Brand Ambassadors | John Challinor

We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We have two

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

weeks left. We have this week, and then we finish

Just Camping next week with Easter, and I'm so

excited to celebrate the tomb is empty. Like,

what better way to celebrate Just Camping, right?

And so within that, we've been in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5, and specifically now, we've read this

verse before, but it kind of frames up where

we're going today. Therefore, verse 17, is in

Christ. The new creation has come. Is anyone

in the room or online in Christ today? Then that

means, what this means is you are new today.

You're not waiting for it to come. You are new

today. It is here. So much so that then he says,

the old has gone, the new is here. All this is

from God. We talked about this last week. It's

all by grace. All this is from God. who reconciled

us to himself through Christ, who reconciled,

so all this is from God, who reconciled, he brought

relational harmony between us and God. How did

he do that? He removes the barrier of sin, the

thing that was between us, he removes it so that

you, as someone who is new, those of you that

cheered, those of you that were too shy to cheer

or missed the prompt, Right? Like you, you are

new. And what that means is you are in relational

harmony with God right here, right now. All this

is from God. Who reconciled us to himself through

Christ and gave us, and gave us the ministry

of reconciliation. God has given to us. Who is

the us? Those that are new. Those that have said

yes to Jesus. Those that have relational harmony

with God, that have had sin removed. Those who

are in relational harmony with God. He goes,

he has given you the ministry of reconciliation.

And you're like, what in the world is that? Well,

remember, reconciliation is. Harmony brought

between two groups. So your relational harmony

with God, he has given you the ministry to show

the world your relational harmony with God. What

does ministry mean? It's the idea of serving.

It's the idea of as you go through your life,

as you step into this life, it is a service to

everyone around you. And what you're now a broadcast

for in your actions is, hey, I'm someone, if

you wanna know what relational harmony with God

looks like, look to me, because this is what

it looks like, right? He goes, he gave us, it's

a gift. And I'm just curious, what are you doing

with the gift? Like, is it still unopened on

the shelf? You're like, I don't know if I want

that one. Right? As part of being new, he gave

you the gift to serve others in such a way that

they would see you and go, man, I understand

what it looks like to be in relational harmony

with God. Isn't that beautiful? That your life

could point somebody else to what it looks like

for what they were created for? He carries on

and he says, kind of doubles down on this idea

in verse 19, that God was reconciling the world.

To himself in Christ. So God, the initiator,

he is bringing relational harmony. What's the

point of it? To bring you back to himself, back

to where you always belong, back to what you

were created for. How did he do that? Through

Christ, not counting people's sins against them.

And he has committed, he has entrusted, he has

entrusted to us, those that have said yes to

Jesus, those that are new, he has entrusted to

us the message. of reconciliation. Okay, so you've

got the ministry, which is the service, serving,

and now you have the message, which are the words.

Maybe an easier way to say that is this, that

it is the story that your mouth tells, right?

That your life, your life, both in action of

service, But your words can lead somebody else

to understand the relational harmony that you

have with God. That you've been entrusted. God

is entrusted to you. That you would be the person

that tells the story of how to come into relational

harmony with God. It's so interesting. People

are like, well, I can't share my faith. That's

for those evangelists, right? We use a big word,

big church word when we're like, oh, that's for

them. We dump it on them. Those were given a

gift of evangelist. We quote the verse out of

the Bible so that I don't have to tell people.

And even worse, when somebody's got the gift

of giving, we're like, praise God you got that

one and I didn't. Or you got the prayer warrior,

you know what I mean? Like, oh, you're a prayer

warrior. I don't have to pray now because isn't

it interesting? God entrusted, he entrusted to

you that you would tell your story of how you

came into relational harmony with him. It's that

simple. How do you come into relational harmony?

And he connects. Look what he just did. He connected

the actions of your life with the words of your

life. And he goes, God has committed, he's entrusted,

and he's given as a gift the ability to do this.

And then he carries on, kind of puts more language

to it in verse 20. Therefore, we are therefore,

we are therefore, based on all of that, Christ's

ambassadors. As though God were making his appeal

through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf,

be reconciled to God. And what he's just done

when he says that we are therefore Christ's ambassadors,

he's taken us all the way back, all the way back

to the Garden of Eden, to the beginning of the

book. He takes us all the way back to the beginning

where it says that human beings were created

in the image of God. The first humans were created

in such a way that everything they did, spoken,

everything that they did with their actions,

they reflected the relational harmony that they

had with God, the relational harmony with one

another, and they were a reflection in everything

they did. So when they rolled up to Jamba Juice

in the garden, they're at the juice bar because

that's all there was, and they're adding their

protein. Can you imagine what that? Grass was

like put in there. Because your reflection, your

reflection, your image bearers, you're showing

everything around you what it looks like to be

in harmony with God, to have a relationship with

God. When you interact with one another, when

you go about your tasks. He goes, you're acting

as one that is in perfect union with God. What

is Paul getting at here? He's going, hey, what's

been restored for you and for me as followers

of Jesus is that we have been restored as brand

ambassadors for God. That you've been restored

into image bearing. That your life can now be

a display. This word ambassador. We are therefore,

we are therefore. It's a statement, right? So

it's declaring who you are. You are Christ's

ambassador. And often when we think of ambassadors,

I don't know about you, but I grew up traveling

a lot as a missionary kid. And it was often in

a foreign country. You needed the embassy and

you needed the ambassador for your country to

represent you. And whether that was getting a

passport, a visa, whatever it happened to be.

And so what's interesting with that is we often

take this. and it's not wrong, and we put it

into the foreign idea, right? Because we are

foreigners. You know, anywhere you go on this

planet, once you say yes to Jesus, you're a foreigner.

It's not home, which is why you're just camping,

right? But as an ambassador, here's where it

breaks down for me. An ambassador in a foreign

country normally lives in an embassy. They're

not with the people, and the people come to them.

What I see when we say that we are Christ's ambassadors,

As I see it more culturally, we have the language

of a brand ambassador, right? We understand that

somebody gets an endorsement, a company chooses,

and they choose to pick an individual, and then

that individual begins to represent them and

speak for them, and as they carry out their life,

represent who they are. One of these was Kobe

Bryant. And Kobe Bryant in 96, he got signed

by Adidas. And he was with Adidas till about

2002. And in 2002, it became clear that he'd

kind of reached the ceiling. So he took a risk

and bought his contract out with them and then

stepped into kind of his own platform. Why? Because

his game was good enough at that point and his

reputation was good enough and he was waiting

for the next endorsement. Well, then what happened?

If you follow the Kobe Bryant story, there was

this very public scandal, misstep that happened,

right? all the endorsements around him started

to back away. And so in 2002, he went into brand

management of Kobe, if you like. He started,

the way he played, he started wearing different

shoes, and so he's representing different companies.

And in 2003, Nike go, hey, we're going to take

a risk on you. The risk came at a $40 to $50

million contract. That's quite the risk. And

they said, but what we think we can do is we

can rebuild you for long legacy. And so, true

story, walking through Miami at the airport,

and I see this guy coming towards me. He's got

this black sports shirt on across the front.

It just says Mamba. And I was like, man, I'm

so curious what's on the back. Sure enough, who's

he representing? Kobe Bryant, why? Because what

Nike did is they rebuilt Kobe Bryant to be their

representative and a Mamba mentality that is

now known by so many people within the basketball

world and beyond that this idea, this brand,

and he went on to be one of the most successful

people Nike have had. Everything he did represented

what? The brand. Every aspect of life, good or

bad. Johnny Depp, right? Jack Sparrow, Captain

Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp had some stuff outside

of the movie world in his personal life and Disney

back away from him. Why? Because he was representing

them to the world. You have Lance Armstrong.

Lance Armstrong with the whole doping thing that

happened. And what happened? Nike go, hey, we're

not going to have you endorsed anymore. What's

amazing is this, Kobe Bryant. He took a risk.

He stepped up his stats. He had this long legacy

in front of him. They thought he could be a lifetime.

And here's what's fascinating. It was all based

on Kobe Bryant. If he got the brand ambassador

stamp or not for that company. Guess what? The

person of Jesus Christ has looked at you and

said, you are my ambassador. And it's not based

on what you did. It's based on what Jesus did.

It's based on what was done on the cross for

you. And guess what? When you mess up, he doesn't

go, I'm going to back out of that endorsement.

Whether you're good in how you represent the

brand or you are poor in how you represent the

brand, you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ

in everything you do. You represent to the world.

what it looks like for a human being to be in

relational harmony with God Almighty. And Paul's

been kind of driving this idea that our lives

are what's happening. If you turn back, I have

to turn back one page, but chapter 3. So 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 3:2

3, verse 2. You yourselves, so he's speaking

to the church in Corinth. He goes, you yourselves

are our letter, written on our hearts. known,

listen to this, known and read by everyone. You

show that you are a letter from Christ, the result

of our ministry written not with ink, but with

the spirit of the living God, not on tablets

of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. What's

he saying? He goes, your life, your life is a

letter. And your life is being read by those

around you. There's a gentleman, Bobby Conway,

who wrote a book called The Fifth Gospel. And

in that, he kind of based it on a quote from

Gypsy Smith that said this about your life. There

are five gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

You heard of those four, anybody? Right, like

there's a story that tells us about Jesus when

his time on earth. They're the recount of his

life. They show us what Jesus is like. They show

us what God is like. There are four gospels.

The fifth one and the Christian. But most people

never read the first four. What is Gypsy getting

at? The average person is never going to read

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're not going

to see Jesus in the scripture, but guess what

they will read? They will read your life like

a book. What version of Jesus does your life

portray to the world around you? What gospel

is your life portraying? And that's what Paul's

getting at. Like your life really matters. This

camping trip matters because what you are doing

leaves a version of the gospel. When you said

yes to Jesus. what it looks like to be new, what

it looks like to have relational harmony, what

it looks like to have life as worship, you get

to live that everywhere you go. The next chapter

over, he talks about hardship and how this works.

Chapter four, verse seven. But we have this treasure

in jars of clay to show that this all -surpassing

power that we've been given inside of us is from

God, not from us. We are hard pressed on every

side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in

despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck

down, but not destroyed. We always carry around

in our body, in this tent, on this camping trip,

we always carry around in our body the death

of Jesus. Why? So that the life of Jesus may

also be revealed in our body. For we who are

alive are always being given over to death. For

Jesus' sake, why? So that his life may be revealed

in our mortal body. So then death is at work

in us, but life is at work in you. What is he

saying? That this camping trip, when things get

hard and the imagery in one of these is like

an olive that is being pressed, right? And the

oil is coming out. That when you are hard pressed

in this life, what's supposed to come out of

you because you are new, because you are in relational

harmony with God, you get to put on display for

someone. What does it look like to go through

hard things and the result be them see your harmony

with God. The result be them see Jesus is your

life. What does it take for you in the midst

of hardship for them to see? I'm just camping,

man. I ain't holding on to this too tight. That

diagnosis is okay. I'm just camping. Does it

hurt? Sure. All that hardship I'm going through,

I don't know how those financial things, it's

all right. I'm just camping. Worst comes to worst,

I know I win. I know I'm getting the upgrade.

I know that this life, all of a sudden it allows

you, it allows you to what? In hardship to display

what is really true. Remember, Pastor Todd a

couple of weeks ago talks about your behavior.

Your behavior follows what? Your belief. If I

really believe I've been saved by Jesus, if I

really believe heaven is waiting, if I really

believe this life is just camping and I'm on

a mission and the mission is to show Christ to

everybody around me, why? So that they can see

what it looks like to live in relational harmony

and just maybe they find Jesus. then man, I'll

go through this hardship if it means you find

Jesus. Because that's my job. That's my role.

I've been given it as a gift. And I get to live

it out. And in the message translation, the verse

we read about being we are therefore ambassadors,

in the message translation, there's just some

language that's really helpful for us. I'd love

to just walk through it together. God has given

us. Given who? Those that are new, those that

are followers of Jesus, said yes to Jesus, of

telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's

representatives. God uses us to persuade men

and women to drop their differences and enter

into God's work of making things right between

them. We're speaking for Christ himself. Now,

become friends with God. He's already a friend

with you. Isn't that so good? Right now, okay,

hang on, hang on. Those of you that have said

yes to the gift, you are a friend of God right

now. And your life, Your life, you get to show

the world all the time. This is what it looks

like to be a friend of God. All of a sudden,

this whole thing just got real simple, didn't

it? I just show what it's like to be a friend

of God. I can do that. And so this week I was

dropping my kid off at school. And those of you

that know me. I'm always late. I think time is

more like a rubber band. It's meant to be stretched.

It's elastic, not fixed. Spoken like a true missionary

kid, I think. But the idea behind it is, because

I'm that way, I have a daughter who also thinks

time is elastic. And so when I'm taking her to

school, there's a good chance we ain't making

it before the gate closes. So we've been working

really hard to be there on time. This day I get

there, she's on time, the gate's still open,

and she rushes in through the gate, and I flip

a Yui and come back, and it's a four -way stop.

And as I'm sitting at the four -way stop, I notice

another parent is pulled up, but they're not

coming in to where I was. They're just going

to sit at the four -way stop and let their kid

out. And so their kid jumps out and you can tell

like we're all beating the gate, right? Like

we're all beating the gate closure. So the kid's

in a little bit of a rush and I see the kid look

at me and the parent look at me like, are you

gonna go or is my kid gonna go? And then I look

over at the crossing guard and the crossing guard's

like, and I was like, I'm just gonna relax and

go ahead. So even though it's my turn, kid walks

down, crossing guard comes out, they go across.

And I drive away, and God goes, you left a brand

of what it looks like to walk in relational harmony

with me at the crosswalk. And I went, huh? I

started a process. I was patient. Well, we know

God is what? Extremely patient. That's the only

reason we're here, right? He's extremely patient.

We know God is kind. We know God is not self

-seeking, right? I could have gone first. And

so 30 minutes later, I'm studying for the message.

And there was like a quote that I remembered

that I thought I saw on Instagram somewhere.

And so I jump on Instagram and open it up. And

like what pops up is a comedian. And the comedian

pops up and I don't get a lot of comedians on

my feet. So I'm like, well, why are you here

for starters? So I start listening. Person's

funny. Well, then it turns dark. And it turns

into a topic that I'm like, I hope nobody walks

in. And I'd love to tell you that I turned it

off. But I laughed to the very end. And I got

done and I got the quote and I got moved on.

And God goes, what brand of relational harmony

with me did you leave in your usage of Instagram?

And it got me thinking, you guys, that when we

go through life. That the idea of being an ambassador

can be a really big kind of concept. But I think

it's supposed to be a whole lot more simple.

Here's what I mean. You can purchase one of these

hats outside. This is the camping hat I was telling

you about. When you go hunting with your buddies.

You're just camping in this life. Which tells

me that as part of just camping, we're left here

with a mission. We're left here with a message.

We're left here to be brand ambassadors for God

Almighty. What brand of relational harmony with

God do you leave with your hunting buddies? What

do they experience? Let's see what else we got.

You know, when you're working out, taking care

of your health, doing the things your body needs,

you're just camping. What does that mean? Don't

become obsessed with the wrong thing. Oh, I'm

not saying don't look good, right? Everybody

likes to look good. But I'm saying don't become

so obsessed with looking good that that's your

motive for why you're doing what you're doing

to take care of your health. You know why you

take care of your health. Because you're just

camping. And part of the camping trip is this

body has been made the temple of God. And this

body has a mission by God. So I need to take

care of my health. Why? So I can continue with

the mission. So I need to steward what God has

given me on this camping trip. And my health

is something that I need to steward. Why? Because

there are people all over that need you to steward

your health. Well, why? So that you can show

them in living flesh color. Just like the person

of Jesus did what it looks like to be in relational

harmony with God. That's why you take care of

your health. And you drink your water that you're

supposed to drink. Especially in Arizona, you

look like a lizard. Let's do this one first.

The books you read, reading is a crazy, crazy

trend right now. Maybe it's always been and I

just noticed lately. But there are more people,

more people reading things and investing time

and energy into a space to escape reality, to

escape what's actually my life. And in the midst

of escaping what is actually my life, in the

midst of creating a fantasy world, I'm missing,

I'm missing what God has done. This camping trip,

what I read and the way I read it and the way

I represent it to everybody tells something about

the relational harmony that you have with God.

Why? Because what you consume is what you become.

And so in this day and age, and I'm not saying,

please don't hear that John said, you only read

your Bible. This is just, I just put it on this

one because I didn't want to carry another book,

if I'm honest. But what we read, we represent.

Why? Because we are ambassadors. We're brand

ambassadors. You represent what it looks like

to be in relational harmony. And if in relational

harmony with God, reality is not good enough,

we got a problem. And then there's this one.

Maybe you open a laptop because you got work

to do. Maybe you open a laptop because you're

gonna stream something. Maybe you open a laptop

because you're gonna go on Facebook. Maybe you

go on your laptop because you're gonna leave

a review. All of the things that I do on here

represent someone in relational harmony with

God. Right, like everything I do on here, right?

So think about it, when you leave a review or

you decide to get in the comment section, the

way that you respond is being a brand ambassador

for God Almighty and you are expressing through

your words, this is what it looks like to live

in relational harmony and be a friend of God.

And they're like, if that's a friend of God,

I don't know if I want to be a friend of God.

Why? Because what I do on here, it's not just

me. I'm representing something so much bigger.

I saw a stat recently. It was in an article that

Arizona is the fifth highest state in the nation

when it comes to, and they measured it by money,

money spent that's being spent on OnlyFans. If

you don't know what OnlyFans is, it's an adult

website. Don't look it up. The fifth highest

state in the nation. Remember, when you decide

to enter whatever website, you are a representative

of what it looks like to be in harmony with God.

You're representing the brand who is Jesus. And

I just wonder in our computer usage and... And

how we go about it, if we're aware that I'm actually

representing, maybe this one's a little closer

too, or a little easier. Your private life should

be the same as your public life. Integrity is

not what I do in public. Integrity is what I

do when nobody is looking in private. Integrity

is when I'm on a device and nobody really knows

and there's a delete button and I can delete

my history and I figured out how to delete all

the connections to it, right? Like you're representing

Jesus even in your private moments. You are leaving

a flavor of the brand of Christ in everything

that you do. We're still going, okay? We're not

done yet. This one's fun. In your sports and

your recreation, you're just camping. Right?

What does that mean? That means that at a U7

soccer game, you're not going to lose your mind

as a parent. How do I know that happens? I used

to coach club soccer for a long time. But what

it means is this, that you show up and you show

up as somebody who's in relational harmony with

God. I'm a friend of God, right? And yes, my

kid's doing terrible, but I realize I'm just

camping and this isn't the end. I realize that

I don't have to coach my kid in how to be the

best soccer player, especially at the expense

of not coaching my kid to be an ambassador for

Jesus. In that game. You guys, I talk to a ref

every week from this town. And he coaches high

school and he coaches rec leagues and whatever.

And he goes, John, it's getting worse, not better.

What if the brand representatives of Jesus show

up and make it better? What if we show the world

what it looks like to actually respect a referee?

I don't know, gentlemen, it often falls on us,

I think. When your team loses, it's okay. You're

just camping. I know you spend a lot of money

to watch them. And I know they're terrible. And

I know they're still looking at Aaron Rodgers.

But you losing your mind communicates something

to everyone around you. And you probably don't

look very harmonious with God. Because we're

called to what? Even in our recreation, we're

just camping. Hopefully worship doesn't trip

on that on their way in. I don't know why I looked

at my laptop. There's no notes. This one hopefully

connects. By the way, we're just camping. This

one hits a couple of ways, right? Because this

hits on the, I'm gonna go help you with your

car. You know what I mean? Stranded in the parking

lot. How many times as a brand representative

of Jesus does this make you feel good? Versus

you go, no, I'm living on service that you would

see somebody who cares about other people because

that's the brand I represent. You would see somebody

that's gonna put, oh yeah, I'm on a time crunch.

Well, I got rubber band time so I can stay and

help you with your car, right? Or I carry jumper

cables because I know I'll meet somebody that

needs them, right? There's all that. There's

also the element that this could represent work,

that whatever work you have, whatever you do

in your life from a professional perspective,

mechanics in the room don't be that mechanic

that gives people something that they don't need,

right? No, I'm going to take my work and I'm

going to do it before God. There's a verse in

the Bible. That says, whatever you do, do it

as unto the Lord. So my work becomes as unto

God. What that does is that frees me. That frees

me from people that don't know Jesus, like the

manager I had at 19 in a restaurant that threw

a trash can lid at me and hit me in the neck.

Metal trash can lid. I wish I responded at 19

like I was harmonious with God. Not so much.

But that's the opportunity we have, right? That

when everybody else is stressed and losing their

mind, we can go, hey, we're just camping. We're

just camping. We don't have to take this so serious.

It's interesting. If you got stressed, go to

counseling. Right? Let's take care of our stuff.

Why? Because we're brand representatives of Jesus.

This one. Some of you are like, can you buy all

this out there? No, you can't. Some of the women

in the room was like, is that gonna come off?

Do you know how hard that's gonna be to peel

off of that? How you rest. You are a brand representative

in how you rest. We may do a collection on this

at some point, but the way that you rest as a

human says an awful lot about the brand, the

God that you trust. You know what's amazing?

You were designed to sleep. No matter how long

you go, at some point you're gonna fall asleep.

And you know what happens? The world keeps turning

while you sleep. Why? Because God is in control,

not you. Right? And so what I do when I rest,

when I rest, I acknowledge that I have limits.

I acknowledge that he is God. I acknowledge that

in this life, I'm just camping and I'm not the

one holding it all together because I'm just

camping. And what it does to everybody around

you when you have rhythms of healthy rest, when

you're not on the grind and getting ahead of

everybody else, what it says is this, that, That

getting ahead is his business. My business is

to show you what it looks like to be in harmony

and put my head down and go to sleep. Another

thing this represents for me is this, your sex

life. In your sex life, you are a brand ambassador

of God Almighty. What is being said of your sexuality,

how you handle yourself in the area of sex, what

is being said, what brand... Representative,

ambassador, what is left of the brand when you

leave? We had to do this one. The mundane. Anybody

do laundry in the room? You're like, it just

keeps coming. Don't know where it comes from.

But I'm sick of it, right? The laundry just piles

up. It's the mundane. Even in the mundane, you

are a brand ambassador for God Almighty. There's

something in how you do the mundane tasks. Something

in the mundane tasks speaks volumes to the brand

that I believe Jesus to be. The way you serve

others. The way you do it when nobody else can

see it. It speaks volumes. And then there's this

guy. What this guy represents, should have sat

down the whole time. What this represents is

you go camping with people. It's your family.

Hey, parents in the room, what brand of Jesus

do your kids see in you? What are they left with?

You only, you by the grace of God, and who knows,

you have limited years to show them what it looks

like to be in harmony with God. You have limited

years to pour into them what it looks like to

be a friend of God Almighty, to live out the

brand. And at home is what you do at home. Do

they see the same person out here? Husbands and

wives in your relationship is your relationship

one that enters on the platform. If we are ambassadors

for God in the way we do this relationship speaks

volumes to our world around us that need the

person of Jesus in their life. But don't make

a mistake. We are ambassadors. You are a brand

ambassador and you represent God almighty in

all that you do. And here's one last thought

and we're done. We created these, you can buy

these. It's not why we created them. We created

them because some of us need to understand. This

is a journal. And what goes in a journal is often

my personal, intimate thoughts. And what this

is, is this represents that if you are going

to be a brand ambassador for God in all that

you do, you need intimacy with God to be the

marker of your life. What do I mean by that?

I mean that that isn't just showing up on a Sunday

and then not thinking about the God the rest

of the week and showing up on, that's not how

this is supposed to work. You will never understand.

I wonder how many of us don't even understand

the brand that we've been given in Jesus. We

don't understand the gospels because we've never

read them. We don't understand who Jesus is,

so we don't understand what we represent. Intimacy

with God, what? Shapes my thoughts, shapes my

soul, shows me what God is like, and it transforms

the way. that I interact with every single part

and piece of my world. We are, we are, it is

a gift that God has given. We are ambassadors

for Christ. Why? Because you're new, you're new,

and you have relational harmony with God. What

does your relational harmony look like to the

world? And so when I get this, I get to this

point, I'm like, God, I just need to process

that you're worthy of it all. I need to get my

eyes on you. I need to see who you are. And I

need to go, man, you are just, God, you are worthy

of everything in this life. Every single part,

every single piece, you are worthy of each and

every one. Why? Because you have purchased me.

And I'm your friend. And you're his friend. And

so we're gonna use our voices. We're gonna sing

together. We're gonna declare. I'm gonna pray

and then we'll sing. God. We just thank you.

We thank you for being good to us. We thank you

that your goodness is what leads us into relational

harmony with you, God. We understand you chose

us. And so God, even in these moments when we

get to raise our voice, even in these moments

when we could choose to represent you in a different

way, God, would you help us to choose to step

in and go, this is what it looks like for someone

in relational harmony with God to raise their

voice and to sing. This is what it looks like

for someone to declare you are worthy of it all.

Every single piece. Why? Because everything we

have, we recognize has come from you. And God,

we just give it back today. So God, thank you

for the reminder that we are just camping in

this life. Thank you for the reminder that the

end is secure and one, the new heavens and the

new earth. And in the meantime, we just say,

you're worthy of everything in this just camping

life. It's in your name we pray, everybody said,

amen.