Father's Day Worship & Testimony: Divinity Trio Live at Mountain View - June 21, 2026

All,

right, you go. Where's that? What's that? Fox. Yeah, nobody's thinking that.

Oh, isn't it wonderful that we can all come together and lift up the name of

Jesus on a Sunday morning?

No matter who you are or where you're from, let's do that.

Good morning, church. Are you ready to have some church today?

All right, let's start with the word from Psalm 103, verse 13 through 18.

Psalms 103:13–18

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

For he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust.

The life of mortals is like grass. They flourish like a flower of the field.

The wind blows over it, and then it's gone.

And its place is remembered no more. But check this out in verse 17.

But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear

him and his righteousness with their children's children, who with those who

keep his covenant and remember and obey his precepts.

Hey, aren't you glad you remembered this morning?

You remember the Lord? Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the opportunity

to gather together to worship you.

And Lord, thank you for the Divinity Trio being here with us,

Lord. We are so looking forward to this today, worshiping you,

God, with a spotlight on you. And Father, we just thank you so much for the

opportunity to gather here, God.

Be with us today. Speak to our hearts, we pray.

May your Holy Spirit have free reign in our hearts, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, this morning, I just want to welcome you and to say Happy Father's Day

to all the fathers out there.

So Happy Father's Day, dads. And we've got a special token of our appreciation

following our worship gathering today. So as you exit, make sure you leave with

something, okay? And so we just want to make sure that you know all about that.

And I do need some special prayer.

My dad is coming to visit starting Tuesday, and I told him he's got to behave

himself, but maybe I need to tell my church to behave themselves.

Don't encourage my father too much, all right?

But I'm looking forward to that, and that's a special Father's Day present for

he and I, and so I'm looking forward to seeing my dad, but definitely be praying.

Hey, if you're our guest this morning, I want to welcome you specially and welcome

divinity as well. Can we give them a special welcome this morning?

If you're our guest this morning, we just want to introduce you to the Connect

Card, a way to communicate with us and to connect with us so we can communicate with you as well.

So these are in the pew in front of you. You like to take one of those,

fill it out, and you can put it in the offering plate as it goes around there.

And we just want to connect with you so we can help connect you more and more

to Jesus. And so that's there for you. Any prayer requests as well,

please place them on there.

So we'll make sure that we're praying for those too.

A few announcements that I have. Today is Father's Day, and so that means it

is the day that we collect the baby bottles for the Lifeline Pregnancy Care Center.

So if you have those today, you can leave them there at the welcome desk,

or there's the cart over here that has all the empty ones that were left there.

If you forgot it, don't worry. You can bring it back. We're not sending the

goon squad after you or anything to collect those, but we would like to have

those back soon so we get those to where that money can be used for the Crisis

Pregnancy Center there, Lifeline.

Next week, you want to invite some friends, some family, some enemies.

I don't care who you invite. Just bring them here for a Family Sunday fun day

that will be taking place.

And we're just going to have a good time.

Our cornhole tournament will be operational again and be underway.

And so we'll see if the defending champions will be able to hang on to their crown yet again.

But with all that, we need you as well. If you haven't had an opportunity to

sign up yet to help bring some things, I know that we're a little bit short

on hamburger buns and hot dog buns, but there's some other things that we could use.

So if you don't want to, you know, well, maybe you do if you're one of those

carb-free kind of people. You don't want a bun, but we want to make sure we

have enough of everything to go around. So if you can bring some of those,

sign up out there on the Information Center.

All the lines that are empty, you can sign up for on there.

Now, if you want to help with some pre-setup, next Saturday about 9 o'clock in the morning.

We're going to have Mary down here with some instructions, and I'm told she's

bringing some donuts as well, so if that entices you a little bit.

Come down, and we're just going to move some things and stage them,

get them ready to set up early next Sunday morning for the big event,

for all that's going on there.

And so enough about that. But if you have questions, talk to Mary or Joan.

They can tell you some more about that.

A couple more announcements, and we'll get on with our worship here.

Vacation Bible School is right around the corner. And so if you have some family,

some friends, maybe they go to another church, maybe they don't go to church

at all, and you want to invite them, they can register now.

Now, that little QR code that's on the screen, you can scan that.

It'd be in the Church Center app as well, and you can go there and get all the

information to sign up your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids to come

to Vacation Bible School coming up July 15th through the 17th.

And I did share our VBS theme with some of my pastoral colleagues,

and they were kind of wondering, well, Mike, what are you teaching your kids?

You know, how to pillage and plunder?

You know, what's going on with the pirate theme? I said, well,

once I know more, I will report back to you.

But it's going to be a good, good time with our creative children's ministry

team and all that's happening there.

One more announcements before we greet one another, and I'm going to invite Eldon to come on up.

Good morning, church. Whoa, that dude's loud. I have a letter here from the

district I need to read to you all.

To the Mountain View Congregation, your church board met with me on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.

To conduct the pastor board review as set forth in the Mountain View Manual,

or not Mountain View, it's the Nazarene Manual, paragraph 133.

Our time together included the board evaluating themselves on an evaluation

of the pastor and the basic self-study of the church's vision and mission. I forgot my readers.

Your pastor received an excellent evaluation and review by your board.

Wait till the end for applause, please. Your pastor received an excellent evaluation

and review by your board, and his pastoral relationship shall continue according

to the manual provisions.

The meeting concluded with a very special time of prayer, bonding,

and for the pastor and his future ministry with your church,

yours in Christ, Brent Deakins.

And I would like to say thank you, pastor, for standing on the Word of God and

leading this church in the way that God has led you. Now you can applause.

You're welcome. carry. So you're stuck with me for four more years. So no, it's good.

You're not stuck with me at all. But, you know, someone said,

Mike, you got it pretty easy, man. You didn't preach last week.

You're at men's retreat.

You ain't preaching this week. What's going to happen next week?

Well, I don't know if I'm going to get a chance to preach with the mission team

coming back. So we will see. But the good thing about the YouTube,

you can always go watch one of the old sermons you missed, maybe.

Hey, I love you, church. Thank you, the church board, for giving me this chance

to continue as your pastor.

I just want to invite you, would you stand and greet one another in the name of Jesus now.

Again, everybody, welcome to Mountain View Church.

Oh, aren't you thankful this morning for grace? Aren't you thankful that you're

a blood-bought believer today? I don't know.

Oh, aren't you thankful this morning that we can take every step in this life,

in faith, believing that God has already been in our tomorrows and we have absolutely

nothing to worry about. Ain't that a great feeling?

There is nothing that brings me more peace than knowing that the God I serve,

is in control. And I can lay my head on my pillow every night and I can go to

sleep. Do I still worry? Absolutely. I shouldn't, but I do. I'm human.

But I am so thankful that the God I serve has everything under control.

And I'm here this morning to lift up the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. Are you happy to be in God's house this morning? Amen.

All right. I said that yesterday and about three of them popped up and said,

amen. So that was a long night.

But no, we are just so thankful for the opportunity to be here with you all

today. Thank you guys so much for having us.

We have been touring out West for the last week and we got another week to go

before we head back to Indiana.

Anybody here from Indiana? Amen. All right.

Where? Somebody? honey. Okay. Well, hey, welcome sister or Hoosier.

I should say Hoosier, right? Yeah, there we go.

A couple of churches we went to this week, I'm telling you right now,

they didn't know what a Hoosier was.

And they were just looking at us like we all had three ears or three fingers

or three eyes or whatever.

And my brain is working faster than my mouth this morning or my mouth's working

faster than my brain. I don't know. It's been a long week, but we're just excited

to be here with you guys. Thank you all so much for allowing Divinity to come.

And we are celebrating seven years together as a ministry, and it's just been

an incredible seven years that God has allowed us to do this and to travel all

over this country and just share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ through song.

We're here this morning in a church setting, and I will say one thing about

being out west. This is the first time I've had a suit coat on the entire time we've been out here.

And so I love the fact that most of the churches we sang in that,

well, I didn't even have to wear a suit coat.

And brother, I should have asked you before I put this thing on,

I'm ready to take it off as fast as I can.

But we're here this morning in a comfortable setting.

But the ministry of divinity, God has taken us into so many places outside of traditional church.

And we've been over the last several months, been able to get into prisons,

drug rehabilitation centers, halfway houses, recovery centers,

and just share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ with a world that is desperate and broken.

And we absolutely love the fact that God is opening those doors of opportunity for us.

But seven years together, we've had this exact same group for seven years tony

and i we started this group together we we own it 50 50.

And then this fellow over here come on up here i'm gonna introduce him real

quick and this for those of you who don't know this guy right here he's my daddy

and uh yeah yeah give him a hand that's all i.

The only way I could get by was not being in my own church on Father's Day is

if I took my father with me. And so here he is.

But my wife and my girls, they're not liking it too much that I'm not home.

But we got Dad with us here today, and he's been with us from day one.

And so he—isn't he good-looking? Isn't he a good-looking fella?

Yeah, I heard that. Yeah, he is.

So I wasn't going to tell this story. I know, Pastor, forgive me.

I'm going to take just a little bit more time, but I got to tell this story.

Do you all know who Chuck Norris is?

Walker, Texas Ranger. Anybody watch that show? Hey, man, we watch it religiously

in our house. My girls love that show.

And it might be the goofiest TV show ever made. I don't know, but we watch it anyway.

Well, about six years ago, we did a, we just started singing.

We're really kind of just getting into the groove.

And we did a radio single.

And the day that that radio single came out, we also released a music video.

Now, we'd never done anything like that before in our life. We had no idea what we were doing.

But the day that it came out, I got a phone call from a friend of mine down in Tennessee.

And he said, hey, buddy, he said, I just saw your music video.

And he said, we absolutely loved it.

But has anybody ever told your dad that he kind of looks like a bald Chuck Norris?

I said, I have never seen it. It was the first time I ever crossed my mind.

Well, it wasn't two hours later. I got a phone call from another friend of mine

over in Ohio. Then he said, man, I just saw your music video.

He said, we absolutely loved it.

But the whole time I was watching it, I just kept thinking, your dad looks like a bald Chuck Norris.

I said, man, you're not going to believe this, but you're the second person

just today to tell me that.

Well, the next morning I was driving and I got a text message from another friend of mine.

And believe it or not, I do have three friends, Tony. And he said,

dude, I just saw your music video. He said, we absolutely loved it.

But if your daddy isn't Walker, Texas Ranger with no hair, I don't know who is.

I want you to make you welcome. He's from Newcastle, Indiana,

singing the baritone this morning. Mr. Johnny Dodd. I'll make you welcome today.

I have the best ball hit in gospel music, and I have one of the best hits of

hair in gospel music. And I'm just kind of stuck somewhere in the middle.

But mine's going away about as fast as I can talk.

But this guy, like I said, we started this together seven years ago.

We had no idea. the opportunities that God was going to allow us to experience when we started this.

And I wouldn't do it with anybody else. I pick on these guys.

We stand up here. We have a good time. By the way, you can have a good time serving Jesus. Amen.

I get sick and tired of seeing so many Christian people walking around with

their chin, dragging the sole of their shoe. We have a reason to smile.

We have a reason to be happy.

Life isn't always perfect, but we know the one that is. Amen.

And I get the opportunity to stand up here week after week after week,

and I watch these men in action. I know how much they love God.

I know how much they love people.

And I'm incredibly blessed that I have the opportunity to minister with them on a weekly basis.

But Tony comes to you from Greenfield, Indiana. He has a wife and six beautiful children at home.

Don't give him any ideas now. Come on.

We used to take for, you know, when we would do our product pitch,

we'd tell everybody we'd take cash, checks, credit cards, home-baked goods, chickens that lay eggs.

But now we tell them we need diapers, formula, baby wipes, anything we can to

keep his wife happy. Amen.

He comes to you from Greenfield, Indiana. He sings the tenor.

Make him welcome this morning, Mr. Tony Brown.

He's nice to me this morning. I'll let it slide. No, Pastor,

thank you for letting us move that pulpit. I know yours isn't a big pulpit,

right? But Jonathan stands in the middle, and if that pulpit stays here.

Okay. You can't see him. So I appreciate you letting us move that.

Get up here. Let's get this over with. No, in a ministry of any kind and any

size, there are always moving parts, and things are going to happen.

Things are going to break down. We've had speakers go out. We've put two motors in our truck.

Things have happened. They always will, right? But Jonathan's always been there.

And if you've seen us online or have heard us before, you've heard me say this.

We cannot do what we do without Jonathan. He's always there to make sure that

we are ready to go every weekend.

In fact, everything you see out there at the product table when it comes to

the witness wear and the albums, the hats, all of it.

He does all the design work for that, works with all the vendors,

makes sure it's all out there for you to look at. He does all the website and Facebook updates.

By the way, if you don't follow us on social media, give us a like and a follow. It does a ton for us.

So we're on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok for the kids. We're even there.

But he does all the updates for that. He drives the truck. You've experienced

him as our lead singer and emcee, but there's just so much that happens behind the scenes.

And he's the guy that has always stepped up just to get it done.

He also has a beautiful family back home.

His wife, Oriana, his two daughters, Shanti and Eva, we appreciate them so much

for letting us borrow him just about every weekend so he can fulfill his calling

and sharing the love of Christ and the gospel through songs.

So, folks, if you are happy to see Jonathan Dodrell from Newcastle,

Indiana, let him know it.

I don't know. After all that, I might need to take this moment to formally announce

my bid to run for president or something. That was awful nice, bro.

Aren't you glad this morning that God is not done writing your story?

I'm so thankful today that He holds the pen to our life, and we can...

I just want to invite you. We're going to have a special song here in a minute.

During this song, it's the time that we set aside for us to gather as a family at an altar of prayer.

Whether that's literally down here, you're welcome to do that or right where

you're at. We just want to spend a few moments together, and we do believe that

prayer is the key to the power of the Holy Spirit of God moving.

And so I just want to invite you at this time.

Would you come and prepare your hearts to pray, and let's just gather at the altar this morning.

If you're looking for something to pray for, besides my dad coming to visit,

I think we need to be praying for our missions team.

I've heard some great stories, but very little. So next week we'll hear more about that.

But would you pray for them as they return from Honduras?

And I know there's other people that you're praying for. So would you stand

with me at this time? And if God moves you, would you come to the altar and

let's gather this morning?

We're here. Go, we'll attack you.

I want you to join together in prayer, and if the Lord moves on you,

would you come to the altar this morning?

Father, we just worship you as God.

Lord, we're thankful so much for this opportunity we have to worship you today, God.

Lord, we're just not giving you this time. That's not ours to give,

God, but we are dedicating these moments to you, Lord, to gather together with your people.

Father, to come together in such a way to honor you, to worship you.

Lord, to worship you through the song like we've been doing,

God, straight from our hearts.

Lord, to worship through the prayers that we're offering up to you now,

Lord, the fellowship that we've had and will have.

And Lord, we just ask that you'd meet us right where we're at,

wherever we've come from today, Lord, right in this moment.

And Lord, as we gather together, we can't help but continue to praise you.

Lord, to thank you for the weather that we have outside. Lord,

thank you for the opportunity we've had to come here this morning by first having

breath in our lungs and waking up and getting out of bed. And so,

Lord, we thank you for that. We thank you for this day of life is what I'm saying.

And so, Lord, may we make the most of it. And Father, we've started with you

today as we should start every day.

And God, as we gather together this morning, we can't help but think of the

many that we're praying for that's on our prayer list.

Lord, would you meet each and every one at the point of their need?

Lord, we know that you can answer the prayer requests that they have,

their needs, their deepest needs.

And Lord, would you do that this morning? God, we pray for our sister church

in Boise, the Five Mile Church. God, we pray for Pastor Steve Fairbanks today in Tamra.

Lord, would you be with that church as they reach different cultures right there in Boise?

And And, Father, we just ask in the mighty name of Jesus that many would come

to know you through Jesus as their Savior. God, would you continue to bless

the Five Mile Church. Be with them, Lord.

And, Father, we pray for our missionaries of the week in Guatemala,

the Monterrosos, Lord Sergio and Kimberly. God, bless them as they minister there.

And, Father, of course, for Cocoa Gracias in Honduras. We pray for the mission

team as they wrap things up today.

And, Lord, would you give this safe passage back to Idaho here?

Lord, bless them. Be with them. We can't wait to share in all that they've done

together for your glory.

And Lord, we would just ask this morning, through the remainder of the time

that we have, that God, we would continue to focus on you as we've been doing.

But Lord, we ask that we'd be receptive to what your Spirit is saying to us.

Lord, as you speak those small words, a small, still voice, Lord,

may we recognize that and respond to that in kind.

God, we love you and we glorify you. We thank you for the opportunity.

Be with these that are at the altar this morning, God.

Again, I pray that you would meet them at the point of their need.

Lord, give them the answers to the requests that they are pleading and crying out to You on.

Lord, more than that, draw them near to You, I pray. It's in Jesus' name that

I ask this today. Amen. Amen.

Well, a part of having guests over is you want to be hospitable,

and that means if they're comfortable, you want to be comfortable.

And if they're suffering from having to wear a jacket, then I think I should

suffer as well. So I'm joining with you and your suffering brothers.

I did have this and ready to wear it, and I just forgot about it because I don't wear one very often.

Hey, this is an exciting day, not only because divinity is here,

but because we get to worship together, and we've been worshiping God together.

And we're going to continue to do that. And one of the ways we're going to do

that is taking our regular offering.

We're going to give of our tithe to the Lord. We're going to receive that on

His behalf and of special offerings and a love offering today.

And so what I'll encourage you is, normally we would write the check to the

church, but we're not going to do that today. If you have a check that you would

like to write to Divinity as a love offering, then I'm just going to have you

do that directly to them.

Just write divinity on the check and however the Lord is leading you to give to them.

And we're going to give that in the regular offering rather than having a second one at the end.

So clear as mud for everyone. All right.

We're going to give of our regular tithing offering, but also of the special

love offering because they've come a long way, folks. They've come a very long

way, and we want to make sure that we're taking care of them and getting them

safely back home to Indiana as well.

Although I think you'd like it out here on the West Coast for certain,

but Indiana is nice too, so my daughter says.

And those of you, Jim and Candy, that are from Indiana.

So what I'd ask, I'll just ask the ushers to come forward now as we take a moment

and prepare our hearts to give as the Lord has asked us to give.

God, thank you for today. It is a beautiful day. And Lord, it's been awesome

being together to worship you.

And Lord, we thank you so much for the opportunity that you've given us now

to participate in the many ministries of this congregation, in the ministry

of divinity, and Lord, in the ministry of various other groups that we support.

Lord, we'd ask that you would take our gifts. May they be a blessing.

Father, may they go and may others come to know who Jesus Christ is,

and come to know Him as Savior as a result of our giving.

And so, Lord, this morning, we give freely, we give joyfully,

and God, we pray that our gifts are abundant.

And so, Lord, would you take these and bless this offering in Jesus' name? Amen.

While they're doing that, with that same song that I was telling you about just

a little bit ago, the Paul Chuck Norris song, can we do that song for you this

morning? It gets up and moves a.

Yeah. Oh, it is way too high to be doing that on a Sunday morning. Amen.

Oh, goodness. Now, y'all are up here in Idaho, and we're from Indiana.

I don't know what the weather's like here in the wintertime.

Y'all get snow out here? Do you get a lot of snow?

Okay. All right. Well, I can tell you right now, in February in Indiana,

there is nothing but snow and ice all over everything, and there is nothing

more in this world that I hate than being cold.

I absolutely despise being cold.

And so every year in February, we have the very distinct privilege of heading

down to Port Canaveral, Florida.

And for five beautiful, glorious, wonderfully warm days, we hop on a cruise

ship and we go do some singing at sea. Anybody ever been on a cruise?

Okay. All right. All right. Well, you know, if you've been on a cruise,

there's just nothing quite like it, right?

We were talking about it on the way out here. See, in Indiana,

we just have a bunch of rolling hills. There's really not any mountains or anything like that.

And so we were talking about the difference, right? You can't really compare

the beach and the Caribbean and all that to what you see like out here in Montana and Idaho.

They're just two completely different things and you kind of learn to appreciate

them for what they are, right?

But we love in February, we spend almost the entire month of February in Florida

in February, but this cruise is one of the funnest events that we get to do every year.

And so you'll hear people say stuff like this, when that cruise ship pulls up

to the pier and people walk off onto the dock, you'll hear them say stuff like

this, oh, this is paradise.

You heard him say that before? Or you'll see him say something like this, oh, this is paradise.

I would die to live here. I can't tell you how many times I heard people say

that. And I mean, they're not wrong, right? It's beautiful and I love it.

But a lot of people like to go and just walk the beaches and stuff.

Now, personally, when we get off on that boat, the people that are the native

islanders, they're all set up right there outside the boat.

And they will sing and play their music the whole time that you're on the island.

And a lot of people, my wife included, they'll go shop and spend money.

But I'll stand right there.

I'll sit close by so I can hear that music. because I love music of all kinds.

It doesn't matter. We sing gospel music, but I love all different kinds of music.

And so I said, fellas, we need a song that sounds like that.

They got them bongo drums and I don't even know what they call all their instruments

down there. But I said, we need a song that sounds like that.

And so I think we found one a few years ago. I said, man, just in November and

December and January when it's nasty and it's cold around here,

I said, I need something that's going to get my mind off of all that,

that ice and snow and remind me what it's like to be in the Caribbean.

And so we found a song. But for those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Lord

and Savior, you know, people might be dying to get to the Bahamas.

Well, I'm dying to get to heaven. Amen.

One of these days, we're going to the ultimate paradise. Listen to the.

Amen. I really love the words to that song. And we've done several newer songs

for you today. Do y'all still like old songs?

I love old songs. I grew up singing out of the old Redback hymnal,

and there's just nothing quite like some of the old hymns. They still speak to you.

And we're doing a lot of newer songs because we're on our Forever Bright tour.

We just released a brand new album. And so a lot of the stuff that you hear today is on a new album.

But I'll never forget the first time I heard the words to that song that we just sang.

If you've ever recorded music, you know that it's not uncommon in the first,

couple of days for writers from all over the country to send you songs.

And you can get anywhere from 100 to 150 songs that are sent to you in just a day or two.

And a lot of times you'll sit there and you'll find yourself hitting skip on

your radio. A lot of stuff just kind of starts to sound the same.

But I'll never forget the first time I heard the words to that song.

It's not very often that words to a newer song will jump up and grab me quite like those did.

See, it said, I want to be the Savior's hands and feet, and I want a faith that's

bigger than just one day.

I grew up in church most of my

life. Let me tell you, I figured out real quick just how to play church.

I knew when to say amen. I knew when to raise my hand. I knew how to play the part.

But like so many of us who grew up in church week after week i would walk through

those doors and i would sit in my pew my warmed up pew,

and i would listen as my pastor would preach a sermon and i would raise my hand

and i would say amen and then when everything was done i would walk out the

doors of that church and i wouldn't think another thing about it until next sunday.

And as I began to get older,

I turned my back on God. I turned my back on truth.

And I ran as hard and as fast as I could to get away from everything that I'd

been taught, everything that I knew.

And, Pastor, I ran so hard and so fast that I got to the point where I didn't

believe that there was a God.

And for years, I lived my life just like that.

Until there came a point When I had run so hard and so long That I found myself at the very bottom,

We will go through trials We will go through hardships in our life But I can

promise you this When you've hit the bottom You'll know it,

Because in that moment When all of my family and my friends Had completely walked

away And everything I knew All the familiarity of my life had been absolutely destroyed.

I found myself sitting on a sidewalk with a .45 pressed against my forehead.

And if it weren't for the mercies of an almighty God, I wouldn't be here this morning.

But in that moment, it was just me and Jesus.

And I began to understand right then and there exactly who God really was.

See, it wasn't about all the do's and don'ts. My church denomination didn't meet me at the bottom.

All the rules and the regulations that I had followed most of my life didn't

meet me in that moment. But Jesus did.

And so I can't keep what God has done for me in a warmed up here I want to live a life that testifies,

and you might be here this morning maybe this kind of music isn't your cup of

tea that's okay you might not remember anything that we that we say or that

we sing but I hope that you will leave this morning and you will walk out of

those doors and you'll live a life that testifies,

I don't want to keep everything that God's done for me inside the four walls

of the church and I'll go a step further if God has really transformed your

life you won't be able to keep it inside the four walls of the church,

if God is doing things in your life you're not going to be able to help but tell somebody that,

you say brother you don't know me you don't know what I've done God's done with

me no I can promise you this as long as there's life in your body as there's

breath in your body God is not done with you.

We serve a merciful God, a God that redeems and forgives and restores.

I looked through the world, and I tried to find all of the things that I thought

were going to bring me happiness and replace,

everything that I thought that was just wrong and everything that I'd run away from.

Friends, there's nothing like Jesus. And maybe you come to church week after

week after week and you sit in these pews and it is so easy for the Christian

to get numb to some of the most simple truth in the word of God.

I want you to live a life that testifies. Maybe you're stuck in traffic on the

freeway. Live a life that testifies.

If the guy in front of you at McDonald's is taking 35 minutes to order a cup

of coffee, live a life that testifies,

don't keep your praise bottled up inside the four walls of this church let everyone

around you know that god is still alive is still well and still changing people's

lives today do you believe that this morning,

do you believe that god is still working in people's lives we travel all over

this country from coast to coast and i can promise you no matter what you on

the news no matter what you see god is still working,

in people's lives he is working through broken and desperate people,

and i'm so thankful this morning that i have the opportunity to stand right

there on the front lines and proclaim the message of the gospel of jesus christ

we're going to do a song for you now and i know that you're going to know it i want to.

Heavenly Father, Lord, we're so incredibly thankful and blessed this morning,

for the people of God that have the opportunity to come into your house in order

for just a few short hours to just come together as one accord and to lift up the name of Jesus.

There's nothing that can compare to you. Nothing in this world will ever be

able to take the place of what you have to offer.

God, I don't know who walked in those doors this morning with a heavy heart.

I don't know who came in carrying burdens, but Lord, you do.

And I pray this morning that in the midst of all of the chaos of life,

in the midst of all of the problems that they are experiencing,

God, I pray in Jesus' name that they would just begin to see the hand of an

almighty God at work in their life,

whether it be physical or mental or financial, whatever the issue might be.

We are so thankful that you are God over it all. and you're still writing our story.

So Lord, let us live a life for you that testifies every day to the goodness.

Of God. Let's sing this together.

Praise,

Lord. Amen. I hope that your heart has been filled this morning.

There's nothing like being in the presence of Jesus. Have you enjoyed these

fellows this morning? Would you give them another hand? Amen.

Real quickly, I'm going to let Tony come. He's going to tell you just a little

bit about who we are, a little bit about some of the things we have back there,

and then we'll come up and do another song for you, all right?

Well, thank you for making Divinity feel so welcome this morning. You know.

Whenever you sing somewhere new, you don't know what to expect,

but y'all have been so kind to us, and we got to meet many of you out there

in the foyer and the hallway, and you've been smiling at us,

even if some of you are missing your dentures like Johnny over here.

Just keep grinning, brother. No, I'm going to tell you just a little bit more about the group.

And, you know, when we started in August of 2019, does anyone remember what

happened right after that?

COVID hit, right? What a time to start a ministry.

You know, but without going into a ton of detail, 2020 ended up being,

I think, our most fulfilling year as a group.

Also, what it did was it allowed God to really allow us to focus on where our ministry needed to be.

You know, you won't see a 45-foot bus out in the parking lot.

That's just not where we believe the Lord wants our ministry.

You're not going to see us on any major record label.

Many of the churches that we go sing at, especially if you go into like the

hollers of Kentucky or West Virginia, I don't know how you'd even,

we almost don't get the Tahoe and trailer in some of those churches.

I don't know how you'd get a 45-foot bus in there. But the Lord just got a hold

of us, and we went to Him the same way. we started the group.

We said, you know, what direction do you want us to go? And maybe is this a

sign that we weren't supposed to start Divinity?

But as churches were closing down, as groups were calling it quits because all

of their dates were wiped off the books and nobody knew when things were going

to open back up, God was working with us.

And we were singing sometimes in churches just like this, but to a camera,

just nobody else in the room.

And we did a lot of those outdoor concerts with the cars in the parking lot. Did you guys do that too?

Yeah, instead of clapping, they honked their horn at you.

Some of those Warrens get wild, let me tell you. I'm a horn connoisseur now.

I know of all. And, but the, so that's where our ministry was,

right? And it was crazy out, but 2020, God opened up doors of admissions and recovery centers.

About two or three weeks ago, we got to sing a full weekend from Friday through

the end of Sunday, nothing but recovery centers and missions and what a time it is.

But, you know, this is the part of the program where I tell you how you can

support the group. And I will tell you first and foremost, if you have a prayer list, put us on it.

Any prayer list you got. If you attend another church or you have a prayer meeting,

put us on your prayer list.

We travel so many miles. Our family misses us. And they were calling us this

morning. And we got a, I think it was three hours difference.

I'll tell you, it was early.

But they miss us every week we go out. And I will tell you as well,

before we even stepped foot on a platform this weekend, we had already spent $1,200.

That's what it took to get to the very first date. So I will tell you this.

Let's do the Connect card. We've got a few different ways you can keep up with Divinity.

If you see that card on the table with our faces on it, flip it over.

It's got a QR code. It's going to take you to a few places. It's going to take

you to our website, a place where all of our music streams.

You can see our tour schedule, see what we're going to be, but it also has our

online store. A few ways you can support us is by everything out there at the table.

Don't leave me with anything. But if you don't see anything you like out there,

chances are we will have it in our online store.

Just grab one of those cards and you can go visit the online store.

There's many graphics of teas and hats and coffee mugs, clothes for the kids.

There's even a pillow with Johnny's face on it.

And he may have a head of hair. So even if you don't buy anything at the online

store, that's worth just going and looking at right now.

But the other way we are able to partner with missions is individuals and churches

alike have taken us on as sort of missionary partners.

So when these places can't pay us to get there and get things done,

our missions partners, they take over.

And we reach out to them Tell them about the date And the opportunity And they

step in So folks, no obligation at all But if you'd like to know more About

how you can partner with us If you're interested in that

Come see us back there at the table And I will tell you this as well Even if you don't buy anything,

Come out to the table And spend time with us I mean it,

Hey, we're brothers and sisters in the Lord, and you don't have a choice now.

We got to meet you. So come spend some time out there with us at the table.

As Jonathan mentioned, we take cash check, credit cards, all that.

No diapers, though. Okay.

Me and Michelle are done having kids. So praise the Lord on that.

Actually, he's got to be nice to me because JD, who is now one, he turned one in March.

We named him after Jonathan. So I call him JD, and I call my little boy Little JD. So there you go.

I think that's all I got. Oh, real quick, the cruise. Jonathan was talking about

the cruise, dying to live again.

We go on a cruise every year. If you follow us online, you saw all the pictures.

Folks, we're going again, February 8th through the 13th. Come and go with us.

Several other gospel groups, Christian comedians, all of that.

I know it's Father's Day. If you set pastor, if they get you a cruise for Father's

Day, make sure that they get you a round trip ticket. Okay.

A lot of pastors, I had to haul back that the churches didn't want them. Okay.

I don't have any more room in the trailer. So if you're interested in going

cruising with us, grab a flyer back there at the table. We'd love to have you.

I believe we only have about 30 cabins left.

And last year we sold out in August and I fully anticipate doing that.

Come and go with us. We have a great time.

Sounds good. Amen. That's it. Well, guys, thank you again for everything.

Can we do one more song for you? Would that be all right?

We're going to get you out of here before the food gets cold and our crumbles.

But you might even know this song. It's a little bit more familiar.

Thank you all.

Hey, did you have a good day of worship? Praise the Lord. Let's praise God again

for this group and for bringing them out to us here.

You know, it is Father's Day, and I would be remiss if I didn't at least share

one scripture to the dads. And it's a scripture I've relied on ever since I became a dad.

And it's one I hope dads, no matter what age you are, if the kids are still

at home or if they're on the way or they're long gone, I just want you to trust

the Lord in His Word and what He says.

And what I'm going to read is something that Jesus said to the Apostle Paul.

And if there's anyone that we can learn from, it's the Apostle Paul in Scripture.

And if there's anyone that you wouldn't

think needed help, it would be the Apostle Paul. But yeah, he did.

And I just want to share this with you. 2 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about this

thorn in the flesh, and he kept crying out to God, take it away from me.

And he talks about three times he cried, take it from me. But here's what Jesus

said to him. And dads, I want you to hear this today, because we put a lot of

pressure on ourselves. I mean, we already got a lot of pressure,

dads, don't we, from culture.

Every show you watch, the dad is always the buffoon, or the dad is always the idiot. it.

And we know that's not the case. And so we've got all this pressure against us.

And plus, we know what our obligation is to the Lord as Christian fathers,

as Christian grandfathers. And it just seems like this huge weight that we're

carrying. And I don't know if there's any of us that do it perfect.

My son's here this morning, both of them, and they could both tell you how I've messed up as a dad.

And they'll learn if they ever become fathers, when they become fathers, how hard it is.

But here's the word that gets me through, and I pray that it's the word that

gets you through, because here's what Jesus said to the Apostle Paul,

my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

God's grace is sufficient for you dads. You don't got to be at all.

You don't got to know it all.

But God's grace is sufficient for you. Are you going to mess up?

Maybe. If you do, guess what? God's grace is there for you.

You don't have to be the perfect dad. You don't have to be the buffoon that's displayed on TV either.

But nevertheless, God's grace is sufficient for you. Why?

Scripture says, Jesus said, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Want to use a different word for perfect, because people get hung up on that,

just think of the word complete.

God's power is complete when you're at your weakest.

Then God can step in. When you've done all you can do, guess what?

You stand there and let God take over, and God will. And so, guys, I see you.

Guys, I know the journey's hard, but man, is the journey ever worth it.

It's worth it. Hey, I love you today. Thank you so much for entertaining Divinity.

Take some time to get to know them out there, pray for them,

get on their mailing list. We'll put them on our prayer list in the bulletin.

And they go from here all the way over to Beaver Creek, Oregon.

And so that's where they're headed next.

They're going to be over there on Tuesday night, and then they'll come all the

way back up and go to Montana. So be praying for them.

Hey, thank you for gathering together today. I promise I've got some sermons saved up.

Man, I see I'm going to be two or three sermons behind, so how long you got

in a couple weeks to spend with me? No, I'll be respectful of your time,

but the Word will get preached.

Hey, would you stand with me as we say the benediction together,

the Lord's Prayer, and then we'll go out and celebrate Father's Fatherhood.

We'll celebrate Jesus today and all that He's done for us.

Let's pray together. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. God bless you, church. Have a great week. Thank you.