Greater Growth

Guys, I want to say uh say thank you so much for being here tonight. Um how many how many know what being passive is? You ever come across somebody that was just like super passive? Not passive aggressive, I mean just passive. Just like you couldn't make them mad to save your life, right?

You ever come across somebody like that? Josh, that's Josh, right? I love those people because like it's my goal in life to just find their trigger and make them mad. That's just Yeah. No, that's right.

Uh there there was a guy who said, "He who angers you controls you." And so like it was uh it's so much fun. Like I had sisters, so you know, I'm an antagonizer. That that probably explains my full personality right there. Just the antagonist. Um it's there is something about someone that's just passive about everything.

Sometimes it's nice to be around, but then after a little while you're like, "Hey, let's go do something." It's like, "Okay, all right. We got to go do something." Um, I there is there is something about that that uh I have been around and I'm not and I'm not not throwing stones. I've been around churches that are passive people in churches that are passive. Um, that to me is like I I I don't have a lot of like patience with that personally. like I, you know, um the gospel is too important.

There's too many people that have no clue who Jesus is. There's too many people that know who Jesus is and have turned their back. And it's like, all right, we can't be passive about it. Now, it doesn't mean we, you know, it doesn't mean we're out there knocking them in the head and dragging them in. We're not we're not the Knights Templar over here, the Warrior Monks.

No, we're but we are doing everything within our power to the idea is the active church is doing everything within their power to to make sure that we're engaging with people. Um, it's interesting how music changes for generations and then by like the time you're 30, right, they say your music genre is set. Like I don't know, you may have changed since you were 30. You're shaking your head. You change all the you change.

Okay. I don't know. Like that's that's what they say. I I'm at 30 and right now I'm stuck on like just listening to classical piano music. So, I hope it changes after a little bit.

So, like it really puts you to sleep. Uh, >> I'm way beyond 30. >> Okay. All right. At least somebody's changes in here.

But here's the thing. The reality is what you listen to when you were like, you know, 13 to 19. It's probably a little different than what you listen to now. Maybe just a little bit. And each generation, they kind of develop their own flavor.

Uh, turns out talking about the same stuff you're doing. It's the same stuff. It's just the style. Well, guess what? The church has to do that as well.

We're talking about the same message, but we cannot be bought into. Like, we buy the message. We don't buy the method, right? We we we we preach the same gospel, but the way we preach it isn't it may not be the same. I I I've often thought about Noah.

Now, the Bible's not super clear of this, but let's just say just the way it reads, you could interpret it that he built the ark for 120 years or he was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years. U I don't know. I I don't I don't I don't have the exacts on that, but if you preached for 120 years, imagine the different ways you would preach the same thing. You know, like I've I've thought about it. You know, I bet whoever the whoever the guy that preaches off the bar stool with the ripped jeans, I bet Noah tried that.

You know, like that guy didn't invent nothing. I bet he tried that. I bet he >> Yeah. After he chased the animal and and all that stuff like I bet he tried the the Have you seen the uh uh the the Russian Orthodox monks? You know, like they're like they're very pious looking and they're always bearded.

I bet he tried that. I bet he tried like every method that you possibly could. I imagine no one preached as long as Noah if that's the case. No one preached as long as him. So, oh my lord.

Could you just imagine he probably like his sons probably could just make knew what he was going to say before he even said it. You know, they probably sat right there and made fun of like, you know, they could mock him. not just like literally making but they knew all his Noah isms. Uh it picked all that up. But the reality is is that so many of us we get attached to a method.

Is that fair? I mean, I don't know about y'all, but I like wearing the same type of clothes. Like if it was up to me, I have I have green t-shirts that are all look the same that all fit and wear the same and I have pants that are all the same brand and I wear those every day. Now, some people would say that's a touch of the tism. I would just say I don't like picking out clothes, but it's whatever.

You know what I'm saying? Like that's I like I like doing what I like doing. But when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to the church, the thing is is there is a process where it's not about me. How many of you remember what that conversion was? When you when you went from an observer to a partaker, right?

So like if you if you think of partaking, it's more than just watching. It's doing. That's the the partaker of the Lord's supper is someone that doesn't just watch communion. It's someone who partakes of communion, takes of his body, takes of his blood, that that that commits at a deeper level. That that that has salvation implications to it.

But I'm not just talking about salvation implications with it. I am talking it's very practical. When when did you change from being someone who was being asked to do something to the one that was asking someone to do something? Right? That's that's that's an observer to a partaker.

>> That's that's a personal transition. Some people uh view it as roles. Well, that's not my role. But the reality is and the beautiful thing about a church and and the way churches are set up, it's not role specific. It's mindset specific.

It's just it's just is what it is. We all have an opportunity. A church is one of the most democratic uh places in the world. It's just the reality of it is. And that doesn't mean we sit around and vote on everything.

That means we all have an opportunity to contribute and push it forward. that it's it's that's it like it's we're not waiting on someone else to do it for us. We are doing it is our responsibility as Christians to help others find Christ. That's that's a that's somewhere along the line that's a hard transition to make because there's nothing else in the world that that you do that with. If you go to if you have a favorite restaurant, have you ever just thought, man, I want to work in this restaurant.

That's this is a great place to eat. I definitely want to work here. No, I mean, you you might have, but I haven't. I'm like, nah, I don't want to work here. I want to eat here.

This isn't a restaurant. >> It's a church. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Yeah. old time.

>> I'm not that old. >> All right. Well, >> share it. >> This is where you're learning a You're not going to go to garden. So where you sit, where you teachings, it makes sense to give that participant.

>> No, I get it. >> Yeah, I get it. I understand. No, I haven't I haven't heard that one. But but the idea, right, is it's it's it may even be less of a restaurant and more of a community garden.

because everybody's got to contribute to a garden. Now, it's not socialism either, so I'm not going into that. We're going to get off on all kinds of rabbit trails and never mind. Uh in Matthew chapter 25, if you got your Bibles, uh and and if we can, let's do round robin with this. We'll do verses 14-30.

Um, Matthew 25:14, starting with verse 14, and we'll go through verse 30 with that. Um, anybody who I I'll start out and anybody wants to pick up at 15, just speak up. All right. Uh, this is Jesus talking. For it would be a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.

And he gave to another two and another ability and straight way to his >> 17. received two >> 18. Verse 21 says, 'His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little. I will set you over much.

Enter into the joy of your master. Verse 22. >> He also had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me unto you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gathered two more talents. Besides them >> verse 23 which received the one came and said I knew thee that thou art and hard man where thou hast not and where thou h But his master answered and said, "You wicked and slothful sir, you knew that I reap where I've not sown and gather where I've scattered no seed." >> Verse 27.

Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him. For everyone that shall be given, excuse everyone that shall be given and he that abundance. But from him that not shall be taken away even that which he has. >> Yeah, you you chose you chose the hardest one to read. I thought Paul wrote that for a minute.

And verse 30 says, "And cast the worstless servant into outer darkness. In that place where there will be weeping and nashing of teeth." Uh Jesus was very direct with his parable here. He's like they get nashing of teeth over here. Um interestingly in this thought he is talking he is talking about investing in his kingdom. He is he is talking about the work of the church.

Um he says intr he said the very the in verse 14 he says his servants and entrusted to them his property wasn't theirs was his but they had to treat it as if it was theirs and also had to give it freely that's a hard thing um something something I I want to I want to just something that churches churches do I I got I got a statistic for you. 90% of dying churches are located in growing communities. People are there. They're just not coming to that specific church. I don't I don't I'm not going to I'm not going to assume everything about those.

That's just a statistic, okay? But part of what I've and and probably you have noticed is that churches get to a point to where they are they are they get to a maintenance mode to where well we've got what God's blessed us with. We have to take care of it. And that's what our focus is. And that's important, right?

That's important. He didn't didn't throw away the master's things, but he should invest the master's things. There is a part of us that when we and and and it and it sneaks in, right? It's it's a mentality because what what what are we prone to do? We are prone to not change.

We are prone to stay the same. We are prone to get comfortable. We are prone to to um I'm going to use my clothes example. We are prone to wear the same outfit because it's comfortable and we like it and it fits right and it feels good. It's like boom.

That's it. We're prone to do that. It's easier. I don't have it. It just is churches get to that same as a whole.

All right, I'm we're not there. We're not even close to there, but we're we're going to we're going to look at the dynamics of this because chances are that we've all seen that of people that were just comfortable soaking up the gospel and not and not spreading it. That's not the way the e the economy of God works. As soon as we close the hand, he stops the poor. It just it just the way it works.

So many of us, I think the intentionality of growing and growing a church is hard, but we get discouraged over time. We get we get, man, we tried this, we tried this, we tried this, we tried this. Absolutely. We're not bound to a method. We're bound to a message.

That's it. Uh part of it is in everything we do, we have to be intentional with how we measure it. Very intentional. Um how many of you guys have ever, I don't know, made an investment in something like crypto? Anyone ever bought crypto?

Just be honest with me, Ethan. Come on. No, you never even Oh my lord. I brought I bought some crypto. I never made good money on crypto.

Like I always sold at the wrong time, right? Not much, just a little bit. I'd watch Yeah. Uh, Bitcoin. I' like, "Yeah, now's a good time." Wrong time.

It was a wrong time to buy. I should have just not done that. But like we we we we look at it and if you've ever bought it, you can't help but watch it because as soon as you look away, you're like, "Oh no, it peaked and then it went down." Like, "Oh no, I should have sold there. part of part of making that's if that's a really good principle of of a stock or a house or whatever you've invested in uh it's a really good principle is where man's treasure is there will his heart be also we got to watch those charts guess what our heart is in people guess what we watch people when we give ourselves to that that means any ministry we do Should we should have measurable measurable data points for that because I do believe in casting our bread upon the water. There's the parable of casting your bread upon the water, but eventually you'll run out of bread if you're not careful, if you're casting it on the wrong waters.

So, you have to measure it. You have to know, okay, um I I I don't even know, but like all right, we have right now we have a Bible quiz ministry. All right, that's an internal focused ministry. It's an investment in the next generation. But if that was all we invested in, what would that what would that produce right now to get that next generation something to do?

It's not that's not the only thing we invest in. We have CR. We invest in that a lot of time, talent, and treasure in that. A lot of dedication goes into that. All right.

But it's the point is is all right. We have measurables with that. Every every Wednesday, every Sunday, we have measurables of attendance because what we do and how we do it matters. If if if we have guys, we have 90 plus percent. Okay, we we track this on purpose.

On Wednesdays, we have 90 plus percent of our att of our Sunday attendance on Wednesdays. the the re the way we got there was we started midweek university and we really started pushing teaching in different things and as we tracked that we saw oh wait a minute this is responding to a need this is feeding a need now we can sit around and think of ideas all the time you just get brother Sloan and I in a room and we'll think of a thousand ideas and then we'll be like actually none of those panned out those were all like the numbers didn't actually fall out with that right you You can do the same thing. We Ethan's probably got a billion ideas. Well, we got to get to pan out. You have to measure those things.

The re as as a church body. I will say that that that falls on us as a whole. Okay. I'm I'm I'm meaning I'm meaning this as individuals. What am I doing that brings that that brings someone to church?

What am I doing that I can actually be a positive witness to someone? Is there a measurable with that? H have I taught a Bible study? Okay. Have I have I been able to witness to someone this week?

Here's here's the reality of it. Okay. And and I was I was reading through a book on on this and in this uh they called it this is an older book and and some of you may have read it but they called it constant contact consciousness. Every week we're we're not implementing this system right now. Okay.

It's but it is there's a reason every week they would and they've done this across multiple churches for re for on purpose would be turn in a contact card. Who did you talk to about the gospel this week? Someone or no one five people know people. How did you do it? And the reason is not shame.

The reason is so it's here. So that we're thinking about it. So that we're we're doing our best. Because the reality is, guys, we get we get caught in the cycle of life, our own little world. It's super easy.

It's It's really easy. It It's just We get busy. We have We all have things. We all have uh everything in the world that we have to get done. And we'll get through two weeks, we'll get through three weeks, we'll get through two months, we'll get through a year.

We haven't talked about the gospel with anyone. We haven't told our testimony. We haven't I'm not I'm not saying we haven't stood on the the street corner and preached. I mean, maybe if that's what God tells you to do, you better do it. But if it's not, maybe don't, you know, like that's that's that's between you and God.

But that constant contact consciousness, the conscious, the intentional part of doing that, the in the intent of God, I am I am responsible for this. That's where we start to become more than observers who become partakers. We we start to look at okay we have systems and departments. Okay, we do we have we guest followup. Uh we we do our best to have guest services.

We have and places for people to connect with uh we had connect groups. Now we have uh oh lord interest groups. I lost it. Uh we we we do online ministry. We do our best to be as online and present online because in our metro area that that seems to work really well for us.

And so guess what? We put our money where our mouth is. We watch the data. We watch the we we intently invest in that. Our kids and I I'll just say this.

They're not just doing something. They are going to be a generation that impacts more than we can ever imagine because of what they are learning now. Okay? Our our our tech team is they're they're like 25 and younger. Okay?

Like except for Dylan. He's old. It's his birthday today, by the way, y'all. So, if you you see him, tell him happy birthday. But, uh that they're they're going to be a generation that affects more than they even know.

They're not just behind a camera. They're not just running a screen. That is part of our outreach. >> That is part of making sure that people That's our front door. >> We measure it every and and and you guys you you guys like 90 plus% of people that come to our church that walk through the doors have watched online first.

Okay. That's just that's the reality of it. Guess what? We watch that. We measure that data.

Part of our responsibility is and and I would say this as not not as passive but as active members of the body of Christ is where do I fit in that? There are systems there are things we are we do our best to be as systematic as we possibly can. But the reality is systems never they don't they don't solve everything. Okay? They can get 80% of something.

They really can. But there's always there's always holes in the net. And the reality is as active members of the body of Christ, we have to we individually can see gaps. We individually can follow up with guests. We individually can be conscious about how we share the gospel.

Uh, nothing nothing speaks louder than than someone that has nothing to gain, nothing to lose, but their time saying, "Hey, I was praying for you this week." If if the preacher says that, I'm I'm gonna you I'm going to use this role specific, but the preacher says, "I was praying for you this week." They're like, "Oh my Lord, what was I doing wrong?" But if someone that has, and I don't mean this bad, but like if seemingly, this is perception, right? This is perception. If if if if you call them up personally, hey, I was praying for you this week or I'm following up. Oh, so glad to meet you at church. Not not everybody but as as you connect genuinely with someone that makes all the difference in the world.

That's the intentionality of connecting. Now we can we can systematize it and yes we should but the reality is it does not alleviate the body. It doesn't because God places here's the thing. God will place someone on your heart does he not? You can't just say and and I'm not just I'm saying that because he does that to me.

All right. It's not, oh well, they'll take care of it. No. Okay. If he put them on my heart, it's my job today.

That's my job. I have to be sensitive to him. I have to hear what I don't know what they're going through. I'll tell you guys right now. All right.

I it one instance of just one instance. Not too long ago, we're on the way to church. uh probably a month or two ago and all of a sudden I was like, "Man, I need to call Sister Renee this morning." Soon as I called her, she was like, "Oh my lord, my pipe busted." I mean, like as we're on the phone and she was so worried about it. Now, I I don't call Sister Renee often, okay? That's not something I do at this, you know, like she she's normally at church.

We talk at church. Just that morning, I felt that God that it was and so I just did. All right. I know God does the same for you. I know he put someone on your heart.

Don't be afraid to just call them and see how they're doing. You don't have to be in their business, but that's part of being a partaker because guess what? You you may you may never know why you called them. I just so happened to know that. Guess what?

That Sunday night, Lauren and I went over, we fixed it. wasn't a big deal. We got it we got it all squared away. But like it may never be something like that, but it might be. And you don't know what that is for someone.

Uh someone's probably done that for you. I know someone has for me. That's part of the being the body of Christ. The body of Christ will grow. um it will grow to the point that it can maintain.

So, and and and I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to get into numbers here for just a second. All right, you guys don't turn me off with this. There's a reason why we split classes because once a class gets to about 70%, it won't grow past that. There's a reason why I asked the leaders to park not not near the doorway because once a parking lot gets about 70% full, people are like fish. They won't grow past the size of their bowl.

They just won't. Guess what? We've got to finish our bathrooms because our capacity will not grow past our bathroom capacity. And I don't mean that like funnily that's that's a real ratio. We don't have that problem in the sanctuary right now.

We will, Lord willing, >> but we don't have that right now. But we have that in every in in different areas. Each one of us, that's that's not those are not bad things. Those are those are just things that that the body people we will not grow past what we can help minister to. And that doesn't mean the preacher ministering to.

That means the body. It doesn't mean the people that we are in contact with every day because the reality is the church is bigger than us. The reality is the church is bigger than a than a pastor. The church is bigger than a ministry team. It's bigger than a leadership team.

It's the body. The church will grow to the the the health that the body can maintain. I personally believe that part of that is we have to be sensitive to the word of God or to and and by the word of God I mean God speaking to us, laying someone on our heart. That's part of that ministry. That's part of everyone's responsibility as it just is.

Uh no one no one gets an excuse away from that. No one's well I can't call them. Look, you can you can you can text them. You can reach out to them. Uh, one of the one of the one of the very interesting things I've I' I've come across is in in church data.

All right, you guys are here on Wednesday night, so I'm not talking to you, right? This is Wednesday night crowd. We're good. We're sanctified. We're saved.

We're all good, right? Uh, regular attendance. Okay, there there I was I was talking to a data guy and very much he's very much a data guy like um has has a company that does this but 40% it's like 38% of people say they are they are regular church attenders. Okay. But the reality is they show up one one time a month.

They don't really they think they go more. Okay. This is across denominations. It's it's it's across it's very interesting to see that. Okay.

Now, an antidote to that is involvement because the reality is when you have responsibility, you have to show up. Because I'll just tell y'all, my percentage of waking up at 2 o'clock in the morning shot up when I had a kid. Now, it's still way less than my wife, but my overall percentage shot way up. Ethan, how many times a week do you are you up at like three? >> Okay.

All right. So, you're good. All right. All right. Well, then two times is that more than what it was?

Yeah, because you got responsibility, right? I mean, you guys know that you you you've all raised kids. The reality is part of being a healthy member of the body is carrying a responsibility. It's carrying a load. It's it's it's plugging in.

It's not just and and and I'll say not just to do, but to minister. I'm I'm gonna use the tech team again because a lot of times uh and a lot of churches do not have a concept of this and I I don't mean that bad just they haven't been exposed to it. But that's a ministry. We pray over them and they pray over them over their equipment over who it goes to over their Just like God can minister to you while you sing or while you play. He can minister to them while they're doing what they are responsible to do.

Now, they have to be open to it, but that's a ministry. Every part, if done with the right intent, is a ministry. Every every bit of it. Uh part of part of building a healthy culture and is is on every one of us. Uh how many uh something something that I think is part of it we get really excited about people getting the Holy Ghost or baptisms and that's important but do you know that in that last month we had 82 people in that month 82 individuals scheduled for something in the month in our church.

82. Now, that's about 50% of our constituency or 70% of our attendance, depending on how you want to look at those numbers. That's pretty decent, but it has to be encouraged. That has to be there. It's not just that's just a statistic.

That's not the goal. The goal is to have a healthy environment. Watch those numbers. Look at that. Um something something I do want to I want to mention here.

We we just got out of the month of giving uh greater giving but financial health in a church. Do you know that there was a 30 there's been a 34% drop in giving per family per capita giving it's fallen. I don't know why >> here. No, no, no. Sorry.

This is I want to say these statistics most of these statistics are general like Gallup poll statistics. Okay. So, like that that shows I don't I don't know what ours is. I'm not going to like I'm I'm not going over those. I'm just showing as a whole that's cultural.

So, the reality is we're not exempt from culture. Hopefully, we're bucking a trend, but I don't know that. Okay. Like part of that is we have to teach. I'm going to I'm going to talk to you guys tonight.

You're the Wednesday night crowd. That's part of how we can communicate as the body. That's part of our responsibility. She said you don't go to Olive Garden and pay at Texas Roadhouse. >> You can Well, you probably shouldn't.

Probably shouldn't go to Olive Garden, but you know, it's whatever. Uh that's that that right there that where where man's treasure is there his heart will be also. It's part of it and it doesn't happen accidentally part of part of Christian living guys. Things can be learned by osmosis but most things aren't. Now, you may have when you went to your job, you may have been taught some things by osmosis and you're like, "Man, this needs to change because that was terrible.

They just left me to figure it out on my own." But the reality is, we we are not called to figure it out on our own. God's given us a he's given us a guide book. He's also he's also empowered each of us to to be an active member of the body. Uh, interestingly, uh, demographics, they predict what where a church will go, right? You and I both know if there's no kids, old people don't want to be there.

Young people ain't there. And it's like, well, that's depressing. Guess what I want to say? I I I can say this confidently. We've bucked that trend.

I'm thankful for that. I do know that one, you know, like we have bucked that trend. Um, in all these things, guys, something else that's very important is leadership health. In every aspect of our leadership, pastor all the way down is making sure that we have the right time. There's something there's the there's the the ten comm one of the ten commandments was a Sabbath.

Every one of us need a Sabbath. Every one of us need a Sabbath. It's not always easy. is definitely not encouraged in our culture, right? It's it's not encouraged.

But the reality is we have to take time and just it's springtime. It's good fishing weather. Maybe not good catching weather, but it's good fishing weather. It it's that's part of here's the thing. We cannot There's There's all the things of running on empty.

There's all those things as a leader. Everyone needs to be stretched. I I believe in that wholeheartedly. But then there is the time of the rest. There is the time of the rejuvenation.

There is the time there is the Sabbath. God wasn't exempt from it. Who do we think we are to be exempt from it? As a growing church. All right.

These are these are things that will lead to greater growth. These are some diagnostics. Okay? There are some these are some just just statistics. But the reality is God has blessed us.

He has allowed us to hear his gospel. He has allowed us to walk in his grace. We are not to keep that to ourselves. We have a responsibility to others to the church body. We just have a respons.

We are to be the good servants. He should be able to look at us and say you you've you've been faithful over a few things. Now, I'm going to give you more and then we have a harder time taking a Sabbath. One more thing, one more thing I want to I want to mention, one more point I want to hit tonight is in Ecclesiastes uh very 4 and 11. And I I'll read this real quick here.

says, "He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap." Has anyone ever heard of paralysis by analysis? >> You ever done that? You ever looked at something so long you can't make up your way which way what to do? You're like, "Yeah, I'd do it that way." And everybody's just It drives me insane. A whole group of guys, it's it's worse when there's a guy and there's no lady around.

Guys will just stand around. They like, "Yeah, I'd do it that way. And everybody's just standing there. >> State workers. >> State workers, government work.

Yeah, I do it that way. Everybody's just like, we all just stand back and look at it. That's the most frustrating place to be. And no one does anything. Everyone's frustrated.

No one enjoys that. But like that's that's somebody that's that's someone that's just observing, but they're too scared to sew the seed. They're too scared to Guys, we can we can look at this all day long. All right, we can we can uh we can do growth classes and we can do we can learn how to teach a Bible study and all those things, but the reality is you never learn how to swim out of the water. Sometimes you need John Wayne to come along and just throw you in, right?

You just you just got to jump in the water. You got to go. you got to do. Here's here's the reality is is that each of us have a responsibility to carry the gospel. God will put people on I I believe there's an individual responsibility.

Here's something. Here's something I challenge you to pray this week. God, give me an open door and help me to know it and walk through it. If we just sit and we just look at the open doors, I could probably do that. We'll never walk through it.

But God, give me an open door. Help me to realize it, not after the fact, because we've all done that, too. Help me to realize it. And help me to have the strength to walk through it. Part of our responsibility is to grow.

That grows us. It grows the church. It helps our guys. If everybody in the world knew Jesus and loved Jesus the way that you did, how good would this place be? We owe a tremendous debt, but we also just we just have a tremendous opportunity to share the love of God.

Would you stand with me real quick before everybody falls asleep? It's it's it's class ending time. It's it's Wednesday night, beautiful weather, but would you would you pray that prayer with me tonight? Would you pray that God would show you give you an open door and that he would give you he would help you to recognize it and give you the courage to walk through it? Jesus, we love you.

God, I thank you, Lord, so much for your kindness, your goodness, and your mercy. God, I thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to be in your house, for the opportunity to know your word, God, to fall in love with you, God. But God, I pray, Lord, that you would help me this week, God, give me an opportunity, God, give me an open door to share your love, your kindness, your mercy, your gospel, Lord, with with someone. God, help me, God, as that door opens, God, help me to recognize it. Help me, God, to genuinely approach it, God.

And God, help me, Lord, to to to not just just wish I had done something. But God, give me the courage to do it, to speak up, to pray, to do what needs to be done, to give me the words to say in the timing to say them in. God, help me to do it with all love, with all humility. God, I pray, Lord, upon this church, this body, God, that you would help us, Lord. God, every one of us, God, have an open door, God, I pray, Lord, that you would help us to recognize it, God.

Help each of us, God. Give us, give us the words to say it in the hour that it should be said, in the time that it should be said. God, let the Holy Ghost to move upon us and guide us and direct us, God. Lord, help us, God, to to grow ourselves and stretch ourselves, but God, help us, Lord, to grow your body, to grow your church. God, we'll be careful to give you all the praise, all the glory, and all the honor.

Thank you, Lord, so much. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.