Why We Church (Habakkuk 2) | 09/07/25

All right, everyone, and welcome back.

Welcome back. If you're watching online this

morning, hello to you and grateful that you joined us.

And we invite you to come be with us in person at 115 E Main

Street, right in the old historic part of Gaylord.

And our services are at 9:00 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings.

You're invited. Would love to see you sometime

soon. All right, if you have your

Bibles or your device, please take and turn to the book of

Habakkuk, which is not an easy book to find.

I will prepare you. If you have a table of contents

in the front, maybe use it or go to the New Testament, which is

Matthew, and then kind of go a little bit a couple pages back

from there and you can find it. We're going to be in Habakkuk

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, and this may be a passage that you were familiar

with. And again, notes are available

on the back table. If you'd like notes to the

message, you can pick them up now or grab them on your way

out. All right, Habakkuk chapter 2

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

and I'm going to read to you from verse 2.

Habakkuk 2, verse 2. And the Lord answered me,

Habakkuk 2:2

meaning Habakkuk. And the Lord said, write the

vision and make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads

it for still the vision awaits it's appointed time.

It hastens to the end, and it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come and it will

not delay. This morning I want to talk to

you about why we church, which is an interesting title, why we

church and let me pray for us before we jump in.

God, thank you again for the stay and thank you for your word

and help us in these next few moments to even the more grow in

our appreciation and understanding about the vision

of our church and the mission and what is important to us.

So our hearts are open, our minds are open.

Jesus speak to us, we pray and ready us even the more God to

fulfill your callings and purposes for us as a church

family. We pray this in Jesus name and

everyone said Amen. Now each year there are certain

weeks where you know, it's kind of under, you know, it's

understood. I on Christmas Eve, I will

preach and teach about the birth of Jesus, right?

It's it's, it's, it's scheduled right on Easter Sunday.

I'm going to talk about the resurrection of Jesus on Good

Friday, about the death of Jesus, not in quite the same

way, but similar. Each year around this weekend, I

usually try to do a message that articulates the vision of our

church. And I want you hopefully at the

end, I'll prepare you. I want you to be able to do like

an elevator version of what I'm going to give it to you.

Now, what is an elevator version?

Well, let's say, let's say if you're, if you get in an

elevator and you have like 4045 seconds to explain, if you were

to tell somebody, oh, North Life Church, what, what's, Oh, let me

tell you about my church. What I'm going to tell you now,

you can tell it in about 45 seconds.

I'm going to take much longer this morning, but you could tell

it in that brief of time. And I want you to be able to

know it and carry it and be able to tell others and you yourself

resonate with, OK, This is the mission and the purpose and the

reason for our church. And according to Habakkuk, who

is a minor prophet, in the end of the Old Testament, God spoke

to him and he said, write the vision and then put it on

tablets where people can see it and that are running.

And in this way, it doesn't mean like, oh, I have the vision and

run with it. It's more like make it so clear

that just in passing, you'll be able to see the vision.

It's so clear. It's so just easy to get.

OK? So in our lobby you'll find when

you go out to your right, some of you are familiar with these,

there are three canvases like poster of sorts and they say

what I'm going to teach you this morning.

They have these 3 mission statements that we value.

And so I want you to be able to memorize it.

And while you're passing through the lobby, it just glanced at it

week by week. And so this morning, it's been a

while since I've, I've visited these ideas with you.

So you might not know them for one or may you may have

forgotten them. So this morning when the worship

team was practicing, I asked them, OK, how many of you can

say what is on the wall back there?

And a couple of them were were mostly able to say it, but I

want you to be able to clearly say it and tell others about it.

OK, so this morning's about vision is why we church and I'm

turning church into a verb, right?

Usually a church is a person, place or thing.

But this morning I want to I want to act like, Hey, when we

get together, we church. And it's kind of a Southern

saying, having grown up in Texas, you know, sometimes

people go to church and other times people have church, right?

We want to have church when we get together, we want to turn

church into a verb and it's action and it's us being the

church. OK, so then what is the vision?

What is what is the purpose of North life?

Our three statements that we have in the lobby, you can find,

and I want you to memorize are these three statements.

It's let's encounter, let's equip, and let's go.

Let's encounter, let's equip and let's go.

And I want to unpack for you what that means in detail, but

those are the three things that I'm encouraging you to memorize.

OK? Now, when I became the lead

pastor 3 and some years ago, we had this idea that we find in

Exodus chapter 33. And it's a story of Moses and

Exodus 33 · chapter mention

the children of Israel. And it's the time for them to

move on into a new season, into a new chapter.

And God and Moses have a discussion.

They have a conversation and I, I feel like I've had this

conversation with God. And if you can also adopt what

Moses says to the Lord in verse 13 of Exodus 33, it says now,

therefore this is Moses speaking.

He says, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me

now your ways that I may know you in order to find favor in

your sight. Consider too that this nation is

your people. And he said, meaning God said,

my presence will go with you and I will give you rest.

And he said to him, if your presence will not go with me, do

not bring us up from here. This is Moses saying, God, I

need your presence. God, if your presence doesn't

go, then I don't want to go forward.

And and God says I will be with you.

And then just to be sure says God, because if you don't, then

I said, I don't want to move forward.

I don't want to go into the next season and verse 16.

For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight?

This is still Moses and I and your people, is it not in your

going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people from

every other people on the face of the earth?

And the Lord said to Moses, this very thing that you have spoken

I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know

you by name. And then Moses said, please show

me your glory. So this conversation, this is

this is our posture as a church. It's like God, we want you to

speak clearly to us about what is our purpose and what is our

mission. And we do believe as church

leaders that this idea of let's encounter, let's equip, let's

go. We feel like this is what God

has prompting on our heart as we're moving forward.

And we're like, God, this is you speaking to us.

It's your presence prompting us in this way.

And so then we cry out like Moses, we say, God, show us your

glory. Show us your glory and let your

presence be with us. OK, so that's from that posture

that we gather these ideas of let's encounter, let's equip and

let's go. I'm going to say it several

times in this message because I want you to be able to repeat it

when you go home. OK, so the first thing, what do

we value? What is our mission?

What do we want to see every time we're together as a church?

Well, we want to encounter. In other words, we want to meet

with God. And in your notes, spell check

kicked in and it says unelected. Well, that's there's theological

ideas that I won't go into, but it wasn't supposed to say

unelected. It was supposed to say

unexpected. And so when we think about

encountering or meeting with God, sometimes the meetings or

the moments that we have with God are unexpected and their

surprises. I believe that when we come to

church together that we can have unexpected beautiful moments

with the presence and Spirit of God.

And when we come with that expectation, it changes the way

that we do church coming believing that we are going to

meet with God. And so in that way, coming to

church is completely different than like going to see a movie,

right? You can go to see a movie and

maybe in the lobby see people that you know and recognize.

You can get some snacks and go in and do the show and then walk

out, maybe see someone you recognize and go to your car.

See, that's not church, is not meant to be that way.

And some people don't understand that.

So they come to church with that mentality.

It's like, OK, I'm going to go have a snack or two, see some

people watch a show and go home. No, when we gather together on

Sundays and Wednesdays, anytime that we're together as a church

family, our expectation is that we are going to together, meet

with God and encounter him. Jacob has an experience like

this in the book of Genesis and you remember Jacob was the

grandson of Abraham. So Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac

begat Jacob and Esau twins and watched in this.

The context of this Genesis 2816 through 17 is when Jacob has a

dream and he sees a stairway into heaven.

You maybe thought Led Zeppelin came up with that idea.

No, it wasn't Led Zeppelin. They got it from the Bible

interestingly enough. OK, so so Jacob sees this

stairway into heavens with with angelic beings coming back and

forth and this is what he says when he woke up verse 16.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in

this place and I did not know it and he was afraid and said, how

awesome is this place. This is none other than the

House of God and this is the gate of heaven.

And he renames this place where he had his, his dream, this

vision, he renamed it Bethel or Bethel, which means like God is

here. And I like the way that he says

surely the Lord is in this place.

If you look closely at our poster out in the lobby, this is

let's encounter there is a verse, not this one, it's

another verse, but it says surely the presence of the Lord

is here. But we misspelled it when we

ordered it. And so it's supposed to say

Shirley and it came out surly. OK.

So you know what surly means? Surly is like bitter, mad,

angry. So when you read that, just know

that we don't really think that, but it was, you know, it was

costly to replace it. So it's still surly, OK, But we

mean Shirley, OK. We mean Shirley, not surly.

OK, so so the presence of the Lord, we're come expecting it to

be with us. When we come together, we're

going to meet and counter God. And that's the expectation and

the principle of expectation is so important in the way that we

have a relationship with God and the way we do church because I

love this. Ephesians 320 through 21 says

now to him who was able to do far more abundantly than all

that we may ask or think according to the power at work

within us to him be glory where in the church, any Christ Jesus

throughout all generations forever and ever, Amen.

When we come to church and when we have the right expectations,

God can exceed our expectations and that's what faith is.

We come and it's like he's able to do exceedingly abundantly way

above all that you could ever ask or think or imagine.

One translation says so when we come to church, my encouragement

to you is come in the car while you're driving with your family.

Maybe your prayers. God, I'm expecting today to

encounter you and I'm going to encounter you.

I'm going to meet with you. Maybe it's even in a surprising

way. God, you're going to show up.

And that is my expectation. And God, I believe you're able

to exceed what I expect. So I put my faith and I put my

expectation out. And when I do, Jesus is

glorified in the church. God's able to do more in every

area of our lives. And leaning into that truth, it

makes a big difference in our relationship with God.

So we want to be a church that gathers to seek God.

And the expectation is that when we seek him, we will find him.

Jeremiah 2913, God says this to Jeremiah, You will seek me and

find me when you seek me with all your heart.

So we show up at church, the expectation is God, we're going

to meet with you. We're going to encounter you and

God. We are going to do this with all

of our heart. Several months ago, I did a

series on Kononia. You can go back and see these

messages online at our church podcast.

But I taught three weeks on this idea of Kononia is a Greek word

and it translates fellowship. And so we as a church, we have

fellowship with one another, but but fellowship isn't quite, it

kind of misses. It's kind of lost in

translation. The Kononia is this unique

experience that we as the church have when we're together, but we

also have fellowship with God and fellowship with the Holy

Spirit. That is the expectation.

So when we come together, we're going to fellowship, meet, be

with God, and that's what we're looking for, meeting together

and gathering. It's important as a church.

Hebrews 10/24 through 25 says, and let us consider how to stir

up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet

together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one

another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

So what is our first mission was the first thing that we are

we're all about. We're about encountering the

presence and the Spirit of God when we're together #2 what else

are we about as a church? When we're church, when we're

being the church, what are we about?

Well, I want you to know that we're about equipping and this

is a big part of the church. Ephesians 4 says, and he gave

meaning. God gave the apostles, the

prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip

the Saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the

body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith

and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to

the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Paul is saying on this occasion that God has given leaders in

the church. But the leader's role is not

just to do the ministry. The leader's role as your

pastor, my role is to equip you to do the ministry.

And So what I get excited about is when someone has a sense of

calling or purpose and we connect and we talk about it and

and then they go thrive in a certain ministry.

And it could be with your family, It could be being a

parent, it could be your job. It could be the way that you

love your neighbors. Or maybe it's a really unique

idea. And I love, I love this saying,

I'll say, I'll let the Lord use you.

And it's kind of said in the Southern accent when I say it to

people, they're like, man, I think our church should do this

great idea of something. And I'll say that's a great

idea. Let the Lord use you.

If God has put it on your heart, then my job is to equip and stir

and and ready you to go and do that ministry.

So I want you to know when you come to church, the expectation

is you're going to be equipped and we're going to challenge you

and equip you. And when I think about

equipping, I think about gear, right?

I'm a gear guy. How many of you are gear guys

are gear girls, right? So some of like for you, it

might be tools, it might be guns, bows.

For me, it's guitars. I like books, even books are

kind of like gear to me. So what happens is that, and I

have like my, our daughter was just with us and she was teasing

because I have, I have shoes like for everything.

I got a pair of shoes that I ride bike, that I ride a bike

in. I've got a pair of shoes that

are like my water shoes to go in the water with.

I've got like 2 pair of really nice slippers at home and for

different seasons. I have all these different like

shoes for certain events, right? Because I like they're, they're

geared to me, right. So what happens is a is a

church, we want to gear you up. You know, at home, I have a big

bin and I've got all my camping gear in it.

We're going to guys, we're going to go camping again in October.

We did this last year and had like, I don't know, 15 or 20

guys from the church go. And so I love this big bin.

And when I open this thing up and get ready to go out and be

in the, you know, way out in the middle of nowhere for a couple

days, I get really excited about it.

And I've got all this gear that I have in order to go do camping

as I like. So you as a follower of Jesus

need to be equipped to fulfill whatever God has called you to,

to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

But when I wanted to be clear that we're about equipping and

we're not about educating or entertaining, then let me unpack

that idea for you. Is, is if, if teaching and

preaching and studying God's word is only for knowledge sake,

then what happens is we get puffed up and prideful.

And you probably know Christians that are puffed up and prideful.

They know a lot about the Bible, know a lot about the word of

God. And yet if they don't love and

they're not serving and they're not fulfilling the calling and

purpose for their life, then they just get mean and

judgmental. And you know, Christians like

this. And Paul addresses this in First

1 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 8. In First Corinthians 8, he's

having a discussion about, oddly enough, eating meat that had

been offered to idols, which is a very foreign, strange idea to

us. But in Corinth, in the ancient

world, they had a lot of Pagan gods and statues and, and weird,

weird Pagan worship, right? So here's what's happening is

that these Christians are coming to Jesus and some of them are

still eating the meat that had been offered as sacrifices to

idols. And so watch what Paul says.

He's going to tell them it's not the best idea.

I'm paraphrasing, it's not the best idea, but he gives them

permission to still eat animals that have been offered up to us

false gods. OK, But watch what he says.

The most important thing now concerning food offered to

idols, he says we know that all of us possess knowledge.

This knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

He's saying, let's, let's say you get to the knowledge and say

probably the best thing to eat meat that's been offered to

idols. OK, not the best thing, but when

you get that knowledge, then if you're not careful, it could

puff you up like other knowledge.

And this goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, right?

What was the the the tree that they were not to eat of?

It was the tree from the knowledge of good and evil.

And as our knowledge grows about what is good and what is evil,

if we're if we're not careful, if we can miss it.

So we're not just about educating you, right?

Because a lot of Christians, they learn all that's wrong to

do and that's wrong to do and that's wrong to do.

Before you know it, they've lost heart and they've lost love.

Because I got puffed up in pride about all that they know.

So we want to equip you. And when you come to church

knowing that's OK, I'm going to go to church and they're going

to challenge us and they're going to equip us and they're

going to give us the gear and the goods that we need in order

to fulfill God's purposes and plans for life.

That's the point. And hopefully you sense that and

know it. Then thirdly, the third thing

that I would say that's on our poster outside is this.

Let's go. Every week when you come to

church, my hope and prayer for you is that you sense being

commissioned to go and fulfill your purpose and whatever that

might be in your job, with your family, in your neighborhood,

whatever, wherever you are, God has again, things for you to

accomplish for His glory and honor.

So every week I want you to feel a sense of being commissioned.

It's like we're going to go out in the world, we're going to

make a difference. We're going to fulfill God's

purpose for our lives, whatever that might be.

Jesus commissioned his disciples at the end of Matthew, Matthew

Matthew 28:16

28, verse 16. And maybe you know this passage.

Now the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to

which Jesus had directed them, and when they saw him, they

worshipped him, but some doubted.

Just a curious thing. Jesus is going to Commission

here and he's going to Commission his disciples that

were some worshipping but some doubted.

So he doesn't disqualify them when he senses their doubt.

No, what does he do? He commissions and sends them.

And Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on

earth has been given to me. Go, therefore go, go, therefore

go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

And this occasion again, we're being encouraged to baptize.

The day we're going to baptize, I don't know, 15 or more people

that are, they're putting on display what God has done inside

of them. They've been cleansed to the

blood of Christ. They've been resurrected in

Jesus washed clean. They were going to fulfill what

was Jesus's Commission. We're doing it to this day.

So this is this is how Jesus commissions his disciples.

He sends them and he sends them at the end of Matthew.

And I think it's so apropos that at the end of service, I hope

that you feel sent when I say the blessing at the end of our

service and I say you are salt and you are light.

Go now and be solved and light into the world.

I'm hoping that you have a sense of like, I'm commissioned, I'm

being sent to make a difference in the world for God's glory.

So we want to have a commissioning every time that we

gather together. Ephesians 2 says this, For by

grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not

your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a

result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good

works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk

in them, right? So in this occasion, Paul said

we're not saved through our works.

No one can boast about how great your works were, all that you

did, all that you've accomplished.

But we understand that God created us.

He we're his workmanship created for good works.

And when you know that and and we send you out with that

knowledge, it's like, OK, you walk out going OK, I am made by

God to go change the world, to change my family, to change

those that I come around. It's like I'm going to leave

with that. I'm going to leave church with

that commissioning every time I'm there.

My, my encouragement to you is expect a go.

Like Jesus says through the disciples, go.

Therefore go. You should come to church

expecting that you're going to get a go.

Go make a difference. You were commissioned each and

every week. Now in order to do these three

things, what are we going to emphasize?

Because now it's like, OK, those are great ideas, but what are we

going to focus on? Because if we focus on

everything, then we'll miss it. We can't give an explanation,

point to everything, right? Exclamation I noticed that the

young, young, younger people will use lots and lots of

explanations, but so old people, my mom, if you're watching, I've

teased her about this before, but she loves using caps and

lots and lots of like exclamation points, right?

I'm like, mom, that means you're yelling.

If you say that it means that you're yelling, you're screaming

it right? So you have to be careful if

you, if you give everything an exclamation, okay, even in the

church, if we say, oh, everything is important, we need

to do this, we do that. What do we know?

What are we going to focus on? What are we going to give

exclamation points to? Let me tell you, first of all,

we are going to focus on proclaiming God's Word.

We believe that God's Word is the authority for our lives.

We want to grow in it. We want to learn it, we want to

honor it, we want to receive it. And so we're going to focus in

this service. We're doing it.

They're doing it upstairs right now with the wildlife and the

5th and 6th grade, the younger wildlife and your kids right now

are teachers that are serving so wonderfully.

And the kids area, what are they doing?

They're teaching God's Word and when that when you know that's

the expectation you'll come to church hungry and ready to

receive it. We honor and look to God's word

and I will tell you that that's not true not to compare, but

it's not true of every church. There's some churches it's like

they treat the word of God as if it's just some good ideas and

some old fable stories of the likes myth.

But no, it's not. What does the Bible say about

itself. Hebrews 412 says, For the word

of God is living and active, sharper than any 2 edged sword,

piercing to the division of soul and the spirit of joints and of

Morrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the

heart. And then Paul writes to Timothy

in second Timothy 3 verse 16. He says all Scripture is

2 Timothy 3:16

breathed by out by God and profitable for teaching, for

reproof, for correction, and for training and righteousness, that

the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

How do we get equipped? We get equipped by focusing and

valuing and honoring the Bible, God's word #2 what are we going

to do if we're going to fulfill God's calling and purposes for

us? We're also going to focus and

put a lot of attention towards worship.

And This is why at our church, I'm so grateful for our

musicians and our worship team and those who serve up in the

booth doing sound and and other things to serve you and your

expression of worship on a Sunday morning.

And when you come. And I love this about our

church, this is so our culture. It's not a spectator type thing.

We don't call this a stage, we call this a platform.

It's just semantics. But the point is that you're not

coming just to watch on Sunday morning, but but we won't

encourage that. You come to participate and

engage and sing and, and, and, and encounter the presence of

God. Not just watch other people

encounter God, but no, you're encountering him also.

So we're going to promote the idea of worship and we do it.

Worship is not just music, of course, but it but it is in a

service in a Sunday morning. It's a big part of us worshiping

God. But of course with every aspect

of your life, you bring honor and worship to God.

So we're going to focus on it. John 423 says, but the hour is

coming and now is here. This is Jesus speaking to the

woman at the well. He said when the true

worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for

the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

God is seeking out true worshippers and we want to be

all about that. God is spirit for those who

worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

We're going to focus and give a lot of attention to us gathering

together as a family and giving God honor in worship.

And in doing so, we are going to encounter God's presence.

And then thirdly, what are we going to emphasize?

We're going to emphasize and give a lot of attention and

effort to children and youth. And we're going to do it at the

sacrificing of some other programs that some churches do.

OK. And I'm so proud of those who in

our church who are older than I am.

OK, I'm 55 and soon I'll be soon 56.

But many of you who are older than I am, I'm so grateful that

you're not selfish and you're not coming to me and complaining

like, oh, we need this program and this program and this

program. Instead, our church we really

get because we can't do everything.

We're a smaller church, but what can we do?

Well, we could put as much energy as we can towards our

children and our young adults, our young young people, our

students. And why?

Because we believe that we're raising up the next generation

to honor and love Jesus. And if we get distracted with a

whole bunch of other things, well, then it could be to the

detriment of of what we do with our children.

And again, for a church our size, I'm so grateful for those

who serve in our children's area, Grateful for Taylor, she

leads that department, man, for church our size, I'm, I'm really

grateful for what we do with our children.

And I encourage you to get involved and to serve.

If you're not, if you've not found a place you have to serve,

you can serve in the children's area.

It would be really great. There's lots of opportunity

there. So I encourage you to know that

we're going to emphasize our children and our youth.

And then finally, the last thing that we're going to emphasize is

we are going to emphasize serving and outreach.

When you come to church, again, it's not just entertainment or

education or just come and hear the nice homily or a nice story

or the likes. No, we are going to focus on

getting you plugged in somewhere either inside of the church or

outside where you're sensing purpose and meaning and calling

by serving. And last week I talked on on why

we serve. The whole message was on why we

serve. And I encourage you find a place

in the church or outside of it where you can do like Jesus who

washed the feet of the disciples.

He is the ultimate servant who modeled for us serving.

We're going to challenge and encourage you to do it.

Now I mentioned the start of the message that I would, I would

hope that you get to a place where you can give this message

in an elevator ride. 45 seconds. What is North Life church about?

Oh, you're, you've got a minute with somebody like, oh, I want

to tell you about our church. At our church, we really value

encountering the presence of God.

It's an expectation. So we get together, we're going

to meet with God in surprising ways.

And then our past is really about equipping us.

He's not just the one doing ministry, but our pastor wants

to equip us to do the work of the ministry and be God's

workmanship, finding out what God has for us to accomplish.

And then at our church, we, we, we sense a commissioning.

We sense that God is sending us out to make a difference in the

world. And that's every week.

And you can tell it just like that when you're telling people

about North life, you can summarize it and that way.

And that is my hope and dream for our church.

Let me pray for us, God. I'm so grateful for this time

together and thank you that you have given us a calling and

purpose as a church. And we thank you for the other

great churches in our city and other great works in Northern

Michigan that we get to partner with.

And at the same time, God, we have a unique calling and you

have unique plans and purposes for us.

So as we raise the flag and raise the value of encountering

and meeting with you regularly, God in there the expectations,

you're going to surprise us. God, we thank you that you will.

You will exceed our expectations.

So we look for you to do it and then God equip us and then send

us to honor and glorify and exalt you always.

We thank you for it. And Jesus name and everyone

together said, Amen, Let's all stand together.

Thank you again so much for coming.

I can't wait to see you at the picnic today.

Remember, 3:00 is our start time.

We're going to eat at 3:30 so you can get there, just kind of

get settled in. It's going to be a really great

time to meet people. If you're new to our church,

this is a you don't want to miss it.

This is a time to sit around tables and to eat together.

And I, I'll try to introduce you to as many people as possible,

right? So, so that, you know, I have

this discipline that I have where I love to introduce

people. I love introducing people.

So I might introduce you to somebody else and I'll give you

something to talk about. I'll say, oh, this is so and so

and this is so and so. And you have this common

interest, right? I, I try to do this.

So if at the picnic I see you, I might say, hey, let me introduce

you to so and so I'll give you something to talk about, then

I'm out, OK. And now it's up to you to

connect. All right.

So look for me to be working that today, OK?

I can't wait to introduce as many of these, many of you as

possible. All right, before you go, I do

want to say a blessing over you, if you will prepare your heart

to receive this blessing. And now may the Lord bless you

and keep you, and may He make His face to shine upon you.

And may the joy of the Lord that is unspeakable and full of glory

made a bound to you. And may the peace of God that

passes all understanding, may it surprise you in the midst of all

of the challenges that life brings.

And then may the mercies of the Lord, in other words, the

forgiveness of God, That's new every morning, maybe especially

new to you now in your mornings to come.

And now may the Lord Jesus Christ guard your heart and your

mind. You were salt and your light.

Go, go, go now and be salt and light unto the world.

You are blessed. We'll see you again soon.