Take The Risk

Good afternoon. It is so great to see you and to be here with you all this afternoon. I got to tell you, it is such an honor to be standing here where you have some of the most incredible, faithful leaders that stand here on a regular basis. And so, can I just, can I brag on you guys just for a minute here? Like, Pastor David Hughes is a hero to me. Like a walking hero in the faith. Yeah. I mean, Pastor Charlie Hughes is a dear, dear friend of mine, and I think he's one of the greatest communicators there is. Notice I didn't say young communicators. I said communicators. I think just the whole Hughes family, Zane, Miss Lisa, it's so great to be here. I got to tell you, I mean, Nick and Stacey, y'all just are blessed. You know what I mean? It's not fair. And I just love being able to be a part of this. If you and I haven't had the chance to meet yet, my name is Luke and I am a cousin of this house. What that means is that I show up a lot and I don't get kicked out and sometimes I get asked to do things. And so today, I've been asked to help cook. And so I'm going to help do that today. But every now and then I'll just show up and just be like, there's that guy again. He's not leaving. And so I just love what God's doing in this house. It is truly a beautiful thing to witness and just to be able to play any kind of small part in it is a huge blessing. And so thank you for allowing me to be here with you all today and to stand where you have some of the greatest blessings that there are in all of your pastors. And so I just want to say today, I know that we've been in a series that we've been calling wild faith, but I ran it by pastor David and I said, Hey, I know that we've been kind of fixated on animals, but today can I talk less tigers and more trees, but can we talk about the environments as much as we're going to talk about those that inhabit the environment? See, cause I think the environment matters. I think where you're placed matters. And I think for some of us it's our greatest frustration. And what I want to do is actually enter into a story today that's going to help us maybe understand a little bit better what environment it is that we've been placed in. And so what I want to do is eavesdrop in on a conversation between God and Moses. And we're going to end up looking at a story that regardless of how familiar or unfamiliar you might be with scripture, we've all heard of. Moses and the burning bush is the stuff of legend. And so what I want to do is I want to look at Exodus chapter three, verses four through 10. And as we look at this particular passage, what I need you to know is that we're going

to begin here, but we're really going to move forward in this because what we're reading is a small section of a much greater dialogue and conversation that is happening here between God and Moses. And what we're going to recognize, what is going to happen in this passage is that Moses is going to bring up some crisis and worries that he's got in his life, but all we're going to see God answer with is his character and his ways. And I say that because I think what Moses is going to bring to the table might be what a lot of us are bringing to the table here this afternoon. A lot of concern about what it is that God's called us to and if we can actually accomplish that. See, I think there's a lot of people that are in the room right now where you feel like God gave you an assignment, a calling or a dream. And you maybe have walked in here today and all you can see is how it's not possible. And I'm here to try to reframe how it is that you look at where God has you or maybe where he does not have you, that you might be able to recognize I'm not here by mistake. And so I want to read Exodus chapter three, verses four through 10. Y'all ready for the word? It says this, God called out to Moses from the bush saying, Moses, Moses, here I am, he answered. Do not come closer, he said. Remove the sandals from your feet for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then he continued, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Moses hit his face because he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and a spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. So because the Israelites cry for help has come to me and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, therefore go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. Let's pray together. Lord, Would you wreck us today? Lord, I ask that we maybe showed up here at the one o'clock service and we maybe thought that what we were going to do is check a box, that we were gonna show up to church because we felt like we should be here and Lord I pray that any of us that felt like we were just gonna enter and exit here today actually recognize that you brought us here to encounter, to

encounter you, to be changed by you, to be challenged by you and God maybe even for those that might be down in here to be encouraged by you. Lord we just know that your word doesn't return void and so Lord as we jump into this incredible story together would we recognize above all that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever and the God who was with Moses is the one who's still calling in with us. Lord we love you, we praise you, we thank you. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen. Claps for the prayer, we're in a good spot so far y'all. Feels good. Hey, can I tell you something I think that we'll all agree with? I think we all agree like Moses life is insane, it's insane. Just to recap a little bit, Moses life is this helter-skelter ebb and flow of radical trials and radical trust and we see that right from the beginning. Moses life will span a hundred and twenty years and you could really break those hundred and twenty years into three different 40 year segments and the first 40 years of Moses life is this really crazy collision of royalty and recklessness but we see that Moses will be born at a really unfortunate time for a Hebrew male to be born in the land of Egypt. You might recall that a new Pharaoh has risen to power in the land of Egypt and he's concerned that the Hebrew people are not only growing in population there but they're thriving there, they're flourishing in the land and he doesn't love this, it concerns him so he enacts a decree. He says that all future males that are born to the Hebrews are to be slaughtered. Well you can imagine that Moses' mother is really concerned about this when she gives birth to Moses who is a male and we see that she knows that at any moment death could come quite literally knocking on her door for her son and so in an act of bravery and courage she will do the unthinkable. She will place her infant son in a basket and send him down the Nile River knowing that her options are certain death or maybe death and so as we see that Moses is floating down this river all of a sudden in God's care the basket will get caught in some reeds and as the baskets caught in some reeds who is it that sees the basket but none other than Pharaoh's daughter and not only will she draw Moses out from the water she'll raise

Moses as her own son and as you can imagine all of a sudden Moses life is gonna change dramatically. Not only is he gonna be an individual that at one point really shouldn't even be alive that he's growing up at a certain age that most of his peers were slaughtered at in the land of Egypt but now we see that he's royalty he's a prince of Egypt but that doesn't mean that trouble won't follow him. As Moses is growing up in the land of Egypt we see that one day he'll notice that there's an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He realizes and feels this deeply and personally all of this injustice but in his anger he'll lash out and he'll kill that Egyptian and he tries to bury the body and he thinks that he's been real discreet about it. He feels like he got away with it only to hear the next day that some guy was like hey did I see you kill a guy and bury him yesterday and Moses is like that was me see ya and he's like I gotta leave the land of Egypt and he ends up fleeing to what is effectively the middle of nowhere to a place called Midian and when he gets to Midian there's a lot of crazy things that happen due to time constraint reasons I don't have the time to tell you how he meets his wife but just know he pretty much drives some creepy guys away from her at a well and she's like that's good enough for me we should be hitched and so we see from there and I would just say ladies maybe up the standards but they end up getting married and Moses realizes I need to do something I need to get a job and that's a word for some young men in here you want a date get a job first all right and so I've got way too much feedback right there Church by the Glades so I will be letting Pastor David know we will be doing a dating series next and Moses is like I need a job I need to be able to take care of this woman who I just drove the creepy guys away from and so we'll take up a new trade he'll become a shepherd but he's not shepherding for just anyone for the next 40 years he will be shepherding sheep for his father-in-law now I don't know how your last quarter's gone I don't know how your years gone I don't know the worst year your life was oh wait 2020 not sure here's what I'm here to tell you is whatever your worst year was Moses is having that year on

steroids I mean his life has gone a completely different direction than what he saw happening no that you see that Moses at one point was what's royalty Prince of Egypt, a supreme authority under the most powerful man in the most powerful nation in the world and now he's gone from this to being a shepherd in the middle of nowhere for his father-in-law for the next 40 years. Not in the plans God, not in the plans. I was up here and now I'm down here. This is less than ideal and I say that to you because that's where we pick up the story. This is where God's going to call to Moses when he's in a place where he feels like what he's doing is relatively meaningless and the work could even be purposeless. He's just kind of coasting through life for the next 40 years and we see that it's when he's in a season where nothing makes sense that he doesn't necessarily want to be there that he couldn't predict God will move towards him there and I'm here to tell you that's where God will move towards you. It's when you feel like you're at a place where all of the pieces are falling apart. This great plan that you had for your life, Lord why is it falling apart? It's so that your plans will fall apart and the Lord's will fall into place and he'll make a beautiful mosaic of all those broken pieces in your life. It's when you feel like you are down and out that he will put you on a path where you realize that there really is more even when I can't see it. That's where we're going to pick things up with and so I say that to say this to you. A fair question to ask is why? Why God? Why do you have me in a place where I'm in the middle of nowhere feeling what effectively feels like I'm doing nothing and I think you'll find that it's there. When you're in a place that you don't necessarily want to be that the Lord is shaping you into who he's called you to be because all of a sudden you're not pursuing the shiny job or the shiny relationship or whatever that thing is that you kind of want in your life maybe a little bit more than God and in that season that's where the Lord will get your mind's attention and cultivate your heart's devotion towards him so be careful before you curse the season that you're in because your greatest season of frustration is often God's greatest season of preparation in your life. You see here we see it with Moses. These aren't just empty words. What is Moses doing? You see that Moses for the next 40 years is going to be shepherding sheep for his father-in-law in the middle of nowhere but God is taking that season of frustration and making it a season of preparation because he's going to use all of the skills that he learns here to go from shepherding sheep in the middle of nowhere to shepherding hundreds of thousands of people out of slavery for the

next 40 years and so when Moses finds himself in a place where he's going what do we do next God the Lord's going to look at him and say we've been here before I've been preparing you for this moment and so we see in verse four that God calls to Moses and he says Moses Moses he says it twice because how many of us know that sometimes God calls the first time and you ignore him and so we see that he calls twice Moses Moses and then you'll see that he goes on to say something significant verse six through eight I'm the God of your father the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I've observed the misery of my people in Egypt I've heard them crying out because of their oppressors I know about their sufferings I've come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land a land flowing with milk and honey and then he says in verse 10 therefore go I am sending you to Pharaoh that you may lead my people the Israelites out of Egypt and how does Moses respond not like you think not at all he doesn't respond like a hero like a leader like the protagonist like I don't know what you want your leader to do when it feels like they're called to do something great but you don't want him to do what Moses does here I mean you're hoping that someone would be like I got this people Moses doesn't do that Moses will not give off any indication that he thought God was going to call at all when the Lord says Moses I got a big plan for your life this is what I want you to do I need you Moses Moses doesn't step up and he's like you rang you rang Lord I got you what you need bud what's going on you need some help your servants here to help you really you can serve me he doesn't do that no what's he do for the next chapter and some change he is going to show us how painfully aware he is of his own inadequacies and insecurities and in Exodus 3 verse 11 through Exodus 4 17 all Moses is going to do is let God know you've got the wrong guy I don't have the right skill set I don't think you understand excuses excuses I'm overwhelmed I can't it's interesting I'd be curious how many of us in here have ever seen a little indie film called Top Gun Maverick anybody in here ever seen Top Gun Maverick you know I'm talking about anybody in here that doesn't know it good news I'm going to spoil it for you and so just track with me here for a moment if you haven't seen Top Gun Maverick it's revolving around this main character Navy Captain Pete Mitchell, whose call sign is Maverick, and we see that he graduated from Top Gun three decades earlier.

Top Gun is a school for the elite of the elite fighter pilots in our country, and we see that despite the fact that he graduated three decades earlier, the truth of the matter is his time there marked him deeply, that he ended up losing his best friend and wingman, Goose. He died tragically, and we see that it not only bothered Maverick for 30 years, it's bothered us as a nation for 30 years. And so we see that from that moment, he's kind of been aimless and directionless. He doesn't really know what to do with his life. And so despite the fact that all this has happened, you fast forward 30 years. U.S. Naval Intelligence has discovered an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant, and they believe that it's a threat to society. They think that it's about to become operational, but it needs to be destroyed, so they've listed it as mission critical. And not only do they know that this enrichment plant is something that's about to be operational, but it's going to be a dangerous mission because it's located underground in a way to where they'll have to deliver a precision airstrike, and to make matters worse, it's surrounded by mountains, and they've got surface-to-air missiles, GPS jammers. It's going to be difficult to actually execute the mission, but they also realize a dangerous mission just requires a daring leader.

And so in enters Maverick, a man with an insane past and incredible skill, a man, might I add, that has aged remarkably little since the summer of 86. And so I just got to say, does this man think he's Pastor David? What is going on? Like, it doesn't make any sense to me. The man doesn't age. It felt like a step of obedience to acknowledge what we're all thinking about Tom Cruise, right? And so in the movie, he's called, tasked, with taking some of the best fighter pilots in the world and whittling that down to an even smaller group that can accomplish the mission. And what we see is that all of these young, arrogant pilots, he's going to have to earn their respect, and he'll do it through dogfighting. They know that even if they're able to accomplish the mission they'll get intercepted by enemy aircraft and it'll be a dogfight all the way home with them in order to get back safely. And so we see that Maverick does that. He dominates these young pilots in dogfighting. He earns their admiration, but he's causing leadership frustration, that they feel like he's pushing the boundaries too far, that things should be a little bit more cautious. They should have a more safe and slow approach

to the way that they're training. But Maverick doesn't understand that. He says, the mission's not going to be slow. It's not going to be safe. There's not going to be caution. Like, we got to play this at game speed. He believes that they need to be able to accomplish the mission in two and a half minutes, but because he's pushing the boundaries so hard, he gets benched. They end up bringing in a new guy to then brief and coach this team, and he'll try to relax the standards. They'll set the time to four minutes to where they can accomplish it, not two and a half. But all of the pilots know relaxed standards don't mean that you have a better leader. It means that you have a more tolerant one. And so all of a sudden, when they're getting briefed, a little blip will show up on the radar of their training ground. Maverick has commandeered an aircraft, and he's about to show them what is possible. And I'll be honest with you, I thought about trying to explain what happens from here, but I went back and watched the clip, and I was like, that's too epic. I can't top that. And so let's go ahead and watch it right now. Maverick to range control.

Entering point alpha. Confirm green range. Maverick, range control. Green range is confirmed. I don't see an event scheduled for you, sir. Well, I'm going anyway. Nice. Setting time to target. Two minutes, 15 seconds. 2.15, that's impossible. Final attack point. Maverick's inbound. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go.

Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. ♪♪ Puppet in three, two, one. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Bombs away. ♪♪ ♪♪ Bullseye, holy! ♪♪ As a Christian, I always stop the movie right there, and word on the street is he says holy cow or holy smokes. One thing that's certain is that if we played that clip half a second more, I'd never be back. How epic, though.

One of the young pilots says, 215, that's impossible. See, we've been told that we need to accomplish it in 230, and we haven't been able to do it. And Maverick bursts onto the scene to show them what? That yes, the calling and the course is dangerous, but it's doable. All they are is filled with their own inadequacies. We've tried to make this happen, and we haven't been able to make this work. How can you even think that this is something that we could do? That the call is too grand, and our capabilities are too small. But Maverick will burst onto the scene, and he will demonstrate for them that it's possible to be conquered, and that they too can conquer. Why? Because he's going to go with them. That when the captain intervenes, the captives go free. And I say that to you today, because we find ourselves recognizing that's what God's trying to get across to Moses. That we see that it feels like God is assembling like biblical avengers here. You have to expect Black Panther and Thor to pop out any moment. That God is assembling all of these guys. He's calling on their names about who he's been with. He like gathers Moses in a football huddle, and is like, hey man, I'm the God of your father. I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I've heard the cries of my people and their oppression, and I'm going to set them free. I'm going to rescue them. I'm going to deliver them. And Moses is like, yeah God, what are you going to do next? And he's like, I'm going to send you, hands in. And Moses is like, uh-uh, no, no, no sir, uh-uh. What are you doing? God reveals his plan to Moses, and all Moses can see are plot holes in the plan. That God's doing what he always does. He'll pick you, the most unlikely and unqualified individual, and he'll say, I want you to demonstrate my kindness and grace by seeing that the rest of the world could know that there is a God in heaven that hears them and will bring them out of this.

And so in the process, you see that Moses realizes that God's weaving together a grand tapestry throughout human history, and all Moses can see is the fraying of his thread. And so he'll say to God, in Exodus chapter 3, in verse 11, he says, who am I that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? Moses says, God, do you see me? Do you know me? What's going on? I thought you were all-knowing and all-powerful. Like, I'm a nobody in the middle of nowhere doing nothing. I have no influence, power, or prestige. You want me to walk up to the most powerful man in the world and be like, have you ever thought about letting my people go or anything? Like, that doesn't make sense. And so we see that he'll go on, he'll ask God questions, and in verse 13, he starts getting more personal, and he's saying, if I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, what's his name? What should I say to them? Moses' first objection is, I don't think I can do this. His second objection is, and nobody else is going to think I can either. It's like, Lord, they've been living in a polytheistic culture for 400 years. Like, who should I say is on the line? Hey, God's on the line. Which one? The only one. He's the one. Remember, God of your fathers. He wants to talk to you. He's like, that's going to be confusing. And so he goes on to say, in Exodus chapter 4, you'll notice in verse 1, he says, the people won't believe me or listen to my voice.

Why is that significant? Because Moses is saying, Lord, you could have legitimately sent anybody. sent the creepy guy at the well with my wife. You could have sent anybody, but you're gonna send me? Because I'm gonna walk up there and be like, hey guys, I know you haven't heard from God in a while, but he sent me, little shepherd me, and just wanted to let you know. He said, let's get up on out of here, all right? And they're gonna be like, how do we know you? You look so familiar. Didn't you kill a guy and run away? He's like, that's me. Like, I can't be the guy here. That doesn't make any sense. You want to send a murderous lunatic that had to leave Egypt to go and talk to Egypt? Like, that is insane, Lord. And notice, as he talks to God, he starts to get more and more honest with him. Because Moses is kind of lying. He's projecting to God that all of his concerns are about how he's gonna be viewed externally and outwardly. God, I'm concerned about what people are gonna think me and about your calling over my life. And so he says, who am I? I'm just a shepherd. Who are you? The people don't really know you. How can I?

I don't have any prophetic giftings or anything crazy that I'm aware of. Like, I don't know how I'm gonna just step into this and just say, hey, let's go. That doesn't make any sense to me. And so he's saying, Lord, I'm focused outwardly and externally about what people are gonna think. But as he talks more and more with God, he gets more honest and really he reveals, actually, Lord, it's less that I'm concerned about what people think about me and about what you've asked me to do. I don't think, I don't think I can do what you're asking me to do. It's not an external issue, it's an internal one. And so he'll say in verse 10 and 11, he'll get really specific about why it is that he feels this way. What's making him insecure? And he says, I'm not eloquent. I'm slow in speech and tongue. Now, theologians have debated forever, like, what does that mean? He was slow in speech and tongue. And pretty much everyone comes down to, he had some kind of a speech impediment. Like Moses doesn't speak well. Something's going on with Moses. And so in the process of this, watch what Moses says. He says what some of y'all came in here saying to God.

He says, please, Lord, send someone else. God's given you an assignment calling in a dream and you keep saying, no, send someone else. Send the person on the end of this row. And he's not stopping with you, even though you're looking at what's happening and not happening in your life and saying, nothing in my life indicates that I could do that. Why do you keep calling me to that? You know, it's interesting. What I wanted to do growing up was to play in the NBA. All right, someone thinks that's too funny over here. All right, like, so, you know, I mean, we'll do an altar call right now. Like, I mean, just like right now, you know what I mean? She was like, Lord have mercy. He's here. I love you for that. I need something, keep it real with me. And you know what would have been unkind and unloving? If an NBA scout showed up at my high school where there are actual guys that played in the NBA and said, you know what, son, I want to talk to you. Let's see, you're six one. So it's pretty good for like a citizen of the United States. For an NBA guy, you know, you got a really decent jumper, man. Like just like when no one's within like 10 feet of you, you crush that. And so set your mind to it, Luke, you've got it.

That would be unkind and unloving for them to do that. I'm just here to tell you, look at me. I am inadequate to guard LeBron James. What? Who by the way, is not the greatest basketball player of all time, but Michael Jordan is. And so that's a completely different conversation. Which has nothing to do with our conversation today, but is pivotal to your salvation, okay? So moving on, moving on. What I love about God is he won't lie to Moses and he doesn't lie to us. He doesn't tiptoe around offending him. Moses says, God, I'm concerned about all these things. And he runs the gamut of what are they going to think? What am I going to think? What do you think? Like what's Pharaoh going to think? I killed a guy. Like all of these things and all God's going to remind him is that God's the one that called him. That Moses is like, who am I? And the Lord says, I'm going with you. And then he says, well, who should I say is sending me? And the Lord says, I am who I am. Tell him that I am the only God that there is, is sending you. He says, I don't really know what to do from here though. I don't have any like giftings or anything crazy. And the Lord's like.

I'll make that staff become a snake. We'll turn the Nile into blood. Like, we'll do everything that we need to do. And then he's like, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Like, that's not the real issue. I don't talk well and you're asking me to talk. That's the deal, okay? I don't speak well. And you've got me on a speaking assignment. And you know what God doesn't do? What you would say to your friends or what your friends would say to you. You ever had that friend that's like fishing for compliments in a backward way? I'm just so ugly, I think. Like, I'm just like so hideous. And like, I don't know, am I gaining weight? Like, I don't think so. But like, I don't know. It's just like, I don't know that, like, am I? No, I'm not. Like, I'm pretty, right? Like, I don't answer that. But like, do you think? And like, so I just like, and it's just ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. What do you want us to say? Like, hey, Beyonce. What do you want us to say? When Moses says, God, I am actually more concerned that I can't speak well.

God doesn't go, ooh. No, Moses, you're dying. You can't speak well. What's that, God? I, no, he's. He's turning to angels, like, he's a bum, isn't he? No, like, you're good. He doesn't do that. God says, who made man's mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now, therefore, go, and I'll tell you what you should say, and I'll show you what you shall speak. Moses, for a chapter in some change, is saying, hey, God, I can't do this on my own. And God finally breaks through and goes, hey, I don't think you can either, but I'm going with you. He doesn't see Moses being a subpar speaker as something to work around. He sees it as something to work through. And I'm here to tell someone today, the thing that you have in your life is an obstacle that you think, there's no way God can move through my life because of this or because of that or because I'm in this season. It's in that very place that the Lord's saying, let's go. All of us in here want the Lord to get glory in our story. We all want to glorify God with our life.

You want to know how the Lord gets glory in your life? When the shakiest parts of your story are used to show how sturdy of a foundation God is. When the greatest weaknesses in your life are used to show how great his strength is. When you start to understand, I'm putting more trust in the God who called me to the assignment than my inadequacies that make me feel like I can't accomplish it. You've got a dream, a calling, an assignment, and when you feel like you don't have the resources, you've got to understand he's your only necessary resource. But you look at what's in front of you and go, how can I? When God brought Moses to the Red Sea, he didn't take it away, he made a way through it. I don't know what's in front of you today, but I'm here to tell you, he might not take it away, but you better believe he can make a way through it. My God makes a way. You want to have wild faith? Then you keep walking forward when you feel like there's no way. And you will walk through a sea where you've got whales at your side because you are walking through the very place where you said, there's no way. I wonder if there's anyone at CBG today that wants wild faith in the house. Oh, I want wild faith in the house.

Oh man, can anybody testify that you've seen him do it before and you want to see him do it again? I believe today, I believe today. I wonder if anybody would just be bold enough to extend their hand in prayer and say, God, give me some wild faith, some wild faith. Lord, you see these hands? Lord, these are not just hands to you, these are souls, these are people, these are promises that we're asking you to keep. Lord, I'm talking about the individual in here who feels like they've been hearing no, but you're reminding them, it's not that we're not gonna get to the destination. It's just that we're not gonna get there in the way that you thought we would. Lord, would you move in a radical way? Lord, if the cross can be an instrument of our salvation, how much more can the pain that we're going through right now be an opportunity for the world to understand your glory? Lord, we believe that because of what Jesus Christ did on our behalf by stepping into this world and living the perfect life. life that we could not and dying the death that we deserved upon the cross that we can repent of our sins and put our faith in him and because he was killed and buried in the tomb and he rose to life again we can have life in his name and if it's by death that we could experience life then how much more can we as a people experience you in the abundant life of walking with you recognize that even when it feels like there is no way you can make a way

you've done it before and you'll do it again Lord we love you we praise you