HESED: The Grip & The Heart of God

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Dear Lord.

Where else am I gonna build my life, Lord?

For you have the words of life.

Your love is the only firm foundation.

Lord, there's people in this room that are tired, that are hurt, that are broken.

And Holy Spirit, I pray that we can just sit and enjoy the fact that you're none of those things.

That nothing's ever dawned on you, that you've never been worried, that you're you're you're you're looking at us right now and you have us.

Exactly.

Holy Spirit, I pray that right now you can you can remind us continually that your steadfast love endures forever.

It's going to outrun all the difficulty that we're running into today.

Your kingship will outrun everything wrong with the world.

Lord, I pray that we get to just enjoy that in these next 30 minutes.

Make your word powerful and fill this room with with relief and excitement at the same time.

Only you can do that.

Amen.

Be seated.

Good morning.

How are we good?

Awesome.

If you have your Bibles, we went and grab those and go to Psalm 136.

Psalm 136.

If you don't have a Bible, you can just relax or get your device.

So the words are gonna appear here on a screen.

But I would love for all of us to be looking at God's word during this time here together.

My name is Leo Almeida.

I'm one of the teaching pastors here at Grant Parkway.

We've had a lot of visitors since the last time I've I've I've I've preached.

So um if if I've never met you, I would love to meet you after this service.

So after this service, myself and the other pastors will be up here in the front.

We'd love to pray with you, love to process anything you've heard.

We've also just loved to meet you.

So welcome, welcome here.

So um now, uh in 2005, um, there was a lady who lived in Colorado, and her name was Catherine Cathy.

And I pray to God she went by Kathy Cathy.

But she was a lady in Colorado.

She was a military wife, and in August 2005, she got the news that every military wife uh dreads getting.

She got the news that her husband, second lieutenant James Kathy, was killed over in Iraq.

Okay, he was a Marine and he was involved in an explosion that took his life and several of the lives around him.

And as you can imagine, for Catherine, that was absolutely devastating news.

She was devastated.

Not only did she love her husband, but on top of that, she just found out that she had his son on the way.

Now there's a service in Colorado to commemorate the life, his life, and the life of others.

And the night before the burial service, James, the night before James Kathy was to be buried, um, Catherine refused to leave his side.

She wanted to sleep one last night next to him.

So she set up a table or a or a bed uh right next to his casket, and she even brought a computer filled with a playlist of songs that reminded her of times with her husband.

Now, just me telling you that is powerful.

Like if you just picture that in your mind, that is a powerful picture.

Now, ironically, we actually have a picture of this scene.

Okay, and there's a detail in the picture that takes it from powerful to absolutely profound.

There's a detail here in this picture that takes it from powerful to a Pulitzer Prize winner picture.

I want you just to nod whenever you see the details.

Okay.

So this was taken in the middle of the night, and there she is with her computer sleeping next to her husband.

Now, this picture is bursting with the beauty of loyalty.

As you can see, this is a woman who took her wedding vows very seriously.

She took her vows very, very seriously, she's loyal to her man, and the the James Cathy was loyal to his country even unto death.

And the gentleman next to him stayed up all night guarding the body.

Never met him.

Never met James Cathy who died, but he was loyal to the uniform.

Now, I think this picture, I show you this picture, I think it slides us well into our word today.

We're doing a series called Words to Live By.

Okay, and the words, that some of the words this far have been forgiveness and rhythm and contentment and prayer.

And my word this morning is the word chesed.

So Neil got forgiveness, rhythm, contentment, and prayer, and I got chesed.

So what is it?

Okay, I get the only I'm the only non-English word.

What is it?

So, first off, um, if you want to say it correctly, you can't say it like a Texan, okay?

It's not chesed, okay?

Um, so pretend like you don't have rodeo tickets and pretend like there's a popcorn kernel stuck at the back of your throat, okay?

It's it's chesed.

Say it with me.

Chesed.

There you go, my theologians.

Simply put, chesed is love with loyalty at the core.

It's love with loyalty at the core.

It combines two ideas, love and commitment.

It's not a love that's primarily fueled by feeling, it sets its will to love regardless of feeling.

So some of my American friends who've been around my family gatherings kind of raise their eyebrows when they see how me and my family greet one another.

Okay, for Angolans, it's customary for the double cheek kiss.

Okay, so it's just I kiss, sometimes my dad or my mom, I kiss them, my cousins, I kiss them twice on each cheek, or once on each cheek.

I can imagine for an American landing in Angola for the first time, was never seen that or known that, being very confused.

Because it's literally everywhere.

They taught us this as children.

Okay, we do it with strangers, neighbors, cousins, coworkers.

It's everywhere.

Now, it's not life or death.

Okay, no one's gonna punch you for not kissing them.

It's a small thing.

But since it's everywhere, it's important in understanding how we relate to one another as Angolans.

Small thing, but it's everywhere.

So it's important when it comes to understanding how Angolans relate to one another.

Furthermore, another example in that same way, um, I can imagine someone from the north, okay, who's never, who doesn't care about football at all, doesn't like country, never been to Texas, blindly enrolling in Texas AM University, and hearing that for the first time.

Or hearing howdy on campus for the first time.

Again, no one's gonna expel you or doctor grade for not knowing or doing that, but it's pretty important to understanding how those people relate to one another.

What do I mean, those people?

But in that same way, chesed is a small word.

There's no book of the Bible called chesed.

You've probably never seen a Christian t-shirt that has the word chesed on it.

There's probably not many Christian tattoos that has the word chesed on it.

But it's everywhere.

Your Bible is filled with the brim with this word.

250 times it's mentioned in just in your Old Testament alone.

And since it's everywhere, it's vital for understanding the way that God relates to his people.

It's a word that's tricky to translate.

Some of your Bibles say loving kindness, some of your Bibles say loyal love, some of your Bibles say steadfast love.

Some of your Bibles say it's been translated as mercy or kindness or goodness or faithfulness or loyalty, but it's referred, the word chesed is referring to the stubborn grip that God has on his people.

God's chesed is the sure love that he which he will not let his people go.

He will not let his people go.

So we're gonna do two things this morning.

We're gonna zoom in on the grip of God.

And then we're gonna zoom out and we're gonna ask the question: what type of heart is connected to that type of grip?

Do you follow me?

So we're gonna look at the grip of God and then we're gonna zoom out, look at the heart of God, the heart behind the hand.

So, first off, the grip of God, we're gonna look at Psalm 136.

This is a special psalm.

Okay, um as you're looking at it right now, just with your eyes at your own Bible, you can tell that it has a lot of repetition.

The word chesed is repeated here 26 times.

It's written for call and response.

So uh Levites or priests would be in a scene like this one in the temple courtyards, and they would say a truth about God, and the people would respond for his steadfast love endures forever.

We're gonna do so here in verses uh one through nine.

I'm gonna read this here too.

He says this give give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of Lords for his steadfast love endures forever, to him who alone does great wonders for his steadfast love endures forever.

To him who by understanding made the heavens for a steadfast love endures forever.

To him who spread out the earth above the waters for his steadfast love endures forever.

To him who made the great lights for a steadfast love endures forever, the sun to rule over the day, for a steadfast love endures forever, the moon and the stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever, forever.

Now, whenever we zoom in on the group of God, the first thing, just by looking at this, the first thing you can tell by the grip of God is that A, it is praiseworthy.

Okay, God's grip is praiseworthy.

So whenever you think of God creating the world, people typically associate that with God's power, God's creativity, God's majesty, God's wisdom.

But this right here connects it with God's chesed, his steadfast love.

And what he's saying here in verses one through nine is that this good God reigns supreme.

And out of his steadfast love, he created everything you can and can't see.

And the whole thing is telling us God's people should look at it at that creation and be reminded that they are in the grip of a good God.

God's people should look at his creation and be reminded that they are in the grip of a good God and then rejoice that they are in the grip of a good God.

God's steadfast love is evidenced all around us in the things that He's made.

In this passage, He's listing some things: the moon, the sun, the stars, the earth, the sky, the water.

Romans chapter 1, later on, Paul talks about how you can see uh the the the invisible, you can see the invisible attributes of God through the visible things that which he's made.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

And this author says, hey, you can see the steadfast love of God through the things that he is made, and that is a reason for praise.

Friends, God has created and populated the world in such a way that we should think of his steadfast love when we look around in nature and we should praise him for it.

We praise because his hesed is praise worthy.

What this passage is saying is that friends, you and I have all the ammunition we need to have a robust praise life.

We have all the ammunition need to have a robust praise life.

How is your praise life these days?

Okay, oftentimes pastors can can dial in on a prayer life.

How has your praise life been these days?

Now, I'm sure um most of us, if not all of us at this point, have heard of what's happening over in Kentucky, at Asbury University.

Um, there is a uh, for those of you know there's a chapel service, um it's a school, there's a chapel service, and um it's supposed to go by an hour and a half, two hours, and it's going on day 11 as we speak.

They're still singing, they're still worshiping.

And now there's all sorts of think pieces being written as we speak as well.

Some people were talking about this as this is just a Gen Z emotionalism hoax.

There's also people talking about it and say, hey, this is a revival because now this is spreading.

No matter where you land on this, I just saw CNN is picking it up.

No matter where you land on this, okay, I just want to confess to you that as I looked at the picture and watched the videos, there began to be a holy jealousy of what I saw.

I want to praise God in and out of this building in such a way that people can look at my life and say, Leo is happy to be held by the living God.

I want that.

I want is such a robust praise, like the people say he's living differently.

When I am in my car, oftentimes I'm a great music picker.

Okay?

Best playlists, okay?

And people can sometimes see me dancing at what I am listening to.

They can't hear the music, but they can see me dancing.

I want to live like that.

I want to live so happy in the Lord and have such a robust praise life.

People say, He is happy in the Lord.

Who is this God?

Who is this God?

But this passage is telling us that God's chesed is visible in creation and we have the ammunition we need for a robust praise life.

So, friends, you are called, you and I, you and I are called to look around and join David when he says this, because of your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

What have you been treating like it's better than life?

Because David says, Your chesed is your loyal love to me is better than life, therefore I will praise you.

So this grip of God is praiseworthy.

Furthermore, this grip of God is contraconditional.

Okay, contra conditional.

Okay, this is a made-up word by some theologians, but they're basically saying that God's love is better than unconditional.

God doesn't just love us without conditions, but he stubbornly loves, he stubbornly holds on despite our conditions.

So, contrary to our nature, contrary to our behavior, contrary to who we are, he still loves us.

And you see this in uh you see this if you look at verses 10 through 22.

Says this.

For a steadfast love endures forever.

Sihon, the king, uh king of Amorites, for a steadfast love endures forever.

And Og, king of Bashan, for a steadfast love endures forever, and gave their land as a heritage for his steadfast love, endures forever.

A heritage to Israel, his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Look at all the things that God did in this passage.

Okay?

First, he struck Egypt.

It cannot be overstated.

Back then, okay, Egypt was number one in the world.

International powerhouse.

And God says right here in verse 12, with a strong hand and an outright, outstretched arm.

Okay, whenever the Bible uses right arm or right hand, this is talking about him being a warrior.

Yes, he made the heavens with the works of his fingers, but with an outstretched arm, he struck the firstborn of Egypt.

So he struck Egypt.

And then it says that he divided the Red Sea in two.

He picture that.

Okay, the words that are being used there for the word divided.

This is hearkening back to Genesis 15 when God makes a covenant with Abram.

With Abraham, what happens in Genesis 15 is that um they tear up or they they uh split animals in half.

That's what they did covenants back then.

They split animals in half, and you will walk in between them saying, This should happen to me if I don't keep the terms of our covenant.

And God did that with Abram.

Except God actually walked through for Abram as well.

And these are the same verbias that's usually God divided the Red Sea into.

He's using covenant language right here, saying, and this this should let us know that when God split the Red Sea, he was fighting for them because he was committed to them.

He overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, he led his people through the wilderness, he struck down great kings, he gave their land as a heritage.

In summary, God gave guidance, water, food, healing, victory, leadership structure, land, and all sorts of provision.

And that was contraconditional.

Because Israel didn't deserve any of it.

Israel deserved none of it.

If you have never read the Old Testament, think of it as railroad tracks.

On one rail, you have God providing, God's goodness, God being a good God.

Okay, God providing guidance, water, food, healing, victory, leadership, structure, all of that on one rail.

On the other rail, you have Israel instead of being thankful, consistently complaining.

Instead of trusting God, consistently testing God, not honoring the leadership he's put in place, and even at one point or at several points, we're trying to replace God himself.

You should ask yourself, what connects this rail, these rails?

Okay, it's it.

It's the steadfast love of God.

Israel's persistent waywardness couldn't destroy his steadfast love.

Though Israel be faithless, God be faithful.

Though Israel be faithless, God remains faithful still.

This is a part of Israel history.

There's a part of history um in Israel where Israel feels um completely abandoned by God.

This is in Isaiah 49, it says this.

But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me.

I thought about that verse this morning.

I wonder how many people are right here.

You're in this room and you're even praising, but you're right here.

My Lord has forgotten me.

Maybe it's just the hospital visits are piling up.

Or maybe it's your obedience.

You've been obedient, you've been quietly obeying, and you're not seeing any fruits of that.

Or maybe you just got into college, you're about to go to college, and you were the cool kid or the smart kid or the athletic kid here in high school.

Now you're about to join 20,000 people, you're about to be a face in the crowd.

My God has forgotten me.

Maybe it's a sin habit, maybe pain.

My God has forgotten me.

Here's the Lord's response.

Verse 15 says this Can a woman forget her nursing child?

That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget.

Yet I will I will not forget you.

What's God saying?

There's a better chance of a new mom forgetting her child than me forgetting you.

New parents have a ferocious love for their child.

My brother, um, my nephew was born in uh September 11th, 2014.

Um, and I remember my brother had him telling me, I'm the youngest of three, it's my oldest brother.

I remember he had, uh he told me and my other brother, he said, Listen, I I I can officially kill a man.

What he meant by that was as he's holding this precious child, he's saying, if anything or anyone tries to cause harm, I know I could do it.

Now I know I could do it.

And I was like, oh, okay.

But that's on-brand behavior.

I've watched him beat people up before.

I get it.

That's not super far from who he is.

I get it.

Um, furthermore, I remember him telling us once, he wakes up at 4:30 in the morning and works out every morning, like me.

I don't do that, but uh he every morning he works out, and um he says, like, sometimes when I'm at my very last set, I just think of my new son, and I can just go five or six more.

Again, ridiculous, but on brand behavior.

That's him.

But I remember one time we were watching a show on Netflix.

This is my my my brothers, um, uh his wife, and and my parents, we were all watching a show on TV, and I remember looking to my right, I still remember the scene, looking to my right, and my brother was sitting on this brown couch looking at his child.

I remember him going, You're my world, you know that?

You're my world, you know that.

That's new.

I'll say, record this for later.

That's new.

Friends, there's a ferocious love that new parents have for their children.

And what this passage is saying is that the Lord's affection and devotion for his people is greater than the devotion of a woman who has her uh who has for her nursing child.

Friends, new babies don't provide much except complications, and yet there is unceasing devotion to them.

So at the though Israel be faithless, yet God remains faithful still.

That's his steadfast love.

It is contra-conditional, it is contrary to their condition.

God does not, he's not sticking by Israel's side because Israel is really cute.

It's because of who he is.

And Barry Cooper captures this as a theologian.

He says, This um, having entered a covenant relationship with his people, God binds himself to act toward them with Hesed.

And he is utterly faithful to his own self-commitment.

To put it another way, our hope that God will love us to the uttermost and forever, is not founded on our ability to keep his commands, but rather it's founded on God's ability to keep being God.

He has bound himself to people.

I will show them hesed love.

And the terms of that bond is not how well you've done your quiet time.

The terms of that bond is I am God.

And I would continue being God.

So I will hold this up because I am God.

His steadfast love is contrary to what we deserve.

And friends, that is really good news.

That's really good news.

You receiving love and goodness from God, contrary to what you deserve, is going to be an ongoing reality in your life.

It doesn't just stop at the cross.

Okay, that's gonna be an ongoing reality for the rest of your life.

2 Timothy 2.13, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot or deny himself.

God's hesed is contraconditional in nature.

It wasn't because Israel was cute.

But what about us?

We've been talking a lot about the grip of God, but the Bible tells us we're called to be imitators of our Father.

I'm here to tell you that grip that holds you should also be molding you.

This Hasid love is not just meant to be experienced, but it's also meant to be extended.

That love that holds you should also mold you.

So, friends, I want to ask questions, husbands, is this the way you are faithfully loving and pursuing your wives?

Wives, is this the way that you are pursuing and loving your husbands?

Parents, is this the way that you are loving your children, even adult children?

I have a close friend, one of my closest friends in the world right now, is over the last couple years is dealing with the fact that he is now rejected by his dad because he does not he did not make professional basketball.

He's almost my age.

Okay, I'm 20.

How old am I?

93.

29, yes, thank you, Teresa.

I forgot my password to a couple things.

You got me?

Yeah.

Yes, I'm 29 and he's 28.

Um, and he's reeling from that because his dad is now withheld from him.

Teenagers, is this the way that you love your parents?

Is this the way that you love your friends?

The love that holds you ought to mold you as well.

Let's get convicted together.

Okay, this is a quote from Paul Miller.

He wrote a book about this called The Loving Life.

It says this sometimes hesed is translated steadfast love.

It combines commitment with sacrifice.

Hesed is a one-way love.

Here it comes.

Love without an exit strategy.

No plan Bs.

When you love with Hesed love, you bind yourself to the object of your love, no matter what the response is.

Here it comes.

So if the object of your love snaps at you, you love that person.

If you've had an argument with your spouse in which you were slighted or not heard, you refuse to retaliate through silence or withholding affection.

Your response to the other person is entirely independent of how that person has treated you.

Friends, does this describe any of the relationships you're currently in?

You see this at eye level with Ruth.

Her widowed mother or her withered mother-in-law has nothing to really offer her.

And she tells you that, hey, listen, I've been here in Moab, I'm about to go back home to Israel.

Thank you for showing so much steadfast love to my son, but now my son is dead, and now my husband is dead as well.

Thank you for everything.

I'm going back home.

May the Lord show chesed to you as you go back to Moab or as you stay here in Moab and go to your family.

May you find peace in the house of your husband.

So go thank you for everything.

Go on your way.

I have nothing to offer you.

Even if I were to have a child tonight, would you wait 20 years till he's a marriage age?

Listen, it's it's over with me.

I'm gonna go back home.

I'm bitter about this.

You go back, go, go, go, go live in Moab.

And look at Ruth's response.

But Ruth said, Do not urge me to leave you or return from following you.

For where you go, I will go.

Where you lodge, I will lodge.

Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

Where you die, I will die.

There I will be buried.

May the Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you.

And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said, No more.

So Naomi wishes her well and sends her off.

Ruth's responds to say, Hey, you have nothing to offer me, but she basically responds with wedding vows to her.

That's the contraconditional love at the core of Chesed, at the core of the grip of God.

You also see this at eye level with Hosea.

He's called by God to marry a woman that's an adulterous woman.

After having children with this woman, she goes back to her old life of whoredom.

And this is what the Bible says.

Hosea chapter 3, verses 1 and 2 says this.

Hosea 3:1

Then the Lord said to me, Go again.

Love a woman who was loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.

So I bought her 15 shell shekels of silver and an omer and a something of barley.

I was gonna try to say it really fast and confidently, so wow, he goes to seminary, but I I have no where to start here.

Um but so Gomer, his wife, goes away from him and she's loving uh another man, and Hosea has to go find her and pay for something that's already his.

He has to go buy her back.

That's the contraconditional love of Hesed.

And that's our story.

God created us, and yet you were ransomed with the blood of Jesus.

You were bought back.

God had to buy what's technically already his.

But that's the core of Hesed, it's contraconditional.

So God's grip on his people is both praiseworthy and it is contraconditional.

Now let's zoom out and look at the heart behind the hand.

We've been looking at the grip of God.

But what is God's heart as he holds us tightly?

What's God's heart as he holds us tightly?

I was very weak as a junior hire.

My one of my jobs is take the trash out and I would hold the trash back very tightly.

That's because it was heavy.

It was very heavy, and two, if it falls, I have a different set of problems.

Okay?

I would hold it very tightly.

So, but it was still just trash.

What's God's heart as he holds tightly?

One of the most important passages that reveals God's heart is Exodus 34.

It says this the Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed to him, the Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, or visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious.

Merciful and gracious.

Friends, when it comes to your sin, God has a short memory.

He has a short memory.

Okay, he has a short memory.

And then he says, um, slow to anger.

Not only does he have a short memory, he also has a long fuse.

He has a very, he doesn't have a short fuse.

If God was predominantly irritable, the Bible would not be this long.

Yeah, pamphlet.

No, I'm done.

It's over.

But he's slow to anger.

And the Hebrew connotation behind this is that God is long of nose.

He's long of nose.

So back in the Hebrew context, um, whenever you're saying somebody was angry, you said that they got that they had a hot face.

Okay?

And I want to make a joke, but I'm not going to.

Um, but they they had a hot face, their face got hot.

You see this translated sometimes as God's God's anger was kindled.

Okay, but it really says it's their anger was hot, or his face got hot.

And their word what their mindset was that the longer your nose, the longer your nose, the longer it would take to express that anger.

And this thing that long is or that God is short slow to anger, he's long of nose, he has a long fuse.

He doesn't have a short fuse, but he's patience with us.

That's why the Bible was so long.

And then the next phrase says, an abounding, abounding and steadfast love.

Friends, God has a big heart towards you.

I try to think of a clever, witty way to package that.

But all I can say is God has a big heart towards you.

The hand that relentlessly holds you is connected to a heart that is forever for you.

It's connected to a heart that is forever for you.

God's holding on to you is not his begrudging task, but it's his pleasure to hold you.

His steadfast love is abounding.

He is not on his last nerve with you.

His steadfast love is abounding.

And this is evident towards the end of our passage here.

Verse 21 to 25 says this.

And he gave their land as a heritage, for his steadfast love endures forever.

A heritage to Israel, his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.

It is he who remembered us in our low estate for his steadfast love endures forever.

And rescued us from our foes for his steadfast love endures forever.

He gives food to all flesh for his steadfast love endures forever.

Look at the action verbs in these last four verses.

He gave, he remembered, he rescues, he gives.

This is a determination to bless.

That's the heart of God.

And this is a broken record.

The Holy Spirit had had the the the psalmist write this as a broken record for his steadfast love endures forever.

Not only is his heart determined to bless, but it's determined to finish.

His steadfast love endures forever.

Verses 21 and 22 talk about a heritage, and this is using inheritance language to talk about the land of Canaan.

This is very important.

Israel is to inherit the land of Canaan, but this is foreshadowing for a much greater inheritance that God has determined to give every believer.

Friend, you are a co-heir with Christ.

You are a co-heir with Christ.

So get a glimpse here of God's heart as He is, as He is holding it.

This is Luke chapter 12, verse 32.

Luke 12:32

It says this fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Just in this passage, you see the God as a father.

Little flock denotes God as a shepherd.

And the giver of the kingdom denotes God as a king.

And his heart is, he finds good pleasure to give the kingdom.

That's God's heart.

The hand that is relentlessly holding you has a heart that delights in you.

That's God's heart as he's holding you, he's gladly holding you.

So that is the grip of God.

It's worthy of praise.

We have what we need in God's steadfast love.

It's worthy to be ammunition for our praise lives.

And I want you to be thinking about what is my praise life sounded like.

It's extremely important to come to God with your petitions.

It's extremely important to come to God with your requests, but I want you to monitor what is your praise life like?

Because God's chesed is praiseworthy and it's also contra-conditional.

Okay, it's contra-conditional.

We don't deserve it, but we have it because God is good.

And then lastly, it comes, it's connected.

That hand that is firmly gripping us is tied to a heart that delights in us and is forever for us.

Friends, that is reason to pray.

That's God's steadfast love for us.

Let's pray.

Lord, your steadfast love is gonna outrun our fatigue.

Your steadfast love is gonna outrun our pain.

Your steadfast love is gonna outrun our doubt.

It's gonna outrun every any hospital visit, any funeral.

Billions and trillions and zillions of years will still be benefiting from your chesed, your steadfast love.

But it's because it's connected to your commitment to yourself.

May we find excitement and relief in that reality, Lord.

Oh, we thank you that you don't change.

In a world full of upgrades, we thank you that you don't change.

And that your mercy is new every morning.

We love you, we praise you.

It's in your beautiful name I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Now, um, we'd like to give you space towards the end of our services, some soul space for you to mentally worship.

I have some questions here on the screen.

And what you can do is you can take a picture of them, um, or you can just right now with the Holy Spirit stare at one of them and just venture with the Holy Spirit and having him reveal things in you and for you.

So I'm gonna step back here and give you some space to think and pray and just venture with the with the Holy Spirit.

Though we are sometimes faithless, you are faithful.

Help us to rest in that today, Lord.

God, thank you for your steadfast love.

Thank you for who you are.

We take comfort in who you are.

The great I am, the one who doesn't change, and whose love has a mercy that will never cease.

Thank you, Lord.

It's in your beautiful name I pray.

Amen.

Now, as always, church, it is so good to be here with you.

Um, if you're new here, welcome.

We're so glad that you are here.

We you matter to the Lord, therefore you matter to us.

And if you're new here, we'd love for you to just um text that number, well, text welcome to that number here on the screen.

That just gives us a record of your visit and helps us to know who you are.

We'd love to get lunch with you and get to know you and your story.

Um again, after the service, we're gonna have some of our pastors down front here excited um to meet you, talk to you, pray with you, and just process anything that you have heard.

So thank you so much for for being here.

Now, if this is your church home and today's the day you worship um through offering and through giving, um, I uh we have some boxes around the sanctuary, and you can do so at those boxes.

Now, we want to let you know what's happening at the left of our church, so would you please give your attention to the screen?

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

Redeeming Heartache Conference is happening in two weeks.

Register at theallendercenter.org slash events.

Today is a community group Sunday where we will gather in homes for spiritual dialogue, prayer, and encouragement.

To find a group, head to grandparkway.org.

Beginning March 5th, Bible Studies for fifth grade through adults will move from 9 a.m.

to 10:30 a.m.

This will help balance attendance in our services and make room for those who are new.

Thanks for helping serve in this way.

Speaking of serving, the Ability Survey is now available.

Download and open our church app.

Click Connect, then get involved to find the form.

Fill it out, and we'll take it from there.

Each of our ministry leaders are always looking for folks ready to use their gifts at their church.

Whether it's kids, production team, teaching, or greeting at the door, there are opportunities for each of us to serve as a part of the body.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

We'd like to end our services every week with a with a spoken blessing.

So would you please stand to your feet and put your hands out.

Children of God, be reminded and comforted that you are in the loving grip of a good dad.

His steadfast love endures forever.

It will outrun your anxiety, it will outrun your boredom, it will outrun your sorrow, it will outrun your tears.

His steadfast love endures forever.

Depart now, singing loudly and joyfully, knowing that his steadfast love never ceases.

I declare these things in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.