Eagerly waiting for His return

It's easy to get swept up in the cares of this world, but our hearts should hunger for something more–something glorious. What does it mean for us to "eagerly wait for Jesus," and how can we encourage one another to live daily in the hope of His return?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Hi everybody, you're listening to the People Get Ready Podcast. I'm Heather Dell, and in just a minute, we'll be jumping into a conversation with Barb Ho. We're talking about everyday issues from a Christian perspective while we even wait for teachers. People get ready. Let's go. I think what surprised me, the more time I spent reading it over and over and over again, it's just like it was the heart cry. Those New Testament writers lived with one eye on the heavens, waiting for the clouds to split open and for Jesus to return. It just seems like as a church, we were much more cognizant of the return of Christ. It was, you heard many more sermons, the songs, conversation, and it just seems like that's sort of not exactly fallen by the wayside, but it's just not as common today. One of the verses that I I love is in Philippians 3.20, and it says, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I thought we could talk about today just what it means to eagerly wait.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

It's a the issue of expectation. We've kind of put that aside. And I think in the New Testament church there was a strong expecting of Christ to come back again.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

It was interesting as I was studying that verse, the King James actually says, for our conversation is in heaven. While that is a more archaic use of the word conversation at the time of the King James writing, that word conversation meant more of like our commonwealth, our citizens' life. So it is more akin to the word citizenship. But I think that word conversation really brings it makes it a much more daily in the course of my life. It's, you know, yes, I'm a citizen of heaven, but it also is in my conversation. That's where my conversation is, is in heaven, in looking toward heaven and in being a citizen of heaven. If you have a small group of people living in another land and they talk about their homeland with great affection, but it's a little bit different because not only are they in another place, but it's temporary and they know that they will soon be returning to their homeland. So it's not like they're in a new country that they now need to adopt and get used to and assimilate to. And that's really it's true. I mean, we talk about Jesus coming, but are we really anticipating it?

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, and and I think so much of it gets to our real deep thought of what heaven is and and and our deep understanding of what heaven is going to be like. You know, I was thinking as you were talking that, you know, the joking quote that people say a lot, everybody wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to go today, right? It's like people want to go to heaven, but oh Lord, not not today. And and you know, I think it's sometimes just an understanding of what heaven is. I remember just real quickly when I had my heart attack and how afterwards I I struggled. I felt guilty because I almost died from it. And I remember feeling guilty that I was glad that I didn't. And I and it was a strange thing. And I talked to somebody and they, you know, talked me through it and scripturally and helped me through it. But I remember feeling, shouldn't I have wanted to go to heaven? I mean, I wanted to be here. I mean, is that a bad thing? Is that an unspiritual thing? And we have this desire to be on earth, and yet, you know, how do we how do we balance that? Heaven is a wonderful place, right? How do we balance that with wanting to be here? And you know, it it's it's hard. It it's it's a balance, I think, that we have to get into. Yeah, in the world, but not of it. Right. Exactly. We're human, we're people. So we love people in this world, and there's things about this world that we love, but it's funny when churches get into persecution and countries get into persecution, all of a sudden their desire to go to heaven intensifies. And I think with us and with myself, is we live an easy life here. I mean, basically speaking, we do, and it's not as difficult. Since Danny is gone. I have more of a desire to be in heaven. I I I really do. I mean, I feel that. I feel that pull, that desire that I can't wait to to be in heaven. And I've thought more about what heaven is like because I've thought about what he's experiencing right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Mm-hmm. Second Timothy says, in the future, there's laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. And I think about that. I want to have that in my heart. I want to be living my life in a way that I'm loving his appearing, that I am expecting it, like that Spurgeon quote, that it is the longing of my heart, just living in anticipation of that. I thought it would be good today to kind of talk about how can we encourage one another in that, to be living in the hope of his return, and just on a on a really practical level, like like how can I live my life in a way that is conforming my heart to that desire where I am, you know, it it says Jesus said that he was going away and he was going to prepare a place for us. And right now he is preparing that place and he is longing for us, it says in John 17, that he longs for us to be with him where he is. And I I want that longing to grow in my heart too, that that I'm longing to be with him. And not just a longing, but that as he's preparing, that I'm preparing to. So um, I don't know, what are some, I guess, ways that you think we can just encourage one another to keep that hope really alive and at the forefront.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

One of the th the first thoughts that comes to my mind is just our conversation, actually talking about it. I I think one of the things that you were saying is true. We used to talk about it. I remember, you know, I came to know the Lord in the 70s during the Jesus revival, and uh we talked about it a lot more. And we even did the, you know, the funny thing, rapture drills, and somebody would say rapture drill, and everybody would jump up and just start, you know, jumping up and down, you know, and it was done in joke, but but it was like that reality that we were thinking about Jesus coming back. We talked about it, we sang songs about, you know, he's coming again, and and it was taught and it was studied, and and there was just conversations about it. And you know, when you talk about something, we've talked about passion before. And uh, you know, I shared how my husband Danny always said passion is like a bad cold. You can't teach it, you have to catch it. And the more you talk about something, the more people become passionate about it. And I think as we talk about the second coming, Christ coming back, and our future and heaven and what's what's awaiting us, we're gonna be excited about it and our passion for it is gonna grow. So I think just bringing it into our conversation is gonna be a big help. Why do you think just just a thought, why do you think the body of Christ, the church meaning the body of Christ, why do you think we've gone away from it? The 70s, when when I came to know the Lord, it was part of our our teaching, it was part of our thoughts. And nowadays churches really don't talk about it. We sing songs about the Lord and how much he loves us and how much we love the Lord, but when's the last time we sang a song about his second coming or sang a song about what heaven's gonna be like, or you know, those type of things? And I I wonder why the church has gotten away from it.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

I think one thing is that the world on a whole is so much better off than we were a hundred years ago, two hundred years ago, and most of the world was poor in servitude, um, you know, subjected. Now that is still going on in a lot of places around the world. I think the church is probably thriving in those places in a manner that it's not here in comfort. But I think that's that's a big part of it. You know, when you think about those churches in the first two, uh, well, chapters two and three of Revelation, the church in Laodicea, they were rich. You know, they thought they were rich and wealthy and they were in comfort, but they were they were an apostate church, you know. They were a church where Jesus Christ was standing on the other side of the door knocking to come in. And I think I think that's a big part of it. We don't have a need, you know. We we don't we don't perceive the actual need that we have. And that's what Jesus says to him. You know, you say that you're you're rich and and all these things, but you're, you know, you're poor, naked, blind, wretched, basically, because they had a deep need that they didn't see. If the church is not longing for her Lord, then she's in danger of being in that very same position of lacking an awareness of of where she really is and where Christ is, being on the other side of the door, knocking to come in.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

One of the things that helps with that is to have your mind open and have your heart open and be aware of what Christians are going through in other parts of the world. I mean, a lot of times as Christians in America, like you said, we're comfortable. I mean, things are going well. Our churches are growing, we have all the assets we need, we have all the freedom we need, we're comfortable. We, you know, we basically have what we need. And I do believe that that's going to be changing. I don't know when, but I do believe scripturally that is going to be changing. But when you think about what Christians are going through right now, you know, there's a lot of stuff going through right now with Iran. Let me tell you something. Those Christians are are really struggling. And the war in Ukraine and Christians in North Korea, that's a reality. We we we're not there, but those Christians are struggling. And I think the more we understand what's going on in the world, and I think that's why it's important for us to be worldview Christians. We don't want to be just focused on our own little world and you know, our churches, I hope we're praying for the world. I hope they're thinking about the world. I hope we're understanding what is going on around the world. We need to have a worldview. And the more we have a worldview of the suffering and and the struggles that Christians are going through around the world, I think it it gives us a deeper understanding of a second coming.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Yeah, that makes me think of First Peter. He he talks about 113. It says, Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, and fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. First Peter 4, 7. It says, The end of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. I did a a study on on this, on loving his appearing and just, you know, the condition that our heart should be in. And part of that, I kind of picked this apart and I went through this sort of QA with myself. What does it mean to be to be sober? And I thought, well, the opposite of that is what is it to be drunk? And so a drunk person is unthinking. You know, they're they're not thoughtful about their actions, they're not discerning, they're not aware of their surroundings, they're stumbling. Out of control, out of control, stumbling, and they they don't have their wits about them. And to be sober is to be thoughtful, it's to be careful, it's to be considering what's going on. I think you make a really good point that I know that we live in the joy of the Lord, but there's also a sobriety that the church needs to be walking in, especially as it says in this verse, the end of all things is near. And this was written in the first century. People talk about if it was near then, was Peter wrong, you know, if he says it was near, but it makes me think of this true story. When my sister Robin was in college, I I went to visit her and I was still in high school. And I remember one night I I was, she made a little mat for me on the floor, and I was sleeping next to her bed in her dorm room, and I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn't see anything, like nothing. I sat up, I was in strange surroundings, and I I turned towards the bed where Robin was, and I said, Robin, and from about a half an inch away came, yes. It scared me because I thought she, you know, I didn't realize how close she was because I couldn't see. Now I think there was a light coming from behind me from the window, so she could see me and like she's watching me come right up to her nose and say her name. And I I did not realize, but her face was right there. But I mean, I think that's how it is. The end is near. It can happen in a moment. In a moment. It's not like Jesus has to travel millions and billions of miles from across the universe, and it's going to take him years and years and years, millennia to get here. He is at the door, and all it takes is for the Father to say, Go get my church. And so that word near, I think it's helpful to think of it as nearness. A lot of times we think of it as a time element because it's been 2,000 years since Christ departed. But scripture tells us that he's near. And that, you know, Peter's telling us here the end of all things is near.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

I think sometimes the church, we're like ostriches, you know, we keep our heads in the sand, we're just not aware of what's going on around us, either here or in the world, current events, like what's going on. We are living in a in the days where so many things are happening in Iran and things that are happening around the world and so Israel and so many places. These are biblical things and we don't understand everything. But the Bible says when these things happen, you know, look up. I mean, we need to be aware of things to keep their eyes open. You don't want to be people that are just walking around, oh, you know, the end is here, the end is near, whatever. That's true, but it's so important for us to keep our eyes open, for us to be aware of what's happening. And I think a lot of Christians just don't. They're just all caught up in whatever their their life situation is, and so they've kind of lost track of other things.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

When you were saying that, uh I was thinking about like even during World War II, you know, how desperate the people back home were for news of what was going on with the war. Right now, we all we have the news in our pockets. It's we're we're getting more news than ever, but it's almost like it's become entertainment. Yeah. Instead of actual information. Because I think even the church, I remember when I was growing up just hearing about missionaries. We had, you know, missionaries come and speak at the churches. We had uh in our Sunday school classes, I remember having a board up with pins, and we would learn about the missionaries that were there. We would pray for them, we would get reports for them, we would write letters to them. And we were just much more engaged in what was happening. But now we have all the information right at our fingertips, but really it's it's almost become not meaningless, but really entertainment instead. It's just, you know, is this an interesting story? And you read it just as an interesting story, not as something that we need to be engaged in.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

That is so true, Heather. And I think so many of the denominations, I mean, I think just about every denomination, the the mainline, like especially the evangelical denominations, they always had mission groups. They always had it was usually groups of women, but some of them included men too, who would get together a lot of times weekly and pray for the different missions needs. So they would they would think about the different countries, and it was a lot harder to get information back then, you know. And I think now, how many churches gather together to pray for missions? How how many churches get together to pray for for world events and things going on around the world? I don't hear about it a lot in churches that I I'm familiar with. It's it's a it's an unusual thing. We we get together to pray, but how much do we pray specifically about world events and missions, especially what's going on around the world?

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Aaron Powell That really does feed into what we're talking about here because it's not just Jesus is coming for me, but Jesus is coming for us. We're in an age of me, me, me in the church, you know, and and you know, if things are going good for me, then okay, you know, then uh maybe I'm not so looking forward to to heaven. But when if I'm, you know, living in a very um, I don't even want to say blessed, because I, you know, I believe that you can be under persecution and be more blessed than someone who has riches, riches and comfort. But let's just say, you know, for someone that's living in in comfort and freedom and all the things that most of us enjoy here, if we, if our hearts were with our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and on the forefront of the gospel and all that spiritual battle means, which we should be engaged in here as well. But I think then we would just have a much clearer picture of the state of the world, the state of the church and our need and our hearts cry for Jesus to return.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

That is that is really true. And we've talked about it before. So many of our songs and so many of our worship songs and our our even teaching is all about us and it's about making us feel better and how I feel so good. And I, you know, it's it's about it's focused on me. The world is dying. I I remember um the song by Steve Green. I used to sing it a lot. People need the Lord. And it was all about where people are and where they're going. And do we really understand the severity of people dying without Christ? I mean, the world is dying without Christ. And do we have that passion? Is that burning in our hearts? Does that lead us? Do we wake up in the morning with that, with that thought, you know, help me to reach people today that are dying without you and not living for you? I mean, that burning passion has to drive us. And, you know, you asked what we can do in the beginning. And I think we need to remind ourselves that people need the Lord. We need to remind ourselves of it's not just about heaven, it's about hell. And the fact of the matter that Jesus talked taught more about hell than he did about heaven. I mean, it's it's a real reality that people are going to without Christ, and our time is limited. God is coming back, He's He's calling back His church, and when that time comes, that time is gonna come. And we've been given this time now, and we have to step out in it. We have to understand the severity of people without Christ, where they're going and what their futures are, and we need to take take action with that. Yeah, that's good. Got to be our passion. And I think another thing, you know, you asked what we can do along with talking about it. I think we need to pray. I think we need to make an effort to pray. And how much time do we honestly spend in our times with the Lord personally, not only as a church, but personally, how much do we pray for his second coming? How much do we pray for him to come back and for God to use me as an individual to reach those people that don't know him?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Yeah. And I wanna I want to be living in anticipation of that. It's a deception, it really is, because that's what a wonderful moment, what a wonderful hope for the church. It is, should be our heart's cry. And if it's not, it's because there's uh something is obscuring our vision and understanding of of what that really is, what it means for us. He longs for us to be where he is. And I I want to match that longing because he deserves it. He he deserves my desire for him. You know, I don't I don't want to be lukewarm in that. And it's it's so easy to fall into that. You can't prepare accidentally. Preparation is something intentional. And so, like you're saying, I think prayer is a huge part of that. Lord, your word says the end of all things is near. Help me to be sober in my prayer because of that. I don't even understand fully what that means, but I believe the Lord can show us as we commit that to Him.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

The gospel message, which includes the Second Coming, you know, the whole thing of what Christ did and what he's doing and he's coming back for us, that has to be a driving force in our lives. That should be a driving force in our daily lives, not just in our life in general, but in our specific daily life, that it just does. I mean, and it can be. I think it can be. I think it can be a driving force once the reality hits us that the fact of the matter is the Lord wants to use us personally as individuals and as a body of Christ, but also as individuals to make the difference in this world because he's coming back again. He's coming back and he's given us this opportunity to reach people, he's given us this opportunity, and so whatever we do, whether it's Going to the store, whether it's we're involved in a book club or school or work or you know whatever we're involved in, it's for the purpose of reaching them for Jesus Christ. That is the purpose of our life. That is why we're here. That is the ultimate purpose to glorify God through that and to allow the spirit to use us. It's it's in him using us, of course, that the victory is won. But God wants us to be willing vessels, you know, to be completely surrendered to him and say, God, use me in my family, use me in my job, use me in my church, use me in my work, use me in my neighborhood, use me in whatever I'm doing every day. And when we have that thought, God is going to do amazing things in and through us.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

That's a really good point, too, that this is not just like some other separate point of bul our belief system, but it it is an actual fruit of the gospel, that our anticipation of the return of Christ is born out of that central gospel message and and the purpose of the church still here in this earth.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yeah, it's just so easy to get, like you were saying, you know, to get caught up in our world and our affairs and our situations and our crises. I mean, we we have different situations we're dealing with, and and let me tell you, the enemy is working too. You know, we've talked about how it's we struggle against three things the world, the flesh, and the enemy. And all three of them are working against the purpose that God has for us, and and that purpose is to use us to make a difference in this world. And and I think that the enemy is gonna distract us, our flesh is gonna work to to distract us, and the world is gonna work to distract us. And we just the Bible says, be aware in First Peter, you know, your enemy the devil roams around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he can devour, and to see that and to be aware. And of course, we don't want to walk around in doomsday, you know. We want to walk in the joy of the Lord and the grace and the peace and and the good things that God has, but we need to walk in that awareness that Peter, First Peter's talking about.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Yeah. And it's not standing on a street corner shouting with a placard, the end is near. But I I think really we have to almost preach that to ourselves. It's it's a message for myself to live in the sobriety of that fact.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

We're burdened for that. We're we're burdened. We both really believe that Jesus is coming back soon. He's he's getting his church ready. And when we see, you know, this morning as I was having my time with the Lord and just crying out to God about these different situations going on around the world, it's part of God preparing things to come back again. And I don't know exactly how that is, but I know it's part of it. I know that God is working things together in in some way, and it just reminds me our time is limited. People need to hear about Christ. Our role here, our job here. We are ambassadors for the Lord Jesus. That's our role, that's our calling. And we've got to walk that out. We just do. We cannot get caught up in the world to let the world be our focus. It just can't. We have to keep our focus on what God wants to do in and through us.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, and that brings me back to where we started, just the urgency to do the work as you read through the New Testament, that urgency, you just cannot escape it. Many of us, and I speak for myself too, you know, it's easy to just become complacent. What you're saying is really true. A lot a lot of the reason why that complacency happens is that we become very self-focused and our worlds have become very small. And we're not concerned with things that are going on, even with people around us, you know, let alone people on the other side of the globe.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

It's funny because we go in this direction because we want peace, we want joy, you know. I don't want to think too much about the bad things going on in the world. Like I don't want to know what's going on in different parts of the of the world because it's too, it's too stressful. It's it's too many things. And I think on some level, that I can understand that, you know, but the more we become engaged and we become motivated and we become passionate for this work that God is br wants to bring us into and the work of living out this life that he's called us to, the more peace and joy and all the good things that he's gonna bring into us. This isn't gonna be a life of chaos. It's gonna be a life of peace and joy and all the good things that we want. That's what the Spirit wants to do in and through us, but only as we walk the life that he has in store for us, as we walk that life and that involves that life includes the gospel message, bringing the gospel. And once we bring the gospel into people's lives and make that a priority, we're gonna be living, we're gonna be just so much more excited and happy and joyful.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Yeah. Well, I was thinking of Paul, and he told the Philippians, he thanked them in the first chapter for their participation in the gospel. And part of that participation was they had sent money for his support. And it wasn't just money, but Paul's letters, he informed them, and it was in Colossians where he said, For I have sent him to you for this very purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. And that was a huge part of the gospel work for the apostles. They were sharing information about how the persecution, the struggle, the fruit of the gospel, and there was like a common participation there. And he, especially in that instance, thanks the church in Philippians. But, you know, we have an opportunity to participate in the gospel by becoming engaged with what is happening. We can do that through prayer, through, of course, financial support, just joining our hearts with our brothers and sisters who are experiencing, like you said, our Christian brothers and sisters in in Iran right now, facing who knows what, and in other places in Nigeria, persecution. Oh, yeah. We just what a um oh I I mean, we're we're missing uh an opportunity to really share in the love of Christ through prayer. And I mean, I'm saying that to myself. I want to be a good, a good sister um and support them in prayer.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

And the fact of the matter is our prayers make a huge difference when we pray for them. And, you know, when as I pray for these different countries, I I know, I mean, I get excited about it because I know that as I'm praying for them, that God is is working. I mean, I really believe that when I pray for them, it's because the Spirit is laying those burdens on my heart. And as I'm obedient and following that and praying out the burdens that God is laying on my heart and that that God is using those prayers in a powerful way. And and when I pray for those countries, like I pray for, you know, Nigeria and North Korea and and Iran now and Ukraine and all those different countries, I pray for them and I pray anticipating that God is working. I pray for their specific needs. And we've talked about this before, how when I pray, I put myself in their place and I say, if I'm experiencing what they're experiencing right now, how would I want someone else to pray for me? How specifically would I want people to be praying for me? And that's what I do. I pray for them. And I always pray that no matter what they go through, that the gospel will permeate through it, that God will use that opportunity that they're experiencing to bring the gospel in a deeper way, that their suffering will be for a for a good purpose, that God will use it for good, and that it will not prevent the gospel message from going out. Those are some of the specific things I pray. I know when I pray for the church in in North Korea, one of the things that's on my heart is that the Christians there will experience the sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit in ways that I can't even imagine. That they will experience his presence on such an unbelievably deep level. And I cry out to God for that. And I know they are, because I know that that burden that God is laying in my heart, that's coming from him. And as I pray that burden, I know that God is working. And in Iran, that God will give those people a sense of confidence that he's working. The Christians there, there's so many Christians there that are crying out to God. In Ukraine, I don't understand that country. I don't understand why God is doing what he's doing. And it hasn't been, you know, the way I had hoped it to be. But I'm praying that God will use the very suffering that they're going through to his glory, and that God will be glorified, and that the gospel will go out, and that Christians will somehow it'll be useful in their ministry and opportunities for God. And I pray the same in Nigeria and beyond what they're going through, that God will use it. And as we pray for these specific things, God will work. And I know one of the things that I pray, and I pray for all of these countries, Lord Jesus, come soon. Hear the cries of these people calling out to you. And I pray that you do come soon. I pray that for them. And I know that God is laying that burden on mine and many others' hearts.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

God is at work. I mean, this is his world. Satan is running rampant because he knows his time is near. Yeah. As you were talking about the things that you were praying, I was just thinking how meaningful that would be for those Christians in those countries to know that their brothers and sisters are interceding on their behalf with the words that you shared. Yeah. Very encouraging.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

You know, the Bible talks about above and beyond your imagination. Well, I have an imagination I've always had since I was a kid. And I imagine, sometimes when I'm praying, I imagine myself in heaven and having some of those Christians come to me and thank me and say, I know that you prayed for me. I I know that you were praying for me. And that just, that just, I mean, I know that those kind of things are going to happen someday. You know, that excites me.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

Starting in Colossians 1.3, it says, We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God and truth. And I love that verse, it just talks about the flourishing of the gospel. And so that's one thing I I pray often that the gospel would would bear fruit. The gospel is going to bear fruit. Like what whatever the circumstance or situation, God's gospel is bearing fruit. It's been bearing fruit since the beginning, and it will continue and it will increase. And I I just love that that visual of seeing the gospel just flourish like that.

SPEAKER_01 33:14

Yeah, his word never returns empty, right? But always accomplishes that which it was set out to do. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

All right. Well, Barb, to that end, do you want to close us in prayer? I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

I would love to. Let's pray. Father God, we come into your presence again, Lord, and just our hearts are heavy, Father, as we talk about these different concerns that are going on around the world, Lord, and what's going on in Iran. And Father, we know that there are so many Christians there that are just really suffering and struggling. And Father, we pray, God, that you would give us hearts that care. Lord, as we talk about these different situations going on around the world and your gospel, Father. And Lord, the fact that you are coming back to get your church, Lord, stir our hearts, Father. Don't let us become so involved in our own lives and our own concerns that we neglect the greater good of what's going on in around the world, Father. Break our heart for what breaks yours. God, bring us to a place in our hearts, in our prayers, in our lives, in our choices, God, in our decisions, Lord, where we live out this passion for caring for the world. That we live out this passion of understanding that you're coming back to get your church, Lord, that you care about what's going on in the world. And you see everything that's going on, Father. You see the people that are suffering, you see the people that are in prison, the people who God don't know what to do, who have no food, that are cold, that are hot, that are struggling, that the ones that don't know what to do about their families and so confused about how much should they share with their families as under the pressure of the governments that they're under. Oh, God, you see all of these things. And we pray, God, that you would give us the wisdom. We pray that you would give us the guidance. We pray that you would give us the burden, the passion, the care, Father. We pray that we would be fervent with your gospel message, Lord, that we would be fervent with prayer, that we would make it just the forefront of our lives, God. Lord, work in our hearts, work in our lives, work in us, God, to make us your spokespeople, Father. We just entrust this to you, Lord. There's so much going on that we can't understand. We're we're human, we don't understand a lot of these things. And yet, God, you are going to work through us. We are your chosen vessels to bring your word into this world. And we pray, Father, that you would work in a way beyond any of our understandings. Holy Spirit, teach us, teach us, Lord, stir our hearts with a passion for you. Stir our hearts for a passion of your word. We just entrust all of these situations, God, and we pray that we would be vessels moldable, clearly moldable in your hands. We entrust all of this into your hands. Thank you, God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen.