[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our
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[00:00:24] Speaker B: Now we're in a series on the fruit of the spirit. We thought it'd be a great series to do over the summer as we talk about the qualities that God wants to develop in the lives of his kids. And all of these different aspects of the fruit of the spirit are attainable. They're achievable. It's possible to have these elements within each of our life. And as we said, the Bible speaks of the fruit of the spirit in the singular. Not fruits in the plural, but fruits singular. And in that fruit, there are nine different clusters, or you might call, say, nine different flavors. And each week we're taking a different piece of that, a different flavor, if you will. We're talking about it. So if you have a Bible, look in Galatians five, and let's revisit where we've been so far, verse 22. But the fruit of the spirit is love. Remember we talked about that the first week out, then joy, then peace. Then last weekend we talked about long suffering. Remember, we said that's to be long tempered. It's the idea of being patient, the idea of being forbearing with one another. And so we talked about that last week. Now, this week we're going to move to probably one of the things we need in our society and in our community more than anything. Look at that next word, kindness. We need a little more kindness. Wouldn't you agree that the world could use some kindness right now? And the Bible says if the world is going to see kindness, it ought to see kindness in the lives of God's people. We ought to set the example. We ought to be known for being kind people. Our church ought to be known for being kind. Now we'll never be perfect. You're not going to find a perfect church. You aren't going to find perfect people. The best any of us will ever be are sinners saved by grace. That's it. But in the midst of all of that, the Holy Spirit living within us has this incredible ability to develop these qualities that make us stand out from people who do not yet know Christ. It makes a difference. And so the Bible speaks of this quality called kindness. I heard about a guy who went into a cafe, a little country cafe. He sat at a table. A waitress came along. She was very agitated, very frustrated or even a little bit rude to him. She said, what do you want? He said, well, I kind of like some eggs and maybe a kind word, if that's possible. So she just walks off kind of in a huff. She goes back in the kitchen, and a little while she comes back and just drops this plate of greasy eggs in front of him. And he looks at her and he says, well, what about those kind words? She said, you want some kind words? He said, yeah. She said, don't eat those eggs.
Well, we could use some kindness. We had some of our kids that went with some of the adults to Uganda. I was talking to Brian Wood last weekend. He was telling me their kids, Linda's kids, Ethan and Hannah, went on the trip with a group of others, and he was telling me this incredible story I wanted to share with you. When we were talking about kindness, a new group of kids came in from a village speaking a dialect that they were still trying to understand. Remember, this is an orphanage we support there in Uganda. And our missions team were there to help administer to those people. And while they were there, this new group of kids came in, and Hannah noticed that one of the kids didn't have a mattress. They had a place to sleep, but it was just the wire framing and they didn't have mattresses. And so she asked, she said, well, why doesn't he have a mattress? And they said, well, we can't afford it. And she said, well, how much is a mattress? And she said, well, about $40. So Hannah gets on a mission. She goes and promotes it to the other people within the group. And several of the other people within the group said, we're going to get mattresses for these kids. And before you know it, they had mattresses for all those brand new kids. That's kindness. Let's give them a big hand. Isn't that great? A great story.
I mean, really, when you think about it, kindness. Kindness is an action. It's an action. But, guys, it starts with an attitude. Kindness begins within the heart. And if our heart is not transformed, if our heart is not tenderized, we'll never be kind. So you have to understand, kindness begins as an inside job. It begins within the heart. Again, it is an action. Kindness is, in fact, described as love in action. It is how we demonstrate our love for other people. One of the qualities of it is kindness. So it is an action, but it's an action that starts out as an attitude. Now, here's what I wish, and you see, if you agree with me on this one, too, I wish that people would give as much attention to their attitude as they do their appearance. We give a lot of attention to our appearance, don't we? Take time in the mirror. We prepare our day. We want to make sure everything looks right. But how many of us spend that much time giving attention to our attitude? And it doesn't matter how great you look and how well you present yourself, if you have a bad attitude, it spoils all of that. In fact, listen to what he said in Colossians. This is a great verse. Colossians, chapter three, verse twelve. He said, look, put on, remember, put on kindness. Like apparel, you put on kindness. In other words, as you dress in the morning, one of the things you have to prepare and really get your mind ready to do is ready to encounter the world and encounter the world by being kind. And believe me, when you began to determine, I'm gonna be kind, you're gonna be swimming upstream. That is not the flow of the world. That is not where most people are. And when you say, I will be kind, then you are absolutely going to stand out to how most people are and how most people respond.
Kindness is more of a willful thing than a, than an emotional thing, though kindness has an emotion that's attached to it. Kindness is more willful. Kindness means I'm kind even when I don't feel like goddess being kind. Now, sometimes you're just not in the zone, you don't feel like it. But if you are, if you are, if you're in that headspace where you're saying, I want to serve my savior and I want to do good for people that I'm dealing with today, then even when I don't feel like it, I endeavor to be kind. What does it look like? Well, maybe holding a door for someone, maybe allowing someone to go first, even though you were the next in line. Go right ahead. You look like you're in a hurry. I'll let you go before me. Kindness happens in little things, little acts of service that maybe people don't even see or people don't even recognize. But I can tell you this morning, your heavenly father sees those acts of kindness. In fact, the Bible says in one corinthians 13, love is kind. And one of the descriptions of our savior is that he's kind. Listen to Titus three, verse four. But when the kindness and the love of God our savior appeared. He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. When the Bible describes the coming of Jesus into the world, the Bible says it demonstrated not only the love of God, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. But think about this, guys. It symbolized the kindness of God. God is a kind God. In his kindness, he sent forth his son Jesus. And in two, Peter, chapter one and verse five, the Bible says we are to add some things to our faith. We're to add some things to our faith. Now, when you receive Jesus as savior, according to romans twelve, you receive him because you have been dealt by God a measure of faith that gives you the an opportunity to receive him. In other words, I have enough faith to receive Jesus. I have a measure of faith. And that's where we are. I'll start out, everybody has an equal measure of faith. Let me explain it a little more this way. It didn't take more faith for you to become a christian than it did for me. God has dealt to everyone the measure of faith. An equal measure of faith. Now, why do some people achieve more and some people accomplish more for God than others? It's not because God placed favorites. I don't think God looks down out of heaven and says, any many mighty mo, you go to heaven, to hell you go.
I don't think he works that way. I don't think he has favorites. Get this. I think he has intimates God has people who wants more of him and who desires more of him. Remember I told you the good news and the bad news? The good news is you can have all of God you want. Isn't that exciting? That's great news. I can have all of God. He doesn't limit himself to his children. I can have all of God I want. That's good news. Here's the bad news. I have all of God I want.
I have to increase my capacity and my desire and my heart for God. So back to first Timothy, second Peter, rather one, he says, add to your faith. And when you read the things that we are to add to our faith, among the things he said we are to add to our faith, he said, add kindness.
Kindness, it doesn't just automatically come. We have to add that to our faith. And as we partner with the Holy Spirit, he can develop the quality of kindness. We can add that quality to our life. And he went on to say in verse eight, if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective. I don't know about you. I want to be effective in all that I do when I represent God, I want to be effective. I don't want to be, you know, I don't want to be a hindrance. I don't want to be a stumbling block. I want to be a stepping stone. I want to help people. I want to move someone closer to God because I've been in their life or I've interacted with them. And he's saying, these are the qualities in two, Peter, that will keep you from being ineffective. And one of the qualities is just being kind of just simply saying, I want to develop the quality of kindness. I want to see that happen in my life. Now, let me give you another passage that underscores this. In Ephesians chapter four, if you drop down in verse 31, the Bible says, here, get rid of all bitterness. Now listen to these emotional things that we hold on to. Get rid of bitterness.
In Hebrews, he talks about the root of bitterness, the root of bitterness. He tells us in Hebrews to be careful that you don't allow the root of bitterness to take hold of your soul. And here's what. Here's what you find. Where there is the root of bitterness, eventually there will be the fruit of bitterness. That bitterness will eventually be manifested in some way in your life. It'll be manifested in how you talk. It'll be manifested in how you treat other people. When a person is bitter, they don't just hold on to that within them. It eventually works its way without. And that's what he's saying in Ephesians 431, get rid of bitterness, because notice what happens then. It becomes rage. And that rage is anger. Their anger is brawling. That means just to not let things go, to focus and allow things to just percolate in your mind and heart, he said, and slander. That's when we just go after people. And then he said, in every form of malice, he said, get rid of those things if you got those qualities, and if those qualities are defining your life, Paul says, you and I have the ability through the power of the Holy Spirit to get rid of those things and in their place, notice what he said. Keep reading. Verse 32. Be kind. Be kind. I mean, it is the antithesis to all of those negative qualities, is kind. Be kind and compassionate, one to another, forgiving each other. What is the standard? Just as in Christ, God forgave you. Just as he has forgiven us, we are to forgive others. Just as he was kind to us, we are to be kind to others. I love that. Ephesians four, chapter. I would encourage you to read it before you close out your day today. Back up. In verse 22, he refers to us as having an old self and a new self. You've heard that analogy that comes from Ephesians 422. He says, your old self. That's our old sinful nature that we always have. When Jesus came into your life and the Holy Spirit sealed you and the spirit of God lives within you, he did not eradicate. He did not do away with the old nature. I still have the old nature, but now I have a new nature that is competing with the old nature. So we're constantly at war within ourselves, considering which nature we nurture, because the dominant nature is the nature you nurture. And if you nurture the old nature, that will be more of what you are. But if you will nurture the new nature, walk in the spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, Galatians five, then that will be the part of you that is dominant. So he says, put off. Put off this old nature that is being conformed. That is being conformed and be transformed by the life of your new nature. So there's two concepts that happen. Either I'm being conformed, as he talks about in romans twelve, into the image of the world, or I'm being transformed into the image of God. Now, when I'm allowing my life to be transformed, one of the qualities of a transformed life is this quality of kindness. Kindness. Now, I want to stay in Ephesians four for a moment, and I want to talk about three things that kindness will change. Number one, kindness will change the attitude. Remember, I said kindness really starts as an attitude that results in an action. But it begins, remember, as an attitude. So it begins from within. Put off the old self. Verse 22. Again, put on the new self. Allow this attitude, he said, to be made new, verse 23, in the attitude of your mind. So kindness begins as an attitude. Remember, it is an inside job. The Bible says in Romans twelve, again, we are to present ourselves as living sacrifices. Remember, I've told you about the problem with the living sacrifice. You know what it is? It keeps crawling off the altar.
When you present yourself as a living sacrifice, it's not a one and done. It's a living sacrifice, not a dead one. And a living sacrifice has a tendency to crawl off the altar. We want to take over again. We don't want to yield to God. We don't want to let him be in control. So that's why I said a moment ago, it's a constant battle. Kindness is a constant battle. If you doubt me, if you doubt me, you determine this morning I'm going to be kind. The rest of this day I'm going to be kind. And I promise you, you're going to get challenged on that probably before you get off the parking lot.
Why don't they go? For the love of God, they could pull out. Five cars could have gone. Now you've just sit right inside of them and worship Jesus with them.
That's why I'm real careful when I drive. That's why I don't put a bumper sticker on my car. No, I'm not that guy. I'm not that bad.
But I've told you before, if you have a little problem with road, I've told you before, don't put one of our bumper stickers on your car.
Don't do it. Put milestone our fellowship church. Don't put them at church on there. I love those guys, but don't do that to me.
But I'm just suggesting that you get challenged, you'll get challenged. It's a battle if you're going to determine to be kind. It takes an absolute change of attitude. It is a living sacrifice. Listen. Two chronicles 416 we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly, we are being renewed day by day. He said, this is a day by day process of yielding to the Holy Spirit and allowing him to develop this fruit in my life and transforming me. And one of the ways he's transforming me is when I can see kindness as a reality in our life. So kindness is an attitude, right? Number one changes the attitude. Number two, when it changes the attitude, here's what will happen. It will change the atmosphere. Kindness changes the atmosphere. Ephesians 424 put on the new self created how to be like God and how are we like him? In righteousness and holiness.
It will change the atmosphere. Someone has well said. Your life is either like a thermostat are a thermometer.
A thermometer will register the temperature.
A thermostat will regulate the temperature.
And you either go into a situation and you either just register whatever's going on with the people you're around, you kind of morph in them, or you're more like them, or you transform them and they are better because they've been in your presence. And one of the things kindness will do, it will impact and influence the atmosphere. A person that is genuinely kind is attractive to everyone. People are drawn to people who are genuinely kind. There's an incredible quality. I heard about a group of neighbors in a neighborhood, and they were complaining because one of their neighbors wasn't taking care of their lawn. The grass was out of control. The weeds were everywhere. It was just really kind of embarrassing. And so finally, these neighbors kind of got together and said, you know, we're just going to report this to the HOA and see if something can be done about these people's yard. I don't know what's going on. Well, before they did that, somebody said, well, let me at least talk to them and see what's going on. Well, here's what happened, guys. When they went and talked to the lady, they found out that her husband was dying of cancer and she was disabled and unable to take care of the lawn. And all of a sudden, that information transformed the attitudes of those neighbors. And you know what they did? They prepared meals. The guys took care of the yard. Anything that family needed, they saw to it that those needs were met. And it was through that knowledge and through that information that kindness was displayed. It changed the atmosphere of that entire neighborhood because someone was kind enough to find out what was going on. One of the things I would challenge us all to do, to really be kind is slow down. Slow down. We're moving at such a fast pace. We pass like ships in the night. We're all busy people. And one of the things that will keep you from being kind is busyness, hurriedness. You know how it is. If you're late to going anywhere and you rush out of the house, you may not tell everybody, hey, see you later. Love you guys. Whatever. You may just breeze right by them. You come into the office, you're running late. So you just walk right past people. You don't speak to anybody. You're running late.
On the other hand, when you are, you got plenty of time. You're not in a hurry, you're not running late. You got plenty. You can slow down. Now. All of a sudden you see what the kids are doing or what they're not doing and talk to the spouse a little bit. You can chill. You can kind of get things around the house done because you got up a little earlier. You're not hurried. You're not late. You come into the office, you're a little early. You're not late. You're not hurried. You've slowed your roll a little bit. You can talk to people. You can interact and hear what's going on. I'm just saying one of the things that keeps us from being kind is our lives are moving at too fast a pace.
Sometimes we have to slow down. Sometimes we have to observe the people around us and the circumstances around us. And many times, christians aren't kind because they're too stinking busy.
We just got caught up in the pace of the race, and we need to slow down a little bit so we can see the quality and see the value of kindness. So slow down. Another thing we have to do is learn to listen more.
Not just slow down, but learn to listen more.
I mean, so many times we don't hear people because if we're engaged in a conversation, we're thinking about what we're about to say and listen to what they're instead of listening to what they're trying to say.
And when we don't listen to people, sometimes our first thought is to fix their problem when they really may not want their problem fixed as much as they want to just process their problem with someone who has slowed down enough to care enough to listen to them. So you have to listen to them. There's a thing the psychologists call it active listening. And I don't know why, but they focus on men more than women with this. I have no idea why, but they say men struggle with this more than women. And so they tell men in this exercise that if your wife says, you just don't listen to me, then they say you practice reflecting what she's saying, repeating back to her, and here's what I understand that you've just said. You know, it's called active listening. And that's not a bad exercise. That really isn't a bad exercise to make sure, because our bodies are wired with mirror neurons. Mirror neurons meaning that we have this ability within our minds to reflect the emotion of other people. And when you slow down and you listen, you have an opportunity to be responsive, and you can be reflective of someone who is sharing something with you that may be emotional. And.
And your brain has already been wired with the capacity to empathize and or sympathize with that person if you slow down and if you listen.
Now, it's challenging, because I know in my line of work, a lot of times in the lobby, I'll be talking to someone and they'll bring up and say, bill, we want to show you this, our brand new baby. This is the first weekend we've been here. And so all of a sudden, oh, brand new. Look at this baby. Oh, look at that. You know, I got grandbabies. I love babies. And so I'm having this great moment with someone. But right behind them, there may be someone that's about to tell me. My mom passed away last week. So I have this moment of meeting them up here with this emotion, and that is so amazing. And the next person I'm talking to is down here. Oh, I'm so sorry you're going through that. And I'm telling you, if I don't listen and I don't read the room and I don't slow down, I miss those moments to connect.
And I'm just saying, if that can happen to me, that can happen to anybody in this room. So in order to change the atmosphere, we have to slow down and we have to listen to the people around us.
Here's what I found.
Everybody in this room and everybody watching online, everybody is hurting over something.
Every one of us are broken in some places, in some way, sometimes by someone. We're all broken. We're all broken.
And it's important because, really, your life and mine might be the only Bible somebody ever reads, the only glimpse of Jesus somebody may ever see, is what they see in us. And if we're too hurried and we're not connected and we're not listening and we're not tuned in and we're not dialed in, how many opportunities do we miss to encourage someone and to be that voice in their life that could have made the difference in their day?
So I'm saying, guys, it's an attitude that can change the atmosphere. If we get into this routine of practicing it every day, listening to people slowing down so you can spend time with people, making sure you follow those disciplines, and then notice what happens when the attitude changes. The atmosphere changes, and ultimately it changes the action.
Verse 30 says, you don't grieve the spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. In ephesians four, he talks about two things. He talks about things that please God and things that displease him. And if I know my heart, I don't want to displease God. When I displease my heavenly father, I hurt the fellowship I have with him. I hurt the ability that he has to meet basic needs that I might have. And so I don't want to cut myself off from the savior or the source.
I told you several times that you're connected to God, first by relationship. That's irrevocable and unbreakable. You're sealed with the spirit of promise. Ephesians one, unto the day of redemption, meaning until you step into the presence of God, you're sealed by the spirit. You're in a relationship. He's your father. You're his child. That doesn't end. Here's what can be broken, not relationship, but fellowship. You absolutely can break fellowship with God. You can be his child and be out of sync with him. You can be his child and be away from him. And so one of the things that he says that will grieve me, he says, look at it in verse 22, ephesians four. I'm back there again, verse 15. Rather, he says, speak the truth.
Lying will sever fellowship, anger, severs fellowship, bitterness. He said, severs fellowship, dishonesty, severs fellowship, slander, which is negative talk, which is talk that tears down other people. All of those things. Sever fellowship with God. But he said, these are the things that please him. Verse 32, ephesians four, kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness.
You know, one of the most dynamic qualities of the early church, when the church was launched in the Book of Acts, one of the greatest qualities of that church, that caused it to grow to the extent that it grew. And keep in mind, in the book of Acts, they were not allowed to meet corporately like we are. You had that incredible gathering on the day of Pentecost, where you had a big corporate gathering. But from the time the church was launched, Rome would not allow them to meet in assemblies like this. So the church was in homes in small groups by the thousands all over the city. And the apostles ministered through the doctrine of Christ to those various small groups, and that's how the church was formulated. G. Campbell Morgan, a great scholar of another day, estimated that the Church of Jerusalem probably grew out to a membership of about 250,000 at its peak. That's a big church, 250,000 people. But it's a church that was meeting in small groups all over the city because they could not legally meet corporately. And so that's how the church was formed, and that's what was happening. And one of the qualities of that church that was seen in how the groups responded to people in pain was a dynamic in the greek language that we know to be Koinonia.
Acts, chapter four, verse 32. The Bible says they had all things common. Now, understand, that's not teaching communism or socialism. What is simply saying is they were responsive to people in need. The word koinonia means two things. Number one, it means sharing something with someone.
Like, I say, hey, Joey, how are you doing? Joey says, you know, I'm doing pretty good. Bill, how's it going? I'm going. I'm okay, man. Well, that sounded funny. What do you mean? You're just okay, man. So we talk a little bit. I'm sharing something with Joey. And then a little later on in the week, Joey calls me up as he's done, and he says, man, I got some jumbala. He's a Cajun boy. I've got some. You come by the office, man, I'm gonna hook you up. And I go by his office, and now all of a sudden, he's saying, man, what can I do to help you? You're my buddy, and we've known each other long. Now he's gone from sharing something with someone to sharing in something with someone. You see the difference?
Sharing something with someone is when the neighbors found out that this man had cancer and his wife was disabled, and that was information, and they needed to know that. That's important. It's part of it. But sharing in something is when they went and got the lawn mowers and the hedge clippers and the weed eaters and the ladies began to get food and they began to plan a way to take care. That was sharing in something with someone. I'm not saying get in people's business, but I'm saying be sensitive. Remember, slow down. Listen.
Understanding that one of the traits of Koinonia is a connection with people when they're going through things. And in the first century, when those people became Christ followers, you know what happened. Not only did Rome, was Rome suspicious of them, the government, but even the religious people were suspicious of them because the jewish people were very suspicious of christians. And what would happen back in the day, if you were following after Christ? They would descenagogue you. You would put out of the synagogue. You were no longer participating. Well, if you were desynagogued, they wouldn't do business with you.
A lot of people lost their jobs. So now, all of a sudden, these Christians, this new group, this new sect of believers, are being put out of the synagogue. They're not being able to buy, sell, or trade their goods.
They're in desperate need. And Koinonia happened when they went to their group. And in their group, they shared with their group what was going on, and the group was responsive. Like, for example, give you an example. Somebody would have said, well, I've got two of these, and I don't need but one. Why don't I give you one that's sharing them?
I got some extra food. I can help you this week. And maybe down the road, if we get in a bind, we'll help each other that's what I'm getting at. They had all things common, acts 432. They were sharing what was marking that compassion. It was an attitude that was changing the atmosphere, that was changing the action. They were demonstrating kindness as a church. That's why we move toward the CRC ministry. We always had a heart to do this. We've always done this in the earliest days that our church started at Carroll High school, and then we went down to the grocery store in Keller and were there before we got out here. We've always helped people when they needed help.
We've had a group of core people. We did it out of the back of suburbans and we did it. You know, my wife's heart was always, Bill, we got to do more as a church. And if God ever blesses us with resources, we need to help people that are hurting. So that's always been kind of a part of our DNA.
And once we were out here and we had some other folks that stepped up and helped us really start getting this food pantry off the ground, and we did it in the APR over here. And you guys remember those days of setup and breakdown while we began to prepare to build a building where it could stand on its own, have its own unique identity. And what was driving that kindness?
Being able to say to people, when you come to this church and you need something, we don't want to turn anybody away. We may not be able to make their mortgage payment or make their car payment, or we can't make their. But we can take their groceries off of them. And nine out of ten of them said if I didn't have a grocery bill, I could pay my house, I could pay my rent, I could pay my car if I didn't buy groceries. We got you covered. Our church invests thousands and thousands of dollars every week to make sure we don't turn anybody away. You know how many people 1200 families represents? Think about it. The average family out here is about a family of four. Four. Some have less and some have more, but probably, on average, four. So think about that number. 1200 times four are the numbers of people that we're feeding every week. Every week. That's astonishing. And what drives the heart of that is what I'm talking about this morning. It's kindness. It's realizing that we can't do everything, but we can do something. And God is going to hold us accountable, not for the things we couldn't do, but for the things that we could do. So let's, as a church, let's do what we can do. Let's help. We can do this. Let's help people. So slow down, listen, look around, see if there's someone you could help with some kindness. Let me give this to you, and we'll go. Joseph Bailey lost his son.
And when his son died, he wrote a book called a view from the hearse.
And in this book, of you from the hearse, here's what he said.
I was sitting, torn by grief, and someone came in and talked to me about God's dealings, of why it had happened, of the hope beyond the grave.
He talked constantly, and he said things that I know were true. And I was unmoved except to wish that he would go away. And he finally did.
But then another came and sat beside me in my grief. He didn't talk. He didn't ask me any probing questions. He just sat beside me for an hour or more. He listened. When I said something, he answered briefly. He prayed simply and left. And I was moved. I was comforted, and I hated to see him go. That's kindness.
Kindness is just slowing down, being in the moment, realizing there's people all around you that are hurting. Can you help all of them? No. You can help some of them. So do what you can with what you have for as long as you can to show somebody some kindness. I want our church to be a kind church. I want to be a kind person.
I hope the people that come here experience kindness. You won't experience perfection. Good night. You haven't heard it in the last 20 minutes you've been here. You're not even close. But I hope the thing you experience when you leave a place like this is kindness. You know, you're in the midst of people that really love God and love people. And we want to help you as much as we can, as far as we can, to get you through this period of time of brokenness, to help you when you're hurting, to listen if you need it, to express kindness. Let's pray together.
Father, thank you for your word. That always challenges us, causes us to stop and think.
And, Father, I pray that we can be and we will be a kind church to help our neighbors in need, to do more for those in places around the world to realize that everyone that walks through the doors of this building and everyone who turns on a device or a television that watches these services are hurting in some way. They're broken in some place.
And I pray, Father, that what they'll feel is the presence of the Holy Spirit and that they'll feel kindness and understanding and love.
I pray you'll heal some broken hearts.
I pray you'll bless some people in some hard seasons.
I pray, Father, you'll meet the needs of our church in ways where we can continue to feed people and help people. You know the need. And I pray you'll turn hearts toward that generosity, that we can continue to expand the outreach of helping hurting people.
And finally, Father, I pray for my friends this morning who may not have trusted you as a savior, that this might be the moment right where they are, where they pray a simple prayer like this and say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart, forgive my sin, be a reality in my life. And I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:35:05] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.
