Devoted '25 - Session 3

Called to Be Prophets of Hope

Scripture References: Ephesians 1:18; Psalm 107:2; Luke 1:46-53

Sermon Notes:

Intro: Welcome to this sermon! Ephesians 1:18 prays for enlightened heart-eyes to know the hope we're called to. This isn't wishful thinking; it's confident assurance based on God's unchanging nature (faithful, good, true to His Word). Because God works all things for good, we ultimately cannot lose. Even death is gain. People desperately need this real hope today, as much hope is misplaced in temporary systems or people. We, the redeemed, must change the narrative.

Key Points: Becoming Prophets of Hope

1. Change the Narrator: If you don't like the negative narrative (fear, despair, division), become the narrator of hope. God is raising up voices of hope.
2. We ALL Carry Prophetic Hope: Like evangelism or healing, releasing prophetic hope (God's heart and perspective) isn't just for specialists. The Holy Spirit empowers all believers to speak life and hope.
3. Women as Historical Models: Scripture repeatedly shows women sensing God's next move when others missed it, pouring out radical devotion, and releasing prophetic hope: 
   • Mary (Jesus' mother): Said "yes" and sang prophetically (Luke 1), ushering in the Messiah.
   • Anna: Recognized baby Jesus, worshiped, and proclaimed Him.
   • "Sinful" Woman (Luke 7): Recognized Jesus amidst doubt, anointed Him with extravagant love.
   • Mary (at Bethany): Sensed Jesus' coming death/resurrection, anointed Him lavishly despite criticism. Her worship lingered even on the cross.
   • Women at the Tomb: First to encounter the risen Christ and proclaim the resurrection.
4. Modern Examples: Ordinary women continue this legacy (Lama Gbowee ending war with prayer, Aja Brown transforming Compton as mayor, Mariana reaching government in Ecuador, Cassandra educating in Congo, Lauren evangelizing through makeup artistry). They used what they had, obeyed God, and saw multiplication.
5. Bring Your "Lunch": Like the boy with fish/loaves, what you have may seem insignificant. But when given to Jesus and acted upon in faith ("walking out" to distribute), He multiplies it. Don't despise small beginnings or wait until you feel "enough."

Conclusion: God is looking for women today to rise up as prophets of hope. Stop waiting for others to lead or fix things – become it. Pour out your "alabaster jar" of worship, gifts, and life. God is famous for using the simple and multiplying meager offerings given in faith. He wants to partner with you. This call includes "radical hospitality"—loving the stranger, making space for the outsider—as a key way to release hope.

Call to Action: Are you ready to get off the safe road and dive all-in? Ask God how you can be prophetic hope. What's in your hand? Take a step of faith, however small. Start the book, volunteer, invite the neighbor, take the class. Bring your "lunch" to Jesus and watch Him multiply it. Embrace radical hospitality. It's time to get your fight back and release hope!

Transcript

Okay, guys, like everything has been so beautiful and amazing. Seriously, this is incredible. Like what a feast. Yes, that's it. What a feast. This team has laid out in the spirit, in the natural, like this has been really, really beautiful and special. So thank you guys. So incredible. All right, you guys, are you going to stay awake? We gave, they gave you salad. Salad. So hopefully it's not too heavy, but it won't offend me if you need to like stand up and walk around, slap yourself around a little bit. Like it's okay. Slap a neighbor, you know, whatever you got to do. My phone is right there. He's going to text when he's here. Sorry, guys. My nephew's coming to pick up something. Alright. Well, let's get started.

 Ephesians 1: 18 says, 'I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you. The riches of His glorious inheritance and His holy people and His incomparably great power for us who believe.' I pray that the eyes of your heart would be open to know the hope to which you've been called to hope. We are a people of hope. The culture of the kingdom is a culture of hope, and we have been called to hope. You know, hope is a really powerful force. Um, you know, the Bible talks about hope being this culture of hope. And I think that's a really powerful force. I think that's a confident expectation or assurance based on God's promises.

 It's based in something. It's based in God's nature. It's not just like wishful thinking. It's very different than wishful thinking. Hope is based in the reality that we know that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that we know that God is faithful, that we know that God is good, that we know that God is true to his word. So we can have hope. We can have hope because we know that God is faithful. We can have hope because we know that God is faithful. We can have hope because we know that God is faithful. We can God will work all things together for our good. So really, there is no scenario in which you lose. There is no way that the cookie can be cut, that the pizza can be sliced; fill in your description.

 There is no way. There's no scenario in which you can lose because even in death you gain. Right? Even in death we gain. There is no scenario in which God cannot turn something beautiful into your life. There's no trauma too big. There's no divorce too complicated. There's no past too shameful. There's nothing. God turns all things together for good, and we have hope. We have a hope that this world doesn't have. That what we are seeing isn't the end of the story. You see, because of God, our hope is in the reality that actually it doesn't even matter what happens, what the enemy tries, what weapon forms against me. I know that God will be with me. I know that I'm going to be okay.

 And I know that he can turn the worst of the worst all for his glory. We have a lot of hope. And it doesn't end here. You know, the average human lifespan is 77 years. It's just a second. It's just a little blimp. It's just tiny. Our time on this planet is short, but we have hope because we know we're just passing through. We belong to a different kingdom that is eternal. I have been feeling this urgency in my spirit so much lately. I feel like I'm in a world where I'm feeling like I'm in a world where I'm going to be in a world where I'm going to be in a world where I'm going to be in a world where I'm going to be in a world where I'm going to be in.

 lately that, you know, we've kind of been talking about some of this this morning, just even the dynamics of globally where things are at. There is such a need for hope right now in our day. People are desperate for hope. And I think we have experienced, you know, especially in this nation, we've experienced a lot of misplaced hope. Where hope is put in systems to fix things. Where hope is put in medicine. Where hope is put in the economy. Where hope is put in government. Where hope is put in people. Maybe we don't mean to, but we do. We put our hope there. And then we're disappointed. Because the only one worthy of our hope is God. Right? And the world is desperate for hope.

 I don't know about you, but I feel like every time I turn on the news, every time I get on social media, every time I turn around, it's like problem, pain, suffering. And I'm not saying like, I'm also a huge believer that we need to be aware of what's happening in the world. I don't think it's healthy just to hide under a rock and be like, la la la la la, everything's great. You know, it's not. Like, we need to be aware of what's happening in the world. But also, like, if you are not storing up oil in His presence, right? If you are not connecting with Him, you're going to walk out there and just be so overwhelmed with just things that are constantly attacking hope in your life.

 And I feel like so many people are lacking hope. And I've been feeling this stirring in my spirit, that it is time to change the narrative. You know, I heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've heard, I've told, that somebody once say, if you don't like the narrative, change the narrator. And that stuck with me. And I feel in my spirit that we're in this moment where God is changing the narrator. And he is inviting people like you and I to rise up with a message of hope. I believe that wholeheartedly. Time to change the narrator. I believe that God is raising up prophets of hope, prophetic hope. Now when I say that, you might be like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, you know, what is she talking about?

 Some like, thus saith the Lord, I am a prophet. Have hope now. Like, I'm saying that because I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. Saying all of us, right? All of us carry, have access to the prophetic spirit because we all have access to the Holy Spirit, right? We can all hear what God is saying and release His heart, right? When you're walking down the street and you meet somebody who needs to know Jesus, you don't say, hold on, let me call my evangelist friend. Because the Holy Spirit's in you, you become the evangelist, right? When you're at home and your mom hurts herself and you don't have to say, hold on, let me call my friend who's got a real gift of healing. You have the Holy Spirit in you.

 You can pray for your mom and release healing to her right there, You with me? Right? In the same way, we can all be prophets of hope to our generation. We can lean into what God is saying and release it, release hope, release life. Because we have a Holy Spirit in us. We can all be prophets of hope to our generation. We can lean into what God is saying and release healing to our generation. We can all be prophets of hope to our generation. We can generation of people that are so discouraged and hurting and scared and divided, and rightly wounded by the church. And it's time for new narrators to start using their voice. I don't know how it was here in the valley. Um, my guess is probably somewhat similar.

 Um, you know, in LA where it's like, I felt like the last several years, just with the everything, the politics, the pandemic, the race stuff, like it just ends with all the things. Right. And it felt like the people with the loudest voices were the people on the extremes. And it felt like people who were actually of sound mind and healthy and balanced. So many of those people that I talked to felt very intimidated and silenced and afraid to use their voice or not knowing how to use their voice or just so dang fed up that they were, you know, like just disengaged. And it's felt like, in a lot of ways, toxic voices have had been the ones giving the narrative.

 And I feel like God is saying, 'I am looking for voices of hope to rise up and change the narrative in this generation, in this city, in your family, in your community; who are the voices of hope that are going to come? They're going to speak reason that are going to hold the tensions that are going to stop being binary and othering and one against the other and understand that God is in it all. And how do we find God? And how do we find real solutions? And how do we hold the tensions? God is raising... Yeah. Prophets of hope.' I've been thinking about Psalm 107 too, that says, 'Let the redeemed of the Lord say, so let them let the redeemed of the Lord say; so it's time to use our voices. It's time to use our lives. It's once again, it's the tensions, right? There's something really beautiful and powerful about having a quiet life, a small life. Of being faithful in the small things at the same time, we're called to let your light shine at the same time. We're called to be salt and light at the same time. We're called to go into all the world.

 Let the redeemed of the Lord say; so it's time to declare war on fear and discouragement through radical joy and hope-a revolution of hope. We already talked about this, but those who hope in him will not be disappointed. You know, when you look at Scripture, do you know who consistently recognized when Jesus was about to show up and do something great? Anybody want to take a guess? What was that? Yes. Women. Well done. Men. This whole sermon is going to be about men. Women. Over and over in scripture, when God was beginning to do something and other people weren't aware, couldn't recognize it, when culture at large wasn't aware what God was doing, there was always a woman who was aware and who poured out her radical devotion and love and it released prophetic hope for other people to see what God was doing.

 Think about Mary for a moment. Young Mary, mother of Jesus. An angel shows up and tells her she's going to become pregnant. Now, I know we hear that and we're like, you know, yay, the Catholics are going to love you. Like, you're going to have a great, this was not great. This is not great. To be a teenager and pregnant, this is like potential cause for death in her culture. Right? The angel shows up and tells her she's going to become pregnant and she says, I'm willing to be used by the Lord. Be it unto me as you have said. That's her response. God's like, there's something I want to do and it's going to be so costly. Will you partner with me? I'm willing to be used of the Lord.

 Be it unto me. And then, she goes into her prophetic song. Mary's Magnificent, if you might be familiar with it. Luke 1, 46 through 53. And Mary sang this song. Now, remember, Jesus had not been born yet. Jesus had done nothing. She was a young girl sensing in her spirit what God was about to do and she gets behind it and she begins to declare it and she begins to worship and she begins, to speak it into existence. She begins to partner with God. She begins to sing this song, 'My soul is ecstatic, overflowing with praises to God.' My spirit bursts with joy over my life-giving God. For He has set His tender gaze upon me, His lowly servant girl. And from here on, everyone will know that I have been favored and blessed.

 The Mighty One has worked a mighty miracle for me. Holy is His name. Kisses all who fear him from one generation to the next, mighty power flows from him to scatter all those who walk in pride. Powerful princes he tears from their thrones and he lifts up the lowly to take their place. Those who hunger for him will always be filled, but the smug and self-satisfied he will send away empty. This is a powerful declaration. Once again, she's using her spiritual eyes, not what she's seeing in the natural, right? It hasn't happened yet, but she's she's sensing what's coming, and she pours out her worship and her devotion, ushering in the Messiah. She partners in her radical pouring out of her obedience, and her worship, and her devotion, and her proclamation: you know, prophetically declaring hope-there's coming a Savior who's going to flip everything on its head!

 I don't know if you know much about the history of Mary's Magnificat, but here, you know, uh, in recent history, several countries have literally outlawed from this being read in public several countries because of the fear that the people will hear words like this and be empowered: there's a God who flips power structures, that there's a God who elevates the lowly. It has been banned from public readings in entire countries. And here's Mary, this young girl, senses that God wants to do something. Now, remember this is after 400 years of silence-what's felt like Elijah's season, dry, hard, empty; where's God? He's not really speaking; we can't really see miracles. What's happening and she leans in and she hears what God is doing.

 You know, I'll just add this: you know, you might know this, but it's like, even talking about last night when we're talking about that. Was last night, yes I'm like, when was that? Um, talking about being able to believe even when you can't see right. Oh, he's out there. Oh, he's coming. Hi Caleb, hi, I love you, you're my favorite, that's for me, love you. Um, don't mind us, family, we're all family. Um, where was I? Thank you last night, yes, 400 years okay, thank you. Um, thinking about the reality that God is always moving even when we can't see and so like in Mary's story right, it's felt quiet, it's all these things but we know in those 400 years of silence God was massively moving and setting things up, Alexander the Great had come in and created a language that everybody could universally.

 Speak the Bible; the Hebrew scriptures were translated into the Bible, and they were translated into the universal language that finally everybody could understand. Rome was paving roads, so the word of God could go out there; you know, political climate things that were in place that that brought some peace and stability, so that that actually the timing-the perfect timing of God-could go forth. Listen, when you don't see it, it doesn't mean something's not happening right. God was setting things up for the greatest, precise moment to bring His Son, and what everybody else right. God's moving, but nobody can see. it everybody else it feels dry it feels quiet it feels silent you know all the things and here's this young girl who can lean in who can hear what the spirit's doing and she's like let's go and she begins to just prophetic hope just he's coming to flip the script he's coming to right the wrongs he's coming king of justice and she just

 begins to just declare it and pour out her worship be it unto me mary makes a way or i think about anna an elderly woman a widow who devoted her life to prayer and fasting and worship when jesus was born just a tiny baby nobody knows yet that this is the messiah nobody knows yet that god is on the move It's it's in its insignificant if you will. It's that tidy, nobody, he's done nothing yet. But Anna, she's attuned in her spirit. She's watching, and she's listening, and she's leaning into what God is doing. And she runs up to Mary and Joseph in the temple, and she begins to bless Jesus, and she begins to worship, and she begins to declare his lordship. She joyfully tells everybody she meets the Messiah has come.

 She sensed it when others couldn't, and her worship and her declaration and her trust in God released prophetic hope to people around her. Or I think about the sinful woman. She doesn't even get named. She's likely a prostitute. In Luke, we first learn that John the Baptist has been incarcerated, and he's been sending messages to people. He's been sending messages to people. He's been sending messages to people. He's been sending messages to Jesus, asking, 'Are you really the Messiah?' And when everybody's asking, 'Are you really the Messiah?' And Jesus even has to ask his own disciples, 'Who do you say that I am?' When everybody's wrestling and questioning if he really is who he says he is, there's this precious, hurting, broken, sinful woman who recognizes who he is.

 And she can't help but pour out her love and devotion on him. Jesus is at the house of a prominent Jewish leader, and she barges in, weeps over his feet, dries his feet with her hair, and then she pours expensive oil on his feet. When others were questioning if he truly was who he said he was, her radical adoration, and declaration, ministered to Jesus. She anointed his feet for the ministry he would walk in. She could see what others couldn't, and she pours it all out on his feet. Prophetic hope. Or there's the other Mary. Mark doesn't name her, but John says it was Mary. This account gets told in different places, but just a few days before Jesus would be crucified, and conquer death forever, and free us forever, and redeem us, and rise, and deliver humanity.

 When Judas was already in the works to betray Jesus, and nobody could grasp what Jesus was about to do, Mary. Mary could sense it. Mary was ready. She takes out her most precious, prized possession, an alabaster jar filled with a treasured and expensive perfume. A perfume oil that was worth a year's wages. She breaks the jar, and she anoints Jesus' head and his feet. We're told the oil was pure spikenard. Now, spikenard was known for how extremely long the scent was. It was known for how long the scent was. It was known for how long the scent was. It was known for how long the scent lasted. And that would be in modern times, with washing machines, and showers, and multiple changes of clothes.

 In ancient times, to have a jar of spikenard poured over you would be impossible to get the smell off. Especially when you consider Jesus. They're, you know, traveling around. They have one, maybe a second, second pair of clothing. It would have taken weeks with how strong spikenard is to come off the smell, at least to diminish. So this woman pours out this expensive worship devotion, pours it all out on Jesus. You know, some of the disciples get mad that she does something so dramatic and extravagant. And Jesus quickly comes to her defense, saying her lavish devotion was preparing him for his burial. And her adoration would be spoken of for the rest of the time, you know, the rest of the time as the gospel is spread.

 You know, others were bickering about money, or who would sit next to Jesus. She was the one who had the right perspective and the right posture. She was pouring it all out. You know, it always stands out to me, you know, there's a lot of people who tell me about this story. Is this woman's prophetic hope, this woman's radical adoration and worship, was the thing Jesus could smell when he was dying on the cross? Because shortly after this, he would be crucified. And by every account, every scholar agrees that there, it is undeniable that Jesus still entirely smelled like this woman's worship. But that was the smell as he hung on that cross, was that spikenard. And that was the smell that he smelt like when he rose from the dead, her worship.

 Her worship, partnering with God for his greatest move, a woman's adoration, releasing prophetic hope to others around her, pouring it all out, inspiring others to do the same. You know, I think about the women at the tomb. When everybody else was grieving and hiding and not understanding what was going on after Jesus was crucified, out of the dark night emerges a handful of faithful women with spices to go and minister to the bruised, slain body of Jesus. And it was they who would first encounter the risen Christ. They would worship with joy and proclaim his resurrection to all the others. Prophetic hope. Over and over again, women have been on the front lines of prophetic hope, sensing what God was doing, being the first to pour it all out, and igniting hope in the world around them, igniting others, inspiring faith.

 And this stirs me. You know, women have helped to shift the narrative, declaring prophetic hope for as long as time. And it's time for us to do it again. You know, I think of a couple things, women, that are inspiring me right now. One, I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Lama Gamboa. Anybody ever heard of her? Um, in 2007, Lama Gamboa, um, from Liberia, she was a single mom. I believe she may have been a widow. Um, just a poor mom. War, civil war had broken out. It was like the clashing between Muslims and Christians. It was horrific. So many people were dying. It was just a horrible time in Liberia. And she's like, 'what can I do?' And God's like, what do you have in your hand?

 And she's like, all I know to do is pray. And he goes, that's enough. And so she began to strategize with God. She called a prayer meeting in a fish market with another handful of women. And then it just began to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow and grow. And pretty soon, women from all across the nation were gathering together. To pray and to worship in the streets. Became a nonviolent resistance movement across the nation. Then they were like, if this is like Christians versus Muslims, we have to model healing. So they invited Muslim women to join them. And across the nation, Muslim women and Christian women praying, like coming together, calling for peace. And this incredible, humble woman. A woman. All they had was little white t-shirts.

 Would go on to be credited for the sole reason of ending the civil war in Liberia. Their peace movement. Phenomenal what happened through this. You know, she's won the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, it's wild. They saw the first female president in an African nation elected. Through this peace movement of praying mamas. If you have time, you can go watch Pray the Devil Back to Hell. It's a documentary. About her. Phenomenal. But it's just a simple woman. Prophetic hope. What's in my hand? I don't know, I'm just a poor single mom. What can I do? I can pray. That's enough. Right? Bring your lunch. Watch Jesus multiply it. I think about Mayor Aja Brown. I love this woman. She was the mayor of Compton from 2013 to 2021.

 And Asia, as a young woman at age 31, well, she assumed office at 31. So before that, she was young. She was like, felt the Lord begin to speak to her about Compton. And she's like, 'I have no experience in politics. I am young. What can I do?' You know, and there were all these kind of big wigs. You know, the people with power. People who had been in office for a long time. They had all the connections.' And she's like, 'How could I, a young woman, ever go up against somebody like this with all this experience?' And God was like, 'I want you to be able to pray and ask me for strategy for Compton. So she does. And God begins to download. Strategy to her.

 And he downloads to her a 12-point plan for how to see transformation in Compton. Well, that's nice. But who's going to listen to some young girl with no experience? Right? And she's like, 'God, what do I do?' And God was like, 'Do exactly as I tell you.' And he just started giving her specific instructions. I want you to go door to door and talk to people. She's like, 'Cool.' I'll be back when I'm 95. Like, what? Like, how long is that going to take? And he's like, go door to door and tell them your ideas. She's like, okay. So she just started canvassing door to door. Hey, I have ideas. I mean, that's it. She's like, I have no money. I have no backing. Nothing. Just obeying God.

 She gets a prophetic word: 'You're going to win by a landslide.' She's like, this is insane. Nobody even knows me. She wasn't even invited to, like, the debates. And God was like, keep doing what I told you to do. She keeps doing what he tells her to do. Do you know that she won by a landslide? 31 years old. Won by a landslide. Comes into office. Violence and crime was reduced by 65% under her leadership. Unemployment went from 20% to 6%. She launched youth initiatives. Brought rival gangs together for peace. Executed a $70 million infrastructure program, renewing the entire city's street system. Under her leadership, thousands of new jobs were created in Compton. There was a surge in economic growth. And there was massive transformation in the city.

 That's why we sing; they're not like us. Okay. Sorry, sorry. Okay. Back to my notes: They're from Compton. Okay. Okay. Incredible, right? It's incredible. Or I think about our team in Ecuador. We do a lot of work in Ecuador. We work with women coming out of incarceration and women coming out of sexual exploitation. We have an organization there. We have a home. Different things. And in this process, after years of working with victims of trafficking in Ecuador, we were so frustrated. Because at the time, there was absolutely no legislation in Ecuador that was against trafficking. In fact, the government, sorry, the president went on record saying human trafficking didn't exist in Ecuador. Okay. So, we were so frustrated as an organization because there was no laws protecting women.

 There was no laws to hold, you know, perpetrators accountable. It was really difficult. And so we were like, if we're going to really impact this, we have got to figure out how to get into the government and impact legislation. But our team at the time in Ecuador was like a lot of young 20-something-year-olds. Just women who loved God. And we're like, we don't know what to do. You know, nobody had connections to the government. Nobody knew what to do. Ecuador was, you know, has been, but at this point was an extremely socialist. Very anti-God, anti, you know, Christianity at that time. It softened a little. But it was rough. What are we going to do? And I felt like the Lord said, one of the girls on our team, Mariana, he said, 'I'm going to move through her to reach the government.' And so I said, Mariana, for a whole year, we're taking everything off your plate.

 Your only job is to seek God about how we get into the government. And she was like, oh, my gosh. What? And I'm like, you can do it. Pray in tongues. I don't know. Figure it out. Like, you can do it. And she was like, oh, my gosh. You know, she's young. She's right out of college. She's just come out of journalism, you know, school for journalism. And she's like, what am I going to do? And so she's just praying. And so she's sitting at this computer just praying. God, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? How can I, how do we make an impact? How do, what's our inroad? Like, just give a strategy. Give a strategy. And one day she's doing this.

 The screen pops up. And she's like, I've never seen this. I don't know. And it was the personal emails of the three top policymakers in the country. And she's like, I don't think I'm supposed to be seeing this. She screenshots it. She's smart. And it disappears. Disappears. She was like. Oh, my gosh. Like, what the heck? What am I supposed to do? I'm like, is it not obvious? Like, he gave you an email. Like, you're going to email them. She's like, what am I going to say? I'm like, I don't know. Ask the Holy Spirit what to say. So she emails them. All three lawmakers. And she's just like, I'd like to meet with you. Here's who we are. Here's what we're about. You know, two of them don't respond.

 Right away, one of them responds. And it's a woman. And she's like, how did you? How did you get my email? She didn't answer the question. She was like, I'm fascinated by what you're talking about. Can you meet me tomorrow for coffee? Mariana was like, oh, my gosh. You know, so she goes and meets this woman. And we're all, like, praying. And like, how was it? How was it? She comes back. And she was like, I don't know. She's like, 'We didn't even get to talk about trafficking.' It was kind of, like, frustrating. And I'm like, 'What do you mean?' And she's like, 'I don't know.' She's like, all, like, so into the government. And she's like. She just was, like, offered me a news anchor role on the government TV station, which is, like, hardcore socialist.

 Like, she's like, 'What do you think?' I'm like, 'Take it.' And she's like, 'What? Absolutely not.' I'm like, 'Take it.' That's the door God's opening. Take it. Right? And she's like, 'Oh, my gosh.' So she takes this job. She's now, like, the anchor for, like, state-run hardcore. Like, hardcore, you know, media. And she's like, what is my life? So she gets in there. She has a lot of favor. She's able to advocate to get her own show. So she gets her own show where she is interviewing people who've had, like, massive transformation in their life. So, you know, she's interviewing, I don't know, just all these different people, right? Like, a paraplegic who then won the Olympics. I mean, just all kinds of crazy stuff.

 Like, just crazy things. So she's doing this. And now she's very strategic. And now she's doing it. Because she's, you know, her boss, who is very anti-Christian, was like, 'Mariana, this is so obviously Christian.' And was getting really mad. She's like, 'I'm not talking about Jesus. If people want to talk about Jesus when I'm asking them questions about their transformation, that's on them. You know,' and he's, like, 'so mad.' And he wants to actually fire her. But he can't. Because her show has the highest ratings in the entire network. So she keeps getting more access. So she interviews this man. And he has a crazy story. And he's overcome all these things. And after the interview airs, he reaches out to her.

 He says, 'Can I talk with you?' She says, 'Yes.' And he said, 'I didn't want to tell you this before.' He goes, 'But actually, I'm the personal trainer of the president.' And I showed him the interview you did of me. And the president could not believe. He was so enthralled. And he said, 'I've never done this before. I've never seen a reporter be able to pull light out of somebody like that girl did. I want her to interview me.' So all of a sudden, Mariangel is being sent, you know, has this opportunity to meet the president and interview him. So I don't know why this was very weird to us. But she's meeting him at his, like, tennis club. And they're going to play, like, some tennis.

 And then they're having a meeting. And my husband was mortified, utterly mortified, because this girl is, like, not athletic at all. And my husband is utterly mortified that this girl is going to go play tennis with the president, you know. And so he's, like, trying to quickly teach her how to play tennis. And he is beyond mortified. And she goes. And she meets the president. She interviews him. She has a chance to directly, to his face, have a wonderful conversation with him. He is so intrigued by her, introduces her to his wife. All of a sudden, these dynamics are happening. And we're, like, what is God doing? Well, in the midst of all this, as all this is happening, we have a team that has just arrived in Ecuador. About 20 people.

 And we have a huge. We have a huge anti-trafficking event that we are hosting, like, a nationwide anti-trafficking event. But we find out as everybody arrives, our team, our international team to help, that we have just lost our building, our venue. And we're, like, what are we going to do? Well, so shortly after she meets with him, we get a phone call from his team. And they're, like, 'we heard that you guys just lost your venue for your event.' Yes. Would you like to use the White House? It's not the White House there, but it's their equivalent of the White House. I'm going to go ahead and say yes. What? You guys, we had the national parliament. We had lawmakers from across Ecuador.

 And because it was now there, government, the president ordered the government TV to fully broadcast the entire thing. The entire nation heard us for 30 minutes calling the nation to become abolitionists, calling the nation to stand up against trafficking, explaining it, calling them to action, calling them to legislation. I'm telling the entire nation. Within 24 hours, there was so much blowing up across the nation that the government sent us. Two of their top lawyers, now this is where I literally almost fell over and died. This is where you're like, 'this better be Jesus.' This is the climb up, get low. This better be Jesus because I'm going to die situation. I had a 104-degree fever. I had just spoken at this event, barely made it through.

 And then two days later, I was so ill. And we got a call. These lawyers wanted to meet with us. And they said within 24 hours, they need a full recommendation of what specifics should be included in the policy, the anti-trafficking policy. I'm like, hold on a second, you know, I'm like, like literally like calling every major person I know in the movement. Like, what are the key factors that need to be involved? And we were able to put it together, pitch it. And to this day, Ecuador has anti-trafficking legislation. It's a big deal. It's prophetic hope. So often we buy the lie. What can I do? I'm just one person. What can I do? Right? I think about Cassandra. Cassandra came to us at 19 years old. Young, sweet, innocent.

 I remember one time we were going out. I think it was a birthday or something. We're going to all go dancing, salsa dancing or something. And Cassandra. Cassandra lived with us and she walked out and hung up. My husband was like, 'no', you look like a missionary. Go mess up your hair a little bit. Put something else on.' She was just like the sweetest, most innocent little like Canadian girl, you know, leave it to my husband. He has no problem telling people what's up. Um, the sweetest girl at 10. At 10 years old, at 10 years old, had heard the Lord speak to her and tell her that she would be a missionary to the Congo. So she learned French and she for years had been preparing for this.

 She had gone to multiple missions organizations and said, 'um', I'm called to be a missionary in the Congo. Where do I sign up? And over and over and over again, she was told no. No. Go home, grow up, get married and then come back and we'll think about it. She was devastated, devastated. And she's, she came. She's like, I heard you went by yourself as a single female at 21 and lived in Africa and did missions. So you can't tell me no. And I was like, okay. And so we were like, let's do it. So she lived with us for a while. She traveled with us. You know, we let her cut her teeth. You know, in, in easier countries first, she started in Kenya and Uganda and then we moved her to Sudan and she got her bearings there.

 And then we moved her into, into Congo. And now today, Cassandra is one of the global leaders in education and conflict zones. She is consulting the UN. She's the transformation that is happening within the Congo. Her schools are, are, are bringing education to folks. She's helping 40 ,000 children in active conflict. They're kids in an active war zone. 100% of their children pass the national state exams. They have complete gender parity, females and males. I mean, the transformation that is happening through 19 year old Cassandra, who's not 19 anymore. Now she's in a war zone with her two babies. And her husband, it just takes a yes, right? I think about Lauren. Lauren comes from a very rough background in Vegas, her family, a lot of addicts, a lot of violence, just a lot of dysfunction.

 And she came to Jesus and met God in an event like a women's event, like this that somebody invited her to. And she was working in a casino. And, you know, being discipled and growing on her walk with the Lord. And, um, while she was working in this casino, she came to another event and somebody prophesied over her and said, 'Do you have a heart for makeup?' Now, Lauren had dropped out of high school. She'd never told anybody her passion was actually makeup. She had no experience in makeup. She'd never done it. And she just starts to cry, right? Because that’s the one thing she would love to do. And the person begins to tell her, 'I have this picture of you.' I feel like God is going to use you.

 He's going to use you in makeup. And Lauren's just like, 'You know what? I'm going to take God at his word.' I'm going to partner with him. I don't know what it's going to look like. She moves to LA, moved in with us. Her pastor was our friend, moves in with us. And Lauren just starts with the real simple, like, 'I don’t, I don’t know what I’m doing.' So she’s, she would get on like Craigslist. If you’re doing a, um, a photo shoot, I will come do your makeup for free. As long as I can take pictures. And she just started building up her resume. And she would just do that. And she would just hustle and just obeying God and just taking steps and praying and, and asking people to pray.

 She kind of launched into this thing. Do you know that, to this day, Lauren is signed by one of the top, top, top, top agencies in all of Los Angeles. And she's like an A-list celebrity makeup artist. And everybody who sits in that girl's chair hears about Jesus. Lauren is the top evangelist in my entire church. Every single week, I get a text: 'Hey, I'm bringing my gay friend today.' Hey, I'm bringing my favorite little checker from, you know, Trader Joe's. Hey, I'm bringing this, you know, uh, my trans neighbor. Hey, I'm bringing every day, every Sunday. It's she's telling me who she's bringing. I'm bringing this model from set. I'm bringing this producer, this atheist producer. You know, he's going to have a Satan shirt on. Don't worry.

 He's really nice. I mean, every Sunday, every Sunday, it's my favorite. I, I'm bringing my kid's soccer coach. I'd be literally, I made it to the police officer. I met last night. I'm like, Lauren, like, I love it. And God is using this girl, this woman who just said yes, who was willing to pour out her oil, who was willing to be prophetic hope. I mean, I feel like I could stand up here and tell you story after story after story of what we're seeing God do. We're seeing this in LA, you know, LA is there's 11 million people in my County. That's a lot. We are 88 cities and it is; we've got a lot of issues, but I'm watching, I'm watching simple people show up and press in.

 I mean, just in the last couple of years, you guys, we've had so much as we've just followed the Holy Spirit and said yes. And kept our heart posture when, you know, when the pandemic was happening. And everybody was losing their mind and churches were not acting very Godly. If you ask me, I know you weren't, but I'm telling you anyways, and we had churches that we love that were very publicly speaking very, very horribly about our government. And I felt like the Lord said, 'You'll have nothing to do with that.' He said, 'I want you to call the mayor's office and I want you to call the governor's office.' And I want you to tell them you're praying for them. Okay. We call up the mayor.

 We call up the governor. 'Hey, you're in a, you have a really hard job. I'm so sorry. None of us have ever been through a pandemic. This is really hard. Just want you to know we're praying for you.' Please let us know how we can serve you. And by the way, we're sending lunch to your entire staff today. And just the weeping on the other side. Churches only call us to like literally chew us out. I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, And it was like just the simplest thing. And all of a sudden, now we're sitting on these boards helping to, to see policy changes, changes in Los Angeles County.

 We've been entrusted to run foster care camps for foster kids across our county that no other church is allowed to do. We're watching God move in ways and open up doors. And I'm telling you, this is available to all of us. And it just struck me-starts with what's in your hand. You know, I think about the story where Jesus feeds the multitude. The little boy has his, his fish and his bread. I think the real hero of that story is the mom, by the way, because somebody's mama packed a lunch and taught her kid how to share. Okay. So she's the hero. If you ask me, that's the real hero right there. Um, but I think about that story, you know, I don't know how you envision that, you know? Um, I always kind of envisioned it like Disneyland, like the Disney version of that story. Like, like the fish are just exploding out of the basket, you know, anybody? No, just me. What a boring inner life you have. Um,

 but we don't, when you really look at that story, it's actually really underwhelming. They come up to Jesus and they're like, 'He's like, feed him.' And they're like, 'How?' Right. It's like Jesus telling us, 'You're the salt. You're the light. Go change by Celia.' How? I can't do that. I don't have the resources. I don't have the resources, the bandwidth, the knowledge, the anything to do that. And he's like, 'What do you got?' And I'm like, well, just this little fish and bread. And then he takes it and he breaks it. He's like, oh yeah, it's great. You got nothing now. You know, like, it's like, wait, what? Like you had an army. Now you got 300. Like he just, it's just like, wait, what?

 Like he just, it's, it's very underwhelming, right? He breaks it. And he hands it to them. He says, go feed them. And I'm sure in that moment, they're like, cool. Now I have three breads that are broken. Like I don't have anything more in my hand. It just feels weaker. I'm just very aware how lacking it is. It's not even intact. This little lunch I had. And the miracle doesn't happen until they actively walk out to the people and start handing it out. It's when they put action to their faith. It's when they start doing something with what's in their hand that it starts to multiply, That it starts to multiply. And I feel like God does this all the time. So often we don't see the multiplication because we don't make the walk from here to there.

 We think it's not enough. We think, 'What can I do with this? I'm just, I'm just a mom.' I'm just whatever, fill in the blank. And the reality is God is famous. He's famous for using the simple. God multiplies. God is looking for women who will rise up and say, 'I'm willing to be prophetic hope in my generation.' I'm willing to pour it all out at his feet. I sense what God wants to do. Don't find me lingering or questioning in the background. I'll be the first one right there, pouring it all out at his feet. He's worth it. He's worth it. One of my favorite quotes by Mother Teresa says, 'I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who was sending a love letter to the world.' Isn't that beautiful?

 I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. I want to remind us, ladies, that our God is the God who does the impossible. That he's looking for who to partner with. I'll tell you one last story. You guys okay? Okay. One last story. You know, when we were newer in ministry, we're, I think I told you guys this, but doing, working a lot in Africa. And I was just pregnant with my first child at that time. And we were the poor, we were the poor, we were the poor, we were the poor, we were the poor, we were the poor. We were the poorest missionaries you ever did see. And we were so broke.

 And all I want, I just found out I was having a girl. And all I wanted to do, you know, you walk through Target and you're like, oh my God, I need it. I wanted all the cute little baby girl things. But we were so broke. And I really wrestled. And I remember having this moment with God and being like, 'Are you going to provide? Are you going to provide?' And at that time, we were doing this huge clothing drive because we were heading into Africa and we were taking eight suitcases. And we were collecting all these used baby clothes and kids' clothes to take to Africa. And so we pack everything up. We head into Rwanda first. And we were going to leave it all in Rwanda.

 So I was very worried because our plan was that every child who walked in would get a bag, a pair of shoes, clothes, some toiletries, some straws. School supplies and a toy. And so we were like, we just began to pray that God would multiply these eight suitcases. Because our goal was that 50 kids could walk away with a bag of items. That just felt like a stretch to me. 50 kids, eight suitcases, right? So we're praying over it. So 50 kids come in Rwanda. They all get a bag full of stuff. But we still had stuff left over. And we're like, that's amazing. So we invited 50 more kids. We've now served a hundred kids. A hundred kids get a bag full of stuff. And we're like, wow, this is incredible.

 At this point, we have to leave. But we still have stuff left over. And I'm like, how is that possible? So we travel to Kenya. While we're in Kenya, we were in Nairobi at this Soweto slum. And because we have stuff left over, we're like, 'ask these pastors in the area, bring us like the worst situations you know of.' So we have so many kids come that day. They fully get new clothes. They get new shoes. And we're like, something insanely miraculous is happening. Because how are we clothing all of these children? I remember one little girl. At this point, we had run out of shoes. Everybody had gotten shoes except for one little girl. And I was like, 'this is unacceptable.' And so she wanted, I don't remember what her shoe size.

 Let's say she was like an eight or something. And she was like, 'I want school shoes.' Which is like little black Mary Janes. 'I want school shoes' And I go back into the team and I said, 'I'm going to need you to stick your hand in that suitcase. And I'm going to need you to pull out right now some size eight black Mary Janes.' And they're like, 'There are no shoes left.' And I was like, 'You're going to pray and you're going to do it. We're not sending one kid away without shoes.' And so they're like, 'Oh my gosh.' You guys, this girl is like, starts freaking out. One of our team. She's like, 'I didn't know this was in here.

 Size eight black Mary Jane shoes.' This little girl gets her shoes. We're all like, this is wild. But we still have stuff left over. And I'm like, this is actually crazy. We were never planning to bring these suitcases to Kenya. How do we still have so much stuff left over? So now we're on the other side of Kenya. We're in Bangoma. And we're like, we're getting ready to leave. So we're like, we've got to get rid of this stuff. So we take giant garbage bags. Mind you, eight suitcases. Giant garbage bags. And we fill all these garbage bags with clothes. And we're going to go drop off a garbage bag at every orphanage and every hospital in the entire district. The bag I took, I personally packed.

 Because I was going to the children's home that had about 100 kids in it. That I visited regularly. I knew the ages of those kids. That particular home does not take young children. I mean, they take young children. They don't take babies. They're like four and up. So I purposely set aside clothes for, you know, more school-aged kids. We're delivering. We're having tea. The greetings. All the things. And one of the mamas tells me, 'You're not going to believe it.' I go, 'I'm not going to believe anything these days.' What? And she said, 'We couldn't resist it.' I know. I know. We're not really registered for babies. But we got a call that there was a baby in a trash can. We couldn't say no.

 We have a little newborn girl. And they bring her out. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. And she's the cutest thing. And I'm loving on her. And they were like, you don't happen to have any baby clothes, do you? And I'm like, no. We sent all the baby clothes to the hospital. And at this point, I'm like, but you know what? Nothing will surprise me, right? We dump out this bag. When I tell you, there were 23 roughly newborn girl, like, Easter dresses. Yeah. I literally was in amazement. Like, God, what is happening? As I'm watching Him multiply what felt like our very meager efforts. At this point, it was so crazy that we did something that I would never, ever recommend in any kind of a mission setting ever for the rest of your life.

 Okay? But we literally were dumping suitcases in the village. And just like, if anybody has kids, come get stuff. I mean, the masses of people that had come. And they were grabbing stuff. Now, we're leaving the next day. So, we leave these suitcases. I'm like, I don't know. I'm walking away. I am done. It's in your hands. Like, walk away from these suitcases. We get home. And I'm like, I don't know. I'm almost home. And as you do, if you've ever been into a, you know, a bit of a, uh, maybe third-world environment, you leave your suitcase in the garage for just a minute. You know, just kind of let it things crawl out a little. And, um, my suitcase was in the garage, and I decided it was time.

 I needed to go, you know, throw it in stuff in the laundry. And I open up my suitcase, which had never, ever, ever even been in the same vicinity as these suitcases. Right? I open up my suitcase, and I just crumple to the ground on the garage floor, and I begin to weep because inside my suitcase was beautiful little baby girl clothes. And I just began to weep, and I heard the Lord say, if you'll take care of what's important to me, I'll take care of what's important to you. If you'll take care of my kids, I'll take care of yours. And it was this idea of, like we talked about today, like when you are about God's business, when you are on the narrow road, there is so much blessing and provision and covering and life there.

 And that really stuck with me, because truly, we are in a moment in history where we are about to watch God multiply what's in our hands. God is changing the narrators. God is looking for voices of prophetic hope. God is looking at us and saying, 'church, you are the salt.' You are the light. All things are possible for those who believe. There are miracles waiting, waiting to be activated through your life. There is a multiplication through your skills, through your voice, through your faith. Through your nurturing, through your parenting, through your, you know, talents. There is a multiplication that He wants to do. But it starts with just pouring it all out at His feet. It's time to rise up. Ladies, it's time to get confident in our God.

 Remember that He is who He says He is. It's time to fight for connection so that we can bear real fruit. We are called to be agents of hope, agents of joy, a force for transformation. You know, you have the power of a whole movement inside of you. Do we believe that? Truly. Which brings us back to why you got to know how to mind the gap. We are called to be agents of hope. Because you know what the enemy loves to do? Sit down. It's not working. He tries to get you to walk away after the fourth, fifth round so that you don't see the rain come. Because he's terrified of what's inside of you. Which is why I say, last one standing wins. If you don't sit down, you win.

 Right? All it takes is one person who genuinely trusts that God is who he says he is. That he's the same today as he was in the past, that he's good, that he's moving. What does it look like for you in this season to really rise up, pour it all out, and be prophetic hope? Maybe it's taking that class, starting that book, saying, 'You know what? I've been thinking about volunteering with this organization for five years. I'm just going to do it.' Maybe it's inviting your immigrant neighbor over. Maybe it's, I don't know, taking a leap, doing something He's asking you to do. Bring your lunch to Jesus. He's going to multiply it. This is not a time to play it safe. It's a time to take great God risks.

 It's time to dive all the way in. Like Mary, be it unto me. You know, that was very risky. The sinful woman pouring out her indignation, and the sinful woman pouring out her entire life savings on Jesus was very risky. Yet none of them ever regretted it. Their decision to dive all the way in never ended with regret, to hope in him because he does not disappoint. Ladies, it's time to get our fight back. It's time to get your fight back. It's time to focus on who you know God to be, to use your life and your voice to declare it out to shake off the heaviness of the past seasons and to dive all the way in. You are needed. You're needed. He's the same yesterday and today and forever.

 And he's calling us out to be a voice of hope and joy to this generation. I'm going to invite the worship team to maybe join me back up here. You know, I was thinking about something this morning. Oh, my gosh. I don't know if I ever told you this story, Tiff. Years ago, I was in my early 20s. I don't know how I ended up at this thing. Some kind of a gathering that Cindy Jacobs was putting on, and it was for, like, women in ministry. And they allowed, like, 10 young women to come and, like, audit it. I don't know. Like, we weren't really invited. We just got to be, like, there watching. I don't know. I don't know. Whatever. There's, like, a couple thousand women at this thing.

 I'm standing in the back of the room. Everybody's facing away from me, looking forward. I'm standing against the wall. And I have this thought. And I, in the moment, I get – I was just, I was just like, 'man, this is such a bummer.' So many women I know, all we've ever wanted is to be mentored. And I'm looking around this room, and I think the whole generation of women had no, like, space in the church in so many ways. And so they felt like they had to fight for a position at the table that so many of them, like, aren't, aren't, it felt like so many other women at that time, like, that generation, they had to fight so hard to have a space at the table that they didn't have the energy or the capacity to bring other women along.

 And I, I was having this thought as I was standing there. Now, I mean, I was working hard to fix my face. Nobody could see me. Everybody's facing away from me. But I'm having this thought. As I'm having this thought, like, man, what a bummer. All I wanted was to be mentored. All I wanted was somebody to stand in front of me, and I was like, show me the ropes. All I wanted was, you know, and Lisa Bevere, you guys know who Lisa Bevere is? Lisa Bevere, this is my only interaction with this woman in my entire life. Lisa Bevere, she's sitting in the front row. She stands up. She turns around. She walks all the way to the back of the building. I think she's going to go out the door to the bathroom.

 I'm standing against the wall. She doesn't go out the door to the bathroom. She makes a hard turn and comes and gets right in my face. Oh, dear God. She's intense. She gets right in my face, and she goes, 'You need to quit.' Excuse me? She said, 'You need to quit.' Knock it off. She said, 'You're not going to get it.' Do you hear me? You're not going to get it. You have to become it. Do you understand me? You have to become it. And then she walked off. I'm not kidding. You've never seen me like that. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I've never spoken to the woman since. I stood there, and just tears going down my face.

 Like, that was the biggest Italian spanking I've ever had in my entire life. Oh, my God. But you know, that has shaped me. We can keep looking. You know, I think in the past couple years, when a lot of the political drama or churches, just all the things, culture's been hard. I kept looking around going, 'When are the adults going to stand up? Where's mom and dad? Like, when are the adults going to like, be adults?' Anybody else? And they didn't. And the adults were some of the worst. And I was like, 'What's happening?' And I felt like God said, it's time to stop looking for other people to lead. We need leaders in our life. You hear what I'm saying? It's always putting the expectation on somebody else to rise up to the moment.

 God was saying, it's time to become it. Ladies, it's time to become it. It's time to become the moms and the dads. It's time to become prophetic hope. It's time to rise up and be the voice of reason. It's time topostpone to the world what, you know, true Christianity looks like. It's time to pour it all out at his feet. Let's quit looking for other people to do it for us. Let's do it ourselves. Let's become it. Let's respond. Prophetic Hope. I want us, as we just get ready to kind of transition here, I want us to take a moment. And we can go into worship. And I want us to just take a moment and begin to ask the Lord. Truly, this is not a light moment. I mean, really.

 I want you to begin to really think through, am I really ready to get off of the comfortable road, the safe road, and really, really, really, really, really, really dive in and become prophetic hope? Because that's going to look like something. Am I really willing to say, God, use me to be prophetic hope? Whatever that looks like. Am I really willing to pour out my full alabaster jar? And we're just going to take some time to respond to the Lord. And you can respond however feels right for you. If you want to come to the Lord, come to the Lord. If you want to come to the Lord, come to the Lord. If you want to come up and just get on your knees before the Lord, you can.

 If you want to just stay in your chair and just talk to the Lord, I think we'll have some ministry team off on the sides. If you want some prayer, somebody to pray with you, we're going to have that available. But I believe this is a holy moment. This is a holy moment. I don't know about you. I don't want to go home the same. I want more of God. I want to walk in the fullness of what He has for me, right? And what's that quote? Like, insanity is to keep doing the same thing you're always doing and hoping it's going to be different. It's like, I want to dive all the way in. The stakes are too high. He's too worth it. He's too beautiful for 8 billion people to not see Him.

 He's too good. He's too faithful. The call on your life is too great. He's done too much for me just to stay home and hold on to it and be God. I'm comfortable for myself. I want the world to see Him. It's time to become it. It's time to become prophetic hope. I want to say one last thing. This morning when I was in the shower praying for this church, I heard this term that I want to just submit to you to consider. I don't know what it will look like. But the term I heard is radical hospitality. Radical hospitality. You know, Jesus came on a mission to annihilate exclusion, to annihilate loneliness, to annihilate being unwanted or unchosen or marginalized. Hospitality is not just creating a great atmosphere and a blessing, you know, blessing your other friends and Christians.

 It's not just making nice salads or flowers, although that's lovely. The word hospitality in the Bible means to love the stranger, the other, the foreigner, the unknown, the different, the one we don't understand. Hospitality is when you invite strangers to come and hang out with you and your friends, right? With your community, to make a space for them at your table. The ministry of hospitality is one in which you pull up a seat for people and show them how loved and how cherished they are. It's intentionally making space for strangers in our lives. Biblical hospitality is the physical expression of the second part of the great commandment to go and love your neighbor. I don't know what that means, but I was hit by it so hard this morning when I was praying for you, that this is a house that's called to radical hospitality.

 That God has put within this community what is needed to bring chairs and create space for the other, the stranger, the one who doesn't feel understood, the one who feels on the outside, the one who doesn't feel welcome, that this is a house called to radical hospitality. And it's part of how you're going to release prophetic hope into this city. And I know you guys already do this, but there's something that feels very, like, that was so stirring in my spirit. There's something that as a community you guys are going to be doing, but also individually. Radical hospitality. Where you say, 'I don't care what anybody thinks.' I don't care what this looks like. Radical hospitality. All right? So Father, I pray that as we just respond to you today, that you would stir us.

 God, I pray that you would break our heart for what breaks yours. God, that you would ignite our heart with the reality of the invitation that is right now, this hour we live in. God, I pray that you would raise up from this community prophets of hope, prophetic hope, Lord, that you would raise up. People who will release hope into the school systems, into the economy, into their neighborhood, amongst the undocumented, amongst the sick, amongst the marginalized, amongst the foster children. Lord, I pray that You would raise up prophetic hope that everywhere that these women go, Lord, that they would bring healing and hope and transformation in every community. Attune us, Lord, to Your spirit, to Your kingdom, not to culture. Not to what the world is saying, but what You are saying. God, I pray that You would release the strategy for what's already here in the Spirit for radical hospitality. Would You release the strategy? Let's just take some time. And I want to encourage you, maybe just have the Prayer Team come up, and I just want to encourage you to respond to the Lord however it feels like, as appropriate.