This is How We Change the World

Into a violent world that prized only power, came a movement motivated by love. A few frightened failures huddled in one room became a global phenomenon, fanning across their world within 30 years. With no army, no politics, no detailed strategy, they changed history. How did it happen? And can it happen again? This is Acts Odyssey.

Well, that is the last time you will ever hear that video or see this set because this is the final week of Acts Odyssey. This is it right now. Let's just thank the whole team that did so much to put this all together. It has been a blast. If you are just joining us for the first week today and you're wondering what's this all about, for the last nine weeks we have been studying the book of Acts in the Bible. It has been so much fun and this has been the culmination of two years of work.

We went over to Greece and Turkey and Israel, the Aegean Sea. We filmed devotional devos there, wrote a book packed with maps and so on about it and then put together this sermon series to try to capture some of the excitement of the book of Acts. And what we're going to do today is really share a sermon that you wrote because throughout the series you have been sending me emails and texts about what God is doing in your life through this Acts series. And I'm so stoked about sharing those things.

But before I do, next weekend Valerie just got back with our team serving refugees from the war in Iraq and she's going to be sharing next weekend. They actually flew into Amman and then they went up near the border of Iraq. It's sort of sandwiched between Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria and they worked in a refugee city there. You do not want to miss this next weekend because it's like the book of Acts is happening right now over there.

You know, you hear so much bad news from the Middle East and yet God is working in truly miraculous ways. And I guarantee you this, the stories you're going to see and the pictures you're going to see next weekend from this region of the world, you will not see them on CNN or Fox or anywhere else. So come here next weekend and here's some really great news that's going to inspire you.

Then in two weeks, I know many of you are huge fans of the Pacific Northwest acapella band Rescue. This December they are on their farewell tour. This is it for them and they're going to be here in two weekends. They're going to have a song in each service and then a concert on Sunday night. It's a holiday themed concert. Great way to get the holidays kicked off. That is in two weeks.

I'm so excited about what's coming ahead for Twin Lakes Church. We've got the Advent Series during December and then we've got a series called Habits, a four-week series to kick off the new year because people want to know how can I change my habits? How can I start good habits? The Bible has a lot to say about that. And then a verse-by-verse series through 1 Thessalonians leading up to Easter. I'm just super stoked about that.

Now I call this final message in the Acts Odyssey series, this is how we change the world. Because as we've been studying, the early Christians changed the world against all odds, right? Let's go back all the way to week one of this series when we looked at what the early Christians did not have. They did not have financial reserves or great buildings or favorable governmental conditions or supportive media or planes, trains, automobiles or boats with motors.

What they did have was impact. They went from 120 people to 3,000 on day one. And by the end of the book of Acts, which is just a span of about 30 years, they are in 32 countries and provinces, 54 cities, nine islands and in the center of the world at that time, Rome. And from there, they literally changed history. And as we said on week one, the whole question of Acts for us today is can it happen again? And if so, how?

Well, I think really the essential question of the book of Acts is what fueled the first Christians? If I want this to happen again today, right, what inspired them? What ignited them? If I don't want to settle for some kind of a mediocre church life, if I want to be a Christian as part of a movement that really affects positive change for God, then I got to ask this question. We started this series with this question. And so as we wrap up the series, I want to ask it again. What was the DNA of these first Christians as we've been studying Acts? What fueled them?

I did a lot of thinking about this this last week and I found what I think are seven irreducible elements. And you can jot these down on your message notes. If you want to help change the world, this is how they did it. And this is how it can happen again. When we are like them, number one, fueled by a simple mission, witness. That's our whole mission in life is to witness. You see a lot of this word in Acts.

Jesus told the disciples, you shall be my what? Say it out loud. Witnesses. That was their whole job. Don't what he didn't say. Didn't say you will be my judges. Didn't say you will be my prosecutors. Didn't even say you will be my defenders. Just witnesses. And the disciples reiterated this. They said and we are his witnesses because they could not stop telling people, listen, listen, Jesus was dead. We saw him dead. And then just the other day, just around the corner from where you killed him just the other day, we saw him alive again.

And that means that everything that he taught about himself is validated. And they were fueled by this. I got an email from one man. It was so powerful. I cried. He said he could never be a believer. Didn't make any sense to him until he realized studying Acts with his believing wife here this fall that as he put it, the resurrection had to have happened. There's no other explanation for the sudden courage of the disciples other than they were witnesses of it.

And so he actually came to faith through this study. And he's right. I mean, something exciting happens to you. You can't help but talk about it, right? You ever had something so cool happen to you that you just find a way to just work it into every conversation? I keep trying to come up with some example of this, but I cannot think of anything. Oh yeah, you might've heard we had a grandson. You love to talk about it, right? Something cool happens.

And if you've encountered the gospel, you love to talk about the gospel. If you've tasted the gospel, if you felt its love, if you understand it at all, you're going to be whispering it to your kids at night, right? Jesus loves you. You're going to be looking for ways to work it into conversations. You're going to be inviting people to church. You're going to be yearning to see it spread all across the world.

Now you say that sounds intimidating. One very easy way to share your faith is coming up in the next month, and that's Christmas. You see this postcard in your bulletins about all the many Christmas events we've got going on here, especially those Christmas Eve candlelight services. We've got a completely different service than on Christmas morning because that's on a Sunday. There's lots more details in here, including the rescue concert. So you can invite folks.

And I love that we started this whole ACT series with a witness. Look at the screen. Beach baptisms at Seacliff Beach. This was such a beautiful night. About 80 people got baptized. And this is very Book of Acts, isn't it? Because in the second chapter of Acts, 3,000 people got baptized on the steps to the Temple Mount, all on the same day. And so it was so cool to see that very thing happening here.

And we started out on the sand, circled up in groups, and everyone who got baptized first shared their story. They were witnessing to what God did in their lives, and then they bore witness to the watching world as they got baptized. And you know what most of the people talked about in their groups that day? They said they were changed when they heard about God's grace, that they no longer had to earn their way to heaven. They realized it's a free gift. That's why you see such joy on their faces.

And that's very Book of Acts, too. In fact, that's point number two. The early believers were fueled by a simple message, grace. Grace is front and center in the Book of Acts. They have the big controversy right smack dab in the middle of Acts, Acts 15, where they have the Jerusalem Council, because all these Gentiles and others have been coming into the faith. And so they have to wrestle with this. Is Christianity about keeping the religious laws in the Torah, or is it about something else?

And Peter stands up and says, "No, we believe it is through the," what? "Grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are." And James makes an even more dramatic strategic statement. He says, "We should not make it," what? "Difficult for these Gentiles who are turning to God." Don't make it difficult. Don't complicate it. Keep it simple. Don't you wish Christians had kept this advice all the time?

Now, in case you're wondering, "Well, it's grace." Grace means your salvation is all God's work. From start to finish, it is all a gift. And this was revolutionary. So these people had a very simple mission to witness to their very simple message, which was grace, but they couldn't have done it without number three. These world changers were fueled by a single power, the Holy Spirit.

And I want to spend much of my time on this third point, because you just can't understand the book of Acts without this. Look at this. Jesus told the disciples right at the beginning, Acts 1:4, "In a few days, you'll be baptized with the Holy Spirit." Now, today, the Bible teaches, clearly, I believe, that every believer is baptized with the Holy Spirit. The moment you believe, Ephesians 1, for one thing, talks about this very thoroughly.

But now, what's still a choice you have to make every day is to live filled with the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to motivate you and work through you, because then you'll receive this, Acts 1:8, "But you shall receive power," say that word with me, "power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you." Circle that word, power. Listen, it is so easy to get distracted by all kinds of questions about the Holy Spirit. And I should probably do a sermon series on this, I really should.

But here's the point. God has positioned you to be a conduit for His power, the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is at work in you. And people who believe that change the world. In fact, I want you to do something that might at first be uncomfortable for you. Are you ready for this? You say, "I don't know, what is it?" Well, here it is. I want you to repeat this phrase, "I am a conduit for the power of God." Can you say that? Say, "I am a conduit for the power of God." Say it again, "I am a conduit for the power of God." Does that seem awkward to you? Does it somehow seem un-humble?

Well, do you see the power of believing that? Don't just say, "I'm just a volunteer. I'm just a church member. I'm just trying my best to be the best Christian I can be." No, you are something special. The Holy Spirit is at work in you. That is powerful. And what's powerful about it is you're not just figuring out how to change the world on your own. The Holy Spirit is connecting all believers in the world. And He's the one who's got the strategy going.

Let me give you a couple of examples here. I asked all of you to send me some examples of divine appointments in your life. You're going to love these. I got so many, I wish I could share them all. But one woman, new believer in Jesus here at TLC, raised Jewish and has recently come to believe as still a Jewish person. Jesus is the Messiah. And she comes here to Twin Lakes Church. Well, she drives for Uber. And she gets a call to pick up somebody in San Jose at the airport last month and drive him up to Stanford.

It turns out that her client is a PhD candidate presenting his paper on alternative fuels that afternoon at Stanford University. Super smart guy. Also turns out he has flown in from an Arab country. His name is Mohammed. He's clearly a Muslim. And she, as a Jewish woman, is a little nervous. And maybe you're going, well, why would she be? Well, I don't know if you're aware of it, but in some places in the world right now, there's a little tension between Jews and Muslims.

And so just to kind of make conversation, she starts nervously saying, you know, I've been to many Middle Eastern countries. And she starts naming them. And in fact, she says, I've lived in Israel. She's an Israeli. She's actually lived and worked there. And he stops her when she says Israel. And he says, stop. You lived in Israel? She thinks, maybe I shouldn't have said that. And he says, I have to ask you something very personal. She thinks, oh, no. And he pauses and says, do you believe Jesus is the Messiah?

And she says, well, yes. Yes, I do. And he said, I've been praying that here in America, I would somehow be able to talk about this to somebody because he said, I've been studying the scriptures and praying. And he said, I have come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah too. But he says, I can't tell anybody back home. I don't know any Christians. It's so good to be able to talk about this. He says, you have no idea what it's like to have a family where the family would be shocked and they'd disown you if you said that you believed in Jesus.

And she goes, I think I kind of do know what that's like. And he says, no, no American could possibly understand. And she said, I kind of do because I was raised in a very conservative Jewish family. Now picture what's happening here. The first person this man has ever met who is a believer is on an Uber ride. An Arab Muslim follower of Jesus is able to meet and be recharged by a Jewish Israeli follower of Jesus. It's exactly like something right out of the pages of Acts. And we couldn't plan it. We can't make this stuff up. That is just got to be the Holy Spirit putting it together. How else to explain it?

Let me give you one other example. Another man wrote me and said he's a contractor. And on one job, he installed kitchen cabinets at a home in Carmel Valley. And the owner calls up one morning, leaves a message, says, I'm so upset you painted the kitchen cabinets the wrong color. And he says, oh, great. I know I didn't. But now I've got to drive all the way down to Carmel Valley to talk to an upset client. On the way down, he sees his phone ring a couple of times. It's the owner. And he doesn't pick up because he's kind of mad at her.

He gets all the way down to her house at the end of Carmel Valley. She's standing in front with her phone. She says, I've been trying to call to tell you not to come. She says, it's totally my bad. I saw the cabinets in the morning light and realized they are the right color. Now he's going, great. Why did I drive all the way down here to Carmel Valley? What a waste of time. Looks over next door, sees a friend of his working on the house. Walks over, says, hey, how's it going? And his friend says, you really want to know? Well, I am so depressed that I was thinking of taking my own life tonight.

And for the rest of that morning, they were able to talk and pray. And he was there right in the place and in the moment that his friend needed to hear from a believer. He wrote me and said, Rene, think of all the things that had to happen to get me there at just the right time and just the right place that had to be the Holy Spirit. And world changers believe this. And this has impacted me personally.

A true story that really made an impression on me is from a hundred years ago. There was a famous preacher in London named Charles Spurgeon. He taught at a massive church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, sat 10,000 people. One Sunday, it was packed standing room only and somebody in the balcony, maybe as kind of a prank, no one really knows, yelled, fire! And in the ensuing panic, seven people were trampled to death. Of course, it made horrible headlines that the pastor and everybody in the church was devastated. In fact, Spurgeon plunged into depression, the pastor of this church.

And weeks later, when the church had been rebuilt, it was time for him to preach his first sermon there again. And he locked himself in his study. And two deacons had to break down the door and drag him into church. Said, you got to preach. And he says the only way he made it was with every step up to the pulpit that morning. He told himself, I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here's why that story made an impression on me. I've told some of you sometimes I have anxieties. You don't know, some people don't believe it, but I get stage fright sometimes. I get anxiety about coming up here. I was so nervous about this act Odyssey series. And my wife refers to this story and she always tells me, she says, "Renee, do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit?" And I love that she doesn't say, "Renee, you're the man. Your book's awesome." You know why? Because I wouldn't take that. I'd go, "No, no, you're wrong." But I can't say you're wrong when she says, "Do you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit?"

And sometimes you don't hear me, but many weekends, many, many weekends of the year, I'm thinking to myself, I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit as I walk up here to preach. I don't believe in my genius or something because I'm not. You don't need to believe that. You don't need to go, "I am so special. I'm going to change the world," and puff yourself up. You don't have to be some kind of crazy narcissist to change the world. You just have to believe in the Holy Spirit.

In fact, say that phrase out loud with me, "I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit." This week, when you go into a stressful work situation, what are you going to say to yourself? Say it, "I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit." This week, when you go into a stressful family or a stressful school situation, what are you going to say to yourself, "I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit." This week, maybe on Thursday, when you're sitting across the table from the relatives that drive you crazy and you don't know if you're going to make it through the meal, what are you going to say to yourself, "I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit." It really, really makes a difference.

This is what world changers do. And then these world changers and acts were also fueled by a simple vision, a revolutionary vision, a vision nobody in world history had ever had before. And you know what it was? They were fueled by a simple vision of one new people that God was knitting out of every tongue and tribe and nation that were flooding into the Jesus movement, one new kingdom that surpassed all borders of politics and ethnicity and everything else. And it would be to God's glory.

And we can pray for this, that at Twin Lakes, we would not only see more and more different ethnicities worshiping together, but also especially at this time in the nation, there would be people from all sides of the political aisle. There would be Democrats and Republicans and independents and who knows what else we have here in Santa Cruz, all gathered together to worship God to say, "We believe there is one kingdom that transcends any other human kingdom, any human nation, and any political party, and that is the kingdom of God. Amen." That's what this is all about.

Somebody once said, "Maturity is walking hand in hand when you don't see eye to eye." I love that saying. So let's be a mature church. This is what was such a powerful witness in the book of Acts. You see this all through Acts, don't you? Just a few verses. Acts 2:44, "All the believers were together and had everything in common." Acts 4:32, "All the believers were one in heart and mind." Acts 5:12, "They were all together with one accord." And the revolutionary statement Peter made, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right." This is so attractive in a divisive world.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about uniformity. The Bible never preaches uniformity. It preaches unity. And I have to tell you, this fall I tried to get around to as many different small groups during the weekdays as I could, and one of the things I loved, loved, loved about the series is seeing all the different small groups everywhere. Again, this was so book of Acts, right? We had over a hundred small groups with all kinds of different people in them, and I got to visit several of them on different nights, and I loved it because each group was different.

And you know what right now I'd like you to do? I'd like you to join me in thanking all the small group leaders and the hosts right now. Let's just thank them because they did a great, great job. And I also personally want to thank all the worship leaders and pastors involved in serving at Aromas Bible Church. This is a church, the only church in Aromas, and they joined us in this series. They're joining us this morning, and we decided we're going to continue to partner with them. More details to come, but let's thank the whole Aromas Bible Church team right now too. They did a great job.

Now you cannot be a world changer without the fifth element. They were fueled by consistent action generosity, radical generosity. And you see this again and again, don't you? Acts 2, they sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Acts 4, all the believers were one in heart and mind. Nobody claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. Now stop right there because some people read this and say, "Well, that sounds like communism." I've heard this many times. That's not communism at all.

Communism says, "What's yours is mine and I'm going to take it." Christianity says, "What's mine is yours and I'm going to give it." Completely voluntary, big difference. They were doing this because they'd been graced, so they wanted to grace people. That's why it says, "God's grace was so powerfully at work in them that there were no needy persons among them." That's a God-sized goal, isn't it? No needy persons among them. And that's our goal.

If we want to be a book of Acts church, this is one of the reasons it was so great to see the radical generosity during this series in this church and our Acts of Kindness Week. So many TLC teams served veterans meals, beautified schools, honored police with home-baked treats, built benches at the Homeless Services Center, did projects at the Tannery Arts Center, and more. And this is also why we do the Fall Food Drive every fall. The food we donate helps 200 pantries around the county, many of them, most of them, churches like ours.

And the people who receive food here at Twin Lake Church, we give away free food every Wednesday at 3:30. You don't have to qualify, just show up and get it. The people who come up and receive the food that you and I donate are people just like you and me, that are just in usually a temporary spot in their life where they need some help to make ends meet. And I want you to meet one of them. Watch the screen.

I was a very successful traveling chef, working for millionaires and billionaires, cooking five-star meals and killing it at life. And I became ill a couple years ago and I wasn't able to eat solid foods and it just progressively got worse. I've spent the past couple years at Stanford trying to get fixed, but the income's gone and I haven't been able to get on disability or create any income because I'm sick, really sick on a daily basis. Some days are okay, some days are really bad and I can't leave the house.

But I have my husband, he works so hard for us and I need to provide something and our groceries bills were killing us. And so I've taken to coming to the food pantry. He loves the berry bagels and all the breads and he eats everything I don't eat. And so all the vegetables and he loves salad too, but all the vegetables, I juice everything and I utilize everything. And what I don't use, I actually have a bunch of single moms and with lots of kids that I give it to them and they're very grateful and it just trickles down.

Everybody's been so kind here at Twin Lakes and I try to come to church every Sunday, but sometimes I can't because I'm sick. But it helps me stay positive, it helps my husband stay positive because it's a roller coaster. And just trying to stay afloat because even with the pantry, we're still barely, barely making it and selling our belongings to try to make rent and so on and so forth. So that's what's happening. I'm really grateful you guys are here to help, especially when the chicken comes in. It's been a savior. Yeah, and it really saves us because grocery bills are just through the roof. We would have sunk a long time ago without you guys.

Isn't that wonderful? You know, this Wednesday, she talked about chickens. We always provide poultry, really nice fresh chickens and all kinds of great veggies on Thanksgiving week. So again, please, if you're in need, come on by Wednesday at 3:30. And if you can help, I want to invite you to take the envelope that is there in your bulletins and take a look at it and put this somewhere where you can prayerfully consider it. The food drive ends the first weekend in December.

We've been talking about how 40 pounds and $40 from every single person in Twin Lakes would add up to a million pounds. That's an act size, God size goal. But maybe you're going, well, that kind of makes me feel bad because I don't have $40. Well, can you say this? Acts 3:6, Peter said, "Silver or gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you." What do you have? What can you give? Maybe you can volunteer. Maybe you can just write an encouraging note to the people who do. You know you can pray.

See, world changers don't stop at, "Well, silver and gold have I none." They work with what they can through the hands of the Holy Spirit. That is how we change the world. Let's rip through these last two real quick. The sixth one is huge. These early Christians were fueled by a simple hope, God is always at work. In the good times and the bad times, these people in Acts face prison and beatings and shipwrecks and assassins and snakebites. Sometimes they get miracles, sometimes they don't.

But they always go, "Praise God, He is at work through all of this." Later in his life, Paul said, "All these things which have happened to me have really happened to advance the gospel." And world changers have this attitude. I want to read you one more email. This is so great. A woman wrote, "I'm currently going through a nerve-wracking health crisis. My first reaction to finding out was, 'How will this affect me, Meghan, and her life?'" But as I was reading the book of Acts in a clinic waiting room, I thought, "Wait a minute. If Paul made the most of every trial, tribulation, and interaction as a means for spreading the good news, why can't I?"

So I've decided to do an experiment. I will use my medical adventure, the way Paul boldly made use of every experience, the good, the bad, and the harrowing. I will be receptive to the Holy Spirit. I will let Him empower me as I speak with doctors, nurses, receptionists, etc. So far already, I think a few seeds have been planted. Now listen to this. This experience is not about me, Meghan, and finding a cure for this person called Meghan. It's about using the adventure as the vehicle through which God's Word can be spread. That is the attitude of a world changer. It's the attitude of these people in the book of Acts.

And then finally, and this is so huge, they were fueled by simple organization. Everyone matters. The early church was a posse, not a fortress. Everyone's deputized. And let me show you how. I want to read you a story from Acts 6, starting in verse 1. It says, "In those days, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food." This was kind of a racial or class thing.

In those days, there were Hebrew-speaking Jews who most of them didn't speak Greek, and there were Hellenistic or Greek-speaking Jews who were from the Greek cities who were totally culturally different, didn't speak Hebrew. The scriptures had to be translated into Greek for them. And there was a huge barrier between these two groups. And this was an emotional issue. The Greek-speaking Jews were going, "You're not even letting our widows get the food from the food pantry." So how did the apostles solve this?

They gathered all the disciples together, said, "It wouldn't be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables, so choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom, and we'll turn this responsibility over to them, and we'll give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word." This proposal pleased the whole group. And so, watch this, they chose Stephen, a man full of faith in the Holy Spirit, and look at these names closely. Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Pumba, just kidding, Parmenas, Nicolaus, you know what? All these names are Greek names.

They said the Greek speakers feel overlooked. We've got to put some Greek speakers in leadership. Very good. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. So the Word of God spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly. Three things we really need to learn at Twin Lakes Church from that little story, bullet points in your notes. A growing church causes problems. There were even problems in this, inspired by the Holy Spirit first movement of Jesus Church.

Sometimes people come to me and they say, "Renee, we've really got a problem at Twin Lakes Church." And I say, "Which one?" Because honestly, in my head, I've got a mental list of about 100 things that we need to improve. I always want to hear people's reactions, but there's always a lag time between identifying a problem, defining what the problem really is, and resourcing the means to solve the problem. But there's always problems. World changers know that they don't let problems be a discouragement because they're normal.

Second we learn, pastors cannot do it all, right? The apostles said, "We got to get some help here. We can't do this." So what's the answer? Everyone can do their part. They chose wise people and said, "We will turn this responsibility over to them." Listen, the ministry of Twin Lakes Church outgrew me a long time ago. And so we have to have everybody do their part. And I just want to point out specifically as a real-life example, look at the bottom of that page, the list I put there of people on the Acts Odyssey team, like Kevin and Jamie and Martin and Kayla and many, many more.

Can I ask you to do me a favor? Would you consider writing a note to them if you were moved by this series just to say thank you? I hear thank you from people because I'm the person up front. These people were just as much a part of the team. I put their emails right there so you can do that. And right now, let's just all put our hands together and thank them together. They did a lot of hard work on this. They really did.

So let me go back to the question we asked at the beginning of this series. The book of Acts, can it happen again? You know, after reading Acts, I don't want to be part of a church that's just okay. I put in the bulletins a little letter for me that talks about where the church is at right now. I always do this the weekend before Thanksgiving. I hope you read it. We've had an amazing year here. God's faithfulness is so great to us. But I truly believe we've just scratched the surface.

How can we go on to even greater things? You know what? I think the answer is, can it happen again? It can happen when we're in it together. You can't do this. Mark can't, Val can't, Paul can't, I can't. But we can do it together. It can still happen right here as we work together. So are you all in? Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this wonderful book of Acts that challenges us and blesses us and encourages us. And God, it just makes me want to totally abandon myself to your Holy Spirit, to your strategy. Thank you that every bit of Acts is still relevant and that in the 21st century here in Santa Cruz, it can happen again. And that's what we ask today, God. May unexpected, surprising, supernatural things happen again through us. We want to be your church alive here in Santa Cruz County and beyond. So help us see ways to do that and then empower us. Thank you in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.