Of One Heart and Soul
Download MP3Thank you, Martins. And thank you, Thomas and Josh and Matt and Dwight, for preaching these last few weeks as we've gone through the great, prayers of the Bible. I've only been out of town for almost 3 weeks, but we've been in this series for a while. And, thank you for the text that I've received while gone. Texts like, the other pastors are doing such a great job.
Jeffrey Heine:Stay out there. I appreciated that one. Or, their church is booming and growing. We had like 80 new members without you. So I was really encouraged while I was gone from the, the text and the prayers that I received.
Jeffrey Heine:If you don't remember, we're actually in the middle of a series. Anybody remember what book we're in? Acts, very good. It's it's been a while. It's been about 8 weeks or so.
Jeffrey Heine:And actually the last time we were in Acts really was the introduction of our series on the great prayers of the Bible, because we looked at one of the great prayers in the book of Acts. And when we had left off in Acts, the church had gathered together to pray, and the reason they did that was because persecution was hitting the church. Peter and John had just been arrested, told not to preach the gospel anymore, and the church responded by gathering together to pray. And just as a little aside, I can't tell you how happy it made me feel this morning, when I got here. I got here around 5 this morning and I wasn't the first person here.
Jeffrey Heine:But there were people here praying. We've had we have a prayer room up there and there have been people praying for the last 24 hours straight. And this is something we hope to keep doing. And if you've been here for any amount of time, you've heard me say that if we cease to be a people who pray, the Lord should go ahead and just close these doors. So So it was really exciting to come here, and I have felt the prayers of the people.
Jeffrey Heine:And so thankful that people are praying for us now, even as we open up God's word that he would open up our hearts and our minds together. The reason for the prayer in Acts that we we last left off on wasn't a prayer so persecution would stop. It it wasn't a prayer for circumstances to change. It was actually a prayer that they might continue to preach the word of God with boldness. And that they might be reminded of God's sovereignty.
Jeffrey Heine:The prayer actually begins with, oh sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth. It's a reminder of God's sovereignty and then it's a petition that God would give them boldness to share their faith. That God would give them the strength to not back down, but to be courageous as they declared their faith. And because they prayed the sovereignty of God, and because they prayed for boldness, 2 things we're gonna see begin to happen. First is this.
Jeffrey Heine:They they'll begin to let go of their possessions. As they came to understand that God is the one who's in control, that God is the one who, and whom they go to for security, they begin to look at their savings account, their 401ks, all their extra possessions, all these things. They're like, my security does not come from these things. And so they are liberated from their possessions to begin giving them away as they understand that God is in complete control of their lives, even the persecution that has come their way. And the second thing that happens to them is that they are unified.
Jeffrey Heine:This wasn't a unity that came from sitting around a fire singing Kumbaya. This was this was a unity that was forged through persecution. It was a unity that came from a deep commitment to boldly declare the gospel. Their mission united them. Their suffering galvanized them together, and they became one heart and one soul.
Jeffrey Heine:And that's what this text is about this morning. If you have a bible, turn to acts chapter 4. We'll pick up where we left off. Acts chapter 4. I'll begin reading in verse 32.
Jeffrey Heine:Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. And no one said that any of the things that belong to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them. For as many as were owners of lands or houses, sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostle's feet.
Jeffrey Heine:And it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and he brought the money and laid it at the apostle's feet. This is the word of the lord. It is to be to God. If you would pray with me.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord, in this moment as much as we are able, we lay everything at your feet. Our possessions, our time, our hearts and minds, our very lives, and we acknowledge your lordship over all. There's not an area in our lives that you do not declare mine. And we freely and we joyfully give you these things because we know in doing so, we find life. Lord, we wanna hear from you.
Jeffrey Heine:We want to hear your words of life breathed over us. And so I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Jeffrey Heine:So Peter and John have been arrested, publicly reprimanded, commanded not to share the gospel with anyone, not to testify, about Jesus and they responded by telling the authorities, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than listen to God, well you must judge, but we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard. In other words, that was their way of saying, we hear what you're saying, but we're gonna listen to the guy who was raised from the dead. And we're not gonna stop declaring what he has told us to declare. And because of their boldness in proclaiming the gospel, the world was changed. It's the reason we are in this room 2000 years later reading this story, is because they never stopped declaring the good news of Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:Now this group of people here, they didn't change the world because they were particularly smart or wealthy. They were simple people, blue collar people. They didn't have any education or wealth or any social status. They didn't have any political influence. They didn't have any celebrities that were part of their church or or really influential people outside of their walls.
Jeffrey Heine:They were nobodies. They were even citizens of a small insignificant occupied state. They were a nothing in the eyes of the world yet they turned the world up side down. In this room right now, I'm looking out and I am seeing more wealth, more education, people of higher status than the early church could have even dreamed about. Yet the early church became an unstoppable force because they believed 2 things.
Jeffrey Heine:They were armed with 2 things, I should say. They were armed with a deep conviction that Jesus had risen from the dead and there is new life in Him. They were utterly convinced of that. Jesus had risen from the dead and that there was new life to be found in him, and they reoriented their entire lives around that. And the second thing that they were armed with was this, the Holy Spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:They were empowered by the holy spirit and although they were ordinary people, the holy spirit empowered them to do extraordinary things. So those two things, a deep conviction in the resurrection of Jesus and the new life we have in Him and being filled with the spirit, Those two things made them a juggernaut and they absolutely would not stop and they turned the world upside down. And one of the reasons that we are studying this book of acts is to be reminded of this. It's good for us to be reminded of our roots, where the church sprung up from. We need to be reminded that ultimately our programs, and our music, and our facilities, our acts of service, all of those things are powerless unless we are convinced of the resurrection and we are filled with the spirit of God.
Jeffrey Heine:I often go to O. Henry's Coffee to work on my sermon, and and I'm there and apparently, I'm not alone. Apparently, like pastors all around like to go to O. Henry's. And so, I go there and I'm trying to work on the sermon, but you can't help but overhear what all these other pastors or different church leaders are saying.
Jeffrey Heine:And I've actually got to hear some very similar conversations happen, over the past few months. And it's something like this, you know, woe is us, millennials are leaving the church. What can we do to get the millennials back? We need to start a contemporary worship service. We need to, you know, change our music.
Jeffrey Heine:We need to use more social media. I've heard, this past week I heard a preacher saying that maybe he should no longer preach in khakis, but preach in jeans. And I thought, it's probably a good suggestion. Yeah. I like that.
Jeffrey Heine:That's that's the key to it all right there. But it's amazing what we come up with. The church didn't need any of that. The early church convinced of the resurrection of Jesus. Not a doubt in their mind who Jesus was, that he lives and that he saves.
Jeffrey Heine:And then they were armed with the holy spirit and those two things together, they could not be stopped. Now in the passage that we have before us, we're gonna see what that belief in the resurrection and what being filled with the holy spirit produce. And what we see it produce is a new community. A community unlike any other community the world has ever seen. Look at verse 32.
Jeffrey Heine:Says, now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul and no one said that any of the things that belong to him was his own, but they had everything in common. One heart, one soul, everything in common. What we see here is God creating this new selfless community. Now as I was at O'Henry's, this past Thursday and I'm working on this sermon, I I read this verse and then I literally stared at my computer screen for about an hour. Just a blank screen.
Jeffrey Heine:I I I didn't know how to get started. It didn't help that I had all these other, like, pastors or leaders in their conversations, and I I just kinda wanna turn around and go like, it's the gospel. You know, just I wanted to to jump in there, just preach the gospel, but instead I was obedient and I was trying to work on my sermon. But it was just it was hard to know what what angle, what approach do you go to when talking about community. And so I'm gonna kinda go through the back door, and I wanna first talk about some of the stress points of being one heart and one soul.
Jeffrey Heine:Some of the stress points of community. So let me begin by asking you a question. How many of you here at times, just at times feel like you've had maybe a little too much community? Maybe you you've you just just at times get a little sick of other people always being in your business and you just want some fresh air, perhaps there's times where community exhausts you or maybe it you feel like it's smothering the life out of you. Now I realize that this might not be all of you.
Jeffrey Heine:It might not even be most of you. And if this is not you, don't worry. I I'll get back to you in a second. But for those who at times feel like they get a little bit too much community, this is for you, and that's that's whether it's too much of a sports community or a school community or a work community, or a church community, but you feel exhausted and you feel spent, and stretched, and pulled by all of these communities. And the reason that I know that many of you feel this way is because I I can hear you talk.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, I've got eyes. I've got ears. I can see it. When I look around, I see that most of the complaints we have, most of our arguments, most of our hurt feelings, most of our jealousies, most of our bitterness, most of our anxieties, most of our insecurities, most of our fatigue, all stem from being part of a community. All of those things arise out of a community.
Jeffrey Heine:For example, when you see someone, driving, driving down the road and their new fun red convertible and their hair is blowing in the wind. You you see this person, just a stranger, and you just kind of think, wow, that looks like a fun car. And then you don't give it another thought. That's it. Done.
Jeffrey Heine:Just wow, nice car. Then you move on with your life. But if the person driving that car is someone in your community, someone in your friend circle, you think, wow. I mean, that'd be nice. Wish I could have something like that.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, how is that possible? Always hear her talking about all the school debt she still has to pay off. How can she afford that? Maybe she got a promotion in her job. Maybe she's gonna pay more.
Jeffrey Heine:Maybe her husband is now making more. And then you begin just having all these conversations wondering how in the world she could drive something like that or he could drive something like that. And then jealousy arises in you. I'd like to have that but, of course, as a Christian, you can't acknowledge you have jealousy. So you mask it as a righteous indignation.
Jeffrey Heine:Well, if I had the money, I mean, I'd give it all to the church. There's no way I'd buy simple materialistic things like that. And so you you begin to have all these thoughts in your head that come from community. You can watch a TV commercial. You can see a really fit model.
Jeffrey Heine:See it? Think nothing of it. Maybe maybe even laugh at yourself as you look at your gut and you're like, Yeah. Right? And that's it.
Jeffrey Heine:You're you're done. But if you're having dinner with people in your community and your super fit best friend comes and sits next to you, all of a sudden waves of insecurity hit you. Just flood. You didn't. You weren't insecure when you saw the commercial, but somebody in your community comes, waves of insecurity hit you.
Jeffrey Heine:And then it moves to these other thoughts of well, I mean, if I had the time where I could work out an hour a day like he can or she can't, and I could have a body like that. And you begin to think all of these thoughts. I guarantee you the most hurtful words you have ever heard have come from someone within your community. The most emotionally exhausting conversations you have ever had have come from people within your community. They don't come from strangers, but from people you you know and people you love.
Jeffrey Heine:I have rarely known anybody who has become really bitter over something a stranger has said to them, But I've known many people who have harbored bitterness for years because of the slightest perceived slight from somebody within their community. Let me ask you this. Do you give more fake smiles to strangers or to your friends? We'll look at that one next week. You know, almost every time I hear somebody complain about their work, it usually has nothing to do with the work itself, but has everything to do with their relationships at work.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the people they don't like. They're dissatisfied with with their coworkers. They they don't respect their boss. It's the people that are the stress points. Can can any of you here relate to this at all?
Jeffrey Heine:Any of you home group leaders? Any of you home group leaders here ever get a little tired about community? I mean I mean I realize you had the home group leadership summit yesterday and you're like, you know, you're having a mountaintop experience. You're ready to go conquer the world and build community. But have there ever been times in the past, home group leaders, where community has exhausted you?
Jeffrey Heine:You you know what the temptation is, don't you, when this happens? You go to Montana. I mean, that that's that's the this is a sermon to me, and I'm allowing y'all to listen in. Alright? The temptation is you you go to Montana.
Jeffrey Heine:That's what I do. Often I do more than that. I actually get out a map. I look up GPS coordinates, and I try to find the most remote places in the lower 48 as far as removed from people as possible, and I think I will fly, drive, and hike, and I will get right there. Tells a lot about your pastor, doesn't it?
Jeffrey Heine:I like getting to that one point and I think I'm as far removed from people as possible. And it's glorious. It's glorious. Do you know what every every time I go, to a place like that, do you know what I think every time after I've been there a couple of weeks? It doesn't take long for this to set in.
Jeffrey Heine:Just just a couple of weeks have the same thought every time. I could live here. Y'all thought I was gonna say, I wanna come back. No. No.
Jeffrey Heine:I I think I could live here. I could so totally live here. This is fantastic. It's so peaceful. There's nobody in my business.
Jeffrey Heine:There's no meetings. There's no drama. There's none of that. It's just me and openness here. No needy people knocking on the door.
Jeffrey Heine:No draining conversations. No email that's all full. And so I begin to plot and scheme how I can make this happen. And I think, maybe at the next elder meeting, I wonder if they would go for us, like doing a church plant in Roscoe, Montana and sending me, you know, fully funded. We're gonna send you to start a redeemer, Montana.
Jeffrey Heine:And and I began to plot and scheme with those things. But here's the deal, here's the reality. Although getting away for a couple of weeks is is good for you, can be good for the soul. Removing yourself from community will kill it. Removing yourself from community will absolutely kill your soul.
Jeffrey Heine:The great theme, the grand theme of the Bible is one in which we start with a lone man, Adam in the garden. And then throughout the pages of the Bible, we move to its end where there is a diverse and glorious city filled with people of every tongue, tribe, and nation, all working and living together under the kingship of Jesus. So the theme, the movement of the Bible is from isolation to community. A glorious community with Jesus at the center. And when the holy spirit was poured out at Pentecost, He was poured out in order to form a new community.
Jeffrey Heine:One that the world has never seen. And hear me, the Holy Spirit will never move you towards isolation. The Holy Spirit will always move you towards authentic relationships, will always move you towards community. The temptation for you, the temptation to get away, to just go out alone, to be by yourself, that's temptation from Satan. I I like to think of myself whenever I I go out West and, my favorite animal is the bison.
Jeffrey Heine:I got a giant bison head in my my office. Alright. And I see, like, the lone bison on the hill. Just that enormous bison on the hill. I'm like, that's me.
Jeffrey Heine:I mean, that's that's that's what that's what I want to be right there. The reality is I'm not that. I'm I'm the little bison calf who when left alone will get devoured by wolves. I'm not I'm not the strong lone person who could go at it all by myself. No Christian is.
Jeffrey Heine:God's designed us to where we need the protection of a herd. We need to be together. Satan wants you alone so he could destroy you, But the Holy Spirit always draws you towards community. That's in the Holy Spirit's natures. Holy Spirit, 3rd person in the trinity.
Jeffrey Heine:He doesn't live to make much of himself. What does he do? He lives to make much of the son and of the father to make much of others. And when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be drawn to be part of a community. Now hear me.
Jeffrey Heine:If the Holy Spirit is the one moving you towards community, then you gotta trust that the Holy Spirit is gonna be the one to equip you for community. Now we need to make we need to not make the mistake here of of thinking that the early church was just perfect. You know, the early they didn't have any problems and we kinda idealized their community, and we all wanna go back to that new testament church. And, don't make the mistake of thinking that the early church life was a perfect community. Although Luke doesn't record it here, we certainly see as we go on in acts and throughout the rest of the new testament, that unity within the church was a struggle.
Jeffrey Heine:It's always been a struggle and it will be a struggle until Jesus returns. And this is why the rest of the new testament is full of all these commands. To love one another. Be patient with one another. Can't you be tenderhearted with one another?
Jeffrey Heine:Forgive one another. Don't be bitter towards one another. Don't be angry. Carry one another's burdens. Be patient with one another.
Jeffrey Heine:Those are commands that are not necessary in the midst of a perfect community. Those are commands that are necessary in the midst of a very flawed community. One that's full of sinful people. I mean it cracks me up at times like in the book of Philippians, Paul literally has to call out 2 women by name. Eudia Syntyche, can't you just get your act together?
Jeffrey Heine:Get along with one another. Kinda doesn't fit right here in acts 4, but that's what was going on in the church. It was an imperfect church, but one that through the holy spirit was being unified, continually being unified. And hear me. God is greatly concerned about our unity.
Jeffrey Heine:John 17, the last prayer. The high priestly prayer. The one that Jesus last prays with his disciples. What does he pray for us? Father, make them one.
Jeffrey Heine:That the world might know you sent me. Now, here is the mistake. The mistake that so many of us make concerning community and unity. And it's actually the reason that some of you are about to give up on community, and it's also the reason that some of you can't ever seem to find community. And it's this, we think that community is the end goal in itself.
Jeffrey Heine:The community is the end goal in itself. I may hear from people all of the times like I just want to find a good community. I just wanna be part of a community. Some of you have left other churches because you couldn't find community there, and you're hoping to find community here. Years ago, I was I was somewhere in central America and I came across, I came across a guy who was doing his masters degree on the black jaguar.
Jeffrey Heine:Which I found just fascinating. He'd been doing this for 2 years studying it. And I said, well tell me how close have you ever come to to a black jaguar? How many have you seen? He goes, I've never seen one.
Jeffrey Heine:It's like you've spent 2 years studying this. 2 years here. He goes, I know. I've never seen one. They're so elusive.
Jeffrey Heine:For some of you, that's your view of community. You've read all about it. You know what it should look like. You have a good feel for it, but you've never actually been a part of it. You've never experienced it.
Jeffrey Heine:It's always elusive, But you really really want to be part of a community. And hear me, you need to be part of a community. But if you want community just for the sake of having a community, then that is nothing more than idolatry. If you want a community for for no other reason than to be part of a community and and to enjoy all these benefits of community, then all that is is idolatry. And the reason that you can't find community and the reason that you are so dissatisfied with your community currently is because you have made an idol of community.
Jeffrey Heine:And every idol demands a sacrifice, and you are feeling that sacrifice, not the life, but the sacrifice as you were trying to invest in community. C s Lewis. He said that friendship is born at the moment one person says to another, what? You 2? I thought I was the only one.
Jeffrey Heine:That's the basis of community, actually. It's what? You're a Christian? Me too. You were changed by God?
Jeffrey Heine:Me too. You were given a mission by God to declare this in the world? Me too. Well, let's put our hands together and get after it. That's community.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus doesn't want community just for the sake of community. The holy spirit doesn't unite people just to unite people. We're united by mission. And what we actually see here is the biblical view of fellowship. Alright.
Jeffrey Heine:This is gonna sound really cheesy, mostly because it is, but I was taught this as a child and it is always stuck with me and it's actually a good definition of fellowship. Fellowship is fellows in a ship. Alright. Cheesy, I know. But a great way to think of fellowship is it is fellows in a ship.
Jeffrey Heine:It's people who are all in the same boat together and they're all committed to going to the same direction and working towards it. People have gathered all together in the same boat and they're working to all go in the same direction. All sharing the same mission. As the church, our mission is to know Jesus and to make him known. Our geez our our mission is to be a disciple and to make disciples, And that mission is what unifies us and makes us one heart and one soul.
Jeffrey Heine:Now hear me. Some of you will never be a part of a people who have one heart and one soul because you don't even have one heart and one soul. Because the very ambitions and desires of your own heart are so divided. That you have so many micro missions, you have forgot about the mission that the Lord Jesus himself has given you. True Christian fellowship community begins when you meet somebody and you tell them about how you have met the living Jesus and been changed by Him.
Jeffrey Heine:And that person says, me too. He says, and and he asked me to share others share with others the good news about him. The person goes, me too. You say, why don't we join hands and do this together? And hear me, if there's anybody right here in this place who is struggling with community, you can't find community or you're burned out in community or whatever it is, can I just ask you, have you met with the living Jesus and have you been born again?
Jeffrey Heine:If the answer is yes, then I'll ask you. And have has Jesus commissioned you to go and to share that good news with others? If your answer is yes, then hear me. I'm saying brother and sister, let's join hands and let's move forward together. One heart, one soul.
Jeffrey Heine:And it doesn't matter what the world throws our way, we will move together on this in community. That's what the Lord Jesus is calling us to do. Now realize we all have slightly different pictures as to what this can look like. What having this one heart and one soul can look like, but but thankfully Luke describes this for us. Real quick verse 34.
Jeffrey Heine:Says, there was not a needy person among them. For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet. And it was distributed to each as any had need. Because every believer had Christ in common, that meant they actually had everything in common. Because that Christ in common, they had everything in common.
Jeffrey Heine:They freely gave to one another. Now I I can only put a a toe in this this thought, this part right now. We're gonna jump in next week concerning this idea. But right now, I I I Just just a few things. Next week, when we get to Ananias and Sapphira, we're gonna swim in this for a while.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright? But this radical generosity that we see here, it's it's not communism. It's not socialism. This is not a legislated giving. This is something that came from people's hearts.
Jeffrey Heine:And we know from the rest of the New Testament, from the rest of Acts, people still kept their homes. They still had possessions so they didn't give up everything here. What you see here is what John the Baptist preached about. He who has 2 tunics, give to the one who has none. If you have extra food, do likewise.
Jeffrey Heine:It's it's people giving up all the extra to anybody who is in need. And the Holy Spirit, He enables us to do this because when we give away earthly treasures, we're showing where our real treasure lies. Notice the progression here. Verse 32 talks about the radical generosity of the church and says that they had everything in common. Verse 33 says the gospel was going forth with bold proclamation.
Jeffrey Heine:It was going forth in power. Verse 34, once again, radical generosity. So you have this this radical generosity, the gospel going forth in power, radical generosity. And the reason Luke writes it this way is he says, when the church is generous like that, is selfless like that, you know what happens? The gospel goes forth in power because people see who your real treasure is, and it's Christ not worldly possessions.
Jeffrey Heine:It's the reason he writes it this way. Now invite with this, you need to know that this is a miracle of the Holy Spirit. You can't muster this up. This is a miracle of the Holy Spirit. Just as much as healing the blind, healing the lame, God opening up your wallets to where you can freely give is a work of the spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:Do you know what the first words each of my kids said? You know, you have such strong hopes and aspirations for your children, and their first words. So my oldest, Caroline, her her first word was cat. I mean, we're hoping mama, dada. I mean, at least dog, but, no.
Jeffrey Heine:It was it was cat. So we failed with that one. And so Natalie comes along. You know what her first word is? Beau.
Jeffrey Heine:Alright. Beau. You know, Beau. Because we're always putting a bow in her hair. But once again, no mama, no dada, no Jesus saves or anything like that.
Jeffrey Heine:It was just just Beau. Failed again as a pastor and a parent. So then Georgia is is born and her first word, mine. My And she yelled it. I mean just out of the blue, mine.
Jeffrey Heine:And as a third born, I understood. It's like, that's right. You gotta fight for everything you have. All of us are born with that. Even if that's not our very first word spoken publicly, it's one of the very first things we at least feel.
Jeffrey Heine:Mine. I'm the one who owns this. This is rightfully mine and you never outgrow that. You are good at masking it later, but you never outgrow that. You have to be freed by that by the Holy Spirit.
Jeffrey Heine:He frees you from that need to say mine and instead say thine. It's yours. And whether you give your possessions to another person or not, we we give everything to the Lord. You you give him your home and you know what he might say to you? Thank you for your home.
Jeffrey Heine:But I'd rather rather than to have just an empty home, how about you manage this home for me? It's still my house, but you manage it for me. You give the lord your car. He goes, well, rather than having just an empty car, you hold on to the car and be my driver. It's my car, but you're my driver.
Jeffrey Heine:And you use that car for my glory. And He does this with every possession we have. Everything that we used to say is mine, we then say, it's thine. Through the Holy Spirit. And we'll look at this next week, but the Lord liberates us to do this because we see him as our treasure.
Jeffrey Heine:One of such great worth is worth selling all that we have in order that we might possess it. If you would, pray with me. Our Father in Heaven, as we just looked in this text, we can't have a heart change on our own. This comes through Your work, through Your Spirit. And in this moment, the words that are yours, Lord, may they echo in our heads and in our hearts as we leave this place.
Jeffrey Heine:Write them on our hearts. We wanna be completely yours. Lord, you've called us to be part of a community, to find strength in this community so we could carry out the mission that you've given us, to know you and to make you known. Through your spirit, I pray that would happen. In the strong name of Jesus, we pray.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen.
