Well, good morning, church. It is so good to
be with you guys this morning. I wanna welcome
you. I wanna welcome those of you at our Prescott
Valley location as well. Welcome. So glad that
you get to join us this morning. I hope you guys
had an incredible Thanksgiving. I hope you didn't
fight with your families too much. Some of you
laughed because that's not true. That's not what
happened at your gathering. But man, we're just
so glad that we made it through Thanksgiving.
And now I can officially say Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas to you guys. Some of you, though,
you've been celebrating for a while, right? Because
you break the laws that God set in place that
you're supposed to wait till after Thanksgiving.
And you know my stance on that. I'm not okay
with that. But this year was a little different.
My wife and I decided that this year we were
gonna get our kids for Christmas their very first
puppy. And so we were searching and we're going,
we're gonna find this puppy and we wanna get
this puppy for our kids. And so we finally found
a puppy, but they said, you gotta take it. now,
and so we took the puppy about a week ago, and
we brought the kids together, and we're like,
okay, I know we're not supposed to celebrate
until after Thanksgiving, but we got to break
our own rule. Here's your Christmas present right
now, and so this is what he looks like. This
is him. Yeah, he's absolutely adorable. The kids
lost their mind. They love him so much, and here's
the thing. He's half poodle, half chihuahua,
okay? Like, I don't know how that happened. I
try not to think about it, but so like, That's
what he is. And I don't know what he's gonna
look like when he gets older. And so I had to
Google and I'm like, what's he gonna look like,
right? And so like, this is option one. There's
two very clear options, okay? This is option
one. He could be super cute. And this is option
two. Okay, so like, it's a flip of the coin,
all right? We don't know what's gonna happen
here. Like it could be this mangy little guy
or it could be really cute. You can go ahead
and take that down, man. But you know what? Christmas
is an exciting time, and we love Christmas here
at Heights. Christmas is a big deal, and here's
why, because Christmas is good news. Christmas
is good news. And we get to proclaim that good
news this Christmas. And we're excited about
this good news. So as we walk through Advent,
as we lead up to Christmas, as we lead up to
this good news, we're gonna be talking over the
next couple of weeks about what we as a church
can do to prepare for Christmas, to prepare for
the good news, right? That's what Advent is,
is it's preparing for. what's coming, which is
Christmas, which is this good news that we get
to proclaim. So we as a church get to step into
that and be a part of what God is doing as we
lead up to Christmas. A couple of years ago,
I took my family on a vacation and we went to
Lake Tahoe and Lake Tahoe is beautiful. And we
were so excited about our vacation there. And
as we were coming around the mountain, the last
little dip before you go into Tahoe, our car
broke down. and we're like, this is just wonderful
timing. Right on the side of the road, we pull
over, and we have to call a tow truck that comes
and gets us and takes the car to the shop to
get fixed, drops us off at the hotel, and we're
like, okay, well, hopefully they can fix the
car while we are on vacation at the hotel. So
we went through the week, incredible vacation,
incredible time, and we get to the end of it,
which means the hotel is done being paid for,
but the car's not done yet. And so we're like,
we have a problem because I don't have any money
left to pay for more nights at the hotel, but
the car's not done. And so I called up a guy
that was interning for me at a church that I
worked at, and he was living in Reno, which is
a little over an hour away from Tahoe. I said,
can you come pick us up? So he comes and picks
us up, and we go to stay at his house. Okay,
we scheduled a beautiful vacation in Tahoe, and
I ended up in Reno. Now, I'm not hating on Reno,
but it's not where I originally scheduled my
vacation. You know what I'm saying? It's not
my idea of a nice place to be hanging out. So
as we're in Reno, we're at their house, I have
a choice to make, right? I'm like, I don't really
wanna be here. But the choice that I have to
make is, do I just sit here and waste the time
that I'm here or do I kind of explore? Do I take
the family around? Do we make the best of the
time that we have with where we're at? So I think
the question that I have for you is this. The
question is, what if God has put you exactly
where he wants you for a reason? Wherever you
find yourself in life, what if God has put you
exactly where he wants you for a reason? When
I was in college, if you guys know my story,
I played baseball growing up and I played baseball
at a junior college in San Diego. And when I
played baseball there, my goal was to play at
the next level, to play at a four -year university.
And I had the opportunity to sign with a four
-year university. And when I did that, I'm like,
man, I arrived, I made it. I've been working
towards this my whole life and I've crossed the
finish line. I've done it. I've made it. And
what I was sorely mistaken on, what I did not
understand is that that's when the real work
started. I didn't cross the finish line. That's
not when it was over. I didn't arrive. That's
when I actually, the real work started. And I
think for some of us, when it comes to our faith
journey, for some of us, when it comes to our
faith journey, we put our faith and trust in
Jesus and we crossed the finish line because
we were now a child of God. And we've made it.
We gotta get into heaven free card. And we've
made it. We've crossed the finish line. And what
you need to realize is you just crossed the starting
line. That's it. When you said yes to Jesus,
when you became a part of his family, you didn't
arrive. You didn't make it. You just began the
journey. You just entered into the mission that
God has given you. This is when the real work
starts. It's not just showing up to church. It's
not just coasting through. It's saying, man,
yes, I'm a follower of Jesus, which means that
I've been put on mission. All right, here we
call it kingdom mission. It's living out kingdom
mission wherever you find yourself. That's what
you've on. That's where when you said yes to
Jesus, yes, Jesus, I want, because of your death
on the cross, I wanna be a part of your family.
And you've been adopted into his family saying,
awesome, you're now on kingdom mission. Kingdom
mission is finding yourself wherever you're at.
It's loving the people around you, man. Would
people around you say that you're loving? All
right, it's serving. Are you serving the people
around you? Are you taking your time and saying,
hey, I wanna serve others with my time, right?
It's giving. We just talk for weeks about the
generous life, your time, your talent, your treasure,
your finances to say, hey, I wanna give these
things because that's what kingdom mission does
is it gives, it's giving, right? It's sharing.
Are you sharing Jesus with the people around
you? Because if you're on kingdom mission, you're
sharing Jesus, right? It's inviting. It's saying,
hey. Would you come check it out? I wanna invite
you to my church. I wanna invite you to check
out what Jesus is doing. That's what kingdom
mission is. And that's the mission that every
single one of us has been called to. If you're
a follower of Jesus, you haven't crossed the
finish line, you crossed the starting line and
it's your job to live on kingdom mission. It's
your job to push the mission forward because
wherever you find yourself is an opportunity
to fulfill the mission. If you're taking notes
today, write this down. Your circle. is often
your assignment. Your circle is often your assignment.
We're gonna be in the Old Testament today and
we're at the time of Xerxes who ruled over 127
provinces. A massive rule for King Xerxes at
this time is he's over 127 provinces. He had
a lot of power. And at this time, the Jewish
people, they're in captivity in Susa. under King
Xerxes. Now, King Xerxes, with all the power
that he has, King Xerxes can do kind of whatever
he wants. And so one day, King Xerxes, he summons
his queen. His queen, I'm gonna summon you. And
the queen goes, no, I'm not going. I don't wanna
come see you. And so this made King Xerxes pretty
upset because he's like, you don't know who I
am. I'm King Xerxes. I'm over 127 provinces.
I said, come, you come. And she's like, nope.
And so he's like, we got a problem, right? So
he got his wise counsel together. Okay, I say
wise counsel because all this dude did is all
he did. He brought his boys together and he was
like, hey, we got a problem. All right, like
I picture it like this. He's in the garage with
a pack of Coors Light, right? And he's like,
hey, come on over. We need to talk. All right,
we need to talk. He got his boys together, right?
He gathered as many idiots as he could to come
up with some great ideas. And why I say that
is this, Esther chapter one, verse 19. It says,
therefore, this is their great advice, ready?
Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue
a royal decree. and let it be written in the
laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed.
No one can take this away. That Vashti, right,
the queen Vashti, is never again to enter the
presence of King Xerxes. Also, all right, I see
him like take another sip, and he's like, also,
let the king give her royal position to someone
else who is better than she. All right, I can
picture him in the garage. He like punctuates
it. He throws the dart at the dartboard, and
he's like, give it to someone else, right? And
the king, obviously, he's sitting there with
his boys. He called all the idiots together and
he's like, I love that idea. That's great, get
rid of her. And then he's like, now I'm kind
of lonely. I don't know what to do now. So you
know what he did? He called the boys back together.
He's like, boys, I need another brilliant idea.
Come get me something. I got another 30 pack,
come on over. All right, so he gets there. And
Esther chapter two, verse two, it says this.
Then the king's personal attendants proposed
this. Let a search be made for beautiful young
virgins for the king. Let the king appoint commissioners
in every province of his realm to bring all these
beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel
of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of
Haggai, the king's eunuch, who's in charge of
the women. And let beauty treatments be given
to them. Then let the young women who pleases
the king be the queen instead of Vashti. And
you know what the king did? He's like, brilliant
idea. I love that. All the beautiful women of
the town, that's amazing. Of the whole province,
everywhere we find them. He says, this advice
appealed to the king and he followed it. No,
duh, he followed it. Did you hear the advice
of the boys? They were like, hey, go find all
the pretty ladies, every one of them, and then
you can pick the one you want. He's like, great
idea. Of course he followed it. He's like, that's
brilliant. So at this time, there's this guy,
his name is Mordecai. And Mordecai, he adopted
this lady named Esther. And Esther became his
daughter. And Esther became one of the people
that was in this beauty contest, right? She was
a very attractive young woman and she became
a part of what they were doing. And so King Xerxes
was like, okay, this is a part of the lineup
of people I see. And this is what we see in Esther
chapter two, verse 17. Now the king was attracted
to Esther more than to any of the other women.
And she won his favor and approval more than
any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown
on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
She wins the beauty contest. And Esther goes
from just being Mordecai's daughter, just a Jewish
person living in this community, remember living
in captivity, to all of a sudden being the queen.
And so during this time, then Mordecai, I heard
dad, Mordecai gets into some trouble, right?
But not some bad trouble, some good trouble.
I mean, the consequences are bad because he was
gonna get killed. But the reason he got into
trouble is because he wouldn't bow down to the
second in command, whose name was Haman. Haman,
who's the second in command, goes, hey, you gotta
bow down to me. And Mordecai's like, hey, I'm
not gonna do that because I worship God, I don't
worship you. And so the second in command guy,
he gets a little upset. He gets a little upset
because he didn't do what he asked him to do.
And so he goes to the king and he goes, Xerxes,
we got a problem because this dude over here,
Mort, right? Mort didn't bow down. And he's like,
so I wanna kill Mort, but not just Mort, I wanna
kill all of his people too. The Jewish people,
aka God's chosen people. All right, so now we
got a problem. And so Mort is going, okay, we
got a big problem here. Not only do they wanna
kill me, but they wanna kill all my people and
we gotta do something about it. And then he remembers
what Esther's position is. So he goes to Esther.
He goes to Esther and he tells her all about
the problem and he's going, hey, the second in
command wants to come kill me and I don't know
what to do because now he's gonna kill all of
God's people and we gotta do something about
this. And she goes, hey, hold up. Dude, what
am I supposed to do about it? Do you remember
the last queen who just didn't come when she
was called and all of a sudden she was gone?
Like, how am I supposed to stop this big deal?
And so Mort gives her a pep talk. He's like,
okay, yeah, this isn't gonna work. Let me give
you a pep talk then. Okay, and this is what he
says. In Esther chapter four, verse 12. When
Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he
sent back this answer. He said, do not think
that because you are in the king's house, you
alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you
remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance
for the Jews will arise from another place, but
you and your father's family will perish. He
says this, and who knows, but that you have come
to your royal position for such a time as this.
For such a time as this. Man, that's important.
I want you to remember that. For such a time
as this. And so Esther, she goes to the king.
She goes to King Xerxes and she tries to set
up this banquet with him and the second in command,
right? This Haman guy, this guy who's a mess.
I know there's a lot of details that go on in
this story that I would love for you to read.
You can go to Esther and you can read more about
it, but I got like 15 minutes to unpack the entire
book of Esther. So you can read the details for
yourself. There's some more things there. But
she goes and she asked for this banquet to happen.
And so this banquet happens with them. And when
Esther is there, she asked for her people to
be spared. She says, this is the decree that
went out. This is what Haman tricked Xerxes into
to send out to kill all these people. And she
goes, can this be repealed? Can this be taken
away? And so he takes away that. He spared her
people. And then the second in command, Haman,
the bad guy, he got what was coming to him. Again,
there's a lot of details there that you need
to go read, but he got what was coming to him.
He got what was coming to him instead. And this
is what it says in Esther 8, verse 11. The king's
edict granted the Jews in every city the right
to assemble and to protect themselves, to destroy,
kill, and annihilate the armed men of any nationality
or province who might attack them and their women
and children, and to plunder the property of
their enemies. He's going, hey, you can defend
yourself. If these attacks come against you,
you can defend yourself. He's saying, you don't
have to just roll over and take it. You don't
just have to be killed. He issues this decree,
but that's not all. Haman, the bad guy, he takes
his position away and then he gives it to Mordecai
instead, right? This is what it says in Esther
8, verse 15. When Mordecai left the king's presence,
he was wearing royal garments of blue and white,
a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine
linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.
For the Jews, it was a time of happiness and
joy, gladness and honor. See, Esther, Esther
found herself in a place. Esther found herself
in a position. Esther found herself around people
where she had a choice to make. Do I just float
through or do I use where God has put me for
his purpose? And Esther in that moment realized,
man, the place that I am. The position that I
hold, the people that I'm around. You guys have
places where you're at, right? Your job is a
place where you find yourself. You find yourself
in this place. That's your job. That's where
you find yourself. Some of you, you find yourself
at a school. Your school is where you find yourself,
right? Your neighborhood is where you find yourself.
It's the place you're at. Some of you parents,
you find yourself at school pickup and it's not
where you wanna be. Like this place is terrible,
but that's where you're at. You have positions
that you hold. Some of you, when it comes to
your employment, you have positions that you
hold within your job. Some of you, you hold positions
like you're the HOA president, right? If that's
you, you need to chill out. I'm just telling
you right now. If that's you, you need to chill
the heck out, especially if you live in my neighborhood.
Just chill out, all right? I mean, some of you
hold positions and maybe you're a coach. I don't
know what position you hold, but you hold a position
and God has put you there for a reason, right?
You are around people. There are people that
you rub shoulders with, whether it's just the
other parents on the soccer team, whether it's
the people that you work with. Your neighbors,
wherever you find yourself, you are in a place
and I need you to know that you are there for
a reason. Just like Esther said, man, where I'm
at, where God has placed me is exactly where
God wants me. And you know why? Because you are
the only one that can do that mission. The place
that you've been put, that's your mission and
only you can live that mission. When I was younger,
I worked for an excavation company and when I
was working for them, there was different positions
and I was a laborer, which meant that I held
a shovel while everyone else got to do cool things
in giant machines and got to do cool things in
the great equipment because they were certified,
because they went through the training. And I
would be there with my shovel and I would look
at their cool machinery and I would be like,
man, just walking close to it and my foreman
would come over and he's like, uh -uh, I don't
think so, buddy. You pick your shovel up and
get back over there, right? I'm like, but I just
wanna be there. I just wanna do that. And he's
like, no, that's not your job, man. This is your
job. See, I think some of you, when it comes
to you living on kingdom mission, you look at
other people's positions and you go, but if I
was in their position, I could really make a
difference. But if I lived their life, then something
could actually happen. And listen, you need to
understand that God has put you where he's put
you for a reason. That's your job and no one
else can live it. What I mean is this, I can't
walk into your work or your job and start sharing
Jesus with your coworkers. You know why? That's
weird. They'd be like, listen, get that bald
guy out of here. That's weird. What's he doing?
But you can do that. Just like you guys can't
go hang out with the whole Embry -Riddle baseball
team, but I can because I coach there and that's
my job. That's not yours, that's mine. Just like
your mission is not my mission. God has put you
on a mission and he's put you around people and
he's given you a position and he's put you in
a place for a reason. And here's the thing, you
might not even like where you're at. You're like,
I don't even know how I ended up here. I don't
wanna be where I am. You might not even like
where you're at, but I know why you're there
for such a time as this. You know, we live in
a time and a generation where people are coming
to Jesus more. than we've seen in hundreds of
years, where people are open to the gospel. Where
people are coming, and this is all across the
country, where people are interested in it. We're
seeing people influential on social media, on
TikTok, on Instagram, that were living a very
public, sinful life that are now going to Jesus,
that are now opening their Bible, that are reading
to their millions of followers and saying, hey,
I think Jesus is the answer. It's not the parties,
it's not the sexuality, it's not the things that
I've been chasing, but Jesus is the answer, and
that's the time that we're living in. You've
been put where you're at for such a time as this.
That's why you're here. That's why you exist
is for the kingdom mission that God has put you
on and your circle is yours. It's only yours,
which makes what you do in your circle, which
makes what you do with your opportunity so important
because it's only yours. If you're taking notes,
write this down. God often uses natural relationships
to create spiritual impact. God often uses natural
relationships to create spiritual impact. We
like to think of people that are in the position
they're at like they've always been there. We
don't remember their past, right? We think of
athletes and we're like, you've just always been
at a professional level. And there was a process
before that. We think of that when it comes to
Christians, pastors on stage, or even famous
Christians. The most famous Christian probably
of our generation is Billy Graham. Billy Graham
would pack out stadiums and he would preach the
gospel and hundreds of thousands of people came
to Jesus because of Billy Graham. Billy Graham
wasn't always a Christian. He was a farm boy.
And one of the farm hands on his farm invited
him to church, and that's where he met Jesus.
C .S. Lewis, one of the greatest minds of our
generation or of any generation when it comes
to Christian thought, C .S. Lewis wanted nothing
to do with Christianity, wanted nothing to do
with God, but he had friends that were persistent
with him. In fact, his quote that C .S. Lewis
says, He says that I was the most reluctant convert
in England. He's like, you can't get me. But
he had a bunch of friends that were persistent,
that wouldn't give up. And he met Jesus. There's
a guy named Craig Groeschel and Craig Groeschel
was a college athlete and a frat guy. And he
was friends with a sorority girl and the sorority
girl invited him to church and he met Jesus.
And now currently, right now, as we speak, he's
a pastor of one of the largest churches in the
world. Because their friends decided that their
circle, that their natural relationships could
have spiritual impact. They said, hey, I'm just
gonna invite you. I'm just gonna have you come
check it out. I mean, I love this when Jesus
is walking around and he's calling his disciples.
He's calling his disciples and he's like, hey,
come follow me. Hey, come follow me. And he meets
this guy named Andrew and Andrew starts following
Jesus. He starts hearing about Jesus. He starts
staying with Jesus. And then immediately, this
is what it says he does. In John chapter one.
Verse 40 says, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother,
was one of the two who heard what John had said
and who had followed Jesus. And then it says
the first thing Andrew did, the first thing Andrew
did, he didn't go to church and go, I'm just
gonna sit here. I gotta make sure I know everything
first. I'm just gonna wait. I just gotta check
it off my list and go to church every Sunday
for the rest of my life. No, no, no, what do
you do? What do you do? What do you do? First
thing he did was he was to find his brother Simon
and tell him we have found the Messiah that is
the Christ. We found him. I love that. And then
what does he say? And he brought him to Jesus.
He's like, hey, we found him. I'm gonna tell
you about this and then I wanna bring you to
see him. I wanna invite you to come check him
out. This is what he does. And what he does that
I think is so beautiful is Andrew's ministry.
He meets Jesus and then immediately he starts
in ministry, right? Because when you meet Jesus
and you're put on kingdom mission, and when he
was on kingdom mission, what did he do? He didn't
start with strangers. We have this weird picture
of evangelism. We gotta go to a street corner,
right? We gotta get our box. We gotta set our
box up and we gotta get on our box and make sure
our sign tells everyone they're going to hell
and we gotta get a bullhorn and we gotta yell
at everyone, right? Because that's evangelism.
And that's a picture we have in our head. All
right, sometimes we think it's a program. We
go, no, listen, you need to do evangelism. How
come this church doesn't do evangelism? We need
to go out onto the Prescott Square every Friday
night. We need to go have random conversations
with people because that's evangelism. No, it's
not. No, it's not. Yeah, that's telling people
about Jesus, but you need to understand that's
not what evangelism is. If it starts with the
natural relationships that you have, what did
Andrew do? He went straight to his brother. The
natural relationships you have can have spiritual
impact. Who has God placed next to you? It's
important, and here's why, because 75 to 90 %
of Christians say that they came to faith because
of a friend or family member. That's almost all
of them. That's almost all of you in this room.
Think about it. You came to faith because of
a friend or family member. That's why you're
where you're at right now. The statistics are
in our favor. This is crazy. 80 % of non -churchgoers
say that they would go to church if someone that
they knew invited them. We're afraid to invite
because we're like, what if they say no? But
the statistics say that eight out of 10 of them
are just waiting for you to invite them. Eight
out of 10 of them are going, man, if someone
that I know invites me, yeah, I'll go. But here's
the sad part. Church, this is not okay. Is that
most Christians don't know anyone who's not a
Christian. Our statistics say that 27%, that's
one out of four of us, one out of four of us,
say they don't know a non -believer at all. And
the statistic goes even further than that and
says 80 % of Christians say that they don't have
a close relationship with non -Christians. They
don't have a close relationship with non -Christians.
We insulate ourself, we isolate ourself, we go,
okay, the world is so bad, I gotta insulate,
I gotta isolate, I gotta move away from, and
then we don't know anybody that we can shine
our light to because there's nobody around us.
He said, you are a light. Don't hide your light.
Go shine your light. Go tell people about Jesus.
But if you don't know anyone who doesn't know
Jesus, you can't tell them about Jesus. Listen,
I'm not telling you to get in with the wrong
crowd. I'm not telling you to be influenced by
them. I'm not telling you to be dragged down
by them, but I'm telling you this. If you don't
know anyone who's not a follower of Jesus, you're
not living on the kingdom mission that God has
put you on. I'm gonna say something that's gonna
make some of you pretty mad. If that's you and
you don't know anyone that's not a follower of
Jesus, You're living in sin. I know that upsets
some of you, but here's the truth. Sin is disobeying
what God has said. And when God has said, go
and make disciples, when God has said, hey, listen,
I want you to be a light, when he said, hey,
use your natural relationships to make spiritual
impact, he's saying the people in your circle,
the people around you are people that you can
go and use your influence with because your influence
is strongest with those who know you, with those
you know. That's where your influence is the
strongest with those that you know. And for some
of you, just that sentence freaks you out because
you're like, uh -oh, if they know who I am, they're
not gonna wanna come to church. Then you probably
need to change the way you live. If you invite
someone and they go, oh man, if you're a Christian,
then I don't wanna be a Christian, then you probably
need to change the way you live. Because the
truth is, is that your influence is strongest
with those who know you. So are you living in
a way that those who know you want what you have?
Are you living in a way where they see your light
and go, man, I need some of that light? Okay,
Todd, I get it. We're supposed to invite people,
but why does it matter so much? Why does it matter
so much? Here's why. Because we have good news.
Not just good news. We have the greatest news
the world has ever heard because these angels
showed up. And these angels announced that this
baby was born and it was a party and it was incredible,
but that baby did not stay a baby. That baby
grew into a man who never sinned, who did what
you and I could never do. We mess up daily. We
mess up hourly. Some of you have sinned 10 times
just sitting here right now. Jesus never sinned,
but Jesus willingly went to a cross for you.
And he said, I know you can't do it on your own
because of your sin, but because I've never sinned,
I will go on a cross for you. And he stood in
my place and he stood in your place. And Jesus
died on a cross for your sin. And that is good
news. But just dying on a cross, there was a
lot of people that died on a cross. Jesus didn't
stay dead. Jesus rose from the dead. And when
he rose from the dead, he conquered sin, he conquered
death, and he made a way for you to have a relationship
with God forever. And that is good news. That's
why this matters. That's why where you have been
placed matters. That's why your circle matters.
That's why wherever you find yourself is so important
because we have good news that we wanna share
to the world that desperately needs it. And church,
you have been placed wherever you have been placed
for such a time as this. So who's in your circle?
Who's in your circle? As you leave today, you're
gonna be given this. It looks like a Barbie newspaper,
right? My kids are gonna play Barbies with it
later. It says Heights Church News. It says good
news. And then there's lines here. What these
lines are, are for you to write names of people
that are in your circle that God is bringing
to your heart, bringing to your mind, that is
your mission to bring with you to Christmas.
This is your ticket out. You can't leave today
until you get one of these. They're gonna be
at the doors. You're gonna get it on your way
out and you can't leave until you get one. And
I want you to take time to think through who
is God putting on your heart? Who is God placed
in front of you? Because of the place that you're
at, because of the position you hold, because
of the people you're with, who has God put on
your heart that you're saying, I'm gonna write
their name down. I'm gonna pray for these people.
I'm gonna invite these people. I want you to
write their names down. I want you to keep it
in front of you. I want you to put it in a visible
place in your house, in your car, where you see
it, where you are reminded that this is your
mission and God has put you where he wants you
for a reason. For such a time as this. Let's
pray. God, thank you so much. God, that you choose
to use us. God, you don't need us, but you choose
to use us, God. God, thank you that you sent
your son, that we celebrate the good news of
your son coming this Christmas, but God, there's
so much more than that. It's that you sent him
to save the world. Lord, we thank you. We praise
you for that. God, we are so grateful for salvation.
We're grateful that you allow us to be a part
of your story. God, I pray that you would give
us courage, that you, through your spirit right
now, would lay names on our minds, God, that
you would lay the people on our hearts that you
want us to reach out to, that you want us to
participate in mission with. God, that you would
give us boldness to live on kingdom mission.
We praise you, Jesus. We are so grateful for
everything that you've given us, everything that
you've blessed us with. God, I pray that we would
be generous with it. We love you, Jesus. We pray
this in your name. Amen.