she's like, goodnight. And she's out. The other one does not do that. And so we'll put her down and now recently she's been saying, Mom, Dad, I'm not sleepy at all. Like, we don't care. So then we cover her with a blanket and just like, back away. Anyways, that's our kids. And that's my wife, Jamie. And we're doing well. We'll be celebrating 12 years of marriage next month. And oh, thank you. Thank you. She's young pups. And thank you for anybody who's been praying for us. We appreciate it. And if you want to pray for us, please do. We need it.

Look at the-- I mean, like those kids look normal, but man, you put them together. It's crazy sometimes. Look at that picture. So happy. And this is a picture we put on Instagram. So it's like we tried to-- it's like we took 35 pictures and that's the one everybody was kind of looking and smiling. And we're trying to be cool. We're at the new Abbott Square Market downtown at a soft opening of a local coffee shop. It's trying to be hip, cool people.

You know why? Because on social media-- one of the problems with social media is this. If you're on Instagram or Facebook or whatever, you look at your friends or these other families and you're like, man, I'm not-- these are the coolest people I've ever met. They're not that cool in person, but on social media, they look awesome, you know? They're traveling all over the world. They're kids. Our kids are the same age, but their kids are like inventing things and like-- it's crazy.

And so sometimes we get-- you know, we feel self-conscious as we try to put, you know, our best foot forward on social media because I think what we're worried about-- and I'm probably what a lot of us are worried about-- that we look a little more like this. Watch the screen. Michael, it's your turn. Thank God. We go after this. The angry family. The angry family. The daddy was mad at the mommy. The mommy was mad at the daddy. The mommy and daddy were very mad at the grandpa. The grandma got mad at everybody. I did not. It's wonderful. The grown-ups were always very loud. It hurt the kids' ears. The end.

That's our worry, right? People see us, they see the angry family. You know, nobody's perfect. Instagram and Facebook, those are lies. We all have a little bit of that going on. But what's our hope? At least for the Moreno's, our hope is that we're loving and kind to each other so that when people come into contact with us, we're loving and kind to them. And that's the same hope that Paul has for the church and Paul has for this church in Thessalonica. And that's what we've been talking about for the last month.

Today we're continuing our series called Hope Agent. And if you want, you can take out your message notes that look like this and follow along. Some fill-ins there if you'd like. And Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonian church. And for the first four and a half chapters, he's been instructing them on living a holy life, living a life for God as individuals to become hope agents. We've been learning about how we can become individual hope agents.

But today we're going to see how he shifts here in the middle of chapter 5 to talk to them as a group. And I believe God's talking to us as a group. Because this is Paul, what he does in all of the New Testament, he is calling the church to something. He's giving them instructions, but he has a hope for them, is that they would be an agent of hope in the world. And that they would spread the love and the light of Christ and they would find them, they would affect change in their communities.

And you're going to see here that that takes work. Because you can't just expect to put just a bunch of Christians together in a room and say good luck and they're going to do well because we're humans, right? And so in these verses we're going to see him give specific instructions how they can become a vibrant, loving, and giving community. And today we're going to learn about becoming an agency of hope.

We're in 1 Thessalonians 5:12–15. And what's an agency but a group or a community of agents, right? So he's talking to the church as a group. And so how do we become an agency of hope? Paul gives us three ways. We're going to jump right in. Number one, we need to acknowledge the hard workers. 1 Thessalonians 5:12–13 says, now we ask you brothers and sisters, take knowledge those who work hard among you who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.

Now when I started studying these passages in the next few verses, you know, I read lots of different commentaries and I read what some other pastors have to say. A lot of mostly the pastors look at this as saying honor your pastors because they work really hard. And when you read them, they're like, yeah, church, working hard over here, love me, basically. But I don't think that's what's going on right here.

Because if you look here, he doesn't mention any title or any position. He's not singling anybody out here. Later in his other letters, he does say, Elvish, he calls people with positions, with titles. But here, he's more general, he's more broad. And what does he focus on? He focuses on what they do. Those who work hard among you. And it says, you know, honor them and love them because of their hard work, not because of what position they hold.

Because what happens when you get a group of people who all start at the same level and move ahead? Because this is what's going on in the Thessalonians. You have Paul who goes to this church, preaches the gospel, like he does in every city. And they become Christians, they get together, become a church. Usually, he hangs out with them for a while instructing them. But in Thessalonica, like we learned, he gets run out of town after just about three weeks. So they're brand new Christians. And so now they're doing this together.

And what happens is naturally, some of them sort of step up to lead. Because there's no appointing happening here. This person is a little more mature. So they're stepping up. Maybe there's some teachers, maybe some people who sing. And what happens when you're in a group of people and you're all at the same level and some people sort of maybe insert themselves as leaders? It can be annoying, right? I don't know if you've ever been in that situation, like you're playing a game or playing sports or at work or school and somebody's like, "I'm going to take charge." And you're like, "Why are you going to take charge?"

That happened to me one time. I was in college and I went to this youth retreat. And it was in Alabama. And people from all over the country came. And the point of this retreat was to preach the gospel. It was to present the good news about Jesus to people who didn't believe. So there's like tons of different people coming around. But both Christian and non-Christian youth, like myself, went to this event. And you get split up in these groups and then you do everything in these groups. You eat together, you play games. And there's like competitions involved.

And so I'm in this group with these guys. I know a couple of them and I don't know the rest of them. And at the time, I was already like speaking at my church. I was leading worship. I was in Bible college. And so I kind of thought, "I'm going to do this." And I wanted to win because I'm in college and there's like girls at this thing. It's like, "We got to do well, guys. There's girls here." And so I was like all about like winning and doing well.

And so the first thing we have to do is come up with a group name, make a poster, color it, and make some kind of cheer or something. And so we get to work and I'm like taking charge. Like, "Okay, guys, let's do this." And we start fighting like immediately. And I will say this, I wasn't very gracious because I wanted to win. And so there's these guys and we're coming up with names. And I kept saying, "No, it has to be a Christian name. This is a Christian camp. It has to be about the Bible." And these guys were like, "Why? Because we're at a Christian camp. I want to win."

And so we're fighting and arguing. And one of the leaders of this camp comes over and says, "What's going on?" And so we tell him and he goes, "Who cares? It doesn't have to be a Christian name. It can be anything." And I looked at him like, "You know what I'm doing over here? I'm leading this group, man." And the rest of the weekend went like that, butting heads. And I was selfish and I like missed the point of this camp. And I detracted from their experience. And I regret it. And my prayer is, "God, please, may they have heard the good news despite my terrible example as a Christian." I pray, hopefully, like they're pastors right now or something.

But that's probably what's happening at this young church. You have people, you know, sort of some of them inserting themselves and some of them may be being appointed, but there are these other leaders among them, and people are responding both poorly and probably okay. And some of them are leading well and some aren't. So Paul in these verses I think wants to encourage, first of all, these people who are working hard, and to focus on not their titles but what they're doing that they're working hard. He wants to encourage them.

And so, you know, he wants to affirm the leadership that they've been showing because they're probably not getting affirmation or acknowledgment from people because of probably some tension. But I think at the same time, he's telling them to lead graciously. He's telling them it's about the work. It's about loving and caring for people. So don't just rest on a title. Don't just rest on the leadership that you have. Don't expect to get honor and praise and acknowledgment just because of that, but work hard. Serve, sacrifice, love, and recognition will come.

And then he's telling everybody else, "You know what? Those that are working hard among you, they're pouring out their lives for you. You know, acknowledge them and honor them because of their hard work." So what does that mean for us today? Well, first, I think we need to acknowledge those in our church who are working hard. And I'm not just talking about René and Val and Trent and myself or our staff, but everybody in this church who's stepping up to lead and to work hard.

I'm talking about our Stephen ministers. I'm talking about our kids' church workers. I'm talking about our ushers and greeters, our Bible study and small group leaders, the people that are working up at camp right now, you know, all day, every day. All the people in our church who are stepping up to lead and to love and pouring out their lives for us. And they might not necessarily be in any kind of position, but they're just people in our church that love each other and care for each other.

What God is saying, what Paul is saying, is that we need to encourage them and acknowledge them. And so before we go on, can we just thank all the people in our church that do so much every week?

So what I just did is what Paul did was he told them, like, "We should acknowledge them, but what they need to do and what we need to do is acknowledge them ourselves." When you drop off your kid at kid's church, you're able to come and worship God quietly, right? Your kids are over there acting just the way they do at home, okay? I know. I've, like, peaked. I'm like, "Oh, I'm leaving." So when you drop off your kids, you can just say, "Hey, thank you so much. We're so grateful for what you do. We're able to worship God while knowing that our kids are learning about Jesus in a fun and safe environment." Just a quick thank you. It means so much.

To anybody around you that is leading in any way, encourage them. Write a note of encouragement. In some way, acknowledge them. And to the leaders, anybody in any leadership role or volunteering, you're stepping up to the staff and to all the pastors, we need to lead well, and we need to work hard, and we need to serve and love and sacrifice like Jesus did. So we need to honor our workers. We need to lead well.

Number two, we need to take care of each other. Take care of each other. Verse 14, "And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone." Now, I want to first look at who is Paul addressing here, and we urge you who? Brothers and sisters. You know who that means? Everybody. All of us.

Because this is the thing, I think a lot of times, we treat church like a doctor's office or some event we go to. We show up and like, "Hey, give me what I need, and then I'm going to take off." But that's not what the church is. The church isn't just a building. The church isn't this campus. The church aren't the events we put on. That's not what the church is, and I'm talking about the capital C church, and what that means is the global church. We're all part of the church.

Now, there are lowercase C churches, like the local church, like the Ephesians and the Thessalonians. Those were churches. Twin Lakes Church, Santa Cruz Bible, Vintage Faith, these are smaller local churches, but we're all part of the larger church. Check this out. Let me explain. The Bible tells us that the church is the body of Christ. Watch this in Colossians 1:8, it says, "Christ is also the head of the church, which is His body." Okay? So the church is the body of Christ. Now, Romans 12:4–5, it says this, "Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body," which is what? The church, right? We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

So the question is, who's responsible for the people at the church? Who's responsible for Twin Lakes Church and its people? It is all of us, because we're all in this together, because we're a part of the family of Christ, the body of Christ. So what does that look like? Well, Paul, in those verses, he goes into four things. He says, "Worn the idle and disruptive." He says, "Encourage the disheartened, help the weak, and be patient." Now, for the Thessalonians, he's talking to some specific issues that are going on there. You know, he gets a report back from Timothy, and that's why he writes this letter.

And Timothy comes back, and he says, "Hey, Paul, things are going pretty good." You know, for as long as we were there, pretty normal. There are some issues. You know, you told him about the return of Christ, and let me tell you, I love that. I love Jesus and Him coming back. I'm super excited, but they're freaking out. They are losing it. Jimmy stopped working, and he's mooching off everybody, because he just thinks Jesus might come. So what does he have to lose? And he's just laying around doing nothing. He's got Sally over here, and she's freaking out about the Second Coming, because her friend just passed away, which is really sad. But now she's freaking out. What's going to happen to my friend when Jesus comes back? Is she going to be stuck in the ground? What's going to happen? So they're all going crazy. There's these people who are just stressed out, and they want to quit. There are these people who are just weak, and they can't overcome the devices they have. Write them a letter, please. So he writes them this letter.

And so in these verses, he's talking to some specific people. He doesn't say "Jimmy" because the "idle" and "disruptive" warned them. So what does that mean for us? I don't think what we're supposed to do today is start pointing out people. Like, if you are idle and disruptive here at Twin Lakes Church, raise your hand, okay? And we sit over here to the disheartened. If you're just -- you're like -- you're disheartened over here. If you're very weak in some way, sit up here in the front, or maybe in the back so you can get to your car quicker. Now, that's not the point.

I think what we're seeing here is a picture of what it looks like to take care of each other. I think what Paul is saying is if there's someone in our church who needs correction, someone who's going down a path they shouldn't, we need to correct them. We need to guide them. If there's someone who's discouraged, we need to offer encouragement. If there's someone who's weak physically, spiritually, or in any other way, and we have the ability to help them, we should help. We need to look out for each other, and we need to be patient, because it takes time. It's not going to just happen overnight. And we're in a family, so we're in this together for the long haul.

Well, how do we do that? I believe the Bible tells us a really specific way. You know, what the Bible says is that we receive the love and the grace of God. He transforms our lives. He fills us with the Holy Spirit, and then we live life. And the Bible tells us that when we go through problems, when we go through trials, and we overcome things, it grows us and matures us, and it allows us to help other people. 2 Corinthians 1:4 says, "He, God, comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we'll be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." And you've probably experienced this.

You know, maybe you've gone through something, and somebody who's gone through the same thing has offered you encouragement. Or maybe vice versa, you've been able to offer somebody encouragement. I've had the great privilege and honor of doing that recently in a specific part of my life. Now, if you're new around here, you might not know this, but I looked very different a year ago. And on July 4th this year, I posted this picture on Instagram. It's a picture of me on a few different July 4ths, the past few years. And through the grace of God and through hard work and lots of encouragement, I've been able to have a little bit of a transformation physically in my health.

And through that, I've been able to talk to people who are on the same journey and talk to them about eating and things like that and exercise. I personally crossfit in town, and I have the pleasure now of working out with friends because they've heard the story and seen my journey and want to join, and we get to do that together. And so I've been able to go through that and help. Now, in your life, you are going to go through things and you're going to be able to help other people. And God has called us to take care of each other. And that's how we do it.

So we need to honor, love, and encourage our hard workers. We need to lead well. We need to take care of each other. And finally, we need to be peacemakers. Verse 15, "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else." Now, like any family, there are going to be disagreements, right? There's going to be some tension. You know, we have to work hard to encourage each other, and we have to work hard to take care of each other. But the hardest work is to overcome some of the hurts we cause each other, to overcome the disagreements and the tension that we have.

And so in the Thessalonian church, there must have been some issues, and this is the thing. When people are hurt or people are wrong, how do they respond? They want to get them back, right? That's like our natural instinct. I believe instinctually, like in a primal way, we love vengeance. Who loves vengeance? Raise your hand. You love vengeance. Now, you might not admit it, but I'm going to prove to you, you love it so much. You might not believe in karma, but you love the idea of karma, right?

I'm telling you, I grew up on vengeance. I grew up in the '80s, and every movie I watched was about vengeance. You think about it and just look back. Every single movie is about revenge. For example, Rocky IV, one of the greatest movies nobody says, but I loved it. Rocky IV is about a boxer. Rocky... This movie is very dear to my heart because it gets quoted to me all the time. His wife's name is Adrian. Anyways, it's bringing up some hurt in my life that I need healing from. Okay, anyways, so Rocky IV, this is Rocky, his best friend, Apollo Creed. He goes and has some exhibition match with the Russian... This is the Cold War '80s, right? Russian boxer comes and he kills Apollo Creed. And Rocky looks at him. He's like, "I'm not gonna... You can't talk." And so then he trains and whatever, and then he goes and has this huge match and he gets revenge. Not only does he get revenge, but he somehow, through one boxing match, brings democracy to Russia in that movie. Watch that movie at the end.

Maybe that's what we need. We need a sandbox. Anyways, every movie, every Schwarzenegger movie, everything is about revenge. We love it. We love vengeance. We love justice. It's the reason why this thing called instant karma videos exist. Now, I don't know if you know what this is. This is a subsection of the fail video. We're getting a little technical with our online videos right now. If you don't know what a fail video is, if you remember America's Home Videos, they were full of fail videos. Like a dad is pitching a ball to his kid and the kid hits it and he wants... The dad's like, "Yeah, hit a home run." But of course the ball goes somewhere else and knocks the dad over in pain. That's a fail video. The instant karma video, instead of trying to explain it, let's just watch a few of them.

Where's our job today? We set two lineups because we have two witnesses. The girls in the smoke shop, they're not going to be able to identify the guy. Come in. Come in. Chewie, come in. Oh, T-cell. Oh. Illegal. Illegal. Why are you laughing? Because you love it. That is why. Why do we... Why do we love that so much? Man, oh, that bike one on the cop... I love that one. I love justice. It's not a good thing. I think it's because of sin that that's so inside of us. You want to get people back.

And it's been that way for a long time. You know the phrase "an eye for an eye"? You've heard of that before. You know that is actually a Hebrew law in the Old Testament. An eye for an eye is something you should do. Now originally, I'm going to tell you something. That law changed over time. Originally, it was a prohibitive law. Let me explain. Back in the day, you had animals. I had animals. We had cows, let's say. And you accidentally killed my cow. An eye for an eye says, "I can kill one of your cows." It was like conflict resolution. It was equal retribution for some wrong that happened. Okay? Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. The reason that came to being was because before that law, if like let's say you came, you killed my cow. I'm like, "Oh, you killed my cow, Bessie. My beloved cow. I'm going to come to your farm. Oh, you have 100 cows?" I'm killing every single one of them. You know, because people would just go crazy. And so the law was like, "Hey, guys, relax. Just one cow for one cow. Okay? Eye for an eye. Just calm down."

And we see this in people, right? Let me tell you, there's no better way to see the human condition than to watch little kids interacting. Because they have no filter. Not my kids, of course. My kids are perfect, Instagram kids. But let's just imagine there are two sisters in a room. And one sister is building a block, you know, like building up a tower of blocks. And the other one comes over and knocks it over accidentally or on purpose. And the sister gets mad and, you know, is like, "Ugh, don't do that." And gets pushed and like, "Meh." And then pushes back. And that push turns into a harder shove. And that shove turns into a pinch. That pinch turns into a punch. That punch turns into a kick. That kick turns into pulling hair. And by the time my wife and I get down after the screaming, our house is on fire.

Because without the law, it was like-- it wasn't an eye for an eye. It was like, "You knock over my blocks? I'm going to burn this house down." So eye for an eye, guys. But over time, that law, like, got mutated and got out of whack. By the time Jesus comes and He's speaking to the Pharisees, the law had changed. Instead of it being prohibitive, it became a permissive law. It was like an eye for eye means if anything happens to you, if anybody wrongs you in any way, no matter how small or petty, no matter if it was an accident, you can get them back. Because eye for an eye.

And so Jesus comes and He says, "Okay." He wants to introduce a new way to resolve conflict. He goes, "You've heard an eye for an eye. But I tell you--" and He says this in the greatest sermon ever, Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. He says, "You've heard about an eye for an eye. I tell you now, turn the other cheek." You've heard that phrase? That's in the same few verses. Jesus is saying the way we resolve conflict before was getting back at each other. What I'm saying is forgive each other. Love each other.

And so what Paul is doing is he is reiterating this new paradigm, this new way to resolve conflict to the Thessalonians. Instead of resolving your issues and your hate with more hate, your wrong with more wrong, do good for each other. Love each other. But why? What's the point of that? Because it doesn't feel good to just forgive people. You want--you know, and this is the thing. I don't think Paul and Jesus are saying, "Let people get away with stuff." But what they're saying is, "Let the law deal with what the law needs to deal with. Let people suffer the consequences of their actions, but what you have control over, your reaction and yourself, forgive and love." And why?

Because over and over, the reason Paul is writing these letters, the reason Jesus is teaching these people is so that after they are transformed, that they as a church together would make change. Jesus tells us what the point is. Because what's the point of this church? What's the point of church? Is it just a place to go and to sing a song and to hear somebody talk and maybe laugh and leave and feel kind of good? That's not the point. Jesus tells us what the point is in Matthew 5, that same sermon on the Mount a little later. He says this to us, "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill can't be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bull. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

The point of the church, the mission of the church is to be a light to the world. The point is to point people to the loving God, the God who loves them so much that he would die on a cross. That is the point of the church. And repaying evil for evil and wrong for wrong and getting people back, that's not the way to do it. You know what Jesus said to his disciples? They will know, the world will know that you are my disciples, that you belong to me by your love for each other. We need to love. We need to shine a light.

But how do we do that? How is that even possible to overcome something so instinctual inside of us, like vengeance? I think there's only one way, and Paul talks about it over and over, and it's the gospel. The gospel says that Jesus comes to this earth, the Son of God, he lives a perfect life. He goes on the cross, innocently dies for our sins so we can have forgiveness. He is resurrected from the dead, defeating death, offering us new life to those who believe. And when we believe, the Bible tells us that we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead lives inside of us now to give us the power to live a holy life.

Philippians 2:13, one of my favorite verses says this, "For God is working in you through the Holy Spirit," I believe, "giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." He doesn't say, "Hey, live this holy life. Good luck." God says to you, "Live this holy life." And here, here is the desire to do it, and here is the actual power, the ability to do it through the Holy Spirit.

I saw a great example of this recently. It's a story of two guys who have a lot of hate to overcome. And I believe the Spirit of God works, worked in their lives to bring healing, but not just for them. I think God worked in their lives to show us the power of forgiveness so that they can shine a light in the world. Let's watch together.

It all went down on this block in Benton Harbor, Michigan. Back in '05, Jamell McGee says he was minding his own business when a police officer accused him of and arrested him for dealing drugs. You're saying the officer made it up? Yeah, it was all made up. Of course, a lot of accused men make that claim. But not many arresting officers agree. So you phonedied the report? I did. I falsified the report. This is former Benton Harbor police officer Andrew Collins. Were you just trying to chalk up an arrest? Basically, the start of that day, I was going to make sure I had another drug arrest. And in the end, you put an innocent guy in jail? Correct. Yeah. You lost everything. I lost everything. My only goal was to seek him when I got home and to hurt him. Really? That was my goal.

Eventually, that crooked cop was caught, served a year and a half for falsifying many police reports, planting drugs and stealing. Of course, Jamell was exonerated, but he still spent four years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Today, both men are back here in Benton Harbor, which is a small town. Maybe a little too small. Hey, guys, thank you. Last year, by sheer coincidence, they both ended up at Mosaic, a faith-based employment agency where they now work side by side in the same cafe. Excuse me. And it was in these cramped quarters that the bad cop and the wrongfully accused had no choice but to have it out.

And I said, "Honestly, I have no explanation. All I can do is say I'm sorry." And Jamell says that was all it took. That was pretty much what I needed to hear. Today, they're not only cordial. Saturday, we went to the trampoline park. They're friends. You know, we talk about life. Such close friends. Not long ago, Jamell actually told Andrew he loved him. And I just started weeping because he doesn't owe me that. I don't deserve that, you know? Did you forgive for his sake or for yours? For our sake. Not just us. For our sake. Jamell went on to tell me about his Christian faith and his hope for a kinder mankind. He wants to be an example. So now he and Andrew give speeches together about the importance of forgiveness and redemption.

Grab this one, set it over there. And clearly, if these two guys from the coffee shop can set aside their bitter grounds, what's our excuse? Steve Hartman on the road in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

You know, only through the Holy Spirit, I believe, is that possible. That much, you know, tension and hate to overcome. But did you catch what he said? It wasn't just for their sake but for our sake. To be an example, to shine a light. I think that's what Paul is telling the Thessalonian church and I think that's what God is telling us today. You know, we need to honor each other. We need to take care of each other. We need to forgive and love each other so that we can become a light in the world.

Because my prayer, Paul's prayer for the church and for this church, Twin Lakes Church, for us, for you, for me, so when people come into contact with us, they wouldn't see that angry family. But they would see a group of people who honor, who take care of, who forgive and love each other. But they would see an agency of hope shining a light in the world. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for your love and for your grace. And God, it is the only reason that we can do any of this. We thank you for the gospel, Lord, that you came and you died on a cross for our sins. And you forgave us that we didn't deserve it because of what Jesus did on the cross. We thank you for His resurrection from the dead and for the Holy Spirit that lives in us, that believe. With your eyes closed, if you're here today and you're hearing about this life, which honestly, if you look at it, a life where we honor each other and forgive each other and love each other and take care of each other, it sounds like a good life. And you want to be a part of that agency of hope, that group of people, the body of Christ. What the Bible says is that all you do is you believe that Jesus died on the cross, He rose from the dead, and then accept Him in your heart, or accept Him, confess that with your mouth, and you'll be saved. And then God fills you with the Holy Spirit.

With your eyes closed today, if you want to do that, I just encourage you, all you have to do is a simple prayer. This is God, I believe. Father, I pray for those of us, maybe right now, that have made the decision for the first time, God, I thank you. I thank you for the filling of the Holy Spirit, Lord, that allows those new believers today and for those of us who have been Christians, Lord, and believers, the power that it gives each of us and has given us to live this life you called us to. So I do pray, God, that each of us can be agents of hope and that together, through love, through care, through honor, and through forgiveness, we can be an agency of hope and a light to this world. In Jesus' name, amen.