Building our lives as a temple for God's Glory

[Music] Welcome to the podcast of The Way Church in Adelaide, South Australia. Hey man, welcome everyone, this morning, yeah, like I said to Justin just earlier, like I've been preparing throughout the week to bring this word that I'm feeling to share, and then I got up this morning, I got up super early and I rewrote basically all of this, just with just an emphasis on some different things. So, the emphasis that I really feel that God's speaking to us this morning is just around like, it's around His presence and God's desire for His people and to be with His people. And if we're going to experience that amazing privilege of God's presence and to, for Him to dwell with us, it's going to take a willingness in our hearts. And so, like that would be the greatest takeaway I think for us this morning, which is what I want to sort of build to, is just like a willingness from God's people is what leads to a great revelation of His glory in the midst of the people. Is that okay? And we are hungry for God's presence, right? You guys don't even say I'm very hungry, like, we're my baby's hungry, she screams, right? Like, are we hungry for the presence of God? Do we desire God in our lives? And I hope that that's true for us because if we're hungry, God is there to meet our hunger. If you're not hungry, maybe God's just waiting for you to actually meet Him or desire Him in some way. Does this make sense? But we want to be a church. We want to build a church here. We want to see a church built that is hungry for God. That's hungry for the presence of God. That's hungry for Him in our lives. And so, Justin shared last week about, I'm just sort of recapping a little bit to flow into this week. It was about being born again. And so, I hope you guys have embraced that this last week and you're living in your new life. You know, it's like we've died and we've become alive again. And so, how was your week? Were you experiencing the newness of God? Were you living in your new life? I hope so because this is what the Word of God wants to do. It wants to transform us. It wants to, we want to embrace revelations so that our lives are different. All right. So, previous weeks to that, we've been talking a little about the different facets for the church and the different ways that the Bible or the scripture describes what the church is. And so, we're going to do the same thing this week. But, you know, the Bible is full of these pictures and these ways of understanding things. You know, Jesus spoke in parables and He spoke a lot about various things, you know, about nature and stuff like that. All to help us understand and embrace revelation of what it is that God's trying to help us to understand and to get a hold of. So, Jesus spoke about, he spoke about vines and trees and fruit and water and oil and fathers and mothers and marriage. Like, there was no end of these pictures that Jesus brought to try and help us to understand. And the Bible is full of those things. It wasn't just Jesus. But, one of the things that scripture shows us, which is really important about who the church is and how God would dwell with His people is around the tabernacle and around the temple. The tabernacle was a tent that was set up so that the presence of God could dwell amongst God's people. And later it became a more permanent fixture. It was a sorry, a temple. And so, we're just going to look at the tabernacle this morning. And it's a very complicated topic. Like, we could just stay here until Jesus comes back and just talk about the temple and the tabernacle, right? So, you know, we'll just open it up this morning and see what God has for us. Many different elements and layers. We're not going to get far today is what I'm saying. It's like surface level where we're going to continue to build. The first book of the Bible actually is Genesis. And that would show us the first picture of God dwelling with His people, right, in Genesis there. Does anyone know where God dwelled with His people in the book of Genesis early? In the Garden of Eden. This is where God made mankind and placed Him in the garden. And it says that God was there, right? So, this is God's heart, right from the beginning, is that He would create people and dwelled with Him. Like, God's presence would be with people. Men and women, like us, we were created for fellowship with God. He made us to know Him and to walk with Him and to experience Him in His fullness, right? That's pretty cool. I love that. And so, interestingly, when what was the reason that mankind had to leave God's presence? Sin, right? And interestingly, they live through the East Gate, right? Through the East Gate is where God puts the cherubim and the flames of fights on the East Gate. And so, when you look at the tabernacle, where's the gate to come in? East Gate, interesting, isn't it? You can make the connection, right? God's made a way for mankind to enter back into His presence. I think that's really cool. And so, first book of the Bible talks about the Garden of Eden, where God's desire is to dwell with the people. Second book of the Bible is Exodus. And this is where the tabernacle is set up. So, you don't go far through the Bible before God's making a way to dwell with His people again. Isn't that cool? It's like God's plan. He hasn't changed his mind. God's desire is to dwell with mankind. And so, that's what the tabernacle is. That's what God is desiring. And so, in a sense, the tabernacle is restoring things back in some sense to what was in the Garden. Now, it's a lesser, it's like a shadow of those things. It's not as good, but it's building, right? So, the tabernacle is where God dwells with the people and then the temple and all the way up to Jesus, right? The whole Bible is just this picture of God getting closer and closer to His people. That's God's desire. Until the end, where you read that, I will be their guide and they will be my people. It's like it comes full circle. God's desire is to dwell amongst His people. And God's desire will be fulfilled, right? He made things a certain way. God's will be done, right? Like, that's happening, whether you want to be a part of that or not. Okay? That's just it. Like, God, just say that. So, we're going to look at some verses through Exodus. We're going to start in Exodus 25, verse 1. We're looking at like the pattern of the tabernacle and see what God can breathe life on in here so that we can understand better what it's going to take for us to experience God and the glory that God wants to open us up to. So Exodus 25, verse 1, it says, "Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'Speak to the children of Israel that they bring me an offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart, you shall take my offering.'" So, this is really interesting. I noticed this this morning, okay? God said, he said to Moses, "Go and speak to the children of Israel. Not go and command. Not command Israel to bring me an offering. Go and speak to the children of Israel that they would bring me an offering." I think that's interesting because God's not forcing people to offer what they have willingly to him. Think about that for a second. And so before God revealed anything to Moses or to the people, God was testing how willing the people's hearts were. Do you know that God's testing our hearts, guys, still today is testing the willingness of our hearts today. I'm not going to get ahead of myself, but that's true for us today and that actually matters, okay? So God is testing their willing hearts back in Exodus here. And when we read verse 3, continue on in verse 3, it says, "And this is the offering which you shall take from them. Gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats hair, ram skins, dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood, oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense." Oxen stones and stones to be set in the effort and in the breast place, in the breast place. And then this is, I've got this highlighted, "And let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them." So God's asking, ask them to bring an offering, and with all of the things that the children of Israel bring, God's going to build a sanctuary. Why? So that our maids will among them. Like that's God's heart, but we have to partner with God in that. He doesn't force them to build the house so that he can come and dwell so that they have to be with him. Like you could think of your salvation guys, God never forced you to say, "Lord, I make you my Savior, my Lord." There's a willingness of heart before God can do anything and it's the same thing when we think about building his house and building his church, starts with a willing heart, always. And so he wants the people to build the tapenacle. God desires for the people of Israel to build the tapenacle, not just Moses, not just one or two of them, that all of the people would have a play a part in building his house so that he could dwell in their midst. And so this is a good plan, right? God's offering Israel a really good plan. Like if you just like offer me willingly, I'll show you how to build it and then I'll come and then I'll come and build and I'll come and dwell with you. And Israel's pretty excited about that guys. Like that the God of the universe would want to come and dwell with them and also they have to do is be willing. The reason that you read on the excitement and their willingness to give is because they understand what God's wanting to do. And it's the same for us today. God's wanting to build his church so that he could dwell amongst us. Get excited guys like get excited, get willing to offer everything that you have because the God of the universe wants to dwell in our midst. God it just like it stirs me up in here. It really does. Like I want to be excited again for like God's house to be built because I desire his presence, right? Not only do I desire it, we need his presence. We need, if we're gonna experience life and if we're gonna experience, you know, just like a good life, you know, life more abundantly, it's gonna take God's presence with us guys. And that means that we're gonna have to willingly give our lives over and serve him. It's a pretty good deal I think. The one that gave me life is asking me to give that life back to him that he could take care of everything. And that I could know him better because he's awesome. Like this is just like that's the deal of the century. You know, like giving someone back what they already gave you, was that costing you? Nothing? Anyway, anyway, anyway, let's move on. So first nine, first nine, it says according to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it. So now God asks them for willingness of hearts. Now as soon as they're willing, now God starts to give them the pattern, right? And these are now commands. God says it has to be done a certain way. God gets to dictate that, right? Because it's his house. It's where he's gone as well. And I would say that that's the same for you and I when we're saved. We willingly give ourselves to the Lord, right? We say Lord, thank you that you saved me. Thank you for salvation. Thank you that you've forgiven me for my sins. Thank you that you've welcomed me back in. And then it's like, okay, now what? It's like now God has some very specific things that we need to follow. Those things are called commands. Right? We have commands in the New Testament. Like what or not they're there. We're not under law. God has a way of doing things, right? And if we're going to live in the fullness of what God has for us, that's going to take obedience from that point to his commands. And it's not like a rulebook now. Do this, do this, do this, do this. I already said yes. I already willingly said yes, I will follow you. So it's now that there's an opportunity to follow him. The law is an opportunity for me to now serve him the way that he commands me to. Isn't that doesn't change it a little bit? It's not telling us what to do is extending an opportunity for us to follow him. That's amazing to me. I've already said yes. Right? Anyway, let's just continue to move on here. So God continues to reveal this pattern for the tabernacle through Moses, but not just Moses. Now he appoints some key people, right? He appoints Bezala and a holy ab. I was going to struggle that. And he fills them with the spirit of God. Like he fills them with the spirit and gives them wisdom to build. Okay? So we don't need to read all that. That's what God does. This is how this progresses, right? Fills them, gives them wisdom, knowledge and understanding. There's some key people that God raises up as leaders. Can I say that leaders in the church are very important. God raises up leaders and fills them with the spirit so that they can do these specific roles within the house of God. Okay? Doesn't make them better, but they're important. And God puts leaders in place to lead the people. Okay? And so what have we got so far? For the purpose of God dwelling amongst his people again, God speaks to the man, Moses. He tests the hearts and the willingness of the people. And then he sets some spirit-filled believers in place to help lead. That's where we're at now. This is where we're at. It's very important, isn't it? How do the people respond to this? What God's doing? Well, they respond very well. We're going to read that in Exodus 35, verse 20. So it says here, we've got it there, yep. It says, "And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses, then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting. For all its service and for the holy garments they came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings and rings and necklaces and jewellery and gold. That is every man who made an offering of gold to the Lord. That's an overwhelming response from the people. And it's a willing response. Overwhelmingly, yes, we're on board with this. And so it summarized in verse 29. It says, "The children of Israel brought a free will offering to the Lord. All the man and women whose hearts were willing to bring materials for all kinds of work which the Lord by the hand of Moses had commanded them to be done." So again, we see the willingness of the hearts, but also now we're seeing the commands of God in place. He's got the hearts of the people now. Okay, now I'm going to specifically tell you how we're going to do this. And they're on board, right? We're on board, right? We're on board with what God's wanting to build. I hope so. Have to be. And so as we move on, God's people aren't just willing to give, like it's not just about them bringing their money and bringing their gold. It says they're willing to work. So the people are willing to work. Okay, that's actually very important for us as a church, as we're building. It can't just be about like giving, you know, financially or bringing food and like there's all of these things that are required, but we've got to be a people that are willing to work, men and women. You know, obviously there's certain things that young people can do more so than old, but God has a place for you here, is what I'm saying. If you're a part of this church, God has worked to be done. He wants a willing heart and once there's a willing heart, it's okay, let's look at how the Lord is commanding us to live. And let's do this together. It's very good. All right, so Exodus 36. I love this. It says, the heading in my Bible says the people give more than enough. Isn't that cool? They are like, they are on board. They're like all in. Like these people are going, yep, we want your presence, Lord. What do we have to do? And so Exodus 36 verse 2, it says then Moses called Basil L and a holy ab. The catch is, and if we got it up here, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred to come and do the work. Do you see that? So God puts, God calls Moses, God speaks through Moses, God calls these guys and anoints them in a special way for the work, but it doesn't stop with them, right? It's like and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom. So that's one another group. And then everyone whose heart was stirred to what? To come and do the work. That's really important for us as a church, guys. That means that like none of us are on the outside letting all the other people do the work. This is the pattern in Scripture for building the house of God. Isn't that important? It's wonderful. It's like, Lord, help us catch this by revelation. Because otherwise this is just words up there and like, let's pray. Would we be willing to seek God for that? Lord, we pray that you would reveal these things to us in a mighty way that our hearts would receive this as revelation and truth and that the way that we live out from this place from this moment would never be the same again, that we would have a greater willingness, willingness, Lord to do things your way, that your commands would no longer be burdened to us, they would be opportunity for us to follow and serve you in Jesus mighty name. And we say, Amen, thank You, Lord. All right, so I love that. The Lord put wisdom and everyone was a part of doing the work. It's so amazing. All right. So now this is really interesting. Exodus 36 verse 6, right, because what happens now is that the guys that are working on the tabernacle and like that are physically making the things and stuff, all of the people are bringing things in, they're bringing curtains that are weaved and all this stuff. And then all these guys that are working are just like, oh my gosh, Moses, you've got to tell these people to stop, they're bringing too much stuff. Like, I've never seen that problem in a church before. Like, where the people are bringing in something maybe with some of the biscuits and stuff, like we're just like, anyway, but like, I guess I have seen it. But like, imagine, imagine a house and you know, a church where God's just building in a way that the leaders have to go, guys, you guys are so generous, please slow down. We can't actually build fast enough with what you're bringing in. I think that's amazing, right? And so that's what we read here. Exodus 36 verse 6, so Moses gave a command. So he needs now giving a command. Guys, you've got to listen to me. Like, you've got to do this. Moses is giving a command and they cause it to be proclaimed throughout the camp saying, let neither man or woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. It's not just the feel of it. It's like men and women. It's like all of them. Tell it like I command you guys. Stop working, right? Too much. And the people were estranged from bringing for the materials they had with sufficient for the work to be done, indeed, too much. That's amazing, isn't it? This is the picture that God wants to help us understand. God's not running out of materials to do what he wants to do. God owns everything. Right? I give 10% of my income to the church as a tithe. But if you think that that other 90% doesn't belong to him, you'd be wrong. Like God owns everything. These clothes that I'm wearing, these are a blessing from the Lord. Like, I don't have anything that belongs to me. I just want to serve him in the ways that he commands me to serve. Gosh, when a people could catch that and come together and build together with that heart of just like going where this is it. This is the thing. Like, this is the most important. I'm pointing here. It's like the people, you know, the temple, the spiritual house is the most important thing that God is doing on the planet earth. Do we understand that? We've got jobs and we've got houses and we've got all those stuff. All of those things can be used for the building of his house. It's the church. It's the temple of God. Most important thing. That's what Jesus is building. It's very good. All right. So the Old Testament pattern unfolds something like this. And it all begins with revelation. God reveals to Moses a desire for him to be amongst his people. Like, he reveals that to Moses. He says, Moses, like, I want to dwell amongst these people. Like that revelation there is the same revelation that we could get a hold of today. That God's desire is to dwell with his people. It's the most important thing. It's what he's wanting to do. And so that's this revelation that comes. It's not the second thing that happens. The people respond with willingness to that. They are on board. And after that, the glory of God comes powerfully. Like, that's the end of this book of Exodus is when the tabernacle is finished and God's presence comes. It's pretty important, isn't it? Basically, that whole book is just leading up to what God's wanting to do. His presence with them. Okay. So Exodus 40. It says verse 34. It says, "Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." That's what all of this was about. That the glory of the Lord would dwell amongst them. It's amazing that God would do that and use the people for that to take place, isn't it? And so this is the old covenant. We're reading the old covenant pattern here. You know that you and I today are in a better covenant. I don't know that we believe that sometimes. Like I remember being a young Christian and reading all of the miracles and all of the, you know, like in Egypt and these amazing signs and wonders and just going, "Gosh, I feel like God was doing more than than he is now." Like, that was crazy to me. But we live in a better covenant and it's better because we have greater access to the presence of God. Like, that's what it's about. It's about having access to God's presence, okay? And so again, we're not going to go too much further into that because this is huge. There's so much to talk about when it comes to the new covenant and what it means to live in that. But, you know, the better covenant today, it means that God's dwelling with His people closer today than He did in the tabernacle. If you could believe that. But that's true. That's what the Word of God teaches. And so it's not quite, we're not quite back in the Garden of Eden yet because that was a very, very special place. We will be one day. But it's better than the tabernacle. It's better than the temple system that what we're experiencing and living in today. And so John chapter 2, verse 19, this is now that Jesus is on the scene. This is the New Testament. It says that Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again." Talking like he was at the temple. He was looking at the temple. He said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up again." They're all looking at each other, just going, "Mate, do you know how long it took to build this temple? You're not building this thing in three days." Verse 21, he says, "But he was speaking of the temple of his body. A greater temple than that is here." The temple of Jesus' own body. And that's the temple that we are a part of today. We see that the church in scripture is known as the body of Christ. And so you could say by implication, if we're his body and his body is the temple, that makes us the temple. In case that's not enough for you, let's look at one Corinthians 3. I love this. One Corinthians 3 verse 16 says, "Do you not know?" Now it just pours for a second. I want to do a study one day on the "Do you not know?" Because Paul's saying it like, "Don't you know?" Let's read on it. It says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Who is he talking to? Believers to the church, right? So, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God?" You have become the temple of God and the Spirit of God. God's presence now, not in the tabernacle, in us. And I say us because in that verse, it says, "Do you not know that and the you are in that?" So, "Do you not know that you are here?" These words are plural words. This is not, "Do you not know Daniel that you are the temple of God?" No, that's not what he's saying. He's saying that, "Do you not know that you, you guys plural are the temple of God?" You can't be the temple of God on your own. You can't, like the Bible says that we're a living stone built into his spiritual house. That means that if your stones aren't being built into the house, you're not the temple of God. The temple of God is for all of God's house, right? That's actually important because many of us, or not many of us, we're in this room, but there's many people around that are just having a Jesus and me party at home and thinking that they're following the Lord and walking the way that I'm a follower of Jesus. No, you're not because a follower of Jesus is built into the house of God, which means that you have to be a side by side with other believers. I didn't write that, right? And I love being with you guys, so it's not a problem for me, right? But this actually matters, guys. Like if you're not built into a local church, maybe you're not even a part of the temple of God. I'll just leave that there. All right, so we are, you're not the temple of God on your own. We are living stones. And let me just read this just to highlight this again, one Peter 2 verse 4. It says, coming to him as a living stone rejected indeed by men, talking of Jesus, but chosen by God and precious. Then he's says, "You also, as living stones plural, are being built up a spiritual house singular, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God." Okay, so as we come together, as we come together in our lives, the coming together of the church is a coming, is a bringing together of the lives of the people of God and a knitting them together to do life together. The coming together of the people of God is not us coming to a Sunday meeting once a week. That's not what he's talking about. Like, I mean, there's some reality to that. You're sitting amongst believers and, you know, I mean, I mean, the house of God, I'm a living stone in the house of God. Only if your life is one of being built into his house, because it actually matters what you do for the other, you know, I don't know how many hours, but like for the other six days and so many hours out there, like, if you're only built into his house on a Sunday for a couple of hours, maybe you've missed the point as well. Maybe you're not built into the spiritual house either. Okay, so it's a coming together of the lives of sons and daughters of the king, and we're building our lives together for the plan and purpose of God. That's what the church is guys. The church is not a gathering. The church is not a Sunday meeting. The church is not a community group. The church it's all of those things, but it's not just one of those things. It's the lives of the sons of daughters walking together, serving God in the plans of purpose for the earth, right? It actually matters, doesn't it? And so, and the other thing that I want to just touch on, I'm wrapping this up now, like I said, this is way bigger than I can even touch in this moment, but the tabernacle or or the temple was this place where God dwelled, but it was also a place where the priests would minister. So the house had to be built so the priests could minister, and so when, you know, we've talked in the past weeks about us being a royal priesthood. It's like when we get born again, we pick up that roll of a priest, and that's our roll now. We live as priests. We operate as priests where in the tabernacle, which is where the house of God, which is the built, which is all the stones together. So we've got a job. It's the priesthood. We've got a place to do it. It's in our togetherness. This makes sense. I hope this is simple enough for us to grasp. And so, so much more, but I'm just going to leave it here. I'm just going to try and bring this to a close here. How am I going to bring this to a close here? I believe that this is a season of God testing our hearts again. Do you know that? I believe that God's going to be testing the hearts of His people and their willingness to serve and to lay it all down from Him and to the point where Jesus returns. Because that's when the glory of God comes. That's when the actual, the temple of God is actually put in place for good. When Jesus comes and when he's with his people for all eternity, that's the Garden of Eden moment, right? For all eternity. You have a new earth, God's with their people. I will dwell with them like there's a, that's a future thing. Okay? So that's coming down the road. But gosh, we have to, we have to allow God to test our hearts and make sure that we are all in. Is that okay? That's for me. That's for all, every single one of us. God is testing our hearts to see if we're going to be faithful with, with what we've got. And so, I was, we went to a kids party yesterday. I remember I keep this pretty vague, but there was this lady there. And she's a friend of ours. We were chatting with her. And she's going through a pretty rough circumstance at the moment where it sort of hits me because we went through something similar, a little bit different, but she's a, you know, she's a believer and she loves God. And she wants to, you know, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's proved herself willing. She's gotten to that point, which she's got, I just want to do it God's way, right? So God has her heart. And so she's been living with this, with a guy that's not, they're not married. She's got a couple of kids, not to this guy, but they've been living in the house together. And she's just been convicted and convicted of like, I can't continue in this relationship. He's an unsaved guy. And she's just, she's come to that point where she's just, God, I can't do this my way anymore. I have to do this God's way. And so she's, you know, said to him, but I can't, I can no longer be in this relationship. I'm going to have to leave. I'm going to have to get out. And so, you know, like with tears in her eyes, she's saying, gosh, I don't want to go, but it's God's way. And I'm just listening to her. I'm just going, gosh, God will honor. God will honor your heart and your willingness, right? And we're praying for this guy. He's a good guy. He just doesn't know Jesus. You know, he's not going to be getting married and all of these things, but all of that aside, I just go, gosh, it hits me because, you know, Hillary and I are obviously living together. God gets a hold of our hearts. We're willing. And it's like, okay, we can't continue living in this relationship, right? And so we just like, we're just going to back off from one another. We're going to get married. We're going to do things God's way. And so, you know, nine, nine months down the track, we get married and we abstained from each other for those nine months. I get what she's saying. Luckily for Hillary and I, we were both on board. We were both willing to serve the Lord, right? So it's sort of a different situation. But I remember, you know, friends of mine, one friend in particular, said to me at the time, he's just like, man, and I was, I was speaking, I was speaking to Sam, you're reminded of like, I just, anyway, he said to me, he goes, now I don't believe because, you know, I'm telling him this story about how Hillary and I were going to get married. We're abstaining from each other. We want to do things God's way. And he's looking at me like I've got two heads, right? He's just like, you know, like, he's just looking at me and just like, and, and you know, further down the line, when he sees us actually walk that out, he says to me, he goes, man, I kind of believe what you believe, but I believe that you believe what you believe, right? And I'm just like, praise God, what a testimony. Now this, this lady that's walking through these things, she is standing in a testimony that says, I know, I may not believe what you believe, but I know that you believe what you believe. And that is an amazing testimony that we have the opportunity to serve God with. And so I say that to us as a people, as I'm saying that, you know, God's testing our willingness and testing, are you really all in? Because there's things in our lives that God is testing us in and there's people around us every day that are watching to see if you're willing to walk out what you say you believe or not. And so the testimony of the church needs to be one of holiness, needs to be one of following the commands of the Lord to the letter because he is our Lord and we've already said yes Lord. Is that okay? So I might just pray just to land this and then I'm going to hand over to Justin. But could we stand to our feet please? Let me just pray because I think there's a moment here of responding to that. And it's a moment of saying, here I am, Lord, I'm willing. And so Lord, we turn to you, our wonderful Lord, our Savior, our God, our King, Lord Jesus Christ, the man that lived on earth as God. And Lord, we're with willing hearts today. We say we are all in. We will serve you wholeheartedly. We will do it with joy. We will do it with the abundance of our hearts. We will give to you everything that is due your mighty name. So Lord, we thank you so much for the words that you're speaking to us through your holy scriptures. And we pray, Lord, just for a boldness and a courage to walk those things out in our togetherness Lord in Jesus mighty name.