Well, good morning again and welcome to Big Valley Grace. My name is Joel. If you are here and you’re new, I’d love to meet you. I will be standing right down here for a brief moment after the gathering. And if you’re new, I’d love to put a name and a face together. But then after that brief moment, I’m going to be going to the Discover BBG event.

Whether you’re new here today for the first time or you’re newish and you’ve been coming to Big Valley for a little bit, we have an event after this service — it is for you and it’s less than an hour. There’ll be food available and we’re going to walk through some next steps that are possible for you if you’re looking to get involved at Big Valley Grace Community Church. So if you’re new, I’d love to meet you right after the gathering and I’d love to have you come to Discover BBG. Just go out those doors and turn right. You’ll find the fireside room. We’d love to have you be a part.

Well, today we’re going to get back into the book of Acts. We spent quite a bit of time in the book of Acts in 2025 and we’re getting back into it for a five-week series. And if you have a Bible, you can take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 15. We’ll be in 15 and 16 today. If you don’t have a Bible, we want to solve that problem. After the gathering, our prayer team will be in the prayer room. We have Bibles in there. We want to make sure everyone has a copy of God’s word and it’ll be of no cost to you — it’ll be our gift to you.

Well, before we get into the text today, I want to share a little bit about my own life that’ll kind of help set up where we’re going to go. God’s done something unique in my life. God’s done something unique in my wife’s life. God’s done something unique in our family. Our family is not a normal-sized family. My wife and I have nine children and we’re a family of 11. I’ve got kids that have gotten married and our family’s growing. Our tribe, as I like to call it, has grown to 15. But our household was 11. We raised a household that had 11 people in it.

When we would go out to dinner — which is super rare because we couldn’t afford the bill for all of us — we’d check in at the restaurant and we’d say, “There’s 11 of us,” and they’d look at us and say, “We need a little bit of time.” Why? Because they had to go get a bunch of tables and put them together to create a table that 11 of us could sit at together and have dinner. And when they had accomplished that task, they’d come back and make an announcement: “Boon, party of 11, your table is ready.” And so we kind of took that and started calling ourselves that because we thought it was funny. We started calling ourselves Boon Party of 11 — we were just looking for a table that was ready.

As our family, we saw God do something really unique. Children entered our home the good old-fashioned way and the California foster care way. And God used us to do something unique and we recognize that. But it’s not just about us, because our story — though it’s unique — is a part of something much bigger that God is doing. Our unique family is a part of a story that’s way bigger than our family, about how God is working in individuals, in families, in households, in communities just like this one.

We have all been called uniquely by God. We have not all been called to have nine children. We have not all been called to welcome children into our home through California foster care. That is not what God has asked all of us to do. But he has called all of us to something. He’s called all of us to something. And the something he calls us to matters for each one of us. It’s a unique call that God has placed on our lives. But it’s not just about us, because we are a part of something much bigger that God is working out — a story much bigger that God is doing, all for a great purpose. And that purpose is that God would be glorified as he calls us as individuals and as he calls us together.

And that’s what we’re going to look at today. Here’s a phrase I’m going to share and we’re going to use this passage with this phrase: God calls each one of us individually and together for his glory.

Father God, Lord, I pray that as we get into your word, we desperately need to hear from you. We need to know what you think and we need to know what you want. So God, as we spend time in your word, would it move us and would we be different and changed because we have met with the living God? Lord, would you be honored and would we obey? I pray this in Jesus’ name, and all God’s family said, “Amen.”

Now, as we get into the book of Acts, let me give a little context to catch us up. You can hear all the messages on our website. The book of Acts is called the book of Acts because it describes the acts that the disciples of Jesus took after Jesus commissioned them to go and change the world for Christ. Some people have called it the acts of the apostles. You could also understand that this book would be called the acts of the Holy Spirit, because it describes what takes place in the lives of people when the Holy Spirit of God comes into their life, changes their life, and then God uses them to change the world.

In Acts 1:8, Jesus told his disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And then in Acts 8:1, the followers of Jesus get persecuted and forcibly spread out. And so the promise that Jesus made — that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit and be witnesses all over — starts to come because of persecution. The church spreads out.

Then you get to Acts 13 and the first church sends out missionaries who go on a missionary journey. After sharing the gospel, setting up churches, and returning, they run into some issues and conflict. They come back to Jerusalem to the leadership of the church to work through them. The issues were centrally based on Jewish circumcision — they had people who were Jewish coming to know Jesus Christ and people who were not Jewish, who were Gentile, coming to know Jesus Christ, and they were trying to figure out: how do diverse people from diverse backgrounds, with all these things that clash in their lives, come to Christ and find unity in Christ?

The leadership of the church listened to all the issues, made some decisions, and wrote a letter. The letter was given to the missionaries so they could take it with them. The purpose of the letter was really about the fact that if somebody is a Gentile, they don’t need to be circumcised to come to Jesus Christ — that is a Jewish practice. But there are some things that need to be observed to find unity together.

That’s where we pick up in the story. It’s about how this group is now going to go on a second missionary journey. And they’ve just heard the leadership of the church make a decision about how people from multiple cultures with various practices can come to the gospel, come to Jesus Christ, and then find unity in Jesus.

And you know what that reminds me of? That reminds me of this moment right here. Look around the room. Literally turn your head and look at people. This room looks like the gospel of Jesus Christ has come to people from different backgrounds and different cultures. And guess what? All those customs tend to clash. And yet we find unity because we have come to know Jesus Christ through the gospel. God has brought unity to the body of Jesus, though our stories are so different and come from so many different backgrounds.

So we pick it up here in chapter 15, verse 30: “So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.” Antioch is where the missionaries were first sent from. So they get people together — just like we’re doing right now. They gathered the congregation together — just like we’re doing right now. And they delivered the letter — just like we’re doing right now, sharing the word of God.

“And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.” Why? Because there was disunity and division and they weren’t sure what to do about it. They needed the leadership of the church to help them see how they could honor the Lord and pursue unity as people coming to Jesus from all these different backgrounds. And when they received this letter, they were super encouraged — because nobody likes disunity. Nobody likes division. People want to be unified. People want to experience unity in Christ. And they hear how they can be united, and they’re so encouraged. It builds them all up and they rejoice.

Verse 32: “And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.” They were communicating. Here’s what God wants you to do. Here’s what God’s word says. Their ministry was to communicate what God wants from his word and how we’re going to obey it.

Verse 33: “After they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.” The peace being described here is not what our world talks about when it refers to world peace — not the same at all. This peace describes what comes when you recognize that God is your creator and that your life will be most fulfilled when you live in light of understanding that God made you. Because when you live understanding that God has made you and you have been designed by God for a purpose — to serve God, honor God, and worship the Lord — there is a completeness, a wholeness that comes to your life that the world cannot offer. And when you experience that completeness and wholeness, you experience peace.

So they’re experiencing peace because they’re coming to Christ and living the way God has made them to live.

“But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also.” What this describes is just like what we’re doing right now — people coming together to worship the Lord, people coming together to be encouraged by hearing the word of God, people coming together to encourage one another to obey the word of God, so that they can be strengthened and built up.

And this brings us to number one. Remember, God calls us each as individuals and together for his glory. And number one is: God calls followers of Jesus to worship the Lord.

I remember when I was a young adult, I was sitting in a worship gathering just like this. I grew up in church, went to church my whole life, heard the word of God my whole life. But when I was a young adult, something happened in a worship gathering that really changed my life. I heard a message taught about how I was not supposed to be in charge of my life — God was supposed to be in charge of my life. And when I heard that, it totally changed my thinking. Because I was doing a horrible job being the owner of me. I’m a really bad owner of me. Super bad at it. I was messing things up and ruining things. And it was such an encouragement to hear the word of God and realize, “Oh, the reason I’m messing this thing up is because I’m doing it wrong. He’s the owner, not me. He’s the one that’s supposed to be in charge, not me.”

And when that hit home in me, it changed me. I was so glad — because I was so tired of failing, trying to do it my way. And hearing that God wanted to run things was a huge encouragement to me as a young adult. And it has changed my life. It’s changed my life to understand: he’s God. He’s in charge. I’m supposed to be worshiping him. Because God calls followers of Jesus to worship the Lord.

Jesus said this in Matthew 22:37: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” In other words, all of me loving God. All of who you are loving God. Loving him with the whole package — all of us.

We have been created in the image of God. And because we’ve been created in the image of God, we’ve been designed for something. We’ve been designed to be loved by God. That’s how we’ve been made. And our experience as a human is missing something if we are not understanding who God is and that he loves us. But we’ve also been designed to share his love — to not just receive his love, but to share his love. And our experience as a human is not complete if we’re not receiving the love that God has for us and then sharing that love with others.

God calls followers of Jesus to worship the Lord. And here’s an action step. I’m going to provide five action steps today. I would just challenge you to pick one. The first action step is this: if you are a follower of Jesus and you understand that God is calling you to worship the Lord, I would encourage you to give praise to the Lord in a church worship gathering. Come back again next week and give praise to the Lord. Then come back again and keep coming back and build a habit in your life of giving praise — opening your mouth and giving praise to the Lord in a church worship gathering. And we’ll keep meeting you until the Lord comes back and we’ll work on this together.

You are going to be the most joyful when you recognize that the joy of the Lord is your strength. You have been designed to worship God. And that’s an action step you can take.

As we continue on in verse 36: “And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.’” They’re on this second missionary journey. They want to go back to all the places they’ve already been — where they shared Jesus, shared the gospel, where churches have been set up. They want to see how they are.

And what this describes is what I call the number one shepherding strategy. And it is two words: follow up. You had an interaction with someone — follow up. You had a second interaction with someone — follow up. You can know very little, but if you follow up, God will fill in all the gaps for you. You don’t have to know everything. But if you’re committed to following up with people, you watch how God will use you. God will use you in an incredible way if you do two words: follow up. Which is exactly opposite of what we tend to do — which is hang up. Follow up. Much better.

This brings us to number two. Remember big picture, God calls each one of us individually and together for his glory. Number two: God calls followers of Jesus to connect and fellowship.

When Sarah and I were dating — and she still looks the same; I don’t look anything like I used to, I’m not sure how that happened — there was a couple who was married, a little bit older than us, and they just started asking us to hang out with them. “Hey, you want to get a cup of coffee? Hey, you want to come over to our house for dinner? Hey, do you want to sit with us in church? Hey, do you want to do a Bible study?”

We didn’t even realize what was happening. This couple said, “We see you. Your life matters. We’re going to spend time with you. You’re welcome to be with us. Come join our world with us, and we’ll figure out how to follow Jesus together.” We didn’t even realize what was happening when they were doing it.

If this couple would not have made that investment — “We see you. Your life matters. We want to be with you” — I don’t know that Sarah and I would have gotten married. They were so influential in our lives while we were dating, when we got engaged, when we got married. It made such a huge impact.

God calls followers of Jesus to connect in fellowship, and they understood that way more than we did. They took the initiative and pursued us.

Jesus said this in Matthew 28:19: “Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I bring this up not because of baptism — though last week we had an incredible message about baptism by Pastor Scott Elliot and if you didn’t hear it, I encourage you to watch it online. I’m bringing this up because of the name. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What this verse is describing is that God is unified. There’s unity. God is one God with three persons — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is unified.

And when the blood of Jesus Christ opens up an opportunity for us to have relationship with God, the scriptures say that we become united in Christ. We actually get to be united with God in Christ. And then because we are united in Christ with God, we are able to be united with one another — we become members of one another, members of the body of Christ. Together we’re able to experience unity in relationship. Our unity comes from God’s unity.

If you’re a follower of Jesus and you understand that God is calling you to connect in fellowship, here’s an action step: pursue unity in relationship with a local body of believers. And you might be thinking, where can I find a local body of believers? Look left and then look right. They’re right next to you. Each one of us can’t know each one of us — that’s not going to happen. But we can know someone and we can be known by someone. And you can take an action step to pursue unity in relationship with the local body of believers. You can do that today. You can do that this week.

You do not have to be alone. You do not have to live isolated. You do not have to live separated or withdrawn, because you have been designed to be in relationship with God and with his family. And the blood of Jesus Christ makes it possible.

The passage goes on, verse 37: “Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to do the work.”

Now you’ve got these missionaries and they have a disagreement about who should be on the team. And we can all relate to this, because John called Mark had withdrawn. We just talked about how you don’t need to be isolated, alone, separated, withdrawn. Well, John called Mark withdrew. He withdrew from the fellowship. He withdrew from the service. He messed up.

We can relate to both Barnabas and Paul. Barnabas says, “Oh yeah, I know he’s a knucklehead, and I know this kid didn’t do it right, but we’ve got to give him a second chance. We need to have him come be on the team.” Every one of us has treated someone like that. And we can also relate to Paul, because Paul’s like, “No. The truth of the matter is he bailed on us and I don’t have time to deal with people who are going to bail. I’m on a mission. I’m going to keep moving forward without him.” And every one of us can relate to that — where somebody withdrew from us and we said, “Nah, that’s it. I’m moving on.”

But maybe you relate to John called Mark. Maybe there was a time when you were engaged, when you were following, when you were pursuing the Lord — and you bailed. You withdrew. You separated yourself and got isolated and got alone and maybe thought, “What’s the point? I already blew it. I’m not going to be welcomed back.”

I just want you to know I’m so glad we serve a God who gives people another shot. Because John called Mark blew it. But God gave him another opportunity and God ends up using him in a huge way. And I’m so grateful that we serve a God who gives guys like John called Mark another chance. Because if we didn’t serve a God who gave people a second chance, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now. I’m John called Mark. I’m the one who needed another opportunity. I’m the one who needed a second chance.

And if you’re here and you think there’s no hope for you — you’ve blown it, you can’t do this, you’re not going to be able to be used by God — I want you to know that if you are willing to humble yourself and repent of your sin and come back to the Lord, you watch what God will do with you. You watch how God will change your story from the disaster you made to something that’s going to bring him glory. Because God can do that and he is doing it. We serve a God who is so gracious and so merciful and so forgiving. My challenge to you is: humble yourself, repent of your sin, come back to the Lord, and allow God to change your life.

Verse 39: “There arose a sharp disagreement, so they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.”

I’m so glad these verses are in here. Because here you’ve got leaders on this missionary journey and they are not figuring it all out. And that gives me hope as a leader in the church — I don’t have it all figured out either. There are things I’m trying to figure out with the Lord. And they didn’t have it all figured out. And you know what? God still used them.

Multiplication by division. Instead of one team, you’ve now got two teams. And God allows both teams to go out. And the next verse says they went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. God uses people who are screwed up. Amen.

Aren’t you thankful for that? There is not one perfect person on our team. Not one. You know what we found? A bunch of people who are forgiven. The team is full of people who are forgiven. So grateful to serve a God who is loving, gracious, merciful, and who forgives us of our sin because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Big picture, God calls each of us individually and together for his glory. And number three that we see in this passage is: God calls followers of Jesus to serve in ministry.

There is something for all of us. No matter what our background has in it, there is something for all of us to be able to serve the Lord. No matter what blemishes and scars we have, God calls followers of Jesus to serve in ministry.

I was sitting in a church service a long time ago and it was my first opportunity to respond to serve in ministry as an adult. They made an announcement about children’s ministry: “Hey, we need help in children’s ministry. We need people who are musicians to come lead worship and singing with instruments for kids’ ministry.” And I was like, “I can do that. I play multiple instruments and I sound great when no one’s hearing me sing and I’m not even afraid of kids.” So after the service, I looked for the small humans. I didn’t have any kids — I didn’t know where they were. I found the small humans and then I found a big human and talked to them. I found a guy named Frank — Frank’s with the Lord now.

I said, “I’m here to serve. They said you needed people to serve in children’s ministry and they needed musicians. Here I am.” And he said, “You’re here to serve?” And I said, “Yeah, they made an announcement in church. I’m just trying to do what they said.” And he said, “Okay. Pick up that cord off the ground.” So I bent down, picked up the cord, rolled it up, and handed it to Frank. He said, “Come back next week. You can do it again.” “Yes sir. I’ll see you next week.”

And I came back the next week. And I came back the next week. And I’ve got to tell you — you’ve got to be careful picking up a cord off the ground, because you could end up right here doing this. I had no idea that picking up that cord was going to lead to me telling you about it right now. So you be careful what you pick up off the ground.

Jesus said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And guess what? Your neighbor might want to have a cord picked up off the ground. If you want to love your neighbor, pick up the cord. God has given you gifts. They’re not meant for you alone — they’re meant for you to share with others. And you will be so blessed when you recognize that God has given you gifts that are meant to be given to other people. You will discover God’s blessing when you share the way that God has blessed you.

Here’s an action step: serve in ministry where God has gifted you. God has given you gifts. He has blessed your life. It is meant so that you can use those gifts and bless others. And you will be so fulfilled when you do.

You might be saying, “Well, I don’t even know where to start.” Okay, start somewhere. Find someone who needs some kind of help and start serving. You will never find it if you do nothing. A guaranteed way to not discover how God has gifted you is to take no action. But if you take action and get involved and start helping out and start serving, you’re going to discover how God has made you to be a blessing. It will be so fulfilling. You will be so blessed — because there’s just this exchange that happens when we serve and use our gifts. We’re the one that ends up feeling so blessed by it. God’s economy is a little different and it’s pretty special.

Now we turn the page and get into chapter 16, verse 1: “Paul also came to Derbe and Lystra, and a disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer but his father was a Greek. And he was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. And Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”

So Paul identifies this young guy and says, “I think this young guy would be great to go on this missionary journey.” He recognizes that this young guy has a diverse background — a mother who’s Jewish and a father who’s Greek. And Paul’s going to take him to go minister to some Jewish people. He recognizes that if he takes Timothy and Timothy is not circumcised according to the Jewish custom, there’s going to be a problem — no one’s going to listen. And so even though the letter they’re carrying is about you don’t have to be circumcised if you’re a Gentile, he sees this guy whose mother is Jewish and makes a very unique strategic move to have Timothy be of use in the missionary journey. Really interesting to see.

Verse 4: “As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and the elders who were in Jerusalem.” After missionary journey number one, they’ve got things figured out regarding circumcision and these cultures clashing and coming together. Now they’re delivering this letter as they go.

“So the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily.” And that’s what happens when the leadership of the church takes God’s word, obeys it, shares it, and encourages people to obey it — people get strengthened in their faith in Jesus and more people start to come to know Jesus. When we take God and his word seriously and we obey what God’s asking us to do, we’re going to grow. We’re going to grow as individuals and we’re going to grow together.

And this brings us to number four. Remember big picture, God calls each one of us individually and together for his glory. Number four: God calls followers of Jesus to grow in faith.

My office is full of books. I’m well read. I’ve never found a book to replace this one. I’ve read so many books. Never found one like this one. This one is set apart. It’s unique because it’s God’s word. There is no substitute for God’s word and every one of us is in desperate need of it.

Jesus said this in Matthew 28:20: “Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” It’s important to Jesus that we would know his word and that we would seek to obey him.

Every day we have this privilege of going on an adventure with God — God, what do you want to tell me? What do you want me to do? I’m a person of great habits. I have very strong rhythms. My daily rhythm is I’m up at 5 and from 6 to 7 in the morning I’m at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, a journal, a pen, and a Bible. I’m thinking and I’m praying and I’m writing. If you read my journal, you’d think, “This guy is nuts.” There’s not two sentences next to each other that make sense — because I’m not writing a story. I’m going on an adventure. I’m asking, “What’s going to be for today, God? What do you have for me right here, right now? I want to know how my life is going to matter for you today. Let’s go.”

It is an adventure to walk with the Lord. It is an adventure to follow Jesus. And you could take action. If you are a follower of Jesus and you understand that God’s calling you to grow in your faith, here’s an action step: pray and read God’s word on your own and with others. Tell people what you prayed about. Read God’s word and tell people what you read. You are not God. You are not designed to become God. You were created by God and you were created for God. And you need to know what he thinks. You already know what you think. How’s that worked out for you? You need to know what he thinks. And you can take the action step.

We finish the passage beginning in verse 6: “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.”

These two verses are so important because they describe that God tells us no sometimes. Hey, I’m going to go this way — no, you’re not. Hey, I’m going to go this way — no, you’re not. The first time it says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit. The second time it says they were told by the Spirit of Jesus not to go. God’s not saying yes to everything. And it’s so important for us to be humble enough to recognize that God might be telling us no — that path is not your path, that one is not for you.

Why is that important? Because then we find out what happens next. Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

No here. No here. All of a sudden they get a vision in a dream and they understand God is saying yes. If they hadn’t listened to no number one and hadn’t listened to no number two, they wouldn’t have gotten to yes.

It is so important that we’re humble enough to ask God: God, is it left? Is it right? Is it forward? Is it backward? Where do you want us to go? No. No. Okay — yes. I’ll do what you’re asking. And they conclude: God has called us to preach the gospel in this direction.

This is so encouraging to me. It shows the clear guidance that God gives individuals.

And this brings us to number five. Remember, God calls each one of us as individuals and together for his glory. And number five: God calls followers of Jesus to reach the lost.

There’s a question that I have been asked over and over, and it’s become a tool I use to share God with people. It happens when people make the huge mistake of asking me, “Do you have any kids?” I’ve just been waiting for someone to ask. I’ll say, “Yeah, I have nine kids.” Their mouth hits the floor. And before they can bring composure, I say, “Can I briefly share with you about how God has built my family?” I’ve been asked the question so many times that I’m just ready with the response. And I get to them before they can say anything. I have never had one person say, “No, you cannot briefly share with me how God has built your family, crazy guy with nine kids.” Not one person.

And so I get the opportunity — it’s like an elevator speech — and I share with them: here’s how God built my family. And like 99% of the time, people’s response is, “Your poor wife.” I’m not joking. That is like the number one comment: “Your poor wife.” And I’m like, “Yeah, isn’t it crazy? God took us on an adventure, man.” Yeah, she is amazing — I agree.

We’ve got to be ready to talk about Jesus. I have been able to talk about God so many times just from that one question. I’m like, “Yeah, isn’t it cool? We praise God for what he’s done in our life.” And there I am, just meeting a person, praising God in front of them. You need to have whatever that is for you. What are the questions people ask you over and over? What’s your response going to be that you can turn people to Jesus? You need to think about it and be ready.

Jesus said this in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” That’s for all of us. We cannot all go to everyone, but each one of us can go to one person at one time. And you can take an action step: share your story about how God is transforming your life. If you’re here right now, God is doing something in you. The fact that you’re in this service means God’s done something and you have something to share. So share your story about how God is transforming your life. And you can make it a matter of prayer: God, would you give me one person today I can have a conversation with and talk to about Jesus?

So five action steps. I challenge you to just take one.

Big picture: God calls each one of us individually and together for his glory. Your life is incredibly valuable. You have been designed by God. You have been made by him. You are a work of art. You are his craftsmanship. You are not an accident. You are not a mistake. Your life has value and you matter.

And God has a plan — something to do for you and in you that is unique to you. And it’s not just about you. There’s more going on than just your life, because God is working in the individual next to you as well and in us collectively. We are a community that understands that God is calling us — calling each of us to serve him in a unique way, and calling us to serve him together. And we want to be a part of the process to help you take your next step. Your life matters. And God is calling you to understand who he is and how you can live for his glory.

Father God, Lord, thank you for the opportunity to come together and to worship you. We love you, Lord. We want to love you more. God, thanks for not giving up on us. Thanks for keep working in us. Lord, you’re so gracious. And I pray specifically right now for the person who needs a second chance. God, I ask you to give them a second chance. They’d understand your love. They’d understand your forgiveness, your mercy. They’d understand, Lord, that you want to use them and that you’re calling them to you right here, right now. And I ask for that person specifically who needs a second chance — God, would you give them a second chance? And I pray this in Jesus’ name. And all God’s family said, “Amen.”

If you’re new, I’d love to meet you and I’d love to have you go to Discover BBG. If you need prayer, our team will be ready to pray with you. Church family, we love you and we’ll see you again real soon.