Journey Life: Lesson 28

D chapter 6 versus 1 through 9.

And it says these are the commands decree

in laws that the lord God directed to

me

directing me to teach you to observe in

the land that you are crossing the Jordan

to possess, so that you, your children and

their children after them by fear the lord

your God as long as you live by

keeping all of his degrees

and commands that I give you so that

you may enjoy long life.

Here Israel and be careful to obey so

that it may go well with you and

that you may increase greatly in a lamb

flowing with milk and honey.

Just as the lord the God your ancestors

The God of ancestors promised you.

Hero Israel,

the Lord our God, the Lord is 1.

Love the Lord your God with all your

heart and with all your soul and with

all your strength.

These commands that I give you today are

to be on your hearts,

impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home

and when you walk down the road, when

you lie down and when you get up,

tie the stumbles on your hands and bind

them on your forehead.

Write them on your door frames of your

house and on your gates.

Good morning, friends.

Good morning It's good to be with you.

I'm gonna go ahead and re engage in

prayer

as we pause together. Let's go ahead and

close your eyes if you don't mind.

Take a few seconds of silence.

Creator God and Jesus, the Good shepherd.

We believe that Your purposes are at work

and hidden and often unnoticed ways.

We believe that your purposes are reliable,

And we trust that your ways are at

work regardless of our attitudes

and actions

And we believe that you work in and

through all things to bring about good.

As we struggle to see your plans and

purposes may we grow in our attentive

and awareness

to these truths,

and your presence in our lives.

Father God may my words be from you

today.

And made this message convey your faithfulness.

And so in the name of your son,

Jesus and to the power of horse group

we all say.

Amen.

It really is good to be with you.

Today, we're gonna be wrapping up our series

on Joshua and the working title that Leslie

gave me. I'm not where he went, where

did he go by the way? Leslie, are

you with June somewhere in here. Leslie, I

just have to say this is not the

script at all. As far as my notes

go. Leslie said what's better

when things are a hundred degrees.

And I looked... Michael I was like air

conditioning. Right?

Watermelon is on there, man, but I'm thinking,

like, if I have a choice to go

inside,

I'm going inside when it's a hundred and

75 degree heat index. So we're good to

go.

This is the working title that Leslie gave

me today or just... During the series. The

legacy

of Joshua. So Wanna thank Leslie for walking

with us and exploring the life of Joshua

over the last few weeks. And so Here's

where I wanna shift this, though I want

us to begin to think about what it

looks like to talk about the legacy of

Joshua was

plural. And I hope that'll make more sense

here in just a few minutes because I

want us to look at really look at

explore what it looks like for you and

I ask people for you and I as

a church to cultivate

a generation of Joshua.

And so You gotta start with legacy. Right?

Just the word legacy. I think most of

us probably in here have an understanding of

what legacy is. It can be something that's

passed down

from generation to generation. Right? Time period to

time period. A lot of times we think

about monetary items,

maybe inheritance or, but a legacy something that

is past down. Right? Or

legacy

could be something that is

left from the character

the

reputation

or the life that you lead.

Okay?

And so it could be things like values

and wisdom and faith and strength and resilience,

but it sets an example

for those who are coming up for their

future and it lives through time. And so

a lot of things that come to mind.

I'm gonna give you a couple of playful

ones as I think about legacy and like,

I can't help just... Sorry. I think about

you. And I think about 1 of the

things that you have left and you are

leaving your family is this music... Every every

1 of your kids

can sing.

And play instruments.

There... There's this amazing legacy of music and

worship in the life of Blake.

That's 1. You're on the screen though. I

think about these friends of mine.

This is Mickey Pseudo,

and Patrick Bert,

they are the winners of the Nathan hotdog

dog eating contest of 2024.

What a legacy?

Right? She ate 51

hot dogs,

bun and hotdog dog included.

He ate 58 breaking his personal P.

Alright? It's a lot of hotdog dogs, man,

But what a legacy? Stan and I tried

to do this and we got through 3.

Didn't even happen. Didn't happens. Stay wanting a

hotdog dog. I'm just kidding, or without the

bun you will. It's good. Here we go.

So this is a legacy. Right?

Again, summer are playful. I'm gonna shift dark.

We're gonna come back, but here we go.

Here's another 1. I don't know if you

know this guy or not. I wanna meet

this dude. He is a low Sum County,

Gall resident,

named. Let me his name right. David,

David Hoo. Check this out. He got second

place

in the Us Mu championship in the United

States this year.

Second best Mu in the United States.

That's a good looking mu.

What a legacy.

Right?

Oh,

Albert spear.

Albert Sp was probably

1 of the most accomplished architects in the

twentieth century.

Highly

regarded and successful,

incredible family man,

devout husband

wonderful father loved and cared deeply

for his family, but he wasn't just anybody's

architect. He just happened to be Hitler's

architect.

Pretty dark.

So he became the minister ministry of armament

in and develop in Nazi, Germany,

And in the N trials, he was declared

responsible for tens of thousands

of deaths.

And he actually has become a fascinating case

study in theology and psychology for self deception.

We say, how do I know that I

can lie. I can lie to myself, and

I can still know that I'm doing it?

He lived by 3 principles. Y'all check this

out.

He would not talk about others.

He wouldn't talk about his frustrations that he

had with work.

And he would not talk about politics

in the social surroundings of his time.

Nazi, Germany,

World War 2, he would not talk about

politics.

And in 19 44 when he was invited

to 2 also, he looked away

and insisted

on his ignorance of the holocaust.

He's quoted to saying I just wanted to

be a good architect.

He's got a legacy.

Martin Luther King junior

arguably

the most prominent figure in leaders in our

civil rights movement in America

until his death in 19 68.

Organized and participated in countless nonviolent efforts to

protest,

racial injustice and he sought equality in human

rights for African Americans his legacy

lives on today. It's legacy.

So if you may recognize this sweet woman,

mother Teresa.

Least call my mom mother Teresa.

She had a sweetness about her as well,

but she dedicated her life to the poor.

Served the disabled,

blind

leopards, open schools, orphanages, medical clinics, homes for

the elderly and homes for the dying, she

has left a huge impact

and legacy

on

humanitarian rights in our world.

It's just legacy.

Alright? So as we begin to think about

legacy and what that means, especially if we

look at back at Joshua, wanna ask you

this question as we move forward, maybe.

What kind of legacy

are you and I

leaving behind?

Should contemplate that just for a little bit.

What kind of legacy are we leaving behind

a matter fact, are you and I

intentionally dreaming

and planning to pass on something good and

valuable to the generations that are coming behind

us. You can look around this room. You

can see tiny ones, children, There's students in

here. There's young adults in here. I'm asking

are we really intentionally dreaming and planning

to leave something behind for them that is

valuable and good and priceless as they move

forward into the future.

What kind of legacy

are we leaving behind? So let's to go

back to Joshua for this. I'm gonna go

back to of the very first of my

introduction. And I wanna I want to review

just a couple of things as we move

forward.

And that's this. Joshua knew who he was.

Joshua knew what he had, and Joshua knew

what he had to do. We talked about

the fact that He knew who he was

as far as his identity goes. He knew

the talents that he had the gifts that

he had, and he had a mission that

God had given him, but this had been

going on for a lifetime.

Joshua had been forming over lifetime. His skill

set as a shepherd and a leader had

been forming for some time. And then we

talked about this. What happens when Joshua doesn't

know who he is. And we talked about

our role a little bit. The fact that

everybody in this room has a role in

shaping and forming and shepherd the people that

we love And the young people that are

around us from time to time, what happens

when Joshua

doesn't know

who he is.

We'll get back to that in a few

minutes too.

And then we ended with this for the

most part. God wants who you are, God

wants what you have and God wants what

you do. Kinda comes out Ephesians chapter 10

that we're a masterpiece,

created with intention with good works to do

in Jesus. So all of these things we

talked about when it came to Joshua.

And then we had all of our kids

if you remember, come on stage.

And you stood up with our children and

you made a commitment to them and part

of that commitment was as we look to

the future. And as we think about the

time and place that we live in, not

to abandon our children,

but to be with them to walk them

and into care for them and to teach

them to help them observe. And so that's

part of where we were. But, I also

asked this question? I said, what do you

think about when you think about leaders?

Influential leaders specifically.

I gave you a few seconds to think

about who came to your mind, but then

we asked this question. You have that picture

in your mind, but then In what ways

of those pictures

or images, compared to god's emphasis on the

humble service empathy self awareness protect and sacrifice

and care that should characterize

Christian leaders. So in other words, the leaders

that we think are influential in our world

and our life are those values and are

those leaders of the things that they believe

in? Are they consistent

with what God's value system is when it

comes to leaders?

But here's the center of gravity where I

wanna park it today.

Alright? So the next thing I had put

up last time was this.

Joshua neither Joshua were nor Moses in my

opinion after reading the material was not concerned

about being these soul spirit led leader of

God's people. Joshua had 1 concern.

His goal was for god's people to be

led by the spirit. You see a difference?

He's most concerned that god's people be led

by the spirit, not so much putting the

attention on him. So this message, it's about

Joshua, but it's not about Joshua.

Because you can't put that kind weight on

1 person and to expect for that person

to do everything.

Joshua was surrounded by people, but he was

more concerned than anything

about God's people being led by the holy

spirit. So again I wanna ask you what

kind of legacy

are you and I

leaving behind?

And that question of Spirit led is where

we're gonna park this in just a moment.

1 of my favorite things to do or

at least speak about when I'm at weddings

with people. Probably some of you in here

weddings have appreciated. I don't know if Mason

Mc is in here not Mace you in

anywhere.

Mason could answer this question out loud pretty

quick through premier counseling.

But 1 of the things we talk about.

When I'm at the front of the room

and we're about to differentiate the wedding is

the fact that these 2 people are standing

here about to make a commitment to each

other and and get married.

And 1 of the things I say to

them is, I want you to turn around,

I want you to look at the people.

You've heard me say this before, look at

the audience turnaround, and I want everybody a

smile at you,

take pictures if they want to, we don't

take much pictures because the wedding pictures can't

get out to the brad says, what pictures

can get out right. So we wanna keep

those pictures on the deal. But You can

take a snapshot, but I want them to

see the faces that are smiling back at

them.

And I want them to see the people

who were sitting there because those people by

and large if they are at your wedding,

they're probably a pretty special component to your

life. You have invited them to come be

a part of this party as you say

yes to your fiance.

And so I say to them, look into

the eyes of these people.

Because the decisions that you're making right now

are possible

because a lot of decisions that have already

been made long before you got here.

Makes sense?

Long before you got here, there were decisions

made by your parents, your grandparents, your great

grandparents, and list goes on and on and

on for you to be standing right here

at this moment before you make this decision.

It's pretty fascinating.

And so with that kind of

thought process in mind, I want you to

consider where or at least the reality of

where you and I are living right now

in this season of life in 2024,

based off decisions that were made long before

you and I existed,

which include this church by the way.

This church family

This church family has a history of decisions

that were made long before we are now

living in what we call the Henderson

Church of Christ era.

Right? And so as you think about that,

what kind of future

will our current decisions cultivate?

For those who are coming behind us.

I really do think if we were intentional

about these things, it might change the way

that we speak.

It might change the way that we make

plans,

it's certainly gonna change the way that we

discern different things. If we think that the

decisions that we are making right now are

going affect those who come behind us and

they are gonna be living into

decisions that we made. Right? And so I

keep thinking is what kind of legacy

are we leaving behind?

So then you gotta come to this question.

You keep talking about being spirit led. So

what is being spirit led

actually mean?

Holy spirit led. And what does

spirit led

look like.

1 of my favorite theologian

says it like this.

It can be defined as intentional

are intentionally opening ourselves and partnering with the

holy spirit is full

participation in God's life and God's good future

here and now. It means that all of

our attention, decisions, values,

relationship, speech, practices, habits, and life rhythms are

lived under the influence,

guidance and empowerment of God's spirit.

As transformed spirit led people, we learn to

listen and see

our ourselves or life, ourselves and others

through the lens of the holy spirit.

It is all encompassing.

When we think about what it means to

be spirit led, it would be that nothing...

There is nothing that we would do.

That did not include the holy spirit's influence

as we walk through life.

And then we open ourselves to that.

Reality of being led by the spirit.

So here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna take 3 aspects

about what it looks like to be spirit

led from when I read the book of

Joshua when you read the book of Joshua,

I wanna take things that they

walk through and heard and lived by an

attempt to place it practically in our lap

and think, man if we could do some

of the same things,

that they did, what would it look like

on the other end of our journey. Leslie

has already mentioned, we live in a little

bit of a volatile world?

Well, guess what?

They did too.

It was volatile then, and I think that's

why some of these first things come out.

So spirit led people if you're a note

taker,

Spirit led people of God, cultivate a legacy

of strength and courage.

This is... I don't know if I've got

it up here.

I just copied and pasted the first 19

verses of chapter 1

of Joshua. So if you've got it, you

can even open it and look at it

yourself.

4 times in the opening chapter before he

even gets going in this book. He says

be strong and courageous

be strong and very courageous. Be strong and

courageous, only be strong and courageous over and

over and over again they reiterate what it's

going to take.

As they walk into this new land, you

need to be strong and courageous because it's

going to be volatile. So be strong and

courageous in the face of adversity and challenges.

I love it.

He says fear the Lord

but

in your attempts to keep my commandments to

this new land, do not walk in fear.

Don't be fearful. Do not be dismay because

I am going to be with you as

we do this.

I don't know how long ago it was

that we were teaching a class on Wednesday

nights it's about

raising resilient children, and this conversation comes right

up in the middle of this.

It is impossible

literally impossible

for you and I

to protect our children

from everything

that this world has to offer.

We can't do it. We cannot protect our

kids or those that we love

from all the difficulties

and hardships,

trials,

and setbacks are universal for every human being.

By the way, we we learn through suffering.

That's a pretty biblical

message to, the suffering servant Jesus shows us

as he lives, but we should try to

protect our kids or everything, but we literally

can't protect our kids. From everything, but.

As we cultivate strength and encourage you and

I can foster and cultivate

resilience

in a generation.

This this process of adapting well and in

healthy ways in the face of adversity or

trauma or maybe even significant sources of stress

we teach them how to face adversity

in a christ way with strength, and courage,

so with conviction We foster virtue. We foster

hope. We teach them not to be timid.

And we see obstacles and challenges as opportunities

and possibilities to grow and strengthen and courage

and it just builds and builds and builds,

but I think we have to be intentional

about it. And if I'm completely honest with

you.

I failed as a dad during Covid.

Miserably failed as a dad.

I think more than not my children probably

saw me curl up at a ball on

the couch.

Often

wrestling with my own anxiety with this thing.

Instead of being reassuring to my children even

though, I didn't know was gonna happen.

I think that there's times that our kids

learn from us even we're not saying anything.

Right? Now, I re you rebound from these

things, and you move on. Jennifer and I,

she's over here. Hey, Babe.

I didn't ask you if I could do

this. Sorry.

We have a list.

Of what we call parent fails. Anybody else?

I'm not gonna talk about them either by

the way. Nobody else is it's just us.

It's just being you.

It's just me and you, babe.

Nobody else in here has parent fails. Not

even blake.

Not even y'all. This is great.

Sorry. You have... We just don't list them.

So we list them. And we... As we

move through, we laugh about them a little

bit, but luke they're going. Yeah remember some

of those.

I remember last year dad. I remember 1

of those quite quite nearly.

Anyways, sorry, we we we we bring this

stuff about.

Can we foster strength and courage

even when we don't know

what things look like. But I want you

to consider the implications of what it looks

like for us as adults

to live and cultivate strength and courage in

the lives of those behind us. And think

about the impact that can have on us

as we view obstacles schools and challenges as

opportunities. So Church, I'm simply asking you this,

what would it look like for you to

cultivate in your individual lives

and the church.

Strength and courage.

Just the second 1.

I think the spirit led people of God

cultivate a legacy of wisdom

and instead steadfast ob absorb.

This is glaring in the book of Joshua.

Joshua, like others before him wholeheartedly the text

said follow God in his ways. They stayed

the course. Right?

They held fast

even when things were hard to held fast.

They they fixed their eyes if you would

on God.

And then while renewing the covenant

with the people of God, Joshua reminds them

who they are

and what god's been doing. So listen to

this. This is Joshua chapter 24

Joshua 24 · chapter mention

14 through 15.

Now fear the Lord and serve him with

all faithfulness.

Throw away the gods, your ancestors worship beyond

the Eu river and in Egypt and serve

the Lord.

But if serving the Lord seems

undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this

day, whom you will serve, whether the gods

of your ancestors,

serve beyond the Eu

or the gods of the Am rights in

whose land you were living. But as for

me and my household,

we will serve the Lord.

He says make up your mind.

Make up your mind.

We're about to head into a pretty volatile

place, but it has been given to us,

but make up your mind, choose and decide

who it is that you are going to

serve.

Decide whose wisdom

you are going to follow. You're either you

and I, we're either gonna follow the wisdom

of the world or we're gonna follow the

wisdom of God.

It says choose. Choose, whose wisdom you will

follow. And I think about when what is

that wisdom? It's pepper all throughout the text.

Grant's already read it this morning, but I

think about D61

through 9. He says, hero israel. This is

pinnacle for who they are. Right?

Love the Lord your God or authority. The

Lord your God, the Lord is 1. Love

the Lord your god with all your heart

and with all your soul, And with all

your strength,

these commandments that I give you today are

to be on your hearts and pressed them

on your children. It's the core.

It's the core of who we are it's

fully integrated living when it comes to who

god is. Micah, will summarize it really easily

But you said, yet also challenging. Right? Micah

6 80 he says this. He's shown you.

Immortal.

What is good?

And what does the Lord require of you

to act just lee and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your god?

Jesus will say it like this in Matthew

Matthew 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22. When he's talking about the greatest

command.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced to Sad sees

the ph he's got together. And 1 of

them an expert in the law tested him

with this question teacher, which is the greatest

command and the law.

And Jesus Replied. Love the lord your God

with all your heart and with all your

soul and with all your mind, this is

the first and greatest command.

And then he says this, and the second

is like it.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Then he says

all the law.

And the profits

hang

on these 2 commandments.

There are all kinds of things for us

to look at with this when it comes

down to

steadfast absorb to what god teaches us and

what he wants for us. And he's saying,

I think when I hear these texts, he's

saying here's what I would love for you

not to do. Don't compartment minimize your faith.

Don't bring it to you bring it with

you when you arrive on a Sunday or

Wednesday, but make sure that it is integrated

into everything

do and everything you say outside of these

spaces,

integrate these commandments

into every aspect of your lived

experience.

Meditate on God's desires.

God's values for humanity,

attempt to live faithful instead steadfast. Know, you're

not gonna do it perfectly.

You can't... None of us can because we

still have flesh bodies this out of eternity,

but then it's just also this idea of

cultivating wisdom.

It's not just about mastering

information. Wisdom is this idea of absorbing god's

ways in his will, and then it helps

us foster understanding about how to guide our

actions. So may we be a church

that cultivate wisdom and steadfast ob absorb

to god's words?

3,

Spirit led people of God cultivate

dependency on the tri God.

Father,

son

and holy spirit. And we get dependent. Right?

I I can get to know you long

enough that I begin to trust you at

some point, I trust you enough that I

know that I can rely on you. I

need you in my life. I need you

to help me do things. I know that

I can depend on you, and it's this

action or to support. I'm saying to you.

I can't do this without you.

I need you.

But I also know that we've gonna be

cautious when it comes to dependence because you

and I can become dependent on many things

that are not healthy for us. So what's

it look like then for us as spirit

led people to be

dependent on the tri and God. It looks

like this. We are confident in god's actions.

We're entirely focused on Jesus,

and we're partnering with and led by the

holy spirit, and this has developed over a

lifetime. It's a process for a church. It's

a process for individuals.

And so may we cultivate this church.

Will our children and generations behind us experience

these things as we live out our lived

experience.

So it's just a big question

where who or what

is our dependence focused even today.

What are you dependent upon?

Who are you dependent upon?

How often before your feet hit the ground

before you wake up in the morning, are

you already talking to god about being dependent

upon him? And then ultimately, I don't think

any of this works by the way, unless

we do it together.

It's part of why we've been doing what

we've been trying to do Wednesday nights.

We knew it was risky.

We knew we didn't know how people were

gonna react or respond. We tried to simply

get everybody together in 1 room fully integrated,

inter generation to look at some practices and

worship and teachings, and it's gotta start small,

but what does it look like for us

to pursue god's will together?

What's it look like? And it can look

different in here. It can look different out

there, but I think it's something that we

have to do together.

And so I think about Joshua, when I

think about his days and I think about

the text that says, as long as Joshua

was alive and the people that he influenced

Israel

followed

God.

Because he was attentive

to God's ways.

And so here's my last question for us.

Where are we now and how are we

doing?

How are we doing with cultivating all these

things?

I wanna read to you If you wanna

turn to it, you can. It's not gonna

be on the screen as far as the

text goes.

If I could read it, I forgot my

readers. This is bad.

Wow,

Joshua 2 7 through 15

When Joshua dismissed the people,

the Israelites all went to their own inheritance

to take possession of land.

The people worship the Lord all the days

of Joshua

and all the days of the elders who

out live Joshua,

who had seen the great work that the

Lord had done for Israel

Joshua was son of none, servant of God,

serving the lord died at the age of

110 years. I'm a skip out of verse

11.

Leslie read this last week.

Then,

the Israelites did what was evil in the

side of the Lord and worship the baal

elves.

And they abandoned the Lord, the God of

their ancestors,

who had brought them out of the land

of Egypt. They followed other gods

among the gods of the peoples who were

all around them and bowed down to them.

And they provoked the lord to anger. They

abandoned

the Lord

and worship

other gods.

So where are we

and how we're doing.

I was fortunate enough to to work in

student ministry for 18 years

as a youth minister before

transitioning into other roles.

I still get the opportunity to work with

young adults. I love young people, and I

love young adults.

And I gotta be honest.

I don't I don't know that it's entirely

fair.

It's not.

To generalize the generation like them and say,

they're just walking away from God.

I don't think they're walking away from God

because the conversations that I have with them

are a little bit different than that.

They are craving

god

They are craving

experiences with God. They are craving to encounter

God. There's just 1 difficult thing that has

been getting in the way of that is,

and they've been hurt a lot It's not

to put guilt on us or anybody else.

But 1 of the biggest detriment to the

young people's faith journey is this. They hear

us say 1 thing

and they watch us do something completely different

when it comes to our faith journeys.

They hear us coming in here and talk

about things. They hear us in classes, they

hear us say things to us, but then

they watch us live a completely different lifestyle.

And if that's not confusing enough, I don't

know what else is.

And so if you wonder why young people

are struggling is because they look at this

and go, is this even authentic?

Again, not to be put guilt on us.

I'm saying it's for all of us to

think about was we move forward,

authenticity and genuine in our own walk. Guess

what. When you mess up as a or

when you mess up as a human, we

own it, and we work through and we

tell our kids that we've messed up.

They craving God and their hungry for us.

I don't think we're in a generation that's

just turned their backs completely on God. I

think they're turning their backs on something a

little bit different.

I think you and I have an opportunity

to cultivate something very different and raised up

an entire generation of Joshua. So Henderson Church,

we really do need to be intentional about

what it is that we cultivate with our

young people with our people around even in

this community.

And so even if it means writing it

down and saying this is what we're convicted

to. This is who we are going to

be. We are gonna make up our minds

to actually be spirit led people of God,

and we're gonna cultivate strength and courage. We're

gonna cultivate wisdom. We're gonna

practice

steadfast subs servants even though we don't know

how to always do it right. And, you

know what? We're gonna be dependent on the

creator of the universe who said he's gonna

be with us to walk with us.

Do me a favor.

Go ahead and stand where you are.

I ended the very first intro sermon with

this very differently, And I wanna ask my

friend Harrison to come on up here.

Harrison mister Harrison slaughter her

Harrison, what's your middle name?

Oh, 0, of course.

Harrison Owen Slaughter. Yes. I'm bad. Sorry, Owen.

This is my friend.

This is my friend,

Harrison. And we're gonna come out here, harrison.

I think they can still see us down

here. That okay? That's for you.

After the first opening message of this, all

the kids came up here on stage,

and I had some things for you to

say to our children.

I just want you to hear the voice

of somebody young,

saying something to you.

And if you don't mind, just repeat after

my friend, Harrison here, the things that he's

going to say. Right? It's real simple call

and response. Go slow as you want to,

and if they don't respond back, we'll we'll

do it again. How's that?

So you're gonna repeat.

What he says. We all are.

God wants who we are.

God wants who we are.

God wants what we have.

God wants what we have.

And God wants what we have to do.

God wants what we have to do. Do

it 1 more time.

God wants who we are. God

God wants what we have.

And god wants what we have to do.

Hit Church if you haven't thought about it

lately.

You are beloved children of God.

We mess up all the time,

but there's a long and loving gaze upon

us

that wants us to

thrive and flourish.

He wants he wants us.

He wants who we are. He's created us

to be that. He wants the gifts that

we have and he wants us to use

those for good in this world. You may

be here this morning.

Already pre thinking about getting baptized can still

do that, but I'm just simply gonna ask

as we sing, blake come on up as

we sing this song. Just think about what

it looks like.

To cultivate these things in this church and

cultivate a spirit of being spirit led people

of God.