God Can Get You There From Here | Summer at Shoreline | Pastor Jurie Kriel | Message

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Good day, Shoreline Church. It's so good to see you guys. Would you mind standing for a moment with me? We're going to pray together before we say the creed together today. And I want you to take a moment to pray for yourself this morning. So what I want you to do is put your hand on your heart, if you don't mind, for a moment. And if you agree with this prayer or agree with it in your heart, Lord Jesus, I come to you today. And I say, Lord, would you work in me? Would you come and meet me where I'm at? Would you come and speak to me the words that I need to hear? And, Lord, would you come and address me for my next step? In Jesus' name, amen and amen. There's some words. Remain standing. There's some words that we, as Shoreline, find dear. These are words worth living by. And so we repeat them every week. It's called the Shoreline Creed. If you're new here, just kind of mouth the words or stare at me or read along. Whatever works for you. If you're part of Shoreline, let's say this with conviction and all of our hearts. Are you guys ready?

Okay, here we go. I am loved by God. I cannot earn it. I cannot lose it. I am forgiven and made brand new. In Christ, I live with passion and purpose. I am empowered by the Spirit to be the church in the world and to live this love revolution. Amen. You're welcome to take a seat. So every married couple, I have a theory. I'm sharing a theory with you this morning. And my theory is that every married couple only has 100 units of direction between the two of them. Okay? There's only 100 units of direction between the two in any married couple. Okay? So for different places, you need a different number of units of direction. So for you to get from your home to work, it's typically a relatively easy drive. You do it every day. So maybe you need two or three units of direction to make your way there. For you to go from here to downtown, you might say, well, that's 15 or 20 units. But then every now and then, you've got to navigate somewhere which is difficult. And that means like 75 or 100 units. And you need to work together to get there. Right? So if you're the one in the marriage that doesn't have all the units of direction, you struggle. Right? So I'm sure as I'm saying this, you're thinking about it. Now, Karin and myself, she has 99 of the units and I have one unit. Okay? So if I need to come to work, I need something, right, to make it here.

And I remember when GPSs came out, I was like, thank God you saved our marriage. Right? Because now we have lots of units of navigation. Because between the two of us, it's not squarely allocated. And I know that I can see you married couples look at one another and go, yeah, I've got 90 of our units, honey. Sorry about that. And maybe there's one or two of you that's 50-50. But typically it's like 90-10. That's kind of the average. Right? Okay? So we have lots of couples around. By the way, if you're single, I just gave you a great tip. Just ask somebody how good their navigation is. And if it's the opposite of yours, it's probably your partner for life. Right? Problem solved. Okay? It's my pleasure. No problem. Okay? Happy to help. But here's the thing. So years ago, Pastor Rob and Laura, by the way, I don't want to make any definitive statements because I know they're watching online. But I have a sneaky suspicion that Pastor Rob and Laura might be the other way around than Karin and myself. Okay? The reality is that it's different for different couples.

Right? But we're very much a 99-1. Okay? The 100 units of direction in our marriage. But so it's early in our marriage, and we're driving around, and it's around the time when GPS has just started happening. We have one of those dedicated GPSs. And we're driving around. And I'm so grateful because, you know, I'm a man. Men struggle to take instructions. And I can take instructions from the machine or not. Karin knows exactly where we're going. We're in a big city. It's complicated. And we're driving around. And as we're driving around with my one out of the hundred needed units of direction, I'm driving around, and then I would miss things. Right? So the GPS would say, turn left. But I'm in the furthest right lane. And then by the time I have... Eventually do get to the left lane, it's too late. And you know, all 99 units of direction is a little frustrated, but it's okay, because every time I miss the turn, the GPS says recalculating. Do you guys remember those old GPSs? They said recalculating. You know, turn left, turn left now, turn left now, recalculating.

Okay, and then it goes, okay, turn right, turn right, turn right now, and then I'd miss it, and it goes recalculating. And I was like, man, this is awesome. You know, every time I miss it, it's just, it doesn't get mad, it doesn't get sad, it just goes, I'm not saying someone else gets mad, I'm just saying the GPS does not, was not, it just says recalculating. And then I'd miss it again, and it goes recalculating. It's amazing how that recalculating tone of voice can remain exactly the same. Not even sarcastically recalculating. Anyways, we're driving with the GPS, and after about the fifth or the sixth time that it says recalculating, I miss a turn, and the little wheel turns and turns, and I'm waiting for the recalculating, and it goes, no route possible. Honey, do you know where we are? No route possible. Have you ever felt in your life as if there was no way from here to there? Have you ever been in a space where you felt like the place where you were at to the destination that God dreamed of for you was impossible to achieve, as if the from here to there was simply not possible? There is no way God can get me there from here. No route possible. Have you ever been in a situation

where it felt like there was no hope, no pathway, no way that you could see God bring about His dreams and His plans and His destiny for your life from your current position? It felt like there was no route possible. And sometimes in life, we find ourselves there. We all have a there, right? We all have a space in life that we're dreaming of, a place we're hoping for, a position that we think maybe one day God will get me there. Maybe it's a promise. Maybe it's a dream. Maybe it's something that you just look forward to one day achieving. It's a goal of yours. It's something the Lord has deposited in your heart and you know that this is the calling of the Lord upon your life. It's the plan of God for your life. It's the purposes of God. Maybe it's just being the person that you believe God has made you to be. It's the there, it's the goal, it's the destination. But not only do we all have a there, we all have a here. We all have a place where we're at today, a position you find yourself in, a reality you're facing. Maybe your here is a place where you feel like I felt that day in that car, no route possible. No way to get from here to there

because there just seems impossible from my current here. And if you've ever been in a place where it didn't feel like your here could ever get there, then I wanna tell you that this message is for you because we serve the God that can get you there from here. If you hear nothing else today, hear this. God can get you there from here no matter where here, might be today. If God has a plan and a purpose and a destiny for your life, it doesn't matter how broken, distorted, or hopeless your here is, He can get you there. And I'm hoping that God will come and ignite some dreams again today. I'm hoping that God will come speak to some people today that is in a here that isn't there, that is in a here that doesn't feel like they could ever get to there and that He would come and ignite something in their lives again today. And this is how He does it. The book of Proverbs chapter 16, verse nine says this. It says, in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. In their hearts, humans plans their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. And I love this because it's actually very significant because I've always thought that this is a difficult verse because it says a man makes plans in his heart and then the Lord establishes His steps. The Lord puts down His steps.

How does that work? Because I kind of thought that the Lord's the one with the plan. and the Lord's the one that lays out the course, and I'm the one that lays down my steps, right? So God makes the plan, and I put down my steps. But this verse says it the other way around. It says, I make a plan, and God lays down my steps. And then I started wrestling with this, and I looked at the original Hebrew words behind this, and the Hebrew word for man lays his course, that word course there is direk, or pathway. So you plan a path, and God comes, and the Hebrew word is tzahat. God comes and he directs your steps. So you plan the path, God directs the steps. Now how many of you have ever planned a path that didn't work out the way you hoped? Okay, if you're not putting up your hand, you need to come take over from me right now, okay? We've all planned a path, and it didn't work out the way we planned, right? We plan our path, we have our ideas. I'm gonna do this, and then I'm gonna do this, and then I'm gonna do that, and then I'm gonna get this, and then this is gonna happen, right? Just me, okay, we plan our path. But then life happens, and your path doesn't work out the way that you had hoped, and you find yourself here,

but you've got no way of getting there, yes? So you plan to get there, but then as you work your plan, you figure out that my plan can't get me there, and then we become hopeless. But then I realized what this verse is saying. This verse is saying that we plan our path, this is how I'm gonna get there, but then God comes and He doesn't direct our path, He directs our steps. What's the difference between directing a path and directing a step? Well, if the Lord directs a step, then it means you need the Lord for the next step, because you don't know all the steps to the there, you only need to know the next step. And why does God work this way? God works this way because God wants to have a personal, intimate relationship with you, so He doesn't hand you the map and say, good luck. What He does is He says, let's go. I'm gonna step with you, I'm gonna walk with you. And how many of you then, when life doesn't work out the way you'd planned, if God was the one that gave the course, the whole path, and it didn't work out, you could say, oh God, it doesn't work. But if God's the one that directs the steps, it doesn't matter where you're here is, God can get you there.

Even when you can't see the way, He can still direct the step. As long as you have a step to take, God can get you there from here. As long as you can put one foot in front of the other, God can get you there from here. He doesn't wanna be the one that just gives you the way. What does He say in John 14 verse six? He says, I am the way, I am the way. Jesus is the way, and the way is with you. Didn't you love Pastor Sam's message last week about that Jesus was at the stern of the boat? Jesus is the way, and as long as the way is on your boat, I wanna tell you that you can get there from here. No matter where there is, no matter where here is, if Jesus is on your boat, if the way is with you, He'll direct your step, and He'll get you there from here. I don't know how dark your here is, I don't know how difficult your here is, but God can get you there from here. He can get you to His purpose, and His plan, and His destiny, and what He's got in mind for you, and the promises that He's speaking over you. He can get you there if you will stay in step with Him, because He is the way, the truth, and the life. And He is with you, and He's ready to walk with you one step at a time, but sometimes in life, it feels like we can't get there from here, and I wanna speak about four scenarios that we find ourselves in, that we look at,

and we say, I can't get there from here, even when these things happen, right? So the first scenario is even when a door slams shut, have you ever been in a space where a door that you were trying to open up, or a door that you were hoping would open up, was your way to the next, and then that door slammed shut, and you felt like, I can't get there from here, because that college application didn't come through, that bursary didn't happen, the banking balance just isn't there, or the job opportunity isn't there, or I lost the job, and now I can't get there from here. I wanna tell you, when a door slams shut, God can still get you there from here. This summer, we had the opportunity to go to Greece on a Journey of Paul trip with a lot of shoreline, we had a whole group, about 16 people. of us traveling together and we've got a couple of photos of our trip, it was amazing. We got to spend some time together in some of the places where Paul walked, here we are in the city of Corinth and we're standing at the very place where we're not just reading about the Corinthians, we're seeing some of the things that happened in Corinth and we got to experience some of these moments in these Bible lands, in these spaces where the Bible was written and just it changes you when you see these things in this context. But part of the journey we were taking was Paul's journey into Greece,

which was basically the entry of the gospel into Europe. The first steps the gospel took in Europe and those are significant for us because it's the Europeans that brought Christianity to America, so all of us have our Christian lineage in some way, shape or form traced back to these moments that Christianity took these steps. But what's amazing about the start of Paul's journey is that he's intending to go one way and then God closes the door. Read with me in Acts chapter 16 from verse 67, it says, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia, God stopped him and they tried to enter Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. God closed doors but here's the thing, your belief in Jesus today, the fact that Jesus is being preached today in America is evidence of the fact that God used closed doors to spread His message. God sometimes uses a closed door to do His will because God is the God that can get you there from here. It wasn't Paul's plan to do what he did, Paul had other plans but God closed the door because our God doesn't necessarily give us the whole path but He directs our steps. And if we stay in step with Him, I love how Isaiah words it in Isaiah 30 verse 21, it says, whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying,

this is the way, walk in it. Some of us need to hear that today. Maybe your path has taken a turn to the right or a turn to the left or a door has shut in your face or something has worked out in a way that you didn't anticipate it to and you feel like it's over because of this thing that has happened. I wanna tell you, when you get to a point where the door closes, when you get to a point where it's turning right or it's turning left, hear the voice behind you saying, this is the way because the Lord directs our steps. Even when it feels like a closed door, God can get you there from here. Just remember Joseph's story. I mean, Joseph has a dream, right? Joseph has this dream about that there, he's gonna rule a nation, he's gonna run this, this is gonna be amazing. But then what happens? He goes and he becomes a slave. I mean, talk about his path, his plans not working out the way he anticipated. And then he goes from being a slave to being in jail. I mean, that's going the wrong direction, but we serve the God that can get you there from here. So God keeps directing his path and eventually Joseph would make the statement and he says, what you intended for harm,

God used to my good, we serve the God that can get us there from here. I don't care that you're here is jail or you're here is slavery, or you're here is hard, or you're here is hopeless, or you're here is difficult. It's not about how hard the here is, it's about how good the God is that promised the there. He is able to get you there from here. Sometimes we feel like we can't get there from here because this stop was not on the map. But I want to tell you, even when the stop is not on the map, God can get you there from here. So if you continue to go through Paul's journey, then Paul kind of takes a step and he ends up in the city of Athens. Now, the city of Athens is the intellectual hub of all of the world at the time of Paul. It's where Socrates was and Plato and Aristotle and all these people you've read about, they were from Athens. It was the intellectual capital of the world. Two weeks ago, two, three weeks ago, I stood there with the team from Shoreline. We were right there at the Acropolis in Athens and we were able to stand at this high point of intellectualism of the known world. Paul didn't.

planned to go to Athens, he actually gets stuck in Athens waiting for other people, but he gets stuck there thinking that he's just gonna wait and he walks around the city and he doesn't know what to do. But then God opens a door for him and he gets his speak on the very platform to the ruling class of the city. And guess what? God has made a way for him. There's a statue in the city of Athens where this tent maker Paul that doesn't have a single credential that matters to anybody in Athens, he gets up and he speaks and he says, in the city I found a statue for the unknown God. It's this God that I now proclaim to you. And the destiny of humanity changes in a moment when Paul was at a stop he didn't plan. Some of your lives are being paused and you're feeling as if you're stuck in a place where things aren't moving the way you'd hope it would. I wanna tell you, God is not surprised by the pause and God could use the pause to get you there from here. He's not intimidated by the delay. He's not intimidated by the waiting. Some of you are saying, I'm too old for that vision or I've missed my window. I wanna tell you, God will use this season to set you up for the there that he has in mind. There is no, no route possible in God.

We serve the God that can get you there from here even when you are living in an unplanned stop. God can get you there from here even when you drove yourself here. There's some of you that's listening to my story this morning and you're saying, Uri, I get what you're saying, you know, Paul, Joseph, all these guys. These things happened to them. I got myself here. I messed up and that's why my here looks the way it is. I made a mistake. I made the wrong decision. I ran away from God. I didn't obey what I knew was the right thing to do. I drove myself here. God didn't cause me to get here. I brought myself here and therefore I am disqualified of the there of God because my here is of my own making. Well, I wanna tell you about a guy called Jonah who did the same thing. Jonah was convinced when God told him to go to Nineveh, Jonah had another plan and Jonah 1, verse 3 says, but Jonah rose to flee to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarsus so he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarsus from the presence of the Lord. Jonah was walking away from God's plan.

He was walking away from God's purpose. He was making his own way there and I love how this one word repeats over and over in the book of Jonah. It says he went down to Joppa and he went down into the ship and then he went down into the hold of the ship and then when the storm came he went down into the depths of the sea. He went down and down and down and down and how many of you know that when you run from the presence of God you go down and down and down and down? A little compromise here and then a little compromise there and then little step here and a little step there and before you know it, you find yourself at the bottom of the sea. He went all the way down, running from the presence of God and some of you are in this room today because you've been going down, down and down and somehow you made it to this room, somehow you made it online and you're in this space, you're listening to my words and you know that you are here which is not there, you are here which is far away from there and you are saying because I brought myself here I can never get there, well I wanna tell you that we serve the God

that can take you from here to there and I wanna show you in the life of Jonah how he took Jonah from here to there. Jonah chapter one and verse 17 it says, and the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. The Lord appointed, do you see that? The Lord appointed a great fish, that word appointed is the Hebrew word manna. Have you ever heard the word manna? God appointed, God manna, God appointed, God provided manna in the desert, right? God provided, manna is when. God provides when God appoints. Here's the thing, Jonah provided for himself a ship to flee the presence of God. And when he has gone down and further down and some more down, and he was sinking to the bottom of the ship, the Lord provided a submarine called a big fish to pick him up so that for three days he could be safe and he could understand that God can get you there from here. Even when you're there, here, is sinking down into the bottom of the ocean, God can get you there from here because God appointed a fish. Maybe God has appointed a church today, a home group today, a space today,

to be a voice today into your life to say God can get you there. If you would just respond. Maybe this service, this moment in your life is a moment for you to understand that God has appointed for you. God has provided for you a message because it's in that space at the bottom of the sea in Jonah chapter two and verse nine that it says, but I, Jonah, with shouts of grateful praise will sacrifice to you. When I have vowed I will make good, I will say salvation comes from the Lord. He proclaims that this fish was his salvation and interestingly enough, the word there for salvation is the word Yeshua. Have you ever heard that word before? It's where we get our name Jesus from. It says Jesus is from the Lord. Jonah is prophesying that the Lord will send his salvation to you and that fish will spit out Jonah and he will go and preach the message because in my opinion, my favorite verse in all of Jonah follows that prayer in Jonah chapter three and verse one and this is what it says. It says in the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. A second time. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time for some of you,

the word of the Lord is coming a second time or a third time or a fifth time or a hundredth time or 150th time because we serve the God of another chance. The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. The word of the Lord came to Jonah again when Jonah hid from the presence of God, when he ran from the presence of God, when he went down, down and further down, the word of the Lord came to him a second time. Why? Because we serve the God that can get you from here to there no matter where here is. It doesn't matter that you're here is of your own making. It doesn't change who he is because he will send his word a second time and he will send his word a third time and he will send his word a fourth time until you believe that the God that was the God of Jonah is the God that's available to you today to get you from here to there. All you need to do, take the next step. The Lord directs your step and you might think there's no path possible, but it's okay. You don't need the path, you only need the next step. I love it when Jesus refers back to all of this in Matthew chapter 12, verse 40. Jesus refers back to the story and he says this, he says, for as Jonah was three days and three nights

in the belly of the huge fish, so the son of man, Jesus, will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. What's Jesus saying? He's speaking of his death and his resurrection. What's he proclaiming? He's saying that salvation which Jonah spoke of, I am he, I am the way, and I will take up your storm and I will take up your death and I will take on your sin and I will be salvation because I am the way and I can get you from here to there. I can make a way for you to be united with God. I can make a way for you to be restored in this life if only you would accept Him. God can get you from here to there, even when you're hanging in the middle. I think so often we find ourselves in the in-between and the in-between for us is a place of waiting. It's a place of worry. It's a place of being neither here nor there, and because you're not here nor there, you find yourself in between here and there, and then what we do in between here and there is we worry. We fret, we are concerned, and we're wondering what does the path look like, and how is this path ever gonna make its way there,

and how am I ever gonna be good enough, or smart enough, or faithful enough, or able enough to make it from here to there, and so we find ourselves between here and there, and we find ourselves in between, worrying. As we traveled through Greece, we went to a place called Meteora, and this is what it looks like. I'll never forget the turning of the bus around a corner, and this being the site that we saw. It's a place where they built monasteries between heaven and earth, and they called it Meteora, suspended in the air, and as I heard the name Meteora, I remembered that there's a verse in the original Greek where this word Meteora is used. It's in Luke chapter 12, verse 29. It says, and do not set your hearts on what you will eat or what you will drink. Do not worry about it. The word worry there comes from the word Meteora. It means to be suspended. The Amplified Bible says, and do not seek what you are to eat or what you are to drink, nor be anxious, troubled, unsettled, worried, or in suspense. Do not be in suspense about how you will get from here to there, but let your heart settle in the fact that God will direct your steps. Stop worrying about making a plan

and start worrying about obeying the next step. Just walk intimately with the way, and the way will get you from here to there, and some of you need to stop worrying about getting there because he's the one that gets us there from here. You don't have to make it happen. You don't have to worry for it. You don't have to toil for it. You don't have to figure it all out. You don't have to carry them all there. All you need to do is be obedient to what he has next. Stop hovering in suspense in the air, but let him settle your heart because when you are in suspense, God can get you from here to there. This month, a pen was sold. I'll give you, show you a picture of this pen. It looks like a regular pen, just any old pen, and this pen was sold, wait for it, for $857,600. Okay, do I have $857,700? Do I have $70,800? Oh, I've got a bet for this pen. You know something we don't. Who would pay $870,000 for a pen that cost $2 when it was bought? To understand the mystery, you have to understand something about this pen because in 1969, Buzz Aldrin, and Lance Armstrong walked on the moon. They left the moon lander

and they walked on the surface of the moon and talk about a here that is very far from there. Talk about somebody that was in a space where they were standing on the moon, looking back at the earth, hundreds of thousands of miles away, and their vehicle to get back is the little moon lander that was there, and this little moon lander was their way to get from here back to there, back to earth, back to oxygen, back to life, back to loved ones, and what would happen is after walking on the moon and having limited supplies, a little bit of a supply of oxygen that would run out after a couple of hours, they would get back into the moon lander, and when they get into the moon lander, what they would do is they would press a button. They would flip a switch in the moon lander that will ignite the engine of the moon lander, and then the moon lander will take off from the moon. It'll connect back to the spaceship, and the spaceship would fly them back to there, fly them back to earth, but as they got back into the moon lander, one of their backpacks broke the button that was to ignite the engine that would fly them there, and as they looked on the ground and they saw the broken button,

they realized that there was no way for them to get from here to there anymore. One of them carried a pen with them, and the pen was able to replace the switch that ignited the engine that got them from there back to earth. I think that pen is worth $870,000, because it was the pen that got them from here to there. And you know what I wanna tell you about that pen? They already had the pen with them. And you, you already have the way with you. In your here, in your space, in the place that you find yourself, in the difficulty that you're in, at this shut door that is shut in front of you, in the unplanned stop and the pause that feels too long, in your place of worry, in your place of not feeling good enough, in the place where you got yourself to, in that place, I wanna tell you, the way is with you. He has made His way with you. And you will hear His voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. I know that you have made some plans. I know that you had some dreams. I know that you thought life was gonna work out this way, that way, and the other way. Man makes his plans. But the Lord directs his steps.

He shows him every step of the way. And the God that has been faithful through the ages can get you from here to there. There is a route possible. His name is the way. And the way is with you. The way is present right here where you are. That is what Jonah learned when he said, Yeshua, salvation is all for the Lord. I wish we had time to speak about David's life and how his way, his pathway, didn't work out the way he thought. He was anointed as king. And next thing he knew, he was just tending more sheep. And then he was tending more sheep and he slayed the giants. And then he thought everything was gonna be great. But then the king started persecuting him and he was fleeing the king. He was lost in a desert. That was not what he had in mind. That was not the plan. That was not the there that God had promised him. Listen to what David writes in Psalm 139 verse eight. He says, if I go up to heaven, you are there. God is in the hilltops of life. But if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride on the wings of the morning, if I dwell in the furthest oceans, even there, your hand will guide me

and your strength will support me. God can get you there from here. No matter where here might be right now. Lord, I pray for every person within the sound of my voice that has ever made a plan, that has ever set a course, that has ever embraced a promise, that has ever heard an instruction from you whose life has not worked out the way they had planned. Lord, I pray only for those who has experienced a plan not working out the way they had hoped. Lord, for whatever reason, their own doing, a shut door, an unplanned pause, or just worry and freight. Lord, I thank you. That you are here in the here wherever here might be right now. So Lord, we lay down our here. And Lord, I pray that we will. Dream again about there, because there is not in our hands, there is in your hands, and here is not in our hands, here is in your hands. And Lord, every step between there and here, between here and there, Lord, I thank you that you are the way and you are with us every step from here to there in Jesus' name. I want to take a moment before we wrap up the service and I want to pray for some of you that have drifted away. Maybe you didn't choose to leave God, but you've drifted away from God. And you've come back to the service not quite knowing why while you're here, but you know that God is speaking to you about coming back to Him today. Some of you, maybe you've heard the story a hundred times, have you never heard it before? And today is the day that you want to respond to the one that is our salvation, to the one that has died on the cross so that we might live, that has carried your sin and your brokenness upon His shoulders. And He's made it so that every human being can live in a relationship with God.

No matter what we've done, if you've never responded to God before, if you've never said yes to Jesus before, or maybe you've said yes before and you've drifted away, today is an opportunity to return to Him. And I want to pray with you, but to pray with you I need to know where you are. So would you just be as bold as to just put up your hand in the air and say, that's me today. I want to be included in this prayer. I see hands going up all over. Is there anybody else? Just put up your hand. That's great. That's awesome. See you. See you. You're responding to God today. I see that. I see that. Can we pray out loud and all together, whether as a reaffirmation or for the very first time. Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you that I can live with you the way from this day on forevermore. In Jesus name. Amen. Can we give them a great hand. If you made that decision today, I want to invite you. There's people on my left and right, right by the doors. They've got signs that says made brand new. They have some materials and information for you to help you take the next step. You can also visit the desk on the way out if you want to do that. As we wrap up the service, the prayer partners are going to be at the front. If you have any prayer need, we would love the opportunity to pray with you. But can I bless you today before you go? Would you mind standing as I speak a blessing over you? And I was reminded of this blessing in the book of numbers that you've heard many times, but the context is that a nation is walking around in circles in the desert, not knowing if they'll ever get there from here. And that's the context within which God tells Abraham to speak this message over the people of Israel. He says, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. Amen. Have a blessed week. It's great to see you.