Jesus Is Offensive

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Anyone who has lived a life as a follower of Jesus, who has been called by Jesus, and there have been many who have sacrificed and given of themselves, I think we all realize we wouldn't be here as Christians, followers of Jesus, if it wasn't for the generations before us, all the way back to Jesus. There's an unbroken chain of sharing the gospel message. And so, we'll also, this Memorial Day, remember those. And of course, our hearts grieve today as well, with Uvalde, Texas, another school shooting, with the people of Ukraine. There's so many things in this world right now that we need to lift up in prayer. Why don't we do that now, and then we'll do it again, okay? After saying all that, it's like, gosh, I think I need to pray. Lord God, thank you for this weekend. And as we celebrate or remember or commemorate Memorial Day, Lord, here in our country today, where we reflect on those who have gone before, who have battled, who have fought for the freedoms and have lost their lives doing so, Lord, help us to give proper honor and respect to all those, to recall with sober judgment the values that they lived for and they died for. We pray, Lord, as well, that at a time when our world is in such chaos, as well as, Lord, our country is facing very difficult things, Lord, that you would give to us a spirit and a unity, Lord, of service, of humility, of care, of unity, Lord, that seems to be evading us right now, that we are stronger together rather than individually just entitled. Lord God, we lift up to you Uvalde, Texas, and all those families who mourn in our country, mourns and grieves. We pray, Lord God, that you would bring an end to these mass shootings. We've had so many, we've become so numb. We just think this is commonplace and it is not, Lord. We pray, Lord, that you would bring your healing. We thank you for many who have already come to Uvalde and to serve and to listen and to give therapy and counsel and spiritual guidance and wisdom. We thank you, Lord, that we have seen testimony of your goodness in the lives of Christians within Uvalde and how they've come together. We pray, Lord, though, somehow, Lord, I don't know, we've asked so many times before that maybe this time we would come to do something, Lord, something of significance, from going upstream of these situations to help, to assist, to support troubled youth. Lord, you know what all needs to happen much more than we do. We pray that you give to our leadership, Lord, the courage to do the right thing rather than just what's politically expedient, whatever that may be, Lord God. We fall at our feet, Lord, asking for this. We lift up Ukraine today, too, Lord God. We know, oh, Lord, it has been over three months now, and we pray that there is an end to this war and the carnage as well as the violence and the injustice, Lord. We pray for healing and protection. We pray, Lord, that you would have your way, because we know your way is a way of peace, Lord Jesus. You are the king of peace. We know your way is not a way of violence. We know your way is a way of truth and justice, Lord, and we pray and we cry out for that. We ask, Lord, that you'd help us to be with those who are refugees wherever they happen to be in this world and that we would come alongside of them and speak truth to power when needed, Lord. Lord, we lift up as well. Other issues in this world, as Colombia today undergoes an election, we pray that your will is accomplished, that wisdom prevails, that, Lord, you direct your paths there as well. You are sovereign over all the nations, Lord. We want you to be sovereign over our nation as well. And, Lord, we lift up to you as well and thank you for the lives of many who have gone before us in the Christian faith. From every tribe and hill and people and nation on earth, Lord, you have called people to be your very own. We give you thanks, Lord, for their witness. We give you thanks for their bravery. We give you thanks for their sacrifice. That has given us, Lord, the ability to hear the gospel and in this country, oh, Lord, that we are free to proclaim it. And we pray that you'd give us the courage ourselves to continue to proclaim and to continue to live for you in those ways. And as we read this text today and as we are in this service together, Lord, we pray you would be working through this time, that you would be bringing healing to a number of people in our congregation, to Sue, to Jeff, to Vicki, Lord, and those outside of our congregation but within our care and concern and our family, Lord. We lift up to you, Carol. We pray for you to be working your healing power through your gospel today and that you would bring your kingdom and your will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven. All this we pray in your name, dear Jesus. Amen. So we continue with Simply Jesus again, and we...