I want to take you back to February 2018. And how I was feeling. I had just left my previous ministry location, and I was yet to have the first vision gathering for what would become Mission Grove Church. I had a clear call from God. And I had one of those, what did I do moments? You've ever had those where you take a step of faith, and you're like, ah, God's with me, God is for me, and you step out, like, what am I doing? I wanna go back. I had one of those moments because I had a steady job at the same time, we had a mortgage and 3 kids, and I was like, what am I doing? And, and I was, I was floundering a little bit, just being honest with you, and, and thinking like, how am I supposed to start a church? Uh, I still laugh at fart noises. Like, wait, like I've, I've been a youth pastor for 12 years at this point, and I'm just like, like everyone I knew, like pastors, lead pastors were like this. And I was like, what, what am I supposed to do? And is anybody going to come and how are we going to pay the bills and like all the thoughts coming in. And then I, I saw this ad online for a pastor's gathering. And the speaker was Wayne Cordero. And Wayne, uh, came out of Hawaii. I actually, uh, New Hope, had planted 150 churches, and, and was a great leader. I read some of his books and said, you know what, I'm gonna go. And I just started showing up and, uh, I showed up to different pastor's gatherings, trying to meet people. And I met there and I remember meeting him. And it was so encouraging. I mean, here I was floundering, I was questioning. We hadn't even had the very first gathering yet for Mission Grove. And here he was sharing his story, his testimony of how their church started. And he shared an analogy with me that really stuck with me here, you know, 8 years later. And that is the fact that he said, when you think about The Christian faith. What names come to mind? And people in the room were shouting out like CS Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, uh, more recent guys like Tim Keller and other ones there, some started pointing back to the movements in church history like the Reformation and Martin Luther, or John Calvin or, or going back further into and start naming some of the characters in the Bible and the early church fathers and church leaders, whether it be Paul or Peter, or James or John. And he said, you know, God called all of those people to run in a lap of faith. And that if God called those men and women, To run their lap of faith. Understand that God has placed you and positioned you exactly where you need to be to run this lap of faith. If you're familiar with a 4 by 4 relay, you put your fast, fastest runners on the team, right? You don't, you don't put the guy throwing shot put. I mean, maybe, but probably not. Like at a point, like you put your fast sprinters on the relay team. And as you go, usually you do one fast one out of the gate, but you put some of your fastest runners at the back end of the race. Why? Because the race matters as it gets closer to the end. And so what Wayne Cader mentioned is that as great as those early church leaders were, I believe God put his fastest runners. Now. And here See, we've been called to run our lap of faith. And God wouldn't have positioned you or placed you where you need to be without believing that you could do it. See, we see, we say in church all the time to trust in God, right? Trust in God. I trust in God, right? Like we sing it, we believe it. It's important to believe it. Do you, do you understand though that God also believes in you? Here's what I mean. That when he was leaving this earth, he died on the cross, was buried, rose again, hung out with people for 40 days, appeared to hundreds of people, and in his final words, he was ascending to heaven. He's gonna launch the largest movement in world history known as the church, and the people that he looked to, to launch this movement, one betrayed him, one denied him and denied him and one doubted. When Jesus died on the cross, they didn't go waiting, camping out, tailgating like people do for sports out at the tomb. Man, I can't wait for Sunday, right? We got our tents up for this picture of the disciples playing cornhole, you know what I mean? Outside the tomb, like, oh, he's coming, right? No, they locked themselves into a room, said, we're gonna die. So they, they had walked with Jesus, been with Jesus, heard the sermons, heard the messages, and yet in the final moments, they doubted, they questioned their shortcomings. And Jesus, when he looked at that crew, When he looked at that team. He said, I'm going to use you to change the world. And they did. And if they ran their lap. I'm here to tell you It's time for us to run our lap. As Mordecai said to Esther, the words that we just sang about just a few minutes ago. That yes, it's chaotic, yes, the world is crazy, but what if you were made for such a time as this? What if God placed you exactly where you need to be for this moment right now? You see, if you want to change the world, you gotta change a country. If you're gonna change a country, you gotta change the state. If you're gonna change a state, you gotta change the city. If you're gonna change a city, you gotta change a community. If you're gonna change a community, you gotta change the neighborhood. If you're gonna change a neighborhood, you gotta change the street. If you're gonna change the street, you gotta change a house. If you're gonna change a house, you gotta change the individual, and I'm here to tell you that it starts with you, it starts with me, and it starts now. That in all of world history, God saw the chaos that our world is right now and said, yep, I'm gonna put my best people here. It's time for us to run our lap. This morning's message is entitled It's Harvest Season as we're wrapping up our really fall kickoff to talk about the importance of disciple making. And here's what I want you to write down for today, is that healthy disciples make disciples who make disciples. Healthy disciples make disciples who make disciples. We've shared throughout the series that a disciple is someone who follows Jesus. When Jesus called us first disciples, it was like an apprentice. Somebody who follows Jesus, fellowships with believers, and they were fishermen. So then he used the metaphor and says, and they, I want you to fish for people. But healthy disciples really pass on what was given to them. Can you imagine if you're watching a 4 by 4 relay, and the third person just said, no, I'm good. Like first guy sprints, goes around, full speed, second guy, full speed, handoff. He goes around, full speed, hands off the other guy, he goes, I'm good. And just stops. It would be crazy, right? But yet, if you think about it, every generation is one generation away from either revival or complete rejection of the gospel. It's time for us, as it says in Hebrews 12, to run the race set before us. That you've been placed here for such a time as this, that the baton of faith has been handed to you. Think about it this way. You would not be here today if it wasn't for the faithfulness of somebody else in your life. There's many different testimonies. But one commonality in all testimonies that I've heard. Is that somebody helped. Somebody served, somebody shared, somebody read with, prayed for, came alongside, loved, somebody forgave, somebody encouraged, somebody picked up. We tend to focus on the people who hurt us, right? But what about the people who are there for you when you need it? And your lowest of lows, someone came in, came alongside and said, I understand. What if the gospel had stopped with that person? Where would you be? See, in the neighborhood of faith, don't be a cul- de-sac. I live near a cul-de-sac there and it's great because there's not a lot of traffic, OK. But when it comes to faith, don't let the gospel stop with you. Don't be that person in the telephone game that wasn't paying attention. Have you ever played the telephone game, like one person tells the next person something, you're supposed to repeat the phrase down the line, and by the end, it's something completely different. There's always one kid that's just not paying attention. And then they hear the message, they're like, uh, and he just makes them up and go, Don't be that person. Don't be the person that just decides to stop running. The relay of faith because God placed you exactly where you need to be. Here's the thing, disciple making begins when you care enough. About the person next to you, to help them experience Jesus. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever met somebody who's done CrossFit? All right, next question. Have you ever met somebody who does CrossFit, who doesn't tell you about CrossFit? It's like built-in, right? But why? Why do they share? Because they've experienced a transformation. They've experienced community, they've experienced discipline and hard work. And it, it's naturally comes out and shares with people because it's made an impact. Right. Let's go. OK, if you're not a workout person, you ever had a great meal or dessert? What do you do? You turn around and you share, don't you? Oh, you gotta try this. Oh, you gotta have this. Why? Because saved people serve people, forgiven people, forgive people. People who've experienced genuine grace in a move of God naturally want to share that. That's why it's called good news. Can you imagine if news, uh, news broadcasts acted like spouses when we kinda have our little arguments, you know, and we all have this, let's be honest, right? How are you doing? I'm fine. Right. Can you imagine if you turn on the news, and they're like, we're good. I think something happened. I know, we're all right. No, the news shares what happens, right? In the same way, if you've received, understood, been changed by the good news and the gospel of Jesus, then the extension of that is to share that with others. That's what we're called to do. And it's part of the faith journey. So all month long, we've been walking through this faith journey together. And so let's walk through it here and talk about this 4th stage today. The 1st stage here is the seed phase. The seed is the gospel. It's the word of God. And then ultimately, before Jesus, everyone's seeking something. But when the seed is thrown out, when it's received into the soil of a receptive heart, then ultimately when you engage with the gospel, you end up in a place of belief. You believe that Jesus is Lord and Jesus is the savior. And then as the seed starts to grow and germinate in your life, it starts to take roots in your life. The first growth that you see in a plant is actually underground. And there you want someone to follow Jesus. We shared that the word Christian is only used 3 times in the New Testament, but the word disciple is used 269 times. So to be a disciple is to be a follower of Jesus. And that then you want to establish biblical foundations with the hopes that lead to life change, which happens through obedience. That you actually do what the word says. And if you start to do what the word says through the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, you start to grow, and when you grow, you experience fruit. And we share that with, when you have a life that shows fruit, you become a worker. You go from consumer to contributor, right? And that the role of the church leadership is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, where ultimately, then your goal is to abide in Him. That you cannot produce fruit on your own, just as a branch cannot produce fruit on its own. That when you're connected to the heart of Jesus, to the word of God, to the Holy Spirit working in your life, that from the inside out, you start to grow and you start to produce fruit, but that fruit is for the benefit of others. It shows the health of the tree. It shows the identity of the tree. It carries with it the seed that can produce others and grow. And so then we get to the 4th stage here, that when you have a group of trees together, producing fruit together ultimately creates a harvest. That's why we're called Mission growth, by the way. As no single tree makes a grove, but a grove can start from just one tree. And that when a collection of trees together produces fruit that starts to multiply, you end up here in what's called disciple makers. We have world changers. We are making disciples who make disciples. So the idea here then is to empower people to make disciples with the goal of reproducing who you are. You go from seed to roots to fruit to harvest. But how do you move from one stage to the next? Well, to go from a seed to roots, you need to plant the gospel in your life. Some preach, some water, right? Ultimately, God provides the growth. But you gotta plant the gospel into your life. You gotta know the word and live it out. And then how do you go from roots to fruit? Well, we believe that the best way to grow is in community. Now it's practical to fit the most amount of people in here is to have rows. But we believe the best way to live a transformed life is not in rows, but in circles. That's why we offer men's and women's Bible studies. That's why we offer home growth groups. That's why we offer equipping classes on marriage and parenting and next steps and how to study your Bible. And the reason we have all these different options to reach people in different stages and ages in life is so that you will find your people. There are over 50 1 another passages in the Bible because we need each other. It's not, we're not called the pinky of Christ. We're called the body of Christ, meaning that we need one another. And that you grow in community. When you have somebody to encourage you, say, hey, I've been there. When you have somebody to call you out, I don't do that. We have somebody to come alongside through the highs and lows of life that you grow in community. And when you grow in community, you start to produce fruit. And the best way to go from fruit to harvest then is that we multiply through service. We multiply through service when we move from consumer to contributor. Jesus Christ himself said, I did not come in Mark 10:45 to be served, but to serve. I have a doctorate in leadership. And when I was doing research on my dissertation, I came across the writing by a guy named Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s. And it was a big deal when he coined this new term, and I laughed because it's really not a new term, but people weren't using it before. He coined this term servant leadership. And out of that came a lot of other things. And then in the 80s, you went from transactional, transformational leadership. And so the 80s, you got Stephen Covey, you got Jim Collins, you got John Maxwell, and then this whole genre of leadership writing took off. And so here you have this picture of servant leadership. And it's like, wow, the best leaders are the ones who serve and put others first. Like, wow, that's a great idea. Jesus said this 2000 years ago. Why did it take us 2000 years to embrace the concept that Jesus lived out? Plant, grow, multiply. That's what we do as a church. That our vision is to help every man, woman and child experience Jesus, that we wanna collectively plant the gospel, grow in community, and multiply through service. This is how we can see revival and change happen here. So here's what I wanna do for the next few minutes. We wanna talk about the mandate of disciple making. We wanna talk about the method in which you make disciples, and then we wanna finish talking about the mission field of where we can do it. So the mandate, the method, and the mission field. Look, I know I alliterate, but it's in the Greek, so we gotta go for it. No, I'm just kidding. It's just how my mind works, OK? So first, let's talk about the mandate of making disciples. Jesus said these words in Luke chapter 6, verse 40. He says the disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. That we are called to do as he did, to speak as he spoke, to walk as he walked. So what did he tell us to do? Well, the foundation for not just our church, but all churches here, it's known as the Great Commission. Matthew 28:19-20 says, go therefore and making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Here's what's important to note, is that Jesus gives this commission. In Matthew 28. The, the church doesn't actually start until Acts chapter 2. And the reason that's important is because churches don't simply have missions, but rather the mission of God has a church. Did you catch that? Churches don't just simply have missions, but the mission of God has a church, meaning that the church is God's plan A. He looked at the disciples. He's looking at you and looking at me and says, I'm gonna use you to change the world. I heard a pastor put it this way, that Jesus' last word should be our first priority. Jesus' last word should be our first priority. This is why in Matthew 16:18, he can say things like, we will storm the gates of hell, or the gates of hell will not prevail against us, meaning that the church is on offense. Why should we have confidence? Because there are more believers in the world today than at any point in history. And if you, if you've ever watched a movie a second time? It's pretty cool to watch a movie 2nd or 3rd time, right? Cause you, you pick up on the nuances, you pick up on the stories, like, oh, that's what's coming. Do you ever forget what happened in the movie? And you watch it and you're on the edge of your seat. Or maybe you, you watch a season, but you watch it later, like it was on years ago. And then you, you watch it, and you're like, oh my goodness, what's going to happen? Right. Like you, you turn on, remember, remember the show, uh, 24, Jack Bauer, right? It's a great, great show. Anyway, uh, action, right? I remember rewatching one of that, and like he was in, in like trouble, right? It looked like enemies were all around him. And it's like, oh man, what's gonna happen for Jack? And I'm like, wait a second, this is season 2. I think there's like 8 seasons. And you're right, wait, he's gonna make it out of this somehow, right? If you've read the word, you understand that God wins in the end. Why are we acting as a church like we don't know what's gonna happen? Yes, there's conflict. Yes, there's question. Yes, there's doubts. But if God can predict his own death, Die on the cross, come back on the 3rd day. Defeat death itself, sustain the very world that we're living in and says, hey, I'm coming back. In the meantime, here's what I want you to do. We can trust that he's going to do it. He will build his church. He will build his church. Now, what is discipleship? Sometimes I think we feel like it's too academic, but let's just simplify here that discipleship is helping someone take the next step of obedience with Jesus. Help someone take the next step of obedience. The first church I worked in, the, the pastor was like crazy smart. And I, I say that he was on Jeopardy at one point and like did well, uh, in talking with him, he graduated from college, and he was so smart that the very next year, he taught college Greek. Like 1 year removed from taking the class. Like that's how smart this guy was. We were in a college town. There were a lot of Christian professors in the church, and he would stand up quarterly and have Q&A session where anybody could ask any theological question. And he would just, oh, well, there's actually 4 different responses here and go through, and I like, I saw that. I was like, I'm not that. I can't do that. But luckily I read back through the scriptures and I see the people that God used. And it's the educated, the uneducated, the wealthy, the poor, men, women, every ethnicity, every background, that God will use your personality, your design, your makeup, even your mistakes to reach people around you with the gospel. And so by thinking through disciple making as helping someone take their next step of faith, everyone's got a part to play. So naturally, if, if you've never met Jesus, or you've heard the gospel, that's the first step. They try to separate evangelism and disciple making, when in reality, the first step of disciple making is sharing the good news. That could be somebody's first step, to hear the gospel, to respond to it. Maybe it's to come to church. You can invite someone. Maybe it's to join a group. Maybe it's to step out and serve. Maybe it's to read the Bible together. If you wanna have fun, read the Bible with somebody for the first time, and to see the Bible through fresh eyes. To come alongside, to hear their questions, to walk alongside that with them, to pray together. Wherever they are in their journey, there is a next step to take. And so you don't have to have it mastered. Let me tell you, you're, you're not. You're not an expert. And that's OK, because you don't have to be. Because you're not the expert, you're the sign. Here's what I mean. If you've ever taken your kids to a theme park, pick your theme park. Let's just go with Disneyland, but you could work for Six Flags or Universal or SeaWorld, any of those things. Imagine you're taking your kids to Disneyland. OK, when you get closer, you start to see the exit signs, right? Disneyland, 10 miles. Disneyland, 5 miles. Disneyland, 2 miles. Disneyland, this exit. Can you imagine if I took my kids, and when I saw that sign, Disneyland, next exit, I pulled over like, we made it. Look at this sign. It's green, it's got an arrow. Wow, it's metal. All right, let's go back home. They would be upset, right? Why? Because the sign is not the theme park. We're not the theme park. We're the sign pointing people to Jesus. We're like Jesus, 10 miles. Jesus 5 miles. Jesus, Jesus is right here. Jesus chain breaker right here. Jesus, the one who transformed my life. Jesus, the one who healed my marriage. Jesus, the one who can provide and sustain you. Jesus, the one who changes your life, right here. We are the sign pointing to Jesus. And if we're the sign pointing people to Jesus, we can, we can do that. Everybody can do that. You see the woman at the well, you see the demon possessed man, you see the tax collector. The disciples messed up over and over again. And yet God looked down at them and says, I'm gonna use you with the power of the Holy Spirit to change the world. If God can use them, I'm telling you, God can use you and God can use me. But we're not Disneyland. We're the exit sign pointing people to the one who is. Our mandate is to make disciples. But next, let's talk about the method. What does it look like? How do we do it? How do we do it? Simply put, the method of Jesus' people. It's people, it's relationships. Somewhere along the line, as churches, we try to program everything. And, and do that, and, and again, there's programs, just as there's workout programs, just as there's eating things like, I understand that, but the whole point of it is to actually do it. I never understood the Cooking Channel until I watched it. You know what I'm talking about? Like, I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm usually like an ESPN HDTV guy. It's a weird mixture, but I've been married 20 years, you just embrace it, OK? Next thing you know, I'm judging people's paint colors on, on the TV shows. You know what I'm talking about. OK Well, I come across the Food Channel and they were like grilling something, oh, that kind of looks good. And next thing I know, like an hour goes by. I'm just, I'm just watching people. Cooking food And I start to get hungry Right. But here's the thing, it did nothing actually in my life. You can be inspired, you can be encouraged. But nothing changes until you do it. We talk about CrossFit. Like, if you just turn on when they do the CrossFit Games, you're not going to get in shape. Look at those people work out. Watching the Food Network. Look at those people cook. That's good. They're good. You got to actually do the thing. Jose, who was singing up here. He is a great plumber. If you ever need any needs, I'll plug him if you're a great guy. OK. How do you think he learned? By doing. By apprenticing, coming alongside, learning the skills and then putting them into practice the same way. That's what disciple making is. Do the thing. Paul writes this in 2 Timothy 2:2, or actually verse 1 and 2. I wanna highlight verse one, because I want to understand where the power comes from. You then, my child, directly investing in this leader of the early church in Ephesus. He says, you then my child, referring to Timothy, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Hey, don't forget where the power comes from. He says, and what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So what we see here is we have Paul. Investing in Timothy. Who then is teaching faithful men to teach others also. Here's the thing What if faith stopped at one of those points? What if Paul hears the message and he goes, sweet, I'm saved. OK, I'm good. No, passed it on. What if Timothy said, thanks, Paul. This is great. Held on to it No, what you've heard from me. And trust to faithful men. What if it stopped there? And he says to others also, you would not be here in the room if it was not for somebody in your life along the way. Even if you were coming back because of an experience you had as a child. Somebody in your life prayed for, walked alongside, shared with you, served you, loved you, hugged you, encouraged you, shared something with you, something in your psyche to where he said, yep, I'm gonna go. What if that person had stopped? What if that person didn't share, didn't serve, didn't love? What I'm telling you is that to be a follower of Jesus is to make other followers of Jesus, that we're called to make disciples who make disciples. That's empowerment. What is empowerment? Empowerment is giving somebody the authority and the ability to do something. If you work in the marketplace, you've probably been frustrated before when you haven't had both of those things. Maybe somebody gave you the responsibility of this huge project, but then didn't give you the authority to make decisions. Or maybe you've been given the authority to make decisions, but you don't have the budget, or you don't have, you don't have the people or you don't have the training in order to make it happen. You need both to be empowered. What does empowerment look like? Well, equipping is says, hey, come do this thing with me. We talked about that last week. The church leadership, the purpose of church is equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Hey, come with me. Let's do this thing together. Let's read together. Let's pray together. Let's serve together. Let's do this together. Empowerment takes it a step further. He says, now you go do this. You go do this. Right? We've done it together. Now you can do it. And then multiplication says, OK, now you take somebody with you. We move from equipping to empowering to multiplication. By bringing people along the process with you. Now the pushback might be like, OK, John, but I can't do it. And my response to you is correct. You can't in your own power, do it. But remember what was Jesus' words right before he gave the commission. He said, all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. So he gave us the authority. And then in Acts 1:8, he's going to give us the ability. He says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. Understand that God gives you the authority and the ability to go and be his witnesses, to be difference makers and world changers. Now you might think to yourself, OK, I can't change the world though. Maybe But I promise you you can change somebody's world. So, we talked about the mandate of disciple making. We're all supposed to do it. We talked about the method of disciple making, it's people, it's people in your lives, Paul to Timothy, to faithful leaders, to others also, all the way down for 2000 years to where we are right now. But now let's talk about the mission field. Now, I love missions. Uh, I love, I've been on many mission trips. I've seen some crazy things happen on mission trips. We support missions. Over the last several years, we've given thousands and thousands of dollars to the Timothy Initiative, which gets their name from this very verse, by the way, 2 Timothy 2:2. Where they've planted thousands of churches all around the world. We're going to Mexico in November to build a house for a family in need, to share and build upon missions. But understand, God has placed you exactly where you need to be for this exact moment in time. Meaning you don't need a new mission field. You need to view where you are as your mission field. Jesus said these words in Matthew 9:35-38. He says, and Jesus went through all the cities and villages, teaching their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and affliction. And when he saw the crowds, notice this, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them. You can judge the world, or you can influence the world, but you can't do both. We have to get out of this mindset as believers that it's like an us versus them. Why are you judging the very people God died for? Why are you judging the very people that God called you to pray for and to reach? So we have different political views. So we have different backgrounds, different experiences. You can judge the person, or you can influence the person. You're not gonna be able to do both. You can reach the person right in front of you. Jesus, look at the crowd. Look at the pagans, looked at the craziness, and he had compassion for them. Why? Because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. They don't know any better. And then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. Where has God placed you? Where do you live? Where do you work? Where even do you play? What are your interests? What are your hobbies? God can use that to bring glory to God. I can only speak for myself, but I took the fact that I'm a giant kid. I'm not afraid of public speaking. And, and I love families and, and so I said, OK, God called me to start a parent program at the local school. So I started at breakfast. I love sports. Back to a little too much at times if I'm being honest. I jumped into coaching That's how I'm wired though, right? How can you bake for the glory of God? How can you Do accounting for the glory of God. How can you launch podcasts and encourage entrepreneurs or, or teach kids, or clean bathrooms, or come alongside and do yard work, or organize and systematize or promote and online and create videos and encourage and write notes. And like, however God wired, you can do that for the glory of God. You don't need a new mission field. You need a new mindset for the mission field that God's already placed you in. Why? Because healthy disciples make disciples who make disciples. Let's run the lap that God's placed us in. We have thousands of years of incredible church leaders, people of courage, people of boldness, people of generosity. Sharing their faith, starting organizations, changing lives. But understand that it goes down to the individual, it goes down to the one. So don't let this relay stop with you. Don't let the gospel stop with you. I wanna end this morning by simply asking you, who's your one? Who's your one? Who is one name that God placed on your heart. One person in your circle of influence, a neighbor, coworker, a friend, a family member, child. Who is one person that you can help take one step of faith? You don't have to have it all together. You don't have to memorize all of the New Testament. You have to love Jesus. You have to try to do what Jesus did. And then you invite people to come with you. I want you to think of one name. If you have, I want you to go ahead and write it down. If you have notes, write down a name that you're praying for. If you have your phones, you can pull out your phones, write, make a little note. I want, what is one name that comes to mind, one person in your circle. That you can call, that you can text, you can share a meal, that you can serve. You can bless, you can love, you can encourage. You can read with, prayed for, pray with, share the gospel with. There's one name. With that name, here's what I want you to do this week. I want you to pray for that name every day. This is one prayer repeated throughout the week. Lord, How can I help? Like, that's where you put the name in. Take the next step of obedience. Lord, how can I help them? How can I love them? How can I show them? The goodness of God And then I want you to take one step this week. Who's your one? One name One prayer, one step. Imagine what God could do. If everybody in this room. And everybody watching online right now. Intentionally. Try to help somebody in their life, take their next step of obedience and faith with Jesus. I tell you what would happen Is God would move. Revival would start. Lives would change. And we've become a little bit more like Jesus than we were before. Church isn't simply a building to come to, it's a movement to belong to. So don't let the movement stop with you. Right. You've been handed the baton of faith. Somebody shared it with you. Somebody encouraged you, loved you, prayed for you, came alongside, gave you a second chance, gave you a third chance. Someone came alongside and says, God is for you, God is with you, God is in you. God will work through you, and God loves beyond you. Amen. It's time now for us to run our lap. For many of us in the room, your next step. Is to help somebody else take their next step. If we do that, I'm telling you. We're going to see lives change. Because for 2000 years. The gospel has been changing lives all around the world because light always shines in the darkness. Let's shine for him. Will you join me? Dear Heavenly Father, just thank you for who you are and what you've done. God help us to know that we, we might not reach the world, but God, we can help change somebody's world. And we pray for the people in our lives. Whatever that name is, whatever her name is. Whatever individuals you've prompted in our lives this week when we help encourage and love and text and share and serve. And help them take their next step. Help us to run the lap of this relay of faith with you. To run with our eyes fixed on you, and in doing so become a little bit more like you than we were last week. We love you, Jesus, and let me pray. Amen.