2026 Vision

National Anthem by Ernesto Octavio Good morning family, let's stand to our feet Welcome to the Altar Fellowship this morning How many of you have gone to the prayer nights this week, during the 10 days of prayer? It's been a beautiful... How many of you? Alright, you're all coming tonight and then the other ones too, okay? It's been a beautiful, amazing time So the Holy Spirit's been doing such a work in this room and in this place through the prayers of the saints here I know that the work is going to increase this morning Let's enter into the fullness of faith Here at this place, at the Altar Fellowship, we're about two things Worship and family And I am here to fully participate in those things And I pray you are with me So let's lift our hands right now Just to posture our bodies in a place that gets aligned with our spirits today To say, we surrender to you, Holy Spirit And the work you've been doing in this place The work you've been doing in this house We surrender Jesus to your will We pray, not our will, but your will be done this morning Let your kingdom come, Lord Jesus It is the greatest desire of our hearts here Come and show us a new side, a new facet of your face today, Lord In Jesus' name, Amen We love you, we love you, Jesus The joy was set before you As you endured the cross The nails, the thorns, the lashes Your love poured over us The curse of sin is broken

The root of shame torn out The final word was spoken The final word was spoken As crimson hit the ground Behold the wonder Christ, the worthy one Look at what the blood has done Look at what the blood has done All our sin is washed away Every chain undone Look at what the blood has done Look at what the blood has done Jesus, you have made a way The Lamb has overcome Forgiven, saved, delivered Forever we are free The blood has healed and washed us We stand as the redeemed The grip of death is shattered You left an empty tomb Now you're alive forever And we're alive in you Behold the wonder Christ, the worthy one Look at what the blood has done Look at what the blood has done All our sin is washed away Every chain undone Look at what the blood has done Look at what the blood has done

Jesus, you have made a way The Lamb has overcome Oh, oh. We're singing hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you for the love. Come on, lift your voices, sing it out. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's finished. It is over. Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you for the love. Oh, we're singing hallelujah, hallelujah. It's finished. It is done. Look at what the blood has done. Look at what the blood has done. All our sin is washed away. Every chain undone. Look at what the blood has done. Look at what the blood has done. Jesus, you have made a way. The land is yours. Sing hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you for the love. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's finished. It is done.

We're singing hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you for the love. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's finished. It is done. Come on, sing that again. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Oh, let the gratitude rise up. We don't need to go anywhere else but from that place. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, thank you for the love of the blood of Jesus. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's finished. It is done. Everything, everything. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you. Nothing else is needed. Oh, yes. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Everything was finished. It is done. Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you for the love of the blood of Jesus. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's finished.

It is done. Look at what the blood has done. Look at what the blood has done. All our sin is washed away. Every chain undone. Look at what the blood has done. Look at what the blood has done. Jesus, you have made a way. The lamb has overcome. Oh, thank you, Lord. Oh, just take this moment right now to reflect back on all the blood has brought you through, has brought this house through. Had it not been for you. And for the blood, oh, where would we be today? Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus, just revive the fire of gratitude in our hearts. Stir up the flames of gratitude in us again for the blood. For the unimaginable sacrifice you made. Hallelujah. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the blood. Thank you for the blood. Let's sing together. Here inside your presence, I'm taken by the wonder of you. Here inside your glory, we give our lives fully to you. We cry holy, holy are you.

Holy are you. Our hearts are burning, burning for you. Burning for you, Jesus. Your love, it burns inside. Our hearts are satisfied by you. Your love is our reward. It's why we ask for more of you. We cry holy. We cry holy, holy are you. Holy, holy are you. Our hearts are burning, burning for you. We cry holy, holy are you. Holy are you. Our hearts are burning, burning for you. We are your burning ones. We are consumed by you. We set our lives apart. Consecrate us, Lord. We are consumed by you. Every voice, we are. We are your burning ones We are consumed by you We set our lives apart We are consumed by you Oh, have even more, take even more Consume even more, consume all of us Oh, let this love So let this love be like a fire Let our lives be like a flame Fill our souls with your desire

Let our passion bring you fame So let this love be like a fire Let my life be like a flame Fill our souls with your desire Let my passion bring you fame Let this love be like a fire Let my life be like a flame Fill our souls with your desire Let my passion bring you fame Let this love be like a fire Let my life be like a flame Fill our souls with your desire Let my passion bring you fame We are your burning ones We are consumed by you We set our lives apart We are consumed by you We are your burning ones We are consumed by you We set our lives apart We are consumed by you Oh, consume us again It's just so fitting that a people from a church called The Altar would say we are your burning ones Jesus, when we call ourselves The Altar Fellowship we're simply saying we're a family that burns We're a family that burns together, together, together Oh, together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn for you, Jesus

Oh, together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn for you, Lord Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn for you, Lord Oh, together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn for you As a fellowship Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn Together, together we'll burn for you All-consuming fire You're our heart's desire Living flame of love Come baptize us Come baptize us Oh, all-consuming fire You're my heart Oh, sacred heart of Jesus Living flame of love Come baptize us Come baptize us Oh Jesus. Oh, together, together we'll burn. Together, together we'll burn. Together, together we'll burn for you. Oh Jesus, together, together we'll burn. Together, together we'll burn.

Together, together we'll burn. You're burning once. We are your burning ones. We are consumed by you. We set our lives apart. We are consumed by you. We are. We are your burning ones. Oh, light us up. We are consumed by you. We set our lives apart. We are consumed by you. We are consumed by you. Give in, we're giving, we're giving. Give in, we're giving. Give in, we're giving. Amen. Just don't be afraid. Just don't be afraid of what holiness looks like. Just don't be afraid of what it is to burn for Jesus and the heat that will come off of you and how it will affect those around you. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Fear of man will keep you so lukewarm. Don't be afraid to burn. Don't be afraid to burn. Oh, let the heat come off. Let the heat come off from Jesus. Just don't be afraid.

Fear not, for I am with you, says the Lord. Fear not, for I am with you. I will go before you. Oh, I will teach you how to burn as a fellowship. Show you how to burn as a fellowship. Show you how to burn as a fellowship. Oh, fear not. Oh, fear not. Fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. Oh, we fear not. We fear not. Oh, we fear not. We fear not. Oh. Oh, we fear not. Let this love be like a fire. Let my life be like a flame. Fill our souls with your desire. Let our passion bring you faith. Let this love be like a fire. Let my life be like a flame.

Fill our souls with your desire. Passion bring you faith. Passion bring you faith. Oh, prepare us, Jesus. Prepare us. Prepare us. Oh, prepare us, Lord. Prepare us, Jesus. Oh, prepare us, God. Oh, prepare us, Lord. Prepare us, Lord. Prepare us, Lord. Prepare us, Lord. Oh, prepare us, God. Every standard that we refuse to rise to, Jesus, burn us up. Burn us up to that standard, Lord. And everything we've refused to give over to you, come and take it now, Lord. And every sin we refuse to repent of, we say we're sorry, Lord Jesus. Cleanse us again. Oh, prepare us, Lord, for the coming glory. Oh, let every fiber of our beings be used as incense, as cinder, as ash upon your altar. Let there be not an ounce of self left, Lord Jesus. It's in you we truly find ourselves. It's in you we truly find our place. Every vain ambition masquerading as glory for the Lord, masquerading as this is unto God, Lord, reveal it to us where we are self-seeking. We give it over. We give it over. We give it over. We give it over.

Just as you have said. Let it be done unto yourselves. Just as you have said. Amen. And I won't settle for less than you paid for. Your blood has cleaned my soul. It has ransomed beauty for ashes. Your blood has made me whole. I won't settle for less than you paid for. Your blood has cleaned my soul. It has ransomed beauty for ashes. Your blood has made me whole. ♪ Has made me whole ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord ♪ ♪ And you have spoken, death is not final ♪ ♪ Your voice like thunder rolls ♪ ♪ Your kingdom is ever increasing ♪ ♪ And your blood will not grow old ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ It washes white as snow ♪

♪ It washes white as snow ♪ Come on. ♪ There is mercy, forgiveness, and peace in the blood ♪ ♪ There is healing, redemption, and life in the blood ♪ ♪ There is freedom, deliverance, and joy in the blood ♪ ♪ There is death, resurrection, and power in the blood ♪ ♪ There is mercy, forgiveness, and peace in the blood ♪ ♪ There is healing, redemption, and life in the blood ♪ ♪ There is freedom, deliverance, and joy in the blood ♪ ♪ There is death, resurrection, and power in the blood ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Sing, oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh, the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Washes white as snow ♪ ♪ Thank you, oh, thank you for the blood, Jesus ♪ ♪ We thank you for your healing ♪ ♪ We thank you for your freedom ♪ ♪ There is life in the blood, there is life in the blood ♪ I hear the Saviour say, Thy strength indeed is small Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me Thine all in all

I hear the Saviour say, Thy strength indeed is small Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me Thine all in all Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sit and let the prison stay, He washed it white as snow White as snow, oh white as snow Lord now indeed I find, Thy power and Thine alone Can change the leper's hearts, And melt this heart of stone Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sit and let the prison stay, He washed it white as snow Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe Sit and let the prison stay, He washed it white as snow He washed it white as snow Oh praise the one who paid my debt, Raised this life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt, Raised this life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt, Raised this life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt, Raised this life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt, Raised this life up from the dead Oh praise the one who paid my debt, Raised this life up from the dead Oh we praise you God, Oh we praise you Jesus, We praise the one, praise the one ♪ Wash away my sin ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can make me whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can wash away my sin ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ What can wipe me whole again ♪ ♪ Nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh nothing but your blood ♪ ♪ Oh nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪ ♪ Oh nothing but the blood of Jesus ♪

♪ And Jesus paid it all, all to Him alone ♪ ♪ All to Him alone ♪ ♪ Sin had left a crimson stain ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ And Jesus paid it all, all to Him alone ♪ ♪ And all to Him alone ♪ ♪ Sin had left a crimson stain ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ He washed it white as snow ♪ ♪ And all to Him alone ♪ Amen, that's it right there. There's life, freedom, and healing in the blood of Jesus. And God, we lay all of our ambitions, our plans, our hopes, our desires, our dreams at your feet. We lay them at your feet, Father, because we are living in the blood of Jesus. Who is alive and well and reigning in heaven. God, we surrender all to you today. Not just the parts that are convenient or easy or obvious, but our entire beings, Father, laid at your altar, higher and higher. Your life is better than anything the world can offer, and we choose you today, Jesus. In your name we pray, amen. Amen, amen, amen. Hey, can I wanna give you an assessment of this church? I got a message recently from a guy who, he just wrote this, just a short message,

just to say thank you. He said, my wife and I came for a visit last summer, and I said then that what blew me away the most about the altar fellowship was that the people worshiped like they actually believed what they were singing about. That was his impression. He said, what blew me away the most about the altar fellowship was that the people worshiped like they actually believed what they were singing about. He said, it's sad to say, but that is a rarity in the American church. I grew up in a church. We would sing songs about victory and freedom, and we would live, we would sing them like we were still in battle or in prison. And I want you to know that what has made us distinct or unique or set apart in the past is what's gonna continue to set us apart in the future, and that is we are going to be a people who actually believe what we sing in these songs. We're gonna be a people who don't just sing songs to loosen ourselves up before the message and feel more comfortable in the rooms, in the concert. This is a declaration to all every principality and power in the heavenly realms that Jesus really did pay it all. And because of that, that we can live as a people who've truly been set free, amen. You guys, as you're finding your seats, you guys thank our musicians.

Thank you guys so much for your leadership today. Awesome, powerful, powerful morning. Happy. Happy New Year, everyone. This is the first Sunday service of 2026. How many of you have been coming to our 10 days of prayer so far, we're a few days in? I can't think of any better way to start the year than in the presence of the Lord, seeking Him and making Him our first and our highest priority. I think it's easy to say that, you know, well, we as a church, we love missions, or we as a church, we love worship, or we as a church, we love miracles. But it's, it doesn't sound very profound to say, as a church, we love God. And yet, isn't that our highest calling? All the other things are secondary consequences of our loving and passionate pursuit of the God who loved us and who gave Himself for us. And so this morning, we're gonna give you an opportunity to give in the first offering of the new year. Woo! I know, you're welcome. Jesus said something that I think is really profound if we stop and consider it. Jesus said, it is more blessed. That is to say, it is a greater privilege. It is more sacred to give than it is to receive.

And, you know, I remember years ago, being real critical of pastors and preachers who would receive offerings week after week after week after week. And I thought, oh, it's just about money for them. And then I read those words from Jesus. It is more blessed. If He's comparing the sacredness, if He's comparing the value of giving and receiving, He's saying that the person who gives, they receive greater value than the person who receives. And I read those words, and it was like the Spirit of God came and sat down next to me. I was sitting right on the edge of my bed as I was reading it. The Spirit of God came and sat down next to me. It felt like, and He said, Matty, these pastors, they're getting the worst deal. The congregation, they're getting the better deal. They're giving the greater blessing to the congregation, to those who are able to give when they choose to receive. And I thought about all the, you know, prosperity preachers. You should send me $100 now for a, you know, a jar of oil that I prayed over or whatever. You know, some handkerchief that I wiped my nose with one time. It's like, we've got to ask ourselves, do we actually believe the words of Jesus? Is it actually the greater blessing to give than it is to receive?

And if we actually believe that, then week after week after week, when I stand here and I say to you, my beloved family, I want you to give, what I'm really saying is, my beloved family, I want you to be blessed. I want you to be blessed with the privileged opportunity to give into God's hands in a way that will advance God's work. And so I don't make apologies for receiving offerings anymore because I'm giving you the better deal. It's my privilege. Really, I am blessed to receive it, but because I'm blessed to receive it because I love this family and because I want to see this family blessed and prosperous in the ways that matter the most. I want your marriage to prosper. I want your children's faith to prosper. I want your pursuit of God to prosper. And we cannot prosper in our pursuit of God if we won't let Him touch our finances. And so today, in the first offering of the new year, I want you to give like God commands it because God commands it. Amen? All right. And so, as you know, there are a few ways you can give. There's an envelope in the seat in front of you you can use to give by cash or check or card.

If you are able to do online giving, you can scan the QR code there. Or if you have our app, the Altar Fellowship app, you can give through that. Would you stand with me as we pray over this offering? Lord, we thank you that you meet our needs. Thank you, Lord, that you provide for us. And so as we give today out of what we've taken possession of, God, we do so as an act of faith in saying, Lord, you are our source and our supply, our faithful father. And we thank you, God, for another year. Thank you for this opportunity to lay a foundation for this new year. And God, I pray that we would do so with faith and with humility, with conviction and in truth and light. God, we give our offering today, knowing you don't need our money, but that you're asking for our hearts. And so we give you our finances today because we know that where our treasure goes there, our hearts will go also. Lord, we love you and we trust you. And we give to you today. We thank you for the opportunity to give. So we give gratefully today in Jesus name, amen. Amen. All right, whenever you're ready, we'll be receiving it here up at the front. Thanks so much.

Thank you. Pastor David, you can be seated. It's good to see all y'all. Happy new year. I just spent the last couple of days up in Pennsylvania with a ministry called Global Awakening, Dr. Randy Clark's ministry. And they send their greetings to everybody at the altar. And they said, thanks for letting us borrow your pastor for a couple of days. Had an awesome time up there. I, you know, I've shared this over the last month or so that, you know, as we come to the end of one year, the beginning of another, we sort of all of us sort of naturally or culturally, we begin to self-assess. We maybe spend a little bit more time praying things like, God, what do you want me to change? Then we might at other times throughout the year, God, what can I do better? And those are meaningful prayers. In fact, I don't think we should reserve those for just the end of the year or the beginning of the year. But, you know, as we come together for our, you know, our first service, first Sunday service of the new year, you know, I had this sense that it would be right. And in order to just sort of share my heart with you about the vision for this church. And so I will say this, mark your calendar, arrange your schedule, do what you gotta do.

Next week, I'm gonna preach what I think may be one of the most important messages I've ever preached at this church. Next week, I'm gonna teach on what it means to be established. And my hope is that you will make it a priority to be there, bring your notebook. And in fact, one of the, maybe one of the best pieces of advice I can give you for starting the new year is you should buy a notebook. If you haven't, this would be the perfect week to do it. You can go to Mardell's like right after this and, you know, or Barnes and Noble, go get you a Moleskine notebook. And then every time you hear God speak this year, write it down. If you wake up from a dream and you feel like that, I think that might be from the Lord, write it down. If you're reading the Bible and God just highlights a verse for you, write that down. If you're sitting in a church service and the preacher says something that really impacts you, that you think that is for me, write it down. Because you've convinced yourself you're gonna remember when God speaks to you, you won't. You won't, you will, like I've been doing this for years. And when I go back through the notebook from like last year, I think I have never heard that before. Like things that I wrote down with my own hand, I blow my own mind, you know,

like that's why I write them down. And I, you know, I flipped through my old notebooks and it's like mind blowing revelations that I had briefly and then I just moved on with life and forgot about. And so get those notebooks, write those things down. This is a perfect opportunity to make that a part of your regular routine. I wanna talk more broadly about where we're going as a church. And some of the things that may be, you know, new or different or unique about what we're doing. And some of the things that may be sort of staying the same, but I wanna just really emphasize for us as a church. You know, I do feel the burden of responsibility to catch and carry and communicate a vision that the people in the church can believe in and get behind and run with. And so that's what I wanna do today, if that's cool with you. Yeah. Now, this is something I don't wanna keep talking about over and over again, because I think people could misunderstand it, but I wanna start by talking about what I have, what I've shared, I shared maybe several months ago about how this year we are in what I'm calling like a year of rest. And that comes from Leviticus chapter 25. I wanna read Leviticus 25 verses one through four to you. And in Leviticus, it's a, you know, a riveting book. God is giving the law to these people.

He Israelites, he's just teaching them how to live when they come into the land of promise. And in Leviticus 25, starting in verse one, it says this, it says, and the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land, which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather its fruit, but in the seventh year, there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. And so God gives them this bit of what is for them law and is in many ways for those of us who are under the law of grace, which is just, it's wisdom. And for our church, we have entered now into our seventh year as a church. And so for our first six years, to put it into a modern context, we had our, the pedal to the metal, our foot all the way to the floor on the gas pedal. And in our first six years, we rented a building downtown and we grew the church and we launched our kids ministry and started sending missions teams overseas. Then we bought a building and we renovated that building and we put out two amazing worship albums and we did all sorts of outreach events and revival nights. If y'all remember those, and we had a young adults ministry for a while,

then we didn't have a young adults ministry. We had a night service for a while, then we didn't have a night service. And we had one service and we had two. And it's been an adventure. Like it's been an acceleration at like breakneck speed for six years. I, you know, in our first six years, we accomplished the things I prayed God would let us accomplish sometime before I die. And so now I'm sort of watching the clock like, all right, Lord, why did you get it done so fast? Like I got a lot of life left, right? And so I, you know, I'm amazed at what God has done these first six years, but I recognize it has been a tremendous amount of change in a short period of time. And, you know, I travel, have traveled a lot through the years through the Atlanta airport. You know, when we lived in Northern Alabama, every flight out of Birmingham on Delta goes through Atlanta when we lived in South Alabama, every flight from Mobile goes through Atlanta. And now we live in East Tennessee and guess what? Every flight from Tri-Cities on Delta goes through Atlanta. And so like I have had through the years, like good friends in the Atlanta airport, restaurants that the staff recognized me. You know, when I would travel a lot more,

I would be there two or three or four times a week. And so I was real familiar with that, but in the Atlanta airport, you get from terminal to terminal on a train and they always tell you, you know, welcome to the plane train. You got to hold on while the train is accelerating because if you don't, you know, you act like you're too tough to hang. You know, I'm not holding on to nothing. Like I'm good, right? And then the plane, the train takes off and you're like falling into strangers and you look dumb. My kids are trying to surf the train every time we get out there. But once the train gets up to speed, you can let go and walk around and you can get your feet under you. And I feel like we've been in this six year season of accelerating. And I think we're at this speed now that God is saying, all right, I want you to like take your foot off the accelerator for a minute. I want you to spend a year just getting your feet back under you at the speed you're currently going. And so this year, what that means for us really practically and this isn't like any major changes. What that means for us is I've told the team, we're not instituting any new programs. There's going to be no new ministries.

And so I know you've got a great idea that you're sure is from the Lord about a ministry we need to start. That's great. I'd love to hear about it next year. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm sure it's fantastic. I'm sure it's anointed. I'm sure that we absolutely desperately need it, but give us 12 months and then let's talk about it. I think this is an important thing for us to understand that rest is not a privilege, it's a command. Rest is not something that we get to do if we work hard enough. Rest is a command from the Lord. And I think that's a principle not only can we apply to the building of a ministry, I think it's a principle we can apply to the rhythm of our life. Maybe as you are considering how this year might look for you and your family, that intentional times of rest might be an important thing for you to begin to integrate. It's like on Friday night, when the sun sets, you turn your phone off and any emergencies will, if it's a real emergency, it'll still be there. Saturday night, you know, at sundown, when you turn your phone back on, right? And so maybe that's what it looks like for you. Maybe it looks like, hey, once a quarter, me and my spouse go away for a long weekend together

and we're away from our phones, we're away from our responsibilities and we just give each other our undivided attention. But I would encourage you to pray this year and to say, God, show us how we can integrate rest into our regular rhythms. And so we are not gonna be adding any services or launching any ministries or programs here at the church that we don't already have. Now that doesn't mean we're not doing anything, but it means we're not doing anything new for the year. Is that all right? All right. The next thing is the way that we approach baptism. So we do baptisms, generally speaking, we do baptisms about twice a year. And, but we have signups for baptisms open on our website all the time. And so if 80 people signed up to be baptized today, we'll just do a baptism like next week. You know, we don't care when we do them, we'll baptize you anytime. But we wanna make sure that when we do baptisms, that they are meaningful. And this last time that we did baptisms, every time someone would come down into the water, I would share with them that we view baptism the way we view a wedding. That your baptism is not like the moment your commitment to Christ began,

but it is the moment that you publicly declare before God and all of your friends and family, there's no going back for me. And it's interesting to me that we, prior to performing a wedding, you know, we'll do a month of counseling. We advise people to read books, to prepare themselves so that they can understand the weight of the, you know, covenant they're making on that day, the relationship that they're, you know, chiseling into stone on that day so that they can, you know, continually honor the wedding commitment that they've made. And yet, if somebody wants to be baptized, we're like, sure, just jump in. It's just water. And the reality is a wedding is just a party. You know, you just hang out with your friends and eat cake and dress up. It's like, there's nothing sacred about a wedding, but there is something sacred about what the wedding represents. That is lifelong commitment. Similarly, there's something sacred about what baptism represents. So we recognize, while we believe that baptism is a physical sign of a spiritual reality, that does not mean that it isn't sacred. And I think this is where, you know, you have some disconnect in the conversation

between people who believe in what we call the doctrine of regenerative baptism. They would say that it's actually by the act of baptism that you're regenerated, your sin is washed away, and you're made right with God. And, you know, I would disagree with that. You know, I would point to the thief on the cross who, you know, obviously wasn't baptized and yet was assured of his acceptance into paradise with Christ. And so we don't believe that. And here's the thing that people who do believe in regenerative baptism, what they teach, people who teach that, what they would, you know, sort of read between the lines or that they would infer from my position is that they would say, well, that means you think baptism is not important. And I would say, well, no, no, no. Like, I don't think we're saved by marriage, but I think marriage is extremely important. I think we should take our marriage very seriously. We've done, you know, multiple conferences through the years to help make sure people continue to honor the wedding that they engaged in, the wedding covenant that they entered into. Like, we want to offer support and structure and encouragement and inspiration and training and tools to make sure that people are able to succeed in walking out the commitments they made

on the day of their wedding. And similarly, I want to make sure that we offer support and training and inspiration and encouragement to help make sure that people walk out the commitment that they made on their baptism day. Romans chapter six, let me go to Romans six and show you that this isn't just, sort of fanciful personal opinion. Romans six, verse one, it says, "'What shall we say then? "'Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? "'Certainly not. but how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Hey, that's good news. Come on. Or Paul says, do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Understand that we weren't just baptized into the miracles, into the relationship with the Father. We weren't just baptized into his nature. We weren't just baptized into his love. We were baptized into his death. Baptism is a picture of death, that in the same way Jesus died and was buried and resurrected, that we too, we reckon ourselves, we consider ourselves dead with Christ, buried with him and raised with him to newness of life. That's what Paul talks about here.

He says, therefore, in verse four of Romans six, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. We also should walk in newness of life. And so this is what baptism represents. It's to say, from now on, my life is gonna look different. From now on, my priorities are gonna look different. My passions, my interests, the things that get my attention, they're gonna look different from now on. From now on, you can expect to see me handling situations differently than you've ever seen before. It's the same as when we get married. It's just like a wedding. It's like people that knew me, Pastor David knew me before I was married and he could tell you that I live differently, I joked differently. The movies that I watched, the way I spent my money and my time, those changed on the day of my wedding. It wasn't because of the wedding, it was because of the commitment the wedding represented. And so for us, our baptism, it's not about the water, getting dunked into water, that doesn't do anything. It's just water, but it does represent, it symbolizes a covenant, a crossing of a threshold between our old life and our new one. You know, the Bible commands believers to be baptized in Matthew 28, in Mark 16, in Acts 2, in Acts 10,

Acts 22, in Romans 6, and in 1 Peter 3. And so if you haven't been baptized, you should. It's not just a fun celebration, it is a submission to the clear instruction of scripture that all who follow Christ ought to be baptized. And so you're not saved by your baptism, but if you have been saved, you've been commanded by God to be baptized. And so I'll say this, if you haven't been baptized or you need to be baptized, I would encourage you sign up on the website or through the app, you can do that today. And we will do those, our general rule of thumb is when we get to 10 people, we just schedule a baptism. And so you can go ahead and sign up. If not, you know, you can wait until probably Easter, around Easter, you know, we'll have another one on the schedule. But I will say that this is a part of our, this has gotta be a part of our DNA as a church, that we see this rightly and we deal with it appropriately. And so, you know, one of the things that has troubled me, if I'm really honest, is that I feel like for some people in some situations here at the church, that baptisms have been about, you know, maybe less about being united in the death and burial and resurrection of Christ and more about kids impressing their parents or friends having a memorable spiritual experience together, or even a husband and wife

having a memorable spiritual experience together. And all of those things are good things. I think parents should want to impress, or kids should want to impress their parents and friends and couples should want to have memorable spiritual experiences together. But I wanna just be very clear, because you're not going to stand at judgment with your spouse or your best friend, I'm not gonna baptize you with your spouse or your best friend. Jesus explicitly says in the scriptures that there is no marriage in the resurrection. And so that means that my wife and I, we are married for as long as we are living on the earth, but in the resurrection, I'll be joined in eternal unity with Christ. And so her job as my wife is to prepare me for that. And my job as her husband is to prepare her for that. She'll be married to me for, you know, hopefully 60 or 70 or 80 or a hundred years. That would be fantastic. We'd be so thrilled for that, but I'll be joined in eternal covenant with him for all eternity, for hundreds of billions of years and then some. And so my marriage is the temporary proving ground for my soul to be prepared for the covenant, which is to come. And so I wanna be clear about that.

If I baptize you with your spouse, that's wonderful. I'm not mad at you. It really is okay. But that is gonna be it. thing of the past moving forward. You can both be baptized on the same day, but I don't, and we'll take a picture of you afterwards, but I don't know that we need to like double it up. You know, it's good. And then also before someone will be baptized here at the altar moving forward, we're gonna ask that they meet with our Council of Elders. Now our Council of Elders, are you guys all here? I think Anthony Cook is not here. Would you stand up, Mr. Rich and Kashif and Clint, Paul, Clint is over with kids. So, well, you know, there's these three guys. And then if you know Clint Ledford or Anthony Cook, they are also a part of the group. And so those five men, they serve as our Council of Elders. They offer, you know, Pat, you guys can sit. Yeah, they offer, you know, pastoral support and counseling and discipleship ministry here at the altar. They give me guidance and counsel and accountability and support. I'm grateful for them. And so what we're gonna do moving forward is I wanna make sure just like we do before we bless a marriage,

that we can bless your baptism and understand that for you, it means more than just, you know, getting dunked in the water and taking a picture with your mom and dad or your spouse, but that you really understand what Romans 6 is teaching, that by this act, that you're being united with Christ in the likeness of his death and his burial and his resurrection. And that this declaration you're making to yourself and to everyone around you is that you can expect for things to be different with me from now on. And so our elders, they'll wanna hear your testimony and your confession of faith. And they'll wanna hear why it is that you wanna be baptized. And, you know, they're not gatekeeping it. It's not, you don't have to like pass a quiz or anything. They just wanna make sure that they can, you know, joyfully support and celebrate that step in your life. And so I'd ask you to go ahead and sign up and they'll be around even on days that we do baptisms. And so if it's baptism Sunday and God pricks your heart and says, this is for you, I want you to take this step, they'll be there. You can talk to them that day, you know, you can talk to them on the way down to the river as we're going down to baptisms. But I just wanna make sure that we give appropriate honor

to the sacrament of baptism. Is that okay? Yeah. Now, the next, you know, I preached a message that was, it's funny to me because the messages that are really impactful and weighty to me and nobody seems to care about. And, you know, messages that I walk off stage, like, ugh, I blew that. People are like, man, the pastor just touched my heart. So who knows? But there was a message, it was important to me when I preached it on the sacrament of fellowship. And I think, you know, I talked about fellowship as the forgotten sacrament. And so this year, you know, I really believe that it's a part of God's instruction that not only do we emphasize fellowship, obviously we've done that, but that we emphasize the purpose of fellowship, which is ultimately discipleship. There's a book, oh man, Coleman, I don't know who wrote it. I had to read it for college. And so I got through it as fast as I possibly could, but it's a book called The Master Plan of Discipleship by, what is it, Robert E. Coleman? That sounds right, something like that. And, or The Master Plan of Evangelism, that's the name of the book, The Master Plan of Evangelism. And the whole thesis behind the book is that

the master plan of evangelism, the method by which Jesus evangelized was discipleship. And still today, the method by which God's kingdom is advanced is discipleship. You know, I'll read to you Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20, what we call the Great Commission. Jesus says to his disciples, go therefore and make disciples. That's one word, make disciples is one word in the Greek. And it literally means to produce pupils or students. And so, or to, it's actually, so it doesn't mean to produce or to make, it means like to studentize someone. Does that make sense? Yeah, make disciples. So go therefore and make students, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and that speaks to the seriousness of what we just read in Romans six, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And then he makes this promise, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. So understand that the assignment that is given to us as followers of Christ is not just to make an impression or to build a. platform or to win converts or to make a difference,

but to make disciples, to teach people to become students of Christ. And I think, you know, we, I shared this last year, but for those of you who weren't here, those who may not remember, and I gave our next generation pastors a plan I felt like was from the Lord. And I feel even more strongly this year that it is from the Lord. Our kids ministry, they teach week after week, after week, after week, the gospel. I've asked them to bring every single message back to the simple gospel and to make it their aim that by the end, by the time that kids graduate from the altar kids ministry, that those kids can recite all the verses in the Romans road, that they can explain, you know, what it means to be saved, to put your faith in Jesus, that we are, that God created us for good, that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. And that if we will confess Jesus with our mouth and believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that he is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, that we will be saved. Like that's our hope is that by the time our kids graduate from the altar kids,

that they will be very intimately, competently familiar with the gospel. And then for our youth ministry, I've asked pastor John to make it his highest priority to continually come back again and again and again to the kids that are in his youth group, the altar students, and continually remind them that they were made to be disciples of Jesus, that what they are learning to do is to follow Christ. Why should they study the scriptures? Well, because Jesus himself used the scriptures to teach. The scriptures testify about Jesus. Like, well, how should they live their life? Well, they should look at the master Jesus and see how he handles situations. Every, like my hope is that when they're in the altar students, that the whole framework of their learning will be we are learning to be students of Christ. And what does it mean to be a student of Christ? And what's the purpose in being a student of Christ? Well, the long-term purpose is that ultimately they wouldn't just be followers of Jesus, but they would be leaders of men. And that's where I come in as the, you know, the big church pastor is that my job is to then after students graduate from the altar students, to begin to provoke the adults in this congregation to not just be followers of Jesus, but to also be leaders of men, to be disciple making disciples,

to be people who are able to reproduce in others what Christ has produced in us. And so this year, my hope is to harp repeatedly to you about the fact that every single one of you ought to be actively pursuing discipleship relationships. You should have people in your life that you're leaning on who are pouring into you. And you should have people in your life that are leaning on you, who you are pouring into. Your spiritual journey is not just about you and your spiritual actualization. It's about those who are gonna follow you. Those who are looking to you for encouragement and strength and guidance along the way. Every single one of us is called to this, not just pastors or preachers or Christian authors or musicians. And so this year, you know, obviously we wanna emphasize discipleship through the things that we offer like tribes and volunteering here at the church. Those are easy ways for you to find mentors and leaders in your life. Jump into volunteering, get around godly people and find somebody that you love that makes you wanna be closer to Jesus and grab onto that person. And so my hope is that every single member of this church will be a member of a small group, one of our tribes this year.

I hope that when we start up our spring semester, that we will have the largest attendance we've ever had because we are a people who are called by God, not just into, you know, church attendance, but into discipleship. And discipleship is a full contact sport. And so, yeah, so I hope you'll get around, you know, some of our tribe leaders, our small group leaders and give them an opportunity to help you grow as a disciple of Christ. And then that you'll then turn and look for opportunities to do the same for others. Now, like I said, volunteering is a great way to do that. I wanna say in addition to those things that we provide, my hope is that this community will be intentional about discipleship in the ways we don't provide. This, I think, is a weakness in our church is that if you feel like if I am not personally overseeing something, it's just not gonna get done. You should know that if I am personally overseeing something that's a good sign it's not gonna get done. So don't wait for me, believe me, don't wait for me to build the ministry you think needs to happen. Start doing it. Like you want me to have more gatherings for you to meet and network with people? Guess what?

Like we're here together every single Sunday. I want you to meet and network with people while you're here. Get 10 people's phone numbers and go get coffee with them all throughout the week. Like my hope is that discipleship and mentorship and leadership and love, that those will be natural phenomena that happen in this church and through the members of this church, not just at church-sponsored events, but in our day-to-day lives. That you guys would be taking people out to the movies and we took some, I took some guys, I just find guys that don't have enough men, dads that have like daughters. And I am like, I called Jacob Coyne and I was like, hey, I'm gonna go watch a stupid boy movie with my boys. You wanna come? And he was like, yes, I absolutely. He's got, he's about to have his 19th daughter. Bless his heart. And so it was, we've got to just like do things together outside of the church. It is, it's good for your soul, okay? But I also should say to this end of making disciples, and this is maybe a bigger thing than even I can articulate yet, but there is this sense and there always has been

that a part of the assignment on this church is to raise up and send out other church planters. And so in America, churches are closing much faster than they're opening. We need more pastors, that people that are going into vocational ministry, at least about five years ago, the statistic was that it was lower than it had been in generations and generations. And so I read a stat recently that said that pastor in terms of prestige or respect is right there next to like used car salesmen, and maybe just above lawyer. And so it's like not a prestigious job to go into a career path to take, but it is necessary. And they don't need to love us, like the world doesn't need to love us, but we do need to faithfully carry the mantle that those before us have carried. And so I want you to know that it's gonna be a part of the emphasis that I have this year is that I'm saying, God, show me, there are people in this church that I can help position to launch into pastoral ministry in their own churches. I would love to see, you know, five or 10 or 20 years from now that we can say, hey, there's a dozen churches that exist because the altar fellowship sent them. I think that would be an amazing and beautiful thing to do.

And so we wanna see that, we wanna see sons and daughters sent out from this house to carry what God is doing here and to build this culture, to reproduce this culture and maybe even something better in other cities and other states and even other nations. And so that's a prayer that I'm praying and saying, God, help me, you know, not just to raise up people who follow me, but help me to raise up people that lead others fruitfully and effectively for your glory, amen. And then lastly, well, I'll talk, let me talk about finances as well. So we're starting this year with a class from Pastor David on managing our money. And my earnest desire is that every one of you would make that class a priority. It is very common that people who are under our care here at the altar struggle financially. And I understand, you know, part of that is just the economy very broadly and that a dollar doesn't go as far as it did, you know, five or 10 years ago. And so there's obviously there's grace for that, but there is a set of skill or a skillset necessary to be able to manage money appropriately, to be able to, you know, look at your finances and understand what you're seeing, to set and keep a budget. And of all the people that I have met, David Morrison may be the most skilled in that area.

It's just always been easy for him. I wouldn't be in ministry today if it wasn't for David's skill with money and management. He, the first ministry I was ever part of was the band that he started and he administrated, managed all of our money. in finances, it was, I've told you guys the story about how when I married Candace, I was making $5 every other day. David was the one that was giving me that $5 every other day. And so he has no problem being frugal. We were, I was eating one bean burrito from Taco Bell every day and was glad to do it, you know. But I would strongly encourage you to be there at that. You know, I know that you may feel like you understand, but there may be one principle that he introduces to you that you've never considered before. And if you can grow in that area, it's definitely an area worth growing in. But I will say this, and I'm sure that David will cover this as well, like giving to the church that you call your own is not optional. And I recognize as your pastor, that might feel weird to hear me say, but I would say that in anyone else's church as well, it is biblical. And I wanna call you to biblical sexuality, and I wanna call you to biblical ministry, and I wanna call you to biblical parenthood,

and I wanna call you to biblical financial stewardship. And I'll tell you this, our church, this is just a part of my world behind the scenes. Our church was giving at an average of like, I'll tell you the number, like none of it's hidden. It was giving an average of about $15,000 when we bought this building. And so we had a church, a membership of about 350 people in our other building downtown, and we were making about $15,000 every week that was coming in. Since then, now that's been what, two years, two and a half years since we bought this. And our church membership has grown by about 400%. And our average weekly income now is about $17,000. Which is interesting because you'd think the giving would have increased by 400% as well. It has not. And there's a part of me like, we're good. God will give me gold coins in a fish's mouth if that's what needs to happen. I'm not worried about the church. We're gonna be okay. But as your pastor, there is a part of that that's concerning for me that what we're, this is the question that I'm asking myself. Like, are we really making disciples or are we just entertaining freeloaders? I have a friend that's a very successful businessman. And he said, dude, it is insane to me

the way that you guys run your church. He said, the church is the only institution in the world that people can come and receive from the goods and services you provide and give nothing. And he said, they do. And I said, yeah, all the time. And I said, the thing that we're giving away isn't primarily for the people who are receiving it, it's for the glory of God. And if nobody gives anything to the church, we want God to be glorified and we're gonna continue to do everything we can to do that. But I just, for the sake of being fully candid, my hope is that we as a church will make this year financial responsibility and financial stewardship, and I should say biblical financial responsibility and stewardship a higher priority than it has been in the past. Is that all right? I'm sweating a little bit. Are you good? You know I love you, I do. I really love you. And then lastly, I wanna talk about communion or the receiving of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ. Last month, I talked about how the church fathers, some of the church fathers, Ignatius and Irenaeus and Tertullian, they argued really fiercely for the Eucharist.

And that word just means the good blessing or the good gift, the bread and the wine that they serve as a picture of the real body and blood of Christ. Now, I'm convinced that their argument is not that the body and blood were, not that they believed or even expected us to believe that the bread and wine were somehow physically transformed into muscle tissue or real blood, but that they stood as a tangible witness of the reality of Emmanuel, what we just celebrated. We did this a month ago. I talked about this same concept, this idea that Jesus is the word which became flesh and dwelt among us, that he didn't just, as the early sect, spiritual sect called the docetics, the Gnostic sect, what they believed is that Jesus was never human. He was never actually flesh and blood. His flesh and blood is carnal, it's defiled by nature, he just appeared to be, he was spirit, but he appeared to be flesh and blood, like a ghost or something. And so a lot of the church fathers argued really fiercely, no, no, no, we take the Eucharist, we receive communion, because it reminds us that God in divinity actually lowered himself into flesh and blood, that he actually became tangible.

God is infinitely more humble than many of us can believe. And so I never want our receiving of communion to be some mindless or vain routine into which we fall. And honestly, to this point in our church's growth, we have received communion just as I felt the spirit would lead. And my concern has been that I never want it to be not special. I never want it to be mundane. And recently I was having a conversation and somebody said, you know, we don't want worship to become mundane, but we do that every week. And I said, oh man, that's a good point, you know? And so I wanna tell you two things. The first is, I want to in this year, I want us to integrate into our rhythm the taking of communion more regularly. And so we're gonna start to take it, throughout this year, we're gonna receive communion on the first Sunday of every month. That would be this Sunday, we're gonna receive it today. And, but I need to say this in the same breath. Guard your heart from ever allowing this corporate meditation on the extravagant humility and nearness of God to become snack time. This is, as we integrate this into the regular rhythms and practices of our church, my hope is that this can remain for us an exercise. And like I said, corporate meditation

on the nearness and humility of God, my hope is that it will bring blessing and life to this body. And that it will be something that we continually check ourselves to make sure that our hearts and our minds are right, that we are rightly discerning what this means. In 1 Corinthians 11, I read this a month ago, but you probably forgot. So I'll read it again. 1 Corinthians 11, Paul says, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Therefore, says whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself. Let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner

eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. And so again, I wanna challenge and implore you, if I could get the elders to come forward and get prepared, we're gonna receive communion today. I can't think of a better way to start the new year. We're gonna receive that today, but as we prepare to do that, I wanna challenge you again to examine yourself and to understand that if we discern from this, if we conclude that this represents some meaningless religious activity, if we consider this to be just some mindless ceremony that we go through that doesn't mean anything, if we go through this moment, this time, and we fail to discern the Lord's body, the Bible tells us that we eat and drink judgment to ourselves. So guard your heart, examine yourself. And remember that this is the instruction we've been given by Christ to continually do this in. Remembrance of his humanity and his redeeming sacrifice for us on the cross. And so if you are prepared, we will come forward and just like we did a month ago, we'll have one of our elders, some of our elders here distributing the bread and the wine. And what you'll do is you'll come forward and you'll break a piece of the bread off. I think that's an important part of the symbolism

and significance of this is that you're not handed a pre-prepared wafer, but you see the body broken with your own hand. And so as you come forward and you break a piece off, you can then dip it into the wine and then receive it. My hope is that you would do so prayerfully, that you would do so in an act of corporate meditation, that you would remember that it was God who bridged the gap between divinity and humanity, who closed the distance and who came to dwell among men so that we could know him. That is the biggest deal. I'm gonna pray and then we'll come forward and begin to receive this before we move on to communion. I would just ask that you continue to pray for me, continue to pray for my family, continue to pray for the staff, the pastors, the leaders, the elders here at the church, pray for our families. I have seen ministry destroy too many relationships, too many families, too many friendships. And my hope is that you would lift us up and pray that God would guard our hearts, that he'd guard our minds, that he'd give us wisdom and revelation, that the way we lead this church would be the way that God has ordained for this church to go, amen. So would you stand and we'll pray and then we'll have you begin to come forward down these two side aisles.

Lord, we thank you for your body that was given to be broken for our sake. We thank you for the blood that was shed for the remission of our sins. Lord, we fix our eyes on you, fix our hearts on you and we stand in awe of your amazing love today. God, we thank you for what you're doing in this church, in this community to establish us as a place that can host your presence and proclaim your truth. God, as we receive of your body and blood today, we do so in grateful humility and worshipful reverence as we come again into a place of remembrance of all that you've done for us and all that you are going to do through us. Lord, we bless you and we honor you today, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, those of you that are in the front, if you guys wanna begin, you can come on forward. God, we thank you for what you're doing in this church, in this community to establish us as a place of remembrance and worshipful reverence as we come again into a place of remembrance of all that you've done for us and all that you are going to do through us. God, we bless you and we honor you today, in Jesus' name, amen. God, we bless you and we honor you today,

in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

♪♪ ♪♪ and I'm here today to lead you and maintain you. Family, thank you for lending your faith, your energy, your passion, your gifts, your strength, your resources, your hope, your love to this family. Thank you for being here, for being a part of what God is building here. And as amazing as it has been these last years to see what the Lord has built, I have got to tell you, I have a hunch that the best is yet to come. So let's move forward together and see what God has in store. Amen. Family, God bless you. Thank you so much for being here. We will see you next week right here. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.