The Power to Change: Week 2

If you are new or if this is your first time at Church at the

Crossing, I want to extend a special welcome to you. I'm very glad

that you decided to be here today. I hope that you feel welcome,

hope that I get a chance to meet you personally today as well. We're

in this message series called the Power to Change, and I want to encourage

everybody at the beginning today. You need something to write with today, Whether

you have the devotion books that are part of this series and you can write

with pen and paper, or if you have your phone on the Church at

the Crossing app. There's a place to take a sermon notes right there in

the app. But just have something to take some notes with today, that'll

be very helpful. Well, I want to start by asking what's the last

habit in your life that you tried to change. Can you think about a

habit that you wanted to change, maybe a new one that you wanted to

start, like a positive habit, or if you have one that you wanted

to get rid of. I want to stop doing this habit. Well,

I'll tell you about a few of the habits in my life. I believe

that in the world there are two types of people. There are those who

bite their fingernails and there are those who are healthy. And I'm one of

those who bites my fingernails. I bite my fingernails. My whole life,

I bite my fingernails. It's a gross habit. It's when I'm nervous or

anxious, I'll bite my fingernails, or maybe if I'm bored, And it's

something that I've wanted to stop. It's a habit that I've wanted to change.

And I finally got the motivation when I learned that scientifically, your fingernails

can trap bacteria and germs and other unhealthy things. So this habit of biting

my fingernails violates my habit of being a germophobe, and so I want to

change. I want to be healthy. I watched the documentary not too long

ago about healthy living, and the documentary advocated taking cold showers as a way

to boost your immune system. And maybe you've seen some influencers and celebrities who

do cold hours or ice baths, things like that, and so this documentary

was saying that if you take cold showers daily regularly, it boosts your immune

system. It wakes up your brain, It helps you live longer, helps

with muscle fatigue, all of those kind of things. So I've created this

new habit of taking once a day taking cold showers. And I did this

for three days before I decided it's not for me. It might be healthy,

but for my mental health, I like a hot shower. I want

to ask you a question, and this is the big idea of today's message.

What do you want to change? What do you want to change in

your life? What do you want to see different about your life? What

do you want to change? Do you want to change from renting a home

to owning a home. Do you want to change from living with mom and

dad to living independently. Or maybe you're a student and you want to change

from just being a student to being a graduate with a degree. Or do

you have a financial change? You want to get out of debt? You

want to live free? Anybody have any mental health things you want to change?

You want to change from being worried and anxious to being peaceful to having

joy? Or how about your relationship with God? Do you want to see

a change there? Do you want to go from being distant from God to

being close to God? Do you want to change from being sporadic to being

intimate with the Lord. What do you want to change in your life?

This is our big idea, what do you want to change? Habits are

the building blocks to lasting change. Habits create change. The right habits lead

to real transformation. This series, The Power to Change, is inspired by

a book written by Craig Rochell, and Craig Rochell writes this, who you

are today has been largely shaped by your habits. Where you are today has

been largely shaped by your habits. The life you're living today has been largely

shaped by your habits. We all have habits, intentional habits, unintentional habits,

good habits, bad habits. These habits have shaped who we are today.

They've changed us. Let's do a mental exercise for just a moment.

All of us do this mental exercise together. Think about what did you do

Wednesday morning? Can you think back a few days ago to Wednesday morning?

What did you do Wednesday morning? Well, it's likely the same thing you

did on Tuesday morning, and the same thing you did on Monday morning.

Like most of us, you probably woke up to the sound of the alarm

and then maybe drank something. Probably with caffeine in it, ate a little

something and then hopefully showered and combed your hair and then got dressed and by

Wednesday. You know, when we get dressed on Wednesday, that's kind of

the threshold. Where can we wear the same pants again that we wore on

Monday and Tuesday? You know, you know the clothes you ever do the

sniff test? Is this good enough to wear? It's those clothes that they're

not dirty enough for the laundry and they're not clean enough to go back in

the closets. So where do they go? The chair? They go on

the chair. These are the clothes that live on the chair. And then

after we get dressed, you get in the car and drive to work or

drive to school. And then when you arrive at work, have you ever

just got out of the car and think, how did I get here?

I don't remember the traffic lights, I don't remember the turns I took.

I just left my house and now I'm here. It's because your brain was

on autopilot. Your habits created a routine that your brain just got you there

without even thinking about it. And this is the first point of this message.

A habit without a goal is just a routine. It's just a routine.

It doesn't bring change. It's just a routine. It's like a hamster

on the hamster wheel, going and going, doing the same thing over and

over and over. But you're not really making progress. You're not seeing a

change. If you want real transformation, you need to change your habits.

And so today we're gonna look in the Bible at the book of First Timothy,

and we're gonna learn how we can change our habits. Now, let

me give some background in some contexts to First Timothy. This is a letter

in the New Testament that was written by the apostle Paul, and Paul was

a dynamic leader and church planter, and he sent this letter to his student

Timothy, who was a young pastor. And Timothy wanted to bring change to

his church because the church that he was pastoring was hearing some false doctrine in

some bad teaching. And so Timothy's change he wants to address this false teaching.

We read in First Timothy one verse three, he says, stay there

in Ephesus, so that you may command certain people to not teach false doctrines

any longer. So this is the change that Timothy has he wants to correct

false doctrine, and then, like a coach, Paul gives him advice and

coaching on how to change this culture. Now let's jump to chapter four.

We're gonna read here chapter four, versus seven and eight, And before we

read these, let me say, first Timothy four seventh through eight is very

meaningful to me. First Timothy four seventh or eight is a passage of scripture

that has fundamentally changed my life. It's transformed me, and I'll share a

little bit more about that. But let's read starting in verse seven. Have

nothing to do with godless myths and old wives tales. Rather, train yourself

to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has

value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life

to come. This verse is extremely meaningful for me because it changed my life

many many years ago. Many many years ago, I had the same morning

routine. A habit without a goal is just a routine. I had the

same routine every morning. I would wake up, drink some coffee, and

I would go to the gym for exercise. And then after exercising, I

would come home and I would try to spend time in prayer and reading the

Bible. But the problem was my mind was distracted when I was trying to

talk to God. I'd already been awake, I'd already been out. I

had to answered text messages, emails, looked at social media. So when

I finally made that time to pray, to meet with God, my mind

was thinking about my to do list, tasks, things that work, responsibilities,

and I wasn't getting the most value in my time with the Lord.

And then I read First Timothy four seventh or eight. Physical training is of

some value, but Godliness has value for all things. I wanted to make

a change in my routine. I want to make a change in my life

because I wanted to be more in Godly. I wanted more of God.

And so I decided to make a change where the first thing I do in

the morning, the first hour of my morning, I spend in prayer with

God, before exercise, before texts, before emails, anything like that.

I meet with God and a cup of coffee. And God has fundamentally changed

I am because because of that habit. A holy habit with a godly goal

is transformational. A holy habit with a godly goal is transformational. If you

want to see a change, you need a goal. If you want to

see a godly change, you need a godly goal. Timothy had a godly

goal in his context for transformation. First Timothy one five says the goal of

this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience

and a sincere faith. This was Timothy's goal. He wants a sincere faith,

and his coach gives him instructions habits. Holy habits bring about transformation.

I'll tell you about another holy habit in my life that I've been practicing.

Early on, when I started out in ministry, I was passionate about telling

people about Jesus. I was passionate about preaching the gospel, and I often

got the same fee back when I would preach or when I would teach from

different people. There was a common theme to the feedback I heard. And

often I would hear people say, your preaching is intense. It's intense.

Do you know what intense really means. It's a polite way of saying angry

or harsh, And it's true. I was intense. I remember one I'm

very very early on, I had this heart shaped cutout and I was preaching

about how when you sin, it breaks God's heart. And I broke the

heart in half and stomped on it like like I was intense. I don't

want to be intense. I want to make a change. I want to

be encouraging. I want to be helpful. I want to be inspiring.

And so I created a holy habit, a regular habit. See, I

have these notes when I'm teaching and communicating that helped me. And so long

ago I started this habit. At the top of my notes, I would

write s M I L E. Just this cue to remind me to smile,

be passionate, but smile the encouraging. And it's changed how I present

myself. It's changed who I am. Once you think about that big idea,

what do you want to change? When you look at your life and

you evaluate what's going on in your life, what do you want to change?

Is there something you want to do different? Is there something that you

want to see change? Well, we're gonna work our way through this passage,

this text and first Timothy, and we're gonna see how Timothy gives us

a model for change. See, Timothy had a goal. His goal was

to correct false doctrine. You have a goal. Now it's not the same

as Timothy's, but Timothy has a model that we can follow to bring about

change. And so we're gonna start writing some things down. Whether you have

the Gross series booklet or notes in your phone, we're gonna write some things

down. And we're gonna write down the ABC's of holy habits. And the

first one a is you need a goal. You need a godly goal.

That's the first in the ABC's You need a godly goal. Notice what our

text says in verse ten, This is why we labor and strive because we

have put our hope in the Living God, who is the savior of all

people, and especially those who believe, command and teach these things. We

have a godly goal, our hope. Our goal is set on the Living

God. He's our vision, he's our goal, he's our hope. Now,

you might have a really big goal that you want to change in your

life. You might want to see something really big transform in your life,

and you may think this is too big to accomplish. I don't think I

got what it takes to make this change. I think this is too hard.

I don't think I can do it. Let me remind you that your

hope is set on the Living God. When you put your faith in Jesus,

his spirit comes into your life. He transforms you, He changes you.

He gives you the power to bring about the change. It's not your

own will power. Your God is not dead. No, your God rose

from the dead, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is

the power that's at working you to bring about transformation. That is what God

does in our hearts and in our lives. So what do you want to

change? What do you want to see different? What's your goal? What's

your goal? Now? Your goal? You may have a goal that sounds

like read more of the Bible, or worry less, or get out of

debt, maybe lose some weights. Now these all look like godly goals,

right, They look like good goals, helpful goals, positive goals. But

I think we can actually reframe these goals in a way that makes them godly

goals. We can restate them. So instead of saying read more of the

Bible, the godly goal is grow closer to God. Instead of worry less,

the godly goal is trust God more, get out of debt. The

godly goal is honor God with my finances. A physical health goal is honor

God with my body. You see how just reframing that, restating it makes

it a godly goal. So they're in your notes that you have, write

down what is your godly goal? To take a moment, write it down,

what's your godly goal that you have The ABC's of holy habit starts with

a godly goal, and b is begins small, begins small. Zachariah four

ten says, do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to

see the work begin. The Lord is with you in the small steps,

in the beginning steps, in the first steps. Take a small step,

begins small. Another way I like to say this is don't be like Michael

Scott. Are there any fans of the Office here today? A few fans

of the Office, even if you haven't seen the show. Michael Scott is

the goofy willie boss who always gets into trouble, always embarrasses himself. And

Michael Scott never begins small. He's always big. He goes big or go

home. He bites off more than he can chew. He over commits,

over extends hisself. He doesn't always follow through, like the time that Michael

Scott wanted to run a five k after eating a whole bull a pasta and

then he got sick. Or the time he thought he could survive in the

wilderness for three days and he only lasted three hours. And then there was

the Scott's Toss, where Michael Scott promised a group of third graders if they

would stay in school to graduation, he'd pay for their college because he expected

to be a millionaire by the time he was forty. But by the time

he was forty, he had less money than when he was thirty, and

he couldn't pay for their college. He over committed. He bit off more

than he could chew. You may have big dreams, big goals, big

things you want to see change in your life. Don't be like Michael Scott

begins small. Start with the next steps. Start with the first step.

Notice verse twelve in our text, it says, don't let anyone look down

on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers.

I want to speak directly to our young people who are listening. College students,

high school, middle school students, young people in their twenties. God

has a vision for your life. God has a purpose for your life.

Your purpose in life is more than just get a bunch of debt in college,

get a degree, work forever to pay that debt off, hopefully own

a home, hopefully retire someday. No, God has a divine assignment for

you, an appointment for you, and I want to encourage you that these

years, this season of your life is your opportunity to make decisions that will

change the rest of your life. When I was in high school, I

heard a lot of people say, Hey, these are the best years of

your life, so just do whatever you want. You don't have consequences,

you don't have responsibilities. I agree, these can be the best years of

your life because they're the most important years of your life. You're making decisions

this season in your life that's gonna change who you are, gonna decide who

you're gonna be. So begin small also means begin early, Begin now to

decide I'm gonna be this type of person. I'm going to be the person

that God made me to be. Begins small, Take the first step.

I've got a really big goal that I've been working toward, slowly, taking

small steps to get to this goal. For years now, Lauren and I

have a goal of celebrating our ten yere wedding anniversary by going to Italy to

visit, and we've started taking all these small steps. Next year is our

ten year wedding anniversary, Summer of twenty twenty four, and so we've been

taking all these small steps preparing for the trip, researching where to go,

what to see. We're building a budget and slowly we're putting away a little

bit of money over these last several many years, just month by month,

a little bit of savings for this trip, getting ready. But then something

has changed. We're having a baby and he's due in January of twenty twenty

war and this changes everything because I've had this big goal for many years now.

So what do we do? You know, there's my soul is in

turnoil. Do we postpone the trip, do we take the baby? Do

we leave the baby in the States? What do we do? So we

were discussing these options with my mother in law, and my mother in law

I was looking for some support from her, and she said, don't worry

about it. I'll take care of the baby and come along on the trip

so we can all be together. That's not quite the support I was looking

for. Begins small, take small steps in your notes there right down?

What is your next step? Go ahead, right down? What's your next

step? If you got a goal of being closer to God, your next

step might be to pray each day for five minutes each morning in one week.

That's your next step. Or maybe your next step is to read the

verse of the day on the Bible app. If you've got a health goal,

maybe your next step is to go for a walk each day, or

to drink more water and less sugary drinks. If you've got a financial goal,

your next step might be to just simply start building a budget for me

personally. When I think about the notes I'm taking, my goal is I

want to be a godly father, and I've obviously got some work to do.

If I think you can leave a baby and go international, and so

my next step is to start saving a little bit for baby expenses, not

just a trip to Europe, that's my next step. What's your next step?

Now? The C in ABC's of Holy Habits stands for commit to not

quit. Commit to not quit, because when we end here today, you're

gonna have a goal you're gonna have steps, You're gonna have some motivation to

go make this change in your life. But when you walk out these doors,

life is gonna hit you. Reality is gonna set in. You're gonna

go back to work tomorrow, back to school tomorrow. You're gonna have demands

on your time, responsibilities to fulfill. And so today we need to commit

to not quit. Commit to the process. Because change doesn't happen overnight.

Transformation takes a steady process of little bit of progress at a time. Look

at our text in verse fifteen says, be diligent in these matters. Give

yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress. Notice these keywords

says diligent progress. Give yourself wholly to these habits. Another translation says,

be absorbed with these things. It means being committed to the process, be

diligent about making progress. Commit to not quit. What do you want to

see change in your life? What do you want to change. If you

have a financial change that you want to see, then commit to not quit

tithing a portion of your income to the lord building that trust. If your

goal is that you want to get a new job, commit to keep showing

up for those interviews. Commit to keep filling out those applications. This spiritual

growth series we're in is all about committing to the change process. Do you

remember the commitments we make during this series. We commit to worshiping together weekly,

we commit to meeting with God daily, and we commit to joining a

small group for these five weeks. We emphasize being in a small group because

we need other people to support the change. We need other people to help

us. Look at our text again. Verse fifteen says that everyone may see

your progress, that everyone can help, that everyone can support. We need

one another in this progress. One of the greatest changes in my life came

when I confessed a secret, sinful habit to my pastor. It was a

secret addiction, and I confessed it to my pastor and he forgave me.

He loved me, he didn't judge or condemn me. And I'll always remember

what he said to me. I mean, this was years ago, but

I'll always remember sitting down with him and what he said to me. He

said, Andrew, thank you for telling me. You didn't have to tell

me, but I'm glad you did. He's right, I didn't have to,

but I needed to. I needed to because I needed help. I

needed someone else to support me. I needed someone to help me stay committed

to the change that I wanted God to do in my life. We need

each other. So right now, in your notes, write down someone you

can share your goal with. Write down someone you can trust, someone that's

gonna support you, someone that's gonna cheer for you, someone that's gonna pray

for you. Write down someone's gonna help you stay committed to not quit.

Well, so far, we've looked at A, B, and C and

the ABC's of holy habits. There's two more letters we're gonna look at,

and the next one is D, which is delayed gratification. Delayed gratification.

Have you ever been on the interstate and notice the little mile markers that tick

buy as you're driving. What do those mile markers do? They tell you

where you are, They tell you how far you've come, how far you

got to go. It helps you measure the distance. I often travel on

I seventy to Pennsylvania to visit family, and I know all the mile markers

along that drive. I know all the exits, I know all the rest

stops, I know where the best restaurants are. I know where the best

coffee is, and I know which ones to avoid on this drive. Now,

there is a really great exit on the east side of Columbus, Ohio,

on I seventy, and it's about halfway in my drive, and I'm

counting down the mile markers every time to get to that exit because it's got

a great Starbucks, it's got good gas, it's got great restaurant options.

That's my goal that I'm trying to get to. And I'm and I'm counting

down the mile markers. Well, sometimes my other needs don't make it that

far. I start to get hungry, and my stomach starts to grumble,

and then my caffeine headache might start to set it and I get a little

bit angry. Now, on the west side of Columbus, the closer side

of Columbus, there is another exit with a Starbucks. But let me tell

you that one's not as good as the one that's on the east side.

And so I'm gripping the steering wheels. Sometimes counting down the mile marker is

like, we can make it to Reynoldsburg, ohiyo, Like that's my goal.

That's a silly example, but delayed gratification helps us hit the next mile

marker, then the next mile marker, then the next mile marker. It

helps us overcome temporary discomfort for an eternal reward. Look at our text in

verse sixteen. It says, watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in

them. Persevere in them because if you do, you will save both yourself

and your hearers. The word persevere is a Greek word that means to continue

with persistence, to keep going, commit to not quit, don't sacrifice.

It's delayed delayed reward for instant pleasure. Craig Rochow writes that discipline is choosing

what you want most over what you want now. That's delayed gratification. Delay

gratification keeps you moving towards your goal. You know, the Gospel of Jesus

is all about delayed gratification, because Jesus had a goal, and Jesus sacrificed

his life on the cross for you and me. He died as your substitute

so you could be forgiven of sin, so you could come to the Father.

But the cross was not Jesus's end goal. The resurrection was Jesus's end

goal. His end goal was your salvation. His end goal was to bring

you to the Father. Hebrews twelfth two says for the joy set before him,

Jesus endured the cross for the goal set before him, the delayed gratification,

the joy of bringing you to the Father. He endured the pain,

he endured the suffering, He endured the shame for your sake, so that

He can heal you, He can redeem you, he can rescue and save

you. Jesus knew on the other side of the cross is the resurrection,

and that's what gave him hope. And for you, on the other side

of temporary pain is an eternal reward. There's new life for you on the

other side. Delay gratification is a commitment to your goal, no matter what

it takes. Counting down the mile markers, counting down to the next step.

The couple who decides to delay their sexual relationship until they're married because they

want to honor God. They're choosing to build their marriage on God's best for

them. That young person who's delaying buying a brand new car so they can

pay off student loans is making a delayed gratification to have a good financial future.

Whatever it is, delayed gratification has the future goal, the godly goal

in mind, so we can deny and say notes to the temporary things.

Count down to mile markers. In your notes that you're taking right down,

what's your next mile stuff? What's your next mile marker? If you have

a health goal, maybe you have a milestone. You're you're gonna drink half

a gallon of water each day. You know, you've seen those water bottles

where you can kind of mark off, like at nine am, at twelve,

keep drinking more water. Maybe you have a milestone you're gonna finish a

book of the Bible. You know, I phi Lehman's just one chapter.

You can read a whole book in one page. Or maybe your next mile

marker is I'm gonna save one percent or half a percent of my paycheck?

What's your mile marker? Of the last letter and the ABC's of Holy Habits

E and E stands for eliminate unhealthy habits. Sometimes we just gotta get rid

of the unhealthy stuff. Sometimes we just got to eliminate the things that are

holding us back. You know, I have an unhealthy habit that I need

to change, have this habit of watching YouTube videos or TV shows on my

iPad when I'm lying in bed trying to go to sleep. You know,

I wanted to hope it would distract me or put me to sleep, but

it's doing the opposite. That screen time is stimulating my brain and it's keeping

my brain alert. And when I do eventually fall asleep, I wake up

in the middle of the night anxious, worried, upset about something because what's

happening is my brain did not have a chance to process those concerns. So

when I go to sleep, it starts processing those things and that's why I

wake up. So I've been working with my counselor to address this, and

my counselor wants me to make some healthy changes to my sleep hygiene. Now

I'm not talking about taking a bath or brushing my teeth. That's not that

kind of hygiene. It's about technology hygiene, like stopping to look at screens

at a certain time, or stopping eating after a certain time before I go

to bed, the lighting before I go to sleep, dim lighting. It's

those kind of things to create a healthy habit in my life. Now,

sometimes we just got to eliminate the sinful things. There are just some habits

that are just sinful, and we got to get rid of them. First.

Timothy four seven says, have nothing to do with godless myths and old

wives tales. Rather train yourself to be godly man. When there's something sinful,

when there's a sinful habit, of sinful pattern, we just got to

eliminate it. Last month, I was super excited about a new TV show

that came out on Netflix. I've been waiting for the show. I'd seen

the previews. One of the main characters is an actor that I love watching,

and so when it came out, I was super excited and I was

watching the first episode, and in just the first ten minutes of this episode,

there was some really sinful things happening on the screen. And at first

I thought to myself, you know, I'm pretty mature. I can probably

look past that stuff and keep watching the show. You know, there's a

great story here that I can follow, or some great character development that I

can follow. There, As I thought some more, is like, is

this really healthy for my soul? Is this really something I need right now?

And so I just decided, you know what, that show is just

not for me. I'll just have to miss out. Because because I wanted

to eliminate something before it became an unhealthy habit in my life. First Timothy

six eleven says, you, man of God, flee from all of this.

Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance. You are a

godly person because Jesus has rescued you, and Jesus has transformed your life.

You are a godly man, you are a godly woman. And so write

down in your notes, what habit do you need to stop? What do

you need to get rid of? Right there in your notes? What is

it a that you need to say goodbye to you need to eliminate? It

might be you need to stop following a certain person on social media or listening

to a podcast or toxic talk show. I think a lot of us have

a have it we need to get rid of, and that is judging other

people and comparing ourselves to other people. We just need to eliminate that.

What do you need to eliminate? God has a vision for your life that

is beautiful and a vision that is wonderful, even beyond what you can imagine.

And there are some unhealthy things that will hold you back from fulfilling what

God wants for you. There are some things of this world that will keep

you tied down. But God wants to give you better things. God wants

to give you good things. Pursue godliness, pursue his transformation. I want

to close with one last story. When I was a teenager, my dad

and I went on a trip up to like the northern tier of Minnesota,

and we went on a canoeing trip through the boundary waters of Canada and the

US. And this area of wilderness is a million square miles of wilderness.

It's just absolutely beautiful, practically untouched, and there's thousands and thousands of these

freshwater lakes, and so you canoe from one lake to the next. And

there are only four park rangers that service the civilion square mile wilderness, and

it would be really easy to get lost, be really easy to get turned

around. It's also there's some risks, like we were up there and we

saw some wildfires in some places, we saw large animals like moose and signs

of bears, and so we needed to make sure that we had the right

plan. And the only tools that we had to navigate was a compass and

a map of the wilderness. These were our tools, and these tools helped

us stay on course. I think we ended up traveling like one hundred and

fifty miles on this journey, but these tools kept us on course, kept

us on track because you know, we only packed enough food for one week.

We need to make sure we were back before our food supply ran out.

We had a compass and we had a map that guided us. Think

about our big idea today. What do you want to change in your life?

What do you want to change now? Look at the notes that you've

taken today. You have a compass and you have a map there. You

have a guide that's going to help you navigate the change that you want to

see. Because when you step into life, when you step into the rest

of this week, there's gonna be other things pulling your attention, trying to

distract and get you off course. But now you have a map and Jesus

is leading you on that path. Follow that path. Let's pray together right

now, and if you've taken notes, if you have that plan that you've

laid out, I want to encourage you just to maybe put your hand over

the notes you've taken to day, and we're going to dedicate this to the

Lord and ask for his help to follow these steps. Father, God,

I want to pray right now that you would increase faith in each one of

our lives, in each one of our situations, that your faith would increase.

God. Would you help us as we take steps to start new change

or bring about change for something old. God? Would your spirit lead us?

God? Would your spirit show us the next step? God? Would

you surround each person with support, with friends, with a community that's going

to help encourage and help support, not condemn, not judge, but a

community that will help move forward. God, give us the strength and the

wisdom and the endurance. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen,