The Gospel According to Matthew - Justice and Mercy {May 31, 2026]

I'm here, I'm here. Hey, good morning. How's

everybody doing? Good. Good, good. It's been

a minute. It's been a minute, but I'm so happy

that I am here to be with you all. And I'm Chris

Britton. I've been around the house for a very

long time. And I know I started to come with

my family when we were still in Rock Island High

School. How many years ago? It's been a minute.

12 and a half. There's our scorekeeper. Thank

you. So I've been a part for a long time. And

it's been a while, but I do consider it an honor

and a joy to be in front of you. And we're going

to get right into it. Is that all right? So I'm

going to continue our series in Matthew. And

I want to start off just by telling a little

bit about myself. I grew up in the Quad Cities.

I consider Rocktown, AKA Rock Island, my city.

That's my home, even though I moved around a

little bit. And yeah, Rocktown. I'm a Rocktown

graduate. And I met my wife Trish while I was

in college, and I went to a school called Judson

College at the time, Judson University. Ironically,

if you hear Greg and I's story, like we both

obviously grew up in La Crosse, but we both went

to Judson. But I was older, and I showed up like

after he already graduated. We both took the

same master's program, not at the same time,

at different times. You can ask us about all

that later. We have this Marvel timeline that

we talk about that we were on. But I was at a

Judson University in my junior year. I met my

wife in college. That was a great thing I have

three beautiful daughters, and I think they're

all here at this point right now but During my

time there at Judson I Gained just a heart for

youth I got a degree in youth ministry adolescent

studies came back served at a local faith -based

nonprofit for over a decade well almost two decades.

During that time I also picked up a master's

in ministry leadership along the way and when

COVID hit about 2020 that's when God kind of

began to uproot some things and work in me a

little bit and so I was telling someone earlier

that I've been a teacher in Rock Island School

District at an alternative school and I'm about

to in one week complete my sixth year. And I'm

really happy that the year's almost over, and

I'm completing my sixth year, and I'm growing.

And yeah, we got some educators in the house.

So as I have just shown you my resume, one thing

that is not on there is gardening. Or I do not

have the green thumb. I cannot keep plants alive.

My jam is working with youth, the ones that people

might point to and say, they are so bad. And

I'll be like, man, let me try to instill some

hope in them. So it might not be a surprise with

the story that I'll intro with. A few years ago,

it was a hot July morning, and I was mowing my

lawn. I usually mow my lawn with some music playing.

My batteries had ran out. So I was able to hear

nature. And I noticed that there was something

wrong. I didn't even know that I had a magnolia

in my yard until I googled it. I was like, what

is this? You have a magnolia. So I noticed that

something was off with my magnolia shrub. There

was some unusual activity happening in there.

Magnolia bush on the side of my house is probably

about 10 foot high. And there was a lot of buzzing

going on in there. There was a smell in there

The leaves were kind of dark. It was almost as

black sticky residue. It was very gross There

was ants that was in there. There was bees that

was in there There was a whole bunch of you all

that was in there as I mowed by and You ever

been outside and something flies by and you just

start swatting that stuff and the neighbors are

probably like look at him He's like doing a crazy

dance out there something that was me that day,

but from a distance The shrub looked fine. Matter

of fact, what I learned was that I had magnolia

scales. You can Google that. I'm serious. We

got smartphones and stuff. Google magnolia scales

real quick. I was going to pop some up on the

screen, but we got smartphones and stuff. So

somebody at the table, while I'm talking, you

might be on your phones anyway. Just Google magnolia

scales. I'm keeping it real. Google magnolia

scale. Show it to somebody at the table. It's

gross. I'll give y 'all a couple seconds. You

can even usury if you need to. Anybody got it

yet? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Zoom in on there. That

was at my house, man. That was crazy. They moved

in, wasn't paying rent, nothing. From a distance,

my magnolia Still kind of look beautiful. I blamed

it on the Midwest weather I remember pointing

at it a couple years prior saying like something's

wrong with that thing Always says hot. I didn't

know until I started to research some things

that They attach to branches and it's usually

invisible until you turn the leaf over and you

look at the branches Magnolia scale infantation,

it doesn't happen overnight. It's something that

started years before I even noticed it. So I

had been mowing past those guys for a long time.

They probably had been waving, trying to get

my attention. I was oblivious until there was

probably about 20 % or 25 % of the magnolia bush

was just gone. And it was the first time when

I was there, I was like, dang, they can eat.

But what I realized that... One website was like,

push on some of the branches if it breaks and

stuff. There's nothing in there. There's no life

to it. It just was like, just snapping off, snapped

off. And I had a lot of that. I had to do some

pruning. And then for whatever reason, I sought

out to find the information to see if I could

salvage this magnolia tree. I'll get back. I'll

give you an update in a little bit of where we're

at. But this was a few years ago. But I want

to talk today not just about some nature stuff

but I want to talk about what happens when we

zoom in not on my plant but we're going to zoom

in on a passage in Matthew and then we're going

to zoom in on our hearts because what we'll see

in the passage I believe that Jesus did his own

zooming in on people and what he had found what

he overturned in them I feel like we can do the

same in us as we look at things that could be

quietly draining the life ourselves or things

around us so we have a tradition at our church

where we will stand and give attention to God's

Word so in any way that you feel comfortable

or in your power please turn to Matthew 23 verse

Matthew 23:23–28

23 through 28 and as you find that there's three

words that we're gonna focus on today justice

mercy and faithfulness and I'll explain a little

bit more about that after I read the scripture.

So here, Matthew 23, 23 through 28. Woe to you,

teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill,

and cumin, but you have neglected the more important

matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

You should have practiced the latter without

neglecting the former, you blind gods. You strain

out a gnat but swallow a camel. That's crazy.

Woe to you. Everybody say, woe. That's like a

song. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,

you hypocrites. You clean the outside of the

cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed

and self -indulgence. Blind Pharisees, first

clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then

outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers

of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You

are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful

on the outside, but on the inside are full of

the bones of the dead and everything uncleaned

in the same way. On the outside, you appear to

people as righteous, but on the inside, you are

full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Let's pray.

Lord, I pray that you will open our eyes this

morning. Help us to see what you see. Help us

to zoom in on things that matter around us in

our hearts, in our lives, in our circles of influence.

Give us the courage to let you turn the camera

around on us. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright,

let's unpack a couple things. What Jesus saw,

like, Jesus in this chapter, He delivered seven

woes in this chapter. Say woe again for me. Woe.

But when you hear woe, when Jesus was giving

out these woes, a biblical woe, it wasn't Him

pointing fingers and just snapping and spazzing

on people, but a biblical woe is grief. And it's

a sound like a prophet would make this sound

sometimes. There's scriptures, especially in

the Old Testament, where people would feel some

type of compassion, and they would rip off their

clothes and stuff like that. Or they would take

off something, because it would just be like

a moment of woe. There would be grief packed

into it. This grief also filled with compassion.

So. Part of it was a warning part of it was was

heartbreak, but Jesus isn't just up there like

hating on people He was hurting for people in

Matthew 23 Jesus directs the woes at the religious

leaders because here's a couple things that they

were involved in doing one they were blocking

people from God's kingdom they were exploiting

the vulnerable they were teaching hypocrisy and

focused on hourly religiosity instead of justice

mercy faithfulness. So I want to be clear that

a woe was not just a rebuke, it was more of a

sorrowful declaration that their actions are

leading them towards judgment unless they repent.

But it reminds me a lot of Apostle Paul who told

the Galatians that he was in pains of childbirth

until Christ is formed in you. He described that

to the Galatians where he was feeling so torn

up that he's this man was saying that I feel

like a woman that's going to give birth like

the pains. I don't know what that feels like.

I don't want to know what that feels like. But

the metaphor as a poet struck me so hard. I remember

being I came to Christ when I was about 17 or

18. I remember somebody gave me this book on

a Galatians Bible study. I had no clue. There

was big words in there. There was all this theology

in there. But I remember that scripture. I was

in the basement of this house. I was reading

this. I didn't understand anything. And at the

time, I had homies on the street that was like

in gang stuff. I knew little shorties that was

coming with a pants tag. And I had left a lifestyle

like that. So when I read that scripture, when

I was 17, 18, And I had been working at the youth

center for a little bit around young people.

I knew that my heart had hurt for the generation.

But when I read that scripture, it was a woe

moment for your boy. I weeped. I couldn't explain

it. I remember telling some of my boys, and they

were like, yeah, you was just tripping, bro.

It was probably late. You was trying to do Bible

study late. And I was like, no. I was on the

ground, curled up like a baby, crying. Because

I hurt for this next generation and I felt like

God was calling me to do something about it So

again Jesus hurt For the people that he was speaking

to And Jesus did this publicly on the southern

steps of King Herod's temple some of you as I've

shared earlier that know that Greg and I had

a chance in our Master's program separately on

different occasions to go to the Holy Land. And

that was kind of a big selling point for the

Master's program. It included two weeks in the

Holy Land, and we visited the Holy Steps and

a whole bunch of other places. So, ya boy's been

at this place that we're talking about here.

And one of the things that I learned... quickly

as I walked in some of these places, that geography

gives us so much context and changes how we absorb

some of these passages, at least for me. So I'm

going to do the best that I can to paint a picture

of what the Southern Steps might appear like

for us so we can kind of get some more of the

understanding of what was happening with Jesus

and the Pharisees and stuff out there. But the

Southern Steps was the main public entrance to

the entire Temple Mount. So teachers gathered

there, the crowds moved through there, debates

happened there, the most public stage in Jerusalem

was right there. And Jesus picked this place

on purpose. And from those steps, if you looked

across, you would see what is called the Kidron

Valley toward the Mount of Olives. And this might

not make sense. But I always say that... Remember

coming back from my Israel trip I'm driving around

Rock Island and I was coming down the long view

hill everybody know where long view Park is and

I was like, I can't remember who I was with in

the car, but I was like this is one of the best

spots because When you're on the temple steps

Hear me. I'm not making this up If you're at

the top of long view where you know, they tore

the tennis courts down and stuff like that If

you're in that parking lot, it's kind of like

being on the southern steps because what you

see Across the river, you see a stadium. You

see the lights on the bridge, and there's a valley

right there. When you're on the southern steps,

you just see this valley. There was no cars,

so you would have to walk up there, but you would

see out, and it wasn't that beautiful at our

bridge, but you would see tombs. You would see

these graves, and you would see some tombs that

were covered in white. that looked very, very

beautiful. That if you've seen them, you'd be

like, oh, ain't that a pretty grave. So think

of that. Think of being able to stand on this

big stage, as big as this room, the temple steps,

where everybody's going, and off to the distance,

you can see these tombs. And Jesus wasn't trying

to paint some kind of a picture. I always say

that Jesus used timeless examples so he could

just look at you and talk to you and be like,

hey, bro, you see that? That's you. And everybody

in their mind would be like, hey, he just said

he's like that whitewash tomb. That's crazy.

Jesus said, what? Yeah, you the tomb, bro. That's

you. Jesus pointed at. The people, the Pharisees,

and the thing that we need to understand about

them is they weren't irreligious people. The

Pharisees were the most religious people out

there. They tithed. They tithed from their gardens

down to the last leaf. They would tithe. And

the equivalent of today would be like a... You

know, if we was a church that had the biggest

programs and the best this and we had the best

sounds and the lights and all this stuff, we

have the best of the best. But inside, there

would be some some turmoil and some some mercilessness,

some injustice going on. And it would be like

us after our service, shaking hands with everybody.

We have fireworks going off and everything. And

Jesus would be like. Yeah, y 'all like that trash

can out there. It's a nice painted trash can,

but y 'all got some garbage going on in here.

And people would be like, dang. One of the commentators

named William Barkley, he nails what was going

on wrong. He says that the Pharisees kept the

details of the law and forgot the things that

really mattered. They lost their sense of proportion.

They transformed into people who got the small

things exactly right and the heavy things like

justice, mercy, and faithfulness way wrong. And

they were the examples to the community. So Jesus

drops his punch line in verse 24 that people

would have definitely gotten a chuckle. He told

them, you strain out the nap, but swallow a camel.

Picture, they would try to do the little things

right. Sometimes they would strain wine. Through

a cloth just to catch like a nap Because that

would make it unclean so Jesus like y 'all go

through all that trouble, but y 'all is drinking

a camel Y 'all try to do all that to catch the

net and it'd be like I got it. It's pure but

y 'all Y 'all basically would eat a camel. That's

how that's how y 'all look So people would laugh

until they fit realize like you ever laugh and

then the jokes on you They'd be like hold on

is he talking about he's talking about us Verse

25 and 26, Jesus says, you can clean the outside,

but the inside is full of greed and self -indulgence.

First clean the inside. One commentator pointed

out that the food in the cup might have been

gotten by cheating or extortion, but as long

as the cup was ceremonially clean, they didn't

care. Jesus was saying, if the inside ain't clean,

it doesn't matter what it looks like. You could

look like the healthiest shrub in the yard, but

there's things that are going on that need attention.

Verse 27 and 28, when he says, you are like whitewashed

tombs, beautiful outside, full of death inside.

These tombs were whitewashed to protect people.

So Passover pilgrims wouldn't accidentally touch

them, because if you touched one, you would be

unclean. They had a lot of rules and regulations

that we might feel are weird, but everybody that

was around him would have known, the business

would have known what Jesus was talking about.

But Jesus said this not as someone that was being

disrespectful. He was telling them truth and

love, knowing that he wouldn't... Really be received

and I find it ironic that these are the kind

of confrontations that got him killed if you

I was gonna say click over but if you swipe over

or Turn over to pages you see that in a couple

pages Jesus gets killed spoiler alert These are

the things that led him to this because people

wanted to like we got to shut dude up like he's

He's saying way too much stuff And this is what

I realized as I was going through this this week

is that Jesus was actually embodying the things

that he was talking to them about When he was

saying like y 'all y 'all y 'all focus on so

many things, but you're not focused on justice

He did this in front of people that were being

treated and justly actually standing up for them

So Jesus in saying this was being just Jesus

Being broken for them with the seven woes, he

is actually being merciful on them. And the thing

that he asked them about their faithfulness,

he was being faithful to his message and what

he knew that he was going to be doing as we continue

to turn the pages, he knew what would lead to

his death. So we have Jesus on the steps embodying

the things that he was checking them about and

they had no idea and no clue because they just

was mad that he was right. This is the time in

a message where I got to just confess like sometimes

when you open this passage If I'm being honest,

we like to see Jesus go off on other people It's

like get him bro. Like he's going crazy on there.

You see that he's talking to the hypocrites And

then it's easy for us to pick up a conversation

and point to hypocrites whether at a big scale

or a small scale Whether it's in our home or

in our workplace or in our social circle We can

read that scripture and then we can go hunting

for the people that we feel like we need to check

as well But then if we do that the jokes kind

of on us, right? Because that's what happened

with the Pharisees where they was Talking and

doing their regular thing and Jesus comes out

there They're talking and then they're ha ha

laughing until they realize that Jesus is talking

right about them So I caught myself, because

Jesus is grieving over the one most sure... Sorry.

Okay. So, before we cheer, I think that the best

thing that we can do is look at our own branches.

even for myself, because injustice and mercilessness

does not start big. It's the micro. In the heart

of a person, in one branch, it's easy to demand

justice, mercy, faithfulness out there at the

macro, and then Jesus kind of drags it in here

to our heart. So, again, back to my shrub. Day

after day life was getting drained out of it

while to me everything still looked Okay, like

it was hanging in there. I had no idea the timeline

that it was dying The environment around it was

feeling the drain But before the the shrub even

knew that it was dying. I started one branch

at a time So this goes this made me really think

about the the number of years that I served in

ministry if I can get personal. I went to so

many different conferences. Me and my brother

Dave Hodge, we served in ministry together. If

we had, you know, a dollar for how many different

leadership books and conferences and all that.

I like to say we're like old school, like where

when youth ministry was booming and the churches

had to build a gym. You know why churches build

gyms? Because in the scripture, like you haven't

seen the thing about how we won an NBA championship

and stuff. I'm just kidding. You didn't do that.

But for some reason, that was a big thing. Just

build gyms. Build gyms. We're going to build

bigger. We're going to do a whole bunch of big

stuff. And then we don't realize that came at

a price. There's people that had to do that.

We had been to so many different things. And

for us in a ministry, I guess I'll speak for

myself, is that what we saw creep in, just like

with my bush, Just like with my shrub. There's

these things called crawlers that will eventually

I was like asking Google like how do these things

find? Why do they attack my magnolia? Well, they

get they just drift over from a branch or there

could be a bird that gets on there But once they're

on there they they get going But it's just a

slow drift towards it. I think back in the day

There was a lot of ministries as it was just

a slow drift towards this type of almost like

the merciless At all costs we're gonna grow So

somewhere in the ministry, there was some kind

of motto or model that came up that got passed

around. And there was this language that was

used where leaders would say, if we're not growing,

we're dying. So we got to keep going at all costs.

I don't know about you, Hodge, but I adopted

that. I remember sitting in a staff meeting where

one of my fellow coworkers had a new family.

and was in a sense asking for mercy, saying like,

man, ministry's taking a lot of time, and I feel

like I just need to have a little bit more time

with my family at night. And I remember, I was

really bought into this thing. And I remember

in my head saying, you might as well quit, bro,

we don't do that here. How you gonna go to the

crib when we got... All these kids that we got

to meet on the streets I kind of laughed and

I remember talking to another staff person like

so -and -so Talking about they want to go home

to eat at night We we trying to pull work in

this kingdom work what they talking about They

got to figure out whatever they got to figure

out at home. They come in here and we're gonna

figure out this kingdom work That's what I was

on And almost ten years later I remember being

at a camp, shaking, anxious. We had bought a

guest speaker out. That's now a world -renowned

person that got books out and stuff, but that's

besides the point. But we was doing work. Y 'all

don't know how hard I worked to get that person

there for these kids. And I was in the back room

shaking, losing my mind, wishing I was home with

my family, wanting that mercy. and grace. Scared

to admit it because it would make me feel like

I was weak if I said I want to go home. If I

came out the room crying and said I want to go

home and see my family, I'm like, I could get

fired because we don't do that. We got to keep

growing. There was a joke in our ministry. that

trickle down from leadership that says, you know,

some leaders don't have the gift of mercy, and

we would laugh. Years later, in some of my darkest

moments where I realized, like, yo, it's possible

for something to grow and die at the same time.

It's possible for us to experience growth and

be dying. Y 'all hear me? It's possible for ministries.

It's possible for us individually. Whatever our

status is, it's possible for us to be planted

in soil that's not good for us, that is merciless,

unjust, and not faithful to who God truly is,

and be slowly drained. Sometimes we're at the

environment just has the right language right

the right programs the right metrics and again

Like I'm not I'm not up here trying to have a

pity party at all because here's the thing The

restoration that God has done in my heart as

I even pulled up to the parking lot today I was

saying when Jen I was like I'm kind of emotional

because I haven't been up here in a while And

I'm so thankful that I can be in a place where

I consider it soil that is good to grow in Amen

a place where I could walk in and there's mercy

exhibited. There's justness and faithfulness

from friends and leadership. And there's a place

where I don't have to come in to this room and

pretend like I got it all together in front of

y 'all. Amen? I hope y 'all are happy y 'all

in a place like that. Shoot. What I've noticed

in these last years of my life... is that it's

important to surround myself around people that

exhibit these things. And in my home, it was

important for me to call a timeout as far as

just being explicitly involved in ministry so

I can get my soil right. So the shrub outside

of my house... Has kind of been this thing where

I've been watching it and looking at it and it's

been a mirror in my own life Because here's the

thing that I realized was that If I wanted to

keep it alive The hardest thing the hardest thing

that any of us or the ministry or whoever is

paying attention to the branches Giving nourishment

to the branches in and out of season Being mindful

of the branches, right? That's mercy That's faithfulness

and that's justness when we care about those

things So for me I googled stuff and I wasn't

gonna let it die and I remember I had to buy

this treatment and I had a timeline where I would

pour this stuff all in the soil, and you just

gotta wait. You gotta wait till the next season

to see if it took, but it has to take in the

roots. It has to grow new. If you drive by my

house right now, you'll see something that looks

kinda funny. You'll see like death on one side,

because guess what? That 20 % is gone, it's not

coming back. And in my own life, I had to think

about the past stuff. That's not coming back.

It's gone. But it's OK. It's OK to let it go.

Because God's growing some new things. Amen?

Amen. That's new, healthy, vibrant, not infested,

not ugly. And it's a reminder for me. And you

can drive by, too, and look at it. that these

things are important. Let me make it clear as

I close. Because I could be a good man standing

before you, or there could be a good guy that

everybody respects, never misses Sunday, coaches

a team, runs a youth group. I'm not talking about

Alex. Alex can be like, bro, what are you doing?

From 10 feet away, family looks perfectly, but

if you zoom in, there could be a kid that's lonely

in a full house. Students, there could be students

in this room that are very precise about your

grades, your image, how many followers you got,

being in the right text group or whatever, but

you could be quietly letting mercy drain in your

own life. You could have a clean feed and a tune

for a heart. There could be relationships where

people are precise about what they did or who

did what. They're keeping score on chores and

all the slights and the tenderness could be drained

out completely from a relationship. You could

show up and everything looks great and have a

whitewashed tune relationship. At work, we can

be precise about metrics and numbers. and advancements.

Y 'all get what I'm saying? Our loyalty and all

those things, the same camel, the same gnat is

a different cup. The thing I hope that we can

leave with today is that we notice, we notice

things. that we notice the things in our hearts.

We zoom in on people in our own soil before the

leaves go black. That we begin to nourish the

things that need attention in our life. That

we begin to go to the root of things before they

break apart or before the bad stuff. Prune what's

dead and sometimes apply the same patient mercy

and justice. that God gives us to ourselves.

I had to learn to do that as well. And I'll close

with this, that's not in my notes. Man, God,

that's good. So, there's a student that I have

in one of my classes I've been having, Mr. Woods,

you know, me and Mr. Woods work at Thurgood Marshall.

There's a student that I've had in my class for

over, you know, the last two or three years.

And a couple of years ago, I tore my Achilles.

I ruptured my Achilles. Trying to play basketball,

you know, because I'm trying to get those Jesus

stats and go to Christian Basketball League or

something. But I ruptured my Achilles tendon.

When I was off on recovery, I kind of became

a sneaker head because I was just like, yeah,

I'm. I'm going to buy some shoes, because I just

envisioned my feet in some nice shoes. I wanted

to be comfortable when I got back on my feet.

So I went through this season where I was buying

a lot of shoes. So I had this student at school

that he would always be clocking my shoes. And

we'd talk about shoes. It was a way that we kind

of built a relationship. I learned this student's

story over talking about shoes. And I remember

there was a pair of shoes that he wore that just

was so nice and shiny all the time. One day,

there was some students that just didn't show

up in my class. And I remember it was just me

and him. We had about 20 minutes, so we were

chit chatting. And I was just like, bro, those

shoes, they wouldn't look good on me. But man,

I'm glad that you're wearing those. Those are

dope. And he was like, you know what, Mr. B,

I got to tell you something. He took his shoe

off. And I'm like, no, bro, that's OK. You keep

your shoe on. He was like, no, man, I got to

tell you, man. And I remember he just took his

shoe off, and he was bending it like this. He

said, bro, these shoes are fake, bro. He was

like, don't nobody know, man. These shoes are

fake, bro. And he was like, hey, don't tell nobody.

Because when I go out there, man, people know

I got the right stuff. But these are fake, bro.

These are so fake, man. Everybody think they

real. And he was, I don't know, I was just like,

what? I said, so are all your shoes like that?

And he was like, I ain't going to tell you, bro.

But he said, the way that you could tell, though,

that is fake. is the soul of the shoe. It's bands.

And what I want to leave with today, he still

wears those shoes too. It would just be like

shh. He said Mr. B is the soul. I thank God and

I pray that we may be a church. where you will

feel enough mercy and that the people in this

room will exhibit enough just and faithfulness

where your soul could feel like that and you

can come up in here with no judgment and you

don't have to be the shiny shoe that you feel

thankful and happy that you could just take it

off and be like this ain't this Things ain't

right with me right now. My soul ain't really

right. And we ain't gonna be like, well, we got

the tithing things here, you better get to it.

You can join this group, or get a book to you,

and all this kind of stuff. But we love you,

and God loves you, and there's mercy here, and

there's justness here, and there's the faithfulness

of God and his people here in this room, amen.

Love y 'all. Let me close in prayer God thank

you so much for your word. I thank you God that

when it comes to issues of our soul I understand

that it's easier sometimes to look at scriptures

like this to point fingers to point at the macro

I'm thankful God that the work that you kind

of continue to do in me in the last weeks in

preparation for this Was looking at these things

on a micro level. And I pray, God, that it be

edifying to your body and to the church here,

to the individuals. I just thank you, God, for

this opportunity to break bread with my brothers

and sisters here. And I pray, God, that you will

do what you do with it. In your name we pray.

Amen. Thank you all.