Even Now Faith: Finding Hope After Sudden Loss | Brad Leach

If we haven't met yet, my name is Brad Leach, and Leah and I have the privilege of leading City Life Church of Philadelphia. Allison Park Church is home. This is Mama, this is our parent church. Pastor Jeff, Pastor Melody, this church sent us to Philadelphia. As Pastor Joe said earlier, we were the first of 100 churches that God used this church family to plant all over the Northeast. We're just so grateful. You know, every time I come back to ABC, I feel like I'm coming home. Today, this morning, walking into that concourse is kind of like coming back home for the first time since Dad is gone. And I know a lot of you, I'm sure, felt that. Today, as you came in, something missing, a big, big presence missing. We recognize that, and we're inviting in the only one who can fill that void, the only one who can fill that space, Prince of Peace, the God of all comfort. And I'm glad you're here. I wanna bring you greetings from the overseers of Allison Park Church. It's a team of pastors and leaders from across the country that love this church, that are backing you up.

And I want you to know, on behalf of the overseers, that we are with you, we're praying for you. And I know that we're gonna get through this together. We're gonna get through this together. I met Pastor Jeff over 20 years ago now. When I met Pastor Jeff, I was a struggling, broke church planter in Detroit, Michigan. When God brought Pastor Jeff into my life, he started doing the thing that he is the best at of anyone in the world, and that's believing in people. He just started believing in me. He saw something in me. He started to coach me and to encourage me and to invest in me, and started inviting me to Pittsburgh a couple times a year, whenever he would get church planters together, just to encourage us, build us up, mentor us. And on one of those trips, he and Pastor Melody, in their expansive wisdom, arranged for me to sit next to a beautiful, dark-haired girl at a Chinese restaurant named Leah Edwards, who grew up right here at Allison Park Church. Pastor Jeff and Melody introduced us, and we have been married now for 18 years. We have four kids. And so, like a lot of you, I can honestly say that Pastor Jeff Leak changed my life forever. Anybody else in the room? Pastor Jeff, through the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God, changed your life forever.

And we honor him, and there's gonna be a lot of opportunity over the next few weeks to honor a man of God who is impossible to replace, and those opportunities are coming today. I wanna speak to our hearts for a few moments, and I wanna read a story and speak to you from the story of a woman named Martha, whose story of loss, I think it gives us a solid place to find our footing. On a day when grief just feels like it's filling the air, we find the story in the Gospel of John, recorded by one of Jesus' closest disciples. He was actually there. He saw it happen with his own eyes. He wrote it down, he recorded it, so we would have record of it today. And here's where it begins, John 11, verse 17. I invite you to pull it up, John 11, on your phone, if you want to, on your Bible app. It won't be on the screen. This message, as you can imagine, kind of got pulled together very late in the game this morning, but I pray God uses it to encourage you. John 11, beginning in verse 17. When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.

When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, even now, I want you to hear her words. But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus told her, your brother will rise again. Yes, Martha said. He will rise when everyone else rises at the last day. Jesus told her, I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha? Maybe Jesus would say it to us this way today. Do you believe this, Allison Park Church? You know, we are really good as Christians at coming up with cliches. Christians have the best cliches, don't we? And maybe you're familiar with this cliche that says God is never late, he's always on time. God is never late, he's always on time. Sounds good, doesn't it? It sounds like something you really want to be true. But I don't know, it feels like in my life, he's been late a few times. And if it is true and God is never late,

how many of you know he is never, ever early? That's how these two sisters, Mary and Martha, felt when Jesus showed up four days after their brother had died. This was a family that was particularly close to Jesus. Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, they had a home that became a bit of a retreat center for Jesus, it was like a home away from home. When Jesus was out moving from village to village, he always had this haven in Bethany and he would come to their home and they would cook and he would rest. Jesus loved these siblings and they loved Jesus. But then Lazarus got really sick. We don't know what it was, if he had a high fever, heart trouble, problems breathing, but Mary and Martha sent Jesus a message. They said through this messenger, Jesus, the one you love is sick, we need you. This was the right instinct. Let's call Jesus, Jesus can heal. Jesus can help. That's what we do if someone we love gets sick, someone we love gets in trouble. We reach out to God, that's prayer, that's faith. That's what many of us were doing last night. As the initial word began to circulate to Pastor Jeff, it had a medical emergency. We were sending out texts to each other, we were sending out texts to God.

God, you gotta come, you gotta show up. God, we need you right now. We need your healing right now. God, we need you to touch our pastor right now. We asked God to heal his servant, to heal our pastor. And for Mary and Martha, listen, Jesus got the message, but his response to these two sisters was confusing. He told his disciples, the sickness is not gonna end in death, it's gonna lead to God's glory, which sounded great, but then he decided to wait and stay a couple of days. But in the meantime, while Jesus waited, Lazarus died. And so when he gets there, you can understand why he doesn't receive a welcoming party. Martha is angry, she storms out to confront him. Mary won't even leave the house to greet him. But they were both wrestling with the same question. What do I do with a God who doesn't show up when I needed him the most? I wanna just make a point here in passing that I think is really important. It's easy to think God must be so disappointed in me because I have these questions, because I have this anger toward him in my heart, because I have these doubts. We think God would be so much happier with me if I just got my act together, if I just figured all these questions out, if I just got rid of this doubt once and for all. God, he would just be so much happier.

I've disappointed him. If I was a better believer, I wouldn't have all of these questions. But notice how welcoming Jesus to this is, to this heartbroken, skeptical, doubting sister. He doesn't snap back at her with a sermon. He listens, he's tender. And I want you to hear this, Allison Park Church. God is not afraid of your questions. Jesus, I believe you love me, but you didn't come. How do I explain that? It's a good question. And today is one of those days that create a long list of questions. I've got questions today. You know, for the past 16 years, every other week on Wednesday afternoon from one o'clock to two o'clock, I talked to Pastor Jeff on the phone. For 16 years, every other week, he was there to listen, to pray for me, to talk me down off the ledge, to help me figure out what to do, to coach me. We were driving here through the night this morning, and all I kept thinking to myself is, I don't know how to lead. I don't know how to pastor without his voice. God, how am I gonna do that? And that, for me today, is an unanswered question. Maybe you have some questions.

Pastor Jeff was still so young, so full of life, so full of vision. How could God allow this to happen? So many people were praying for him to be healed. Why would God not answer their prayers? We just launched out into four years of faith. What's our church supposed to do now? Those are excellent questions and there are plenty more where they are coming from. They are going to come over the next week. They're going to come rolling in over the next few weeks. They could lead you to become paralyzed with doubt, but I want to speak something different over this church and over this house today. Are you ready? This is not a moment for Allison Park Church to become stuck. This is not a moment for Allison Park Church to, it's a moment to believe. This is not the end of four years of faith, and I know that's true because this room right now is filled with faith. It may be buried by grief. It may be hidden in a tomb behind a stone, but I promise you this, God did not give Pastor Jeff a vision for four years of faith for it to flame out in the beginning stages. We've got missionaries we still got to send. We still got churches to plant. We still got kingdom builders projects to tackle. God gave Pastor Jeff the vision, and like so many times in his life, he set it into motion, and now it's your turn to fuel it forward with faith. How? How do you take your loss and your heartbreak and hold your questions and find a way to move forward with faith? That's where this story speaks to us. I want to just give you three thoughts from Martha's journey that I hope encourage you today, and the first one is this. Be honest with God. Permission to be honest with God. You came in a wreck today. Be honest with God. You don't have to pretend. Be honest. Look at our text, John 11 verse 20. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. Martha comes out, but she gets in Jesus' face. She's in the Lord's face. Jesus, if you would have come when I called, this would never have happened. Just stop for a moment and imagine what would it be like for two sisters. They're trying to nurse their dying brother back to health in a first century context without electricity, without hospitals, without IVs or ventilators, and Mary and Martha are watching their brother slip

away. There's no such thing as hospice, no way to make him comfortable, and meanwhile, Martha, she's just trying to get Jesus to get there. She's asking the messenger, did you tell him? Yeah, I told him. Well, what did he say? He said this sickness isn't going to end in death. That's what he said. Well, what did he do after that? He just stayed there. He kept teaching. She's looking back at Lazarus. He's not getting any better, and now Jesus finally shows up. He's been dead for four days. Martha storms out to meet him. The friend who would welcome him into her home over and over now goes out to cut him off outside. She says, I don't know if I want you coming in the house today. I called you for help. You didn't reply to my text. You ghosted me. I needed you. Where were you? You came running when I cooked. Where were you when I cried? You ever gone through something that made you think, God, if you would have just shown up, this would not have happened. You could have stopped it. You could have changed it. My mom would still be alive. I wouldn't have had to name a baby that I never got to hold. I'd still have that job. I'd still be married today. Pastor Jeff would be preaching right now. Have you talked to God about it? Pastor Jeff and Melody walked Leah and I through the darkest valley of our lives. Several years ago now, Bruce Edwards, longtime pastor, staff member here at Allison Park Church, Leah's dad, my father-in-law, on the first day of our family vacation, went into the ocean for a swim and never walked out. Got knocked over by a wave, broke his neck, wound up experiencing a catastrophic brain injury, was on life support for two weeks in intensive care. Listen, Pastor Jeff and Melody, they drew us so close and they walked with us. They loved us. They loved us. They carried us through that season of loss, just like they have for so many of you, carrying you through the dark seasons of your life. We prayed. There were thousands of people all over the world praying with faith that my father-in-law would get up from that hospital bed and walk and be healed. Thousands of people right here in this church praying for that miracle to take place. And when God, in the end, decided for that... not to be the miracle that would take place. Let me tell you, that when the dust began to settle on that loss, I realized I had some questions for God. I got a Bible college degree, I have a theology degree,

I lead a church, but I had questions for God. And we spent time wrestling. I didn't understand. We had some honest, raw, emotional conversations. That's Martha. At this point in the story, she has no idea how this is gonna play out. She's totally broken, yet in her pain, she doesn't avoid Jesus. She doesn't run from him. She brings him her heart, even though all that was in it was anger, disappointment, and pain. And this is so courageous, because doubts like these can often silence a dialogue with God, which would make sense if God is just a philosophy. But if God is a person who wants a relationship with you, then these kinds of questions and doubts should invite us deeper into the conversation, because all of us know honesty is the foundation for every healthy relationship. So when you experience doubt, keep the lines of communication open. When the questions come rolling in this week, keep the lines of communication open. It's called prayer, and you don't have to pretend in prayer. You don't have to just rattle off cliches you don't actually believe.

You can tell God exactly how you feel. He can take it. Be honest with God. And then secondly, decide who you're gonna trust. We all have to trust at some point in our lives simply because there is no such thing as certainty in this world. And to believe in anything will ultimately lead you to put your trust in something, and you're gonna have to decide, do I trust this expert? Do I trust this source of information that's coming to me? And in a world with AI and deep fakes, it's getting harder and harder to figure out who can I trust and what is a trustworthy source? And you could come to the conclusion that I can't trust anybody, so I'm just gonna trust myself. Well, how do you know you can trust you to get you where you need to be in a world where the future is so uncertain? And this story reveals why trust in Jesus is always trust well-placed. After his run-in with Martha, Jesus followed the sound of the weeping, and he made his way to Lazarus' grave. And eventually, Mary met him there, too, and said the same words as her sister, "'Jesus, if you had only gotten here earlier,

"'this wouldn't be happening. "'My brother would still be alive.'" And then we see two emotions surface from Jesus. This is fascinating to see the humanity of our Lord. Verse 33, here's the first one. "'When Jesus saw her weeping "'and saw the other people wailing with her, "'a deep anger welled up within him, "'and he was deeply troubled.'" So Jesus' first emotion was red-hot anger. Actually, our Bible translations are nice, they're polite. The original Greek means to quake with rage or to roar or snort with anger like a horse. It's hard to imagine, but Jesus' nostrils are flaring up with fury. Who is he angry at? He's angry at death. He's angry at the tomb. He's angry at how sin has polluted his creation. His roar is shouting, this is not the way things were supposed to be. And if it feels hard for you to reconcile what you're going through with the story of a good and loving God, it's because those two realities were never supposed to be reconciled. And that's why he's about to pick a fight with the grave. And then you see the next verse, his second emotion, verse 34, "'Where have you put him?' he asked them.

"'They told him, Lord, come and see.' "'Then Jesus wept.'" I mean, it is all the feels for Jesus at Lazarus' grave. This is a rollercoaster ride emotionally for Jesus. Anger, sadness, maybe the same spectrum of emotions you experience already today. He's experiencing it. Jesus wept, the creator cried. And it's even more surprising when you realize that he knows the plan. Jesus knows what's about to go down. He knows what he's up to. He knows that in 30 minutes or 60 minutes or whenever it's going to be, he's about to turn this funeral into a party and there's gonna be dancing and rejoicing. Think about that. When you and I encounter loss in our lives and we have no idea how it's gonna turn out, Jesus doesn't just say, oh, calm down, relax, everybody. It's gonna be fine, I got a plan. He still enters into our pain and our grief even as he's unfolding the plan that we can't yet see. Why? perfect love and he will never close his heart towards you. And I believe Martha saw the tears in Jesus' eyes and it answered the question she wasn't asking. Even if those tears could not tell her why God had allowed her brother to die, they did tell her how God felt about it. That's why in a world where it's difficult to figure out who to trust, you can make the choice to trust Jesus because he's good, because he cares, because he's loving, and because everything he does in your life and allows into your life comes from a heart that hates what hurts you and is absolutely for

you. So we're going to be honest with God and we're going to make the choice to trust him. If you want to take your questions and your pain and move toward faith, here's the last thought, take one small step. Because faith is not theoretical, it's not hypothetical, it's tangible, it's action-oriented. It doesn't mean you have to take a leap of faith today. I know some of you are ready for that. It might be the smallest step of faith, but even the smallest steps of faith lead to resurrection and even the smallest steps of faith can lead to redemption. Look at verse 38, it says, Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb. A cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. Roll the stone aside, Jesus told them. Now what you need to understand is just like if you were to go to a cemetery today and decided to exhume someone's body, the only person who can give you the permission to do that is whoever has power of attorney, whoever has the authority for that person, for that body that you want to exhume. And the same is true here. At this funeral, there were only two people who had the authority to give the go-ahead to move this stone, and that was Mary and Martha. It was up to them to make the decision. Verse 39, it says, Martha, but Martha, the dead man's sister, protested. Lord, he's been dead for four days. The smell is going to be terrible. The Jews had a tradition, they had a belief that it was on the fourth day after somebody died that their spirit actually departed from their soul, which meant that on day one, two, three, there was still some hope. There was still, you know, a fighting chance. We could pray for a miracle, but day four is dead, dead. Day four, it's over. Day four, don't move that stone. That's what Martha says. He stinks. That body is not going to be pretty to look at. Yet now, Jesus is asking her to do something that doesn't make any sense to her, and she has a choice to make, and look at the choice she makes. Verse 40, Jesus responded, didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed? So they rolled the stone aside. In other words, Martha gave them the thumbs up. Martha gave them permission. Martha chose to believe. She did not have the power to bring her brother back from the dead. She did not have the strength to roll the stone away, but she was the only one with the authority there to allow that stone to be moved away, and that's the choice that she made. How was she able to do it with all of her pain, with all of her disappointment? How does she take this step? I think there are two words. We read them back in verse 22 that gave us a hint. Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died, but even now, even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask. Even now, Jesus, I'm angry, and I am sad, and I'm disoriented and confused, but even now, I believe.

In the middle of my anger, in the middle of my sadness, in the middle of the disorientation and confusion, even now, I believe. See, we think we have to wait until we have all of our questions answered, then we can believe. I call it now that faith. Now that you've answered all my questions, I'll trust you, God. Now that you've done what I expected you to do for me, you've won my belief. Now that I have enough evidence to prove once and for all your existence, I'll trust you, but here's the problem. Now that faith may just keep you circling belief forever, but what if you could trade? What if we could trade, church family, our now that faith for even now faith? What if you could take a small step today in the middle of grief into a space of mystery and worship by deciding to say, even now, I'll believe. Even now, with my brother in the grave on day four, I'll make the choice to roll this stone away. Even now, with all of these unanswered questions, I'll believe you have a plan. Even now, though it feels like I have more dead dreams than future hopes, I'll believe you're not done writing my story, and even now, with our pastor gone. and the future uncertain and our hearts heavy and afraid we'll go ahead and we'll roll the stone away even now I believe God is not saying if you could just get over it maybe I could unleash a beautiful plan for your life no the invitation is for you even now in the middle of it in the middle of the mess with the mascara still streaming down your face to hear his voice and take a small step of faith will you choose an even now faith it says even if I can't see it you're working it says I may still be sick still be broke still be lonely still be confused but I'm not going to forfeit hope it says we may be shocked and we may be confused and we may be hurting but we still got a God who is good and will never change so here's the problem with now that faith if you always insist on God meeting your expectations there's never any room for God to exceed your expectations he is a God who wants to do exceedingly more than you can ask think or imagine Martha think about it wanted to see a healing Jesus wanted her to see a resurrection and I know this isn't what we always want to hear but scripture says that God's ways are higher than our ways he has a purpose we can't always see in the moment and I just need you to know God loves you even when he waits and just because he didn't do what you wanted him to do when you wanted him to do when you wanted him to do it doesn't mean he doesn't have something else and something good and something loving in mind and just because it feels too late to you doesn't mean it's too late for Jesus

verse 41 so they rolled the stone aside then Jesus looked up to heaven and said father thank you for hearing me you always hear me but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here so that they will believe you sent me then Jesus shouted Lazarus come out and the dead man came out his hands and feet bound in grave clothes his face wrapped in a head cloth and Jesus told them unwrap him and let him go meaning a courageous step of even now faith they rolled the stone away bracing themselves for the smell but what they got instead of being blasted with the stench of death is they got their funeral transformed into a party Martha was no longer screaming and crying now she was running and embracing her brother and suddenly all of her pain had a purpose because with the stone rolled away something started to move and this guy who had been dead for four days got up and right there in the grave all wrapped up in mummy clothes started walking out and it's a good thing Jesus called Lazarus by name because if he hadn't called him by name you can be sure every dead corpse in that cemetery would have gotten up and started walking out of their graves because Jesus is not someone who performs resurrection he is resurrection and he's here right now saying these same words to you today I am the resurrection and the life resurrection is not something I do it's who I am you get around me and dead stuff starts waking up will you roll the stone away I don't know Jesus my heart is so jacked up it really does stink in there it really does stink in there okay even now will you roll the stone away I don't know what that small step of faith will be for you for some of you it's going to be as simple as making the decision to drink the juice and eat the bread as we come to communion in a few minutes say Jesus I'm sticking with you through this for some of you it might be as simple as making the decision to come back next week I don't know but here's why I believe you can confidently roll the stone away again today because this miracle for Lazarus it wasn't a one-off and what we are talking about this weekend is not the resurrection of Lazarus who would die again but the resurrection of Jesus Christ that proves his audacious claim I am the resurrection and the life because ultimately there's only one way to prove that statement true and that's for Jesus to have intrinsic power over life and death not just to raise someone else up from the dead but to raise himself up from the dead because if Jesus is dead so is our faith that's why after Jesus called Lazarus out of his grave Jesus would suffer and Jesus would die and Jesus would walk out of his own grave. The first resurrection that was for Lazarus, that was for Mary, that was for Martha, but the second resurrection

that one was for you, that one was for Pastor Jeff. Pastor Jeff stood on this stage and there's one thing he did every single week, he preached the gospel. No matter, no matter what the topic was, and you know Pastor Jeff got around all the topics, I love that about him. He was courageous and prophetic, but no matter what the topic was, he always had a moment in every message where he reminded us that Jesus came and he lived the life we could never live and he died the death we deserve to die so that he could walk out of his grave and give us new life and now he's living what he preached. He's experiencing it. Death is not the end. So we don't grieve like those who have no hope, no. We know we will see him again soon and what's more, we know we'll see Jesus soon, face to face, so we live with hope beyond the grave. Do you believe it? Jesus, thank you for resurrection power. Thank you Jesus, the death has lost its sting. Thank you, Jesus, that you welcome still our bleeding honest hearts, that you invite us to trust you, that you meet us at that small step of faith to bring redemption, to rewrite the story. We invite you in now to do what only you can do. We invite you in now to do what only you can do. With your heads about and your eyes closed, I want to give you an opportunity that Pastor Jeff has given week in, week out, hundreds of times from this stage and that's the opportunity to roll the stone away in your own art, to take a small step of faith toward Jesus today. Here's what you need to know, if you take a small step of faith toward him, he is running towards you. If you are here and you do not have a living relationship with God, if you are not sure that if you were to lose your life tonight where you would spend your eternity, you can live with that assurance, you can live with that confidence because of what Jesus purchased for us on the cross. I'm going to lead us in a prayer and I'm going to invite all of us to pray it out loud together as one church family, but if you know you need to take that step today, I'm going to invite you to just pray these words with me from your heart. God's going to do a miracle in you. Let's pray. Say Jesus, thank you for doing for me what I could never do for myself. So right now I step towards you, I trust you, I give you my heart, I lay down my sin and my pride, I put my faith in you, I believe you died in my place, I believe you rose from the dead. So right now fill me with your Holy Spirit, change me from the inside out, make me your disciple.

Amen. And we'll receive that from him right now. Receive that from him right now. It's a gift, it's grace. We're going to take some time now to come before the table of the Lord, I'm going to invite the team to come and they're going to begin to distribute the bread and the juice. You don't have to be a member of Allison Park Church to participate, this is just something that we do as Christians, as followers of Jesus, to remember his death and his resurrection and we just thought what better way to do it than to remember his resurrection and we just thought what better way to mark today than to remind ourselves we are one body, we are one church family as we come around the table of the Lord to partake of the body of the Lord. We are one body, we're his body and we're together, we're united in him, in him. So they're going to pass this out and as they do, we're going to sing this chorus together and I want you just to use it as an opportunity to prepare your heart, to allow the Holy Spirit to search your heart, to give him your pain, to give him your sin, whatever it is that might be surfacing for you right now. Let's prepare our hearts, let's sing this. Let's sing that together. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ Sing that again. You are worthy of it all. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ Even now, even now, Lord, you're worthy of it all. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ Even now, you deserve the glory. ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ Let's continue, let's press it.

♪ You're worthy, you are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ Come on, lift your voice, sing it again. You're worthy. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ You're worthy. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory ♪ We invite you to take the bread. Hold it in your hand. This represents the body of our Lord, broken so that we can be made whole. Worship in your heart. Let's eat the bread together. You can hold the cup in your hand. Symbolizing the blood of Jesus on the night he was betrayed. Jesus took this cup and declared, this is gonna be the new covenant in my blood. I'm about to shed my blood for the forgiveness of your sins. We stand here today with hope because of the blood of Jesus. Let's drink together. Come on, one more time. Let's sing this.

♪ Oh, you are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all, everything ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory, you do ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all, King Jesus ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ ♪ For from you are all things ♪ ♪ And to you are all things ♪ ♪ You deserve the glory, you do ♪ God, we thank you for the gift of Pastor Jeff Link. We thank you that you allowed us to sit under his ministry. We thank you for the impact that he had on our lives. We're grateful. We're grateful, God. Help us to live out the values that he taught us. Help us to walk out the legacy that he set into motion. When we're weak, give us strength. When we're discouraged, give us hope. When we feel lost, give us direction. I pray a blessing right now over every one of your sons and daughters who are in the room. I pray that you would fill them and that you would go before them this week. I pray that we would grieve, but not as those who have no hope. I pray that they will feel your nearness and feel your closeness in each step that they take, in Jesus' name, amen.