Putting Down Roots - Week 3

Today is the third week of a message series we are calling Putting Down Roots.

And in this series we are looking in the Bible at the Book of

Colossians. And as we start, I just want to give a little context

on Colossians, so we're on the same page. Colossians was a letter written

in the first century by a follower of Jesus named Paul, and he sent

this letter to other Christians living in the Roman city called Colossa. And Colossa

was a unique city. It was prosperous, it had a strong economy,

and geographically, Colossa was located in a valley and it was on the banks

of a healthy flowing river, and that river in the valley created very fertile

soil for agriculture. And the economy of Colossa was thriving because of this agricultural

industry, primarily in the growing and selling of figs and olives. Now this

made me think a little bit about Indianapolis, because Indianapolis is this city right

here in the middle of our state, in the middle of Indiana. But

once you get outside of the city, what do you see growing corn?

It's not figs in all lives, but there's a lot of corn. You

don't have to go very far in Indiana to find some corn. But every

gardener, every farmer, knows that to grow something healthy, you gotta have

good soil, and you gotta have strong roots. And so the series is

called putting down Roots, specifically because of this one verse in Colossians chapter two.

Take a look at verse six with me. So, then, just

as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were

taught overflowing with thankfulness. This text says that we are rooted in Jesus.

If you are a follower of Jesus, if your faith is in Jesus,

you are rooted in Jesus. These are your roots. Now there are things

that will try to uproot you. There are things that will come against you

and try to knock you over. You may have seen just last month the

chaos that happened at the Master's golf tournament when three massive trees came crashing down

right in the middle of the spectators, right where all the fans were.

They heard the cracking and the popping, and they all ran away just in

time. No one was hurt, but these trees just came crashing down.

The wind that day was just so strong and so forceful. It caught the

tops of the trees and they couldn't bear it. The roots. You can

even see in the picture how the roots are completely uprooted. Their roots weren't

strong enough to withstand the wind. When storms in life come against you,

are your roots strong enough? When the winds of disappointment and suffering and grief

and loss come against you? Are your roots strong enough? If it's a

financial disaster, if it's challenges at work or in school, or your roots

strong enough when you go through a breakup, if it's a divorce that you're

facing, or your child's diagnosed with a rare condition. How deep are your

roots? How strong are your roots? Where is your faith? You gotta

have strong roots if you're gonna make it through the storms in life. So

Colossians two tells us that we are rooted in Christ, and continuing on in

verse eight, we read, see to it that no one takes you captive

through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces

of this world, rather than on Christ. For in Christ, all the

fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. And in Christ you have been

brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. Notice

this verse. It says Christ is the fullness of God. Jesus is everything

that you need. Jesus holds everything that you need, and he brings you

to fullness. You and I without God, we are empty, we are

lacking, we are missing some things. But because of Jesus we can be

brought to full Jesus is everything you need because Jesus has everything that you need.

And this is the big idea today. The main point of this message

today is Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Jesus plus nothing is everything. Now

this isn't my original idea. I've heard other Christians say this expression before.

But the idea here is that Jesus is the fullness of God. Jesus is

the fullness of everything. Everything that God wants to do in your life is

found in Jesus. You don't need anything besides Jesus. Going on in this

verse, we read in verse thirteen, when you were dead in your sins

and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made you alive with Christ. He

forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,

which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing

it to the cross. Everything we need is found in Jesus, because what

he did on the cross, this is the gospel. The word gospel is

a Bible word that means good news. This is good news. Sin stood

against you, brokenness stood against you, Your past condemned you. But Jesus

dealt with it on the cross. Every single one of us here has a

need that only Jesus can meet. The person in addiction needs help. The

person in pain needs healing. The one who's grieving and in despair and needs

some peace and needs some comfort. The person who's holding on two some bitterness

needs forgiveness. And everything that we need is found in Jesus. He's the

fullness of God. He's all that we need. Jesus plus nothing is everything.

Now let's back up just a couple of verses here and look at verse

eight. We just read this notice. It says see to it that no

one takes you captive. No one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy.

Now, when Paul wrote these words, he was writing in the Greek

language in the first century. And notice this phrase takes you captive. In

Greek, this phrase can also mean fraud or to defraud. He's saying,

don't be defrauded by things of this world. Don't be defrauded by things that

look like Jesus, but they're not really Jesus. When I was a teenager,

I was saving up all of my money to buy a professional video camera.

I was a hobby of mine was video production, video things and producing

these projects, and so I was saving all my money for this piece of

equipment. And this camera costs at that time between a thousand and two thousand

dollars. And when I had my money saved up, I found a seller

online who was selling the exact same camera for five hundred dollars. I couldn't

believe it. It was it was a fraction of the cost. Have you

ever heard that expression, it's too good to be true. My first clue

should have been that the seller was located outside of the United States, and

my second clue should have been that they asked me to wire transfer the money

through Western Union I mean, what could go wrong? A teenager wiring five

hundred dollars internationally. Well, foolishly, naively, I sent the five hundred

dollars through Western Union internationally, and I waited and I waited, and I

told myself, well, it's an international shipment, it might take some time.

And I waited and it never arrived. I was completely defrauded. You

do not want me as a financial advisor. Do not ask me for any

financial advice. And there was nothing I could do to get my money back.

And so the only thing I could do is write a really angry email

to the seller saying you defrauded a fifteen year old boy and took all of

his savings. They probably used the fake email account anyways, Paul saying,

don't let things defraud you. As your pastor, I don't want you to

be defrauded by empty promises in this world, even empty promises that look like

Jesus. I don't want you to be defrauded. Want you're to be deep

in Jesus. When when the storms of life come, you have a hope

that's in Jesus. When you're disappointed, when you're overwhelmed, when when you're

struggling, you have roots that are deep in Jesus. When you're grieving,

the world will notice that you do not dip into despair because you don't break.

You may bend, but you will not break because your roots are in

Jesus. And I also think sometimes when we face the storms, when we

face the problems and disappointments, we may want to reach for something beyond Jesus,

something a little extra to add to Jesus, because we want a little

bit more security, We want a little bit more safety when we're struggling or

when we're afraid. Think about like, if you've ever been to the grocery

store and you're bagging up all the groceries and you're trying to fit as many

as you can into that bag. You've got all the eggs and the milk

and the bread and all the groceries, and it's just overflowing. It's just

crammed in there to the point where it's gonna burst. So what do you

do. You need a double bag it for some extra security. You need

some extra stability, so you get a little extra double baggett. I think

sometimes we want to double bag Jesus when we go through tough times in life.

And what that means is that we want to add a little something to

Jesus, Like, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but I need a

little more safety. I need a little more security. I need a little

more comfort. And what I'm saying is that sometimes we say Jesus plus something,

Jesus plus something else, we add something to Jesus. This is when

we say I believe in Jesus. I trust in Jesus, and also in

this I trust Jesus and the American dream. I believe in Jesus, but

I also trust my portfolio in the stock market. I trust Jesus, but

I also have trust in tradition in my career, or I have faith in

this talk show or in this news station or this Christian celebrity author, I

also have trust in faith. There When we add something and and something to

Jesus, it's not the true gospel. It can it can defraud us.

And so today I want to highlight a few broad categories of and somethings of

Jesus and somethings and when you think about Jesus and something's just about every and

something you can come up with is going to fit into one or more of

these categories. As the first category is what I call Jesus and prosperity Jesus

plus prosperity gospel. Now, some of us have maybe heard this phrase prosperity

gospel, and it may bring to mind, you know, images of a

preacher on the television promising if you send them enough money, your disease will

be cured or whatever. And sometimes we recognize that when it's that blatant,

when it's that obvious. But I also think that the prosperity gospel can be

very subtle, and it can whisper to us, and it whispers to us

promises of success. It promises that if you're a good Christian, if you

do the Christian things, if you go to church, if you behave like

a Christian, then God's supposed to bless you. God's supposed to make you

healthy, wealthy, and pretty. You're gonna have success relationally, You're gonna

have success with money. You're not gonna have any problems, your children are

going to grow without any issues. It promises a pain free Christianity. I

had a false belief that sounds similar to this, and my false belief was

that money is a sign of God's favor. And if I don't have money,

then I don't have God's favor. And I got this false belief from

my family of origin. And my family never blatantly said this out loud or

never communicated this. What happened was I observed the Christian faith of my family

and the success of my family, and subconsciously I combined those two that money

success is a sign of God's favor. For example, my grandfather had a

high school education, but he became very successful and very wealthy in business.

And so I saw his success, and I saw his Christian faith. I

saw his generosity. I saw how he paid for people to go to college.

I saw how he supported widows and single moms in the community. I

saw how he hired people who were out of work or unemployed. Like he

was generous, he had this Christian faith. I just saw the success.

I didn't know my grandfather when he was facing bankruptcy. I didn't know what

my grandfather when he was struggling to make ends meet. I didn't watch him

grieve when his wife passed away. I just saw the later years of success,

and I subconsciously put this together. Oh, if I'm a good Christian.

If I'm generous, then God will reward me with success. Prosperity gospel

is a shadow of the real gospel. Of course, God wants to bless

God wants to love us. But God does not promise to make you healthy,

wealthy, and pretty. Our text says and Colossians two seventeen. These

are a shadow of things that were to come. The reality, however,

is found in Christ. Prosperity is just a shadow of the full thing.

Because everything we have on this earth, everything we receive on this earth,

it's passing away. It's fading away. It does not last. Eternal things

last. And we don't have to look any further than than just looking at

some social media Instagram, Facebook, just to see this prosperity message. And

then and then it starts to make us feel bad about our own lives because

other people look so much more successful, they're achieving more, they look pretty

early, they have it all together. But you gotta remember, it's a

shadow of the things. It's a two dimensional it's been crop filtered and edited.

It's not the full thing. And now maybe you agree that God is

not responsible to make you healthy and wealthy, But have you ever wanted or

expected that Jesus is supposed to make you happy. Have you ever expected that

because you're a Christian you should have a happy life, That you should marry

a spouse who will never leave your disappoint you, that she should always be

employed and continue to climb that ladder or gain more. Have you expected that

Jesus is supposed to make you happy, or to provide you some comfort,

or provide a pain free life. I heard a story of a young woman

who lived in a country where Christianity was outlawed. It was against the law

to be a Christian, and Christians were persecuted. They were they were banned

from certain areas, they were put in prison. The church was outlawed,

and so Christians met in secret meetings in secret churches underground. And this young

woman became a follower of Jesus. And then she wanted to be baptized,

and so she went to a secret church meeting to be baptized. And when

she arrived, she had two suitcases, and in the suitcases were all of

her clothes, all of her belongings, all of her possessions. Because her

parents told her that if she was baptized as a Christian, and she was

no longer their daughter, and she had no longer had a place in their

home. It's Jesus plus nothing. Jesus plus nothing is everything. So one

of those categories is prosperity, the promise of success. Jesus will make you

successful. Another category that we see of an end something is Jesus and performance

Jesus plus performance gospel. A performance gospel is all about good works and good

looks. So if prosperity gospel says do good things to get God's blessings,

performance gospel says do good things so God doesn't punish you. It's out of

fear, it's out of guilt, it's out of shame. And our text

speaks about this. Take a look at verse twenty one. It says,

why, as though you still belong to the world, do you submit to

its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.

These rules, which have to do with things that are destined to perish with

use, are based merely on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have

an appearance of wisdom with their self imposed worship, their false humility, and

their harsh treatment of the body, But they lack any value in restraining sensual

indulgence. So performance gospel adds these manmade rules and regulations to the gospel,

adds these religious obligations, these religious traditions in order to make God happy or

to ensure that you're not going to get punished. It's adding extra and there

can be a lot of shame in this performance gospel. Do you know what

the term yard shame means? You know what yard shame is. I've got

yard shame. Let me explain. Around this time of year, in the

springtime, I do not like doing any yard work, and I put it

off as long as I can, and I let the grass grow, I

let the weeds multiply, the shrubs get out of control because I don't enjoy

them. But my neighbors, on the other hand, they love their yards

I'm thinking of in particular, and they love their yards, and they have

shamed me because their yards make my yard look really, really bad. And

my neighbors they do all this extra stuff to their yards. They don't just

mow the yard, They water the yard, They add extra fertilizer, they

add the pest control stuff, they add all of these things, They pull

weeds. They are adding extra things to make their yard looks so much better

than mine. Here's a picture of what my yard looks like. I do

keep it mode, but I don't add anything extra. In fact, I've

got this purple thing that's grown right in the middle of my backyard. I

don't know if it's a flower. I don't know if it's a weed.

I don't I don't know what it is. I could probably use a little

something extra in my yard. Performance gospel adds extra things to the gospel.

It adds extra rules, extra layers, extra duties to check off. And

when Paul was writing Colossians, many of his readers were adding extra things to

the gospel. They were adding, primarily, many of them were adding Jewish

religious traditions. Let me explain. Many of the early followers of Jesus were

Jewish, and when they became Christians, they continued in their Jewish traditions.

But then non Jewish people started to become Christians, and the Jewish Christians were

upset that the non Jewish Christians were not Jewish enough to be Christian, and

so they said, you need to become Jewish in order to become a follower

of Jesus. And so they said, men need to be circumcised like Jewish

men. You need to watch what you eat, watch what you drink,

follow these dietary laws. They said, you need to observe certain days in

celebrations and religious festivals and Sabbath days, all these regulations. And it became

such a friction in the early Church that you could read about in Acts fifteen,

where the leaders of the church came together to debate this. And here's

what they settled on in Acts fifteen, verse ten, Why do you try

to test God by putting on the necks of gentiles a yoke that neither we

nor our ancestors have been able to bear. No, we believe it is

through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they

are. These leaders of Christianity said, Jesus plus nothing is everything. Your

salvation is through Jesus alone. You are not saved by Jesus and good works.

You're not saved by Jesus and religious traditions. You're not saved by Jesus

and a denomination, or Jesus and a family tradition. You're not saved by

Jesus and a private Christian education. You're saved by Jesus alone. I grew

up in a very committed Christian family, and I'm so grateful for the biblical

values that I learned growing up. But I also learned some man made or

religious things that were added to the Gospel. Some of this is a little

bit embarrassing, a little bit silly. But for example, like I wasn't

allowed to listen to non Christian music. Secular music was bad and I could

only listen to Christian music. And then after a while I realized there's some

Christian music that's actually bad too. I was taught a certain Bible translation was

more superior than another translation. If you're a really good Christian, you read,

you read the superior one. Growing up as a kid, I had

church clothes, the clothes I only wore to church, and maybe funerals and

weddings there were formal clothes. Well what did my church clothes look like?

Well, what I'm wearing today may or may not have passed as church clothes

back then. Now again, I'm grateful for a lot of the biblical values

that I learned, But the trouble with some of those extra things, extra

rules and regulations, is it made me stuck in a place where I felt

like I needed to make God happy with my appearance or my performance. It

made me feel like God would be upset if I didn't meet these extra rules,

extra standards, and it also made me judgmental. Notice what our text

says here in verse sixteen, Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by

what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a

new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. So it says, don't let

anyone judge you because of these extra things, these manmade things. And so

I would judge other people. I would say they're not really a Christian because

they don't do this, or they're not saved because they still do that.

It's judgmental. Look at verse twenty three. It says these religious things they

lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. So in my religiosity, I looked

good on the outside, but I was more concerned with looking like a Christian

than I was being a Christian. And these things lacked value in making me

more holy like Jesus. I still had sin issues, I had addiction issues,

I had anger issues, judgment issues. These religious manmade things had no

value in making me more like Jesus. Now, you may not consciously judge

other people, are looked down on other people. But do you ever hide

the embarrassing or the shameful parts of yourself behind a mask of religious goodness?

Or you may think that as long as you do the Christian things, you're

covered, and so you can keep on living a life of sin, you

can keep on partying and living the way of the world. But as long

as you make it to church, as long as you do some religious things,

you're good. Or when you feel ashamed that you haven't met every standard,

do you try to make up for it with Christian good works. You

are saved by Jesus plus nothing. Jesus plus nothing is everything. And today,

in the name of Jesus, I want to break off some of the

false lives that have been added to you, whether it was from somebody else,

whether it was from another Christian or somebody telling you you need to be

like this in order to be a good Christian, or you need to add

this. In the name of Jesus, we break that off and we pray

that God would release and relieve that burden of guilt. Because some people think

that you owe God something, You don't owe him nothing. Because of what

Jesus did on the cross. The Gospel says in verse thirteen, he forgave

us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which

stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it

to the cross. You are saved by Jesus plus nothing, not your good

works. There's nothing you have to make up for. You do not pay

God back. It's been dealt with on the cross. And so I want

to pause, just for a moment and ask what is it about Jesus and

something that can be so attractive. I think it's the promise of a false

sense of security that when we feel off balance, or when we feel knocked

sideways, we need a little extra secure. We want some safety, and

so we reach for extra things. So when we're struggling, when we don't

know the answer, or when we're afraid, we want something to make us

happy, or we try religious goodisms to make us have some insurance that we're

doing our part, or when we feel like we're not being heard or we're

in the minority position, we look for a group or an agenda for safety

and numbers. But when we put our roots in something besides Jesus and and

Something, we lose connection with Jesus. Notice our text here in verse nineteen,

it says they have lost connection with the head. The head is Jesus.

If our roots are in Jesus and Something, we actually end up losing

connection with Jesus. There's one more and something that I want to highlight in

this category is what I call Jesus and power Jesus and power gospel. What

is power gospel? Power gospel is this idea that Christians need to have power

in the world or gain power in society, power and culture, whether it's

political influence or economic power or influencing social issues, that Christians need to have

power. Now, I want to be really clear. I believe that Jesus

does want his people to influence this world with his love and with the good

news of the Gospel. But I also believe, based on Jesus, the

influence is gained by serving in humility, not by human power or human mechanisms

or human authority. Even Jesus said his kingdom is not of this world.

His power is from another world. Theologian and t Right puts it this way.

All power structures, ancient or modern, whether political, economical, or

racial, have the potential to become rivals to Christ, beckoning his followers to

submit to them in order to find a fuller security. Remember that our text

said in Christ, all the fullness of God dwells. The imitation is as

blasphemous as it is unnecessary. Christ tolerates no rivals. His people need no

one but him. Jesus is greater than all human power, all human mechanism

because of what he did on the cross. Look again in our text in

verse fifteen, Jesus has disarmed the powers and authorities. Jesus made a public

spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. When I was a

teenager, I was really excited about politics one election year, and I wasn't

old enough to vote, but I still wanted to do my part for the

cause, and so I really like this one candidate, And it just so

happened that my neighbor across the street had a yard sign for the opposing candidate

that I didn't like. So because I couldn't vote, I tried to do

something on my own. So in the night, under the cover of darkness.

I snuck over to their yard and I stuck bumper stickers for the candidate

I liked all over their yard sign. First, do you really think that's

what Jesus wanted me to do? Second? What do you think my neighbor

did it? Just went and got another yard sign. I mean, those

things are free. How often do we do something similar? It may not

be with bumper stickers in yards signs, But what are the things we are

sticking ourselves too that are not Jesus? Sticking to an issue, sticking to

an agenda, sticking to a political party, sticking to a news channel,

sticking to a personality. Is it the gospel or is it Jesus and someone

or Jesus and this ideology, Jesus and this position. Because Jesus had no

other agenda except the gospel, and the progress of the Gospel is measured in

the winning of souls and the forgiving of sinners. Jesus never used human power

or human authority to get his will. He never used human mechanisms to get

more followers. He humbly served, he humbly loved, and he humbly died.

But when he rose from the dead, he rose with what all power,

all power over life and death. That's supernatural power. Second Corinthians thirteen

says he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God's power. Likewise,

we are weak in him, yet by God's power we will live with

him. Do you want a powerful life? I want a powerful life.

I want the power of God in my life. I don't want human power.

I don't want political power. I don't want social power. I want

the power of God in my life. I want the power of God to

help me forgive those who wrong me. I want the power of God to

help me overcome temptation in my life. I want the power of God to

pray for the sick and see them heal. The power of God in my

life to endure suffering, endure pain, and come through with a stronger faith.

I don't need human power. I want the power of God in my

life. The power of the Gospel is all you need. Jesus plus nothing

is everything. You don't need any other group, any other ideology. You

need Jesus. You don't need a philosophy. You don't need a self help

book. You need the book. You don't need a personality on YouTube telling

you how to fix your problems. You need the person who's the way,

the truth, and the life. And you definitely don't need good vibes in

crystals. You need Christ. We need the Gospel. It's Jesus plus nothing.

I'm not the first person ever used that phrase, Jesus plus nothing equals

everything. I know a woman who lives in Honduras named Krystal, who operates

a ministry for children in her community. Many of these children are underfed,

many of them are being raised by single moms or teenage moms. And so

when we say Jesus plus nothing, these children are living in the nothing.

They know what that means. And so every day after school, these children

come to Crystal's house. And when I was there, I saw maybe sixty

seventy, maybe eighty children all packed in and crammed in. There wasn't a

seat left. And every day Crystal feeds them and then she shows them Jesus.

She shares Bible stories with them, They sing songs together, the children

memorize Bible verses. They know who Jesus is. And Crystal gets a little

bit annoyed and a little bit frustrate when people say that all she's doing is

running an after school program, or when someone says she's running a food ministry

and she says, no, no, no, this is not a food

ministry. This is a Jesus ministry. It's Jesus plus nothing. And Crystal

told me a story that one day she got a phone call from her fundraiser,

the person that raised support for her ministry, and the fundraiser said that

there was no money for that month of ministry. Well, without flinching,

Crystel said on the phone, let me tell you three things. First,

I am God's child. Second, this is his problem, not mine.

And third, call me back when you have an answer. That same day,

the fundraiser called Crystal back and said that they had just received a surprise

donation and unexpected contribution. There was more than enough money to cover not one

month, not two months, but three months of ministry sharing the gospel with

those children. Crystals, somebody who lives Jesus plus nothing is everything. Now

that's a dramatic story. That's an inspiring story. And I believe that there's

something in that story for every single one of us, because every single one

of us has a need that only Jesus can meet. I don't know what

needs you might have. I don't know what trouble or broken thing you might

need Jesus to work in, but I know he's the only one that can

do it. Your wealth is not going to cure that diagnosis. Your reputation

in your contacts are not going to relieve the guilt that you might be carrying

from the past. Your talent, your acumen, your success is not going

to heal that relationship that might be damaged. We're strained right now. Only

Jesus. We need Jesus. The overeating, over drinking is not going to

bring the comfort from that grief. It's only Jesus. And so today Jesus

is saying come because because he's all you need, He's the fullness. Whatever

you think is gonna fill you up, whatever you think is gonna satisfy you,

it's lesser, it's a fraud. It's only Jesus. And he's not

looking at religious pedigree, he's not looking at religious accomplishments. He's looking at

your heart and he just wants to know that you want him. And so

I want to invite you into an invitation, a time of response. Would

you bow your head and close your eyes with me? And today if you're

hearing what I'm saying and you realize that you've you've been going the way of

the world, or you've been following things that have defrauded you, and you

want to come to faith in Jesus, this is your invitation today. If

you're here and you are not right with God, but you want to be

right with God, then this is your opportunity. Would you just pray this

prayer after me and your heart say, Jesus, I admit that I'm a

sinner and I need your forgiveness. I believe you died for me and rose

from the dead to save me. And today I confess you as Lord of

my life. Help me to trust Jesus plus nothing. And now let me

pray for all of us. And whether you've been following Jesus for a short

time or for many, many, many years, would you just silently and

quietly allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and just ask him,

ask the Father is there anything that you've been holding onto like a Jesus plus

something? And I believe Holy Spirit will kindly convict. He never condemns,

he never punishes, but he will kindly convict. He will draw us lovingly

to the truth which you just ask him. God, has there's something I've

been holding on to Jesus plus something and just release it to him. Father,

God, we thank you that there is grace. God. We thank

you that where we fall short, you exceed and you succeed. God.

Thank you that you made away by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

And we thank you that there is an empty grave, that we have a

hope and eternal hope, and that we have a joy in this life,

whatever storms may come. And so God, would you increase faith today as

we leave this place. Would we have more confidence in you, more faith

in you? And may we love you even more God? And we pray

all of this in Jesus's name. Amen,