[This is an excerpt from a Kairos Talk: Tomorrow]

Can we be changed?   Yes, but not by ourselves. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.  It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.”  To be changed, we must accept the gift of God.  We must realize how badly we need Him, and then give our whole selves to Him, and trust Him to take care of us, because we finally figured out we can’t take care of ourselves.

The guys at your family table are your brothers.  Christ’s challenge to you is to take care of them.  To stick up for them.  To meet regularly with them for prayer and share group.Quite some time ago I met a brother in white, he was in my little prayer and share group at a monthly reunion.  He had recently been set off (rejected) for parole, and he was pretty sad, mad and disappointed, and he told us this story.  He said, “The very next day after I found out I’d been set off I got a visit from my momma and my wife.  The person I know who is the farthest from God is my momma.  And the person I know who is the second farthest is my wife.  And I’m telling them how I really feel about getting set off (again), when my momma says, “You know why you got set off?  It’s because God has something He wants you to do here.”  And my wife agreed with her.

The rest of the story is this.  The next Kairos Weekend at the closing they had open mike and guys got up and told what happened to them.  They mentioned names of guys who had encouraged them to go to Kairos.  Several pointed out this very brother, and told how he was responsible for them coming to Kairos and coming to God.  Praise the Lord!  All of which is to say is, “This brother is doing exactly what God wants each one of us to do.  To reach out to others and share His love with them.”

HERE’S THE DEAL:  After this is over you need to join a prayer and share group.  It’s a place where you’ll meet people you can trust.  You can trust them to accept you, to protect what you tell them; to be there for you; to listen to what you say; to care about you.  It’s a God thing.  I’m in two prayer and share groups that I’ve been in for years.  Meet every week.  We share our stories about what God is doing in our lives.  I go to church, and I enjoy going to church, but these groups are more important to me than church.