When Your Shadow Speaks
When Your Shadow Speaks
Rooted in Acts 5:15, Ps Katrina unpacks how our “shadow”—the overflow of Christ’s presence—can bless others. She frames the message around three movements: pursue God’s presence, let simple acts speak, and persevere over time. Using a sponge soaked in water as a visual, she shows how saturating ourselves in Jesus naturally “drips” hope, healing and joy wherever we go. She honours Rachel, whose resilient faith drew more than 500 mourners and pointed many to Christ, and highlights Nicole, whose midweek musical playgroup quietly influences dozens of families. Katrina addresses seasons of invisibility and failure, reminding us Peter’s transformation came through proximity to Jesus, restoration and the Spirit’s power. She shares her own journey through hidden hardships and long waiting, encouraging us to keep showing up, serve without seeking a platform, and trust God to redeem our past. The call is deeply pastoral: step into the light, surrender afresh, and live rooted like an oak that provides shade for others. The service closes with worship and prayer, commissioning the church not to chase the spotlight but to become people of steady influence whose lives point to Jesus. Everyday faithfulness, not prominence, becomes the quiet testimony that changes communities for God’s glory.
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When Your Shadow Speaks: How Your Life Can Positively Influence Others
Have you ever considered the impact your life has on those around you? In Acts 5:15, we read about how people brought the sick into the streets hoping that even Peter's shadow might fall on them as he passed by. This wasn't superstition—it was deep faith that God's power flowed through those who walked closely with Jesus.
Every one of us casts a shadow of influence. The question is: will your shadow bring healing and hope to others, or will it go unnoticed?
What Does It Mean When Your Shadow Speaks?
When we think of shadows, we often associate them with something negative or dark. But in this biblical context, Peter's shadow represented the overflow of God's presence in his life. People wanted to be near him because they wanted Jesus' power to touch them through him.
Your shadow—your influence—can be a powerful force for good in this world. It's not about who you are, but about whose presence fills you.
How Can I Make My Life a Positive Influence on Others?
There are three key ways to ensure your shadow speaks with God's power and love:
1. Pursue the Presence
Just as you can't create a shadow without light, you can't influence others for Christ unless you're walking in His light. If you're disconnected from Jesus, you cast no shadow for Him—there's no light to work with, no presence to reflect.
1 John 1:5 reminds us that "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." When we walk in His light, we become carriers of that light.
Peter wasn't powerful because of who he was. Remember, he denied Jesus three times, was impulsive, and even cut off someone's ear! He was ordinary, just like us. But his shadow carried power because he walked so closely with Jesus that even what fell behind him was saturated with God's presence.
2. Let the Power of Simple Acts Speak
You don't need a spotlight to influence people. You don't need a stage or a title. Sometimes the most powerful influence comes from the simplest acts of faithfulness.
Think about a tree in a hot desert. Its shadow provides refreshing shade for weary travelers. You may not feel like you're doing much, but your quiet presence, being rooted in God, can bring peace and rest to those around you.
Maybe you're:
A parent praying over your children while folding laundry
Someone who faithfully serves in the church parking lot
A person who runs a small group during the week
Someone who cleans when nobody is watching
These simple acts matter. God sees everything you do, and He can use it all.
3. Persevere Through Challenges
In Australia, at midday your shadow is barely visible. But if you stay in place as the sun moves, your shadow grows longer and reaches further.
Our influence works the same way. As we grow in Christ and persevere through challenges, the shadow we cast—our influence—becomes greater.
Peter's journey wasn't smooth. He made mistakes and likely wanted to give up after denying Jesus. But he persevered. He allowed Jesus to teach him, restore him, and fill him with the Holy Spirit. Over time, he was transformed into the leader God called him to be.
You can't stay stuck in your past and step into what God has called you to at the same time. If you persevere, your influence will grow and stretch further than you could ever dream.
What Does a Life of Influence Look Like?
A life of influence isn't always visible or celebrated. It's often found in the quiet moments of faithfulness:
The person who starts a small community group that grows beyond expectations
The individual who chooses to live with hope despite serious illness
The church member whose funeral draws hundreds because of the lives they touched
These people didn't seek the spotlight—they simply lived lives soaked in God's presence, and their influence naturally overflowed to others.
Life Application
We all have one life to live. How will you leave your mark? How will your shadow speak to those around you?
This week, I challenge you to:
Spend intentional time in God's presence daily. Like a sponge soaking in water, allow yourself to be filled with His Spirit until you overflow.
Look for simple ways to serve others. Remember, it's not about being seen—it's about being faithful in the small things.
Persevere through your current challenges. Don't let past failures or present difficulties stop you from moving forward in what God has called you to do.
Ask yourself these questions:
Where in my life am I pursuing God's presence, and where am I disconnected?
What simple acts of service could I engage in that might influence others?
Where have I felt like giving up, but God is asking me to keep going?
What negative experiences from my past could God redeem to help others?
Your shadow speaks volumes about who you are and whose you are. When you walk closely with Jesus, even your unintentional influence can bring healing, hope, and transformation to those around you.
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A discussion guide for the sermon can be found here.
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IWho is ready for the Word? Katrina's ready. Katrina's ready. Pastor Katrina Kruchoff is preaching the Word this morning. So Katrina has grown up in this church.
She'll tell you a little bit about that, I think, today. But she's been our lead pastor at Mornington for the last two and a half years, and we sent her out and she missed us so much, and we missed her so much that we've had to bring her back. And so Michael now is our lead pastor at Mornington. And. And Katrina's taken on the role of executive pastor here, helping us with all of our systems and structures and across all of our connect churches.
And she's going to be preaching the Word. She's a great preacher. She's got a great word this morning. Why don't we give her a hand as she comes on up to preach?
Thank you.
Thank you. It's great to be here this morning. I feel like I bounced back, bounced back from Mornington, and I did grow up in this church. I was literally here and part of this church from the very beginning when it very first planted, and it used to be a swamp here and everything. So I've had the privilege of being part of this church and connect Casey when it was planted and just recently connect Mornington.
And it's really great to be somebody who loves to serve God and see what he's doing, isn't it? It's exciting times. Are you ready for the Word this morning? All right, let's go to Acts 5:15 reading from the NIV. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by.
I'll give you a bit of history on this scripture. The early church was growing rapidly. Jesus had ascended and the Holy Spirit had come. At Pentecost, the apostles were boldly preaching and healing people in Jesus name. In verse 15, we read that people brought the sick into the streets, hoping that even Peter's shadow would pass over them and they would be healed.
This wasn't a superstitious thought. It was a deep faith in God's power still working through those that had walked with Jesus. And just as people used to come up and touch Jesus cloak for healing, it was the same belief that his power now flowed through those followers. Now, when I first read this scripture, it's actually been happening to me for the last few years. You read that part of the scripture and it says people, Peter's shadow, Peter's shadow was what kept jumping out.
Peter's shadow. At first I began to think, did Peter have a dark side?
We often interpret shadows as being something negative and dark, don't we? It can be confusing at times. Shadows can be either a positive, like a big oak tree on a hot day where you go and stand under the shade of a tree. It's refreshing and it's encouraging. Well, most of us grew up thinking shadows were the dark side.
We crossed over to the dark side. You don't play around in the shadows. But in Acts 5:15, we read that people brought the sick into the streets hoping that Peter's shadow would fall on them. It's because Peter's shadow in this story, it represents the overflow of God's presence in his life. People wanted to be near him because they wanted Jesus power to touch, touch them through him.
Peter's shadow was having a positive influence on those around him. It was not a dark thing at all, nor a negative thing at all, just a positive influence on those. And the truth is that every single one of us cast a shadow. We all have the ability to influence other people. It's whether we choose to do it in a negative way or.
Or a positive way that makes a difference.
This week there was a funeral in this church. There was a lovely lady called Rachel. She was in her 50s and she was from our Connect Hastings location. And she'd been very sick for a very long time, but she had chosen to live out her life in a positive way. Even whilst really, really sick.
She had touched people with hope and encouragement. She journeyed with them, she had loved with them. So much so that over 500 people filled this building this week to say their final farewells to her. She'd chosen to have an impact and leave behind a lasting impact with others.
So this morning my question is, how can your life be a positive influence to others in today's world? And I've titled my message when your shadow speaks. And I want to look at three things we can do so that when your shadow speaks, it influences the world like Peter's shadow did. So the first point today is we need to pursue the presence. I used to share a bedroom with my older sister and she was in the top bunk.
And we used to create a little bit of mischief in the top bunk. Actually, she was in the top bunk and I was in the bottom and I used to kick her mattress up. I was a little bit of a rebel, but I also used to go to bed at nighttime with a tiny little torch And I can tell you this this morning, because my parents aren't here this morning. They're off traveling. I went to bed with this tiny little torch.
And once everyone had gone to sleep and the house was dark, I would put this torch just in the right position where it stuck underneath the bottom of her mattress and it created the light on the wall. And I would play around with the shadows in the dark, because you can't create a shadow without a light, can you? And so I'd sit there and I'd make butterfly shapes and I'd make rabbit shapes, and I'd have little people having their own little conversations until one night my mum busted me and she took the torch away and I couldn't make the shadows anymore without the torch. And just like a shadow doesn't appear in the dark, your influence for Christ won't shine unless you're walking in his light. If you're not standing in the light of Jesus, you cast no shadow for him, because only what's exposed to his presence will reflect his power.
If you're off doing your own thing, following your own dreams, and disconnected from Jesus, you cast no shadow for him. There's no light to work with, no presence to reflect. And if we look at 1 John 1:5, it says, God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. When we walk in the light, we become carriers of that light.
And we can then influence people and bring hope to those around us. When we think about Peter, Peter wasn't powerful because of who he was. It was his shadow that was powerful. Now if we think about Peter, he did some dumb things, didn't he? He did.
And none of us are perfect, right? We've all done dumb things, too. Yeah.
Peter denied Jesus three times. He was a fisherman. He was impulsive, and he cut off somebody's ear. He was a little bit rough around the edges, but his shadow carried power. Why?
Because he walked so closely with Jesus that even what fell behind him was saturated in the presence of God. And that kind of impact only comes when you stay close to the source. He stayed close to Jesus. His nearness to Jesus created a spiritual overflow that touched other people's lives unintentionally. I'm going to give you another example this morning.
Justin, can you help me for a minute?
Oh. If you knew what was under here, that was really trusting. Thank you, Justin. Well done. All right, I'm going to invite Eric and Lisa Wilson to the stand.
Come on up on the stage with me. And where's Cameron McWilliam? I need some helpers this morning. And, Pastor Adrian, you chose to sit in the front row, so if you could come up as well.
He told me last night he was going to sit down the back, but he's supposed to sit down the front. So let's get him up, shall we? Let's give him a hand.
All right.
Trust me as an executive pastor, but not for what I'm about to do.
Did you just call me Grandma?
For those of you who don't know me, I like object lessons. I love metaphors. I love visuals. So this morning, this sponge, this represents us. Okay?
It's a little bit dry and scratchy. If you pass that down, it's a little bit dry and scratchy, right? It's not what you want to use as a facial, but this sponge represents our life this morning without Jesus. We can be a little bit dry and scratchy, can't we? A little bit rough around the edges, a little bit harsh, unpleasant.
And when we wring it out, there's nothing coming out of it, is there? But when we soak in the presence of God, every part of us is filled. Every bubble, every aspect, every crack in this thing. You can see it all filling up. It fills up.
It soaks into every aspect of who we are, and it changes us. And when I pull out this sponge, it drips. Does it make everyone want to go to the bathroom?
It drips with the overflow of who God is in our life. Right? This sponge is doing what it's supposed to do. It's soaking in and then dripping out of the overflow. Now, I've brought these people up, and I'm not quite finished with my object lesson, but I brought these people up this morning because these are some of the people that have had an influence in my life.
Eric and Lisa were my kids, pastors when I was growing up. They have seen me through my engagement. They have been there through our marriage counseling. They have been pre marriage counseling. Sorry.
They've been there through some beautiful aspects of my life because they had a passion and a heart to change the world and influence others. Pastor Adrian. Pastor Adrian has a very good influence on me. He's actually enabled me to be able to grow up in this church even further, to become a pastor, be able to be a leader, to have the opportunities to go and do things around the church. And Cameron, I called you up because I need you to know that your shadow is bigger than you think, that there is a greater purpose in you and that bigger destiny and a bigger future.
For you. Don't let your past hold you back because God's going to use it to launch you into your future. Now let's go back to the sponge.
When we soak into the sponge and we leak out, do you know what happens when we pass other people by? What happens?
What happens? Love you guys.
The unintentional overflow is what happens as you pass other people by. The unintentional overflow of your life.
Thank you. Thank you for being such good spots. The unintentional overflow of your life can bring healing, hope and joy to others that they may come to know Jesus as well. Get to have that positive influence on others. Peter's influence, it didn't come from himself.
He was just ordinary like you or me, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and he allowed God to transform him and change him so that he then preached the very first sermon after Pentecost, he became a great leader and he spread the gospel across the world. When you live soaked in God's presence, you don't have to force influence. It overflows out of you. It drips out of you wherever you go, just like Peter's shadow.
So let me ask you this morning, are you hungry for God? Are you committed to pursuing God's presence to change your life? Because we want to live a life. We have one life, and we want to live it where we can help others come to know Jesus. Yes, we've all had negative experiences in our life, haven't we?
People who have influenced us in not the great way, but with one life. What do you want to do with yours?
Pursue the presence and the power will follow. Pursue God.
My second point today is let the power of simple acts speak.
I'm a middle child. I often grew up feeling a little bit invisible. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was just the way of my thinking. And if we're all a little bit real this morning, we've all had seasons and times where we feel invisible.
Yeah. You may not have a title. You may not have a stage to stand on. Maybe you serve quietly in the car park or in the cafe. Maybe you're running a Bible group during the week.
Or maybe you're coming in and you're cleaning and nobody sees what you do during the week. There's nobody clapping you. There's nobody giving you words of praise. And sometimes people don't even notice what you do. But here's the good news.
The good news is that God sees everything you do and he can use it all. If we go back to that scripture, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. It wasn't Peter's words or his hands that were healing people. It was his shadow. And do you know what this means?
It means you don't need a spotlight to influence people in the world. You don't need a stage.
You just need to stay in what God's called you to do, be faithful and true to what he has called you to do. And that can impact every single person around you.
Let's look at a tree for a minute. If you're in a really hot desert, you're looking for a tree, right? Because if you find a big, beautiful oak tree with lush branches and green leaves, it provides a beautiful shadow, a shadow of shade that you can go stand under and refresh and feel better.
You may not feel like you're doing much, but your quiet presence, being rooted in God, can bring the peace and rest that those around you need. Just like just being there, close to God, creates that space where others can be refreshed.
There's a lovely lady at Mornington called Nicole Crudoff, and most of you might know her. She's one of the leaders down at Mornington. She's a nurse, she's a mum to three girls. She leads a very busy life and she wanted to have a positive influence in the Mornington community. And God gave her this little idea to run a musical playgroup.
So she took a day off work every single week. She's given up her work time to go and volunteer in the community and run this musical playgroup. She designed it, she created it, and she goes down there every week and she sets up and she runs the playgroup. They dance, they sing, they do tambourines and scarves and everything. And it has over 40 mums and bubs that come to it every single Thursday.
It was a little idea that has blown into these big things. So much so that we need to look at having a second venue or a second time to run. Was actually the catalyst to why we run the mums and bubs group here, because it inspired other.
You can influence things, right? Where you are in your cafe, in your school, in your workplace, in your church, in your home, in your family. It doesn't need to be huge and big or have a stage, that quiet influence that matters. You might be a mum praying over Your children and your family while you fold the washing. You might be somebody who secretly fasts and prays over the church.
You might be somebody running a midweek study. You might be somebody on the service team who's setting up every week. What can you do that can have an impact on those around you? What can you do with your life? We all go through different seasons where things, we might have more time, maybe as a mum and you're growing up with your little kids, but every one of us can have an impact.
We can do something.
My third point today is we need to persevere. If we think about shadows here in Australia, in the middle of the day, if you stand outside, you cast barely any shadow at all. But if you stay there and as the sun moves throughout the day, your shadow grows into this very, very bright, big, dramatic shadow that reaches really, really far.
Our influence in life works the same way. As we grow in Christ, the shadow we cast, the influence of our words, our character and our faith, it becomes even greater. Let's look at Peter again as an example. At first he was impulsive. He made poor decisions.
He denied Jesus. And you know what? I bet he thought about giving up right there and then, wondering if he could ever forgive himself for what he had done. But he didn't. He persevered and he let Jesus teach him.
He let Jesus restore him and he let Jesus fill him with the Holy Spirit. And over time, Peter was transformed into the leader God had always called him to be.
And here's the truth. You can't stay stuck in your past and step into what God's called you. At the same time, we need to allow God to change us and transform us, healing us from the past and preparing us for the future.
If you persevere, your influence will grow and stretch further than you could ever have dreamed of.
Like it's been said this morning, I grew up in this church as a little girl. I was here the very first day it was planted. I've watched this building be built.
I remember giving my heart to the Lord as a little girl. I remember being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues for the first time.
I remember going to a Youth Alive rally and kneeling at the altar and surrendering my life, going, God, use me for whatever you want, whatever you want to do.
And that hasn't been a one off prayer. That's been a continuing prayer that I pray often. And my journey with God hasn't always been easy. I know some of you are probably sitting there thinking, well, that's Easy for you. You grew up in the church.
It doesn't mean I didn't have hard times. I grew up with the faith of God. And yet I went through 14 years of infertility and that battle to get our son. There's been dark seasons in my life, too. There's been privileges where I can go plant a church and I can go lead.
But there's seasons behind the doors that nobody else sees. And yet we seek God and we press in and we persevere.
And he's opened doors that I could never have dreamed of. I didn't think about preaching on the stage. Do you know, I'm really, really comfortable cleaning the toilets. I like to hide away and do the quiet things. It's where I'm comfortable.
But I prayed that prayer all those years ago. I said, God, use me for whatever you want. And he's opened the doors. He's taught me. He's filled me with his spirit.
He's changed me and he's transformed me into who he's called me to be. Not the invisible little girl I thought I was, but the person who stands here who loves Jesus and wants you to be able to experience that love and step into what he's called you to do as well.
Where have you felt like giving up? But you know God is asking you to keep going.
Every one of us casts a shadow, a shadow of influence. Pursue the presence of God. Fill yourself with God's light so your shadow carries life to whoever you are around. Let simple acts speak your faithfulness, even in small things, because it makes a greater impact than you can realize. And persevere.
Don't let your past hold you back. Keep walking with God and your influence will grow and stretch further than you can ever imagine. I'm going to ask our band to come on up and we're going to sing together this morning. And we're going to invite you to stand as well. Because this moment is between you and God.
What do you want to do with your life? What's God calling you to do? What do you need to lay down to him? What do you need to re surrender? To align yourself so that you can grow in him and maximise the capacity of what you want to do.
You know, Rachel, she was only 52 and she had three children, the youngest being 15 years old. But she knew God. She knew where she was going. And even though her greater family had stepped away from God, they came into this church this week and they experienced the love of the leaders in this place. They got to Experience the love of God.
Her final choice to have her funeral here allowed other people to experience who Jesus was. You have one life to live. How are you going to leave your mark? How are you going to leave your influence? Let's sing together this morning.
You alone are worthy of all honor.
There is none like you. You alone are worthy of all honor.
There is none like you. You alone are worthy of all honor and praise. No other name, no other name.
No other name name no other name.
No other name. Come on, let's sing this out. No other name can save me. No other name can restore.
No other name can heal my heart. No other name but yours. Come on, let's sing. No other name can save me. No other name can restore.
No other name can heal my heart. No other name but your can sa me. No other name can restore.
No other name can heal my heart. No other name but your.
No other name can save me. No other name can restore. Come on. Do you believe that you want to name? Can I?
Ra.
Jesus. Jesus.
There is none like you. You alone are worthy of all honor and praise me. Oh, no. There is none like you. You alone are worthy of praise.
No other name there is.
You alone are worth.
Here's what we're going to do. Hey, I'll just close this. A beautiful message from Katrina about when your shadow speaks, we want our life to leave a mark on people's lives. A beautiful, positive, life transforming mark. So I just want to encourage you right now.
We're going to bring ourselves the Lord and say, lord, will you help me to do those things? Will you help me to be a person who lives in your presence? God, will you help me to be someone who lets the little simple things that I do impact lives? Lord, will you help me to persevere when I feel like giving up? Isn't that the challenge?
The people who make an impact on this world are the people who keep going. They keep doing good things, kind things, loving things. Even when it feels like they're not making a difference. Even when you feel like you've failed, they keep going and your life will count. I don't know how you feel in this place today, but the Lord says, I want you to.
I want your shadow to speak. I want your shadow to speak. Some of us feel like we've failed at different times. Peter failed. The apostle.
Paul failed.
Rahab in the Bible. For those of you know, her Bible labels her as a prostitute at one point. But she became a mighty woman of faith who actually helped the save the Israelite nation.
Because your shadow can speak even if it started in failure, even if it's had negative points. And God wants to redeem people in this place. He wants to say, come on, it's time to get back up and say, God, you can use me. You can use me. You don't have to live in the negative stuff or the.
I tried, but it didn't work. God can use you. Come on. Right now in this place you say, lord, I want you to. I want my shadow to speak, God.
I want it to speak to my children, into my society, in my life. Will you use me, God? Here I am. I want you to lift out your hands before God right now. It's a sign of surrender.
It's a sign of saying, lord, will you. Here I am, Here I am in humility, God.
Lord, I pray for your people right now that Lord God, that they would know that they are called, that they are chosen not because of what they've done, but because of who you are, Lord, that as we are in your presence, God, as we keep true to that, Lord, that our shadow, our lives are going to have impact and influence on others, God, that the healing work you're doing in us, some of us have gone through painful things and God says, even that painful stuff you've gone through, I can use it to help others, to love others, to lift others up. God says, I can use your life because you're important to me. You're more important than you know. Like Katrina said to Cam before, you're more important than you realize to God and to others. So Lord, use us.
Here we are, Lord. Take these people, Lord. And as they go from this place, I pray, let a fire burn in them, in our young people. Let a fight. Don't go for the limelight, go for transformation in others lives.
It's the quiet, soft, behind the scenes things that change life. Commit yourself to it. Say, lord, use my life. I'm not here for a stage God. I'm not here for a spotlight God.
I'm here so that my life leaves a mark on people that will change him forever. Holy Spirit, use us. Take us, God, in Jesus name. I want to prophesy this. This is what the Lord's spoken to me about this church for a long time.
He loves this church. He loves this area, he loves the people of it. He says, I haven't called you to be a church that is a spotlight church. I've called you to be a church of influence. I've called you to be a people of influence.
And even when Others don't see it. God says don't look to what others recognise and say look at them and look at that. And oh wow. He goes, look to me, look to me and do the things that you know that I've called you to do. And you watch, your life will have an impact.
I'll think of Rachel who's been in our church for many years, over 500 because her life years she'd be encouraging others, believing God for healing. She went through ups and down seasons. But I go, there's someone whose shadow speaks. God wants to do the same in you. Not the limelight but the shadow of God's influence and grace.
Like a beautiful oak tree. Lord, use your people to do mighty things and lift this area up, this community up, this church up. God to be a church of great influence and impact. In Jesus name, Jesus name. We're gonna say a prayer right now because as people have come into this place, you've been far from God.
Is this alright if we just. I wanna give you an opportunity to say some words, say a prayer that's already in your heart to say. Jesus, I wanna give my life to you. I wanna surrender my life. They did it at Youth Alive, you know, they said a thousand young people said I want to give my life to Jesus, I want to follow him.
Maybe they were doing it for the first time. Maybe they were coming back to him after being away from God. Maybe you're like that. Say Jesus, I want to follow you. We're going to ask him.
We're going to put our trust in him. We're going to ask for his forgiveness. We're going to say these words together. But you say it from your heart to the Lord. Okay, let's bow our heads and let's pray.
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to follow you. I believe you're the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sin and you rose again from the dead. So forgive me Lord Jesus, be my Lord and my Savior. Come into my heart. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen. Amen. Come on. Why don't we give the Lord a hand?
God is good. God is good. Why you don't, why don't you grab your seats for a second? One more thing.
If you did say that prayer, we've got Bibles free Bible that we want to give you. If you need a Bible, come and see us by the bookshop. And we'd love to give you a Bible to help you in your walk with God. It teaches you how to pray, how to spend time With God, how to read the Bible, and we'd love to help you with that. So come and see us out in the foyer at the end.
Who thinks Katrina did a great job this morning.
Well done. I'm saying that even though she soaked me with a sponge here. Cheeky, cheeky, cheeky. Anyway, that's very good. Here's one thing.
I just want to share this with you. In a couple of weeks, we've been talking as a church about. This is about letting the simple things speak. And I know God wants to use so many of us in this place. This is a great church.
It's a beautiful church, full of amazing people. But every week we've got hundreds. We've got, like, there's. I don't even know how many. There's a thousand adults that would say they're part of the church.
Here at Frankston, We've got over 3,000 people across all of our churches that say they're part of Connect Christian Church. And we've got about, you know, I think we've got about 12 or 13 pastors, over half of which are part time. And so the reality is that this church is a church full of a community of people. But sometimes we say, oh, well, the pastor should know us, and this, that, and the other. They're doing a bunch of stuff and work, but we need each other to build community and relationships, don't we?
If we're relying on pastors that go, and they're doing a great job, I love them, they're brilliant. But there's too many of us. We need to be in relationship with one another. And so we want. We've got that.
We've got great volunteer leaders, we've got Connect groups, we've got others. But we've been talking about this, and as Katrina's come on as executive pastor here, we said we need to focus on this area, pastoral care, relationship building. And so one of the things we want to do is we want to bring in more people that say, hey, I would like to be a part of connecting other people together in friendship, in relationship, in encouraging others to say, hey, this is a church for everyone. There's people that come in here and they're alone. There's people that can be part of here for months and.
And they haven't been able to build a friendship. And we want to help you. We want to help each other build friendships, where we say, I'm looking forward to seeing that person. They're a friend of mine. I've got so many friends in this church.
But we all need friends, don't we? We all need support. And so what we want to do is, if we bring that thing up, we want to have a group of people that we're going to call connectors. Connectors. Because that's what we want you to be doing, because that's what you are, and because it's part of the name of our church.
But we want some people that say, you know what? I'd like to help connect other people together. Not just I'll build a relationship, but I'm gonna help other people build relationship. And maybe that's gonna be. Some people will end up running a connect group.
That's for some people, but that's a pretty committed area. You might just say, hey, I'd like to be a help others build friendship. And I'll call a couple of people during the week. I'll. I'll see him at church.
I'll, you know, say, hey, why don't you catch up here and just help people build friendships? And so it's all about friendship, encouragement, and support. And so in a couple of weeks, what we're going to do is we're going to have a meeting after church on Sunday, the 31st, and we're just going to talk about that vision. Katrina is going to help oversee it. Pastor Phil is going to be involved.
Our pastors, myself. And we want to recruit some people. Some people already doing this in our church, but. But we need a bunch more. And if you say, you know what?
I've got a heart for people. I want to help people. Maybe you've been someone that you yourself know what it's like to feel isolated. And you say, God, can you. That was me.
I grew up in church in youth, and I was so shy because I felt like I couldn't connect with anyone. And people would try and talk to me, and I didn't know what to say. And so I'd go to my room sometimes, and I'd be like, after youth some nights, and I felt like I was alone and no one understood me. And I'd be crying, saying, God, oh, why? Why can't I build friends?
What's wrong with me? And God had to take me on a journey. And when I became a young adult, I. By God's grace, he said, adrian, I want you to be the one who brings change. And I want you to do something about this, because I love you.
And I had a revelation. And so I went into the next stage of our young adult ministry, and I just said, I'm going to go up to a whole bunch of people and I'm going to be the one that goes to Salah. And I was nervous. I was going, what if they reject me? All this.
I said, put it aside and go for it. And something changed in me and I went into younger and I just started introducing myself to people, older people, younger people. And I became a connector. And I was the shyest one of my youth ministry. And then I became one of the most outgoing ones because I saw the need.
And I said, I don't want anyone to feel like I did. And so I want to take tell you connectors are people who are outgoing people. You can be an introverted person if you say, I see the need and I want to be a part of helping others build friendships and feel welcome and embraced in the community of faith that we're a part of. We need you. We need you to be a part of this.
And so can I invite you? We've got these flies out there. In two weeks we'll have a meeting 12 o' clock after church. But can you go to the get connected, Pop your name down. We've got a whole bunch of people that are involved.
We need about 90 odd people across our church here at Frankston that say we want to be a part of this because I don't want a single person to be left alone. All right? This is what the church is supposed to be. And the problem is the church keeps growing and so if we don't do something and are active about it, people do get isolated and maybe you feel a bit like that. All right, we want to help you.
Come and talk to us. Maybe you want to become a connector and say, I'm going to be one of those people that connects others. I promise you, you can do it. You got more in you than you know. You are better than you realize and people need to know it and we'd love to know it.
So is that okay? So if you're interested, if you'd like to be a part of that, we're going to talk more about it and give you training and help and all those things. And it's not too onerous. It's about friendship and relationship. So I'm really excited about that.
I think we're in the next phase of our church. I want us to be the friendliest, caring church. It doesn't just be friendly when you first walk in, but builds friendships for years and years and years to come. That's what we're about. All right, so all good.
All right, I think we're done. I think we're done. Why don't we pray? We're gonna pray. Sorry, I know you.
We're gonna pray and then we're gonna go get coffee and morning tea. Lord, I pray for your people today. I thank you for the word we've had. I thank you, God. They are loved by you, Lord.
I ask that you would come and minister to them. That you would come and use us, Lord God. That they would know how loved they are. That they would sense your presence in their homes, in their cars, on the way to work, in their schools, wherever they are, God. And that they would know that they are loved and cherished, God.
And they would pass that on to others. Lord, we pray it in Jesus name. All God's people said amen. God bless you guys. Have a great week.
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