A good church is always learning to live large and live little.
A good church is always learning to live little and live large.
A few years ago, I don't know, four, five, six years ago,
an organization that I am a part of,
we organized a group of bishops from the Anglican Church of Canada
to meet with me and a couple of other people before,
no, I guess it was after the House of Bishops met.
And so there were 13 bishops, if memory serves me correctly,
that were going to meet with me and with a professor who teaches at Regent College
and two other people, all far more important and smart,
smarter than me and all that stuff.
And there were some problems getting cabs in Quebec City,
which is where the meeting was taking place.
And finally, I came in the very last cab.
I was making sure that everybody got there.
And so I came in the last cab with two bishops.
And I get in the room and I come in and sit down.
And as soon as I sit down, these 13 bishops and this learned theologian
and these other important people, they all get silent and they look to me.
And I have this moment of stark terror when I realize that they're waiting for me to say something
and that I've gathered them together.
And I'm just really used to those types of people telling me what to do.
And it was just this moment of complete and utter stark terror.
And then I realized, well, at least I do have an agenda.
And we were able to go on.
Many of us have been parts of groups where the very first thing that they do
when the group gets together is somebody asks the question,
what should we do?
And if you've ever been a part of that type of group,
you all sort of look around and say, well, I don't know what on earth we're going to do.
And the church, if it's to be a good church and a healthy church,
not only has to provide times when a large number of people gather like this for public worship,
but it also has to provide times when smaller groups of people gather together to do things.
And let's say we were just to understand that and try to get together.
We'd say, okay, well, now we're together.
What on earth do we do?
Well, today we're going to look and see what the Bible tells us that we should be doing.
Please turn in your Bibles to page 944.
Page 944.
And some of you who are guests this morning,
in some ways the month of January is focusing,
for four weeks we're really focusing,
on Acts chapter 2, verses 40 to 47.
And in particular, a couple of aspects of this.
Because these texts show,
this text shows sort of in a very brief form,
sort of the very, very heart of what the church is to be.
And so it's really important for us time and time and time again
to go right back to the scriptures,
to a key text like this,
that we can be, in a sense, formed and reformed and corrected and deepened
in the fundamental things that we should be about.
Peter has just preached the first Christian sermon,
and it goes like this.
And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying,
Be saved from this perverse generation.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized,
and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them.
And here in verse 42 are the four of the key marks of the church.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship,
in the breaking of bread,
and in the prayers.
Then fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
Now all who believed were together
and had all things in common,
and sold their possessions and goods
and divided them among all as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread from house to house,
they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church daily
those who were being saved.
So we see that there are four marks of the church in verse 42,
that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine or teaching.
They continued steadfastly in koinonia or fellowship,
which is what I'm going to look at next week,
in the breaking of bread,
and in the prayers.
So what does it mean that every sort of daily,
look at verse 46.
You know, I began the sermon by saying,
a good church is always learning to live large and live little.
That's verse 46.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple
and breaking bread from house to house,
they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.
They continued daily with one accord in the temple,
that's living large,
and breaking bread from house to house,
that's living little.
You see, they both had big public worship,
and they had smaller gatherings where they met in house to house.
And what do you do when you gather in a house?
Like, what should we be doing?
Well, we should be trying to do, even there,
the marks of the church.
We should be gathering around apostolic teaching.
It's one of the things which should mark our little gatherings.
Some people from this church
have moved to another city for a period of time,
and they were talking to me.
They've been talking to me several times since they've moved,
and one of the problems they've had
in finding the church in their new city
is the church has some small groups and fellowship groups.
In fact, they were very, very friendly in inviting them.
I might get some of these analogies a little bit,
some of these examples a little bit wrong,
but, you know, one of the groups goes to a spa on a regular basis.
You know, another one sort of listens to music.
Another one tastes wine or does that.
Like, they all just do all of these social types of things,
but none of the groups there do any of the four things
which should mark the life of a healthy church,
which is gathering around apostolic teaching,
being involved in fellowship or koinonia,
the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.
So the first thing that,
when we're learning how to live little,
one of the first things that little groups have to do
is that they have to open the Bible.
What we're going to do today is,
look, you still have page 944 and 945 open,
and at the very, very top of page 944,
we get the beginning of Peter's sermon.
And we're going to read that
as a way for us to understand
what exactly apostolic testimony or apostolic teaching is.
Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,
let this be known to you,
and heed my words.
For these are not drunk.
Just sort of pause there.
The Holy Spirit has just fallen upon the 120 disciples,
and they've started to engage
in this really, really odd behavior
of speaking out loud
and sort of praising God out loud
and seeming to speak in all sorts of different languages.
And so the crowd has thought that they're all drunk.
Peter says,
These are not drunk, as you suppose,
since it is only the third hour of the day.
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
Your young men shall see visions.
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on my menservants and on my maidservants,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above
and signs in the earth beneath,
blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness
and the moon into blood
before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord.
And it shall come to pass
that whoever calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
Now, one of the four marks of the church
is that they gather around a gospel church,
a good church gathers around the apostolic teaching
or the apostolic testimony.
This sermon is the very first example we see
of the apostolic testimony or the apostolic teaching.
And the really remarkable thing about this
is that the very first thing that we see
is that the apostles open the Bible.
The apostles open the Bible.
They could have talked about how
they could have gotten up there
and just strutted their stuff.
They could have said,
well, folks, now that we've got your attention,
we want you to know
that we are one of only a very select group of people
who've actually seen Jesus rise from the dead.
Or they could have gotten up
and talked about their profound mystical visions
or their profound times that they'd had with Jesus.
Or they could have gotten up and talked about philosophy
or they could have talked about tradition.
Or they could have done all sorts of things.
But the very, very first time
when we can see what the apostles testified to,
we see that almost immediately what they do
is open the Bible.
Because that passage,
when I was just reading Acts chapter 2,
the very, very first thing they do
is they go to the book of Joel.
And as we read through the rest of the summary
of Peter's sermon,
we'll see that Peter not only looks to Joel,
but he looks to two different passages in the Psalms.
This is really, really important for us.
At the very, very first thing
that the apostles do in their testimony
is open the Bible.
That's what they do first.
They don't do anything else
other than have them all, in a sense,
figuratively speaking,
because they wouldn't have had Bibles there.
The people would have just memorized it.
They, in a sense, immediately open the Bible.
And the second thing they do
is they explain it
and they understand it.
Now, we, many, many years after the apostles,
have another advantage over them
because we now understand
that, in a sense,
the summary of the teaching of the apostles
is what we now call the New Testament.
You see, the New Testament itself
is an interpretation.
The New Testament itself is an explanation.
God wrote, had it written
so that we would understand.
He doesn't want us to be ignorant.
He doesn't want us to be foolish.
He wants to speak to us.
And so the New Testament itself
is apostolic testimony,
and it is apostolic testimony,
which explains.
It explains itself.
It explains Jesus.
It explains the Old Testament.
So the first thing the apostles do
is they point us to the Bible.
And one of the things
which is so wonderful
about being part of a small group
when a church learns how to live little
is one of the wonderful things
about being in a small group
that studies the Bible
is that's where you can get
the real questions.
Like already today,
probably some of you
might have some questions.
Is that really the way
that this should go
or that should go?
And that introduction
wasn't very good.
And how would you deal with this?
And what exactly does blood and fire
and towers of smoke mean?
And some of you might have
all of those questions,
but you don't have any opportunity
to ask me any of them.
One of the wonderful things
about having a small group
that gathers around the Bible
is that the real questions
of the people
who are gathering around
to study the Bible
can come out.
Somebody can share.
I remember so much.
And these real questions
can be ones
that completely surprise us.
In my first church
where I was the pastor,
not an assistant,
but the pastor,
I was taking a couple of men
through the Gospel of Mark.
And there's a story in Mark
of Jesus being asleep in the boat
in the midst of a storm.
And one of the men
in the Bible study
had become a Christian
just about a year earlier
and he was really,
really, really growing.
And he accepted the Bible.
He believed in the resurrection.
Like he believed
it was God's word written.
And it was a delight
to teach him the Bible
and to study the Bible with him.
But as soon as we came
to that story,
he said to me,
George, I don't believe that story.
And I was completely,
utterly shocked.
He was an old Navy guy,
a retired Navy guy.
And he said,
George, I've been out in the water
when there's a big storm.
And I just don't believe
that anybody could stay asleep
in the midst of a big storm
in a little boat.
And the question completely
and utterly floored me.
And that's good.
Because his question
forced all of us
to look at the text
far more concretely
and to think about
who Jesus was
and what was going on
in that story,
it forced us to look
far more deeply
into the text.
And it came
because we were gathered
around the scriptures
and we were in
a little group
where people
can ask questions
and that we can
all together
try to figure out
what the answer is.
When we gather
in large groups
like this,
part of my job
is to try to equip you
to understand the Bible.
If five years
or after you've been
coming to the church
for several years,
if you are
more ignorant
of the Bible
than when you came,
I have completely
and utterly failed.
If you feel
after you have been
in this church
for a while
that you can't possibly
ever understand
the Bible,
that you need me
to explain it to you,
then I have failed.
But if after you've been
in this church
you have a sense
that the Bible
is God's word written
and that he has
written it for you
and me
and for ordinary people
and that God
delights in us
coming to his word
and reading it
and that he trusts
ordinary people
to come to his word
and learn from it.
If you have learned
these things,
whether you can put them
into words or not,
then I have been
doing my job.
And one of the things
that you can pray for me
is that
not only me
and other people
who preach in public
like this
in this pulpit
is pray
that as we
open the scriptures
together
in this large setting
that you will not only
grow in love with Jesus
but grow in confidence
of God's word
and a confidence
that you yourselves
can plunge into it
and can know.
So,
many people
are gifted
to open up
the Bible
and to teach it.
It's not dependent
only upon clergy
like me.
You see,
as our church
learns to live large
and live little,
part of what it means
to learn to live little
is that there's going
to be,
and hopefully
as a result of this sermon
some of you will say,
you know what,
maybe I should be
starting a Bible study group
in my neighborhood.
Maybe I should be
talking to Nat
over the next week
and trying to gather
a couple of people
that I've met here
in this church
together
so that we can
open the Bible
and we can study it together.
And the fact is
that I can't go
to all of these groups
and I shouldn't go
to all of these groups
because God,
through His Holy Spirit,
has gifted many people
with the ability
to teach.
And God desires
that the Bible
be opened
and He desires
that we,
in a sense,
look at the text
of Scripture
and we come to Scripture
and we read
and we learn together
and it's not
dependent upon me.
When the Communists
took over China,
there were
one million Christians
and when they took
over China,
they persecuted
the church
quite strongly
and they put
many of the leaders
of the Christian church
in China
into jail
and they cast
all of the foreign
missionaries
and seminary professors,
they kicked them
all out of the country.
And humanly speaking,
we would then think
only a million Chinese Christians,
great persecution,
all of the leaders
and all of the pastors
and ministers
put in jail
or kicked out
of the country.
The church has no hope.
Today,
there are
over a hundred million
Christians in China
and it all came
because ordinary people
would gather
in small gatherings
and they would
open the Bible
and they would
desire to know Jesus.
And so we see
that the very first thing
about living large
and living little
is that when we gather
together,
we gather to open
the Bible.
Let's just continue
very briefly
with this sermon,
verse 22.
Paul has just,
I mean,
not Paul,
Peter has just quoted
the book of Joel.
He then says,
Men of Israel,
hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth,
a man attested by God
to you by miracles,
wonders,
and signs,
which God did
through him
in your midst,
as you yourselves
also know.
Him,
being delivered
by the determined
counsel
and foreknowledge
of God,
you have taken
by lawless hands,
have crucified
and put to death,
whom God raised up,
having loosed
the pains of death,
because it was not
possible that he
should be held by it.
Just want to pause
there and draw
two things
to our attention
about the apostolic
testimony.
Remember,
when we live little
and we live large,
we gather around
the apostles' teaching,
which means that
we gather around
the New Testament,
we gather and
we open the Bible,
and when we open
the Bible,
what we fundamentally
want to do
is we want to
focus on Jesus.
We want to know
Jesus.
You don't want to know
what John Maxwell
has to say.
You don't want to know
what,
oh,
I can't think of
famous,
you don't want to know
what Billy Graham
has to say.
You don't want to know
what George Sinclair
has to say.
You want to know
Jesus.
That's the whole point
of gathering together.
That's the whole point
of church.
It's the whole point
of gathering together.
Yesterday,
I did a funeral,
and some of you
have been to some
of the funerals
that I have led,
and this was a funeral
in a funeral home,
and every time I do
a funeral home funeral,
I say something
along these lines
in my very brief sermon.
I say,
I know,
after the scriptures
have been read,
I say,
I know that there
are many people here
who maybe aren't Christians.
Maybe you're a member
of some great faith
which is not Christian,
maybe you are
inventing your own
or seeking out
your own particular way,
but I would just like
to take a few moments
to share with you
what my faith is
as a Christian.
I would just like
to share with you
personally
what my faith is
as a Christian
in the face of death.
And then I go on
to tell them
about Jesus.
I go on to tell them
about how he died
upon the cross,
how he tasted
all there is
to taste of death,
and how on the third day
he conquered death
and conquered sin.
And I even do this
in a modern culture
and I say,
and he conquers
all the hostile
spiritual powers
which bind us
and keep us from God.
And that it really happened.
And then I say,
you know,
my hope
in the funeral
that I did yesterday,
it was for Desiree Jirawar.
Some of you know her.
She was a wonderful woman.
And I can easily say
that she was,
you know,
in fact I began
the sermon by saying
that, you know,
when I'm 95
I hope I'm as nice
as she is,
she was.
You know,
I hope I don't get
grumpy and crotchety
as I get older.
I hope I get
slow to anger
and gracious
and gentle
like she grew
as she got older.
And I shared,
you know,
my hope in the face
of death
isn't that I will
someday be
as nice
as Desiree was.
And Desiree's hope
in the face of death
wasn't that she was nice.
Our hope
in the face of death
is that we have said
yes to Jesus' invitation
to come to him.
And by coming to him
we share
in his triumph
over death
and sin
and hostile
spiritual powers.
That's the fundamental
Christian hope
that Jesus really
exists,
existed
and still exists,
that he lived
a human life,
that he walked
among us,
that he died
on the cross,
that he died
and tasted
all there is
to taste
of death
with nothing
left out,
that on the third
day he rose
triumphant
over sin
and death
and hell
and all hostile
spiritual,
evil spiritual powers,
and that he didn't
do that
in some remarkable
way just for himself
so that we could
all marvel
at one person
could do something
like that,
but that he does
it for you
and for me
and he does
it for you
and for me
not for himself
and he does
it for you
and for me
and he says
to you
and to me
he says it
to us
whether we're
gay or straight
old or young
well educated
or poorly educated
whether we're
good looking
or ugly
smart or dumb
he says
to every one
of us
come to me
all who labor
and are heavy laden
and I will give you rest
take my yoke upon you
and learn from me
for I am gentle
and lowly of heart
and you will find
rest for your souls
for my yoke is easy
and my burden is light
and Jesus defeats
sin and death
and hell
and all hostile
spiritual powers
not as some marvelous
thing that he's able
to accomplish
by himself
but he does it
for you and for me
and he invites
ordinary people
like you and me
to share
in his triumph
that's what I say
in funerals
and I say it
in funerals
because nothing
focuses the mind
like death
that is the basic
fundamental
Christian hope
and so
the heart
of the apostolic
testimony
is expressed
in the New Testament
and the apostles
when we're together
to understand
the apostolic testimony
we are to open
our Bibles
and we are to read
them confident
that God
wants to speak
to us
through his word
that he is not
sort of playing
some type of
peekaboo
game with us
but he desires
us to know
and that he
welcomes us
bringing our
questions to the
text of scripture
and as we open
the text of scripture
the first and foremost
thing that we want
to know
is we want
to know Jesus
and if you go
through all of
Peter's sermon
you'll see that
you see Jesus
is the one
who unlocks
it's because of
Jesus' triumph
that the gift
of the Holy Spirit
comes
it is because
of Jesus' triumph
that we can know
the Father
you know
and Jesus
is the one
who opens up
all of these
things
and so as we
open up the
scriptures
the second part
of the apostolic
testimony
and gathering
is focusing
on Jesus
and you know
and this
this is
this is so
wonderful
in a small group
I have learned
so much more
about being a
Christian
by being in
some small
gathering
where I'm with
other people
because you see
one of the
wonderful things
about the
Christian faith
and about
Jesus
is that it's
not just
what we're
taught
but what we
catch
Christianity
is not just
taught
it's caught
and you catch
it by being
in small groups
with other people
I don't have
the time
but one of the
turning points
in my life
when I was
in high school
and you know
I'm not sure
now in hindsight
whether I became
a Christian
when I was
in grade 12
or whether I
just reclaimed
my Christian
faith
and that's
something that
I might puzzle
about but God
doesn't care
the main thing
is that I
became a Christian
and I can tell
you that the
turning points
in my life
that were so
fundamental
was this aspect
of catching
Christianity
from others
in a small group
and seeing
Jesus in them
and that comes
as we open
the Bible
as we focus
on Jesus
the third
thing
and this
is a harder
thing
is that
as we
open the Bible
and as we
focus on
Jesus
the Bible
will convict
us of sin
listen to what
Peter is very
very bold
just look back
here at verse
23
he's just
talked about
Jesus
and then he
says
him
being delivered
by the
determined
counsel
and foreknowledge
of God
you have
taken by
lawless hands
have crucified
and put
to death
the apostolic
testimony
goes right
to the
sin
of the
hearers
let me
tell you
this
I'm very
Canadian
if I
had been
back there
with Peter
I probably
would have
said
oh Peter
don't say
that
okay
you're gonna
make them
upset
you're gonna
make them
mad
you're gonna
turn them
off
you're gonna
do all
of these
types of
things
like
Peter
just focus
on the
positives
okay
like
leave this
little
problem
of conscience
and what
they've done
just to the
side
and you
know
talk about
how wonderful
the Holy
Spirit is
and just
how wonderful
like
just do
all these
positive
type of
things
don't focus
on sin
Peter
is what
I would
have said
if you
go all
the way
through
the sermon
at the
end
of the
sermon
the summary
of the
sermon
3,000
people
come to
faith
3,000
if I
had been
there
and Peter
had listened
to my
advice
maybe
there
would
have
been
one
I
don't
know
maybe
there
would
have
been
nobody
you see
because
we
modern
Canadians
get really
uncomfortable
with this
idea of
being
confronted
about
sin
but you
see
the
apostolic
testimony
opens
the
Bible
points
us
to
Jesus
and
then
of
necessity
the
Bible
and
Christ
himself
will
point
out
to us
the
gap
between
being
in
Christ
and
not
being
in
Christ
like
that
just
comes
and
so
in a
small
group
this is
very
hard
in
many
ways
what
happens
in
a
larger
group
like
this
I
can
maybe
talk
about
sins
a little
bit
more
easily
because
it's
not
as
obvious
that
I'm
speaking
about
the
person
sitting
on
the
couch
right
there
whereas
you're
talking
about
certain
sins
and
there's
five
people
in
the
room
and
we
all
know
who
the
only
one
is
who
does
that
you
know
we
all
look
around
the
other
way
you
know
that
can
be
a
little
bit
awkward
and
uncomfortable
and
a
bigger
gathering
it's
a bit
safer
you
know
inwardly
a person
might
be
thinking
gosh
that
passage
of
scripture
just
hit
me
you
know
and
others
are
thinking
gosh
I
wonder
who
on
earth
would
ever
do
something
like
that
and
we're
all
blessedly
unaware
of
the
other
and
that's
part
of the
reason
why
church
is
to be
large
and
little
but
just
and
so
while
in a
small
group
we have
to be
very
careful
about
the
convicting
of
sin
but
by
the
same
token
just
as
the
scriptures
are
read
and
as
Jesus
is
pointed
to
the
scriptures
themselves
and
Jesus
himself
even
in a
small
group
will
prick
us
in
our
conscience
that
this
is
me
and
that's
good
apostolic
testimony
convicts
of
sin
the
fourth
thing
very
briefly
because
my
time
has
gone
out
is
let's
look
at
the
very
end
of
the
sermon
verse
38
then
Peter
said
to
them
repent
and
let
every
one
of
you
be
baptized
in
the
name
of
Jesus
Christ
for
the
remission
of
sins
and
you
shall
receive
the
gift
of
the
Holy
Spirit
for
the
promises
to
you
and
to
your
children
and
to
all
who
are
far
off
as
many
as
the
Lord
our
God
will
call
you
see
the
apostolic
testimony
says
you hear
all this
stuff about
the triumph
of
Jesus
over
sin
and
over
death
and
over
hell
whoa
is that
ever
dramatic
sound
effects
eh
the
snow
falling
off
the
roof
you
know
it's
like
the
light
of
God's
word
falling
upon
us
and
all
that
cold
yucky
snow
that's
in
capturing
our
covering
up
our
soul
and
making
it
frozen
and
hardened
shriveled
and as
the
light
of
the
holy
word
of
God
comes
and as
the
Holy
Spirit
convicts
us
all
that
ice
falls
away
I
just
thought
of
that
right
now
but
you
know
it's
pretty
true
that's
what
you
know
you
know
the
Bible
itself
convicts
us
of
sin
Jesus
convicts
us
of
sin
not
to
make
us
grovel
but
to
make
us
know
that
he
loves
us
and
that
he
can
be
our
savior
and
wants
to
be
our
savior
and
this
part
at
the
end
that
I
was
reading
before
I
got
interrupted
by
these
dramatic
snow
slides
is
that
you
see
the
Bible
constantly
the
apostolic
testimony
constantly
calls
us
to
choose
it
challenges
us
to
choose
all
of
the
time
and
I
can
tell
you
this
that
Christ
only
wants
us
to
choose
one
way
he
never
said
I
hope
he
chooses
the
devil
today
or
I
hope
he
chooses
to
be
selfish
or
ungenerous
Jesus
that
for
us
he
is
always
desiring
that
we
be
more
open
to
him
more
open
to
the
Holy
Spirit
more
generous
more
able
to
love
more
able
to
forgive
and
one
of
the
wonderful
things
about
a
small
group
like
this
is
not
a
small
group
like
this
but
when
you're
in
a
little
group
that
people
can
love
and
can
encourage
you
they
can
know
your
struggles
and
in
a
big
group
like
this
you
might
sometimes
come
and
go
and
come
and
go
and
you
can
do
that
for
quite
a
while
and
there's
nothing
wrong
with
that
sometimes
we
need
anonymity
and
we
need
private
space
but
we
might
need
that
for
a
short
season
of
time
but
fundamentally
what
we
need
is
somebody
who
knows
our
name
and
we
can
know
in
our
soul
that
Jesus
knows
our
name
but
it's
love
you
and
they
can
encourage
you
and
they
can
help
you
to
make
the
right
choices
they
can
cry
with
you
when
you've
made
a
wrong
choice
and
you've
realized
that
you
need
to
repent
and
they
can
laugh
and
celebrate
with
you
when
they
watch
you
and
you
watch
them
making
those
wise
choices
and
that's
why
God
in
his
providence
has
said
that
in a
good
church
in a
good
church
gather
around
the
apostles
teaching
we
open
the
Bible
we
look
to
Jesus
we're
being
open
to
being
confronted
when
where
our
lives
are
in
contradiction
to
the
perfect
love
and
compassion
generosity
of
God
and
we
are
able
in
that
context
to
hear
the
word
of
God
constantly
asking
us
to
choose
God
choose
Christ
choose
the Holy
Spirit
choose
to allow
the snow
to fall
off
our lives
so that
the sun
will
warm
us
and
make
us
shine
let's
bow
our heads
in
prayer
father we
give you
thanks and
praise
that
you
love
us
that
you
love
us
that
you
desire
us
ordinary
people
with
problems
and people
with
mortgages
and people
who wish
that they
one day
can have
a mortgage
and that
father you
love us
and that you
desire ordinary
people like
us to
actually know
you and
to actually
become wise
in your
ways
father we
you and
and Father we are humbled and so grateful at your kindness and your complete and utter
overturning of elitism that you desire ordinary people like us to know you and to know your word
and to be used by you in helping others to know. Father thank you for this and we ask that you
help us as a church to learn how to live large and live little. In Jesus's name, amen.
Amen.