Leftovers - Exodus 16

Happy Monday, Pastor Matt, Pastor Chris are here back in

with you on the ERC Leftovers podcast.

How you doing man? Friends, it's potty time.

I've been wanting to say that for like 2.

Weeks because. You know, we're in staff meeting

prior to recording the podcast and then we're exiting staff.

Me, I'm like, oh, it's potty time.

And I think it's very clever and silly and I just wanted to say

it. So I said it today, it's potty

time. That is not the open that you

told me you were going to go with, no.

It's not. But you know, the weird things

that pop into my head and I just have to do that.

I have to Great. I have to Matt.

Off to a shining start as as usual.

I have to keep you on your toes, man.

I mean, imagine the day where we're working together and

you're like, Chris didn't surprise me today.

He didn't say anything weird. I can't see that coming anytime

soon. OK.

OK, see I it's really important for the dynamic of our

relationship. I'm not saying I don't want

that. I just, I didn't.

No, I yeah. Thank you.

You wait, people are now going to come up and be like, hey,

Pastor Matt, when's potty time? I don't think that's going to be

a thing and I'm not. I'm also not sure we should

encourage it. So there's there's going to be

those of you that are going to do it because you know that I

don't want to encourage it. You're going to follow Chris's

lead on this. I know.

Oh man, you know what? You can follow somebody who's

insane and sometimes it'll work out and be really funny.

Great super. It'll be great.

Looking forward to that. Yep.

Me too. Oh man, well we are rolling

through Exodus here. We had some, some good

experiences and well, the Israelites had like what, 40

days worth of hey, things were chill and they're good.

Walking in God's footsteps before we got to the hey, we're,

we're thinking about dying of thirst and hunger and all these

things. Where was this God who, isn't he

just going to split red seas for us every day sort of stuff.

So we're in talking through some more of Exodus 16 today.

But before we get there, so we're still taking questions off

the Ask Me Anything question pile here.

What are we, what are we going to talk about before we jump

back into Exodus? Oh, man.

OK. So there was actually a couple

questions that line up pretty well together and now I kind of

lost where they are. Oh no, no, here we are.

So it's two questions that I think line up again.

They're they're pretty much side by side.

So the first one goes like this, If I forgive someone, does that

mean I have to allow them back into my life?

Second question, if you think you have and say that you've

forgiven somebody, but you're still hurt by their actions and

sometimes you get upset, does that mean that maybe you haven't

really forgiven them? So we've got the emotional

content of like, I know I'm supposed to, but I haven't.

But also like, did they have to come back into my life the way

they were before? And all that I think plays out

in that total forgiveness idea. Yeah.

OK. And yeah, so we're talking about

like those questions are asking about forgiveness and and

reconciliation I think are both those things which are I want to

point out separate things. You can have forgiveness without

reconciliation. I don't think you can have

reconciliation without forgiveness, probably.

If you do, it's going to get real messy and you're just going

to keep on running over the same.

Things, yeah, seems like that might be kind of temporary and

on some shaky footing there. So first first part of the

question seems like I I maybe have or no.

The second question was seems like I haven't really forgiven

them. Yeah, because sometimes I'm

still upset. Like I think about it and all

the feels come back and. But I said I forgave them, you

know, like, and God told me to forgive them, so I'm working on

that. But I still have ill feelings.

What do I do with that? So I think those and you can,

you can push back, jump in too, but I think those can be

separate things. I think you can forgive someone

and still feel or remember the hurt.

Like we still we still have scars from that, right?

That doesn't then then no more tears or crying or pain.

That's not that's not this side of heaven.

That's that's the other side, right.

So no, I don't. I don't think that it could be

that you haven't really forgiven them and kind of actually gotten

over the hurts of that. But you can earnestly forgive

them, I think, and also still feel kind of the pain of that

betrayal. Yeah.

What am I? Am I on the right?

Track No, I, I talking crazy. I know.

I think that's absolutely true. There's certainly moments where

well, because OK, let's let's start with the word OK, let's

start there. The Word says that I have to.

It is not. It is a command that I have to

forgive the way that God has forgiven me.

How has He forgiven me? Completely, totally, 100%,

nothing leftover. He sees me the way He sees His

own Son as righteous and perfect because of what His Son has done

for me. So therefore, the forgiveness

has to be total. All right.

Well, the human side of that is really complex.

It's really difficult. So, I mean, I hear what God

tells me, OK, So therefore I want to do it, but I can't do it

in my flesh because maybe there's still financial or

physical or emotional injury that I'm working through.

So does that mean I can't pronounce forgiveness until all

those things are set? No.

Here's the thing. If God calls us to forgive,

which he does, maybe my mouth is leading my emotions, not the

other way around, so I then can pronounce forgiveness and my

emotions will through. I think earnest prayer to have a

heart change the way that God's heart is positioned through

earnest prayer over time, God will heal me as I'm consistently

asking for him to do just that. Lord, make me more like you.

Give me a heart like you have. Help me to see people the way

that you see people, in particular this person that has

done me some harm. But pronouncing that

forgiveness, I don't think it, I don't think that means it's

inauthentic. No, it just means that Yep, my,

I'm going to, I'm going to need some time for my heart to catch

up with the command that God has given me and that I'm that I'm

working on. And even Paul puts language to

it. 2nd Corinthians 518 is all this is from God who reconciled

us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of

reconciliation. That's that's then like a

process, right? Then it's not something that

just happens. It's something that we do have

to work. And I think that's part of that

healing, the hurt sort of sort of process feeling, feeling

reconciled. I think you can forgive short of

that. And I also don't think every

situation can probably be completely reconciled, right?

In Ephesians, Paul writes as if possible, as far as it depends

on you, live at peace with everyone.

So that's, that's Our Calling as Christians is yes, to forgive as

God in Christ forgave us. The person you're forgiving

might still not be peaceable about that situation, right?

And then, and then at that point, you, you can't really

come to reconciliation there. There might still be hurt.

You can forgive them and there might still be hurt in that

situation because it's not healed.

It's not it's not fully reconciled.

Or maybe that other party doesn't even necessarily want

peace with you, but if possible, as far as it depends on you,

you're you. You've put the ball in their

court and you have given a peaceable front to, to them.

I've, I'm, I have forgiven you. I, I'm at peace in this, in, in

myself and in my own life. And sometimes maintaining that

peace. I think the first question was

letting about boundaries, letting that person back into

your life, right? If they're not coming at it

peaceably, I, I don't know, I don't think we're called to

endure that necessarily. Like we don't, we don't have to

invite that into our lives or even, or even keep ourselves in

that situation, right? Yeah, I, I heard this.

I heard this little saying once, if I can't trust you with my

wife in my wallet, then I can't trust you at all, you know?

So here's the thing. Maybe somebody has hurt me in

some way and I man, I've forgiven.

And what does forgiveness really look like?

Actually, there's like this nice little definition I saw here

real quick, and now I just. Yeah, you had a contrast of

forgiveness and reconciliation there, so.

That's super fun. But anyway, no, but like

forgiveness is, I'm no longer looking.

I'm not going to. I'm not looking to harm you.

I'm not looking to slander you. I'm not bitter against you.

All of those things are true in real forgiveness.

So in other words, if I forgiven you and somebody who's not you

brings up this situation because they're kind of aware of it,

guess what I'm not doing. I'm not slandering you behind

your back and saying, well, yeah.

And they so and so and so did all the stuff and and see, I'm

still harming you behind your back by talking about you in a

negative way. If I forgiven you, I'm letting

all that go. If somebody brings you up, I'm

like, no, that's fine, we're good, you know, and that

doesn't, but that doesn't mean reconciliation.

That doesn't mean that I can trust you with my emotions or I

can trust you in my daily life again.

So those are two different things.

And I think it's OK to differentiate between those

things because not everybody will be safe.

Maybe maybe the maybe a keystone example of this would just be,

let's say that there is somebody who's in an in a physically

abusive relationship, right? OK, so you physically exit that

space where so that way they can no longer harm you.

And emotionally you are you. You see that they're a Sinner,

saved by grace just like you. And so you forgive them.

You do the hard emotional work of saying, you know what?

I'm not going to hold that against them.

So you don't. But that also does not mean that

they are now safe just because you forgave them.

They're not safe because you have no idea that they won't

still come in and harm you. So, you know, particularly that

that more times than not would be the case of a a man and a

woman where the man is maybe been physically abusive and so

she exits whatever she can forgive, but that doesn't

necessarily mean that they're going to live in the same house

or be a couple anymore. Right, and that's I think the

definition you were looking for earlier.

Forgiveness is a one way internal process of letting go

of resentment and anger, while reconciliation is a two way

external process of rebuilding a broken relationship.

Thank you. Yeah, that was exactly.

And that and the point of that reconciliation takes work from

both parties. And notice what's missing from

that. Forgiveness is a one way process

of letting go of resentment and anger.

It doesn't say you're going to be pain free.

It doesn't it doesn't say that within forgiveness that the the

memories or the hurt or the the mental or literal stars that are

that are left there. It doesn't say that those are

going to go away with forgiveness.

But we are called to forgiveness in, in scriptures, in the Bible,

as sons and daughters of the king.

We are called to that in Jesus, even when it doesn't make sense,

even when the world would tell you, how could you possibly

forgive that person? How, how could you do that?

Because we've all wronged Jesus, right?

Like we, we, we ought each and every one of our sins put him on

that cross and he still pled Father, forgive them for they do

not know what they're doing right?

So yeah, I think those feelings are all like real and invalid.

It's a good question. I don't think that just because

you're feeling that hurt that you can't have been in a place

of forgiveness. There's probably still hurt in a

place of forgiveness. Sometimes they're not.

We would hope and pray that there's not that peace is

ultimately resolved upon. But I think until you get to

reconciliation, unlike true lasting reconciliation where

there's effort and redemption in both parties, that there could

still even be hurt. And that's it like that there's

trust has been violated. And that's, and that's one of

those things that you can't always come back to it being

exactly how it was, exactly as good as it was before that hurt

happened. Yeah, you know, Jesus and I'll

paraphrase, you know, be innocent as doves but wise as

serpents. So like, I want to be innocent

before God and before man because I have authentically let

it go. I've forgiven.

So I want to be innocent that way, but I want to be wise.

I'm, I don't want to let somebody into my life or my

family's life who can just run roughshod and continue to harm

us emotionally or, or otherwise. So I'm not, I don't want to let

them into that space until I know that they deserve to be in

that space. You know that.

And they've earned that trust through whatever means

necessary. And so, yeah, I, I, I absolutely

have cases in my life where I have, I or somebody else in my

family has been harmed. Now, if I saw that person who

did those things walking down the street and they waved at me,

I'd wave right back and I would smile.

And that wouldn't be inauthentic.

But would I necessarily let that person have dinner with me and

my kids? Nope.

I probably wouldn't. Not, not right now.

And so The thing is, yeah, I'm not talking bad about them.

I'm not wishing them. I'll, I'm not, I'm not looking

to harm them in any way. I want them to have a good life

and I want them to meet Jesus. But we're not having dinner

together right now. Yeah, so there, there's that.

And I think that's real. And that's just being authentic

about what's happening. Yeah.

And what you're talking about is boundaries.

And that's actually a really, if I could recommend an extra

biblical book on those things. It's just, it's literally called

Boundaries. It's by Doctor Henry Cloud.

And that's a great, great book for situations like this

requiring forgiveness and reconciliation or even just

simply that. What are the boundaries of

Unpeaceful relationships in my life?

How do how do I go about that in a in a loving Christ like way?

Yeah, also a good book. Excellent.

Doctor Henry Cloud. He's just side note that popped

in my head. He also co-authored a group's

book, you know, so like we'd we have life groups and stuff here

and he's been pretty influential on how like the philosophy of

developing those things. So excellent author.

Well worth your time to read any of his material.

Yeah. A couple things coming up in

just life of ERC. Next Sunday, the 19th is we have

a budget meeting, which I know sounds like really business and

boring, but it is how we feel the elders and church

leadership, how we believe we are led to join God in his work

in the next year with with these earthly resources that he has to

ask us to be faithful stewards of.

So if you'd like to be in the know on what we're looking at

for fiscal year 2026 and and what that looks like, you're

invited to stay after the service for that.

Immediately following that we are doing an outdoor, I know

fall Midwest River baptism probably sounds frosty and it's

going to be probably the water will be chilly a little bit.

But we have I believe 10 individuals that we are

baptizing into Christ in the water of the Wapsey this Sunday

around noonish. And we'll we'll send out the

address and location of that. But yeah, we've got a spot set

up and it's going to be cool experience both for those being

baptized, but also if you church want to come and and witness and

testify to God's goodness in this moment in the in the life

lives of these individuals and families invite you to do that

as well. Going to be pretty cool and

October 26th vision Sunday more on we'll have we'll have the

next message in the series that we're going through in Exodus,

but also you're you're taking the message that week and I'll

also be speaking on on vision the direction that we believe

God's calling us to as as a body as as a church body made-up of

members made-up of people. What we're chasing, what we're

pursuing, the work that he's already laid out for us in

community here. So that's that's October 26th

and that's the normal worship service time.

It's going to go a little long. We'll probably be like 90

minutes that Sunday with both of us speaking 9:30 to 11:00.

But we're going to have lunch. We'll have lunch and afterwards

in the gym and just a good time of food and fellowship

afterwards just gathered as God's people.

And it can be as simple and powerful and good as that.

So invite you all to participate in that.

I love all of those things. I love baptism.

That's going to be so amazing to see and to be a part of.

And you know, then, Oh my gosh, it's, it's so exciting.

And you know, like it's a weird thing to be excited about.

Maybe it's weird, maybe it's not, it shouldn't be, but I, but

I love it. Like I can't wait to see what

God's going to do in the next year, the next five years with

ERC and, and these people and people we don't even know yet,

but people he's going to bring into our faith community.

And, you know, even beyond like, casting that vision, dude, I

love food. Simply stated, I love.

And more importantly, I love having food with other people.

You know, I this is a tangent now.

You're welcome. But here's here's my tangent.

I don't know if there's anything that feels more sad to me than

just eating alone. Like, no, I mean that It's like,

so it feels so sad to me. And so sometimes, like, for

example, like, you know, we're, we're, we're here at church,

we're in the office and, you know, working on stuff and I

bring a lunch and I'm just in my office and I just like, it's

just sad food, not because I'm sad, but because there's nobody

to eat with me and it's just sad food.

And I don't like sad food. Wow, Yeah, you just got to peek

into my. Cycle everyone just got a

picture of lonely lunch with. Chris lonely lunch man like it's

so sad. I I don't like it.

Like actually the other night I thought about going to well, I,

I was going to a movie and I was like, I can go to this movie

alone. Like this is out of town,

Grant's working all this kind of stuff.

And I was like, ultimately, like, I'm OK going to a movie by

myself. Are you though?

Apparently not, because I did invite somebody you.

Did. I broke down and I was like, hey

mom, can you go to a movie with me?

And she did. So it was really nice.

But like, but you know what would be?

But eating alone would be way more sad.

Like even OK, let's say I've gone to the I'm really off now.

Let's say I've gone to the movie by myself and I order the

popcorn and I'm sitting there just eating popcorn by myself.

I'm eating. Again, I'm eating again, and I'm

eating alone, and I'm eating alone in the dark.

Is there more? Is there something more sad than

that Eating alone in the dark that even made it worse?

I'm going to make myself upset. Like I don't want to do that.

So there you go. There's a there's a look into

sad Chris. And what would make me so sad.

Eating alone in the dark would make me so sad.

Sad Chris eating alone in the dark.

All right, we we got there somehow, from church rejoicing

celebrations and gatherings and baptisms.

We got to Sad Chris eating alone in the dark.

I'm sorry you. I'm saved, Pastor Chris,

everyone I. Know all of you, just got a

weird look into my stream of consciousness, so you're

welcome. Oh man, here we go.

I'm usually excited to dive into the world and I've never been

more excited to leave that topic behind and and jump into some

more stuff in Exodus 16 here. So I touched on a lot yesterday.

Man, we're just God's word is is so good and so rich.

It's hard to sift through all of it a lot of the time.

But we started at the first part of Exodus 16, verse one, talking

about the the wilderness of of sign Sinai, Mount Sinai that

they were journeying through ultimately going to end up there

getting the getting the 10 commandments handed down from

God to Moses down the mountain and all of that.

We get a couple markers, verses 1 and 2 here on the 15th day of

the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.

So we have, I know in weeks, weeks past, we've talked about

kind of this timeline we're at, we're at about 45 days since

they have been free of this slavery, which is a long time,

but also isn't that long of a time to like forget God's

miraculous faithfulness in, in the things that they've seen.

Right, like 40 days versus the last 400 years, right?

Really short, relatively speaking.

And here we are just like moaning and complaining.

And you know what? They're not even eating alone.

I don't know what their problem is.

They're not even eating by themselves.

They got plenty of people to eat with.

You got plenty of people. What the heck?

But verse 2, the whole congregation of the people of

Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in this wilderness.

And this is this is interesting. They Moses and Aaron, what are

you going to do about this? Like they, they haven't even

really because we see them focus their grumbling to God.

And of course, of course, Moses and Aaron took it to God and

they're like, Hey, what are we? What are we going to do with

this? God's response verse 4, Behold,

I'm going to rain bread from heaven for you.

And people should go out and gather a day's portion every day

that I may test them whether they walk in my law or not.

I didn't deep dive into this verse, but there's Jesus all

over this verse, right? Like.

Bread from heaven, How does it get more Jesus?

Even that, Yeah. Jesus coming down from heaven

and then and then if you take it to him being the word him him us

us walking daily rooted in the vine he was in me finds the

Father and and all these all these things about Jesus John

John 15 in there and but but think about that so

contextualize that if Jesus is the bread from heaven.

He is the bread of life. He is the word that we are to

take in daily. Then hear this verse.

The people shall go out and gather a day's portion every

day. It's right there we need our

daily portion of the word of God every day.

Why that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

There's so I know, I know that sounds very lawful, but there's

actually like obedience, faithfulness in this verse,

right? Oh, absolutely.

We need that daily bread. Why?

Because it's what's best for us. God's way is best.

It should be first and best in our lives, informing our actions

and forming our our call, how we engage with the world.

And then that I may test them whether they will walk in my

lawn or not. If we're starting in the word,

do we, I mean, I mean to to jump ahead to James again, like show

me a faith without works. I will show you a faith by by my

works, like are we walking in the daily bread that we're

eating, that we're that we're taking in?

Well, think about it from the perspective, you know, fitness,

people will say this all the time.

You know, you get out what you put in.

So if I put in junk, then my body's not going to react the

way I want it to in terms of like my ability to move freely

throughout the world. So therefore I should put good

things into my body. Well, if we're talking about

like, yeah, the, the, the body is just the methodology through

which we, our souls in our minds and our hearts travel through

the world. Well, my gosh, like I need my

heart, my, my soul, my mind to be healthy.

And how better can I make my heart, my soul, my mind healthy

every single day than reflecting on the character of God, on what

he's done in his word every single day?

That is the thing that is going to keep me healthy and moving

through the world effectively without stumbling all over the

place. And you know, as far as the

quote law goes, it's the thing that reminds me, all right, God

has a standard and he has a standard of how I am to speak

and to walk in this world, how I'm to interact with him, how

I'm to interact with my neighbor.

And to the extent that I am dwelling in his word every

single day, to that same extent, I will be a mouthpiece for him.

I'll do that way more effectively.

You know, it would be the same thing like if I let's hear, Oh

my gosh, if I was reading A blog everyday on how to how to be a

better cook or a chef, guess what I'm going to talk about all

the time. Oh, you know, this meal I just

made and I got this weird ingredient and like it totally

blew up everything and it was amazing.

And it's like a flavor profile I've never had before.

And you're going to talk about that stuff all the time because

it's what you're taking all the time.

Well, God's word is not any different.

In fact, it's more powerful. It's more powerful and to your

point, it's not it's not law. It's simply doing and and that's

in this verse to the people shall go out and gather a day's

portion. God could have just each of

these families could have just set out a little basket right

right by their camp and each morning God could have just

snapped his fingers like boom, it's full again right there.

He could have I mean really he could have just taken their

bellies and been like every morning.

Boom, it's full now, like why the middle man because it's this

walk in obedience, whether or not they will walk in my lob

like there's still doing to do in in the Christian walk, right.

Ephesians 289 and 10 that that they would walk in the good

works that I that I've orchestrated for them, that I've

that I've planned for them for what?

To glorify God to to bring glory to God.

Man, you're just speaking in Bible verses.

This is great. Like, but, but it's, it's all

there, right? Like it's, it screams Jesus and

and it's all the same God, it's all the same relationship.

But we can see it even in the Old Testament that this is the

design for it. So.

And isn't it? Actually, let me pause for a

second here. Isn't that so cool that God

wants our participation like he wants us to be a part of his

goodness and his plan? I, I, I love the fact that you

said, yeah, he could have just magically filled their bellies

every day and they would be like, sweet man, I'm not hungry.

But no, like he, he loves us so much that he wants us to

participate. Think about it this way.

If you've got a small child of some sort and you're, I don't

know, I'm not a mechanic, but let's say you're doing a, a

project on your car, replacing the battery or something silly

and easy like that. I could just do it and have my

kid being babysat by my by his iPad, or I could invite him away

from the iPad and say, Hey, like, I, I just want you to

participate with me. And that is showing love in such

a huge way because like, I've got this time and I want to

spend that time with you. I want to do this thing with

you. And The thing is very secondary

to the fact that I just want you with me.

And so I just, I love that God lets us and encourages us and

wants us to participate in what he's doing.

I think that's great. And the other part of this that

I think kind of the next step, we jump ahead to verse 9 and

Moses and Aaron, they kind of go that they, they talk with God

and God reveals the plan of how he's going to provide and, and

give meat in the evening and and bread in the morning for the

people. Moses said to Aaron, verse 9,

say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, come near

before the Lord for he has heard you grumbling, OK.

And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the

people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness and

behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

So not only that, who moved, right?

Like we've, we've talked about that question before.

You're feeling distant from God. You're, you're feeling

lackluster in your faith and that it's not what it was.

Who moved draw near to God and he and he will draw near to you.

They were they were listing right they were they were they

were setting their eyes on other things and the correction has

come near before the Lord for he has heard your grumbling and and

the Lord says in verse 11, I've heard the grumbling of the

people of Israel. I have seen their suffering

right that same that same back when they were in Egypt.

I've seen the affliction of my people when God's talking to

Moses in the burning Bush, like I know, I know you're struggling

is, is, is what God says. I know what you're going

through. I get it.

But who moved you moved I've I've, I've been right here with,

with provision and faithfulness the whole time.

So draw near and the Lord has heard your grumbling.

So then we get into and and and and he says when you draw near,

when you take in my provision at twilight, you shall eat meat.

Verse 12 in the morning you should be filled with bread.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.

When we're resting in and taking in His provision, His daily

bread, His goodness for us, that is the best thing for us.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.

God's patience is kind of off the charts here, and here's what

I mean by that. As if they didn't know that God

was the Lord of heavens and the earth when he parted the Red

Sea. As if they didn't know, which

was only like 40 something days ago.

Like, really? Did you forget so quickly?

Now, this is, of course, going to become a thematic part of,

well, all of the Exodus story. And I don't mean Exodus just

like the book. I mean like the Pentateuch, the

first five books of the Bible. And far beyond.

People are going to see his glory.

They're going to see a miracle. They're going to be provided

for. God's going to just knock their

socks off with blessings. And then a short time later,

they're going to be like, yeah, but but what have you done for

me lately? And I just, it's, it's so sad to

see, but I actually don't, I don't demonize them for that

because am I not the same? Do I not, you know, say, oh,

Lord, all these things are going wrong.

I need you to fix everything in my life.

Come on, Like, get to it. And then of course, in his own

way, in his own time, he does see me through all of those

things. And then I'm like, oh sweet,

good job Jesus. And then like next week, here I

am again, acting like he didn't just fix everything for me all

the time. Like good gravy, what is my

problem? Yeah, but I love how God like

God's almost showing off in this passage too a little bit I can't

think of because this this thought kind of just came to my

mind. I can't think of a good like

real life metaphor for it. But if if you were to if you

were to tell someone or like someone just and someone knew

that you were awesome at something and like you and like

and like they knew you're OK darts.

Sorry. Oh no, You just put, you just

put a bull's eye on me. Now everybody's, everybody at

men's night is just going to want to.

See a bull's eye on you at at men's night.

That's fine. But if so, let's see if I can

put this together so someone knows that you're good at darts.

The Israelites know that God has provided he's made a way for

them through the sea. They're just kind of they're

just kind of forgotten about it. And so no, this will work

teammate three O 1 working or or or even cricket that we put I I

don't know dart terms. What game do we usually?

Play. We usually play cricket.

We usually play cricket down filling in the the teens and

bull's eyes and and racking points.

So cricket usually say that say that you're like because you're

playing teams. Usually you got you got 2 and

you're paired up with somebody and, and you're just kind of

you're rolling along, you're doing your job, You're not

really carrying the team. And then all of a sudden like

it's, it's crunch time and you get to pull out like, OK, Nope.

You know what? We need 3 bullseyes.

I got you. This is this is done.

Bam, bam, bam. I'm still awesome at darts

because I'm pastor Chris and I'm awesome at darts.

Like I love how God kind of flexes in this moment.

Like, Yep, you guys have forgot. And you know what?

I'm not going to be prone to anger.

Actually, I'm going to show you my glory in this cloud.

I'm going to be prone to to mercy.

And also I'm still going to rock your socks off with all this

quail, all this mana like because I can, because I'm God

like. It's just like total flex of

like, Oh, you forgot. I am.

I am happy to show you again how awesome that I am, right?

No, and actually, sometimes he reminds us like, OK, so Fast

forward to the end of the book of Job after just all this time

of complaining and kind of, you know, and and his friends just

accusing him of being an awful, terrible person who somehow

deserved all the bad things that happened to him.

Is got bad friends don't have friends like that anyway.

But God comes and he flexes in a different way.

Where were you? Where were you?

Oh, man, And he just starts to list like the formation of the

earth and how he controls and stops the seas right where

they're supposed to to. And yeah, yeah, God has every

right to flex on us, however often he feels the need to.

And sometimes he does that through like right here grace,

like food and meat and all that kind of stuff.

And other times he does it through like, I need to put you

back in your place. I need to remind you that your

life is like a a breath. You know, the flowers, they eat

all those things. And so anyway, I just, it's,

it's so cool to watch him work in these ways.

And this is just such a great example of it.

Yeah. So he does.

He does this and I talked about the provision a little bit

yesterday. I'm interested to hear your

thoughts on this because the quail, I mean that was, that was

just, that was a bird that was in there.

I love how you said that yesterday.

You're like, they're just birds man.

They're just regular birds. Well, but they weren't.

Again, it was. They're not magic birds, they're

regular birds. They were in magic.

It's not like all of a sudden there was this mysterious

creature that they'd never seen before that they didn't know

what to do with. No, God just kind of flocked

quail to their general vicinity. And they like it could have even

been a migratory pattern that they were like, because that's

the birds that they are. But God orchestrated those

things for his divine purposes and to provide for his people.

Right. So that's where I kind of went.

And I'd, I'd love to hear your reaction more so in trying to

talk about the practicality of the manna.

So yes. And and don't don't hear what

I'm not saying. Could God just rain little chips

of bread from heaven and have them cover the ground?

Absolutely, yes. Could it be a lot more practical

and something that actually occurs in nature that was just

covering the ground. Also yes, I think yeah.

So I don't want to like again, this is we're going to major in

the majors. This is not a issue of salvation

or significance to me. It's pretty powerful or what

spoke to me out of this was God working in like the seemingly

mundane, this, this, this substance, which again, is

still, it's still eaten by those in this region and they still

call it mana to to this day. Like that they eat this flaky

SAP resin stuff that that insects get out of trees

basically. So, yeah, could, could he have

worked in that way in this substance that naturally occurs

in the region and then covered the ground with it?

And also makes a lot of sense that the I mean, the passage

tells us that the sun melted it away.

So guess, guess what SAP does when it gets warm, right?

It liquefies and and and melts like so yeah, I, I don't know if

that was crazy or after the reservation, but the

practicality of God using everyday month things, things

that we may not notice for his divine purposes, that spoke very

powerful to me. I don't.

I don't. I don't know if it did for you

or others. But no, absolutely, I think I

think you're, you're spot on and you're 100%, you know, pointed,

you know, you're, you're pointed true north, you've got it

figured out. And so think about this.

We just crossed the Red Sea. And if you have one of those

little study guides, you'll notice that there is a reference

in that study guide to the fact that scientists have put

together a a mechanic where basically they know exactly how

fast and how strong the wind would have to be because that's

what it says. God used the wind to part the

sea, right? OK.

So, yeah, so scientists have figured out the to the to the

exact extent this is how hard the wind would have to be

moving. And yes, in fact, if the wind

were moving that hard in that direction, the sea would

absolutely part. So think about this.

God, the creator of the entire universe, of everything we see,

feel touched here, whatever. He's the creator and owner and

sustainer of all of those things.

Why wouldn't he use what he created to do what he wants to

do? So in the case of the Red Sea,

the wind, in the case of the mana, OK, he's got this thing

that he already created for nature to naturally do, but he's

going to take that just like the wind at the Red Sea, and he's

going to specifically work that for a specific end.

So think about this, we've got probably 2,000,000 plus people

now. Do we actually think that the

normal amount of mana that hits the ground is enough to feed?

Exactly. And do we actually think that

that's happening year round all the time?

No, it's not. But God took what he already

created to naturally occur and he expands it to an infinite

level so that it's great enough to sustain his people.

So yeah, there's it is a natural process that he created.

Acknowledge that first. But it's a process that he also

blew up way bigger than nature has any right to say it is.

So he did all of those things. And and I think, I think you

made a good point there and it makes a lot of sense.

Cool, Yeah 'cause he he magnifies and multiplies what's

what's already there, Could he? You just said what I said in

like 2 seconds. That was way better you got

there. I could have just said he

magnifies and multiplies and then I could have been done and

we I I could have stopped talking 2 minutes ago.

Hey, we got to fill podcast time, man.

It's good. I need you to be a little rambly

sometimes. About sad eating.

No see how I keep dragging. Us back.

Never that OK. Yeah, so and I, I did talk about

yesterday too, because I think it's where it where it applies

And I again. Could God work in miraculous

ways with things that are outside our normal experience

with things we've never seen before?

Yes, absolutely. I think he could.

But he can also work in the things that are around us

everyday that we just don't notice or take the time to

acknowledge. And I think, and I think that

could be the situation here because we have the testimony of

the Gospels, Jesus feeding the 4000 and the 5000 where he took

bread and fish. This was not magical bread and

flying fish like this. This was regular, normal,

everyday things that everyone in that crowd consumed every day.

But add a little Jesus, little sprinkle of Jesus and it

magnifies and multiplies the thing, right?

So I, I see the parallels of God working in the same way in this

passage here. And it doesn't sound crazy

because we see God working that way in other parts of the Bible

too. So there's that we kind of

jumped over, there's, there's Sabbath instruction weaved in

and out of this passage everywhere.

Just we're, we're all the way up in verses 14 and 15 already.

But back to verse 5 is where it really starts.

God instructs on the 6th day when they prepare what they

bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily in

anticipation of not gathering on the 7th day, right?

So there's more instruction. Verses 16 and 17.

Gather of it, each of you as much as he can eat.

The people of Israel did so when they measured it with an Omer.

Whoever gathered much had nothing leftover.

Whoever gathered, gathered little, had no lack.

Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.

Moses warned them let no one leave any of it over till the

morning. But they did not listen to

Moses. Remember that?

Remember the earlier part where there's hey, there's things to

do to see whether or not you will you will gather your daily

bread and it will be a test to see whether or not you walk in

my law right home, man. They're already not listen.

It's like first step, step one. Don't hold any of it over verse

20. But they did not listen to

Moses. Some left part of it till the

morning, and it bred worms and stank gross.

And Moses was very angry with them.

I did. I did point this out that we

don't really see the wrath of God in this passage.

There's not. But there was wrath from Moses.

No, we got smelly camp. Why are we in smelly camp?

Nobody wants to go to smelly camp.

They wanted to go back with the meat pots.

Man, those had the smell if. You could have.

Sent meat pots one more time. It's a funny word.

It's insane. No, it's not insane.

It's not. It's just, it's so there's

something about the word meat pots that's really kind of

disturbing. It is.

It's. Honestly it sounds like people

dying. Like why would you want to go

back to the meat pots? That sounds like a terrible life

they did. It would be better that we would

go around the meat pots and and have bread to the like.

Oh, man, anyway, so one of the things here that I was that I

was kind of thinking of, you know, like, OK, so we live in a

Sam's and a Costco world, you know what I mean?

So like. Stockpile.

Stuff. Oh, dude, we gosh, OK, go back

to 2020 and all of a sudden there's no toilet paper on the

shelves because people gather far more than what they need.

Weird and strange and terrible. And so we live in a Costco Sam's

world where we feel like, oh, we've got to gather.

We've got to gather, we've got to hoard, we've got to do all

this stuff. And God is like, don't you trust

me? Why do you feel like you need to

hoard things? The same God who, who parted the

Red Sea. I'm going to be there for you

every single day. Like I, I know what you need.

There's no surprises here. I'm the one who created your

body, therefore I know what it needs.

Why are you surprised by that? Why?

Why do you feel like you need to hoard these things?

You want to know why people feel the need to hoard things?

Because they have no trust. They have no trust.

Is God really going to show up for me today?

Like, yeah, of course he is. But do you, do you trust that or

do you want smelly camp? I would rather have.

I would rather trust God than smelly camp.

Now one of them is a little bit more difficult emotionally.

It can be difficult emotionally to trust God when it feels like

where am I? Where is my help coming from?

Right? So, but man, my help comes from

the Lord and the maker of heaven and earth, the the only one who

can do anything meaningful. And so let's not be, especially

in our faith, let's not be a Sam's Club culture in our faith,

Let's rely on God every single day, day in and day out to

provide for us. And we don't need to hoard or

build up these safety Nets because He's already got us.

That's so good. And I think that that might

sound, it does sound countercultural because you're

right, we're in a Sam's Club, Costco culture where, where we

accumulate and stockpile things and we can maybe bring that

practically to our faith. Oh, well, I, I read 2 chapters

yesterday, so I'm good for today.

Like, yeah, maybe. But also like you read 2

chapters yesterday so that you could be back in the word today.

Like we're, we're not, we're not stockpiling that daily bread for

a day that we don't need it. We need it every day.

And God, God designed it that way.

Coming ahead to some some more Sabbath things.

Verse 22, on the 6th day, they gathered twice as much bread, 2

omers each side note and omers about two liters.

So picture a 2 liters of soda like that.

That thing is full of little mana flakes, little little mana

wafers. When all the leaders of the

congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is

what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow, listen to this

language. Listen, listen to the

weightiness of this language. Tomorrow is a day of solemn

rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

Wow, do we treat that day that way.

Man, that I feel a lot of conviction in that like we we we

don't. And what's even worse is we have

the attitude and you brought this out in the in the study

guide, the our deliver study guide that you worked up for

this series. We very much have the attitude

of, Oh no, if I could just, if I could just get these things done

for the next, for the next 10 days or so, then I would have

time to rest. There's always going to be more.

Look at the way God designed this though.

He says 6 days, you shall gather verse 26.

But on the 7th day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.

So on the 7th day, some of the people went out together, but

they found none. There's not even work to do on

the Sabbath. God gave them this thing and

gave them instruction to go walk and gather each day.

On the 7th day, there's not even work to done to be done, work to

done. There's not even work to be done

to be tempted to do. There's nothing to do on the

Sabbath but rest in God's provision.

That already happened the day before, man.

So obviously here it's very specific, you know, don't even

exit your home basically like just just hang out with a fan,

just rest, just just be happy with the way that God is

provided. And like maybe in, you know,

maybe in lieu of working, I'm working on catching up with my

kids, I'm working on catching up with my wife because I feel like

we've just been roommates for six days, you know, running back

and forth. You know, somebody, somebody

said recently, as we're just talking, I feel like I'm just

running parallel to them. And that struck me a lot.

Like I'm just running parallel to my wife and my kids.

And that's, but that's so real for so many of us.

And, you know, a Sabbath is a chance to take those lines and

allow them to intersect once again in a really meaningful

and, and special way. And God does that on purpose.

Like he, he knows that we, we, you know, through the, through

the jobs and careers and those kind of things that we have,

like that's how like God is allowing us to provide for our

families. Great, great.

But like, can we just, can we just pause for a moment?

So, you know, they're obviously taking this like very seriously

and they should like we're not leaving our house.

Does that mean practically in the 21st century that on your

day of rest, when you're not going to work, you're not

allowed to leave your house? Well, I would say no, that's not

exactly what that means. It just means like, let's be

really intentional about when we are leaving our home.

We're doing that together. We're doing that with a spirit

of joy and rest and just a desire to interact with each

other in a meaningful way that we have not been able to as

we're running parallel to each other.

So I think, yeah. And maybe, man, that's going to

look different for everybody. Like, you know, what's something

for me, for example, like if I want to spend some time with my

son on my day of rest, maybe we end up going to the gym

together, which that sounds like work.

And some of you are like, why would you ever do that?

No, But like, that's my time. I get to, like, spend with him

one-on-one, and we just get to talk.

And so whether we're walking on the treadmill or grabbing some

free weights, like, yeah, I'm resting in the presence of my

son as he gets to tell me about his life and vice versa.

And that's so cool. Yeah, and working at working on

body as a temple stuff in, in, in ways that's that's honoring

God and and the things that he's laid out.

And it also doesn't, it doesn't have to be Sunday.

I think. I think Sunday makes sense

because we do we gather as God's people on Sundays.

So it's, it's already naturally set out like we're here,

obviously, because that's what we do for a vocational living.

But like even start even starting here in God's presence

with God's people on Sundays, OK, that can inform the rest of

your day, even if you're on to other things after that, even if

you're off to a swim meet or a sports event or a family

gathering, whatever. All right, even if you missed

church that morning, OK, in in the car, What's what's that time

like? Listen, listen to the Bible

together in the car. Talk about things of faith with

your kids. Go go through the basic tenets

of of, of things the the Apostles Creed or the OR the

Lord's Prayer or things like you can still inform your time

together while going to like, I'm not saying there's anything

wrong with with sporting events and I know they take up a ton of

time and that's good. You can, you can delight in your

kids and and doing those things and having that be a part of

your family makeup. But can you Sabbath thing is, is

taking time and making that time intentional for God, right?

Taking those things that are life giving.

I think that's more of it. If they're life giving and God

honoring those, those are Sabbath things, life giving.

I think we can fill in the blanks with a lot of things.

Are the life giving things always God honoring things?

I think that takes a little more effort, a little more

intentionality to loop God into, OK, what are our what are our

purposes in this? How do we honor God in these

gifts given in these talents given even in these resources

maybe that we're spending on this event or this thing that

we're going to or the time with these people that we're

spending. How are we God honoring in this?

What is what is that keeping God is the focus of Sabbath.

I think it is more important than the nitty gritty of like

the each and every facet and detailing activity that you're

doing, finding God in it. That is Sabbath thing.

Oh my gosh, well said. You know, and The thing is like

on on a Sabbath, you know, one of the things that we absolutely

have to do in order to make that rest meaningful is to is to

include God in it. So thank you for saying that in

the not so distant future, just as a preview, and maybe you want

to look at it ahead of time to actually start to get this, you

know, tattooed on your heart. But go read Deuteronomy 6 when

you're walking, by the way. And when you're doing this, when

you're doing this, like Deuteronomy 6 very much gives us

this time sense that every single moment is precious.

So like you brought it up, like when we're in the car together

going from A to B, what is what, what am I, what am I promoting

during that time? You know, are the kids on the

iPads? Are they watching a movie?

Or like, could we be more intentional about just like even

passively, you know, what I know like your favorite artist is so

and so, but like we're, we're going to listen to the worship

music together. And whether you sing or you

don't sing, like we're going to be a, we're going to be inside

this small space together listening to worship music that

honors God. And so that's a way that as

you're traveling, as you're going as whatever, like that's a

way to to honor God. And so like inside your Sabbath,

whatever day of the week that is, or maybe it's two half days,

however that breaks up for you, make sure that God's a part of

it. And that can be listening to a

sermon, it can be listening to worship music, it can be reading

his word, it can be prayer, and it can be all of those things,

right? But like invite God into your

rest. And then when you're coming out

of that rest and you're and you're refocusing your energy

into what it is career or whatever that looks like, man.

Now I'm coming into that refreshed and filled because

what do we do when we're working?

We're probably emptying our cup. Like think of that.

Think of that image like you can have a glass of water in your

hand and as you're working, man, I'm pouring out, pouring out,

pouring out all this energy, all this effort, man.

But if if I'm Sabbath, well, God is the one filling that cup back

up. Netflix doesn't fill my cup back

up. That just distracts me from what

I have to do for the rest of the week.

But but God is literally filling my cup back up with joy and

praise. So if God isn't in your Sabbath,

your cups not really getting filled.

Right. And that's going to make work

that much harder. Yeah, fetching out or or doom

scrolling or the other things like that's one.

Of my favorite phrases. Actually, that's that's probably

not filling you back up or or giving you rest for work.

Is is the is the phrase that I landed on yesterday?

It's not. It's not my phrase been stated.

Before it's brilliant. I mean, it's very, it's, it's

spot on. Rest for work, not not from

work. If we keep filling ourselves

with things that don't ultimately replenish or satisfy,

then we are going to get to the point of of burnout and feel

like we we need to rest from this thing rather than rest in

preparation for what it is that we're that we're called to.

And I, and I say that in a very general sense, whatever your day

today is managing a household and an actual job, raising kids,

teaching kids, being out and about in the, in the, in the

life of neighbors, visiting people in the, in the nursing

home. What, whatever it might be,

whatever your daily calling, your stage of life is right now

got to be rooted in that Sabbath rest on, on the foundation that

God gives you. Got to be rooted in joy and

peace in order to bring joy and peace to others.

Yep. You can't.

You can't put out what you don't have going in.

Yeah. So then there's this interesting

sort of historical setting, verse 32.

Moses said, this is what the Lord has commanded.

Let an Omer of it, the manna, be kept throughout your

generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed

you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of

Egypt. Jumping ahead to verse 35, the

people of Israel ate the mana 40 years till they came to the

habitable land. They ate the mana till they came

to the border of the land of Canaan.

God instructed them to keep this as a reminder and there's

different this this Omer of mana may have been kept in the ark of

the covenant. Was it it was supposed to be

kept in the in the presence of the the holy of holies in the

temple. And there's some thought that it

was this Omer was destroyed or lost around the time of of

Solomon, the destruction of the temple then and, and, and all

that, but it's a testament to God's faithfulness.

And you know what the promise of faithfulness is here we see it

lived out in the Israelites. They ate man of 40 years till

they came to the promised land. What does that mean for us

today? All you Christian followers of

God, Christ followers, Christians listening.

We're in those forty years, right?

Where? Where we live already, Not yet.

Heaven is our home. We're in those forty years

approaching the promised land and they ate manna for 40 years.

So God, God has provided for our time leading up to the Promised

Land already. That's what we're living in now,

right? He's already promised us this

faithfulness. We see it in the provision for

the Israelites, leading to the point that they arrive in the

Promised Land. And what is this daily manner

for us now? It's his word.

Well, and consider the fact that yesterday's service, as we do

second Sunday of the month typically, we had an opportunity

to receive the body and blood of Jesus through communion.

Well, here's what Jesus says about himself in John 648

through 51. I am the bread of life.

Your Father's ate the man in the wilderness, and they died.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may

eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came

down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he

will live forever. And the bread that I will give

for the life of the world is my flesh.

So yeah, as we have an opportunity to receive his body

and blood, the promise is life forever in a life that is

without pain and sickness and sorrow and all these kinds of

things that make this side of heaven really difficult.

But Jesus has promised a better way, and he is the better way.

He is the bread that came down from heaven.

He is the manna. That doesn't spoil.

It does not rot, it doesn't smell like as we get to receive

him all of a sudden, like we are filled, we are full, we are.

We are given everything we need day in and day out through him.

Only one way. Yeah, and it's it's full circle.

That bread from heaven, Jesus coming down, casting heaven

aside and being that bread, that life, that daily bread that we

have here every day. That, but that's the design,

right? It's it's a daily thing on the

Sabbath. Now this, this is where the

metaphor breaks down a little bit in gathering the daily bread

and gathering the word. Does the, does the Sabbath mean

we take a day off from that? No, it it means we're resting

only and ever in the provision of God in his daily bread that

that's already happened. This came up at my life group

yesterday just considering the pattern of Sabbath and and those

things I'm really bad at. I said it yesterday on the

service that I'm really bad at resting.

I'm actually I'm, I don't have a regular rhythm of Sabbath and

it's something that I'm convicted more and more about.

But Romans 12/2 screamed through to me in in one of your

reflection questions of you know what Sabbath Sabbath is

orchestrated. By God in a way, it doesn't make

sense to the world. It wouldn't make sense to the

world that we would lose an entire day of of work of

productivity, of result of things.

But Romans 12/2 is do not conform any longer to the

pattern of this world. So you know, you know what we

need every 7th day we need that reset to not conform to the

pattern of this world God built in and every 7th day reset

button of this earth is not your home.

This isn't what it's about. Dwell in me, dwell in the things

of me abide in me. Every 7th day reset this and and

live between the Sundays in me. Oh fantastic.

And and don't forget, as Jesus corrects bad quote Sabbath

behavior in Mark 227, he says that Sabbath was made for man,

not mad, not man for Sabbath. Meaning that like it's a gift,

it's a gift. It's not a law, it's a gift to

stop and slow down. That is a gift.

And if you can't see that as a gift, you might be worshipping

something other than God. You know, you're worshiping

productivity. You're worshiping results.

You're worshiping dude. Take the gift.

Receive the gift of rest knowing that he has done it all and he

will continue to do it all because he's the only one who

can do it all. Yeah, the song we closed with

yesterday. Seek first the Kingdom and its

treasures, and everything else will be added.

All that I'm needing, I know the Lord will provide you.

You might not. You might not see a way that

might not make sense in your life.

Well, I got to get this done. Who's going to get this done if

I don't get it done? Does it have to get done?

Does that thing have to get? Is it more important for you to

rest in God and his promises and His faithfulness and his

provision? Are you trusting?

It might not seem like enough. You might see God's permitted

provision and you might not be satisfied in that.

But this passage is telling us that it is enough that that what

God has provided for you in your life is what we should be

resting on is is what we should be resting in.

And honestly, more than that. But it's probably just us taking

God's plans and saying, Yep, this, this is good.

But you know what would be better?

I saw. If you had most of it figured

out, let me help you the rest of the way.

Right. Yeah.

And that's our arrogance and our pride and our selfishness, Yeah.

You know, there's a, there's a verse and I'm, I'm failing, I do

this all the time. I'm failing to remember where it

comes from. But you know, we, we here in the

Bible don't put the Lord to the test, but another place we here

put him to the test. Give in other words, give

generously and watch how God fills your storehouses.

So in this particular case on Sabbath, you know what, why

don't you put God to the test? Why don't you actually take a

day to Sabbath and why don't you put them to the test and see if

those productivity things increase exponentially?

If the results increase exponentially because you

trusted Him, you put this not a theory, wrong word, but you put

His word to the test to see. All right Lord, if I actually

Sabbath with you, will you not make everything more productive?

Will you not make my time that I am on even better than it has

been so that I can continue to rest in you man?

Why don't you put God to the test and actually take a day and

find out? So the verse, the verse you're

talking about, I think is Malachi 310.

There you go. It says bring the full tithe

into the storehouse that there may be food in my house and

thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of host.

If I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down

for you a blessing until there is no more need again.

And the reminder of everything that we have already belongs to

God, bringing our first and our best back to him.

And that includes our time, right?

That's that's not just earthly resource that includes our time.

So bring the full tithe even of your time into the storehouse

that there may be food in my house and thereby put me to the

test. See if I will not rain down

blessing for you until there's no more need.

Come on, that's faith, church. That's stepping out.

Man, that is so good. Good.

That was, that was back in the recesses there.

But I'm not going to remember in verses, I just remember key

ideas. So good, man.

All right. We got to be better at Sabbath

thing I do. You're doing.

You've taken a really good stance lately.

You've taken some hardline. This is my day off, darn it.

I know. And this week I will be put to

the test a little bit because, you know, I'm, I'm really trying

hard to protect. Well, Tuesday in particular, I'm

trying really hard to protect it.

But I'm already thinking like, man, Monday's so busy, blah,

blah. You know what I could do

tomorrow? And it'll actually kind of it'll

be work and it'll be Sabbath, but let me just spend some time

with like the sermon text. Like that's how I'm going to

like be in God's words tomorrow. But like I.

Have you have an agenda though? I have an agenda though, so I I

need to be real careful with my heart, you know, with that.

So I'll do my best. OK, we're learning and going

together with your church. One more thing, if you've

noticed the kind of bookshelf out here in the atrium area.

ERC pics wanting to give you some extra biblical resources

that are rooted in scripture that that are written biblically

with it with a biblical worldview on the four FS that

we're focusing on growing in faith, family, fitness and

finances. Those books are out there for

you to we we recommend them wholeheartedly for you to

improve in those areas. If you would like resources

about faith, family, fitness and finances and again, fitness,

physical fitness, but also like mental, emotional, that whole

like temple of God sort of thing.

All of those facets are involved in involved in fitness as God

created us. Those resources on the shelf are

there for you to hold in your hands.

We're not selling them here, but like for you to be able to leave

through the book and be like, hey, no, this is something I

would check out. You're welcome to check those

out each and every week and look at them and, and there's a

little QR code for that's got an Amazon link for you to buy them

for yourselves there. If that's something you'd

ultimately like to do. Don't don't take the actual

copies with you usually. But I only say this to say there

is one book out there. It's a children's devo.

It's called a roar and we found a crazy awesome Amazon day deal

on them and we would like to gift them to you as a

congregation, especially for those of you who have little

ones, children or or grandchildren that you have

spiritual influence over. Me and my family worked through

this roar book. There's a Part 2 of it called

Marvel at the Moon, but Roar Like a Lion.

There's a stack of about 20 of them out there on the shelf.

Those are yours to take church if you if you would like to have

a copy of this family Devo, we just we read it at breakfast

time. It takes about 5 minutes.

Family breakfast together, starting the word, some good

thoughts to send out the kids on their school day with.

And yeah, want to encourage you and build you up in some good

healthy family household rhythms there too.

That's awesome. I love I I love the fact that

you found this awesome deal and we can give some of those away.

I'll, I'll, I'll give a I'll give a quick plug here to some

of the books that we're recommending.

We do have those in our library, which is kind of nestled in back

in our gym fellowship hall. So you can find some of them

back there if you don't want to buy them, but to just.

Check them out to just bring them.

Back, yeah, and please bring them back.

But some of those some of those library work, please, some of

those resources are back there. So you know, give give the

library a little love some time and and check that out too.

Yeah, So who we went long today, little we got a little extra

extra leftovers. I don't, I don't have an actual

timer on this but I think we're close to like hour 10 right now.

Is it cuz? I talked about sad eating.

That was part of it, and that's part of the reason why we left.

Went over OK. Oh man.

Now you notice that I've got the hat trick.

I've now brought it up three times.

Yeah, see, you're, well, it's lunchtime now.

You're, you're probably a little hangry and you're going to have

to eat alone because I'm not going to eat with you.

So. Oh man, thanks for listening

along church. So grateful to be a part of this

community with you for His glory and for our good.

Let's stay rude in the word together.

Have a great week.