Lord in heaven, we come to you this evening for you indeed are the light of the world. We ask that you would shine your light on to your word that you have given us your son, the very word that we might understand your character and know you. You have sent your spirit that we might understand the word. Father, may you knit your word into our hearts. Give us eyes to see hearts to receive ears to hear. Let us understand what you would have us to know. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. This evening, we are continuing in our studies in the book of Acts. Last week, Matt Lucas left off in Acts chapter nine with the conversion of Saul to Paul. This evening, we will briefly, in some ways, briefly look at chapter 10 and the first 18 verses of chapter 11. I'm using the first 18 verses of chapter 11 as a window into what takes place in chapter 10. The story of the conversion of Cornelius, the story of how Peter is led to Cornelius and vice versa, and how Peter preaches the gospel to this Gentile and how the kingdom expands through the family of Cornelius through Cornelius and into the Gentile nation. So will you read with me from Chapter 11, verses one through 18? Now, the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying you went to uncircumcised men and ate with them. But Peter began and explained it to them in order. I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance, I saw a vision, something like a great sheep descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners. And it came down to me, looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But I said, by no means, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven. What God has made clean, do not call common. This happens three times, and I was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at the very moment, three men arrived at the house in which we were sent to me from this area. And the spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me. We entered the man's house and he told us how he had seen the angel. Stand in his house and say. Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved. You and all your household, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as on us at the beginning. And I remember the word of the Lord, how he said, John, baptized with water, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way. When they heard these things, they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying then to the Gentiles. Also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. This week, I was reminded by another preacher, Ray Cortez, of a story written by Dave Barry. Dave Barry is a humorous and sometimes he writes appropriate stories. And when he does, they're quite funny. One of his stories reads this way. Specially, coffees are very popular these days, attracting millions of consumers, every single one of whom is standing in line ahead of me whenever I go to the coffee place at the airport to grab a quick cup on my way to catch a plane. These consumers are always ordering mutant beverages with names like mocha, almond, honey, vinaigrette, latte, espresso, Chino. Beverages that must be made one at a time via lengthy and complex process involving approximately one coffee bean, three quarts of dairy products and what appears to be a small nuclear reaction. Meanwhile, back in the line, there is growing impatience among those of us who just want a plain old cup of coffee so that our brains will start working and we can remember what our full names are and why we are catching an airplane. We want to strike the lattice press the Chino people with our carry on baggage and stream. Get out of our way. You trim geeks and let us have our coffee. But of course, we couldn't do any of that active anything that active until we've had our cup of coffee. It is inhumane, he goes on to say, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity. I bet this kind of thing does not happen to heroin addicts. I bet that when serious heroin addicts go to purchase their heroin, they do not tolerate waiting in line while some dilettante in front of them orders a hazelnut smacachino with cinnamon sprinkles. See, Dave Barry's point. Don't get in the way of someone focused. Don't get in the way of someone who wants something so desperately, who is single minded, who is focused and getting that way. You know, Luke and the Acts of the Apostles tells us something that Peter says, did you notice it when we read in chapter 11 and verse 17, he says this. He says, if then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And here it is. Who was I that I could stand in God's way? What does it mean to stand in God's way? First, we have to understand what is God's way. Well, if you've been with us as we preach through the book of Acts, you've seen it. You see how it began in chapter one and verse eight. You see there that God, when he's drawing people to himself, his apostles, when he's drawing them and telling them what their job is to be in the midst of this world. In chapter one in verse eight, he says this, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. And then you see what happens in chapter two of Acts. You see the first worship service. And what happens with God's way in the first worship service? It's a multi lingual service. It's a diverse service that God is bringing people that begin to speak in all languages that didn't understand before languages of the region around them. You begin to see God's way is partly a multi lingual diverse group of worshipers. Those were the first worshipers. And then later on in Acts, you see the apostles and the followers and they become complacent, comfortable in Jerusalem and they find themselves staying there. But God's way, he allows persecution that they'll be driven out of Jerusalem, out into the world as what should be ringing in their ears out into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. God moves them out from their comfort zone. And then in chapter eight, you see Philip. Philip is led to Samaria. He goes there and many come to Christ because of that. And then you see, before that chapter ends, Philip with this black African man, this eunuch, the Ethiopian eunuch, the interaction there, it leads to the eunuch believing in Christ on his way back to Ethiopia. From Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth, that is God's way. And what Peter says after this interaction with Cornelius, he finds himself. How can I stand in God's way? How can I stand in the way of what God would be, could be and is doing? Because he sees a God who moves and works and acts in this world, who is expanding his kingdom despite, despite the opposition, that he expands his kingdom through people. We are merely the means by which he expands his kingdom. And what Peter recognizes is that God will do it. He'll either use him or he'll use somebody else. What does God want us to see in the midst of his using us? What does God want us to see as he uses us as his tool for the expansion of his kingdom? He does something to us in the midst of it. As we'll talk about in Chapter 10, the understanding of the implication of what God is calling Peter to, at least in Peter's mind. God is doing something even in the midst of his servant, Peter. What God is doing, first of all, is expanding his horizons. And that's what God does with us as well, he expands our horizons. Look how that takes place back in chapter 10. Look and see what happens as God has called Peter to go and do something. Chapter 10, verses one and two, you see it there at Caesarea. There was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what? was known as the Italian cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household gave alms generously to the people and prayed continually to God. What we understand, first of all, is there's something about the nature of this man Cornelius. There's something about this man. Even though he is a Roman soldier, it says that he is God-fearing. He is known even among the Jews. The Jews know this man. The Jews respect this man. This is a good man. This is the man who prays, though he's not yet circumcised. He's not Jewish. He's Roman. Now, what you know, if you've been with us during acts and what you might not know if you haven't read acts lately, is that the difference between a Jew and a Gentile was great. The Jews view the Gentile as dogs. They were unworthy of their company, certainly unworthy of going to eat with them, going to spend time with them, even though Cornelius might have been a man of reputation, a good man, one who prayed even to the God of the Jews. He still would have been considered by the Jews unworthy to even eat with them. Unworthy to associate with. What you know about Peter in the midst of this, if you remember who this is, it's a Simon Peter. Simon Peter, when Jesus tells him, look, my future is the cross, the future is what is what is Simon Peter say? Oh, Lord, no, not you. What does Jesus say? Oh, it must be. You don't see Peter. And then when Jesus kneels to wash Peter's feet, what does he say again? No, Lord, don't wash my feet, not me, not you, not here, not now. No, you can't be that kind of Jesus. What does Peter say here in the midst of it? You see it in chapter 11 when we read when Peter's vision came to him from God. But look more closely in chapter 10, which 11 verses 1 through 18 are a summary of. Look at chapter 10, verse 17. Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had sent might mean. Here's Peter, he's received this vision. You see what kind of vision it was starting in verse 12. In it, the vision were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air, and there came a voice to him. Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, perhaps even with good motives, still remembering the ceremonial law, he says to the Lord, by no means, Lord, no, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time. What God has made clean do not call common. This happened three times. The thing was taken up at once to have. Here's Peter sitting on the roof, he gets hungry, so he calls down for them to prepare food. And what happens? Falls asleep. And there's this vision that comes to him, and as he was looking for food to come up from down below, food comes from upward to him. The food comes from heaven down to him, though he's looking down for food to come up. What happens is he resists it. It has to come to him three times. Three times, Peter says, by no means, by no means, by no means. No, I've never touched that. I never can do that. I never will do that, Lord. The vision ends and he's still perplexed in chapter seven, chapter 10, verse 17. He's still perplexed by what all of this means. Why? Because he's been raised as a good Jew. He's been raised to say those people are bad. Those things are bad. These things I cannot do. These things I must do. See, he finds his horizons close to himself. He can only see just a little bit. What the Lord is doing is stretching his horizons out. But if he might view a Gentile as racially inferior, someone that he can't touch, someone he can't go spend time with, someone to whom he can't relate. God is saying, listen, your horizons are too close. You're not seeing the world the way that I see the world. He's calling Peter To look outside to see this Cornelius, a Roman Gentile, this this Roman soldier who would represent the opposition even over the Jews. There's so much packed into this that it's just simply hard for us to wrap our minds around it today to understand really what's going on, the racial divide, the walls and the barriers that would be set up between the Jews and the Gentiles. Peter transformed to move beyond his racial, cultural and religious boundaries. His horizons are being moved and stretched. There's a movie called A Family Thing. There's an actor, Robert Duvall, who plays Earl Pilcher. Earl Pilcher is a farmer from Arkansas. One of the early scenes of the movie is Earl Pilcher's mother dying. His mom ends up dying and a week later, the pastor of the community brings by a letter that his mom had written. Now, Earl, living in Arkansas, growing up in Arkansas. Has always learned to hate African-Americans. He learned and grew up hating black people. He gets this letter from the pastor, it's from his mom, and it explains to him. How his father had relations with a man, a black man. And that he, Earl Pilcher, was the result of that relationship. And then you can imagine his world was turned upside down. He's now in the camp that he that he looked on and despised. He finds himself now in this camp and his world is turned upside down. He finds out in the midst of it, too, that he has a half brother. And that brother lives in Chicago and it's a cop. So the rest of the movie is Earl Pilcher making this journey from Arkansas to Chicago where he spends time with his half brother and his mother's sister. Finds himself in the midst of this, he finds himself turned upside down and having to view his life and his world completely differently. He begins to see something. It's the same thing and it's the same way in which race works in our lives. And he begins to look at his brother. Not as someone from another father. But from the same father. His world is turned upside down and he sees and we should see as Christians that everybody. You set your eyes on comes from the same father. It's not as if the Lord has made mistakes in creating the races. It's not as if the Lord was dabbling with some and perfecting others. It's that the Lord has created us in our differences with diversity. He's created us racially different. He is the father of all creation. You and I, as members of that creation, grace has to work into our hearts where we see all men and all women as being creatures of God. That helps us to see the world correctly. That we can no longer see people based on their different ethnical backgrounds, no longer see simply people raised in a different religion. We have to get rid of the prejudices and the biases that we have. That we no longer see a person who has a reputation, quote unquote, or the person who is too young to understand or the person too old to change the person of a different political party, the person who has had a different religious experience, the person who has abused drugs, alcohol or other people. The person who smells. The unemployed. The homeless. We can no longer sit on our pedestals and say we are better than you. But that's what we find ourselves doing at the very darkest parts of the human heart is that condition that we want to compare ourselves with other people. Well, we are better than that. Well, we don't act like that. Well, we don't do those things. Well, we are different. My friends, we have all been created by God, the father. Are there differences among us? Yes. Should we have prejudices and bias about them? No. God is calling us to view the world the way in which he views the world. Well, not only is he expanding our horizons, he also expands our vision. Look at chapter 10 and verses nine through 17. It's some of the verses we've already looked at the next day. As they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the six hour to pray, and he became hungry and wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens open and something like a great sheep descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. And it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him. Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, I have never eaten anything, anything that is uncommon or excuse me, or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time. What God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. Now, while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean. Behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was lodging there. It's taking place in the midst of this is that Peter's vision is beginning to change. He had simply seen the world through his perspective, seeing the world through the Jewish mindset, the spectacles that would cause him to throw up walls, to throw up barriers. The Lord is doing is not only expanding his horizon, but he might be able to see beyond what he's ever seen before. He's changing his perspective. To see those things, those animals that would be considered unclean ritually. To be able to see them now as clean. Not see them as common. To see them as something now that are holy. To see the Lord doing that in the midst of Peter's heart. Many of you know that I've played guitar since I was fourteen. Not any given time I can have two or three guitars in my house. Last weekend, I went to a wedding in Nashville and I took one of my guitars with me just to see what it would be worth. Take it to the Mecca of guitars, Nashville, Tennessee. And there's a place there called Groon Guitars. Now, Groon Guitars is, if not worldwidely known, at least known in the United States for its expertise on appraising guitars for their value in the market. And so Friday, of last week, I took my guitar in sort of nervous, never knowing how people are going to react in the midst of the story. You're walking in, by the way, to a guitar store on in downtown Nashville. People who know far more than I could ever know about guitars. So I'm taking it in there with a little apprehension. I met at the door by this man. He said, How can we help you? I said, Well, I'm here to get my guitar appraised. And he says, Hold on a moment. He picks up the phone and he says, yes, there's someone down here who'd like to get their guitar appraised, hangs up the phone. Two minutes later, this this short little man with a beard comes shuffling around the corner, rings on his hands, walks up to the counter and ask one of the other workers mumbling, really, as a translator. Where's the guy with the guitar? They point to me. I begin to sweat. He walks over, he mumbles something else. I look at the other guy, says, follow him. And so I follow this guy. Usually they take you into a glass room on the first floor is where all the guitars are ranging in price from $800 on up to $5,000. But the room was occupied. So he says, follow me, and he shuffles along. I follow him. We come to the elevator. Now on the outside of the building, the building simply looks three stories tall. He pushes the security guard on the elevator. I'm thinking, well, that's fancy. We hop in. Closes the door. Somehow we go to level five. I'm thinking we're into a parallel universe here. We walk out of the elevator into the hallway, around the hallway, around the corner, into this, what I believe to be the inner sanctum. And there's 50 guitars around the room and I find my jaw just dropping and thinking, what in the world am I doing here with this thing? Here's the here's the inner room where All the important guitars are. So he says, place it there, we place it there. And he opens up the case and pulls the guitar out and goes over to a table and he begins looking at it, mumbling the whole time. And I'm mesmerized by all the guitars. My eyes are blinded. And he says, hold on a second, I've got to go check something. So he goes back into the other room and I begin to just sort of look around the room and all of these guitars. These amazing instruments. And I look over into a closet room where all the cases are for these guitars that are out before me. And you can see the tape that they put on the cases so they can have the right cases for the right guitars. Roy Orbison, Gibson, Allison Krauss, Martin, Johnny Cash, Martin. And I look over and there's a Martin. And I look back at the case and it says Johnny Cash, Martin. And I look back and there's a Martin guitar. And so I find myself standing there and I really, it didn't happen, but it felt like this. The lights dimmed and there was a spotlight on the Martin and my knees buckled. I turn over to the price tag. It's $125,000, $125,000 guitar. And we think to ourselves, it's just wood. It's just blue. It's just lacquer. It's just metal strings and tuners. Standing there. Felt like it was had such a privilege just to be this close to Johnny Cash's guitar, that might not mean something to you, but it means something to me. And I began to think as I think about what this passage is about. The evangelism. That we look at people and think, oh, they're simply common. Oh, that's just another person. Oh, that's just a common unholy person. But we look outside of Christianity, you say, oh, they're just they're just common. But what if I looked at who God puts in front of me? What if I saw them like I saw that guitar? What if my knees buckle? What if the lights dimmed and the spotlight was on them and I thought to myself, what a privilege? What a privilege it is to meet you. What a privilege it is to know you. What if I viewed getting to know people that way? To see in the midst of that, these aren't just common people. God has created the world and he's drawing people to himself and he's using us to do it. And I have to be quite frank about this. If you find yourself instead of Peter saying, well, I am going to stand in God's way. I don't like where he's heading. I don't like where he's taking us. The Lord will use somebody else. He's going to draw to himself whom he's going to draw to himself. And you can't stop that, you can't thwart that. All we need is a different vision to be able to see that the people that the Lord has brought before us, what a privilege it is, what a privilege it is to see this person and not to see them as common, but it's valuable. To see them is worthy. God's love and attention and grace and mercy. Takes God expanding our vision to see that. And you notice what happens here, even though Peter wrestles with God in these verses, no, Lord, no, I've never touched anything common. I've never touched anything, quote unquote, unholy. Verse 17, even after wrestling with God. He goes with them. Peter was still inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean. But through his interaction with Cornelius, his vision, he begins to see more clearly. The Lord opens and expands our horizons, he expands our vision, but he also expands our understanding just quickly in verse thirty four of Chapter 10. By the time that Peter has already interacted with Cornelius, he's gone to Cornelius's house. Cornelius thanks him as the nice guy that he is for coming to his household. Now, Peter, even entering into Cornelius's house, he was stepping over the barrier literally. To walk into this man's house. That he knew he would be brought up by other Jews saying, what are you doing? What in the world do you think you're doing? What he finds himself in verse thirty four is beginning to see what's happening. He says this in verse thirty four of chapter ten. So Peter opened his mouth and said, truly, I understand that God shows no partiality. Peter is is moving along here. You notice what I talked about at the beginning with with what takes place in chapter one in verse eight. with what takes place in chapter two as a multilingual worship service takes place as the as the apostles and the followers stay comfortable in Jerusalem, have God moves them out from there to go to the ends of the earth and how Philip moves into Samaria and those are converted and how the eunuch is converted, the Ethiopian eunuch. And in chapter nine, we look last week as Matt talked to us about Saul's conversion, Saul's conversion. And now here is another conversion. But it's not just Cornelius, which a whole sermon could be preached about Cornelius's conversion. But there's also the conversion of Saul, I mean, of Peter, the conversion of Peter and how he sees things. Peter is already a Christian. But he's being changed. His horizon is expanded, his vision is expanded, his understanding of God is expanded. Isn't that the way the gospel works, the gospel of grace that moves into our hearts and its tentacles go out into all aspects of our lives? It ought to be. If you can say to yourself, Lord, may I not stand in your way? Go for it. To see the grace of God moving out into our lives, Peter's understanding in the midst of this, though at the beginning he fought it, no, Lord, no, Lord, no, Lord. He sees it as he stretched and he's expanded. Peter begins to see something about his God that he never saw before. His understanding of God is expanded in the midst of. He begins to see that there is no partiality with God, you see it in verses 34 and following, he actually begins to preach, he begins to preach the gospel to these people. You see what happens? Look in Chapter 10, verse 44, what happens after Peter, in fact, in the midst of Peter preaching, something happens. Verse 44, while Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word, the Holy Spirit in the middle of Peter preaching in the middle of Peter preaching falls on these Gentiles and they begin praising and worshiping God. There's something going on in Peter's life. And through Peter, lives of the Gentiles are changed. Hearts and lives are changed as Peter himself is changed. Peter is that means to that end is eternal covenant between God, the father and God, the son and God, the Holy Spirit and eternal covenant before time began. That God would work salvation through his son, Jesus Christ, that his spirit would move as it moves and acts. That it would bring people to himself, to salvation. And what God says is, listen, you are the means by which that happens. He says it before he leaves the earth in Acts chapter one. He says you will be the means by which this gospel will go out. You will carry, you will be a part of, you will be ambassadors for the grace of God. That's a privilege, my friends. It's a privilege to take part in the work and the expansion of the gospel. He expands our horizons in the midst of it, he doesn't just say, listen, now here's your duty. He blesses us in the midst of it. You see how that happens, it's not just the Gentiles who worship God here. What happens in Chapter 11, even as Peter is brought before this circumcision party in Chapter 11 and they say, what are you doing? What in the world are you doing? You may find yourself that way as a Christian being led to help someone being led to help someone that might fit into the category of the untouchable, the unlovely. You might have had people even saying to you, what are you doing? How can you do that? How can you associate with his people? How can you love those people? What you see happens with Peter is Peter says, I don't care. I don't care what you think. Who are you to stand in God's way? What begins to happen? Even those circumcised party begin to worship God. You see, at the end of our passage in chapter 11 and verse 18, when they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God, saying then to the Gentiles. Also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. They see themselves no longer the Gentiles out there and we are in here, the Christians in here and the non-Christians out there that have the Gentiles worship. They see it as the same spirit that moves in them, has moved in them. And they begin to worship. And it's the same worship they're worshiping together. It's those who were once considered on the other side of the fence who now worship the one true God together. God expands their horizons. Yes, their vision. Yes. But their understanding. Yes. But also he expands their worship. Let me tell you something. You find yourself saying, no, not in this place. No, not in this church. No, those people won't come in here. No, no, we won't minister to them. Let me tell you something. First of all, that's just just to put a quite frank term on it, sinful. But you're also missing something else. You're missing the blessing. You're missing the blessing to see a diverse community, multilingual, multiracial, multiethnic, multi economics, multi everything else. You're missing the blessing of the worship of God. You're missing it. You're quite frankly, missing it. He will expand your vision, your horizon, your understanding of him. He will also expand your worship into realms of sweetness you could never know before. Because what you will see is a picture into heaven. What is the language of heaven, by the way? What is the color of heaven, by the way? What is the music of heaven, by the way? See, my point. It is diverse as diverse can be. But it's with the same goal and the same end to praise God, the father. Johnny Lee Clary, I heard this illustration from another preacher, Johnny Lee Clary, was raised to hate by his father in Oklahoma. Charlie Clary said there were times when he was growing up with his father. He and his father would be in the truck and they would drive by the bus station and his father would yell out the window at black people. Just yelling all sorts of insults and curses at. Once when Johnny Lee was 12 years old, he went to vacation Bible school. He learned Jesus loves the little children. red and yellow, black and white. He came home that night singing that song. His father heard him beat him, sent him to bed without dinner, said, Don't you ever sing that song again? When Johnny Lee Clary was just a little bit older, he saw his own father take his life with a shotgun. Johnny Lee Clary went on to be the leader of the KKK in Oklahoma. And he found himself in the midst of this town where there was this black leader, Reverend Wade Watts and his 11 children. Johnny Lee Clary would call Reverend Watts and hiss in the phone and say, I'm coming to get you. And Reverend Watts would quite patiently simply say, no need to come. I'll come and meet you. Listen, Jesus loves you and so do I. Make a long story short. Johnny Lee Clary would call several times a week. Reverend Watts would make the same. Promise. Until one day when they did. Johnny Lee Clary became a Christian. Johnny Lee Clary went on to become a member of Reverend Watts's church. Where he worships today in a multiracial, multiethnic church. Only God's grace can do that. Only God's grace has the power to do those sorts of things in the world. We have all sorts of things to divide us, to tear us apart, to tear us down, to keep us separate. What the gospel of grace does is it draws us together as one family, red, yellow, black and white. The Lord is about the business of spreading his kingdom, expanding his family. Would you view it as a privilege to be part of that? Or would you. Be so bold. As to stand in God's way. My friends, it is my prayer that as much wrestling as we have to do. As much wrestling as we might have to undertake. That we would begin to see it as a privilege. to invite anyone through those doors that they might be able to hear the gospel of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Friends, it is a privilege to take part, to behold, to see no one is common, no one as unholy, but simply as tokens of God's grace and mercy. Just as we Gentiles, most of us are tokens of God's grace and mercy. Please pray with. Father in heaven, we indeed praise you for you have redeemed us, you have called us to be your children. You have brought us into a relationship with you, it is by the peace and the grace of Christ that moves in our hearts. It's not by the fancifulness of someone else's words, but the power of your words. It comes to our hearts. It grants us the expansion of our horizons and our vision. We might be able to see through what separates us. We might be able to see that you are drawing all people from all nations, tongues, tribes, language, people, group to yourself. Help us to see that as a privilege. Help us to take part in that in in the ways in which we can in this city. Help us to understand your grace ourselves. that we might be able to show others grace as well. In Christ's name we pray and by his help. Amen.