The Power of a Question, Week Two

1. Read Mark 11:27-33. How did Jesus diffuse situations from attackers and turn down the heat with questions? How can we do this in our lives?
2. Read Luke 5:17-26. How did Jesus' questions cause people to think more deeply about who he is and what they most want out of life?
3. How can developing a curiosity mindset help us in our relationships and spiritual conversations?
4. What are some examples of ways you've engaged people in this way and looked for on-ramps into spiritual conversations?

Prayer + Practice:

Ask God this week to make you more genuinely interested in the lives of others and to see what he sees in people. Ask him to give you patience to take the long way and minister to them in one of the ways Jesus did with active listening and treating other people prayerfully.

Well, good morning. It's good to see you all here this morning. And if you missed last week, Jill and I, my wife here, we're doing a little two week series on the power of a question, and we're looking at the ways Jesus used questions to engage and really further questions to impact them. And remember last week, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey with Jesus, you know, you can learn something from this. We talked a little bit about this thing called EQ in our society called emotional quotient and how, you know, a lot of businesses now used to be graded on your IQ and thank the Lord, that's not the only grade that they do that now.

But now more in the emotional quotient, the opportunity and how you work and deal with people. And so we just talked about how a lot of companies are doing that. We talked about the IQ can be set maybe around your age, mid twenties. But the good thing about the EQ is something you can learn and grow with is your EQ. And Jesus was just a master at that from a communication standpoint.

And we looked last week at how he used questions to just basically engage with people, how he used questions to empower their faith. Today we're going to look at three other ways he did that. So in the spring, we had a baptism, and I got to hear an amazing story by a girl named Karina Porres. And she shared her story about Melanie and Craig Lashley. And so we would like to have them come up on the stage and for you all to get to hear this amazing story.

Please welcome them here. Please welcome them.

Good morning.

All right, so we love the Lashleys. They've been here for quite a long time. They're partners. They're really involved in our church. But with this amazing story, we would love for you just to share how you all met.

Well, one Sunday after church, as we often do, we went to Olive Garden. We love soup and salad, but this was in October, and our server, Karina, was pretty talkative that day. But when she came to greet us, her hair was just really well done, and I just thought it was so pretty. So I told her, I said, wow, your hair looks amazing. Did you do that?

And then she proceeded to tell me, no, I went to a concert last night, and I had it done for that. I said, oh, really? I said, what concert? Trying to get in there. Jelly roll.

I said, jelly roll? Oh, I don't know them.

And she said, yeah, he's a rock singer. Would you call it rock country? Now, there's a lot of things. Okay. So, anyway, he sang music, but he saying a lot about God.

And so the mind's going, so she goes away. And while she's gone, Craig and I are on Google trying to hoo jelly roll. And so, anyway, we kind of let her come back again. And the next questions were like, so you're a believer? And she said, yeah, yeah.

A couple years ago, I came to know the Lord. I said, oh, cool. So we had back and forth, she's serving other tables, and so we're like, okay, what's the next thing? Well, do you have a church home? You know, and so, well, no, I have been saved for a couple of years, but since I've been living here, I haven't really plugged in anywhere.

And so we began from there back and forth while she's in and out, and she lingered a few times also that, you know, we would love for her to come to our church, gave her all the information and all that. And I know, Craig, you mentioned last week about you do this quite a bit when you're out at restaurants and ask some questions, and also a particular question, plus just a way to engage with someone, share that a little bit, because I think it's interesting. Yeah, well, I didn't used to be able to do that, but my wife's trained me pretty well. Yeah, me too. Me too.

So wasn't much of a talker before we got together. But one thing that we always try to do in restaurants and grocery stores is try to connect with people and look for opportunities. And one of the ways that we do that is we always ask our server their name, and then we try to use their name while we're at the restaurant. So that tends to break down some walls pretty quickly. So that's kind of how we get started, kind of decipher or kind of feel how they're responding to the interaction, if they've got enough time to talk or if they want to talk.

And then if they do, there's kind of one question I'll kind of lead in with, and I'll just go, so, hey, what's your story? And then Melanie will always jump in behind me, like, hey, everybody's got a story, because she's got personality, right? It's amazing what people will tell you and the interaction that you can have if you just give them an opportunity to answer that question. Yeah. Karina, I'm interested to hear kind of your reaction to those two, especially Melanie.

No, I'm just kidding. Just ask that story. That question being asked to you and just the whole, you know, again, finding some common base and how you responded that, well, I'm an open book. Unintentionally, sometimes I kind of say too much. Sorry.

So I can be an open book. So when they started, you know, how's your, what's your story? I was like, ooh, I would definitely tell you. And I've been invited to, you know, churches and stuff, but nothing really felt right. So with them, it was just very different.

It was a really, really cool experience. And, I don't know, I vibed with them and we heard that your mom. So you became a believer out on the east coast, right? And after you became a Christian, you moved here. And then what was your mom, I hear your mom was talking to you a lot about this.

My mom had been telling me for a long time, you know, she's so far away. She lives in North Carolina. I live out here with both my boys. And she kept telling me, you need a church. You need to find a church.

And, you know, I did Google searches and I was just, didn't really want to go to any church. None of them stuck out to me. So when they invited me, I was like, this might be my sign that I do need to go to church. And this one maybe. And I took me a while, I think, like a month.

Yes, I did send her a text with all the church information because we exchanged phone numbers that day. And about a month later, I'm like, well, we still haven't seen her because I told her, text me when you want to come. And she didn't reach out. So I thought, well, because I'm not going to push it, you know, I just wanted it to be organic. And so I had reached out to her, and then she came back with all these text messages and needed someone to talk to at the time.

And so it was really God's timing, not mine. But he pushed me to respond to her then. And then she came. And then she brought more family at Christmas Eve, and then her mom came to visit and she came. So she's been.

And she's had friends, coworkers come with her to see her be baptized. And then I've been to baby shower and met them there. And so just. And they go, hey, we know you. And I go, yeah, you know, so anyway, it's just been, it's really a ripple effect, and you don't know what that effect is going to be, but he knows exactly.

So we just have to be willing to ask the question. So what's going on now with. With your relationship? These are my church parents. They're my kind of like my closest friends that are believers.

None of my friends are believers, unfortunately, yet, but these are my close friends. Like Melanie said, she went to my. My baby shower. I'm having a little girl. Aw.

And, yeah, Melanie's like, you know, my Texas mom, not my. Can I say something? Yes. So, as a mom, many moms in here, you know, our kids have been going through things at times in our life that, you know, that you're not the vessel that God's gonna use to speak to your kids, to help usher them along in their walk. And I just try to think about that, that can God use me for someone else's children, adults, whatever it is, whatever stage they are?

And so that day when we exchanged numbers, she said, my mom's going to be so happy. I just remember that, and I thought, lord, was I your vessel? Thank you. So that was pretty cool affirmation. Yeah.

We really appreciate that story when you guys came up last week and just share, but just the initiation of that question and then to see where God leads it. But thank you so much. I know this is kind of hard different for you. Karina has work today. She has her work clothes that she has to put on.

But thanks for coming. But also, I didn't tell you that Karina and I are going through the foundations Bible study. She was baptized in the spring, and we've both had a very busy summer, but we've had spent some time together, and we always ask for her. So you ask for her. If you go to the Olive garden, that's great.

Alliance. An alliance, yeah, but we go there and ask for her and they'll say, wait, you'll have to wait for a table. And they'll say, she said, is it older couple? You know, whatever. They go, yeah.

She says, that's my church parents. Well, would you give them a hand? I really appreciate them sharing that today. Thanks, you guys. Thank you, Karina.

Aw, y'all are awesome. We just thought that was a great. When we talked about just engaging and even a short, quick question about that. So what is your story? How God can just take it from there and be led by the spirit on where he takes it from there.

So I appreciate them doing that. You know, we are going to continue today just looking through that process. And I know we studied a little bit last week and went through the two ways. The first two ways, Jesus used questions to engage people. And it was interesting this week I actually pulled all over 300 verses in the gospel where Jesus asked questions and just skimmed them.

But it was interesting, somebody came up to me last night and said, hey, you know, I'm going through a study now where I'm looking through all the questions. And it's interesting when you look at the questions Jesus asked, and a lot of times they're bookended by engaging someone somehow and then letting them talk, or Jesus making a point and then finishing it up with a question as well. So, you know, last week we talked about these five ways Jesus used questions. We talked about, you know, questions to engage people. We talked about the story in John four with Jesus and the woman at the well, the samaritan woman at the well, and how he engaged her there.

You know, we talked about that second one, the questions to empower faith. And we looked at that text in mark ten where Jesus engaged with blind Bartimaeus and really had blind Bartimaeus. He asked blind Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do? Just to hear his faith, hear his statement, to say, I want to see. And we looked at that.

So today we're going to move on and look at these other three ways that Jesus used questions. So the third way was Jesus used questions to teach. And so you can open your bibles if you want to follow along in Luke, chapter ten, verses 25 through 38. It's actually the most famous parable of all of Christ's parables. And a parable is a short story illustrating a moral or spiritual truth.

But before Jesus gave this parable, there was a lawyer there, and he stood up, and he was testing Jesus. And he asked Jesus, he said, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, well, what is written in the law? He asked him that question. And then the man answered.

The lawyer said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. And then Jesus said, you have answered correctly. Go and live this way. But then the lawyer wanted to justify himself, and he said, well, who is my neighbor? He said that in verse 29.

And then Jesus went into the parable. And this parable was about a man who went down from Jerusalem into Jericho, and thieves robbed him and wounded him and left him half dead. And by chance, a priest came by and just saw the man laying there wounded, and went to the other side of the road and passed him by. Then another man came by. It was a Levite.

And a Levite is someone that did tasks in the temple. Once again, he sees the wounded man, sees him, goes to the other side of the road and passes by. But then jesus said there was a third man, and he was a Samaritan. And if you remember, last week, we talked about the Samaritans, how they were half breeds, half jewish, and the jewish people. And the Samaritans didn't quite get along.

So the Samaritan, though, saw the wounded man, and he had compassion on him, and he bound up his wounds, he poured oil on him, put them on his animal, and then went into an inn and took care of the guy for an entire night. And the next morning, he gave the innkeeper to Denarii and said, please take care of him until I return, and I will repay you. So then after Jesus told this parable, Jesus asked the lawyer in verse 36, he said, which of these three mendeze do you think proved to be the neighbor? Well, the lawyer couldn't bring himself to say the Samaritan, but he said, the one who showed mercy on him. So in this parable, jesus said, you know, he said to the lawyer, go and do likewise.

And this parable, like I said, it's a short story that shows a moral or spiritual truth. And it was to show compassion and kindness and generosity. And of course, jesus is the good Samaritan. And probably this way in scripture, you look through the 300 times, over 300 times, jesus asked questions. And this is probably the way he used it to most.

And he did it in a broad spectrum. You know, here the lawyer, the rich young ruler, the crowds, you know, especially to his disciples. And then even, you know, to the Pharisees, he used this way to teach really well, let's go on. The fourth way he used questions was to force his listeners to think about who he is. And if you have your bibles again, turn to Matthew 16, because this is a great text where in verses 13 to 20, jesus is actually establishing the church.

And he's with his disciples this time. And here he's in Caesarea Philippi, and he asks a question to his disciples. Who do men say that I am? And if you remember, the disciples respond and say, well, some think you're John the Baptist or Elijah coming back to life or Jeremiah or a prophet. So Jesus stops there, and he looks at them and says, well, who do you say that I am?

Which is a very poignant question to them to see if they are starting to get it. And, you know, you probably know that Peter is the one that responds and says, you are the Christ or the messiah, the son of the living God. So he makes that statement. And Jesus actually says to Peter, you know, it was only God alone that gave you that answer today. And then he actually, you know, I spoke at this, with this text when we were celebrating our 20th anniversary with the Honduras church there.

Because it's really. Then he says, peter, he prophetically said to Peter, hey, upon you I will build my church. And that's the way the church is built, through Peter. But it's because of his statement. But there he had to get to a point where he forced his listeners to really see who he really was.

So then another passage that also showed who Jesus was is in Luke. If you want to turn in your Bibles to Luke, chapter five, verses 17 through 26. What was cool this morning was, I did not know this. This is a God thing. Cassie shared a little bit of the paralytic man.

And then that song went along with going up on the rooftop. So that's this story. And so that's cool that God did that. But this story is about one day these men were carrying a paralytic man on a bed. And they were taking him through the city.

And there were Pharisees and scribes there. And they saw this. And these men were saying, we need Jesus. We hear that he heals. And so they found that Jesus was in a house.

And so they take this man up to the rooftop, remove the tiles. And this paralytic man goes down with the men into the home in front of Jesus. And Jesus saw their faith. He saw the paralytic's faith. And he saw the other men around him.

And he said, man, your sins are forgiven you. Well, the scribes and the Pharisees, they were thinking. They were reasoning in their minds, who can forgive sins? Only God alone can forgive sins. But of course, Jesus, being God, could perceive their thoughts.

And so he asked the Pharisees and scribes in verse 23, what's easier to say your sins are forgiven you? Or say, rise up and walk. And then he looked at the paralytic and he said, rise up and walk. So that you may know that the son of man has the power to forgive sins. Then that man stood up, took his mattress.

And he went away and left immediately. And all around him were amazed and praising the Lord. And so this particular story shows the authority of God. That Jesus said he was Goddesse. And yet often today in our culture, we'll hear people say, you know, it's whatever you believe.

All paths lead to God. Or Jesus never claimed to be God. Yeah, Jesus never claimed to be God. But here's an illustration, a story that he did. And something that he was just trying to, again, tell.

Force people to understand who he really is. And it's interesting, this is also kind of leads into this last way that Jesus use questions, again, to kind of force his attackers. Here, again, many times in scriptures and the gospels, Jesus facing the Pharisees. And here he uses a question to counter them, saying, which is easier to do, to forgive sins or to have this man get up and take his mat and walk? And that's probably the fifth way that Jesus used questions is to counter attackers.

And again, a lot of times in scripture, it is the Pharisees. But there's an interesting text in Mark eleven down in 27 30. It's just a few verses. But the Pharisees come to Jesus and they ask him, what authority are you using to do these things? These things being teaching the way you're teaching healing people.

What authority and whose authority? Because many times in biblical times, it was by a rabbi or something like that. And instead of answering the question, Jesus asked them another question. And he says, okay, I'll answer your question, but answer this for me first. He says, you know, was the baptism of John, John the Baptist from heaven or from man?

So it kind of puts it back on the Pharisees. The Pharisees realize, well, if we say it was from God, he'll say, well, why didn't you follow him? But if they say, if it's from man, they were worried about the crowds. Because they really believed that John the Baptist was a true prophet. So it's interesting to hear that Jesus really kind of avoided the question.

And I'll be honest with you, sometimes that's good to do. Like, I'll share here. We get done speaking last Sunday. And I get on a phone with, say, a family member. And we were talking about the events from last weekend.

And I didn't ask good questions. I'll be honest. I was not. I got a little. Not.

My voice got a little loud and made some pretty harsh statements about things. And I could kick myself and I said, didn't I just preach on this this morning? You know? So I think, you know, this way that Jesus counted attackers, we're going to be able to use this in the next four months. And how we respond to people.

And it was a butt kicking for me last week in the way I responded to that person. And it's something I think we have to be cognizant of how Jesus used that to counter attackers. Okay, so I met a girl last summer, and her name was Cassidy. And she moved here from California, and she didn't know anyone. And she looked on the website, and she saw our church.

Now, Cassidy had never really gone to church growing up, and she went to some vacation Bible schools with her grandmother, but not very often. And so she moved here. For some reason, she wanted to come to church. She showed up here. She started coming week after week after week, joined our young adults ministry, got to know a lot of friends there.

And then I got to know her, which was really, really cool, so I could tell she really wanted to grow in her walk with the Lord. And so I said, like, melanie with Karina, would you like to do a foundation study? And she said, yes. So we started meeting, and about the third time we met together, we were in a restaurant, and it was the day, actually, after her physical birthday, and we were having this conversation about the Lord. And she said, I've always known God.

I said, so, have you ever asked, you know, Christ into your life? And she said, well, I don't really know if I have. And then we just went through the whole gospel. Do you believe that Jesus died, that he died for your sins, that he rose again and all of that? And she said, yes, I do.

And so I said, well, do you think you're ready today to do that? And she said, yes, I am. So we bowed our heads, and she asked Christ into her life. And it was just this really cool thing. And she was so excited because it was the day after her physical birthday.

So then in the spring, she went and she got baptized and all of that. And now she's still continuing this discipleship relationship with me, and she has all these friends here at church. So talking about getting into deeper conversations with that particular story, you know, just letting the Holy Spirit lead you with that. And last week, we talked about, first and foremost, you know, having our own quiet solitude, time with the Lord to prepare our hearts and to enlarge our hearts for people, because that's really, really important, to have the heart and the mind of Christ when we're talking to other people. It was interesting.

We were listening to a guy named Randy Newman, who's on campus crusade staff, and he was sharing about having a large heart for people just to care for people. And he wrote two chapters in his book, which were kind of comical. He says, well, what if I don't care if my neighbor goes to hell? Was the title of the one chapter, and the next chapter was, what if I want my neighbor to go to hell? And I was like, well, that's a different approach.

I think. So let's go to some starter questions that we could ask. So, you know, what's your story like? Craig said, melanie looked at Karina, saw her hair, started talking about her hair, and it went into. Then I went to the jelly roll concert and all of that kind of thing.

And so that established that common ground. And the next thing, really, is to be a good listener. And that is so important just to hear where someone's coming from, because we don't know exactly someone's story. We don't know their life story. And not to be an overtalker, which I think a lot of times I totally can be an overtalker, but Dave and I saw on Seinfeld, we were looking at some videos, and they were pretty funny.

So we just have a little minute here to just laugh a little bit about the overtalker. I don't know. Well, I know a lot of times I'm the long talker. And if you're thinking, I'm not that person, well, I don't know. We all know somebody that's a long talker, right?

So then the second thing with questions is those clarifying questions. What did you mean by that? And so, for instance, Melanie and Craig, they said they googled, you know, what's jelly roll? That kind of a thing, continuing the conversation. And by doing that, Karina then said, he's talking about God, which gave her the green light to know, okay, I can go further with this conversation.

And then those emotional questions, questions like, how does this make you feel? And as Karina shared in her story, she was going on and on, talking, and she had said, my mom has really wanted me to find a church. So those kinds of questions are getting deeper, deeper, deeper and deeper. And then, of course, the spiritual questions, which were, you know, do you go to church somewhere? That kind of thing.

And just bringing her along with that. So you might have been brought up like Dave and me, we weren't really taught that kind of thing, like how to do relational questions or whatever. We heard, you know, just learn, if you die today, where would you spend eternity? And that's not necessarily a bad question at all, but it really is good to go through other questions, to learn about people, to know where they're at, because we don't really know where they are. And if we want to go into a spiritual conversation, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

And so I look at it like this. When I'm talking to somebody, I will pray and I will ask, God, give me some discernment if I feel, especially if I'm in a plane for two and a half hours or 4 hours, you know, okay, if I don't get to a spiritual conversation, that's ridiculous because I have a lot of time that I'm sitting here. So praying, Lord, let me see where they're at. And I see people like they're in the beginning. Maybe they've never had a conversation, a spiritual conversation with anybody.

Maybe they've never met a Christian. So sort of, you know, asking God with that. And then with this friend Cassidy that I told you about, she was sort of in the middle. She had talked about God. She was pursuing God in the sense coming to a church, moving, coming here, wanting to be in a discipleship group.

And then she received Christ, the baptism and then furthering her discipleship. And then Karina had already accepted Christ, but she was stopped there for a couple years, right. She hadn't grown in her faith. So then knowing to go into discipleship, so I think just learning how to deal with that. And then also other spiritual questions, because there's a lot of people out there and they like to say, you know, everybody goes to heaven.

You know, you don't need Jesus. You just need to believe something. And so just asking them, well, how did you come up with that? I think is a good question to have in your back pocket because I think in our culture today, we'll hear various things about where they. What they believe and what they believe spiritually.

And a lot of times you can come up and say, that's, let me tell you what it's all about. And just asking a question about where were you taught that? Or where did you get that? Is a good way to just let them, again, continue to talk. But again, let the questions happen.

And then, of course, it'll happen where you get to share what you believe. In closing, you know, kind of the bottom line today that we're looking at. Where's it coming?

Oh, there we go. Oops. Is kind of questions can be a powerful way or a powerful tool to deepen relationships in order to have spiritual conversations. We talked about the Holy Spirit and hopefully gave you some helpful hints today in how to progress there and just see where God leads with. With it.

So, in closing today, we just want you to think about three things. And I would really encourage you to kind of engage and use questions and be led by the spirit to engage with people and then just see the process to show that God really cares and loves them, and we should, too. So stop yourself this week in your interactions with people and practice this. I'll share a story this week. Again, another failure of mine during the week, but I'm at the gym working out.

I got my iPhones in, and I'm listening to a podcast, and I couldn't hear what the guy, initially, I could barely hear what the guy said, but he comes in my area of the gym, and he says, no. I asked him, how you doing? And he just said, I'll tell you in November. And I'm like, okay. And then I went back to working out.

But it was just really an opportunity for me just to ask a further question. What's about November? Just to see where God led with it. So again, I felt convicted. I said, well, here we go.

That was an opportunity. I take my iPhones out, I send them over, and I come back to see if he's still there. I was going to ask the question. He was gone. So it's just an opportunity.

I think that's why being able to just stop yourself, be a good listener, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to further clarifying questions or emotional questions and maybe spiritual questions. Okay. So last week, I shared one story, a plain story. Well, when we were leaving Pennsylvania in May, Dave and I, he woke up at 03:00 a.m. in the morning for some reason.

And he looks at his phone, and it says that our flight had been canceled. There was a lot of storms going on. So then for the next couple of hours, he was trying to find us a flight. He found us one to Boston. So we go to the airport, and at Harrisburg airport, we're there.

We get on this little itty bitty plane. You know the planes where they say, hey, we're too heavy on the left side. Can we have two of you all on the right? Move over here? I don't like those planes.

So we got on that plane, and we were on that for 1 hour, get to Boston and then fly to DfW. Well, when we get here, here we're in the air with a lot of other planes for a couple of hours. And the captain comes on and says, well, we're going to have to refuel down in Houston. So then we go down to Houston, and we sit on the Runway for hours. And when I say hours, I mean hours.

And the flight attendants were giving us this much water, and I had two biscottis, and I almost stole one of his. That was all they had. You know, those biscotti cookies are really good. But we were really hungry, so we were on the plane, and then the captain says, we're gonna have to get a new crew, so y'all need to get off the plane. So we get off the plane.

We're in Houston. We're sitting there forever, and Dave and I are seeing all the flights being canceled and all this kind of stuff. And he says, you know what, jill? We're gonna have to rent a car. And I said, okay, we'll do that.

So then we go to the rental car place, and then I go in the restaurant room to leave. And when I come out, there were two ladies about my age standing there next to him. And Dave says, hey, these ladies need a ride to Houston to DFW, or, I'm sorry, to DFW. And I told them they could just come with this. Now, Dave told you last week, I love people, but I had had a long day in just two biscottis.

And I was like, I don't know if I can do. How many hours is it? Four hour drive. Okay. A four hour drive.

Wasn't sure I could handle it. I was like, okay, that's great, honey. And in my heart, I was thinking, why'd you do that? So. But we get in the car, and literally, they were the greatest ladies.

The first one starter questions. I said, so why are you going, you know, from Boston to Dallas? And she said, oh, I do healthy skincare. I'm into that clean makeup and all this kind of stuff. Well, I've been listening to functional medicine, medicine doctors, and this stuff for the last six months.

So we had this great thing in common. And then the second lady, I said, so why were you coming to Dallas? And she said, oh, I'm coming to see friends and my sister. And I said, so, what do you do? And she said, well, I work in cannabis farm.

I work on a cannabis farm, and I sell recreational marijuana.

So then I was like, she turns to us, and she says, so what do you guys do? And God was so good. We started talking about missions. I talked about how I'm the women's minister here and just all these kinds of things. And then the one lady asked us, she said, so, since COVID happened, has your church with young people changed at all?

And so she started. We could tell it was an open door. She wanted to talk to us about spiritual things, and we were able to give the gospel out over those 4 hours. And I don't know. It was just really cool.

So then Dave went out. We went out of our way, and Dave dropped the one lady off in Dallas at a hotel. And then the other lady we brought to our house and her sister met us at our home. And then she went on to San Antonio the rest of the night. And I think we got.

Got home at midnight. It was crazy. So then Dave had to leave for Honduras the next day. That's why we had to really drive home quickly. But three days later, I got a card in the mail, and I want to read this correctly because she wrote this and this was the cannabis lady.

And she said, I'm sorry, is that rude? Am I being politically incorrect? I am so sorry. Well, so she said in the note, I just. I just wanted to let you know that because of our time together, it made me still have faith in people, in this world since I saw generosity and kindness come from you.

I don't know why I'm crying, but that just made me, I was tired that day, but the holy spirit was really good, and they kept me awake for 4 hours in a pouring rainstorm. So just take the opportunities. Even when you're not feeling like it, just go for it. Yeah. And I just think, you know, there's opportunities like that.

If you just progress and ask questions and let them talk. It's amazing, you know, just those ladies didn't accept Christ, but I think there was a seed planted there, you know, and that's all we had the opportunity to do. And did you just do that kind of thing and then let God take care of the rest? You know, because I think God, like Jill said, people are in different places in their spiritual journey, and you have a role possibly in that journey. So think about that this week.

The opportunity to just check yourself, being able to ask good questions. And I guess the other two things to think about. You know, we shared this last week. You know, maybe you're here today and you're maybe where Carina was months ago or especially where Cassidy was a year ago. And we talked about this last week that you maybe hear Jesus saying, you know, what do you want me to do?

And you're here, and you've never crossed that line to accept Christ as your savior. And so maybe today is that time to do that, to give your life to Christ, or like carina is, take another step to get in community, to grow in your faith, to be discipled and get baptized. So just think about that. If Jesus is asking, you hear that question, what do you want me to do? And then I guess lastly, it goes back to what Daniel preached a couple weeks ago, to do this kind of thing and to be that engaging with people and to be that relational with people.

You need, on the other hand, a lot of solitude and time with God, because if you're giving, giving, giving, it's very an emotional thing. But to get rejuvenated, how important is that time with Goddesse and that solitude? Because then I think that sets the table for you mentally and spiritually to be able to hear God's voice, to know what questions to ask. So it's a great balance there that you gotta have some time with God, to grow, to have him speak to you, and then also then have that time in community and relationally caring for people. So I hope you'll think about that, those three things.

It's been a great, I encourage you, guy said to me last night, it is a great opportunity to look at the questions Jesus did. And we are going to have a lot. We have, and going to have even more opportunities to engage with people and to ask good questions and see where the spirit leads with it. So let's stand. We'll be dismissed and we're going to pray.

And I just hope that this week you will do that and engage with people and just see where God leads it. Be ready with some of those clarifying emotional and spiritual questions. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for our time today. It's just been a great time of worship, to celebrate kids, to hear them sing.

Lord, we just pray now that as we walk out these doors that we would be more and more sensitive to your spirit's leading. That we would use questions to engage people and then see where you lead with it, and then ask more clarifying, more emotional questions to really show that we care and then opening the door to share our faith with people. And I just pray for anyone here today that have not crossed that line, that they're hearing you say, what do you want me to do? That they will respond and give their lives to you or make a statement that I'm going to grow in my faith and I'm going to get connected into further community. I just pray for those people that maybe are praying that now.

And I just thank you, Lord, again for our time together. Pray again that you'll just direct our paths this week. In Jesus name, amen.