WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.919 Thank you very much, and that is a great reading, and it's a real privilege to share with you 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:14.460 ! as you're going through the book of Ephesians together, a great book. In that particular passage 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:22.199 ! there's so much, but I want to highlight three key themes in it, the themes of grace and mystery 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:29.900 and power. I just want to stop and invite you to pray with me. Let me tell you what I'm going to 00:00:29.899 --> 00:00:33.939 pray in my prayer. Sometimes it's awkward when people start praying, you're not sure if you want 00:00:33.939 --> 00:00:38.140 to be in on it or not. So let me tell you what I'm going to pray on my prayer. I'm going to pray, 00:00:38.259 --> 00:00:42.039 first of all, that I'll preach well. You'll probably want to be in on that one, won't you? 00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:49.859 Secondly, I want to pray, God speak to me, and I'll leave a pause and just invite you all, 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:55.579 just silently in your mind, whether or not you're a Christian, you're not a Christian, whether you feel 00:00:55.579 --> 00:01:00.420 that God is so close to you, far away from you, whether you're not even sure whether God exists, 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:07.700 whatever. Just invite you to pray, God, if you really are there, will you speak to me this morning? 00:01:08.439 --> 00:01:16.659 Let's just pray. Father God, please help me to teach your word faithfully and accurately. 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:22.259 God, speak to me. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:38.359 God promises that he will speak through his word faithfully taught. And it's a great mistake not 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:44.799 to read the Bible, not to listen to the Bible, not to do what it says. And many people are like that 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:49.700 because they think that somehow the Bible is going to limit them. And, oh, I don't want to be, 00:01:50.019 --> 00:01:56.179 you know, I want to be free to do my own thing. But if it's the maker's instructions, 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:03.560 then actually we're set free by following it. And it'd be a great mistake not to follow the maker's 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:10.379 instructions. Let me give you an illustration. When I was a student, I bought my first car. I paid 75 00:02:10.379 --> 00:02:16.000 pounds for it. I was really pleased with it. It cost me more now to fill up the tank on my current car. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:21.719 And I'm a bit embarrassed telling you about it because it was a Reliant three-wheeler. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:30.359 Not so much a car, more of an airfix kit, really. It was in the time in the 1970s when crumple zones 00:02:30.359 --> 00:02:34.699 were coming in. Do you remember? You know, this will crumple if you're in an accident. A Reliant 00:02:34.699 --> 00:02:40.599 car made of fiberglass basically was a crumple zone. If you got hit by something, you'd just be 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:47.119 left on the seat. And worse still, it was bright purple because this was my hippie era. Carol and I 00:02:47.119 --> 00:02:54.439 were hippies in the 1970s with long hair and love beads and psychedelic t-shirts. Yeah, frightening, 00:02:54.579 --> 00:03:00.280 isn't it? You may wonder if there was a time when hippies roamed the earth. There was. There was also 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.219 a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth. And the way to tell the difference is that dinosaurs were 00:03:05.219 --> 00:03:12.240 marginally more intelligent. Anyway, I was this hippie in the 1970s with my bright red car, bright 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:17.960 purple car that I bought for 75 pounds. It was always going wrong. And I remember one time I was trying 00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:22.379 to fix it. The more and more trying to fix it, I just couldn't do it. And a friend of mine says, 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:27.639 you need to get the workshop manual. I said, what's the workshop manual? He said, it's the maker's 00:03:27.639 --> 00:03:32.299 instructions. I said, I don't need the maker's instructions. I don't need a workshop manual. 00:03:32.559 --> 00:03:40.179 I can figure it out on my own. My teenage arrogance. I can figure it out on my own. More I tried to fix 00:03:40.179 --> 00:03:48.459 it, the worse it got. Inevitably, eventually, I swallowed my pride, got the workshop manual, 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:56.099 and I was able to fix the car. And I was set free to enjoy it. Freedom comes from following 00:03:56.099 --> 00:04:02.219 the maker's instructions. But I remember working on the car, looking at the instructions and thinking, 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:08.620 what I really need, though, is Mr. Reliant, the manufacturer himself, to come and stand alongside 00:04:08.620 --> 00:04:16.300 me and put his hands on my hands and show me how to do it. That's what the Bible is. It's not just 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:23.139 God's maker's instructions. God promises his presence. The Bible is the only book in the world 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:30.159 where the author promises to be with you when you read it. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? 00:04:30.539 --> 00:04:37.000 So let's explore that passage and expect God to speak to us through those three themes, grace, 00:04:37.579 --> 00:04:44.500 mystery, and power. We start with grace. If we pick it up in verse 2, surely you've heard about the 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:53.980 administration of God's grace that was given to me for you. Grace. What is grace? Sometimes people get, 00:04:54.100 --> 00:04:58.660 you know, sidetracked. Oh, that's that funny prayer that some people pray before a meal. 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:04.980 I heard a story of a family who'd invited some very important people over for dinner, 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:12.740 and they wanted to show off. So just as everyone had sat down, the important people and parents and 00:05:12.740 --> 00:05:18.540 their young son, they said to the young son, will you say grace? And the little boy said, well, what do 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:25.640 I pray? And mummy said, well, pray the same prayer you heard daddy pray this morning. So he said, 00:05:26.080 --> 00:05:29.600 oh God, do we have to have those boring people for dinner? 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:37.520 That isn't what grace means here. It's not the prayer we pray before dinner. Grace literally means 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:47.320 God's undeserved favor, God's forgiveness of our sins, new life in a relationship with God, 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:55.320 because Jesus died for us, taking the death penalty that we deserve, to enable us to be forgiven, 00:05:55.319 --> 00:06:04.459 an undeserved favor. We don't deserve it. We can never deserve forgiveness. Sometimes we hear people 00:06:04.459 --> 00:06:11.560 say, oh, that person, terrible person, he doesn't deserve forgiveness. Well, of course not. No one 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:19.360 can deserve forgiveness. That's the whole point of it. But God wants to forgive us because of his grace, 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:25.279 undeserved favor for us that Paul says was given to me to share with you. 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:31.959 The church here in Ephesus. Why does he want to forgive us? Because he loves us and he wants to 00:06:31.959 --> 00:06:40.699 restore us into that relationship with him. That's why Jesus died. His love for us is unconditional. 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:47.980 If you remember nothing else from this service this morning, remember this, God loves you. 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:56.560 God really, really loves you. And that's an unconditional love. He doesn't love you because 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:04.280 you're beautiful. Many of you are. He doesn't love you because you're good. Some of you might be. 00:07:04.740 --> 00:07:10.800 He loves you because he loves you because he loves you. Nothing you could do would ever make him love you 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:18.240 less. And nothing you could do would ever make him love you more. He calls us through his grace, 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:25.660 this undeserved favor, this unconditional love, this forgiveness through the death of Jesus into his 00:07:25.660 --> 00:07:35.019 family to be members of his body. Jump down to verse 6. Verse 6, this mystery of the gospel that we are 00:07:35.019 --> 00:07:43.919 called into one body and share us together in the promise of Christ Jesus. Through his undeserved favor, 00:07:44.039 --> 00:07:51.819 this grace, this forgiveness, we're called into one body, one family. We're invited to belong 00:07:51.819 --> 00:08:00.920 in God's family, not just fit in. There is a difference between belonging and fitting in. 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:10.620 You know, to fit in, I have to be like you. To belong, I can be like me and loved and accepted. 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:15.719 And it's interesting if you look, as with all passages of Scripture, you've got to take in the 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:22.840 whole kind of thrust of the whole word, you look in the life and teaching of Jesus, you see that he 00:08:22.840 --> 00:08:30.840 called the disciples to belong. He invited them to follow him. First of all, it began with belonging. 00:08:31.640 --> 00:08:37.240 Gradually then, they came to believe. If you read Mark's gospel, particularly, you'll see in the 00:08:37.240 --> 00:08:44.940 middle part of it, it's halfway through, often called, subtitled, or headed, Peter's confession of 00:08:44.940 --> 00:08:50.600 Christ. By the way, the headings in the Bible are not original. They weren't there in the original. 00:08:51.760 --> 00:08:58.500 So, but it's where Jesus says, who do people say I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ. 00:08:59.100 --> 00:09:04.240 In Matthew's account of it, Peter says, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 00:09:05.140 --> 00:09:10.200 At that point, he's come to believe. He's come to understand. He's been with Jesus for quite a while 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:16.140 already. So, he's already been belonging, and now he's gradually believing. But does he then behave? 00:09:16.920 --> 00:09:22.180 No. See, the rest of the story of Peter, and actually, even just at that point, if you read it 00:09:22.180 --> 00:09:27.200 there in the middle of Mark's gospel and Matthew, you find that Jesus then teaches that he's going to 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:33.060 suffer and die. Why? For our forgiveness of our sins. And Peter rebukes him and says, no, 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:41.799 don't go and do that. So, first of all, he invites his disciples to belong. Gradually, they believe, 00:09:42.219 --> 00:09:50.899 and gradually, eventually, they behave. And that's what God's undeserved favor is. He calls us into 00:09:50.899 --> 00:09:58.359 his family, offers us that free forgiveness, invites us to belong, gradually believe, and eventually 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:03.720 behave. And unfortunately, some churches turn it around another way. When Carol and I first came 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:08.200 to faith, we did spend a while in a particular church that seemed to have everything around the 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:12.879 other way. They expected you to behave, first of all. There are all these things you had to do, 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:19.539 well, mainly things you had to not do, like not go to the cinema and not teach, not watch TV. And we 00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:27.080 were young teenagers, you know, so don't go out in groups of less than 600, you know, and don't get 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:35.940 closer than six inches to another person. So, we were expected to behave, and then we were expected 00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:40.879 to have a whole list of things to believe. Here's a checklist. You believe this, believe this. Eventually, 00:10:41.280 --> 00:10:45.639 if you behaved okay and believed all the right things, you might be allowed to feel that you 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:52.400 belong. But that's not the way of Jesus. You see in Jesus his undeserved grace, undeserved favor, 00:10:52.399 --> 00:11:01.740 that actually he invites people to belong, gradually believe, and ultimately changes in our behavior. 00:11:02.939 --> 00:11:07.860 Let's stop for just a moment of reflection. Just think, just silently in your own mind. 00:11:08.860 --> 00:11:16.340 Do you feel that you belong, or you feel under pressure to fit in? Jesus invites you to belong 00:11:16.340 --> 00:11:18.259 to his family. 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:35.960 The second theme about mystery, we pick it up in verses 3 to 6. In fact, in verses 3 to 6, 00:11:36.040 --> 00:11:42.580 it's used three times. The mystery made known to me, the mystery of Christ. This is the mystery. 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:50.780 Paul refers to a mystery made known to us, revealed so that we can come into a relationship with God 00:11:50.780 --> 00:11:59.000 through Jesus. Inevitably, there are mysteries for us in Christian faith. Of course there are. I mean, 00:11:59.560 --> 00:12:07.300 we are called into a relationship with the infinite, eternal creator God, and we, with our puny little 00:12:07.299 --> 00:12:15.019 minds, are never going to understand everything about God. Our limited human brains could never 00:12:15.019 --> 00:12:22.439 fully comprehend it. But we can know everything that we need to know in order to come into a 00:12:22.439 --> 00:12:27.879 relationship with him. We may not know all the answers to the questions that we want to know. 00:12:28.259 --> 00:12:33.179 And I meet people quite often who say, I can't become a Christian until I've got the answers to 00:12:33.179 --> 00:12:39.679 these questions. Well, I'm afraid you might be setting yourself too high a target there, because 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:46.179 there are great mysteries, and we have to live with those mysteries. But God shows us enough so that we 00:12:46.179 --> 00:12:54.539 can respond to him and know about him and come into a relationship with him. Russ was talking earlier 00:12:54.539 --> 00:13:00.259 about the open question times I used to do when I was doing these missions in universities and 00:13:00.259 --> 00:13:05.720 colleges. And it's lovely actually talking with Russ about Westminster, because it's all come back to 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:11.179 me. I can remember, it's hard. I did 65 university and college missions, and then needed half an hour 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:18.080 to lie down in a darkened room, I can tell you. But so much of them were all open debate, question, 00:13:18.340 --> 00:13:23.299 dialogue. And I remember one particular, I don't remember which university it was in, but I remember 00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:28.759 there were just this group of people who were asking me these really obscure philosophical questions. 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:34.379 And I had to say, well, that's a very deep question. I can tell you a little bit, but I've got to really 00:13:34.379 --> 00:13:39.360 say, you know, there's a lot of that that I don't know. Next question. Yeah, I can tell you a little 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:44.879 bit, but, you know, I've got to say, I don't know. And then one smart aleck said, you don't seem to know 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:50.980 much, do you? They all thought that was very funny. But that's the reality of life, isn't it? Albert Einstein 00:13:50.980 --> 00:13:57.179 famously said, the more you know, the more you realise you don't know. There are great mysteries. 00:13:57.179 --> 00:14:02.120 And it's hard for young people particularly to accept that, that there are things, you know, 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:06.339 they want to know, or they think they know everything. I saw a car bumper sticker that said, 00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:14.679 employ a teenager, employ a teenager while he still knows everything. But we have to learn that actually 00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:19.559 there are things that we don't know. There are mysteries, and we have to wrestle with those 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:25.539 mysteries. And I, looking back on that particular open question time there in that university, 00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:32.740 I think actually, that me saying I don't know was kind of like a turning point, as it turned from 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:40.699 hostility to more kind of genuine engagement. And I remember in that, I vividly remember one student 00:14:40.699 --> 00:14:45.959 saying, this isn't how I thought it was going to be. He said, I thought there would be like a wall, 00:14:46.439 --> 00:14:50.819 and you'd be one side of the wall, and we'd be the other side of the wall, and we'd be lobbing bombs at 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:55.379 each other. But he said, it's not like that. It's like you've kind of come around the wall, 00:14:55.740 --> 00:15:03.420 and you're on our side, helping us to climb over. That was wonderful to hear. That actually, 00:15:03.540 --> 00:15:07.940 we recognize there are mysteries. One of my favorite verses in the Bible, it's from the book of 00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:16.780 Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 29, 29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:23.740 belong to us and our children forever. That we may follow all the words of this law. There are secret 00:15:23.740 --> 00:15:29.480 things. There are mysteries. There are things that we don't understand. But God has revealed that which 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:36.299 we need to understand, so that we can come into a relationship with him. I'm certain that God is 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:42.339 there. I'm certain that God loves us. I'm certain that Jesus came to die for us, so that we can be 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:48.160 forgiven. I'm certain that if I receive his forgiveness, turn towards him, then I will have 00:15:48.160 --> 00:15:55.519 eternal life living with him. Around each of those, there are great mysteries, all sorts of things. 00:15:55.940 --> 00:16:02.460 How do we explain the atonement? What exactly happened on the cross? How do we understand exactly 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:10.080 how the eternal God created this finite world? So many questions that we don't know. But if we're 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:17.480 honest with people about the uncertainties, then actually they might be more willing to look and 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:23.600 explore actually the things that we can know and come into a relationship with God through. 00:16:24.100 --> 00:16:29.960 I was on a train a while ago and a guy sat opposite me. He kept looking at me and then he said, 00:16:30.540 --> 00:16:35.480 you're Nick Pollard, aren't you? And I said, yeah. And he said, you came to my university 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:42.500 back in whenever it was. I said, yeah. And he said, you had all these questions and debates and stuff. 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:48.340 And it really got me thinking. And you gave out Mark's gospel and I took away Mark's gospel. And 00:16:48.340 --> 00:16:54.840 I thought and I thought and I read and thought. And he said, you know, some weeks after that, 00:16:55.060 --> 00:17:01.920 I came to faith. That's marvelous. And then we got to a stop. And just as he stood up, 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:06.000 he stood up to get off and he put his hand on my shoulder and he said, by the way, by the way, 00:17:06.099 --> 00:17:12.960 now I'm a Baptist minister. So, which was marvelous. So it's, but it's through recognizing 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:19.839 the mysteries, the uncertainties. So let's just again reflect together. Just close your eyes and 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:25.980 reflect for a minute. How do you handle the mysteries, the uncertainties, the things you don't 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:33.579 know, the things that you're, if only I understood that. Are you trying to get all the answers before 00:17:33.579 --> 00:17:40.920 you will fully trust in Jesus? Or are you prepared to say, Lord, you've shown me all that I need 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:48.700 to know in order to come to know you. I respond like a child responds to their father, full of 00:17:48.700 --> 00:18:05.480 questions. Why, why, why? But trusting the father. Finally, the third theme, God's power at work in us. 00:18:05.539 --> 00:18:12.059 It was the last two verses that was read. Now to him who is able to do, this is verses 20 and 21. 00:18:12.059 --> 00:18:19.819 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power 00:18:19.819 --> 00:18:28.220 that is at work in us. Not only did Jesus come to enable us to be forgiven, but also to enable us to 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:38.039 live a radically transformed life through his power. We don't have to do it on our own. One of my favorite 00:18:38.039 --> 00:18:45.319 books in the New Testament is a book of Colossians, and Colossians 2 verse 6 says, just as you received 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:53.940 Christ as Lord, so continue to live in him. Just as you received Christ as Lord, so continue to live 00:18:53.940 --> 00:19:01.559 in him. How do we receive Christ as Lord? By faith. We can't do anything. We don't deserve it. It's 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:08.940 undeserved grace. Undeserved favor. We receive by faith. Then it's, then Paul says to the church 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:17.240 and Colossae, then continue to live in the same way. Live by faith. Trusting God. The danger is 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:23.940 we kind of come to Jesus through faith, but then feel we have to live through works. You know, that 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:30.240 there's all these things I've got to do, and these rules I need to follow, but that's not what a 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:38.519 relationship is. Carol, you've got to meet my lovely wife. That's lovely. We're coming up to our 48th 00:19:38.519 --> 00:19:45.660 wedding anniversary shortly, and it was over 50 years ago that I asked this 17-year-old girl 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:50.779 to marry me. Sorry, I've given away the figures. People can do the maths and work it out. But anyway, 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:58.160 when I asked this little 17-year-old girl to marry me, she said yes, and I'm eternally grateful. I 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:03.140 couldn't have done anything in my life without my wonderful wife. But imagine she'd said yes, 00:20:03.240 --> 00:20:10.720 I'll marry you, but here's the rules. Here's my rules. You are to cook half the meals every week. 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:18.740 You are to tell me you love me every day, and I want to kiss every hour on the hour. Right? Can you 00:20:18.740 --> 00:20:27.700 imagine that? What kind of a relationship would that be? But the fact is, I do those things because I love 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:33.759 her. It's not because there's a set of rules to follow. You know, because I love her, I want to 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:40.960 cook. I enjoy cooking nice food for Carol. Because I love her, I want to tell her I love her. I'm always 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:50.019 telling her I love her. Because I love her, I want to kiss her. Sorry. Yes. When I'm talking to young 00:20:50.019 --> 00:20:57.240 people about, and I talk about kissing, they go, but we're all, you know, many of them are the same 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:04.519 generation. Kisses are wonderful. Feel like heaven. Tastes like honey. And sounds like a boot coming out 00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:10.779 of a cowpat. Anyway, so, but that's because I love her. I love her, so I want to do those things. 00:21:10.779 --> 00:21:20.019 Relationships are not built on rules, but on love. Love then empowers us to live a different life. 00:21:20.259 --> 00:21:30.720 As Paul says there, according to his power that is at work in us. We receive his undeserved favor. 00:21:30.859 --> 00:21:36.660 We receive his forgiveness. We set aside those mysteries that we can't understand, and we accept 00:21:36.660 --> 00:21:42.420 the love that we can understand, we wrestle with the mysteries, and then because we've received his 00:21:42.420 --> 00:21:50.680 forgiveness, we go on to live just as we received, so continue to live, knowing, experiencing God's power 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:59.660 in us to transform our lives. We're in a time of Lent and approaching Easter, and it is a good time for 00:21:59.660 --> 00:22:09.220 all of us to reflect on how God's power is working in us. You know, how are we being empowered to live 00:22:09.220 --> 00:22:15.940 for Jesus in this world? Not because there's a set of rules to follow, but because we love Jesus, 00:22:16.560 --> 00:22:26.340 and because we love Jesus, we love other people and want to see lives transformed. Perhaps it's a time to 00:22:26.339 --> 00:22:33.779 reflect on that and think about what is the Jesus who called us to belong to him. How does he call us 00:22:33.779 --> 00:22:43.519 to invite other people to belong? Throughout Jesus' life, he stood up to the powerful. He stood up for 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:50.559 the powerless. He welcomed the outcast. He reached out to the lepers. Throughout his life and ministry, 00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:57.799 Jesus welcomed and welcomed and included everyone. And that's what he calls us to do through his power 00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:03.279 at work in us. Not because there's a set of rules that tells us to do it, but because we love him, 00:23:03.779 --> 00:23:12.740 therefore we love other people, he empowers us to work to see justice and equity in this world. 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:19.819 A world in which all people can thrive physically, emotionally, spiritually, where people are not written 00:23:19.819 --> 00:23:26.279 off because of who they are or what they've done, where the door is always open for reconciliation, 00:23:26.980 --> 00:23:35.339 for redemption and restitution. To live in God's world, in God's way, because of God's love, 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:45.259 through his power living in us. For the final time, let's just close our eyes and reflect for a minute. 00:23:45.259 --> 00:23:52.640 What practically is happening in your life because you're forgiven, you're empowered, 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:59.779 you're given the love of God to welcome others. Just think through your day tomorrow, 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:03.779 just quietly in your mind, just think about your day coming up tomorrow, what are you doing? 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:12.140 Think, who might you come across tomorrow who may feel rejected or powerless? 00:24:12.140 --> 00:24:25.440 What could you do practically to help them feel included and empowered? 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:39.360 How might your living through tomorrow be different? Because you're forgiven, because you're transformed, 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:47.259 because you are empowered by God's power to welcome and include and value everybody. 00:24:47.259 --> 00:24:58.940 Thank you so much for having me. It's been a joy and a pleasure to be here with you. Thank you for looking after my big sister as well. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:01.740 Appreciate that. God bless you. God bless.