What Am I Looking For - Ps Tim Evans

Cool.

Grab a seat.

We'll we'll get started.

Just a moment.

So Luke.

Luke Kennedy is still in America.

He'll be back next Sunday.

Probably very jet lagged, which is always always fun.

So that'll be good.

It'll be good to have him back.

But I think he's having a good time over there, visiting a lot of different churches.

Yeah, great.

But good to see you all.

We're gonna jump in.

I hope all the parents are surviving.

Um school holidays, smack bang in the middle.

Um great to that you made it out in the middle of the chaos.

Uh, but we'll jump into it.

Cool.

Yeah, so it's great big honored to be able to share with you.

Um I'm very happy.

I just pray that today is helpful and and good and yeah, it adds to our community and and builds us up in Jesus.

That's what I'm praying for.

But we're just gonna jump in and and just share a little bit.

Um, so let's get started.

So I personally I work in um personal finance, which is fun.

Woo! Who loves personal finance?

I don't know.

Um but it's that it's fun.

It's it's um obviously have a lot of meetings, a lot of one-on-one meetings, and I sit across, I wouldn't say across the table, I I 99% of my meetings are on Zoom, online, which is fun.

Um, but I I talk to clients and try to understand their kind of financial goals and what they want to do, and then results in a conversation generally about life itself and what they what's important to them.

We always have to start there, and lots of similar themes will pop up as we discuss, discuss that themes like financial freedom, whatever that means, but it always comes up, and um, it's pretty hard to pin down a definition of that one or I don't know, investments for the future, but then obviously things come up like health and kids and private school and the retirement and all these things, and it's really hard to boil down to like a single answer what everyone is is looking for, I suppose.

Because I mean life changes, and there's seasons, and if anyone's had like a health crisis, you know, okay, when you have a health crisis, that is now the most important thing, or if it's a relationship crisis, that is now the most important thing.

Um so there's seasons and moments in lives, but but today I just wanted to think through the question like, what are we what am I looking for in life?

What am I looking for?

And as Christians, I mean the answer I believe is found in Jesus.

Um so we can kind of end it there, I suppose.

So you can see you next week.

Um, but but I think you just want to unpack that a little bit.

And um there's a great, a famous quote from G.K.

Chesterton, which maybe many of you know.

Um, but it says, the Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.

Um, if you this was a book that he wrote in 1910, I think, called What's Wrong with the World.

I feel like you can publish that today, that's probably people would love that.

Um, but but I think as Christians, like obviously we know it can be challenging to follow Jesus at times.

But I believe what we are looking for in life and all the things that we are looking for in life, and the best life possible, are all found in Jesus, in relationship with Jesus, in following Jesus.

Um, but that is not always the simplest or the easiest path to follow.

But I really, I truly believe it is the most fulfilling, and I think we probably all sit here and agree, agree on that, that this is such a fulfilling life following Jesus.

So today I wanted to talk through using Hebrews this question.

I've just been reading Hebrews for a little while now, and it's a very interesting book.

It's quite a complex theological book, but at the same time, it's it draws on some themes that you can pick up on and and really apply to our lives.

And the themes in Hebrews are things like Jesus is is the high priest and and he gives us the ultimate rest in Jesus, he gives us access to God.

These are some of the themes that you'll find as you read through through Hebrews, and we don't know who who wrote it, or we also don't even know who the audience was exactly, but from the letter you can kind of guess what the kind of audience was, and this is important for what we'll talk about today, but because they would have been people that knew God and knew the Torah, knew the old scripts, because there's so many references back to the Old Testament, and and it feels to me like that the Hebrews was well, this letter was written to Jews who had put their faith in Jesus, and there was a lot of unique challenges that came along with that, which we'll unpack a little bit today.

Um, and one of the themes that you see all through through Hebrews is it makes this comparison between Jesus and what went before.

I think that's why it's kind of making it's kind of a thesis, making a case for why Jesus is is so amazing and why he's fulfilled all the promises.

And I think I have like a just a little screen, but like some of the themes there is like Jesus is better than the angels, and it discusses that, and then Jesus is better than Moses, and Jesus is better than Joshua, um, and Jesus is better than Aaron and the high priests, another important concept, and then the old covenant, and then Jesus is better than, or he fulfills animal sacrifices, what used to be this thing you had to do every time you kind of messed up in life.

Jesus was the fulfillment of that and the ultimate promise.

And the point of Hebrews is not to say, ah, all these things were unnecessary or waste of time, they say or obsolete, they're saying these are all fulfilled in the coming of Jesus.

And this is where we are, we've arrived, it's Jesus.

So let's jump into Hebrews 1, verse 1.

Hebrews 1:1

That's right.

It says, In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom appointed heir of all things, and through whom also made the universe.

The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

After he had provided purifications for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven.

So Hebrews opens up.

This is the beginning, he opens up by saying, Okay, once God spoke through the prophets, but now he has spoken through his son.

And things are different.

Now he didn't just send another messenger, he sent his son, his very exact representation.

And he goes on to say that today, today, we can hear his voice.

So in Hebrews 3, verse 7, it says, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the wilderness where your ancestors tested and tried me.

Hebrews 3:7

Um though for 40 years uh they saw what I did.

Um great, great, okay, we're building up to a point here.

Um but but when in this one, in chapter three here, he's the author of Hebrews is saying this to a group that knew the story really well.

When they said the wilderness, they knew exactly what they were talking about.

He's going back to the story of Moses and leading the people out of slavery in Egypt.

I think we all know that story too.

And then they got they're going to the promised land.

Woo, the promised land.

And um, but they end up wandering around for 40 years and never, well, not never arriving, eventually arriving, but they wander for 40 years, never making it to the promised land until, or Moses doesn't make it, until Joshua comes along.

Um and what he's saying is actually today we can still hear his voice.

We can hear the voice through Jesus.

Um, we can discover and learn what we're looking for in life through his son, Jesus.

But it might not be what we expect, it might not come in the forms that we're all expecting.

Um so just like Moses was looking for the promised land, which had promises attached to it.

I don't know when you think of the promised land.

I mean, in their context, it was it meant rest and abundance.

Any farmers out there?

No farm, half a farmer.

And it's like there would have been a place where it's just easy to grow crops, just you plant anything, it just grows.

I can't even keep my house pot plant alive.

Plant, pot plant.

It's a plant, it's a normal plant in a pot.

Not um, anyway.

But it's uh they would have pictured just a place of freedom, spiritual freedom, all that.

Um they called it the land of milk and honey uh as well, which yeah, I guess for anyone who's lactose intolerant, maybe sounds awful.

Um, but but it was this prom this beautiful place where just lots of calories and sounded amazing.

But what they found, if you read the story, was actually in the promised land, there were these fortified cities, there were enemies, there was the Canaanites there, there were other gods that they were worshipping, like Baal.

Um there was challenges and opposition.

There was gonna be military opposition in the promised land, in this amazing sounding place.

Actually, they got there and they're like, oh, this is a bit scary.

Um, I don't know if we're gonna go and jump in there, and that's why they spent, fair enough, 40 years kind of wandering around waiting.

But I think if I think about the promised land, I'm thinking, oh, that's gonna be that's gonna be the easy path.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for the promise, the promises I have in you.

Uh it sounds like, oh, great, we're going to the land of milk and honey, it is gonna be smooth sailing.

Um, but actually it ended up being a struggle every step of the way.

It was a battle to get to the promised land, and it wasn't what they had expected.

And I can kind of understand, they just came out of generations of slavery in Egypt.

They came out, they've had a like a pretty rough, rough time of it, I guess.

And then they come out and God's like, oh, okay, now you have to fight for the next thing.

And they probably put their hands up and said, Oh, well, come on, God, can't you just fly down?

We've had a really tough time.

Um, could you come solve all our problems and come and tell our lives, make this easy?

We just come from slavery, can't really get much worse than that.

Um, which is a fair question, and I think maybe we've all felt that as well in our lives, probably at points where it's like, I've I've had a tough run of it.

God, come on, can we make this, can we make life a little bit easier?

Can we put it change the mode from hard mode?

Can we put on easy mode and just make let's have a have a bit of a better time?

Um and but I wonder if maybe the the promises that we have are behind some challenges or behind some hard conversations or or some really tough, difficult work that we need to get through.

Um, because I think sometimes we maybe expect things to come to us because of the hard work we do, but sometimes, okay, we got there.

God's promised this thing, but actually it's still difficult to get to.

I think I'm getting my my point across, and um, I guess back to my world, the lens that we look through a lot is when I'm talking with clients in the back of their minds as well, is always the lens of okay, retirement.

It make we need to make sure everything kind of okay, the decisions now are gonna set you up for 10, 20, 30 years in the future.

Everything's gonna be the nice, cushy, the land of you know, the nice retirement home on the Sunshine Coast.

Uh-huh.

What are the decisions you're making now that's gonna get you there?

Um, and that let and that's part of kind of the mandate of my work in some ways.

Um, it's like we've got to set people up correctly.

But also at the same time, if I think about my life as a Christian, I'm not living for retirement.

That's not like the ultimate goal of my life.

I'm like, whoa, when I get 67 or probably 70, 75 when I when I retire, but that's not the ultimate goal of my life to go sit on a beach and I don't know, do whatever you do on a beach, but just relax.

Um and I, my my wife, we like we have we have a plan, we have a financial plan, but also we've talked about it.

We're like, we're not we're not waiting till one day, 30 years later, where we're gonna now enjoy life.

Like we want we've got things to do now.

We feel called to a vocation, to a role here on planet earth now in 2026.

We're not gonna wait till someday to start living.

Um and I think I think there's hopefully that a lot of us having that conversation and feel called to do what we're doing here on earth and be a part of it.

Um we had that conversation after my my father-in-law from he came from Japan.

Um his name's Keizo.

Uh he's he scares me.

He made me write an essay when I proposed to my wife, and then she had to translate it to Japanese.

Um, but he came to visit us and he took he came took seven days off, including the flights.

He's in his 70s, including his flights, and he said it's the longest time he ever took off from work.

He still works.

He works seven days a week as an engineer.

Unbelievable, classic, uh cliche, I suppose.

But he loves what he does, and I think maybe that's overkill, but but it's I think it's keeping him going.

He's still so healthy in his mid-70s because he just loves his work so much.

But I think cousin and I had this conversation, we're like, oh, we let's do things that we love doing.

That's not like one day I can't wait to quit and stop doing this thing.

Um, and there's nothing wrong with financial security, I suppose.

But I don't think that's what our souls long and thirst for in life and every day.

And I don't know if that's where God is leading me personally, and I think where God might be leading me could be behind that challenge that I've been maybe avoiding in life.

Because I think there's what there's what I think, there's what I think I want, and there's what I want, if that makes sense.

And it's sometimes hard to like differentiate between the two.

Like, I think I want this thing, but um, and sometimes they even contradict each other.

Um maybe a lame example is I'm a bit, I'm a bit of an introvert.

I know you're not meant to label yourself, so I don't know.

I'm a bit of a but like if someone sends me a text, hey, let's hang out, my first initial response is uh no, I'm I'm busy.

And I'm like, I don't know if I want to go hang out.

Um, but I also know that when I do go hang out, I feel refreshed.

When I spend time sewing into relationships, afterwards, I'm so glad.

I'm so glad I did, even though it was a bit of an effort.

And and Heine texted me yesterday, he's like five minutes before the game, for Brisbane Lions, like, what are you doing?

And I wanted to come hang out.

Don't worry, there was no doubt in my mind.

Sorry, and it was good, it was a very exciting, exciting game.

Anyway, Heine and I were excited, and Liani, we're pretty pumped.

There's three South Africans cheering for Brisbane Lions, two real South Africans, one like fake fake South African, but um, but but I suppose in terms of what I'm looking for, I think there is there is like an eternal kind of thirst.

And I I think that like that thirst quenching water comes from Jesus, comes through Jesus.

It might not be the place we expect, might not be the easiest path or the natural path, but it's found in Jesus.

And I think I just want to be careful to not substitute like a Christian activity for Christ Himself, you know, if that if that makes sense.

Or like the knowledge of the Bible, which is so important, can become more important than knowing God Himself.

Uh and I think in my life I want to be able to keep keep the priority, the priority as the the person of Jesus is what brings that that fulfillment in my heart, not the practices, which are all like really wonderful, like human heart.

I think we all know that.

I think um great.

So let's keep keep moving on.

But that that what that psalm three specifically says, don't let your heart get hardened, like when they were wandering around and keep you from the promises, which um then in Hebrews 4 this concept of of rest comes up.

Um it's talking about Jewish Joshua and the promise of rest that was in the promised land.

And I think rest is an important topic, everyone's everyone's favorite topic.

I think and rest is like the practical application which acknowledges that Jesus' ways are better than my ways.

I don't know if that makes sense, if that's a bit of a word salad.

Um but I think my reaction to what when I hear this question myself, like, okay, I'm looking for Jesus, if he's the thing that I want in life, if he's everything, uh, how do I make Jesus the center of my life?

Great.

I'm gonna optimize my morning routine, I'm gonna do my Bible, study my prayer, that's gonna bring me closer to Jesus, and like all really wonderful prayer walk, I'm gonna listen to some worship, obviously prioritize the practices.

Um but what I mean is I can add things to my life, but I I think we can actually rest our way closer to Jesus.

Don't don't quote me on that, don't write that down.

Um, this is just my thought.

But I think we can rest our way closer to Jesus.

And um, obviously the Bible says don't be a sluggard and like work is good, and there's all of that.

But I I'm talking to this context, this church here in Brisbane.

I think I know most of you, and I think hard work is not really the issue in this church.

I don't think there's anyone who's not working hard.

I think people are working really hard, doing really cool things, which I I I love and it's super exciting.

So, in this context, I think uh prioritizing rest is so important.

And and rest gives uh Jesus the space to be present in our lives.

So, what I mean is that we can add more things, but sometimes it just makes us busier and busier.

But when we say, look, I am choosing to subtract a few things, I'm choosing to hand over the baton, so to speak, so that I'm not gonna be in control of every little detail.

But Jesus, you are bigger than my work, you're bigger than what I'm doing.

And that gives him space to then be present in our lives.

Um Hebrews 4, verse 8 says, If Joshua had given them rest, God would have not spoken later about another day.

Hebrews 4:8

There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

And what Hebrews is is talking about here, and as well as uh Hebrews and Hebrews 3, it's quoting Psalm 95, which is from David.

It's what they're talking about here is this invitation, this continual invitation into rest found in God.

Um and like I said before, this group that they were leading, we go back to the promised land, to Moses.

This was a group of slaves, and uh they were working 365 days over year.

They did not know rest.

Like they did not understand, and they struggled when they left left that old lifestyle, they struggled then to they work was normal.

Every day, work was normal.

Um and they had to learn how to rest, and that's why God gave these rules, like like the Sabbath, because it's like okay, you guys can't, it's it's it's difficult.

So let's put some rules, let's put some practices in your life to learn how to rest.

And I think um I think we can be like that today as well.

Um not to compare us with like slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago.

I hate I'm saying that a bit tongue-in-cheek, right?

But I think we can we can forget how to rest as well today.

Um I think it's true.

And I like I wouldn't say watching a full season of succession in a day is classified as rest.

Um, or maybe maybe no parent even has that option, I suppose.

Kazu and I haven't watched a full movie in maybe nine years in one sitting, um, because we have kids, kids just hanging out.

Um, but that's fine.

But um, but I think we can be a slave to the noise of the world, like just constantly on.

I mean, the other day I was listening to a really good podcast, um, and I went for a shower and I propped my phone on top of the top of the shower.

I'm sure we've all been there, to keep listening to the podcast in the shower.

The one place where I get some silence and uh and I'm filled up with more noise.

Um that's not a recommendation.

But I just think we have so much stuff going on.

I think, especially now that the day of, so I look at Lockheed, the day of AI credits.

Um, I I really hate the time-bound credits, like you have, okay, this is how this is your credits for this month.

And if I get towards the end of the month and I have like 50% left, I'm like, oh no, I've got to get these credits working for me, and I'm just doing like stupid jobs that don't matter, just trying to use up all my all my credits.

So I forgot laps.

No, only only me.

Okay, okay, fair enough.

I'm sure lucky does that.

Lucky's, oh you're always on a minus, I suppose.

Um you always max out.

But um the point, what was the point?

Uh we're getting I think I think we we can so often then say, Oh, I'll rest at the right time when my kids are older.

I don't Even rest when I sleep.

My four-year-old recently he's decided, ah, 2 a.m., 2 to 3 a.m.

again is a good time to come hang out.

Like two nights ago, he was at the side of my bed.

He's like, Dad, Dad, can I can I sleep with you?

And I said, Ah, I was like, okay, sure, sure.

And then he just stood there like a foot from my face.

And he asked the question again, can I sleep with you?

I said, Yeah, sure, sure.

And then he said a third time, can I sleep with you?

I said, Go ask mummy.

And he crawled around and he went around to the other side and he asked her, and he got he went into that side, but I don't know.

I think he was just out of it.

Um anyway.

Um, yeah, so we could be waiting for that one day I'm gonna rest when my kids are a bit older.

I think that's gonna be really sad, actually, when I think about it, but uh then I'm gonna get some a nice full night's sleep, or when I get that promotion, or when I get into the housing market, or whatever it is, um, when I get my life together, I'm gonna get some rest.

Um, and I think the most human thing to do is to keep moving the goalposts.

I think that's the humanity's kind of superpower.

It's like, yeah, we can I've reached this goal, now the next goal.

And you just go now, now let's keep pushing the next goal.

Um but we need to get that out under control, and and I suppose that's part of why God mandated the Sabbath to a group of people, um, and we are beyond that now, but we need to know to go to God for our rest.

Um, it's so important to make the time to go to Jesus.

Um, because our rest as Christians is not found in a place or a practice, and I say that knowing that we are gathering in a place, and this is a practice that we do, and it's really important.

I say, obviously, it's really important, but our true rest is found in a person, in the person of Jesus.

And and I think it's always a battle to keep that in the center.

Um, and like I love that song we sing with just today, where Jesus, you're the center.

I think that's just a serves as a reminder, and we're constantly pulling, pulling him back to the center.

So in Hebrews 4, let's just keep moving on.

Um, it says in 4.14, it says, Therefore, excuse me, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin.

Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Oh, such a good scripture.

Um, you know, this context is not rest, but but it's highlighting that we Jesus is our access to God.

He understands our weakness, he understands our temptations, um, which is a crazy thought.

And he is entered into God's presence and invites us to come near, to come be a part of that.

And he knows what it's like to be to be human, which is such such an crazy, amazing thought, and it's a good reminder because though we we will all fall short often, uh, he does not, he does not.

And I love that in this church, like I said, there's a lot of people working hard and building things and doing really cool stuff, um, really interesting things and trying things and and uh putting themselves out there, and I think in that environment there's gonna be a lot of failure as well, a lot of messing up.

Um, and I think what we're looking for in life isn't perfection.

Well, we're never gonna find it, it's only found in Jesus.

Um it's not perfection, but there's there's a proverb that I love, Proverbs 14, 4.

And it says, where there are no oxen, the manger is clean.

Such a good scripture for all the manger owners out there.

Um so good, isn't that?

That's great.

There's no oxen, there's no one to work, there's no work to be done, there's gonna be no mess, right?

But you get a bit of oxen in there, there's gonna be some stuff on the floor to clean up, but there's gonna be work, there's gonna be productivity happening, um, you're going out, um, obviously, but abundant crops come from the strength of an ox.

Oh, so good.

Um, so if you want a nice clean life, uh, do nothing, try nothing, just don't put yourself out there, um, which sounds pretty awful, take no risk.

Um, but uh you might be in an eternal state of rest.

I don't know, or maybe that's the wilderness, maybe that's what that was, uh potentially.

But if if the manger is full, if things are happening, there's gonna be a bit of mess to clean up.

And and I think what God's saying, Jesus is not surprised.

Like, he's not surprised, he's he knows the temptation, not that we're aiming to mess up, but but Jesus is not surprised in our weakness, and that's why we don't need to hide our weakness before Jesus.

We all have plenty of weakness, but we can take that to him.

And I think of I think of Moses who got angry, and I think of of David.

David, when I read I when I read David as a kid, I'm like, whoa, he's awesome, you know, all those battles and sounds, like going out there, taking people down.

When I read it as an adult, I'm like, whoa, he did some messed up stuff.

He kind of orchestrated this guy's death so he could take his wife.

And I'm like, whoa, okay.

That's that's pretty full on.

And I think sometimes the Bible gets criticized today for like showcasting people who weren't perfect.

Oh, like, why is it in the Bible?

These people did some terrible things.

Um, and the story of the Bible is not a picture of how amazing humanity is.

That is not the Bible story.

Wow, look at all these great great people that did great things.

The story of the Bible is the showing us the character of God and how gracious God is and how much he loved the world.

That's the story.

How how patient God is with us, with humanity.

And because I know what I'm like, I'm gonna mess up.

And not that I'm pursuing messing up, or that's not the goal, or pursuing sin.

I think sin, the Bible's clear, leads to leads to death.

But I'm I am so thankful that God's grace has been given to us, and I can't fully understand how that grace works or why it works.

I'm also thankful that I am not the ultimate judge of the world, and to that I'm not my hammer will not fall to judge the world, that that that will be Jesus and his huge grace.

Um, so I think the connection I'm trying to make here uh is I think that um, which and I would say maybe Hebrews just trying to make is rest is not found in like passivity or in the absence of responsibility.

Um it's found in relationship with Jesus, and we don't have to establish our own worth or forgive ourselves or secure our own access to God.

It's we are secured through what Jesus did on the cross, and that is the story of Hebrews.

Um and it's found by holding on to Jesus.

Okay, so that's my my final kind of encouragement here from Hebrews.

Hopefully, this is all making sense.

I'm not didn't spend too much time on my Google Doc just like putting threads together.

But hopefully there's a theme here that what we're looking for is Jesus, and we through his rest we find Jesus.

And just the final kind of thread in Hebrews is which it says often is therefore hold on, hold on to the faith.

Um again, going back to the beginning, is the the the audience of this letter was of Hebrews was important to point out because this was probably Jewish people who had chosen to put their faith in Jesus, where at that time going to the synagogue that was accepted by the government of Rome, that was kind of acceptable.

You want to choose that that religion, that's fine, but to be a Christ follower was not acceptable at that time.

And it and many people were even saying they wanted to return to the synagogue, i.e., return to the the comfortable and the easy path and what they knew.

Um and I think that this whole letter, if you read it, is just it can be a deep kind of theological thesis for the Jewish believer, like a bit of a rabbit hole, but also he makes it then so simple.

So he keeps he brings it to all these complex ideas, and then he brings it back to therefore hold on, therefore hold on to Jesus, therefore hold on to the faith that you've been given.

And um a lot of scriptures there, but Hebrews 12, 1 to 2.

I think you all know these scriptures.

If you've been in church for a little while, you've heard them, but things like let us run with perseverance, the mark, uh the race marked out for us, fixing eyes on Jesus.

Um there's so many similar scriptures all through Hebrews saying, Therefore hold on, um, hold on to the hope, um, hold firmly to the faith.

Um so uh to sum it up, I think that the way to find out what we want in life is to hold on to the faith we have in Jesus, to hold on to the truths we've been given by Jesus.

And perhaps that's where G.K.

Chesterson's line comes in where following Jesus is difficult and it is demanding, but it's not left wanting.

I think there's so much life in choosing to follow Jesus, and so so many fulfilling days, and um it's about discovering that I think Jesus is worth following even though the way might be difficult.

Um so I hope that's a bit of food for thought um and encouraging.

And I'd love to just take a moment just to pray for us.

Uh, and if anything sticks out from this, if we can just give that to God, whether it's be rest, I think rest is a constant challenge to be able to prioritize rest um in our busy life.

But I'd love to pray over that area.

Or so if we can just pray together, God, we just thank you so much for sending Jesus, our high priest, for giving us a new covenant, um, for the forgiveness of sins through through what he did on the cross for all of humanity.

God, I just pray we can take a moment to receive that fresh in our hearts and in our lives and and just a fresh revelation of that grace that maybe can be so hard to comprehend.

I just pray for anyone who's messed up or sinned and that's been weighing on them.

I just pray that we can give that to you, Jesus, and receive your forgiveness.

We thank you for your beautiful forgiveness.

And God, I just pray that um this week that we can learn to maybe not add but subtract some things from our lives, to give you the space to speak to us.

We thank you, Jesus.

And and for for anyone here who um maybe has a challenge coming up and there's a conversation that needs to be had, uh a situation that needs to be stepped into, but you've been avoiding, I just I just pray for the confidence just to step out in faith.

You can hold on to hold on to Jesus, hold on to this faith that we profess and step into that situation, even though it's it's scary and there might be enemies and challenges and them there also might be behind the promise that God has for you, Card.

I just pray for the confidence to hold on to the promises that you've given us.

And we thank you, Jesus.

I pray that every person will just be blessed as we go into the world and that that we'll know our vocation as a part of your kingdom and what you're doing here on earth.

And we thank you we get to be a part of what you're doing here on earth, and that we may be a blessing, a blessing to our family and friends and work workplaces, but a blessing to Brisbane, a blessing to Australia.

God, we thank you for the vocations you've given us.

Just pray that we will see see what you're doing in what we're doing.

That we will step into that with joy in our hearts and light hearts.

We thank you, Jesus.

In your powerful name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, thank you so much for your time.

Um, have a wonderful, wonderful week.

We're just gonna end here, but um, but the service doesn't end here.

Uh, we'd love you to talk to one another, pray, and encourage one another.

If you want prayer for something specific, please come on down.

There's gonna be a few of us just down the front.

We're gonna wait to pray with you.

It doesn't matter if it's big or small, we would just love to pray with you or ask your friend to pray with you.

Um I think this is still an important part of the service.

Otherwise, have a lovely afternoon and we'll we'll see you back here uh next Sunday.

Thanks.