Week Three Panel

Last weekend, Pastor Carrie preached what I think was a brilliant message, and she talked about five different kinds of prayer. Now, while they aren't the only kinds of prayer, I thought that they were five pretty specific and significant types of prayer, and as I'm sitting on the front row listening to her message, I thought it would be really good if practically, we were able to share some stories of people whose lives have been impacted By prayer and letting prayer change who they were. And so what we have done is we've gathered a group of people that is a small sample size of some people who have made major prayer steps forward and major prayer commitments, not only in their personal life. A lot of times you get believers together and they begin to say things like, Well, yeah, I pray alone. I pray on my own. I pray on my own, which is great. We should all pray on our own. That's a biblical thing to do. Jesus often got away in an isolated place to pray by himself. But we should also pray corporately. And so this is the major pushback that I get often as we have corporate prayer gatherings, is, well, I like to pray at home. Or why can't I pray at home? You can, and you should like to pray at home. However, you should also like to pray with the people of God, because here's what personal prayer does for you is it moves you forward toward God. But the hope is that corporate prayer, prayer together, would also help others move forward toward God. And so corporate prayer is an opportunity for us to express our faith in a way that says, God, I want you to go beyond me and do something great through me. Y'all hear what I'm saying. So it's gotta be both days. Let me say both. And in fact, the Scriptures say this in Matthew, chapter 21 verses 12 and 13, Jesus entered the temple, and he began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of money changers and the chairs of those selling the doves. So what these guys were doing was they were going to church. They were going to the temple for their own personal benefit alone. Now we don't buy and sell doves or animals to sacrifice anymore, but what we do is we come to consume on the worship. We come to consume on the word. We come to get what's ours so we can take it and be filled up for the week. Praise God. That's fantastic. However, however, however, if that is your intent alone. It is not to be a contributor also, then you're missing part of the kingdom that God wants you to have. And I believe that it's that that type of desire, that type of fire, that type of passion, is only born in a place of prayer. But if I only ever pray in and with myself to God, then I'm only ever thinking in and of myself about God. It's a great opportunity to come together to pray corporately as well. Let's go on to say Jesus told them the Scriptures declare my temple or my house, the place where we gather will be called a house of prayer, but you've turned it into a den of thieves, and I gotta be honest with you, Pastor Carrie and I did move to Lincoln to plant a church, but we never dreamed of a church that would be just y'all come and we're just going to have a nice little country Christian country club that was not what we ever dreamed of. We dreamed of raising up an army that was passionate about the presence of God in such a way that it would say, You know what, take my seat. You know what? Take my location. I'll go to another one. You know what? Take the place that I've helped build and create so that you can experience the goodness of God. We we dreamed of raising up a passionate people whose hearts were on fire for God in such a way that we could not and would not be limited to only what God can do. In my world, but in our world. See as a 19 year old, I read this book called Why revival Terry's. It's written by an old English preacher named Leonard Ravenhill, and I can remember it was the very first book I ever read, yes, as a 19 year old, very first book I ever read. Back in the day, we had these little things called cliff notes. I think y'all do sparks now, but we had to go to the bookstore to purchase them. That's what I did. And I didn't even read those. I had a friend read them to me, give me an overview, and then I would take a test. I barely made it through school. Anyway, as a 19 year old, I read this book, and it was within the first couple of chapters that I read this quote by Leonard Ravenhill says this, no man is greater than his prayer life. The pastor who is not praying is playing. The people who are not praying or straying. We have many organizers, but very few agonizers, many players and payers, but few prayers. Many singers, few clingers, lots of pastors, few wrestlers, many fears, few tears. Much fashion, little passion, many interferes, few intercessors, many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere. If we do not pray, we are missing the mark. If we do not pray, if we fail to become people who pray, we're simply playing this Christian game. And my God, that's not why God brought us here. I'm telling you, we're believing by the Spirit of God that he will, he will ignite a passion on the inside of us. It's almost impossible for me to walk or stay stuck in a place of sin if my prayer life takes off. But you know what I need? I need not to hunker down at my home and do it by myself. I need to get outside my comfort zone at times and be pushed beyond the place where I have settled. It's both end, and that's why the panel today, you guys can come. That's why the panel today, I wanted you to hear from them, because you can hear from a preacher and all, he just spit and he shouted, and that was cool. But how it how is it going to impact tomorrow morning? How is it going to impact Tuesday? I think it's a big deal that we learn how to see that impact come and so what we're going to do is we're going to have a conversation today with a few folks who, over the last year, year and a half, prayer has changed their lives through the power of Jesus. Are y'all ready for it. You leaned in. Come on. Everybody I know Seward's excited. I know city impacts excited. I think in the room, everybody's like, this is this is one of this is one of those things. When I was 19 years old, and I read that quote, I a hush, came over my life, just like came over this room, because I knew that I had some I had some growth out ahead of me, Father, we love you. We're so grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have today, God to be in your presence. We don't take it lightly. It's a big deal. We pray today that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would lead us, you would guide us, you would show us Jesus like we've never seen him before. Because we believe that it's upon revelation of who Jesus is and steps of obedience that we make, that you'll grow and establish our lives, and ultimately, God, that you'll build your church. God, we love you. We submit this morning to you in Jesus name, Amen, amen, amen. Come on. Let's give Jesus a hand clap of praise. Turn to somebody next to you, give him a knuckle bump and let him know I'm glad you're here today. You okay, everybody. So I'm not going to assume that we know everybody on stage. So what we're going to do is we're going to just go on down the line and y'all introduce yourselves. So introduce Introduce yourself. Okay, tell everybody how long you've been a part of Mercy city, and then tell everybody what the person next to you is, favorite color is, go ahead and go. You should know this.

I should know this number. Now I'm nervous if it wasn't before. Okay, so I'm Brad Benjamin. I've been coming to Mercy city for about a year and a half now, along with my wife, her favorite color, I'm gonna go with this. Pink.
Let's put the hot pink in front of that, and then you go, okay, Melinda, Benjamin, I am married to Brad year and a half.
Yeah, I'm Malaysia. I've been coming for about a year and a half now. And Blake's favorite color, I think green, maybe no blue. Blue
was it even close red? No, okay. One more guess. One more guess. One more guess,orange, orange you went
with the weirdest colors ever.
I am Blake Allen. I have been coming here with my wife for four years. Um, I'm going to say ladies' favorite color is blue.
Oh, man. So everybody was wrong, even the married couple, everybody. How many of y'all know there's hope for you? If they get those wrong, there's hope for you. So guys, Brad and Melinda, we're going to start with you guys talk to us, because I want everybody to understand we've we've all got different church backgrounds. So this is prayer is not about a church background type of thing. Okay, it's about, okay, what am I willing to allow the grace of God to work in me right now? Okay, we've all got different backgrounds. So we're going to talk around the circle about our church background. So you guys kind of start there. Yeah.

So I grew up in a church. I grew up in a small town here in Nebraska, attended a Lutheran church, was baptized, confirmed, did Sunday school and all that. Then I came here for college, didn't go to church very much in college, going to be honest, early adult years, though, we kind of bounced around, tried to find a church home, went to a few churches in this area before finding mercy city.
And I My background is that I came from a rural, small town church, and went to Sunday school every week, attended church, went to camp, you know, a Christian camps and things. And my story is very similar to brides with, you know, since we're a couple, we just, you know, bopped around a lot in our adult, adulthood before coming here.
Um, I had, like, no church background at all. I had maybe gone to church a handful of time as a kid, but that's all like, we wouldn't talk about it or anything, and I had no idea what church was. And even that church that I did go to, it was completely different than mercy city, so I really had no background or anything coming in.
So I was raised in a Baptist church and went there was pretty involved and active up through high school, college, moved and went to a few churches. Never really found like a church, found some church groups that really stuck, and then through 20s and into my 30s, just kind of dabbled here and there again, never really finding anything that I would call home. awesome. And again, I think it's important that we see like, different backgrounds, different people, different things, different experiences, but God's brought us to this place, and there's a reason why there's a reason why there's a reason why there's a reason why there's a reason why. Okay, so guys, talk to us about this. And Blake, we'll go ahead and we'll start with you. We'll start with you. Talk about how you would have defined prayer as you grew up, those those years you just described, you just experienced, how would you have defined prayer and throughout the course of your life, and how has that kind of changed a little bit? Take 45 seconds and and tell us that.
So you know, up until recently, prayer was personal. Prayer was non existent. That was something that Pastor Bill did. It was something that parents did. You know, prior to a meal, it was for somebody who was leading, not for not for me, who can relate to that everybody. You don't have to raise your hand, but who can I just sell a bunch of hands like, okay, you can raise your hand if you want to, I guess so. Keep going, Blake,
yeah. Um. And honestly, since coming coming to Mercy city, realize that that is it has become not just part of my daily life, but almost something that I will end up going, Oh man, I'm actually in the middle of prayer right now. Like it's just something that is it's so natural. I just do it constantly.
That's great. That's great. Alicia, let's jump to you. Okay, yeah, coming from no church background, I the only prayer I knew was God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food. Amen, boom, that's
a good prayer. Everybody
in my somewhere, come on, it was great. We would race. We would see you could say it the fastest. So that was fun. But I quickly learned coming to Tuesday morning prayer, it's long. We're here for 45 minutes. We're praying the whole time, like you gotta find stuff to say, other than God is good and God is great. So, so the first Tuesday morning, did you just say that over and over and over, God
is good, he's great. Thank you for my food. Yes, but yeah, now I know that it's just an ongoing conversation. I'll like start praying, do something. I'm like, Oh yeah, wait back to that. Thank you Jesus, you know. So it's ongoing, intentional, and it really is just a conversation with Jesus, and it's great. Yeah, that's awesome,
yeah, so that part of me was just like the pastor praying in church and not having any like we didn't pray, like the pastor prayed, and then we said a ritual prayer, and then my parents would pray over meal times and things before Malaysia and I actually have the same prayer and we, and ironically, would we would also race to see who gets done first so we could eat. You can't be letting the food get cold. Yeah,
no. And then just coming to prayer and to huddle, we were challenged to pray together. And I had just a member of the church grab me, and I was like, I don't know how to do this. I've never prayed out loud before. And so she says she got me she prayed, and it was really impactful. And she said, Just go home and pray. Just go home and pray out loud. And that changed my life.
So you just went home and prayed out loud, yeah, just practice. Talk to us about what that looked like. What did that look like? Because I think that a lot of people in our rooms would say the same thing. We've seen that for literally, we've seen that for 10 years now. We encourage people to pray out loud. And everybody goes, you know, so like, what does what did that look like when you went home and you're like, Okay, I'll pray out loud. Did you say, Brad? We're praying out loud. Let's go like, Was it like that? Well,
we have different routines in our world, so I'm a morning person. Brad's not, but so I just did it by myself. I just woke up and I'm like, Okay, I've been challenged, I've been encouraged to pray out loud. So I found a spot, a place in my house, that I could pray out loud without waking anybody else up in our house. And the first time I did it, there was, like, words that I was making up, like, as a mumble jumble, almost at first, and then God really started speaking to me and bringing me the words that I needed to pray when I just, like, opened up my heart to him. That's amazing. That's amazing. That's awesome. Come on, everybody, that's That's so good. Okay, so I want to, I want to ask you one more, one more question, did you did? Did did you feel like a weirdo at first?
Yeah, it was super uncomfortable. Like, like, I get to do this, like I get to have this relationship, like I get to do it. And so it was really awkward and uncomfortable at birth. And then you just keep doing it. You keep going. You keep going. Keep going, keep taking that step forward. Keep taking, like, the first time it's going to be awkward. The next step is going to be less awkward. And then, like, like, I'm just excited about where this is leading me to. so good. I love it. I love it. Okay, Brad, talk to us. Talk to us about prayer. How would you define prayer throughout the course of your life, what changes has it taken? You know? How has it changed? Gotten better or worse? Sure, yeah.
I mean, early on in life is very much like what Melinda said, prayer was really just like a ritual. Um, honestly, I would only pray at church for the most part, and usually it was the pastor leading the prayer. I mean, I didn't pray out loud. I wasn't praying with others. Maybe the Sunday School teacher did, but and it was like the same prayers at the same time during worship. So it was very, very much a ritual. There were rare instances where I would pray to myself, but it was always in my head, and it was because I needed something. So when I would pray, it was almost like a negotiation, like, God, if you give me this, I will do that. And who's ever prayed that prayer before? Come on, man, I used to pray that man. That was my number one. That was my go to prayer as a teenager, God, if you will, I'll stop. I promise. Right?
So, so that was kind of early on, and things like that. You know, since coming to Mercy city, and since going to Tuesday morning prayer, it's been more part of my daily life. So just making it something that I do more often, making it more intentional, making it a conversation versus a negotiation, and that's just been a game changer.
Boom. That's good, right there. Y'all, that's good. I'd be taking a few little notes, if I were you just saying, Just Just saying. So let me ask you this. We'll go right back down the line.Who, who has modeled prayer for you over the years and and let's talk about maybe some models that have. You, but also maybe some models that discourage you, maybe, maybe, like Melinda, you mentioned the the lady that prayed with you, and that was an encouragement, but if she wouldn't have taken that time in that moment, it probably could have been a discouragement, because it's like I could not pray like that, you know what I mean? And so just talk about maybe some things that have discouraged you or even encouraged you in prayer as it's been modeled to you over the years,
sure. So going back to my early years, really the person who modeled prayer for me was the pastor. He or she would lead us through prayer, and they would be the ones who led it like all the time, like I mentioned before, this actually was discouraging, because it made me feel like it had to be the pastor who prayed or who prayed, and it almost made me feel like I wasn't qualified to lead a prayer or to say a prayer, you know,but after coming here, and especially after going to Tuesday morning prayer, I mean, there's a lot of people who have modeled prayer for me, my first time at Tuesday morning prayer, during the corporate prayer, I got paired up with Pastor, Jamie, and I was sitting there going, I'm praying with the pastor, and he's looking at me, and I was vulnerable. I told him, I go. I don't know what I'm doing. It's my first time. And it was like deer in the headlights, look. But he just, like modeled prayer, and he was very gentle, and he walked through it. I don't think I said a word after a scared book, um, but he just he helped me, and he led me through it. And that's just like one of many instances that's awesome. Alright, awesome.
Awesome. Yeah, I think the again, people that model prayer for me is the pastors or church leaders and just praying during church or Sunday school camp leaders, those sorts of people, and my parents too, a little bit just with or like campers, you know, think, anybody know the Superman, yeah, But those, those sorts of things, but just like Tuesday morning, prayer has just been really encouraging to like people are just so welcoming and will grab on to you, and that has helped me grow in my personal prayer at home, too. So I think just the community here and those leaders here,
the main people who modeled prayer for me were my best friends. When I was saved, I had two friends, and that's it, but they were prayer people. So it was awesome. Um, man, if
you're gonna have friends, if you're only gonna have two friends, make sure they're prayer people, everybody, you know what I'm talking about, come on, yeah. Um, so like at Tuesday morning prayer, we pray in groups, and a lot, a lot of times I was with my friends, and sometimes it was discouraging. I was like, I don't know what to say. They're like, pulling out scripture and all this stuff. And I all I know is, God is good so
and great. God is good and great and great,
two words. But you learn so quickly just by listening to what other people are praying. Um, what people would pray in the mics? I'd be like, oh, like, that's really good. Like, I can pray that over my life. Um, so even in the discouragement, it can quickly become encouraging, because we're all filled with the same Holy Spirit.He'll give you the words. Like some of the things, I was like, Oh, I can totally do this. Like, I know if my friends can do it, I can too, and God isn't withholding anything from me, so yeah, just continuing to listen to others and doing it on my own and applying it really changed it for me. That's
beautiful. I think what Alicia said is key for anybody who's young and in their prayer life, is she listened and said, Oh, if they said it that it resonated with me. I heard like I heard that differently. And there'll be things that when you're around like minded believers, there might be something that falls out that resonates with you. Can I tell you something that same thing won't resonate with everybody else. So that's the Holy Spirit illuminating it. Latch onto it and make it your own. Okay, that's totally appropriate to be able to do, especially when you're young in the faith. I remember as a 19 year old and just beginning to listen to other people pray, and I was like, Oh, that's good. I'd write it down to this day.It's why I always carry a little notebook with me. I always have something to write down things that resonate in my spirit, and I'll own them as if they were my own. Does that make sense? Everybody? So that's powerful, good point. Alicia Blake, how about you model
so very similar to what Brad said early on. My model was it was the pastor. And what I would say negative impact from that was almost the same exact thing was, you know, he's very well spoken, and I can't pray that way. I also had in A I. A different in a different way. You know, what I would have considered a long winded prayer? Well, this is boring, and I don't want that. And then coming here, you know, positive impact, being at Tuesday morning prayer, being around again, hearing how other people pray, because nobody prays the same, and getting, getting that influence, and what, what can I say, and then taking ownership of it, and I just running, running with it. I love it. So I'm hearing a couple of things. Well, let me not go there. Talk to us about something all of you guys have said, and I know anybody specifically, who's not been to a Tuesday morning is probably, I ain't doing that. You talked about praying in groups. You talk about getting with somebody. We believe that wherever two or more come together in the name of the Lord, that he's there in our midst, and any ask or request we make there, he is to see it come to pass. Okay? And so we do. We often circle up and we pray. And we pray for the lost. We pray for people who are visitors on a Sunday morning. We pray for upcoming ministry opportunities. We come for upcoming God. What are you doing? Well, that's we gather together and pray around those things. And sometimes you feel as though your prayers would be inadequate. But you get in the group and you say, it's my first time, like, talk about that everybody. Because some people, as you say that they're freaked out. Okay, remember how freaked out you were when you had to pray in that circle for the first time. Talk about that and just kind of dispel any maybe myth of you know, nobody's going home on Tuesday morning thinking, man, Brad didn't know how to pray. He really he, he ruined the whole prayer vibe because he didn't, he didn't pray, right? You know, nobody thought that. Nobody thought that. And I think that sometimes what we need to dispel is we're not as much the main event as we like to think. We're the main event. You know I'm saying especially when it comes to prayer, Jesus is the main event. You showing up is the win everybody. So anyway, what would you guys say to that? Just maybe a couple of you. Blake, you got something? I got some. Yeah, my first time coming to Tuesday morning prayer, I literally was telling myself, I'm inadequate to do this when that call was made to to circle up into groups. But every time I do, every time I leave here, I leave with my spirit so enlivened that there's no way I'm not coming back for this.
It's good, man, that's good. That's good. You you guys, yeah. Elation is about to preach everybody. You better watch out.
Um, yeah, one of them, I started with two friends. We pray it's true. It's true. You got more than let's just let everybody know you have more than two friends. Now,
okay, the Lord provides, he provides friends. But I, I was saved at Tuesday morning prayer, and it was like one of the first things that I came to, actually, my friend invited me, and I was so nervous because I clearly didn't know how to pray. And she said, going off of what Pastor Matt was saying, she was like, no one is, like, focused on what you're doing. Like, it might seem like people, you know, whatever, but no one's looking at you like everyone's in their own, you know, prayer thing and and just talking to Jesus. So no one is looking at you or judging you. And like we're so welcoming and inviting. Like, everyone's so happy to be there. And I specifically have a moment where praying in a group and I just didn't know what to say. Like, I was like, I don't know how to pray for this. And I kind of like, stuttered,and they're just like, you got it. Like, it doesn't have to be long. Like, they literally encouraged me in the middle of our prayer circle. So we're really just here for you. Like, we all have our like, first time we remember when we didn't know how to pray. Um, so we're just there to encourage people and help them grow. So, yeah, love
it, Brad, you got something? I
got one. So this happened just a few months ago, and I'm still learning, just like Pastor Carrie said last week, I mean, I mess up. It's messy. It's not always the prettiest thing. But couple months ago, I prayed with, you know, when it was time to come together with the group, I was praying with the group and but as I joined that group, I was like, Oh man, this guy's on the prayer team. I was like, Oh no. It's like, I recognize him. Oh boy.Anyways, we prayed, and it was like the words just came. I mean, it was kind of like, I don't know where these words are coming from, but they're coming to me. We got done, and that guy, like, patted me on the back, and he goes, that was great, man. I told Melinda afterwards, I'm like, that was awesome.
Come on, man, come on, give it up for grab. That was awesome. So let's, let's, let's do this. Let's shift gears real quick, because I want to hear this before we close. A significant prayer moment or prayer season for you, significant prayer moment like in the course of this, okay, all of you have experienced some prayer change, and prayer looks differently. So what was, what was the moment where it was like, Oh, this is it, right? Talk about it. Yeah.So, prayer and fasting in January. I, Brad and I sit down every year and go do New Year's, you know, New Year's goals. And this was one of the things I was going to work on. This is the thing I had to do this year is go through prayer and fasting in January and try and be as consistent as I can. And it was just like my life, like I invited God into my life. I had never done that before. It was just more of a transactional I invited him into my life. I invited him to be my friend. I invited him and told him, use me. I trust you, and I have four kids, and man, do I hold those kids tight, and it was like a release, and just like a warm hug over me. I don't know how else to explain it, but I knew that God had me and had my kids, and I could trust him, and that he could use me, he could use me, and that invite was really important, and that that word today has been coming into my mind, invite, invite God into your life. So, yeah, it's just really impactful, and so much so that somebody talked to me about it was like I had sent something different about you, and it was somebody that I didn't share this with That's awesome. Yeah,awesome. Alicia,
yeah, my most impactful like prayer moment that has honestly built my prayer life was I was saved at Tuesday morning prayer, actually. So it was my first time coming to prayer. Didn't know what I was doing, and Jesus just completely, like changed my life one time at Tuesday morning prayer. And it was that moment that I realized how powerful prayer is. And after a couple of my friends actually came and prayed for me and just solidified already what the Lord had spoken to me specifically. And it was just the sweetest thing, like, in one moment, Jesus met me when I didn't know what I was doing, didn't know what I was saying, I was just crying out to Him, um, and it was just really cool. And I feel like I remember that often, like a lot, now I'm like, it's crazy that I had no idea what I was doing, and Jesus still loved me and was there for me. And now, as I continue to show up, he still loves me just the same. So awesome. Okay, so Blake, as we're wrapping up, as we're wrapping up, if there is, there was one piece of advice you could give somebody that's like, Ah, I don't know this prayer deal, because, again, it's both everybody. It's not just personal prayer. It's also corporate prayer. How do we make that part of the rhythm of our lives? You know what I mean? So what would what would you encourage somebody to start? Start prayer? I mean personally, yes, corporately, yes. What would you encourage people?
I mean one start. But so often, early on, I didn't know what to say, and so I would say, you know, I would invite the Holy Spirit to give me the words, what do you want me to pray for? And he would every time it still does that's
great. I love it simple. It does not happen. We don't have to overthink it. Everybody I we overthink prayer. Prayer is not done in here. Prayer is done from here. Don't, don't get caught here. This is, this is what our culture tries to convince us. Belinda, let's, end with you. What would you encourage to me? Yeah, I would just encourage you to create a space in your home, to pray God wants, wants to be with you wherever you go, so wherever you can find a quiet space, or space, if it's in your car. I know college kids are moving to dorms, and they may not have space to do it in your car, or when you're walking or when you're running, and just, I encourage you to speak out loud and be bold in your prayer out loud. I just really encourage you. And I know Pastor Carrie talked about this last week, but man, this pray first book. If you're like, Where do I even start? Wow, there's praise and worship in here. If your soul is weary and sad. There's scripture in here to pray. There is places where you can if you're worried about the lost and you're like, I want to pray over them, there is scripture and prayers in here to pray over the lost. So just encourage you to check this book out. It it's a good place to start, and those are available for free to all all of our locations. Everybody. Come on. Give it up for the panel today. I'm
just going to tell you that God's honest truth. The God's honest truth. I don't care if we grow this church one more person, if we don't become or grow into people of prayer. It just doesn't matter. I also happen to know that as we become people of prayer more and more that God can't help but bring more people that can also have that experience, like hey, man, just start. Just start from where you are. Start here, start now. Just start. And I know that'll be a byproduct of people who are becoming passionate about prayer. I just wonder if, as God, I just trust that God is speaking to everybody. What's your next step in prayer? I would just challenge you write it down, type it in a little note on your phone. What's my next step in prayer? And then can I challenge you just say yes to that every day until God gives you a next step and then say yes to that every day until God gives you a next step. Does that make sense? Come on, let me pray for you, Father, thank You for every single person under the sound of my voice, Father, at every location, I pray that we would be burned with the fire from heaven ignited with passion to pursue your presence in a place of prayer. Oh, my God, let us be people who value prayer. Don't just talk about prayer, but actually pray. Who don't just think about things, but pray about things. Who don't worry about things, but pray about things. God, let us be people who are stirred with
the passion from heaven that we might say yes to every next step that you place in front of us, Father, so that our lives can be transformed and changed, but even more so that others can be transformed and changed as well God, we choose to be people who say yes. If you're one of those people who choose to say yes to that next step, would you just stand up on your feet and worship together? Come on, let's say yes in Jesus name.