Well Worn Path | Sacred Rhythms | Pastor Jen DeWeerdt

Keep your clap going for all of our City First locations, Jamesville, Cape Coral, God behind bars. City First anywhere. We love you guys. We're so glad you're joining us today. We're in this series called Sacred Rizzons, and we're talking about holy habits that help us get in touch with the divine. You know, God is always with us, amen? But closeness with God must be cultivated. It's like this. God's presence is a promise, but communion with Him is a practice. It's a practice. And this month, we're going to give you some practical steps on how you can take and position yourself for a deeper, more meaningful relationship with Jesus, because your spiritual life was meant to thrive. Amen? Amen. Well, last week, Jair talked about this practice of being a part of a spiritual family. And honestly, I know I'm His wife, but it was profound. So if you were not able to be here or listen in, please take time to go back and listen either through the app or online, jump on and take a listen. You know, in talking about these sacred rhythms or these holy habits, as I've thought about it, there's just one problem with the word like habit, right? And it's this, is that there's nothing flashy about habits. There's nothing flashy about them. The way for the most part aren't like adrenaline producing moments, right? I'm not, I don't look at me like, what habits do you have? They're just like so exciting every single day. Like a few years ago, I was actually more like 10 years ago, I went skydiving, you know? Now that was an adrenaline rush, but I don't live in those moments on a daily basis.

In fact, I would venture to say that the majority of my life is pretty, this word, normal, right? Normal. So is yours. You know, for me, I get up at 6 a.m. I drink my daily protein drink because I'm 53, you know, I got to have the protein. I usually choking it down, right? And then I get packs up and then I set out his yogurt, I make his eggs, I cut up his cinnamon rolls, then I fill up his water bottle and clean his glasses for school. We get him in the shower, we dry his hair, we get him on the bus by 740. Then I come back home and I get myself ready and then I go to work and I return the emails and I have the meetings and I come home and I cook dinner and Jared does the dishes. What a guy. And then we get packs ready for bed and then we have our nighttime routine. And then guess what? We do it all over again the next day, right? Truth be told, this is where we live. And this is what life looks like. But do you know that it is possible for these normal, everyday moments of life to be filled with the sacred, to be filled with the holy, in your home, in the car, with your children, with your friends, at meal times, at your workplace, this is so important. Sacred moments were never meant to be compartmentalized. Sometimes, without even realizing we're doing it, we divide our lives into the sacred and the ordinary. Church, we would say, is sacred, right? Home is just ordinary. Church is where I worship like we just did. You know we have these worshipful moments, but home, that's just where I work and I clean and I parent and I cook and I sleep. This moment right here, we would say, this is holy, right?

We're cracking open God's word and we're learning, this is holy. But then we can tend to think, oh, but the rest of my week, that's just life. But what if God never intended that divide? I believe God wants to meet us in the rhythms of the ordinary. He wants to meet us in the rhythms of the ordinary because here's the deal, we all have ordinary lives. I do, you do, no matter what stage of life you find yourself in. You could be in high school, you're a young adult maybe, you're single, you're married, you're married with kids, you're an empty nester, you're a retiree, God wants to meet us in everyday ways. Right where we're at. And today I'm not talking about adding something more to your days. That's not what today is about, okay? Instead, it's about this inviting the holy into the humdrum because we all just have the humdrum. as I was talking about my daily schedule you guys are like. [BLANK_AUDIO] The passage of Scripture that I want us to dive into and walk through today is found in Deuteronomy chapter 6. And Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Old Testament is essentially this. It's essentially Moses' farewell address. It's his final opportunity to prepare God's people for their future. They're about ready to go into the promised land and Moses is handing off the baton to Joshua and he reminds them of God's covenant in this book. And he revisits God's commands and his laws and he makes sure this that they don't forget what matters most. You know, when I'm getting ready to go on a trip and I'm leaving a list of instructions, I'm not just talking about random things. I'm talking about what's important. Don't forget to feed the children. Right? It's the important things. And this is Moses. Deuteronomy is Moses is like, hey, this is what matters most. Don't forget this. So Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 5 through 9, we're going to read it together. Let's start out, say those three words together. Love the Lord starts out. Love the Lord. You're God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them

when you sit at home and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. This scripture is essentially erasing the divide that we tend to place between the sacred and the ordinary we were just talking about. Our faith is meant to be all encompassing. And it begins with this thought. Moses began with those three words, right? What was it? Love the Lord. Love the Lord. Moses is saying, and the message is still for us today. This whole thing, what we're doing right now, your faith isn't about ritual or religion. It's about relationship. And I just want to remind us of this today. It's about relationship. Now you are not going to find the words relationship with God in this passage. But when you love someone, there's relationship, right? When you love somebody, there's relationship. Moses is saying, we're starting out here. Love the Lord. Love the Lord. You know, reminded me as I was reading those three words, it reminded me of a story of our second son Connor. He was about five years old and we were getting ready to put him in kindergarten here at Christian life. Schools, the schools attached to the church. And so they used to, at that point, I don't know if they'd do it anymore. They would have a questionnaire, one for the parents and one for the students that were incoming. And so I was like, okay, well, we'll sit down and we'll do this questionnaire. And it was going to do with Connor. He's five years old, remember, okay? So we sit down. I remember exactly where we were sitting at our kitchen table. And I had the little, you know, pen and paper out. And then he was sitting there, and I was like, all right, Connor, I've got some questions for you. First question is this, okay? Why do you want to go to Christian life school? Why do you want to go to Christian life school? And Connor, even at five years old, he's always been my kid who has a deep well. He's thinking, and he's really, he's not just blurting out an answer. He's really contemplating this. And he looks at me and he goes, because I love the Lord. I was like, yes, done something right here. Super cute. Okay. Well, then I get to the second question. Okay. It went something like this. What strengths do you have that will be a good addition to Christian life school? Again, my deep well, a child sitting there thinking about it for a few seconds. And he turns and looks at me. And once again, he says, because I love the Lord. I love the Lord. So, here's the wisdom from five year old Connor today. Where does it start? Love the Lord. Love the Lord. Love the Lord. That's where it begins for each and every one of us. That's

where it begins this whole idea of walking the sacred into the ordinary. And then Moses continues. He doesn't just stop with love the Lord. He says, love the Lord with what? All your heart and all your soul and all your strength. And then these commands that I'm giving you, where do I want them? I want to mind your heart. I want you to see something before Moses ever talks about their habits. He talks about their hearts. Because we're going to talk about some of the ways, some of the holy habits he kind of puts forth to but he starts out not with the habits, but with the heart. Sometimes in life and in faith, we just want to know what we have to do. Just tell me the rhythms I need to have, Jen. Just tell me what I need to do. And this is so important, and I don't want us to skip over this, okay? Is that all of the holy habits we are talking about this month are not just about things to do, it has to begin right here. 'Cause it's, we have so many new people coming to church, so many people from all different backgrounds. And this right here, this is where it starts. You know, all throughout scripture, the 30,000 foot theme is God wanting our hearts. Not just our good behavior. It's not just about obeying the rules. He's like, I want your heart. And I think it's interesting that God had given the 10 commandments on stone tablets. But here Moses is reminding us that these commands are to be written on our hearts. It's not just the list of things to do.

It's not just a bunch of rules to obey God's word. It all starts here. 'Cause here's the deal, right? If your heart is in it, then you'll obey. If you love God, it's actually easy to go, okay God, what do you want me to do? And then I'm going to step into it. It's a lot easier to implement some holy habits and invite him into the everyday normal if you just love him. So start there. Start there. It all starts in the heart. And then Deuteronomy continues. Moses continues, says this. Impress them upon your children's hearts. Impress them. This word, impress. It's not like, ooh, you impressed me. It's impress. It translated from the original language. It gives us this word picture of to tread on or to stamp in just as you stamp down soil by walking over it repeatedly. In other words, what you repeat creates a well-worn path. What you repeat, it's creating a path. You know, during COVID, I know, I know. Why bring that up, Jen, right? PTSD for all of us. But we're all stuck at home.

Remember this? We've all put it out of our minds. We're stuck at home. And well, in our house to get out of the house, I would walk our dog Rocky at least twice a day in this empty lot that was by our home. And we would make this loop twice a day. We would just make the loop multiple times twice a day. We would just be like, okay, we're just going to keep looping. And after a few weeks of doing this, we were walking one of those times and I saw something and it struck me. Rocky and I had created a well-worn path, just doing something daily. Here's a picture. There's Rocky. He's hunting for birds. But you can see the path. This is what happens when we have daily habits. This is the word picture of impressed. It's what we do daily. This is what holy habits do. They impress, they make an impression. They make an impression. The things that we do over and over and over again, every small stop matters. And this idea is for parents with children, yes. But this principle can be broadened to our lives, in our homes, our everyday, our workplaces. And I'm going to show you how.

Because what is the picture here that Moses gives us? He says, talk about them, right? Talk about them. When you sit at home and when you walk along the road or when you lie down and when you get up, meaning this, this is what walking God into your ordinary life looks like. When you sit down, when you walk, when you lie down, when you rise up. It's this repetition and it's like, well, this isn't like exciting. This isn't like adrenaline rush. No, it's the ordinary all again. So in these kind of the rest of my talk today, I want to get real practical, okay? Just on how, what are some of the holy habits that we can implement into our daily lives? How do we bring the sacred into the everyday? Moses gives us four areas that I see in that passage that we need to give our attention to, to bring the sacred into the everyday. And the first thing is this. Pay attention to what you talk about. Pay attention to what you talk about. 'Cause what did he say? He said, "Talk about these commands. "Talk about these commands when you get up, "when you lie down, when you're walking, "when you're sitting. you know there's a lot of talking in our world right 24-hour news cycles there's podcasts there's social media there's latest Netflix shows there's

talk shows and this is honestly what I feel like talk talk talk everybody's just talking with so much of it being absolute white noise and meaningless white noise and meaningless and in with that backdrop I think Moses lays a challenge before us he says walk God into conversations in your home with your children at dinner with your friends in your workplace walk God into the conversation talk we talk so much about things that don't matter Moses here is saying talk about these things and I'm not saying every word in every conversation needs to be spiritual okay but if I had to guess I just had to take a guess where the majority of us land on this having consistent spiritual conversations lands we'd probably be lacking it's real easy to talk about lots of other things and here's what I believe when we start going even as I'm talking about this I'm like you need to walk God into your conversations at home with your kids at the workplace that it I know it can be awkward sometimes okay sometimes creating a holy habit feels really weird at first and this is what I know at our church we have so many new people who are coming so many people who are new to faith so many people who this is being at city first is your first experience with faith and you're like what I'm supposed to talk about God at my dinner table or with my friends it can be awkward you're like how do I even do this it can be a little weird you know this summer I started going to the gym again I am at this point in my life for three years my doctor's been saying you need to be doing great training you need to be doing strength training and finally I just took the bull by the horns all right and so I was like let's go and I was like I'm going to the gym that first day I was going to the gym can I just be a real honest with you I felt so nervous it felt super weird I remember talking to my oldest son Katie who had recently started going to gym and I was like on the phone on the way there and I was like I think I'm just gonna go to Starbucks I get a protein drink there and you know I was like I'm just I'm so nervous to go he's like mom just do it you know and I was like okay so I'm like are people gonna be watching me or are they gonna be like she's so totally she's so new here like she doesn't know how to use that

machine what is she doing like don't you know when you're about ready to start something new you make this way bigger in your head than it really needs to be you're like everybody's people are gonna be like she's the next meme look at the way she's doing that leg press you know what I mean you're just like oh my gosh but here's the deal I went once and then I went again and now when I go into the gym I'm all like I don't care what you people think right I know what I'm doing it's not as awkward anymore and this is true of walking God into our conversations you just got to start you just got to do it and guess what I'm gonna help you I'm actually gonna need the list of some conversation starters okay they're gonna put them on the back screen and then when I get them all up there you can take a picture of them and implement them at the dinner table maybe it's your drive into you know your kids to school in the car or you're sitting down at the get the breakthrough at it work you know and you've got some friends there that are believers as well so let's let's look at some of these questions okay what's one thing you heard at church that you thought about again this week next what are you grateful for today that's an easy one right what do you think God might be teaching you right now where where could you use God's help this week and last one did anything happen today that you need prayer for you can take out your phones I will give you permission at church but you know what this is super cool you guys these are actually all the things I'm gonna talk about today I'm giving you lots of practical things today lots of holy happens you can implement they're actually in the notes part of our app super easy everything's in there so you can download app and look at it that way super nice all right but these are just some easy conversation starters we even our city first kids have these amazing things called car ride conversations that you get when you pick up your kid it's just these are easy ways to walk Jesus into everyday conversations at the dinner table or bedtime It might not even go is planned. You might finally get all the nerve up to be like, "Okay, we're going to talk about Jesus at the dinner table." And then guess what?

When you try and do this, your teenager looks at you like you have two heads. It's going to happen. They're going to be like, "Elle, why are we doing this? Why did the pastor tell you to do this, Mom?" "Dad, why? Why are you doing this?" No, no, no, no. And your kids might complain when you try and do this, when you're out with your friends, you're like, "Hey, guys, we love Jesus. Let's just bring him into the conversation." It might be quiet at first when you ask a question. Guess what? Keep asking anyways. Keep asking anyways. Because guess what? What you're doing is you're bringing the sacred into the everyday, and they were never meant to be compartmentalized. Jesus wants to be right in the middle of your everyday. So keep asking anyways. The second area to give attention to, to put the sacred in the everyday is this, pay attention to what you do, what you do. You're like, "Well, John, that's kind of all encompassing." But I want to narrow this down a little bit, okay? Because what does he say next? What does Moses say next in there? He says, "Tie them, tie the commands of God as symbols on your hands, on your hands." Now, all throughout scripture, the hand is connected to work, to actions, and to what a person does. So this idea of God's word command being tied to your hands means this, view what you do as sacred work. View what you do as sacred work. You're a stay-at-home mom, sacred work. You're an executive assistant, sacred work. It is worship unto the Lord. You're a garbage man, you're a lawyer, you're a doctor, you're a student, whatever it is, guess what? It is holy work. It is holy work, and most say, listen, whatever you're putting your hand to, it's sacred. It's sacred. The choices that you make, how you treat the lady at Target or Walmart, whichever one you choose, how you treat people, what you do with what God has entrusted you. It's called stewardship. View your work as holy. It's holy, mostly in here, whatever you put your hands to. It's holy. Colossians 3.17, this is a scripture in the New Testament, says this, and whatever you do, that means all of what you do, right? In word or indeed, no matter what you say or what you do, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Your work is sacred. Your work is holy, and on one of the ways, again, another practical thing we can do, one of the ways that we bring this sacred into our work is this. It's this kind of centuries-old kind of practice. It's called breath prayers, because you know this, that you don't have to be in church to pray to God. You have access to God. We say this all the time. You have access to God wherever you are at, whatever time. You can have access to Him. So a breath prayer. Let's just say this for instance.

Okay? You're given your child, you know what I mean, a bath at home, or you're full in the laundry. You know what you do, a breath prayer. Take a deep breath and then just help you like, God, thank you so much that I have this opportunity to clothe with my children. Simple thing. God, I invite you into our home. Thank you. Your work, your body to head into a business meeting. All right, you're like, okay, what? Pause. Take a deep breath. God, thank you that I have the mind of Christ as I walk in here. Here's the deal. We make connecting with God way too complicated sometimes. And I just, I make it complicated. I'm like, we know God, I have to have, you know, like, like Jared said, let's, I owe Jesus plus coffee plus whatever. And I got to have this favorite chair and I got to sit down and I got to have the spiritual moment. No, no, no, no. Listen, just do a breath prayer. Bring God the sacred into the moment in your work, whatever you're putting your hand to make it sacred. Next, the third ear to pay attention to is this. Pay attention to how you see, how you see, because Moses says this, he says, bind them, the commands on your foreheads, on your foreheads. Now, this sounds a little weird, okay? But this idea in original language can mean this between your eyes, meaning this. Let God's Word, shape your perspective. Shape how. want to see, not just what you see right now. And so some practical questions, two questions you can ask yourself is kind of putting the commands of God is the how you want to see the future. It says this, are today's decisions taking me to my desired destination? Are today's holy habits that I'm implementing, actually taking me to my desired destination? And then second question, what daily decisions will move me in that direction? Because we're all moving in a direction. So what sacred rhythms, what holy habits, what decisions are you making today? Because if you're like, I want my kids to follow Jesus, I want whatever the dream is you have for your family, that's spiritual, like this is what I want for future generations. Even I want my legacy to be well, what holy habits are you doing today to get you there? That's what putting the commands of God on your forehead. You're seeing things differently. Sacred rhythms see ahead. They keep the long road in mind. And lastly, the fourth thing to pay attention to do is this, pay attention to where you live. Pay attention to where you live. Because what does Moses say then? He says, write them on the door frames, write the commands of God, write them the commands of God, the laws of God, not just on your hearts, but on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

God told his people to put his word on the door posts of their homes. It's kind of interesting, right? The door posts, why the door posts? Because the door post is a place you pass again and again and again, right? You'll leave for work. You pass through the door frame. You take the kids to school. You pass through the door. You come home. You pass through the door. You go out to dinner. You pass through the door. You come home at night. You pass through the door. The doorway. It wasn't an obscure corner of the house. The sacred was never meant to be just the Bible on the coffee table. It's meant to be a conversation. It's meant to be a conversation. Your home church is a sacred place. This right here, what we're doing, this is not just the sacred place. Your home is a sacred place. And so in order, one of the ideas that I have a practical thing that, and I pray that you do this, it is just a practical tool. We actually started doing it this year. I wish we had done it years and years ago, but I didn't know about it. But now you know, okay? And I'm going to give you guys this idea of how to kind of bring the sacred into your home. You know, this past summer, we started what we are calling the family meeting, okay? This is not an intervention. It's not an intervention. It was a family meeting. And we got this idea from a business friend of ours who has done this for years with his children. Started out when his kids were young, and now he's got like grandchildren. They've been doing this for years. And here is how it works, okay? Once a year, you said an evening or part of a day aside to intentionally connect is a family. And then take this framework that I'm about ready to give you to help with discussion. And this is, they're going to put it, just put everything up here, guys, so I can just kind of go through the whole thing. And you guys can take out your phones after I'm done reading it and then take this picture as well. And it's going to be on the notes app, okay? Anyway, let you do, gather everybody together, okay? And then I would practice this. This is a, when we did it this summer, this was not like me and Jared just telling everybody what this was all about. We were like, this is a discussion. Like, we're all going to chime in. This isn't just, Jared and I have, this isn't a meeting, like, we're leading the meeting, and you're just listening. This is like a family discussion. So we opened in prayer, all right? And then we did this. We said, hey, we want to make a list of words to live by is a family. And then we want to put a one to two sentence description behind it. So we sat in the circle and we talked, we're like, what are some words that we want to mark the door at home? Like when people need a door, what do we want them to leave thinking? Or when they encounter our

family, what are some of the things that we want to be markers of our family? And this was just one, we had like 10 words. One of them was this, reliable. We want to be reliable. If someone needs something, they can count on us. And then there are other ones, like we want to have integrity. We want to be generous. We want to be kind. These are things our kids came up with, all right? And so that we did that for a little while. And then we asked this question, what is a challenge you are facing and how can we be praying for each other? And then we said, then we moved on, what is a dream you would like to see coming? to see that happen? Maybe something you need to lean into and something you need to let go of, because how many of you understand that when you want to accomplish something, sometimes there's something new you have to do and sometimes there's something you have to let go of. You have to change. And then we took time to discuss any important family details. And then we closed in prayer. And now listen, someone takes notes and then we keep these in front of each other. And they're great follow-up questions that can come out of this. Okay? Like, hey, how are things going with blump that dream that you wanted to do? It's a great follow-up. Your kids are acting crazy. You're like, well, you know, do you remember when we sat down in those words that we wanted to mark us as a family? Do you feel like that lines up with that? Great conversation starters. And then you can be praying for each other. And listen, you will need to make this idea age and stage appropriate, okay? Like, don't try a three-hour meeting if you've got a three-year old. That's not a good plan, right? But you can have a conversation at the dinner table. Get them thinking. Don't overcomplicate it. Don't overthink it. Just put it on the calendar and do it, all right? Just do it. Now I'm closing until you wrap up because I'm out of time. I want you, if you go with me, imagine a field with no path through it. You walk across it once, nothing much happens. But then you walk it tomorrow. And then you walk it the day after that. And then again and again. And eventually the grass starts to bend, right? And the ground gets packed down like what happened with Raki and I. And the path becomes more clear and visible. And eventually you don't even have to think about where you're going anymore. Because there's a path. And this is what holy habits do. Prayers before school, you're making a path. Talking at the dinner table about where you saw God today is making a path. Reading scripture before bed, you're treading down a path. Beginning your day with gratitude, there starts a path. Worship playing in your house. You're making a path. Encouraging discussion about Jesus.

You're making a path. Talking naturally, not forcefully. Okay, let's use wisdom here about how you see God, what He's teaching you and showing you. Listen, you are making a path. Some of us, we get so overwhelmed. Just take a next step. And eventually your home, your family, your friendships, your workplace will have well-worn paths that lead toward Jesus. Right? Well-worn paths. You can take a picture of that list that we have up there. That's, I mean, that is like, these are just ideas. All of these are things. It's not about adding. It's about inviting him into the normal every day. We're not just going to stumble into Christ-centered homes and lives. What we do is we create well-worn paths that lead us and others to Jesus. What we walk occasionally leaves a footprint. But what we walk consistently creates a path. Creates a path. Creates a path. Now listen, this is what I know. Some of you in here, you're at the very beginning of your life. You're like, this is a great idea, all of these things. And you're ready. And others of you, maybe you're towards like more, like your kids are maybe older. And you're like, man, I wish I would have done this. Here's the deal. It's never too late to begin a holy habit. Never too late, no matter what stage of life you are in, start now. Don't let what you wish you would have done earlier stop you from starting now. Do it. Now Jeremiah 616 says this. This is what the Lord says. Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is. Where is it? And what does that say? Walk in it one step at a time and you will find rest for your souls. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much for who you are. God, thank you that you never met for there just to be ooh, some sacred things, but then some ordinary things. No, they're all together, God. There is no differentiation with you. And so God, I pray. I know I've given lots of practical steps today. I just pray, God, that we would take even one thing, one thing. Wherever we find ourselves, what we say, what we do, where we go. God, we give it to you, and we simply say today, God, we invite you into our ordinary. We invite you into our ordinary. It's sacred to you. And so give us ways, give us wisdom, give us insight, and how we can love you more. In Jesus' name, everybody said, amen, amen. Love you church so much. Family, what an incredible time together. We're so glad you joined us today. Before we go, we never want to end a service without giving you the opportunity to make the most important decision you could ever make. And that's to make Jesus the leader and the forgiver of your life.

Wherever you are, you can make that decision right now, and it starts with a simple prayer. And you can pray that prayer with me now. Pray with me. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I've made mistakes, and I need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins. I now invite you to be the leader and the forgiver of my life. In Jesus' name, amen. If you just prayed that prayer for the first time, we are celebrating with you today. That is one of the best decisions that you can ever make. So now that you prayed that prayer, we have a couple of next steps for you to take. First, tell someone about the decision that you made. We're not meant to walk alone. Secondly, we have a free resource for you called New Beginning. It's a simple 14-day devotional. As you start growing in your relationship with Jesus, it'll give you kind of what the next steps are to take along your journey. And when you sign up for New Beginning, you'll also get access to a few short videos from our pastors covering some of the basics. Things like how to pray, how to engage with God's Word, and how to build Christ-centered friendships. And remember, you are not alone in this. If you have questions, wherever you are in your journey, drop a message in the chat or DM us on social media. We genuinely love to hear from you and help, however we might be able to. Then, once you've gone through that New Beginning devotional, we'd love for you to jump into GrowthTrack. GrowthTrack begins the first Sunday of every month, and it's all about helping you grow in your faith. You get to discover how God has uniquely designed you and find your purpose in place. You can actually join us in person or online. You can head to the app or scan that QR code to get started. And whenever you're walking through, we'd love to be praying with you. You can share prayer requests anytime. You can do that through the first app. And no, there are people who will be standing with you in prayer. And one of the best things you can do from here is simply keep showing up. Keep coming to church. Keep leaning into what God's doing. Keep surrounding yourself with people who will encourage your faith. We really do grow stronger when we grow together. Church, we love you, and we are praying for you this week. Have an incredible week, and we'll catch you right back here next Sunday.