Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Amen. Amen. Well, good evening, Christ Churchers. How we doing this evening?
[00:00:06] CC Midweek. Some of you are like, who is this loud Kevin Hart up here?
[00:00:13] Well, I'm not Kevin Hart. My name is Javon. I happen to be one of the staff members here at Christchurch, and I am excited to hang out with you to preach and to teach and to be here. Hey, can we give a loud shout for those who help service CC midweek? Who put it on every week? Our worship team, the tech team, the welcome team, Every team. We're just so thankful, CC Midweek's a blessing to us. Am I right? It's been a blessing, the worship and the teaching. No matter who's up here, God is speaking in and through, whoever it may be. But before I jump into my message today, let me say a quick prayer, ask for God's blessing and go from there. Dear Heavenly Father, I love you.
[00:00:58] I love you because you are the God who first loved us.
[00:01:02] I love you not because, Lord, of anything other than that you yourself are the gift that we all long for. Your presence of who you are, what you do. But also, Lord, you also are the one who provides for us as well. Father, today's message is one that many of us have been struggling and wrestling with for a very long time. And a lot of us have been wrestling and struggling with it in the dark. But I pray that your good light, that you would shine whatever that we have kept in the dark, and you would illuminate it and bring good from it. Would you speak to those who need this message? Laura? I can only speak to a certain few people, but you are able to speak to everyone in their specific needs. We love you and we thank you in Christ's wonderful and perfect name as who we pray. Amen and amen and amen. Well, today I'm excited to talk to you about a topic. Before I introduce the topic, I want to tell you one thing and every sermon, if you know that when I preach, I always like to bring up my children. I'm around them a lot.
[00:02:11] I'm getting beat up, y' all. Life is weighing me down. These kids, I got two little boys, they're cute, you know, and everything. They're all so crazy and, you know, asking for your prayers in that field. And one thing as a father, I'm always playing with them, right? I'm always wrestling with them. And, you know, we're always roughhousing. I'm throwing them in the air. And, you know, sometimes, you know, when we wrestle, I maybe put a Little bit more pressure than I need to be applying, you know, and whatnot. But nobody knows about it, you know, whatever, but. And then I'd tell them, like, you're okay. Suck it up, boy.
[00:02:47] You know, one day we're playing and, you know, we're roughhousing, and they're climbing on dad, right? They're climbing on dad. And, you know, we're on the couch, and my one son, my one says, daddy, look. And I'm like. He was, like, pointing to my face, and I didn't know what he was pointing at at first. I was like, what's going on?
[00:03:05] Something happened. What'd y' all do? Y' all can't mess with the money maker now. I mean, what's going on?
[00:03:09] What'd y' all do? And my other son ran over and said, oh, he's pointing to the gray hair in your beard.
[00:03:18] And then I asked Chatgpt, what should I do with my children if I should give them up for adoption? I didn't know what to do in that moment. Right.
[00:03:27] I didn't want to face the fact that one day that, you know, this nice fluffy hair here is going to turn white.
[00:03:37] I'm not prepared for it. I wasn't ready for it. Then they started spotting all the other grades, and then I said, you know what? That's it. We're done. We're not playing anymore. Dad's going in the other room. You stay here. Here, do your own thing. I don't care anymore.
[00:03:47] Right? It was inevitable that I was going to get older and, you know, things were going to change. I was going to change and whatnot. You know, I'm going to be 36 this October, so I should have expected it, but I didn't realize that it would be coming a lot sooner than I thought. And no matter how hard we try, there are just some things that are. We can say.
[00:04:12] Inescapable. Right?
[00:04:14] There are some things we would love, love, love to avoid. I mean, you can make a whole list of the things you would love to avoid in your life. For me, I would love to have Chick Fil a open on Sunday. Can I get an amen on that one? Let's start a petition right now. How about that? All right, after service, y' all can just come up here, you know, give me your signature in your email. You know, I put your address, but we'll make sure that happened. Right? Right. There's a lot of other things, you know, I wish I didn't have to pay this thing called taxes. You Know what I'm saying? I mean, I think you all could agree with me on that one, right? There's just some things you just can't avoid.
[00:04:54] But if we can get serious, if we can be honest, if there's one thing that I, or one place that I really wish I could avoid more and more in my life, it is the place of disappointment, right?
[00:05:10] It seems to be something present every season of my life. No matter how good I'm doing, no matter how much I'm killing it in this area or that area, it seems to always pop up, come up. And here's the thing about disappointment. It loves to come out of nowhere.
[00:05:27] You ever had moments like that, right?
[00:05:30] Life is going good, right? You're sitting back, you got gas in your tank, and, you know, you got some jeans that finally fit, you know, and all of that, then next, you know, boom, life happens.
[00:05:44] In the words of some of the young folks, say, life be life, and sometimes.
[00:05:51] Right?
[00:05:52] Right. And here's the thing about disappointment. The reason why disappointment, it feels so rough on many of us is disappointment happens when our reality, or reality itself doesn't meet our expectations, right? When our reality doesn't meet our expectations.
[00:06:13] And for some of us, as much as we've laughed and much as we can joke, there are some things in our lives that's not that funny.
[00:06:21] There's some disappointments that we've experienced when it comes to our relationships, right? Some disappointments that others have have inflicted onto you, or if we can get honest and take a step back, some disappointments you inflicted onto the others as well, too, about the disappointment of sickness and disease, the disappointment of. For some of us, this year, we've had to face job loss, the disappointment of just ourselves in general, the disappointment we can just again, go down the list and talk about.
[00:06:59] And here's the thing about disappointment. Disappointment, if we're not careful and we don't deal with it correctly and we don't look at it and approach it in the way that the scriptures God calls us to approach this reality that is unavoidable in our lives.
[00:07:16] Disappointment can lead to doubt, right? Disappointment can lead to. To doubt.
[00:07:25] For a lot of us, one of the best ways we can describe our faith or one of the ways we can describe our faith and what's been going on lately is that we just are in a season of doubt. And doubt can often seem like a burden. Sometimes you ask yourself something's, is something wrong with you? Do you not have enough faith in all of this? I mean, there's so many questions. There's so much confusion that is happening in the midst of the. Of the experiencing of doubt. And doubt, yes, it can feel like a burden. I will meet you there.
[00:08:01] But when you follow Jesus, doubt can become and lead to a great blessing.
[00:08:09] Let me just say this one more time, right, for those who are, who are in a season of doubt, because you're trying to figure your way through it.
[00:08:16] You're trying to understand, you're doing some research and you're asking questions and you're just wrestling with ideas about the suffering and the pain and all these things that are going on. And it seems like every time you search for an answer, somebody comes up with something that you don't like or somebody comes up with something that really doesn't rub you the right way and you really don't like it and whatnot. But here's the the truth of today's message.
[00:08:44] Yes, doubt feels like a burden. Yes, it is inevitable. It is something we cannot avoid and we will find ourselves in our lives. But when you know Jesus, doubt can lead to the greatest blessings in your life.
[00:08:59] And that's what we want to talk about today as we pick up on this idea. So I want you guys to know this. If you're in a season of doubt, here's what I want you to know. There is. There is nothing wrong with you.
[00:09:13] We can go home now. Okay?
[00:09:15] That's my answer for you. Okay?
[00:09:17] That's what I got.
[00:09:20] Two weeks of studying, that's what I got.
[00:09:22] But on a serious note, there is nothing wrong with you.
[00:09:26] There's nothing wrong with you. As a matter of fact, doubt can be a great way how God works in you and through you, in your life.
[00:09:39] Doubt is not a sign that your faith is lacking. It can be a sign that God is taking you deeper and deeper with him in our story today, if you have your copy of the scriptures, Matthew chapter 11, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up the Matthew 11. It'll be on the screen for you. Pull out your devices, whatever it may be. We're going to pick up on a story about a great man, a man of faith, a man that some of you, if you've been coming to church for quite some time, you probably are very familiar with this guy and maybe a little bit unfamiliar with this story. But what we're going to read about in this particular section in the Scriptures in the life of Christ is how doubt has became for someone one of the greatest blessings, or God made it into one of the greatest Blessings in their life. And I'm talking about none other than John the Baptist. You guys heard of John the Baptist before? You know? Yeah, heard about John the Baptist. You know, he's recorded in every single Gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Each of them record Matthew. I'm sorry, each of them record John from a different angle at some points in some parts. But either way, John the Baptist, let's just call him JB Cause that's just too long. Can I call him jb? Y' all, JB Right? JB is very important to the story, especially the origins of Christ. He was known as the forerunner for Jesus.
[00:11:10] He was known as the one that will introduce Christ coming in his ministry, which would lead to his death and his resurrection as well. John was a big deal, right?
[00:11:24] But John in this part in our section today, we're going to find himself in bit of a pickle. We could say, let's pick it up. Matthew, chapter 11, beginning at verse one. Let's go ahead and read this. It says this.
[00:11:36] After Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in there cities. Now, verse two is where it picks up. This is where we're going to get the context of where John is and what's going on in John's life.
[00:11:52] And meanwhile, verse two, John heard. This is very important.
[00:11:57] John heard in prison.
[00:12:01] John heard in prison about the works of Christ. And he sent his disciples to ask him, are you the one who was to come, or should we look for someone else? Verse 4. Jesus replied, Go back and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. The good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of me. Did you catch the context where John is?
[00:12:38] John, as I said, was very important to the original story, the story of Christ, the beginning, the origins of Jesus. John not only was important, John had a following, right?
[00:12:53] He had a massive following.
[00:12:55] Everybody at one point thought that he was Jesus, right? Can you imagine somebody asking, you know, are you Jesus? What would you say, right? How would you respond? Would you be like, maybe. No, I'm just joking, right? I mean, everybody. He was just that important. He was that influential, right? Got himself in some trouble, right? But he was that influential. And lo and behold, life, which seemed like it was going really well.
[00:13:27] Now he's in this place where life doesn't feel like it's going really well, right? Doesn't feel like it's going really well. John is in prison. How did John get to prison? This guy by the name of Herod Antipas threw John into prison because John called him out on some of his actions, his immoral actions within his life. And Herod didn't like that. So therefore, Herod threw John in prison. So John's not in prison because he didn't pay parking tickets. John is in prison because of jealousy and hatred and going on in his life. And the scripture tells us that as John is. Is in prison, he's hearing about Jesus. He's hearing about all the works of Christ. He's hearing about Jesus healing and Jesus preaching and Jesus doing all these things that is going on, right.
[00:14:15] John, and some would say his faith hit a dead end.
[00:14:21] And can I just tell you right now, as I said before, there are times where you're going to feel like you've hit a dead end.
[00:14:30] Now, John sends these disciples. Remember we said John had a following. He had people that listened to him. He had an influence. So he sent his followers, he sent his disciples to ask of Jesus, are you the one, or should we look for someone else?
[00:14:49] What's going on in this particular scene, in this situation? Well, number one, we see John even as great of a faith that he.
[00:14:56] He's had, great of a man that he was, he still had doubts.
[00:15:03] Friends, can I tell you right now, there's no amount of theology, there's no amount of Bible study, there's no amount of church attendance that's gonna keep you from doubt.
[00:15:14] It's just gonna happen to all of us. I don't want you to feel alone in this. I don't want you to feel like you're trapped in this. I don't want you to feel like you're the only one who struggles with. If John the Baptist, jb, jb if he had his moments of doubt, this is, you know, the guy, then we're gonna face moments of doubt. Now, why is John facing this doubt? Well, I caught it actually in verse 2. Bring up verse 2 for them 1 more time, if you could. Did you notice what it says? Meanwhile, John heard in prison about the works of Christ, John is hearing about all the good that Jesus is doing while he's in prison.
[00:15:58] You know, one of the ways of how we fall into a place of doubt is when we're looking at other people's lives.
[00:16:07] If that got your attention, I saw a lot of hidden hiding on that one. That's what we call conviction of the Holy Spirit. No, Right, right, right. John, he hears about Jesus and all the things that Jesus is doing. But John, he was once out there leading ministry and doing all these things. He was there at the baptism of Jesus. He, the one who baptized Jesus. He taught all the great things. And now he's in prison, and now he's behind the scenes, and here is Jesus doing all of this, and he finds himself hearing about all of that. And sometimes what gets me in trouble is that when I'm always living in comparison to other people's lives, and I'm thinking to myself, my life should look like that.
[00:16:55] I deserve this.
[00:16:59] I need that. And that's sometimes how a lot of us find ourselves in the place of doubt.
[00:17:10] Not too long ago, my.
[00:17:12] My wife had to go under this procedure.
[00:17:16] And under this procedure she had complications.
[00:17:20] And some of the complications had lasted. And, you know, we were in and out of the ER because of some of the complications after the procedure.
[00:17:29] And then one night, my wife, unbeknownst to us, was having a heart attack.
[00:17:39] I remember her waking up pale, felt stiff, body was cool and cold.
[00:17:51] And I remember asking myself, why is this happening?
[00:17:57] What is going on? The ambulance came, took her.
[00:18:03] My son is scared out of his mind, screaming, I gotta wait for my mom, who lives in Brunswick. We live in Elyria. She's gotta drive all the way over so I can go and check on my wife. And I remember that moment asking myself, why am I going through this?
[00:18:22] Why am I? And little did I realize that was a season.
[00:18:28] And I tell you this not to feel sorry for me.
[00:18:31] I tell you this because I want you to know in the season where I felt God was the furthest, it's actually where God took me deeper in his mercy and his love for me.
[00:18:43] It was one of the first times I've ever experienced the fatherhood of God. It was one of the first times God ever said, I want you to just dwell in just my love for you. I want you to know that in the end, I'm in this. Not only am I in this, I am working through this. And it was in those moments. Yes, sure, in the moment, you have this sense of man, what's going on and what do I do and whatnot.
[00:19:13] Then God reveals something greater about himself. You know, the one thing God really wants more in your life is for you to have more of him.
[00:19:25] It's for you to draw even closer to Him. Why? Because he's the gift. He's the goal, he's the aim. He himself is the real treasure. The treasure is not easier. The Treasure is more of God.
[00:19:39] And sometimes when you feel you're at your lowest, God feels even the closest.
[00:19:47] You see, like that little Dr. Seuss rhyme. You like that. You know you like that. You know, you can take that. You can take that with you if you want to, right? And John finds himself.
[00:19:56] He finds himself hearing about all the things that are going on outside. And, man, why am I not out there? And I'm here, and I'm treated unfairly and unjustly and whatnot. And then he asks this question.
[00:20:08] He asked Jesus this question through his disciples. Verse 3. Bring up verse 3 for them, he says. And he went to send his disciples to ask him, are you the one?
[00:20:18] He says this. Am I wasting my time? Jesus, I've done all of this good work for you.
[00:20:25] I've been faithful.
[00:20:28] I've done all of these things. And I thought that because I did the right things, the right things will happen to me.
[00:20:37] Isn't that kind of sometimes what we like to think in our own lives?
[00:20:42] If I just do the right things, if I just say the right things, if I just do all of this, well, then I will avoid the problems and issues of life. See, here's what I think. John struggled with. John struggled with this thing. And this is sometimes what doubt can do for a lot of us.
[00:21:03] This is what something. This is what the lesson we can learn from doubt.
[00:21:06] Sometimes doubt or disappointments can adjust our expectations, right?
[00:21:18] Sometimes what God wants to do in the most gracious and gentle way is that as hardship comes into our lives, sometimes most of our doubts isn't that if God exists.
[00:21:35] But some of our doubts is really planted in whether or not God will do what we expected.
[00:21:43] Does that make sense? It's not that. Cause you and I would sit here and be like, bro, you know, no matter what anybody says, we know something's divine behind this.
[00:21:52] We know there's something divine behind this. The real struggle we have is if God is gonna do what we expect.
[00:22:02] And sometimes I find myself. I'm just gonna talk about myself. I'm not gonna talk about you. Cause I don't want you throwing the pin at me when I say this, okay?
[00:22:08] I find myself putting my faith in an outcome more than God.
[00:22:15] Does that make sense?
[00:22:17] I find myself, like, God is just kind of like a means to an end type of thing. Like, all right, hey, look, if I just, like, I want this job promotion, if I get this, I'm gonna be happy.
[00:22:30] I'm gonna be real happy. I'm gonna make more money, especially in this Economy, I'm gonna make more money.
[00:22:36] I'm gonna be able to afford things. I'm gonna be able to get myself out of debt, because that's the most important thing in my life. And sometimes, because God loves you way too much to put your trust in the wrong thing. Sometimes. Sometimes the low moments expose what we truly trust in.
[00:22:54] Sometimes, right?
[00:22:56] Let me say sometimes, my low moments. Cause I don't wanna talk about you. I wanna talk about me.
[00:23:01] My low moments expose. Your faith was never in Jesus.
[00:23:06] Your faith was in a circumstance in your life.
[00:23:12] And Christ loves you way too much for you to find your assurance in anything outward or, if anything, inward. But rather, doubt points to find our assurance upward.
[00:23:27] And him.
[00:23:28] Because when we face moments of uncertainty, what do you and I want to experience the most? What do we want?
[00:23:37] Safety.
[00:23:39] We want to know that we're gonna be safe.
[00:23:41] We wanna know, is everything gonna be okay? For instance, as you guys know, I love to play with my kids. I told you that early on. And one day, let's just say I got a little bit too rough.
[00:23:52] Maybe purposely, I don't know. I can't tell you. It was so long ago, right? It was late at night, you know, they weren't going to sleep and whatnot. I may have thrown them up a little bit too hard, and my son may have hit his head on the wall. But don't worry about it, all right? My wife knows about it. You don't need to tell her.
[00:24:07] Relax. I see you right now. Does Amy know? Shut up, all right?
[00:24:13] And so you know. And you know dads, you ever play with your kids, and then you heard them, you're like, ooh. Like that hurt. You're like, you all right, bud? You know?
[00:24:23] And you know, he's crying. First thing he does is cry. But I noticed something even better.
[00:24:32] He cried and he reached out.
[00:24:37] And when you and I face pain, we reach out for something to comfort us.
[00:24:43] What are we looking for? Safety.
[00:24:46] Is someone taking care of me?
[00:24:49] Am I going to be okay?
[00:24:51] Is there purpose behind any of this? Where can I find peace right now?
[00:24:56] Where can I find hope in this?
[00:25:00] Who is going to protect me?
[00:25:04] And again, sometimes God wants to use your doubt so that you can see him as your total and full assurance in life.
[00:25:16] This is the reality of doubt, friends.
[00:25:18] John the Baptist experienced it.
[00:25:21] And guess what, friends, you and I are going to experience it as well, too.
[00:25:26] But Jesus doesn't just leave him in his questions. I love that.
[00:25:31] I love that as Jesus hears about this, Jesus isn't like you know what?
[00:25:37] John should know better, right? John should know better. Doesn't he know, like, no, Jesus doesn't shoot him down. He welcomes the question.
[00:25:50] And can I just tell you, friends, God is not insecure about your questions.
[00:25:55] He actually invites you.
[00:25:58] He's not insecure about it.
[00:26:01] There is no question where God's gonna be like, let me go back and talk to the Holy Spirit and then Jesus, and then we'll figure this out and get back to you. Okay?
[00:26:09] Okay, I'll email you. Okay?
[00:26:14] God is not insecure to our questions.
[00:26:19] And as a Christian, you are going to have questions.
[00:26:23] The goal is not to ignore the questions. The goal is to bring the questions to light.
[00:26:29] Because the problem. Listen, friends, listen. Doubt is not the absence of faith, right? Doubt is not the absence of faith. Rather, doubt is a means to produce faith.
[00:26:40] Even more.
[00:26:42] So some of us today, you have real questions, and guess what? You know what you need to do with them?
[00:26:47] Ask.
[00:26:50] Go to Jesus.
[00:26:52] Ask. Do your research.
[00:26:55] Ask the church. Talk to people. Get your doubt out. Because the most unhealthy way to deal with doubt is when it's dealt out in silence.
[00:27:07] In silence.
[00:27:09] There are some real questions that we have, but Jesus answers it.
[00:27:13] Jesus tells John, tells John's disciples to go back and report to John all that you hear and see and everything. But then Jesus says this one thing before we close that really captures my heart.
[00:27:32] Jesus says in verse 6, Blessed is the one who does not fall on account of me. Some of your Bible says, blessed is the one. Maybe you have the ESV that says, who doesn't take offense of me.
[00:27:48] Can I just say this, friends?
[00:27:51] There will be times in your walk with Christ where you will not fully comprehend what is going on and what he's doing.
[00:27:59] But I love what Jesus says.
[00:28:03] He says blessed, which really means happy.
[00:28:07] He says, the happiest ones or the happy ones are those who don't try to impose their will, but rather who trust in God's will.
[00:28:21] Because I want to ask you a question.
[00:28:24] If you're a follower of Jesus, this is for you. Especially if you don't get your way.
[00:28:30] Is Jesus still enough?
[00:28:37] If you don't get your way, can you say, I'm not offended.
[00:28:43] I'm hurt.
[00:28:44] I'm scared.
[00:28:47] I feel lost and confused.
[00:28:51] But Christ is still enough for me.
[00:28:54] Christ is still the wonderful Savior whom my soul rests forever.
[00:29:02] The goal of life.
[00:29:05] The goal of life isn't trying to get more, but the goal of life, of the Christian life is to say, christ, you are enough.
[00:29:16] You are enough. Let's take down a couple notes before we go home. Number one, your life isn't defined by disappointment, but rather define it by God's faithfulness.
[00:29:29] Your life is not defined by disappointment. So many times, many of us, when we find ourselves in disappointing moments, our sole focus is on the negative. Our sole focus is on the trauma. Our sole focus is on on the letdown. Our sole focus is on the darkness. And we feel tempted to say, this is now what my life is forever. But Christianity teaches us that your life is not a product of your circumstances, but rather a product of God's faithfulness and goodness in your life.
[00:30:05] Don't be tempted this week to tell yourself, I'm just always gonna be lonely.
[00:30:12] Nobody's ever gonna care for me.
[00:30:15] I'm always gonna be broke.
[00:30:17] I'm never gonna have enough.
[00:30:19] Right?
[00:30:20] We're tempted to always define our lives through the negativity. Jesus says, don't become a product of this circumstances. Let my goodness and faithfulness drive all of who you are and what you do.
[00:30:40] As I said before. Number two, God isn't insecure about your doubts, rather he invites them.
[00:30:47] Number three, faith grows in the soil of doubt.
[00:30:55] Sometimes God uses our lowest moments to reveal who he truly is, to experience his fatherhood, to experience his shepherd like love for you and I to experience the grace and mercy that he wants you to have so that he can reset your perception of him, so that you can live greater for him in your life.
[00:31:17] And number four, this is. This is. I love this one. I. I stole this one. All right. I can't take credit. I guess I could because it's in my sermon, so. But anyway.
[00:31:27] Stole this from a pastor.
[00:31:30] Number four.
[00:31:31] When life feels like it's falling apart, remember, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.
[00:31:43] Sometimes your life's gonna feel like it's falling apart and you're tempted to do in point one to define it by that. But here's where we get to make God's promises real in our lives. And we quote the great Psalm 23.
[00:31:57] Surely goodness and mercy will follow me. This will not end in the darkness. This will not end. Just tragic. This will not end the way that I'm perceiving it that it's going to end. Rather, God promises that goodness and mercy and faithfulness and love will follow me in the end. Your gift is God's goodness.
[00:32:28] That's the goal. That's it, Right? There's no getting around that, right? And you can take that to the bank.
[00:32:36] You can hold onto that right? Even at the lowest moment, you just tell yourself, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. God is going to show up in this.
[00:32:52] This is how we deal with the doubts we face in our lives. Let's pray.
[00:33:01] Heavenly Father, I thank you for the great reminder that you don't turn your nose when I ask questions.
[00:33:15] You don't rebuke me when I feel lost.
[00:33:20] You don't grow tired and frustrated when I'm back and forth when it comes to my faith, but rather you delight to remind me and to reveal to me your goodness and mercy.
[00:33:37] Lord, there is nothing in our lives, nothing in our lives you can't handle.
[00:33:46] There is nothing. No sickness, no death, no rejection, no loss.
[00:33:53] Anything that would keep us.
[00:33:55] That would keep you from your great love for us.
[00:34:03] Lord, I pray that through the season that some of us are in, that this would be a season where you will remind your children, I'm taking you deeper with me and the outcome is not what you are experiencing.
[00:34:23] The outcome is goodness and mercy forever.
[00:34:30] Give us this assurance today.
[00:34:34] Give us this reality today.
[00:34:38] Help us to stretch out when we feel like we're lost.
[00:34:44] Help us to move to the right people, the right time, so you can meet us with what you want us to know about you.
[00:34:58] Bless us, I pray.
[00:34:59] We pray that all these things bring glory in honor to your son's perfect name, Jesus Christ, in whom we praise forever and ever.
[00:35:08] Amen.
