Galatians 6:9

This last week, a picture came to my mind that, in some ways, helped me to frame what I have been feeling for some time now. For the last eleven months or so, as we have been walking through this truly strange corporate experience that we have all been experiencing, I have had this low-level anxiety that is a result of general frustration. The picture that came to my mind helped me understand it a little bit better.

Let me try to explain what I mean by all this, and I think it will become clear as I share with you exactly what this image has been for me. Every one of us has had this experience. Imagine, for a moment, that it is the afternoon and you are trying to get somewhere. You need to get across town, but you are caught in afternoon traffic. It feels as though every stoplight you reach is on the tail end of yellow and just switching to red.

If you can imagine that picture a little bit, you might even feel the physical indicators in your body of stress and anxiety. You can feel your blood pressure increase. There is that heightened anxiety and low-level stress because you need to get somewhere, and every single light that you come to is turning red. In that situation, you experience that kind of low-level anxiety.

Now, you may not typically be an anxious person. I would not consider myself a typically anxious person, but in that situation, you can feel it build. Even if you are not generally an anxious person, when I use that word "anxiety," you might think, "Well, that is not really who I am." However, we have all experienced the situation I am describing, and you just feel the weight of stress.

I need to get somewhere, and everything seems to be keeping me from reaching my destination. At this moment, the specific destination does not even really matter. You are trying to get somewhere, but you are being hindered by traffic and traffic lights.

Honestly, one of the challenges of presenting my messages in this format is that when I am gathered with a group, I can see your reactions. I can observe people shifting in their seats, but I cannot see that here on video. This whole format adds to a level of frustration.

Imagine yourself in that moment. It is the afternoon, and you are trying to get somewhere, but everything seems to be standing in your way. Your frustration and anxiety are building to the point where it feels like they are about to boil over. Your internal stress is on the verge of spilling into external demonstrations of anger. Just at that moment, someone who is not in nearly as much of a hurry as you pulls into your lane. You could have made that green light right in front of you, but now it is yellow. The frustration has escalated into complete anger, and it leaks out into a verbal form. You express your frustration, and then your anger becomes physical as you smash the steering wheel in front of you.

I know you have had this experience before. If you are a driver and have ever tried to get anywhere, you have likely faced this situation. I have had this experience, too. In fact, I would say I have encountered it multiple times in the last 30 days. This image came to my mind last Sunday afternoon. Like many of you, I got up that morning, and instead of doing what I feel I am supposed to do as the lead preaching senior pastor of a local church, I went downstairs in my sweats.

I sat on the couch in my pajamas with my kids, my wife, and my mom, who actually came over. I watched the service online, like maybe you did last week or like you might be doing this week. I can't even express to you how much of a frustration that is for me. Every Sunday, I go through this, whether I'm watching Pastor Garrett preach online, like he did last week, or I'm watching myself preach online, which I might be doing this morning. Again, that's kind of weird.

I have this feeling that this is not where I'm supposed to be right now, and I'm trying to get back to somewhere where I am supposed to be, but there are red light after red light. I can't fully express the frustration of what that is for me. It feels like trying to get somewhere while being stuck behind a slow driver in afternoon traffic, watching every light in front of you turn red. The rational portion of my brain tries to remind me to take a deep breath so that I can perhaps calm the lower portion of my brain down a little bit.

Everything of the last ten or eleven months feels as though we are stuck in traffic, trying to get somewhere. Polling suggests that I'm not the only one feeling this way. Many people throughout our society have acknowledged a heightened level of stress and anxiety. Even those who wouldn't generally consider themselves to be anxious or stressed have felt this way. All the things that have been going on in our culture have contributed to this heightened level of stress and anxiety for many months.

It is a challenge to have that cumulative stress over time. You're stuck at red light after red light behind a slow driver, trying to get somewhere in the late afternoon before your destination closes and you miss a deadline. This has been our continuous experience for at least ten months. With each new compounding event, it feels as if there's another slow driver and another red light. Two weeks to slow the spread flows into two more weeks of shutdown, and it's another red light.

Light. No toilet paper. Another red light. Mask mandates. Another red light. George Floyd. Red light. Protests, riots, BLM, wildfires, political campaigns. Red light, red light, red light. Election day. Election uncertainty. Stay-at-home orders through Thanksgiving. Stay-at-home orders through Christmas. The Georgia election. Red light, red light, red light. January 6th, Washington, D.C. That's not just a red light; that's like a road closure and detour.

A year ago, I began teaching through the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. Admittedly, I have not gotten nearly as far through the book as I expected I would be by this point. In my defense, the last year has been anything but typical. I was thinking about Deuteronomy this last week, the children of Israel, and Moses, the leader of the children of Israel, through those wilderness wanderings. Their wilderness wanderings were basically 38 years of stop-and-go traffic—red light after red light after red light. Moses had some steering wheel outbursts along the way because Moses wasn't perfect. And neither are we.

At the end of 2019, I shared publicly on a number of occasions that I thought the year 2020 would be a year of chaos. And it certainly was. When you throw something like that out and then it happens, people start to ask you, "Okay, what do you think is going to happen next, pastor?" That's been one of the questions I've been getting a lot in the last month or six weeks or so. I said in 2019 that 2020 would be a year of chaos, and it turns out that it was.

So people are saying, "What's your word for this coming year, 2021?" Let me begin by saying that I am not a prophet, not in the sense that I believe I can tell the future. But sometimes it is relatively easy to see how certain things are kind of converging and what the potential outcomes are going to be from this convergence. You can see that there's going to be a collision because this is happening.

In fact, there are a whole bunch of videos online from dash cam footage in Teslas. All of you who have been a part of Cross Connection Church for a little while know that I kind of like Teslas. There are these dash cam videos where the Tesla avoids an accident or alerts a driver just a fraction of a second before the accident happens. You can hear the alarm and the car beeping at the person, indicating that there is going to be a problem, an accident. Then, a fraction of a second later, the accident occurs.

Some people are amazed by the apparent supernatural prescience of the car, believing it can predict these events. However, what is really happening is that the car's computer control system, equipped with sonar, radar, and video information from about eight cameras around the vehicle, is able to predict what is about to happen based on physics.

That’s kind of what I was doing as I looked at 2019. I could see the convergence of a number of things, most specifically that it was going to be a presidential campaign season. All you had to do was look back in history to know that the lead-up to President Trump's election in 2016 was chaotic. If you back up even further, 2012 was chaotic, and before that, 2008 was chaotic as well. You don’t have to be a prophet to figure out what is coming.

So, to say at the end of 2019 that 2020 was going to be a chaotic year was simply an observation of what was going on in the culture. I’m not a prophet, but I will tell you this: we live in a broken and chaotic world. I know that by saying this, I am not sharing anything with you that you don’t already know. You have been impacted by the brokenness and chaos of this world many times, even before 2020 and before COVID.

The current conditions of the world we live in suggest that chaos isn’t really letting up. We are stuck in traffic, and there is an anxiety that comes with that. You feel it, and I do as well. I remember, in fact, my kids were talking with me about this a few months ago. They were asking about 2001 and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and they just wanted to know...

To know what that was like is kind of weird to realize, especially since our oldest was born in 2008 and is far removed from that experience. You may remember the feeling after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a sense of anxiety and uncertainty about what was next. Many people likely feel that same anxiousness right now. This is the current climate we are living in.

Given this reality, I have been trying to figure out how best to respond—as an individual, as a follower of God, as a husband, a father, a pastor, a leader, and simply as a friend or neighbor. How do we respond to these challenges? I have had a number of people text me, email me, or ask me in person if I have a word for 2021. I can tell that many of those asking are hoping for a more positive message than chaos, and understandably so. It makes all the sense in the world; people want some level of optimism as they look to the future.

I appreciated that Pastor Mark shared a message a couple of weeks ago. He brought up one of our core values, which you can find in the beliefs section of our website, LifeInConnection.com. The first thing we state there is that we want everything we do to be done with joy because we have an optimistic vision of the future. It is so important for Christians to recognize and understand that we possess this optimistic vision.

This vision includes Christ seated on the throne, ruling and reigning forever, with us ruling and reigning alongside Him in a reign of righteousness where there is no sorrow, pain, suffering, or sickness. We have an optimistic vision of the future. However, in the short term, people want to know what sort of optimistic word I have for them.

As this is my first message of the new year, it seems as good a time as any to share the impression I have as we approach another stoplight here at the beginning of 2021. When I say I have an impression, I am not claiming it to be a word from the Lord, as in "Thus saith the Lord." Rather, this is the impression I have formed through prayer, reading the Scriptures, interacting with people, and listening to other Bible teachings or news.

The impression that keeps coming to me is this: I don't have just one word to share with you; I actually have two words. If I shared that the word coming into 2020 was chaos, I have a couple of things that have been impressed upon me as we sit here on the 17th of January 2021. Normally, when I have an impression of a word, phrase, picture, verse, or passage, it gets confirmed repeatedly to me in a number of different ways. That's what's been happening, as I said, through reading or interacting with people. It just keeps coming up.

On December 4th, 2019, I was at a gathering—a missions gathering focused on finishing the mission of carrying the gospel to the world, just as Jesus commissioned us to do just before He ascended into heaven. He said to go into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I was at this gathering at Saddleback Church in Orange County, where Pastor Rick Warren shared a message on that mission as Christians.

In his message, he made a statement that resonated with me. As I mentioned, I often have an impression of a word while reading my devotions, and then it gets confirmed. This is what happened on December 4th, 2019. I have it written down in a little notebook that I carry with me. Pastor Rick Warren shared that wherever there is conflict and chaos, God is getting ready to move. I was already thinking and seeing that 2020 was going to be a year of chaos, that it would be a challenging year. When Pastor Rick made that comment, it really caught my attention, so I wrote it down.

2020 ended up being a year of chaos, and as we have seen over the last couple of weeks, that situation hasn't really changed. The conditions of our world are such that the brokenness and chaos are going to continue. We are stuck in that traffic I was talking about earlier. So, what then? Well, wherever there is conflict and chaos, God is getting ready to move.

If you are one who takes notes, that might be worth writing down and maybe even putting it on a little card that you're going to see in your bathroom in the morning. Tape it to your mirror, put it on the table next to your bed, or use it as a bookmark in whatever book you're reading or in the Bible.

Wherever there is conflict and chaos, God is getting ready to move. I think that's so important because when there is conflict in our lives personally or chaos around us, we can fall into a pessimistic, repetitious cycle where we are just looking for the next bad thing that is going to come at us. What I want to emphasize here is that when there is conflict and when there is chaos, God is getting ready to move, and we should be asking, "Lord, what are you doing? What do you want me to be aware of?"

I have kept that in my mind for more than a year as we have seen conflict and chaos at nearly every level. We have seen it in the news media, in politics, in market volatility, in law enforcement, in race relations, in the tech sector, in medicine, and within our families. We have experienced conflict and chaos in our relationships with friends, neighbors, and co-workers. But wherever there is conflict and chaos, God is getting ready to move.

This is key. If this is true and if you believe it to be true, then when you see that conflict and chaos, you should immediately start to say, "All right, the Lord is doing something." You might ask those questions: "God, what is it that you are doing? And not only that, God, what is it that you would have me to do in this situation?"

I think that is really important. I know it's important for me, and I believe it's important for anyone listening to this message. God wants us to respond to the things happening around us and in our world in a proper way. How shall we then live in light of all the things that we are seeing?

Let me tell you what I know God does not want me to be doing when I'm in the traffic jam of conflict and chaos. He doesn't want me to be losing my cool and becoming overwhelmed with stress and anxiety.

If the fruit of the Spirit involves gentleness, patience, self-control, and all of those sorts of things, then these are the qualities that should be present in my life. God doesn't want me to lose my cool or spin out of control with stress and anxiety. So, what does He want?

I have a couple of words that have been impressed upon my mind and heart. Are these words from the Lord? Perhaps they are. At the very least, I feel they are important. I want to read a number of verses in which these words appear and then try to make some application this morning from these passages of Scripture regarding what the Lord may be wanting to speak to us in our present situation. What might God be saying? If He is indeed the one impressing these words upon me, then we should consider what He has for us.

As I've shared, I have been frustrated throughout this whole experience, and I think you can probably relate. This general frustration causes that low-level stress and anxiety you feel when you're late getting somewhere, and everything hinders you from arriving on time. I had somewhere I wanted to be in 2020. At the beginning of the year, our pastoral team and church leadership had plans and visions about where we thought we would be at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. However, I feel like I have hit every single red light and major detour along the way. Sometimes, I have felt like, "Lord, we are further from our destination at the beginning of 2021 than we were at the beginning of 2020." Maybe you can relate to that.

In all of this, I keep reminding myself of a verse that I have often gravitated to when I feel frustrated—not just in 2020 and at the beginning of 2021, but throughout the years. I think for some of you, this might be a familiar verse, while for others, it may be new. Regardless, I hope it will be an encouragement. In Galatians chapter six, the Apostle Paul writes, "And let us not grow weary while...".

Doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. This has been a verse that I have returned to many times over the years. When I feel like I'm caught in traffic, stuck at a red light, with a slow driver in front of me and nothing seems to be moving in the direction it’s supposed to be moving, the Lord oftentimes reminds me of this truth.

Let us not grow tired, weary, frustrated, angry, or irritable when we are doing the good and right things that we believe the Lord has called us to do—leading the church, preaching the gospel, doing outreach, whatever it may be. Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season, at the right time, we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart. As I said, I've come back to this verse many times, and it has often been a real encouragement. Don't lose heart. Don't give up.

For some reason, like we so often do, I have way too frequently pulled that verse out of its context during those challenging times. I remind myself, do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. But that verse doesn't sit by itself; there’s more that comes after it.

Over the last couple of weeks, I found myself reading a little further. We read in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." But then verse 10 says this: "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."

Then, one book after Galatians, we have Ephesians. In Ephesians chapter five, the same author, the Apostle Paul, writes, "Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." We live in a broken and chaotic world; we all know that. In the midst of what might be described as evil days, just like Ephesians 5 talks about, we need to be careful and circumspect.

That means having our eyes wide open, ears attentive, and our heads on a swivel, as they say—paying attention to everything that's going on around us. As my dad says, if you're paying anything, pay attention. So, we need to be careful, circumspect, and wise in the way that we live and walk, redeeming the time.

The time and making the most of every opportunity are crucial. As we have opportunity, Galatians chapter six, verse ten reminds us that we should do good to everyone, especially those who are of the household of faith, the church. Chaotic times are opportune times, and we need to really understand this truth. We are in the midst of challenging and chaotic times, and wherever there is conflict and chaos, God is getting ready to move.

I have allowed my frustrations in the midst of a year of chaos to get the best of me at times—way too many times. I have had to remind myself to recognize that this is a time of opportunity. Now, you may ask, "Opportunity for what?" It is an opportunity to wisely and circumspectly redeem the times, to make the most of every opportunity. To do what? To do good and to not grow weary while we are doing good, because we are planting seeds that are going to bring forth fruit if we don't give up. Galatians 6:9 says that the temptation is to give up, to throw in the towel, and to forget it. We have to fight that temptation to give up.

So, there's the first word for 2021. Maybe you can identify it in both those passages, Galatians 6:10 and Ephesians chapter five. What is the word? At least one of the things that I am holding on to as we come into 2021 is this word: opportunity. This is an opportune time in the midst of conflict and chaos because God is seeking to do a work in me personally, through my life, through your life, and through our church, to our community, and to the world. God is seeking to do a work.

The first word that I hope you will think about is the word opportunity. The second word requires us to turn to the Old Testament and to one of my favorite books, a book that I have taught probably five times in a Bible college setting: the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 60 is what I would like you to look at with me, beginning at verse one. The prophet Isaiah says, "Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people."

But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles, non-believers, shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together—unbelievers, kings—they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy.

This is an important passage of Scripture. One of the things it teaches is this: In the midst of deep darkness, God calls upon His people to arise and shine. How do we do that? Well, Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, which is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. In a rather familiar passage in the Gospels, Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 14, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Our good works shine brightly, bringing glory to our Father in heaven.

The prophecy of Isaiah 60 was a word from God through the prophet Isaiah to a people who were going to be in the midst of severe difficulty—a dreadful trial of darkness. This was because of their failures and their sin. They would end up exiled in Babylon. If I were to give any sort of predictive word about where we are going, I would say this: We are going to increasingly feel like we are outsiders in the culture, just as the children of Israel felt when they ended up exiled in Babylon.

In the early part of the 6th century BC, specifically in 586 BC, the city of Jerusalem was sacked and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and the children of Israel were led away as captives to Babylon. They remained there for over 70 years, feeling like outsiders in a culture. I would say that we are going to increasingly feel like we are exiles in Babylon, that we are outsiders to the culture around us. They were exiles in the midst of an antagonistic and paganistic people.

We are going to feel like exiles in the midst of an antagonistic and paganistic culture. In the midst of that antagonism and paganism, God said to His people, "Arise and shine, shine the light of God." Isaiah spoke or wrote this word to the children of Israel probably around 700 BC, specifically between 701 BC and 690 BC. During that decade, Isaiah wrote those words.

About 100 years after Isaiah prophesied, Jerusalem would be besieged by Babylon, and the inhabitants of the city would begin their exile in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, just as Isaiah foretold. In the midst of that, the prophet Jeremiah, about 100 years after Isaiah, would give a word to the people as they were about to go into captivity. I believe this word is applicable to us today because, while we are not going into captivity, we will find ourselves living as outsiders among an antagonistic and paganistic culture. This is the reality of what we see—the convergence of events happening in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe.

So, the prophet Jeremiah spoke a word to the people who were about to enter that period of captivity. I hope you have a Bible and can turn there, but we will also put it up on the screen. In Jeremiah chapter 29, many of you watching this right now may recognize that one of your favorite verses is in this passage: Jeremiah 29:11. Context is really important when studying the Scriptures to understand what is going on in this passage.

In Jeremiah chapter 29, we read in verse one: "Now, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem." Jeremiah was in Jerusalem during the time after the Babylonians had come in, specifically after 586 BC, when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and led away a large group of people captive to Babylon. After that point, Jeremiah, the prophet, remained in Jerusalem and wrote a letter to the captives in Babylon.

So, these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the remainder of the elders who were carried away captive, to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.

So we have an equivalence here between us at this moment. Even though we're not led away captive, we find ourselves in a culture that is increasingly godless, paganistic, and antagonistic. That's where these people were at that time. These are the words that the prophet wrote to those people 2,500 years ago, and they are, in some ways, also a word that God would speak to you and to me, living in a culture that is against Him and against you because it's against Him.

Jeremiah 29, verse four, states, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon." This is God's word to those who were carried away. Notice that God said, "I have caused you to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon."

Here is God's word: Build houses and dwell in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. Take wives and beget sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands so that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be increased there in captivity and not be diminished. Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it. For in its peace, in the peace of that city, you will have peace.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners, who were called at that time soothsayers and would give false words to soothe the people, deceive you. Do not listen to your dreams, which you have caused to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in My name. I have not sent them, says the Lord.

For thus says the Lord: After 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope, an expected end.

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all of your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.

Those are powerful words, and they contain something of God's sovereign rule in sending the people into captivity.

The plight of the people of Israel, carried into the darkness of captivity, is jarring. God says, "I have caused you to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon." He reiterates this command, instructing them to "seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive." They would be in captivity among the nations because God would drive them there and cause them to be carried away captive. Four times in those eleven verses, God makes it clear that their plight was according to His plan. You might want to write that down: their plight was according to His plan.

Why would God allow His people to be in such a fix? There are potentially many good answers to that question, but I want to give you one important consideration. The brightness of God's glory shines greatest from the darkness of our captivity. Two thousand five hundred years ago, there were many false soothsaying prophets, just as there are many false prophets today who have prophesied that the political situation in our country would be different than it currently is.

Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which cause you to be dreamed for. They prophesy falsely to you, not in My name. I have not sent them, says the Lord. That is not a popular word, is it? But this is the situation we are in. We are currently in an increasingly godless, paganistic, and antagonistic culture, just as the exiled people of Israel were two thousand five hundred years ago when they were carried away captive to Babylon.

God calls upon His people to live in the midst of that captivity, to build houses, to plant gardens, to have children, to have grandchildren, and to have great-grandchildren. He calls us to maintain our place as the people of God in the midst of that. I believe that this is a word for us today. This is part of the reason why our focus on small groups, community, and connect groups has always been so important. It allows us, the people of God, to be connected to one another, even if we live in the midst of darkness, and to shine as bright lights in a dark world. This is an opportunity, even though it may not feel like a good opportunity.

This is God's opportunity that He has given to us. It's an opportunity for you and for me, the people of God, to shine the light of the glory of our Father by our good works. In the stop-and-go traffic of strange and chaotic times, let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

These are the two words that have been impressed upon my heart from the Lord: opportunity and shine. As we come into 2021, emerging from a chaotic, challenging time, we may find ourselves entering another chaotic, challenging time when the situation in our culture is not what we would choose. God has given you and me an opportunity in the midst of conflict and chaos. Anytime there is conflict and chaos, God is getting ready to do a work, and He wants us to make the most of that opportunity. He wants us to shine.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Before I pray and before we close, I want to reiterate something I mentioned in the announcements two weeks ago regarding being on mission. I encouraged you to reach out to your neighbors, perhaps by getting them a gift card to a local business, making them cookies, or inviting them to join us online. This is what we need to be doing during this time.

We need to be the community of God's people, still knit together as the gathering of God's people, the church, even though we are not gathered corporately in a large area of our own. The children of Israel, 2,500 years ago, when they were exiled in Babylon, could not gather in their own place as a large assembly because they were separated from Jerusalem and the temple. They found themselves in a culture that was antagonistic, paganistic, and against them. Yet, they thrived. God's people have continued to thrive in harder circumstances than we are experiencing right now.

We may not like these circumstances; I don't like them either. However, this is relatively good in comparison to what some Christians are facing in the rest of the world right now. So, this is an opportunity for you and me to shine, and I hope and pray that you, the people of God, will embrace this calling.

Of God, members of Cross Connection Church, or just anybody who's stumbled on this video on YouTube, I pray that you would make the most of this opportunity. Even though the days are evil, may you shine brightly in a dark world so that people would see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Father, that is my prayer for us, your people. Would you pour out your Spirit and quicken us? Enable us to shine brightly during these challenging times.

Lord, help us to make the most of this opportunity and to redeem the times. Even though the days are evil and things sometimes seem to be against us, we can choose to be pessimistic, frustrated, stressed, and upset, like we're sitting in traffic. Alternatively, we can realize that you have us in this situation, that you have allowed it, and that you have purposed it because you have a plan in the midst of the plight we are going through for your glory.

So God, shine in and through your church. May we be, in many respects, like the moon that has no light of its own but reflects the light of the sun to a dark world. Would you help us to reflect your light and not be eclipsed by the things of this world that can cause us to be so discouraged? Lord, help us to get into the position where we shine your light the greatest. God, do that work in us, your church, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.