D chapter 6 versus 1 through 9.
And it says these are the commands decree
in laws that the lord God directed to
me
directing me to teach you to observe in
the land that you are crossing the Jordan
to possess, so that you, your children and
their children after them by fear the lord
your God as long as you live by
keeping all of his degrees
and commands that I give you so that
you may enjoy long life.
Here Israel and be careful to obey so
that it may go well with you and
that you may increase greatly in a lamb
flowing with milk and honey.
Just as the lord the God your ancestors
The God of ancestors promised you.
Hero Israel,
the Lord our God, the Lord is 1.
Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with
all your strength.
These commands that I give you today are
to be on your hearts,
impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk down the road, when
you lie down and when you get up,
tie the stumbles on your hands and bind
them on your forehead.
Write them on your door frames of your
house and on your gates.
Good morning, friends.
Good morning It's good to be with you.
I'm gonna go ahead and re engage in
prayer
as we pause together. Let's go ahead and
close your eyes if you don't mind.
Take a few seconds of silence.
Creator God and Jesus, the Good shepherd.
We believe that Your purposes are at work
and hidden and often unnoticed ways.
We believe that your purposes are reliable,
And we trust that your ways are at
work regardless of our attitudes
and actions
And we believe that you work in and
through all things to bring about good.
As we struggle to see your plans and
purposes may we grow in our attentive
and awareness
to these truths,
and your presence in our lives.
Father God may my words be from you
today.
And made this message convey your faithfulness.
And so in the name of your son,
Jesus and to the power of horse group
we all say.
Amen.
It really is good to be with you.
Today, we're gonna be wrapping up our series
on Joshua and the working title that Leslie
gave me. I'm not where he went, where
did he go by the way? Leslie, are
you with June somewhere in here. Leslie, I
just have to say this is not the
script at all. As far as my notes
go. Leslie said what's better
when things are a hundred degrees.
And I looked... Michael I was like air
conditioning. Right?
Watermelon is on there, man, but I'm thinking,
like, if I have a choice to go
inside,
I'm going inside when it's a hundred and
75 degree heat index. So we're good to
go.
This is the working title that Leslie gave
me today or just... During the series. The
legacy
of Joshua. So Wanna thank Leslie for walking
with us and exploring the life of Joshua
over the last few weeks. And so Here's
where I wanna shift this, though I want
us to begin to think about what it
looks like to talk about the legacy of
Joshua was
plural. And I hope that'll make more sense
here in just a few minutes because I
want us to look at really look at
explore what it looks like for you and
I ask people for you and I as
a church to cultivate
a generation of Joshua.
And so You gotta start with legacy. Right?
Just the word legacy. I think most of
us probably in here have an understanding of
what legacy is. It can be something that's
passed down
from generation to generation. Right? Time period to
time period. A lot of times we think
about monetary items,
maybe inheritance or, but a legacy something that
is past down. Right? Or
legacy
could be something that is
left from the character
the
reputation
or the life that you lead.
Okay?
And so it could be things like values
and wisdom and faith and strength and resilience,
but it sets an example
for those who are coming up for their
future and it lives through time. And so
a lot of things that come to mind.
I'm gonna give you a couple of playful
ones as I think about legacy and like,
I can't help just... Sorry. I think about
you. And I think about 1 of the
things that you have left and you are
leaving your family is this music... Every every
1 of your kids
can sing.
And play instruments.
There... There's this amazing legacy of music and
worship in the life of Blake.
That's 1. You're on the screen though. I
think about these friends of mine.
This is Mickey Pseudo,
and Patrick Bert,
they are the winners of the Nathan hotdog
dog eating contest of 2024.
What a legacy?
Right? She ate 51
hot dogs,
bun and hotdog dog included.
He ate 58 breaking his personal P.
Alright? It's a lot of hotdog dogs, man,
But what a legacy? Stan and I tried
to do this and we got through 3.
Didn't even happen. Didn't happens. Stay wanting a
hotdog dog. I'm just kidding, or without the
bun you will. It's good. Here we go.
So this is a legacy. Right?
Again, summer are playful. I'm gonna shift dark.
We're gonna come back, but here we go.
Here's another 1. I don't know if you
know this guy or not. I wanna meet
this dude. He is a low Sum County,
Gall resident,
named. Let me his name right. David,
David Hoo. Check this out. He got second
place
in the Us Mu championship in the United
States this year.
Second best Mu in the United States.
That's a good looking mu.
What a legacy.
Right?
Oh,
Albert spear.
Albert Sp was probably
1 of the most accomplished architects in the
twentieth century.
Highly
regarded and successful,
incredible family man,
devout husband
wonderful father loved and cared deeply
for his family, but he wasn't just anybody's
architect. He just happened to be Hitler's
architect.
Pretty dark.
So he became the minister ministry of armament
in and develop in Nazi, Germany,
And in the N trials, he was declared
responsible for tens of thousands
of deaths.
And he actually has become a fascinating case
study in theology and psychology for self deception.
We say, how do I know that I
can lie. I can lie to myself, and
I can still know that I'm doing it?
He lived by 3 principles. Y'all check this
out.
He would not talk about others.
He wouldn't talk about his frustrations that he
had with work.
And he would not talk about politics
in the social surroundings of his time.
Nazi, Germany,
World War 2, he would not talk about
politics.
And in 19 44 when he was invited
to 2 also, he looked away
and insisted
on his ignorance of the holocaust.
He's quoted to saying I just wanted to
be a good architect.
He's got a legacy.
Martin Luther King junior
arguably
the most prominent figure in leaders in our
civil rights movement in America
until his death in 19 68.
Organized and participated in countless nonviolent efforts to
protest,
racial injustice and he sought equality in human
rights for African Americans his legacy
lives on today. It's legacy.
So if you may recognize this sweet woman,
mother Teresa.
Least call my mom mother Teresa.
She had a sweetness about her as well,
but she dedicated her life to the poor.
Served the disabled,
blind
leopards, open schools, orphanages, medical clinics, homes for
the elderly and homes for the dying, she
has left a huge impact
and legacy
on
humanitarian rights in our world.
It's just legacy.
Alright? So as we begin to think about
legacy and what that means, especially if we
look at back at Joshua, wanna ask you
this question as we move forward, maybe.
What kind of legacy
are you and I
leaving behind?
Should contemplate that just for a little bit.
What kind of legacy are we leaving behind
a matter fact, are you and I
intentionally dreaming
and planning to pass on something good and
valuable to the generations that are coming behind
us. You can look around this room. You
can see tiny ones, children, There's students in
here. There's young adults in here. I'm asking
are we really intentionally dreaming and planning
to leave something behind for them that is
valuable and good and priceless as they move
forward into the future.
What kind of legacy
are we leaving behind? So let's to go
back to Joshua for this. I'm gonna go
back to of the very first of my
introduction. And I wanna I want to review
just a couple of things as we move
forward.
And that's this. Joshua knew who he was.
Joshua knew what he had, and Joshua knew
what he had to do. We talked about
the fact that He knew who he was
as far as his identity goes. He knew
the talents that he had the gifts that
he had, and he had a mission that
God had given him, but this had been
going on for a lifetime.
Joshua had been forming over lifetime. His skill
set as a shepherd and a leader had
been forming for some time. And then we
talked about this. What happens when Joshua doesn't
know who he is. And we talked about
our role a little bit. The fact that
everybody in this room has a role in
shaping and forming and shepherd the people that
we love And the young people that are
around us from time to time, what happens
when Joshua
doesn't know
who he is.
We'll get back to that in a few
minutes too.
And then we ended with this for the
most part. God wants who you are, God
wants what you have and God wants what
you do. Kinda comes out Ephesians chapter 10
that we're a masterpiece,
created with intention with good works to do
in Jesus. So all of these things we
talked about when it came to Joshua.
And then we had all of our kids
if you remember, come on stage.
And you stood up with our children and
you made a commitment to them and part
of that commitment was as we look to
the future. And as we think about the
time and place that we live in, not
to abandon our children,
but to be with them to walk them
and into care for them and to teach
them to help them observe. And so that's
part of where we were. But, I also
asked this question? I said, what do you
think about when you think about leaders?
Influential leaders specifically.
I gave you a few seconds to think
about who came to your mind, but then
we asked this question. You have that picture
in your mind, but then In what ways
of those pictures
or images, compared to god's emphasis on the
humble service empathy self awareness protect and sacrifice
and care that should characterize
Christian leaders. So in other words, the leaders
that we think are influential in our world
and our life are those values and are
those leaders of the things that they believe
in? Are they consistent
with what God's value system is when it
comes to leaders?
But here's the center of gravity where I
wanna park it today.
Alright? So the next thing I had put
up last time was this.
Joshua neither Joshua were nor Moses in my
opinion after reading the material was not concerned
about being these soul spirit led leader of
God's people. Joshua had 1 concern.
His goal was for god's people to be
led by the spirit. You see a difference?
He's most concerned that god's people be led
by the spirit, not so much putting the
attention on him. So this message, it's about
Joshua, but it's not about Joshua.
Because you can't put that kind weight on
1 person and to expect for that person
to do everything.
Joshua was surrounded by people, but he was
more concerned than anything
about God's people being led by the holy
spirit. So again I wanna ask you what
kind of legacy
are you and I
leaving behind?
And that question of Spirit led is where
we're gonna park this in just a moment.
1 of my favorite things to do or
at least speak about when I'm at weddings
with people. Probably some of you in here
weddings have appreciated. I don't know if Mason
Mc is in here not Mace you in
anywhere.
Mason could answer this question out loud pretty
quick through premier counseling.
But 1 of the things we talk about.
When I'm at the front of the room
and we're about to differentiate the wedding is
the fact that these 2 people are standing
here about to make a commitment to each
other and and get married.
And 1 of the things I say to
them is, I want you to turn around,
I want you to look at the people.
You've heard me say this before, look at
the audience turnaround, and I want everybody a
smile at you,
take pictures if they want to, we don't
take much pictures because the wedding pictures can't
get out to the brad says, what pictures
can get out right. So we wanna keep
those pictures on the deal. But You can
take a snapshot, but I want them to
see the faces that are smiling back at
them.
And I want them to see the people
who were sitting there because those people by
and large if they are at your wedding,
they're probably a pretty special component to your
life. You have invited them to come be
a part of this party as you say
yes to your fiance.
And so I say to them, look into
the eyes of these people.
Because the decisions that you're making right now
are possible
because a lot of decisions that have already
been made long before you got here.
Makes sense?
Long before you got here, there were decisions
made by your parents, your grandparents, your great
grandparents, and list goes on and on and
on for you to be standing right here
at this moment before you make this decision.
It's pretty fascinating.
And so with that kind of
thought process in mind, I want you to
consider where or at least the reality of
where you and I are living right now
in this season of life in 2024,
based off decisions that were made long before
you and I existed,
which include this church by the way.
This church family
This church family has a history of decisions
that were made long before we are now
living in what we call the Henderson
Church of Christ era.
Right? And so as you think about that,
what kind of future
will our current decisions cultivate?
For those who are coming behind us.
I really do think if we were intentional
about these things, it might change the way
that we speak.
It might change the way that we make
plans,
it's certainly gonna change the way that we
discern different things. If we think that the
decisions that we are making right now are
going affect those who come behind us and
they are gonna be living into
decisions that we made. Right? And so I
keep thinking is what kind of legacy
are we leaving behind?
So then you gotta come to this question.
You keep talking about being spirit led. So
what is being spirit led
actually mean?
Holy spirit led. And what does
spirit led
look like.
1 of my favorite theologian
says it like this.
It can be defined as intentional
are intentionally opening ourselves and partnering with the
holy spirit is full
participation in God's life and God's good future
here and now. It means that all of
our attention, decisions, values,
relationship, speech, practices, habits, and life rhythms are
lived under the influence,
guidance and empowerment of God's spirit.
As transformed spirit led people, we learn to
listen and see
our ourselves or life, ourselves and others
through the lens of the holy spirit.
It is all encompassing.
When we think about what it means to
be spirit led, it would be that nothing...
There is nothing that we would do.
That did not include the holy spirit's influence
as we walk through life.
And then we open ourselves to that.
Reality of being led by the spirit.
So here's what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna take 3 aspects
about what it looks like to be spirit
led from when I read the book of
Joshua when you read the book of Joshua,
I wanna take things that they
walk through and heard and lived by an
attempt to place it practically in our lap
and think, man if we could do some
of the same things,
that they did, what would it look like
on the other end of our journey. Leslie
has already mentioned, we live in a little
bit of a volatile world?
Well, guess what?
They did too.
It was volatile then, and I think that's
why some of these first things come out.
So spirit led people if you're a note
taker,
Spirit led people of God, cultivate a legacy
of strength and courage.
This is... I don't know if I've got
it up here.
I just copied and pasted the first 19
verses of chapter 1
of Joshua. So if you've got it, you
can even open it and look at it
yourself.
4 times in the opening chapter before he
even gets going in this book. He says
be strong and courageous
be strong and very courageous. Be strong and
courageous, only be strong and courageous over and
over and over again they reiterate what it's
going to take.
As they walk into this new land, you
need to be strong and courageous because it's
going to be volatile. So be strong and
courageous in the face of adversity and challenges.
I love it.
He says fear the Lord
but
in your attempts to keep my commandments to
this new land, do not walk in fear.
Don't be fearful. Do not be dismay because
I am going to be with you as
we do this.
I don't know how long ago it was
that we were teaching a class on Wednesday
nights it's about
raising resilient children, and this conversation comes right
up in the middle of this.
It is impossible
literally impossible
for you and I
to protect our children
from everything
that this world has to offer.
We can't do it. We cannot protect our
kids or those that we love
from all the difficulties
and hardships,
trials,
and setbacks are universal for every human being.
By the way, we we learn through suffering.
That's a pretty biblical
message to, the suffering servant Jesus shows us
as he lives, but we should try to
protect our kids or everything, but we literally
can't protect our kids. From everything, but.
As we cultivate strength and encourage you and
I can foster and cultivate
resilience
in a generation.
This this process of adapting well and in
healthy ways in the face of adversity or
trauma or maybe even significant sources of stress
we teach them how to face adversity
in a christ way with strength, and courage,
so with conviction We foster virtue. We foster
hope. We teach them not to be timid.
And we see obstacles and challenges as opportunities
and possibilities to grow and strengthen and courage
and it just builds and builds and builds,
but I think we have to be intentional
about it. And if I'm completely honest with
you.
I failed as a dad during Covid.
Miserably failed as a dad.
I think more than not my children probably
saw me curl up at a ball on
the couch.
Often
wrestling with my own anxiety with this thing.
Instead of being reassuring to my children even
though, I didn't know was gonna happen.
I think that there's times that our kids
learn from us even we're not saying anything.
Right? Now, I re you rebound from these
things, and you move on. Jennifer and I,
she's over here. Hey, Babe.
I didn't ask you if I could do
this. Sorry.
We have a list.
Of what we call parent fails. Anybody else?
I'm not gonna talk about them either by
the way. Nobody else is it's just us.
It's just being you.
It's just me and you, babe.
Nobody else in here has parent fails. Not
even blake.
Not even y'all. This is great.
Sorry. You have... We just don't list them.
So we list them. And we... As we
move through, we laugh about them a little
bit, but luke they're going. Yeah remember some
of those.
I remember last year dad. I remember 1
of those quite quite nearly.
Anyways, sorry, we we we we bring this
stuff about.
Can we foster strength and courage
even when we don't know
what things look like. But I want you
to consider the implications of what it looks
like for us as adults
to live and cultivate strength and courage in
the lives of those behind us. And think
about the impact that can have on us
as we view obstacles schools and challenges as
opportunities. So Church, I'm simply asking you this,
what would it look like for you to
cultivate in your individual lives
and the church.
Strength and courage.
Just the second 1.
I think the spirit led people of God
cultivate a legacy of wisdom
and instead steadfast ob absorb.
This is glaring in the book of Joshua.
Joshua, like others before him wholeheartedly the text
said follow God in his ways. They stayed
the course. Right?
They held fast
even when things were hard to held fast.
They they fixed their eyes if you would
on God.
And then while renewing the covenant
with the people of God, Joshua reminds them
who they are
and what god's been doing. So listen to
this. This is Joshua chapter 24
14 through 15.
Now fear the Lord and serve him with
all faithfulness.
Throw away the gods, your ancestors worship beyond
the Eu river and in Egypt and serve
the Lord.
But if serving the Lord seems
undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this
day, whom you will serve, whether the gods
of your ancestors,
serve beyond the Eu
or the gods of the Am rights in
whose land you were living. But as for
me and my household,
we will serve the Lord.
He says make up your mind.
Make up your mind.
We're about to head into a pretty volatile
place, but it has been given to us,
but make up your mind, choose and decide
who it is that you are going to
serve.
Decide whose wisdom
you are going to follow. You're either you
and I, we're either gonna follow the wisdom
of the world or we're gonna follow the
wisdom of God.
It says choose. Choose, whose wisdom you will
follow. And I think about when what is
that wisdom? It's pepper all throughout the text.
Grant's already read it this morning, but I
think about D61
through 9. He says, hero israel. This is
pinnacle for who they are. Right?
Love the Lord your God or authority. The
Lord your God, the Lord is 1. Love
the Lord your god with all your heart
and with all your soul, And with all
your strength,
these commandments that I give you today are
to be on your hearts and pressed them
on your children. It's the core.
It's the core of who we are it's
fully integrated living when it comes to who
god is. Micah, will summarize it really easily
But you said, yet also challenging. Right? Micah
6 80 he says this. He's shown you.
Immortal.
What is good?
And what does the Lord require of you
to act just lee and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your god?
Jesus will say it like this in Matthew
chapter 22. When he's talking about the greatest
command.
Hearing that Jesus had silenced to Sad sees
the ph he's got together. And 1 of
them an expert in the law tested him
with this question teacher, which is the greatest
command and the law.
And Jesus Replied. Love the lord your God
with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind, this is
the first and greatest command.
And then he says this, and the second
is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself. Then he says
all the law.
And the profits
hang
on these 2 commandments.
There are all kinds of things for us
to look at with this when it comes
down to
steadfast absorb to what god teaches us and
what he wants for us. And he's saying,
I think when I hear these texts, he's
saying here's what I would love for you
not to do. Don't compartment minimize your faith.
Don't bring it to you bring it with
you when you arrive on a Sunday or
Wednesday, but make sure that it is integrated
into everything
do and everything you say outside of these
spaces,
integrate these commandments
into every aspect of your lived
experience.
Meditate on God's desires.
God's values for humanity,
attempt to live faithful instead steadfast. Know, you're
not gonna do it perfectly.
You can't... None of us can because we
still have flesh bodies this out of eternity,
but then it's just also this idea of
cultivating wisdom.
It's not just about mastering
information. Wisdom is this idea of absorbing god's
ways in his will, and then it helps
us foster understanding about how to guide our
actions. So may we be a church
that cultivate wisdom and steadfast ob absorb
to god's words?
3,
Spirit led people of God cultivate
dependency on the tri God.
Father,
son
and holy spirit. And we get dependent. Right?
I I can get to know you long
enough that I begin to trust you at
some point, I trust you enough that I
know that I can rely on you. I
need you in my life. I need you
to help me do things. I know that
I can depend on you, and it's this
action or to support. I'm saying to you.
I can't do this without you.
I need you.
But I also know that we've gonna be
cautious when it comes to dependence because you
and I can become dependent on many things
that are not healthy for us. So what's
it look like then for us as spirit
led people to be
dependent on the tri and God. It looks
like this. We are confident in god's actions.
We're entirely focused on Jesus,
and we're partnering with and led by the
holy spirit, and this has developed over a
lifetime. It's a process for a church. It's
a process for individuals.
And so may we cultivate this church.
Will our children and generations behind us experience
these things as we live out our lived
experience.
So it's just a big question
where who or what
is our dependence focused even today.
What are you dependent upon?
Who are you dependent upon?
How often before your feet hit the ground
before you wake up in the morning, are
you already talking to god about being dependent
upon him? And then ultimately, I don't think
any of this works by the way, unless
we do it together.
It's part of why we've been doing what
we've been trying to do Wednesday nights.
We knew it was risky.
We knew we didn't know how people were
gonna react or respond. We tried to simply
get everybody together in 1 room fully integrated,
inter generation to look at some practices and
worship and teachings, and it's gotta start small,
but what does it look like for us
to pursue god's will together?
What's it look like? And it can look
different in here. It can look different out
there, but I think it's something that we
have to do together.
And so I think about Joshua, when I
think about his days and I think about
the text that says, as long as Joshua
was alive and the people that he influenced
Israel
followed
God.
Because he was attentive
to God's ways.
And so here's my last question for us.
Where are we now and how are we
doing?
How are we doing with cultivating all these
things?
I wanna read to you If you wanna
turn to it, you can. It's not gonna
be on the screen as far as the
text goes.
If I could read it, I forgot my
readers. This is bad.
Wow,
Joshua 2 7 through 15
When Joshua dismissed the people,
the Israelites all went to their own inheritance
to take possession of land.
The people worship the Lord all the days
of Joshua
and all the days of the elders who
out live Joshua,
who had seen the great work that the
Lord had done for Israel
Joshua was son of none, servant of God,
serving the lord died at the age of
110 years. I'm a skip out of verse
11.
Leslie read this last week.
Then,
the Israelites did what was evil in the
side of the Lord and worship the baal
elves.
And they abandoned the Lord, the God of
their ancestors,
who had brought them out of the land
of Egypt. They followed other gods
among the gods of the peoples who were
all around them and bowed down to them.
And they provoked the lord to anger. They
abandoned
the Lord
and worship
other gods.
So where are we
and how we're doing.
I was fortunate enough to to work in
student ministry for 18 years
as a youth minister before
transitioning into other roles.
I still get the opportunity to work with
young adults. I love young people, and I
love young adults.
And I gotta be honest.
I don't I don't know that it's entirely
fair.
It's not.
To generalize the generation like them and say,
they're just walking away from God.
I don't think they're walking away from God
because the conversations that I have with them
are a little bit different than that.
They are craving
god
They are craving
experiences with God. They are craving to encounter
God. There's just 1 difficult thing that has
been getting in the way of that is,
and they've been hurt a lot It's not
to put guilt on us or anybody else.
But 1 of the biggest detriment to the
young people's faith journey is this. They hear
us say 1 thing
and they watch us do something completely different
when it comes to our faith journeys.
They hear us coming in here and talk
about things. They hear us in classes, they
hear us say things to us, but then
they watch us live a completely different lifestyle.
And if that's not confusing enough, I don't
know what else is.
And so if you wonder why young people
are struggling is because they look at this
and go, is this even authentic?
Again, not to be put guilt on us.
I'm saying it's for all of us to
think about was we move forward,
authenticity and genuine in our own walk. Guess
what. When you mess up as a or
when you mess up as a human, we
own it, and we work through and we
tell our kids that we've messed up.
They craving God and their hungry for us.
I don't think we're in a generation that's
just turned their backs completely on God. I
think they're turning their backs on something a
little bit different.
I think you and I have an opportunity
to cultivate something very different and raised up
an entire generation of Joshua. So Henderson Church,
we really do need to be intentional about
what it is that we cultivate with our
young people with our people around even in
this community.
And so even if it means writing it
down and saying this is what we're convicted
to. This is who we are going to
be. We are gonna make up our minds
to actually be spirit led people of God,
and we're gonna cultivate strength and courage. We're
gonna cultivate wisdom. We're gonna
practice
steadfast subs servants even though we don't know
how to always do it right. And, you
know what? We're gonna be dependent on the
creator of the universe who said he's gonna
be with us to walk with us.
Do me a favor.
Go ahead and stand where you are.
I ended the very first intro sermon with
this very differently, And I wanna ask my
friend Harrison to come on up here.
Harrison mister Harrison slaughter her
Harrison, what's your middle name?
Oh, 0, of course.
Harrison Owen Slaughter. Yes. I'm bad. Sorry, Owen.
This is my friend.
This is my friend,
Harrison. And we're gonna come out here, harrison.
I think they can still see us down
here. That okay? That's for you.
After the first opening message of this, all
the kids came up here on stage,
and I had some things for you to
say to our children.
I just want you to hear the voice
of somebody young,
saying something to you.
And if you don't mind, just repeat after
my friend, Harrison here, the things that he's
going to say. Right? It's real simple call
and response. Go slow as you want to,
and if they don't respond back, we'll we'll
do it again. How's that?
So you're gonna repeat.
What he says. We all are.
God wants who we are.
God wants what we have.
And God wants what we have to do.
God wants what we have to do. Do
it 1 more time.
God wants who we are. God
God wants what we have.
And god wants what we have to do.
Hit Church if you haven't thought about it
lately.
You are beloved children of God.
We mess up all the time,
but there's a long and loving gaze upon
us
that wants us to
thrive and flourish.
He wants he wants us.
He wants who we are. He's created us
to be that. He wants the gifts that
we have and he wants us to use
those for good in this world. You may
be here this morning.
Already pre thinking about getting baptized can still
do that, but I'm just simply gonna ask
as we sing, blake come on up as
we sing this song. Just think about what
it looks like.
To cultivate these things in this church and
cultivate a spirit of being spirit led people
of God.