Pillars of God | Todd Jones

Well, good morning, church. It's good to see

you guys this morning. Welcome, welcome. If you

haven't been welcomed yet, I would love to welcome

you. I'd love to welcome those online, out in

Pauldin, Baghdad. If you're watching from wherever

you are, we're so glad you're joining with us

this morning, and we're glad that we get to open

God's Word together today. Something I've noticed

about people, all of us, is that I think we're

all nerds. Like, if you're honest, right, we're

all nerds. There's different brands of nerds,

you know what I'm saying? Like, different brands

of nerds. I know for a fact when it comes to

me, I'm a sports nerd, okay? I'm a sports nerd.

I'm in three different fantasy football leagues.

I'm in three different fantasy baseball leagues.

At my house, sports is always on. I could tell

you a random fact about a random team and a random

player that you never wanted to know, okay? I

got that. We're all different brands of nerds.

And something I've learned over the last 18 years

of working in youth ministry is that it doesn't

matter what brand of nerd you are, you have to

be able to relate to all the brands of nerds.

That was my job. And so a couple of years ago,

I had some students come up to me and they go,

hey, Pastor Todd, we're going to Comic -Con.

Do you want to come with us? And I'm like, sure.

And so I went to Comic -Con and listen, that's

not my brand of nerd. I'm just telling you. Like

I had no clue what was happening like 99 % of

the time. I'm like, I have no idea what's happening.

I have no idea what I'm seeing. I don't get these

stories. I don't know what's going on. And so

as I was there, man, like I was there, I showed

up, I was around it, but I had no clue what was

happening. And so there was one girl who was

with us who apparently there's a lot of opinions

that you can have. And she had a lot of them.

And so she was telling me a lot of things about

everything that was happening. And she was the

one that was telling me the most. So I was like,

okay, I guess I'll believe what you say here.

And here's the thing. I think when it comes to

our faith, a lot of times we don't actually know

who God is. And because we don't know who God

is for most of us, we just like had this vague

idea of who God is. And we show up and we're

like, yeah, I'm here, but we don't actually know

who he is. And because we don't know who he is,

we tend to listen to the loudest voice around

us who tells us who God is. And so you have to

answer the question for yourself. Are you gonna,

when it comes to knowing who God is, are you

gonna listen to TikTok or are you gonna listen

to the Bible? Are you gonna listen to that video

that your crazy aunt sent you or are you gonna

listen to the Bible? Where do you get your source

of truth when it comes to who God is? Because

understanding God's character, understanding

who God is. is the determining factor for how

you will follow God and how you will live your

life because his character matters. And the thing

we know about God's character is who he is is

who he is. It doesn't change. That's who God

is. And so we have to understand who God is.

And as we've been walking through this idea of

snapshots, we're taking a snapshot of the book

of Exodus and a snapshot of the book of Exodus,

we look closer and with any snapshot, any photo

that you have, the closer you look, the more

things you discover. When you look at it, I found

this story this last week of a woman who was

showing her husband a photo of her at Disneyland

when she was a kid. And she showed him this photo.

And in the background of this photo, the husband

looked closely and he saw himself with his family

in the background of her photo when they were

kids and they had no idea who each other were.

Some of you weren't impressed with that. I thought

it was a lot cooler than that. You're like, oh.

Gee, it's 930. You should be awake by now, people.

But when you look at a snapshot, there's details

that help you understand something more. And

as we look at the snapshot today, it's going

to help us understand the character of God, who

God is at his core, the character of God. And

so the context for today's snapshot is this,

man, I feel bad for Moses because Moses is leading

these Israelite people out of Egypt. And man,

I just imagine him taking these people and trying

to get them from point A to point B. And here's

why I feel bad, because I have five kids. And

I know what it's like to get them from point

A to point B. To get them from the house to the

car and then drive and then from the car to the

church is like, it's a miracle every time. It

reminds me of this summer, we took a trip to

the Dominican Republic and we took about 15 people,

most of which were students and navigating in

an airport with 15 students isn't one of the

most favorite things I've ever done. I'm like,

don't go there. Nope, we're in this terminal,

not that one. Make sure your phone is on you.

Don't eat that. You don't spend your, I'm like,

come on now. Like I feel bad for Moses navigating

this. Because here's what the Bible says. It's

an absolute logistical nightmare. It says in

Exodus 12, 37 through 38, the Israelites journeyed

from Ramses to Succoth. There were about 600

,000 men on foot besides women and children.

Many others went up with them and also large

droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. All

right, now let's do some quick math. We don't

know the exact number here, but we can kind of

estimate and we can do some quick math, which

some of you got excited because that's your brand

of nerd, right? You're like, math, awesome. 600

,000 men. We can assume then, we're not for certain,

but we can assume there's probably 600 ,000 women

as well. 600 ,000 men, 600 ,000 women, and then

we can kind of assume if there are couples here,

I know some of them probably were unmarried,

but if there are couples, we can kind of just

guesstimate two children each. Now, some of them

didn't limit the fun and had a lot more children.

I know, I got five kids, I can say that, okay?

But for some of them, there's more, so we don't

know the exact number, but we can do some rough

math here to figure out that there was probably

anywhere between 1 .8 million and two million

people, but then it says many others went with

them. I don't know how many, many others is,

but it sounds like a lot. And then animals and

livestock as well. So there's an absolute logistical

nightmare when it comes to leading these Israelite

people out of Egypt. And Moses is the one that's

having to lead them. In fact, it's not just a

logistical nightmare. It seems impossible. It

seems like an impossible situation. And I think

there's probably some of you that came in today

that might be facing an impossible situation.

Or maybe you're going through something and you're

going, I don't know how I'm actually gonna get

through this. I don't know how I'm going to do

this. And as Moses is facing this impossible

situation, he's going, this looks impossible,

but God, but God, that's when God steps in. I

don't know what situation you're facing that

feels impossible, but I know that we serve a

God that steps in. So here's what it says. It

says, after leaving, Which, by the way, some

of you might feel like you're living in Succoth.

All right, I'm just saying. Your life is Succoth

right now, and you need to leave that place.

You're like, I got to get out of here. All right,

don't laugh at that. That's bad. Come on. So

when they left, they camped at Etham on the edge

of the desert. And it says, by day, the Lord

went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide

them on their way. And by night. and a pillar

of fire to give them light so that they could

travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of

cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night

left its place in front of the people. It never

left. I don't know who needs to hear this today,

but some of you came to church today and all

you need to hear is this. God will never leave

you or forsake you. God will never leave you

or forsake you. If you don't hear anything else,

then this is the word that you take home today

is God will never leave you or forsake you. That

is who God is. It says this pillar came and it

never left the people. It stayed in front of

the people. It guided the people. And because

of this pillar, through this pillar, we get a

peek into God's character. It's not just a pillar

of fire or cloud. It's a peek into God's character.

And it shows us something about him. As we look

at this snapshot, we can learn things about him.

If you're taking notes today, the first is this.

The pillar is God's. provision. The pillar is

God's provision. God provides for their practical

needs. Just very practical here. He provides

for their practical needs. I'm what is referred

to as a weather wimp. I'm a weather wimp. I grew

up in San Diego where they do not have weather.

It doesn't exist. Some of you are like, is it

really that nice? Yes, it is. And they pay for

it, a lot for it. But it's really that nice.

And so when I moved here, I was like, we're moving

to the desert? This is crazy. I need sunscreen.

My bald head can't handle it. But not only that,

I need a jacket. I didn't own a jacket until

I moved here. I was like, I gotta get something.

We gotta take care of these practical needs.

All right, we know what it's like living in the

desert. He's taking these Israelites through

the desert. And so what does God do? He provides

a pillar of cloud to provide shade during the

day because it gets hot in the desert in the

day. And he provides fire at night to keep them

warm. Practical needs. God is a God of provision.

God provides, which means he provides for our

practical needs. He provides you when it comes

to the food that you eat, when it comes to the

water that you drink, when it comes to the air

that you breathe. Aren't you ever taken a good

breath before? Where you're like, oh, that was

a good breath. God provided that for you. We

take these things for granted and we don't realize

that God provides it. He provided the relationships

that you have, the family that you have. The

guidance that you have, the wisdom that you get,

all of those things is God's provision in your

life. So my question is this, when was the last

time you thanked him for it? Because we take

things for granted and we go, okay, I don't need

to thank God because here's how it actually works.

I got a job and I got money and I bought the

food. So why do I thank God? Because I'm the

one that did it. No, God provided it for you.

When was the last time that you took a breath

and you go, oh, I just want to thank God because

I breathed it. Because he provided the breath

that I took. We take things for granted. When

was the last time you got in your car and were

like, God, thank you that I have a car. And some

of you drive a ghetto car like me, but you ain't

walking. So thank God for it. God, thank you.

Thank you that you provided this for me. God

has given us these things and he's provided for

us. And here's the thing. What our response to

a God who provides should be is trust. should

be trusting that God will provide, right? Look

what God has done. God will provide. That's who

he is. That's his character. But I get messed

up with that because I look at my bank account

and I go, oh man, it's time for a freak out now.

It's time for a panic. Instead of realizing that

God provided before and the same God that provided

before will provide again because God provides.

That's what he does. That's who he is. Next is

this. The pillar is God's protection. The pillar

is God's protection. I mean, come on now. There's

a pillar of fire and clouds stretching to the

heavens. There is nobody that's trying to roll

up on that. You know what I'm saying? If you're

in an army that's going, oh, look at all these

people. I can attack these people. And then you

see this pillar of cloud and fire. You're like,

uh -uh, I ain't rolling up on that. When I was

in high school, I went one night to 7 -Eleven,

because that's what you do when you're in high

school. You go at like 11 o 'clock at night to

get a Slurpee. And I went with my friend. He's

this huge dude. He played college football. His

name was Kellen. And Kellen was this big dude

with a big afro. And so we're in 7 -Eleven. We're

filling up our Slurpees. And as we're over here,

this guy walks in the door. And I look at him

from across the store. And this guy was literally

three times the size of my big friend, Kellen.

And I was like, oh, snap. And as he walks in

the door, this massive dude, he looks across

the store. And he looks at my friend, Kellen.

And he goes, what's up, Jamal? To which my friend

goes, oh, what's up, man? How's it going? And

I am utterly confused at this point. I'm like,

wait a sec. I've known you since fourth grade.

Your name is not Jamal. You are Kellen. What

is happening right now? So I was like, hey, what

was that? And he goes, I have no clue who Jamal

is. I'm just glad he's on his good side. He's

like, I'm just glad I'm on the right side here.

You know what I'm saying? Like there is a pillar

of cloud and fire to the heavens. And anybody

looking at them is like, I just want to stay

on that good side. You know what I'm saying?

If you're looking to attack that, you're like,

uh -uh. Like, my palms are sweaty, my knees weak,

my arms are heavy. You know what I'm saying?

Like, some of you didn't get that. You require

less counseling than the rest of us, okay? That's

what I'm saying. All right, some of you are over

there now, and you're like, I'm spaghetti, right?

Like, you're just keeping it going. But can you

imagine this pillar of cloud and fire? And here's

what God is doing. What God is doing in this

moment is that the armies of every other nation

understand how this works because they don't

have the communication devices that we have.

And so to identify who the commander of the army

was, or the multiple commanders in the army,

they would have this thing called a mishael.

And it was this long pole. And on the top of

the pole was this big bowl filled with oil. And

they would light it so that it created a little

pillar of fire to identify who the commander

of the army is. So that the rest of the army,

when they looked, they could say, that's the

person I'm going to listen to because he's the

commander, because he's in charge. And so there

is their identifying factor for all of the other

armies to say, yeah, here's this little bit of

fire and this is where their commander is. And

then all of a sudden you look at the Israelites

and you see a massive pillar of fire so that

anybody looking at them goes, there is no doubt

who their commander is and I'm scared of him.

God is protecting them. God is protecting them

through this pillar of fire. God is the commander.

And what commanders do is commanders protect.

This is what it says in Exodus 14, 19. Then the

angel of God, who had been traveling in front

of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them.

The pillar of cloud also moved from in front

and stood behind them, coming between the armies

of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night, the

cloud brought darkness to one side and light

to the other side. So neither went near the other

all night long. God said, hey, I'm going to protect

you and I'm going to put darkness on your enemies

and I will leave you in light. But I think there's

something we need to notice here. God controlled

both the darkness and the light. God is the God

of the darkness. And for some of you, you walked

in and you feel like you're walking in darkness

right now and you need to know that God is in

control. You need to know that it doesn't matter

how dark it gets in your life, God is still in

charge of the darkness. God still controls the

darkness. And take it a step further. You need

to know that the spirit inside of you, because

God has given you his spirit, you have power

over the darkness through the power of Jesus.

And I don't know where you came in with. I don't

know what darkness you're facing, but I need

you to know that God is in control. And what

God does is God just protects. It's not just

an act he does, it's who he is. That is his character,

God protects. God protects us physically. Aren't

you ever been in a situation before and you don't

take off right away at the light and then all

of a sudden someone comes speeding through and

you're like, man, if I did, I would've got smashed.

Have you ever gone through something and afterwards

you look back on it and you go, man, I was just

five minutes away from being in that accident.

God protects us physically. God protects us emotionally.

You ever prayed for something that didn't happen

and then you look back on it and you go, man,

God had my back on that. I was cruising for a

burgeon and God's like, no, no, no, I'm gonna

take care of that. Have you ever been in a situation

where spiritually you're protected before? God

protects, that's what he does. If you were here

two weeks ago, Pastor John was up here talking

about the plagues that happened. And when the

plagues happened in Egypt, each one of those

was directly pointed at the little gods that

Egypt worshiped. And so God, Yahweh, the God,

went rounds with each one of their gods, proving

that, yes, you worship this little God, but I'm

so much bigger, I'm so much better. And Pastor

John put up all the different characteristics

of who God is in that situation. God is this

for us, God is this for us, God is this for us.

And as I was sitting in these same seats, I was

sitting right over here, I felt like God was

telling me as I'm looking at that, that I've

been trusting in the little gods in my life instead

of who God really is, specifically when it comes

to social media. And I felt like God, as I was

sitting in the seat just right there, I felt

like God told me, hey, you need to delete your

social media right now. And so right that moment,

I deleted the social media. And here's the thing,

I'm affected so much by the negativity that I

see on social media. When somebody posts a crazy

video and they're talking crazy, I start internalizing

this. When there's all this negativity and people

are fighting and going back and forth and all

this stuff, and I'm just scrolling and I'm seeing

it over and over, it affects my life in a way

that it shouldn't, where I'm mean to my family,

I'm mean to my kids, and they did nothing wrong,

but it's because I'm stressed out and I'm bringing

all this anxiety from what I watched on social

media. Now, I don't know if you know this, but

last week was an absolute dumpster fire on social

media because of Charlie Kirk's murder. And God

was protecting me from that before it even happened.

I didn't even know it was happening, but God

said, hey, I'm gonna remove this because I know

what you're gonna walk into, you're not gonna

be able to handle. God protects us before we

even get in the situations that we don't even

know are coming. God's got our back. God's looking

out for us because that's who he is. God protects.

All right, next is this. The pillar is God's

guidance. The pillar is God's guidance. All right,

how many of you need guidance? That's awesome.

Most of you are lying in church right now. That's

great, right? We all need guidance. You need

guidance. I remember when I first got married,

I was like, oh, I got this. I got this. I read

a book on it. And then I got married and I was

like, I don't even know if I like her. Like,

what are we doing? Why is this happening? Like,

she keeps telling me to put my socks in the hamper

and I'm like, that's not where they go. Some

of that got too real for some of you. You like

nudged your wife right there. You're like, yo.

Why are you crazy like his wife? Yeah, I know,

I know. I remember when we had kids. My wife

was a child development major. She's great. She

knows how to do it. I was like, we got this kid

thing. And then the hospital did the craziest

thing. They let us take them home with us. I

was like, what am I supposed to do with this

thing? Like, I don't know how to do it, right?

And then they become toddlers. And you're like,

God, I need you because I'm living in hell right

now. Those of you that aren't laughing don't

have toddlers. You don't know. We need guidance

in our life. We need somebody to guide us because

the truth is that every day that I'm married

is the longest I've been married before. I don't

know how to do it. I've never done this before.

Every day is the day that my kids are the oldest

kids that I've ever parented before. I don't

know how to do it. I've never been here before.

Every day that you live is a new opportunity

that you go, man, I don't know what's coming

because... We don't know what's coming and God

does. God is our guide. And what God does is

he guides. Here's what I love about this pillar.

It says this in Numbers 9, verse 17. Whenever

Numbers 9:17

the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites

set out. Whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites

encamped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites

set out and at his command, they encamped. As

long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle,

they remained in camp. But when the cloud remained

over the tabernacle a long time, Israelites obeyed

the Lord's order and did not set out. Do you

catch this? They moved when he moved. When God

moved, that's when the Israelites moved. When

the pillar moved, when their guide moved, that's

when they moved. But we, what if we were to do

that? Because what we like to do is we like to

move when we want to move. Or we try to convince

God to move so that we can move. And we don't

move when he moves, we put it on us. We want

to be the guide. By definition, if God is the

guide, that means that he guides you. You don't

just drag him along. Some of you are like, we're

going this way, God. This is what we're doing.

And God's like, that's not what I said. Like

I said, stay and you wanted to move. Like I said,

go and you're just stuck there. The problem is

this, is that we want God to fit into our schedule.

God, that's really inconvenient. I get that you

want me to do that. I get that you're the guide

and all, but like, that's inconvenient. I think

about the Israelites, dude. It says that they

camped. Listen, sometimes I say no to my kids

to go in camping just because I don't want to

set the tent up. They camped. That means when

they woke up the next morning and the pillar's

moving, they're like, we got to pick it up. Let's

go. You know how inconvenient that is? But in

our life, we don't like to be inconvenienced,

but you need to understand that you're not the

guide. God is. And when we try to guide and we

don't let God do his job, we end up in a place

we should never be at. What this is, is it's

letting God set the pace and then it's being

submissive to his pace because we like things

to happen on our time schedule. And God's going,

no, no, I got a better plan. Let me guide, let

me do it. Okay there, control freak, come on,

give me the reins. God's going, hey, I got the

pace. I'm gonna set the pace. So how do we know

where he's moving then? It's like, okay, well

then that's great. That was easy for them. Giant

pillar of fire moved, easy to know. If we're

gonna know where he's moving, then we gotta know

our guide. Because if he's the guide, we gotta

know our guide. And you're like, okay, super

easy still. They had a pillar, we don't. How

do we follow that? You're right, they had a pillar

to follow. But who's our guide? Our guide is

Jesus. How do we know who Jesus is? How do we

know who our God is? It's through his word. The

Bible is our guide. I think a lot of times we

just never open the word of God and we go, how

come I don't know where to go? How come I don't

know what to do? Well, have you consulted the

guidebook? Have you consulted the instructions?

We're men, we don't like instructions. I listen,

God's saying, hey, if I'm the guide, then you

gotta follow the guide. It's not about where

you wanna go, it's following God because God

is our guide. The pillar is God's guidance. Next

is this. The pillar is God's faithfulness. The

pillar is God's faithfulness. I said it earlier.

I'm going to say it again. God never leaves you

or forsakes you. God never leaves you or forsakes

you. 2020 was a dark time for a lot of people.

It was a dark time in my life. I had a lot of

questions, a lot of things that I was going,

God, I don't know where you're leading. I can't

hear you. I can't feel you. I don't know where

you are, God. And I was questioning a lot of

things. I was questioning, God, do you even want

me to stay in ministry doing this? God, should

I just go somewhere else? What should I do? What

do you want for me to do? And God was saying

the whole time, hey, just trust me. But I'm like,

God, you're silent. I don't know where you are

and I don't know how to trust you and I don't

know where you're going. And God was going, hey,

I've been faithful. I've been faithful. And so

I intentionally spent time just going, hey, I'm

gonna seek God. I'm gonna intentionally do some

things and not do some other things to try to

hear where does God want me to go? What does

he want me to do? And I didn't know, God was

kind of leading me and I'm going, do I plant

this church? Do I go do that? And God's like,

no, no, no, that's not what I want. I'm like,

but then what is it? And God's going, hey, I'm

faithful, just trust me. I'm faithful. And God

started leading me to Prescott, Arizona. I'd

never heard of Prescott before. He led me to

Heights Church. I've never heard of Heights Church

before. I'm going, God, why would you do this?

And he's going, trust me, I'm faithful. And God

led me exactly where he wanted me to be. Because

what God does is God says, hey, I'm faithful.

And when I'm faithful, it allows us to understand

that we can trust him. A lot of times in the

storm, we forget the God that controls the storm.

When you're going through a storm and some of

you have storms in your life that you're going

through and you need to understand that you're

not just going through it alone because God is

controlling the storm. He's in charge of it.

And when you know the guide, when you know the

provider, when you know the protector, when you

know the God who is faithful, who controls your

storm, it's a lot easier to weather the storm.

And it's not for God to just say, hey, God, take

away the storm. It's for us to trust God through

the storm. Trust God through the storm. What

we're doing is we're trusting his faithfulness.

And it's because of God's faithfulness that it

allows us to have more faith, right? Because

you put your faith in something that is faithful.

Because of God's faithfulness, we can have more

faith. God is a constant presence through their

journey as the Israelites are traveling through

there. He's a constant presence in their journey

and he's a constant presence in our journey.

Whatever it is that you're journeying through,

God is a constant presence in that. And he spoke

to the Israelites through this cloud. It says

this in Psalm 99, seven, he spoke to them from

the pillar of cloud. So I think about this, if

he's speaking through a pillar of cloud, then

it would make sense that they need to be close

to that pillar of cloud in order to hear what

God is saying. I think oftentimes in our life,

we go, I don't hear God. I don't hear God. I

don't know what God is saying. And it's because

we've moved away from God so much that we can't

hear what he's saying. It's not that God isn't

speaking. It's that we're not in proximity enough

to hear him. When God is absent in your life

or God is not speaking in your life and you're

going, God, what do I do? I can tell you this.

It's not God who moved. Because God is faithful.

That's who he is. That's his character. Are you

putting yourself in proximity? Are you reading

God's word? Are you opening God's word so that

he can speak to you? Are you praying to God and

speaking to God so that he can speak to you?

Are you in a life group? Are you surrounding

yourself with community that can speak truth

into you, can speak life into you, can push you

in the right direction? Because if you're not

doing those things and you're not putting yourself

in a proximity to hear from God and then you're

saying God is silent, God didn't move, you did.

God is faithful. Listen, this is who God is.

This is his character. And this is what I love

about God's character. It's not just that he

does these things. It's who he is. That means

he can't not do them. That's who he is. How do

we know that's who God is? This is how we know.

We know that God provides. We know that God is

a God of provision. We know that God provides

because he provided Jesus. He provided Jesus

because you and I cannot do it on our own. But

Jesus came, the spotless lamb that came to stand

in your place. And God provided Jesus to say,

I love you enough that I'm gonna send Jesus to

take your place on a cross, to take the punishment

that you deserve. We know that God provides.

We know that God protects. How do we know that

God protects? Because he protected us from sin

and death. because the wages of sin is death

and because what you deserve and what I deserve

is separation from God forever. But he said,

I'm going to protect you from that because of

my provision, which is Jesus. And because of

my provision that is Jesus that died on a cross

for you, you are protected from sin and death

through him. God guides. How do we know that

God is our guide? We know that God is our guide

because he gave us his spirit. He gave us his

guide. He gave us something that we can walk

through life with knowing that this Holy Spirit

is walking with us. He's prompting us. He's speaking

to us. He's guiding us. He's alongside us. The

God that provides provided Jesus. God that protects

made a way to protect us from sin and death.

The God that guides gave us his spirit to guide

us. Why did he do that? Because God is always

faithful. God is always faithful. That is who

he is. And what that means is this. It doesn't

matter how far you've walked away because he

is faithful. He is still there because he is

faithful. His arms are still open wide because

he is faithful. It doesn't matter how broken

you are. It doesn't matter how much of a mess

you walked in with. It doesn't matter if you

don't hear God. It doesn't matter if you are

in darkness. It means that God did not change

and he is still there and he is still welcoming

you back to him. And for some of you today, you

walked in different than you're gonna walk out.

Because Jesus is calling you to him. Because

of God's faithfulness, his faithfulness calls

us to him. And he's waiting for you. Will you

come to him? Will you say, I'm tired of doing

this on my own. But because of God's character

and who God's character is, I know that he's

the one that needs to lead. And I need to come

to him. After the service, there'll be people

up front that wanna pray with you and talk with

you. But if that's you today that says, hey,

I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to trust

him instead of trusting me. Don't let today pass.

Today is the day. Let today be the day that you

say, I understand who God truly is. And I want

that God to be the one that walks in front of

me and guides me. Because God is the God who

provides. God is the God who protects. God is

the God who guides. And God. is always faithful.

Let's pray. God, thank you so much. God, for

who you are. Above everything, God, thank you

that you provided Jesus, that you protected us

from sin and death. God, thank you that you guide

us through your spirit. God, thank you that you

are always faithful in the midst of our storm.

God, I pray that you would allow us to trust

you. That you would allow us to leave different

because of knowing who you are and knowing your

character, God. God, we thank you for who you

are. We thank you for your character that does

not change, that we can rest on and know for

certain. We love you, Jesus. We praise you. We

give you this time. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.