The Life of an Ambassador | June 8, 2025

last week when Andy was preaching

a during sharing time, we had one

person stand up for sharing time.

This week when I'm preaching, we

have a whole bunch of people share.

I dunno what that's about.

I'll try to keep it short.

So we're good.

Um,

second Corinthians five 16.

We're gonna get straight

into it this morning.

Here Paul is writing to the Corinthians.

Um, we're coming in kind of

in the middle of this chapter.

So from now on we regard no one

from a worldly point of view.

Though we once regarded Christ

in this way, we do so no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in

Christ, the new creation has come.

The old has gone, the new is here.

All this from God who reconciled us

to himself through Christ and gave

us the ministry of reconciliation.

That God was reconciling the

world to himself and Christ not

counting people's sins against them.

And he has committed to us

the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ's

ambassadors as though God were

making his appeal through us.

We implore you on Christ's

behalf, be reconciled to God.

God made him who had no sin to

be sin for us so that we might

become the righteousness of God.

Paul's talking about this concept of

being a Christian, what we say a lot

in today's world of being a witness,

and you probably have different

connotation of what you think of when you

hear being a witness and someone's asking

if you're being a good witness Here.

Paul uses the language

being an ambassador,

and I like that.

I like that phrasing

better than a witness.

Um.

Mainly 'cause I think when I hear like

witness, I just think of the phrase

and be like, can I get a witness?

Right?

And people just like raise their hand or

whatever and what exactly does that mean?

But being ambassador, I can wrap my

head around that a little bit more.

But when you hear the word thinking,

hear the word being a witness,

you're thinking of, Hey, I need

to be telling people about God.

Right?

And that's, that's your

job as an ambassador.

And the concept of, if we look at someone

who is an ambassador for a, for a foreign

country and you know, someone who's maybe

an ambassador for Spain and they're living

in the United States, we're seeing that

person is representing that country.

Now, I've never met an ambassador

or dealt with an ambassador.

And maybe the closest thing I can think

of is both in high school and college,

there were some foreign exchange

students and they're not necessarily

there 'cause they're like, Hey, we're

representing our country to you guys.

But they are, because probably

most, most of my assumptions that

I have of Saudi Arabia or Denmark.

Um, or Thailand are from the foreign

exchange students that I met, that

would probably be my closest association

of what those countries are like

and what those people are like.

Because it's one thing to see the news

and see what the politicians and the

leaders of those countries are, but

as we all know, maybe world leaders

and politicians are not the best

representative of us, uh, in our country.

So I think it's, it's really

important to think about those things.

So when you're a Christian and you're

ambassador, you're representing your faith

through what you say, through what you do.

And so I want to encourage you

that it's important for you to tell

people about God because people

need to understand who God is.

And that's our job.

That's what we're called to do.

And maybe that's intimidating to

you being a witness, being someone

who talks to people about God.

It makes you uncomfortable.

It's something you don't want to do.

And I, I understand that I feel

that way, and that's bad for me as

a pastor to say it's, it's not, I

won't say I don't like to do it.

I will say it's not what my,

uh, what comes naturally to me,

but God will use your gifts if

you're gonna tell people about God.

God has instilled within every

one of us gifts that will help

us be an ambassador for him.

We're talking about telling

people about God, right?

A lot of us think of, Hey, I'm going up.

I'm going door to door and

I'm telling people about God.

I'm, I'm going up to strangers.

And that's great.

And some people that

comes naturally for you.

And that's fantastic.

And that's wonderful.

And,

and if you're someone who wants to, you're

thinking, I wanna be better about that.

I'm honestly not the best

person on stage to be.

That to be explaining

that I'm not an introvert.

Okay.

I think of people like Marty.

Talk to Marty about that.

That's Marty's gift for sure.

One of Marty's gifts.

I, I remember, uh, even when I first

kind of became a Christian, and

Andy and, and Marty were mentoring

me, uh, in my early years, uh, I

remember doing some construction job

with Marty, but him talking about

um, how he hates going to stores

and there's the self checkout aisle.

'cause he hates those.

'cause he wants to interact with people

and he wants to converse with people.

And I was like, oh shoot.

I love the self checkout people

be because I don't, like, I

don't have to talk to people.

I want do my own thing.

Um, and and it's funny and it's true.

And, and as we know, there's a lot

of people who have come from Menards

who go to this church because of

Marty talking to the cashiers at

Menards and, and all the other people.

And that's his gifts.

So honestly.

I am going to almost throw

this out to someone else.

If, if you really want someone who you

wanna hone those skills, Marty is a

great person to talk to more so than me.

Now, I'd love to talk

to you about that too.

Um, but I also know there's a lot of you

who maybe are like me and don't want to

talk to people at the grocery store, and

you just wanna get your stuff and get out.

Maybe you feel uncomfortable talking to

people about God, and I understand that

and so I can talk to you about that.

But I want you to know that you

have gifts as an extrovert to, to

preach and to tell people about God.

But there's also gifts as an introvert

to tell people about God, right?

When we talked a while back, um,

Andy did the sermon talking about,

um, solitude and how it's maybe a

harder thing for extroverts to do.

Um, I know Andy thinks the word

solitude is torture, as he was saying.

Um, and.

But solitude is something, maybe

introverts excel at a little bit more,

but sometimes if, if you recognize

that you're an introvert, you need

to make sure that you are utilizing

that time as an introvert to know God

better so that you can tell people.

And yeah, you maybe have to push

yourself into situations where you

are talking to people about God.

It's, it's easy to hide away

and, and to not do things.

And I used to justify something as well.

I know that you need to

build a relationship with

people to preach to them.

And I don't think it's necessarily

helpful to just go up to strangers

and be like, Hey, let me tell you

about Jesus, because here's the thing.

I have had people who are strangers to me

come up and try to tell me about Jesus.

I'm like, dude, you don't even know me.

I'm a preacher.

You don't need to tell me about Jesus

and almost get like annoyed by that.

I. Which I, I understand, and maybe

that's coming from my background,

from my personality, but I kind of

almost get annoyed by that mentality.

I'm not saying there's

anything wrong with it.

I'm saying that that's what

my natural inclination is.

I, this, this is probably

gonna sound terrible.

I, I had a friend who was not a

Christian, uh, he was a gamer.

And if you have never been in a

video game chat room, good for you.

That's great.

Keep it that way.

Uh, but it's, it's awful that,

you know, Sarah's talking about,

you know, uncensored chatter or

whatever and, and things on online.

Yeah.

It's, it's the worst of all of that.

I remember playing a game and, you know,

after the game, it's just so toxic and

all these people are just swearing at each

other and, you know, oh, you're, you're so

terrible at this game, but way less gently

than I just said it, and all these things.

It's awful.

And you can, and people just get

rage and they just get yelling

at each other and there's nothing

you can really do to stop that.

I had a friend who would say that

whenever that stuff happened, and

it would annoy him, he would just

say, Hey guys, can I tell you about

my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ?

And he said that would shut people

up and they'd leave the room.

I'm not saying that's a good

thing necessarily, right?

But I think there's a, there's

people who don't know God who are

uncomfortable about that, and they

don't want to be preached to, they don't

want to have people tell them those

things, and they get away from that.

So I think when there's people who

maybe have that attitude, it's people

who are maybe more uncomfortable, who

are more sensitive to that because

they also maybe don't want that.

And it's your job to hone in on that

and have that maybe gentle approach

or that maybe less abrasive approach

to dealing with those people.

And that's why it's important that whether

you're an extrovert or an introvert,

we build relationships with people.

Because, I mean, it's an old saying,

but people don't care what you

know until they know that you care.

No one's gonna listen to you until

you've built up a relationship with them.

And that's what the disciples did.

They traveled around, they went to

people's homes, they invited them

in for dinner, and they spent time

with them and they helped them.

I think we get so mixed up when we read

the scripture that we kind of forget

that we're in such a modern society

where everything happened so quickly.

Going to a town was a long journey and

you would spend some time in there.

They didn't just check in and check out.

Everything happens slower in biblical

times, and there's value to that.

So sometimes we just need to slow

down in our relationship with people

and.

It's still hard for you to

figure out how you can have

conversations with people about God.

Well, God's gonna use your gifts.

He's gonna use your personality

types and, and think about what your

personality is and how you can hone

that towards reaching people and,

and talk with people about that.

Talk with a pastor, um, talk with his

spiritual mentor and they can kind of help

you with your personality and how it's

best for you to serve God in that way.

But also God's gonna use your testimony.

All of us have that.

If you're a Christian, you

have a testimony, God's

gonna use that differently.

And I, I know I've preached on this

before, so maybe I'm being a little

bit of a dead horse, but we, we have

this mindset of like a testimony

has to be some testimony of, yeah.

You know, I was out shooting heroin

out on the street and then God

came and found me and I changed my

life around and I left all the sex.

I left all the drugs.

My life's been completely different.

And people hear that story and

they're like, man, that's amazing.

That's.

Seeing be because seeing that kind of

transformation is something that people

really can't explain except from God.

Especially when you're someone who knew

those per, per that person and maybe

how awful they were and how mean they

were, and then they find Jesus and

you're like, yeah, I mean, that's God.

'cause that person was awful before.

Right?

We think that this testimony has to

be some huge life changing story,

which it is a life changing story, but

it maybe not always looks like that.

Okay.

That's, that's what I like to call

the transformative testimony where

you found God and he completely

switched everything on for you.

He took you out of the muck and Meyer this

deep just awful pool that you were in, and

he pulled you out and you're clean now.

But there's also a testimony that I

wanna call the continual testimony, and

this is a testimony of maybe you were

raised in the church your whole life.

And you weren't perfect,

but you've always known God.

You've always tried to obey him.

And so when you tell your testimony,

you know, you're like, well, I've kind

of always been a pretty good person

and I've tried to do the right thing

and I've followed God and I didn't

struggle with drugs or addictions.

Um, I've had a pretty good life.

I, I, you know, you feel like I don't

know what to tell people and then, and

you don't wanna come across as like,

I'm perfect and I'm better than you.

And so it maybe feels weird to

share that testimony 'cause you

don't wanna feel like you're coming

across as better than other people.

But that continual testimony is awesome

because for the same reason that having

a testimony where people can only explain

it 'cause only God could have pulled

that person out and and transformed them

and changed them from who they were.

You know?

I also think only God can

maybe keep someone making good

choices through their life.

I mean, what does that, to say to

a world where people are convinced

certain things are good for them

and it clearly doesn't work,

riddled with addictions from whatever

they are having a testimony where

you've known God your whole life

and though you haven't been perfect,

you've generally not strayed from him.

That's a wonderful testimony.

And, and for someone who has

more of a transformative term

testimony, that continual testimony

is the testimony that I need.

Because after God picked me up and I was

a screw up and, and had just made a lot

of choices and was stuck in addictions

and thought I'm transformed and mom all

better, and then I messed up and, and

maybe failed and fell into one of those

addictions again, you kind of think,

shoot, I thought God transformed me.

I'm not ever gonna be able to get better.

I'm not ever gonna be able to change.

I. Then hearing people's

testimonies who've always known God.

And I'd be like, oh no, I can't actually

be in a state where I am with God all

the time and following him all the time.

I can be free from these addictions

because that person can achieve it.

And sure it was probably a lot easier

for them to achieve it, having not delved

into the addiction in the first place.

But I know that that's

possible because of God.

So whether you have a continual

testimony or transformative

testimony, it's all valuable.

And it's important that

you share that with people.

You can share people about God and,

and maybe you're someone like SanMar

who have done amazing things, working

with answers and genesis and telling

people about how there are, there's

proof of God out in the world.

And that's wonderful.

And if you're one of those people

who get really passionate about that

and delve into that, that's great.

Keep doing that.

And if you feel like i's so

much stuff, I don't know.

And that's a lot.

I mean, you can learn those things.

You can, you know, go to creation classes,

you can talk with Sandy Lamar and other

people and learn about those things.

So you can definitely do that.

But I think what you always need

to be doing alongside of that is

sharing your testimony, because that's

something that you don't even really

have to argue with people about.

You can share, this is how,

what God has done for me and

what he has impacted me for.

They can't deny that of

you having that experience

that's gonna carry so much weight

and being an ambassador for God.

Now maybe you're thinking,

Hey, you know what?

I'm already good about

telling people about Jesus.

That's important to me, but I want

you to know that there's so much more.

Honestly, that's only just a little

bit of what being an ambassador is.

Because being an ambassador is not

just about telling people about God.

It's about being an example for Christ.

Not just the things you say,

but the things that you do.

And whether you like it or not, you are

always being that kind of ambassador.

'cause you're always doing things and

if people know you're a Christian,

they're seeing that and they're

seeing how you represent God.

Now, I think we kind of veer into

two different examples of, of Christ.

Most of us probably know that you

don't want to be a Pharisee, right?

These are the kind of people who,

they were the best of the best.

They were the true followers of

God, and yet they were judging other

people for not being good enough.

They were kind of, we maybe call it

today more of being holier than thou of.

I'm a Christian.

I'm better than you and I am without sin.

I'm not making all the

mistakes you're making.

I have a beautiful life.

Most of us.

I mean, I think we know that we

don't want to be, that we know that

that's a negative representation

that the world sees of Christians.

It's important not to be a Pharisee

because the problem is that kind of,

that creates the misrepresentation that a

relationship with Christ is about works.

It's about you.

There's being all these rules that

you need to fit in, you being good

enough for God and you being perfect

for God, which none of us are.

It's a misrepresentation of

what it means to be a Christian.

And I think there's always maybe been a

a leaning against that, but especially I

think more in the modern era, we've really

been like, yeah, we don't want to be that.

We don't wanna be what the Pharisees are.

And it helps that we have scripture

that paints the Pharisees so poorly.

I.

And it's still easy to get swept up in

because God is calling us to something.

So I, I showed this at Men's

Group a couple weeks ago.

Um, but there's a, a Bible scholar

named Wes Huff and he talked about

the commandments, right, that we're

supposed to follow as Christians.

And he talked about, he thinks one

of the issues that we have a lot

of times is that we look at the

commandments as a list of rules.

And, and I'm not saying they're

not, but I think it's helpful.

And as he said that we

look at them as a promise.

Thou shall not kill, thou shall not covet.

Okay?

Yeah, those, they're saying

things that you won't do, that you

shouldn't do, but what if they're

saying things that you won't do?

If you follow God, you're not gonna want

things that are someone else's anymore.

It doesn't sound like a rule.

That sounds like a freedom.

That sounds like a great thing to have.

Jesus talks about murder being

equivalent to hating someone else.

So if the commandment is al that

murder, God's saying, if you

follow me, you can live a life

where you don't hate anybody else.

I don't know about you, but if you've

ever had someone that you hate, that

really is something that destroys

you from the inside, it consumes you.

I can think of times where I've had

someone who I just hate and it's

messed up my interactions with them, my

interactions with people who know them,

who are friends with them, and even

just how much time I've wasted getting

annoyed and bothered and fueled with

anger about that person, how good would

it have been to be relieved from that?

The commandments are a promise to

us of a life that God has for us.

It's not about being perfect

and following these rules.

It's about being free.

From a corrupt world that is trying to

break us and tear us down all the time.

Now

maybe you don't lean towards that

because maybe you know all of that.

I think, and more recently, and I, I think

because we've so much hated this Pharisee

concept that we've steered away from

that, that we sometimes overcorrect to a

different person that we don't want to be.

And that's a just wait and see.

Now that's not in the Bible,

but a just wait and see.

This is the kind of people who say,

look man, you don't need to change.

God loves you as you are.

There's no reason to change.

But that's not biblical either.

And and just to make more of a

point, yeah, I mean, you've probably

met people who have this attitude.

I. But, uh, there's, there's a

pretty popular song right now, uh,

a Christian song called The Truth.

And, and, and I'm not even trying

to be against this song, but I

think it represents what's happening

in the culture and the chorus.

So a line that gets repeated over and

over in this song called The Truth, has

a line that says, he looks at me and

wouldn't change a thing talking about God.

Um, he loves me the way I am.

Now, we can maybe give the person

credit and say like, look, this is talk.

Maybe this is talking about someone

who's talking about like, oh, I'm not

pretty enough, I'm not beautiful enough,

and no, God loves you the way he is.

Sure, of course.

Okay.

But saying, and I guess that this

scares me as someone who, as a

preacher, I try to put a lot of

weight into the words that I say.

I don't wanna say anything

that can be misconstrued.

And I think that worship.

Pastors or even just people who are

promoting themselves as Christians

and and making Christian music

that gets played for Christians are

thinking the same thing with their

lyrics, that these carry weight.

Because just having the line he looks

at me and wouldn't change a thing is

scary because that's not God at all.

God does want you to change.

That's what the New Testament

talks about all the time.

That's what the Old Testament talks about,

not just about these promises, but Paul

uses the word about us being transformed.

Right?

Metamor fail.

That's what that word means in the Greek.

We're being transformed.

We're being changed.

If following God means not

changing and just staying who

you are, then what's the point?

What's the point of staying stuck in sin

of, of not reaching for something more?

And look, I'm not saying that you're

perfect because you're a Christian,

but God wants you to change.

He has these promises for

you that he wants you.

To reach.

I mean, implying that there's

no rebirth in Christianity

is just dooming.

And I can look at my testimony and

I can talk about how I struggled

with things like depression and I

struggled with some addictions and God

helped me with those things, and he

didn't just magically take them away.

It definitely made a huge difference once

I started living a life where I said, God,

I don't wanna live my life for me anymore.

I wanna live it for you.

And what would that say to my testimony

if I was like, yeah, I became a Christian.

Yeah, I'm still

suicidal and I'm still

dealing with sexual addiction.

Well, why do I wanna follow your God

if he's not helping you out at all?

And I'm not saying you're not

gonna have trials as a Christian.

You can still have cancer, you can

still have bad things happen to you,

but God's gonna transform you and and

it's all gonna be about the things that

come in that happen eternally, right?

Jed?

You made a difference eternally

by baptizing someone, by

leading them to Christ.

And that's transformative.

What does it say when people look at

Christians and we have such bad attitudes,

we have negative views of the world,

whether we don't change

or we just are bad.

I thought for a little while of,

there's an old, there's a YouTube video.

I know Andy used it once.

Um, there's a YouTube video.

It's a satire, but it's a, it's

a pastor up there and he goes

up and he opens up his Bible.

He just goes, stop it, stop it.

You guys are doing bad things.

Stop it.

I wanted to use it, but

I decided not to just 'cause, um,

it almost seemed a little weighty.

I'm a screw up.

Okay.

I have done so many bad things in my life.

I am not perfect.

So it sometimes feels weird to come

up and be like, guys, you need to do

better, because I also need to do better.

I still need to do better.

I can be a better person, I

can be a better Christian.

I can follow God more fervently

than I do, and I'm always every

day working on transforming that.

In Galatians five 13 for you,

were called to freedom brethren.

Only do not turn your freedom into

an opportunity for the flesh, but

through love, serve one another.

You're an ambassador, and

as an ambassador, you've

been giving given a freedom.

What does it look like as a

representation as you representing

your faith to other people?

If you're not using

your freedom correctly,

again, you're not gonna be perfect, but

you're representing your faith

to people who are unbelievers,

but also people in this church.

And if you're still going out and getting

drunk, someone's gonna know whether

it's people in this church or the people

who see you at the bar, the people

you buy stuff from the liquor store.

How are you representing

your faith to other people?

If you're going around speaking, unw,

wholesomely, swearing at your job,

degrading other people, gossiping

about other people, what does that

say about your God that you serve?

What kind of ambassador are you?

'cause here's the thing, like I said,

I know people who are foreign exchange

students, and again, they weren't there

to be, well, we're wanna show Americans

what it's like to live in China.

But even though I know that, and I knew

that when I've met different foreign

exchange students, that's what I did.

And, and if they were someone who.

Was lazy and um, was lazy

and rude and judgmental.

If I'm being honest, that's kind of

how I thought that country maybe was.

Being an ambassador is about telling

people about God and being an example

for Christ of Christ, who Christ is now.

And I wanna tell you something

that's a little scary and a

little intimidating, right?

We need to represent Christ

for those who are not with him,

because we might be the only person

they've met who represents him.

I know it doesn't seem like in

America, there's people who don't

know Christ, but there are, and maybe

it's a coworker, maybe it's a student,

but there are people who do not know

what it means to be a Christian.

I mean, they've maybe heard of

Jesus, but I don't think they

know what he actually represents.

And maybe there are people who just look

at Christianity as a list of rules that we

have to live up to and be perfect under.

And they're totally missing out on a

freedom, a life of freedom that God

is calling us towards, a relationship

that God is calling us towards is him.

And so maybe that's intimidating to

you, but I want you to understand

that there are people out there

who do not know who Christ is, and

you might be the only person who

will ever represent that to them.

So what does that mean?

If on that one opportunity or that one

person, you're the only example, what

kind of example are you being for them?

And I tell you something that's

maybe even a little bit scarier.

Not only do you need to represent Christ

because there are people who you might

be the only person they represent,

but you actually might not be the

only Christian that they know.

And that's maybe why you

need to represent 'em more.

Because there are people who use.

Who claim Christianity but aren't

interested in following God or who

say they're following God, but they're

representing a false Christian narrative.

There's probably people out there who

represen representing Christ poorly, using

him as a flat platform, and that is giving

people a negative opinion of who we are

as Christians, which just calls us all.

The more that we need to step up

and follow God, follow Christ and

the freedoms that he's called us to,

because it's a wonderful life.

It's not without trials.

It's not perfect, but it's wonderful

and it's beautiful and it is joyful.

So if you feel like, I wanna know

how I can speak better to represent

Christ, I wanna know how I can

act better, I need this freedom.

Please come talk to me.

I'd love to have a conversation

with you about that.

Come find one of the other

pastors, our church, we'd love

to talk to you about that.

I just want you guys to live a life

where your testimony speaks for itself.

Your life speaks for

itself to other people.

They'll see what you got and

they want the same thing.

I've led people to Christ and honestly,

it's always been through that where

people really almost come to me asking

the questions because they're curious

about the life that I've lived.

Not because I had to go up to their

door, and sometimes it's been about

me having conversations with people.

'cause I actually had the

courage to ask them about this.

And it wasn't just me about

going up to them and saying, Hey,

you need to know about Jesus.

But it's more that I've asked

them, what's going on in your life?

How?

How bad is that thing

that's affecting you?

This thing that you

have going on right now?

What if you could take that away?

What if that could get better?

That is how we can best be

an ambassador for Christ.

And while we're talking

about being an ambassador,

if I can have Dan and Jen come up here

and help me with the announcements,

because we're gonna be talking

about things that you can be doing

that are going to help continue.

So everyone give 'em a round of applause.

Dan and Jen,

you can grab that mic over there.

I'll be up here to

assist you, Dan and Jen.

A hundred percent definitely

knew they were coming up here.

Did I close my bible early?

No, it's, yeah.

I didn't even see that.

You, I you just rattle yourself out.

I didn't know.

We feel attacked right now.

No, you're not attacked, I promise you.

Uh, this was, Andy told me to

grab you before he even knew

what I was preaching about.

So Throw Andy under the bus.

Yeah.

There, he's throwing under the bus

already today, so I figured you're good.

All right.

You wanna start?

Sure.

Um, thank you for going

to Gray's Baby shower.

Mm-hmm.

And then, um, I think there's one another

baby shower coming up for Brianna Darnell.

Mm-hmm.

On June 21st.

That's right.

Alright.

Ba bam today?

Yeah, go, go six to seven 30 tonight.

Mm-hmm.

And then college ages.

Small group not meeting tonight.

Yeah.

Okay.

But makes for a great cookout.

Last night, this Wednesday night,

it's the women's group because

it's the second Wednesday mm-hmm.

Of the month at 7:00 PM

2025 youth retreat.

Yeah.

There we go.

June 28th through July 2nd.

Yeah.

And maybe we might have some teens

sneaking out baptizing past 11 o'clock.

Is that gonna happen Josh?

Yeah.

Wear your floaties.

Yeah, there's, and there's, there's a QR

code if you need to register for that.

Okay.

Youth Summer cookout and games.

Saturday, June 14th.

That's this Saturday, five

to 8:00 PM at White Rock.

Invite a friend.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mighty Moms, I feel

like we should do this.

Mighty Moms, moms Night out.

Woo woo.

June 21st, 5:00 PM at Bowl 32.

Dinner and ice cream at Culver's.

Culver.

We love Culver's.

Uh, Knights of White Rock VBS.

July 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

We got QR codes for volunteering and for.

Attending.

Yep.

Perfect.

Yeah,

this, yeah.

Dan should do this one as well.

Do this one too.

All right.

Men's fishing retreat, pine

River, Minnesota, August 1st.

Uh, I think that's a C Marty thing.

That's a, definitely C Marty.

Probably Andy.

Marty's not here right

now, so There you go.

Educator Comedy Night, sign

up early for free tickets.

Mm-hmm.

Um, looks like if you don't

sign up early, it might be $25.

Yeah.

And I don't know if we've

hit that window or not, Ryan.

One more week.

One more week of one more.

Still free tickets.

So that's gonna be a cool thing of kind

of honoring, uh, educators who have

a huge influence on our world, right.

Helping a bunch of little children

in the, in the school system.

So that's a huge thing.

All right.

And if you're a guest, welcome

QR code and, or there are, uh,

physical cards in the back.

Yeah.

I know it seems weird to welcome people

who are guests at the end of the service,

but yeah, thank you for being here.

You made it through.

Yeah.

Jo, Josh, do you have an announcement?

Josh has an announcement real quick.

Hey Josh.

Hey.

And Finn just told me this morning,

youth group is invited to his house

for the Pacers game after church today.

So if you wanna go, have a good time.

Ba bam.

Oh, it's after Ba bam.

I thought it was, the game was earlier.

Okay.

After Ba bam, his house Have some fun.

Ba bam, though.

Only if you come to ba bam, though.

That's clever.

Nicely placed.

Yeah.

All right.

Thank you.

Give everyone, give Dan

Janet a round of applause.

Woo.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright, will you bow your

heads with me in prayer?

Uh, God, thank you so

much for this church.

Uh, a church that's happy to.

To serve, uh, and will come

up even if reluctantly when

called upon, uh, with no notice.

Um, but I ask that that will be

emblematic of us in our lives, that

sometimes you call us up, maybe all

the time you call us up regardless

of whether or not we're prepared.

And the good thing is, is that

you, as long as we're listening to

you, give us the words to speak.

So I just ask that you'll be with all

of us as we are going out into the

world, being ambassadors, representing

you to other people, that you will help

us in our words and our actions, so

that we can represent you correctly,

represent you the way you represent us.

Because you came to the cross, spotless

and pure, and even though we were

failures, you died to represent us.

You said that our sin doesn't

matter and we're forgiven.

And so just help us continue to choose

that forgiveness that you've given us

and help us live a life where we're

free from the bondage of this world,

from the corruption of this world.

Thank you so much for today,

and help us each day follow you.

Amen.

Love you, right.

Rock.

Thank you for being here today.

Thank you.