Christ is Life Podcast

*This transcript was auto-generated by a transcription service and may differ from the originally spoken content*

As many of you know that I started here about a year and nine months ago now, it was January of 2021, that I began. And it really wasn't that long after I began, I mean, maybe a few weeks a month at the most were before Nancy Kirkpatrick and Sharon Rubin store came to me and said, Jason, we have a really welcoming church, we have a nice church, we have a hospitable church. But both of them said, I think we can do better. I think if we were intentional about teaching and training people how to really greet our members, how to welcome our guests, and how to get them where they need to go on Sunday morning so that we can do so much better. And they said, so you're the new pastor here. So why don't you get busy on making sure that that happens? Actually, that's not really what they said. They said, Jason, we feel like the Holy Spirit is laying it on our hearts to start a new ministry team, first impressions ministry team, a greeting team, where we can do just that, where we can gather a group of people who will stand at each one of our doors and entrances and welcome and greet people and be trained on how to follow up with them and get them where they need to be and make sure that we do it really well. And over the last year and a half, they've launched this team. And now there's 40, or 50, or more of you who are a part of this first impressions ministry team, and you're doing what it is that they were dreaming about. You're standing at each one of our entrances, and you're greeting and welcoming people and the Lord is using you to to welcome people into our family. Well. He's loving them and welcoming them and sharing His mercy and His grace in through this particular team. Because a couple of family members, since the Holy Spirit's saying, I want to use you to play this role in my church, and how they're doing it. And many of you are doing it along with them. At least Holdridge it's one of our brand new members, she just joined the church a few months ago, right before VBS started. And as a brand new family member, she didn't wait around for someone to ask her how she could be involved in her church. Now, she went straight to Susan, our children's minister and said, Hey, I know that VBS is right around the corner. And I know that we usually decorate the church, or at least most churches that I've been a part of our decorated for VBS, can I volunteer to be the one to decorate the stage and the entire church? And Susan said yes. And she developed a team. And many of you were here during that time. And you saw the way that the stage was transformed for that week, and how you could walk in and through any part of the building and how it it looks so great and welcoming and inviting our kids were walking in and going, Wow, would you look at that this is really cool. And it tied into the theme that we were working with that week. And it was one of those things where the environment was set and gave room for the Holy Spirit to work in. And through that to impact the lives of our kids. During that week, more than 20 of them came to know Christ and many more of them were pointed to the life of Christ in them and through them or had seeds planted all because a brand new family member since the Holy Spirit leading her to be involved and to invest in the life of her new church. About a year ago, Michael Curtis, many of you know Michael Curtis, he's one of our deacons. He came into my office and we were chit chatting. And he said, Jason, I have really been felt like the Lord's leading me to slow down in my life a little bit with work, and maybe leading me towards retirement. And I wanted to know if I could come work for the church. And I said, Man, Michael, I would love to hire you. I think you could bring a lot of value to our staff and to our church. But we're not looking to hire, we're not really in a place where we can hire anyone, especially financially. And he said, Jason, I don't think you understand. I want to come work here for free.

You want to come work here for free. You want to volunteer to be on our staff? Yeah. So you live in Lyndale. He said, I know I'll use my gas money and I'll use my resources and the time that I'm separating from work to not just sit back and put my feet up on a lounge chair, but to be involved in what Jesus is doing in this church. And over the last year. He's been one of our volunteer staff members known as our leadership catalyst and using his gifts and abilities to train us even as pastors on how to lead more effectively and he's working with our ministry teams and helping teach them how to lead a team to do ministry even more effect actively. And he's not the only one. Dennis Hurley even started before him before I ever came. And there was a time in the church where there was a transition and there were holes. And he said, I'll drive all the way from way outside of the White House and be here and be involved in what God's doing. And all throughout the last couple of years, he's been one of our volunteer staff members, the Lord is working in and through him and Michael, and Alicia and Nancy and Sharon, and a number of other people

to invest life into the church. We've been in this next steps series over the last several weeks, where we've been talking about how the Holy Spirit is our guide on this journey that we're on throughout life, and the Holy Spirit leads us to take next steps with him. And one of the things that I think we can anticipate, and that we can expect, especially from the stories that we just talked about, is for the Holy Spirit to guide us into investing life into the church body. This is what we're going to talk about today. Now, it doesn't start there. It starts with what we talked about a few weeks ago with discovering life in Christ, the first step that the Holy Spirit will always lead us to on our journey throughout life is to discover life in Christ. He even said in John 738, whoever believes in me rivers of living water will flow from within them. And so the Holy Spirit opens up our minds in our hearts to see that we have a sin problem, that we're separated from Him and that we're spiritually dead when we're separated from this union that we have with him, but that Jesus came to solve our sin problem by dying for those sins. And once we put our faith and trust in Jesus for salvation, He provides forgiveness for us for those sins, and then deposits his own life into us, making us spiritually alive again. And Jesus said, it's like having rivers of living water now flowing in you, and through you, as you're in this union, you're in this relationship with me now. But it's not just a relationship with him. It's a relationship with all of those who have said yes to Jesus, the life that he now brings us when we say yes to him, is a life together with him and a life together with others who have said yes to Him. We looked at this verse a couple of weeks ago, Romans chapter 12, verse five, or Paul says, so in Christ, we though many form one body, and each member, he said, belongs to all the others. So as he leads us to discover this new life in Christ, and more about the life that we have in Him, He'll show us that it's not just a life together with him, but a life together with others. And so that's why we're even saying the second step that he'll lead us in is to connect us through life with others and to get us plugged into a Sunday school group or a small group of some kind to where we can learn with others, and we can grow with others, and we can be encouraged by others and, and supported by others, and where we can do the same thing for them. But as we've been saying, this morning, it doesn't stop there, he doesn't just put this new life in us and connect us with other people so that we will enjoy your life with him and enjoy your life with others. I mean, that's, that's certainly part of it. I mean, we do enjoy the life that we have in union with Jesus and with the other people we have. But it's not just that he invites us into what it is that he's doing in his kingdom work in and through the church, and we get to play a role in his kingdom work both in the church and outside of the church. We'll talk about the outside piece next week. But again, this week, I think, if we're looking for the ways that the Holy Spirit is going to guide us in our life, it's not a matter of if he will do it. But a matter of when he will lead us to invest life into the church body that he's connected us to. I remember when I was in college, and I was taking a basic finance course. And I'll, I'll never forget this one illustration that he gave us pretty much at the beginning of the class. And he said, guys, if you take $100 a week, starting at the time that you turn 25 years old, and you take that $100 And you stuff it under your mattress every single week, that you're getting a paycheck, and you save that money stuffing it under your mattress until you turn 65 You'll have $208,000 by that particular time and I was thinking man, it's a lot of money for just I mean $100 And I can can grow all the way or I can save up to $208,000 and have it he said but but then he showed us this other graph where if you take that same $100 that you were going to stuff under your mattress and you invest it then you are earn interest on that particular money, then at the end of that time over 40 years and you turn 65, you're not going to have just $208,000. But you're going to have $1.1 million available to you. That was the day that I began to truly understand the power of investing the power of compound interest and compound returns. And I think this is similar to what God does with us, He puts His life in us to empower the gifts and resources and abilities that we have and to to channel them in a certain direction to be used in his kingdom work and to invest life into his church to edify the church to build up the church to produce returns of even more abundant life in the church. To put it another way, in the terms of what Jesus said in John 738, about rivers of living water, I think he puts the living water in us to overflow through us and to water his church to make it grow.

The apostle Paul even uses a similar analogy when he was writing to the Corinthian church. In chapter three, he recognizes that the people in the Corinthian church were were arguing some were talking about how Paul was their leader that they follow. He was the better leader and some are saying, well, no, Apollo's is the better leader and I follow a pile of sin. It was written about their division, but we see a lot in what Paul says to them about this in First Corinthians three, beginning of verse five, he says what after all those Apollo's and what is Paul, he says we're only servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord has assigned to each his task. He says, I planted the seed, Apollo's watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The Paul's acknowledging that he and Apollo's both have different gifts and abilities and different assignments, right, they were just instruments in the hands of the Lord, but God channeled them each in their own direction, to make his church grow. He used them to invest in his church. And through that investment, he made the church grow, he produced the results. Now, this is what he does, in each and every single one of us, he puts the life in us, he deposited deposits that life in us, and in each one of his own sons and daughters who receive Him by faith. And then he uses that life to invest it into his church to edify and build up the body. And so this is why we can expect if we've said yes to Jesus, if the Holy Spirit lives in us and is guiding us, we can expect him to lead us at some point to take a step of investing life into the church. But what does that look like? Really? Well, I think if we look at Scripture, we can make the argument that that would mean four things, at least four things that the Lord would use us to invest life in the church in all four of these particular ways. The first one is through membership. In Acts chapter two, a few weeks ago, you may remember that we talked and we looked at how Peter stood before a group of people and and how he preached the gospel to them with the power of the Holy Spirit now dwelling in him. And in Acts chapter 241. We're told this that those who accepted his message were baptized in about 3000, they said were added to their number that day. In other words, they became members of the church. There are 3000 new members of the church. And even in the verses that follow talk about how now as members of that church, they were connected together, and they were doing life together and how they even immediately began to invest life into the church as the Spirit led them. So this is what we see at the beginning of the church and Acts chapter two. But even as we see the church being scattered, if you keep reading an axe, you finally get to chapter eight. And we're told that there was persecution on the church there at Jerusalem and how it made the them all scatter in different directions. They landed in different regions in different cities and in different places into you know what happened in each one of those places that the church was persecuted in or landed in from that persecution. new churches God planted. Those people who were the church got spread out. And they shared the gospel with the people that they were now in community with. And new people responded to the Gospel and said yes to Jesus. And then they became members of the church, the universal church, they were still connected to all of those people in Jerusalem and the 3000 people that we had said, came to know Jesus at Pentecost, but now they were also a part of what a local church in their particular area. And so I think when we're talking about

the Holy Spirit being our guide and investing life in the body, it it starts with us saying yes to joining in partnering together as a local church, it starts with a saying, These are the people, these are people I'm feeling led by the Spirit to connect with, to invest in and allow them to invest in me, these are the people that I'm going to do life with and be a part of sharing in the mission that God has called us to, these are my people. And the Lord's been doing that. In the lives of many people. In our church over the last year and a half over the last year and nine months. It's January of 2021 Do you know there's there's been 104 new members here at Colonial hills 104 new members who have walked in and yeah, I mean, that's, that's worth celebrating. That's awesome. But but it's, it's, it's a result of what the Holy Spirit does, if he's the guide, he's leading people to participate in church life as part of the church. And sometimes he does that through bringing new people in and, and through introducing them into a saving relationship with him and becoming a part of a church and other people. It's, he's already done that work in their lives. They're a part of the universal church, but they weren't really connected to a local church. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit to lead them in doing so. And I believe that there's some of you who have been visiting for a while. And the Lord is saying to you, I want you to be plugged into a church. And now the question is, whether it's here or not, and I'm not going to say it has to be we'd love for that, selfishly, we want it to be this church. But what we're saying is that if you're allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your life, you can expect him to lead you to say yes to a local church, and partner together, and connect and do life and be a part of that mission together. So that's the first step that we can expect when it comes to investing life in the body. The second one is is praying for the local church that he's connected you to in each and every single one of the New Testament letters that we have that Paul wrote to local churches. Remember, he's writing churches to local or letters to local churches, he mentions that the Spirit led him to pray for those in that local church. Or he mentions that he almost always tells them to pray for each other or to pray for the church in some particular way. For example, in Ephesians, chapter six, verse 18, it says that it pulses in pray in the Spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests. And with this in mind, be alert in always keep on praying for who all the Lord's people who are the Lord's people, the church, it Colossians four to Devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful. First Thessalonians 516 through 18 Rejoice always pray continually give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you, in Christ Jesus as members of the local church, the Spirit will lead us to take steps of investing life in the body, by praying for the church that he's connected us to praying for the mission that we are called to praying for unity in the church as Jesus prayed for in John chapter 17. Praying for the people in the church to be edified and built up praying for the people who are sick or suffering in some way and for their needs to be met and to to carry their burdens with them. We can expect him to lead us as members to pray for the church that he's joined us together with many of you know, Geneva. Shipley Geneva runs our prayer ministry team here at the church and there's a lot of times where you won't see Geneva in the service. Geneva is here but she may not be in the service. Because Geneva is somewhere in another room, on her knees, praying for what the Lord will do in, in through Jesus during the surface.

And she's developing a team of people that will come earlier, be praying during Sunday school, or they'd be praying during this hour and to be praying during the week. And we can just expect that if we're part of a local church, the Holy Spirit lives in us. And he is our guide, that he's going to lead us to join together and be a part of a local church and to pray for that local church, which is the people that many of you come by and say in conversation with me all the time, Pastor, we just want to let you know that we're praying for you, or we're praying for your wife, we're praying for your family, we are praying for our church. And that means so much to me. And I'm encouraged by that. But that's, that's a result of what the Holy Spirit is doing. Like we're talking about and being our guide, and leading us to invest life in the body. We can expect the Lord it's not a matter of if but when to be a part of a local church, and to be praying for that church. The third way that I think we can expect the Holy Spirit to lead us when it comes to investing life in the body is through generous giving. Luke tells us in his Gospel in chapter eight, beginning and first one about how Jesus was traveling around from, from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God and, and he tells us who was with him the 12 were with him and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. And he, he calls him on name Mary called Magdalene, who from whom seven demons had come out, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, and manager of Harrods household and Susanna and many others. But look what he says next, these women were helping to support them out of their what their own means. In other words, these women were funding Jesus's ministry. These women were funding Jesus's ministry, it took resources for Jesus to be able to travel around from one city to the next and to be able to share the gospel with those people there to heal people to do the kingdom work that he was called to be doing and led into doing by the Holy Spirit's. And these women, God used these women to fund the ministry that Jesus was called to. Man did it pay big dividends? How many people were healed? How many people were taught the truth? How many people became part of the church at Pentecost and after and how many of us are still talking about it today? Because this Lord compelled a group of women to fund the ministry that Jesus was called to. It doesn't happen. If the life of our spirit, our Holy Spirit, and God doesn't compel these women, or at least someone to give, I mean, God's capable of doing it, right. He's big enough to just do it. But this is how he works. He works in and through the lives of his people, he works to provide for us and then compels us to invest out of what it is that he's provided for us, in His Kingdom work to fund the ministry in the mission, that he is still on today. But he's just doing in and through people.

Several months ago, I had one of our members in the first service come find me before the service started. And he reached in his pocket, and he had a he pulled out a check that was folded up. And he handed it to me instead of putting it in the offering. And he said, Man, I I give on a regular basis and give generously. And I'm, I'm happy to, but I've been really blessed to be able to have some extra money here lately. And I just wanted to hand this to you in case there was any particular way that it might help the church more to be used in a certain way. And later on, I was able to hand that money off. And it was a significant check. I mean, it was around eight or $10,000 that this person was giving. And that's a work of the Spirit to give generously in that way because our flesh when we come across more money in those kinds of situations and circumstances our flesh wants to go, Hey, look, now I have the opportunity to buy all of the things that I feel like I've been missing out on in my life. But the Holy Spirit says, Look, I want to be able to bless you with this so that you can give it to the kingdom work in the things that I'm going to use it for are going to produce results that we're going to be talking about for eternity. And I want to use you to be a part of what it is that I'm going to do that will be celebrated for ever. And he gave generously because the Spirit compelled him to do so. Now again, be clear, he gave that money say, Hey, could you use it in this way or that way. And we want you to know, we we use that to just go to our general fund, because the general fund is what funds the ministry of the church that the Lord has called us to, you may have noticed in your bulletin that a couple of weeks from now, we're going to be voting on our spending plan for 2022 and two through 2023. And we're going to be proposing a $1.2 million budget for you to vote on because that's the cost of doing ministry here and to carry out the mission that we feel like God has called us to, and you guys will look at that. And you'll vote on it for a couple of reasons, if you're a member of our church, first and foremost, to know how it is that these resources are going to be used to be able to have a say. So to be able to hold us accountable and make sure that we're transparent with what's going on and how the money around here is going to be used. But you know, the other reason that you're voting on it, because what you're saying, By voting yes to however much it is that we approve in our budget, is the Holy Spirit's saying, I'm going to use you to give at least this much money to be used in these particular ways that are outlined in the budget. I've put you in the local church, to be connected to these people to be able to give generously to them to fund the ministry, in the mission that this church has been called to, that you are now a part of. And this is what he's been doing in and through the lives of many of you as he's compelled you to generously give over the last year or so we're we're getting really close to closing this year out and and we're really close to meeting budget, our financial experts feel like with the trends in the way that we're going to fall just kind of short of where our budget was. And then we may have to pull some of our reserves to be able to even out this year. But we're praying that the Lord will provide and make up that gap so that we can close out this year. Well.

But I want to thank you, because the Holy Spirit's been using you and compelling you to be able to participate with him and investing life in the body through giving generously out of what it is that he's provided for you. And you've said yes to it. And as a result, we're able to participate in the ministry and the mission work that he has called us to. The last way that I think we can anticipate and expect the Holy Spirit to lead us when it comes to investing life in the body is through serving in the church. Paul teaches us this in several places. One of those is First Corinthians 12, where we're told this beginning of verse four, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, Paul says there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities. But it is the same God who works in our works all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one each person in the church. Why? For the profit of all, to be used to invest in ways that produce profits that edify and build up and grow the church. It's the picture of of God using us to water what it is that he's planted and rooted in Jesus in order to make it grow. We highlighted several people who has been doing this in and through at the beginning of the message, but there are several more of you that the Holy Spirit is doing this work in and through and I want to highlight just a few more Stan Rutherford, who is 74 years old sense to just a few years ago, the Holy Spirit leading him to teach a high school boy Sunday school class. Now, I don't know about you, but if I'm in my 70s, and I'm sensing that the I'm getting this feeling that I'm supposed to lead a high school boy Sunday school class, I'm talking now went up to indigestion. You're right, I mean, I It's a bad Mexican food because that can't be the Holy Spirit really telling me that he wants me to teach high school boys in my 70s. Right. But Stan sense that it was the Holy Spirit. And even though he didn't want to in the beginning, and he was like, that's not my comfort zone. I teach adults and I'm more comfortable around them. I couldn't he couldn't get away from the fact that Jesus was compelling him to serve in this particular way. And so he said yes to it. And now there are kids every week who tell Jeremy we love of being in Mr. Stan's class. We're growing and learning so much. And Stan will tell you, they're growing and teaching me so much. It's what the work does. And the Lord does in and through His Spirit is he compels us to invest life in the church, Jason Clark, another one of our deacons, you won't see him in church on Sunday mornings during this time. And you know why you won't see him in the morning unless it's a family Sunday, because he's leading children's church over in the gym, every single Sunday, except for the ones that we have family Sundays on, he sensed that the Holy Spirit was leading him about a year ago to be involved in this and to be able to provide an environment for our kindergarteners through our third graders to be able to worship to music that was on their level, and to be able to jump around and dance and do motions and sing and worship and have a lesson that was on their level that would teach them about the grace and the mercy of the love of God. And every single Sunday, he consistently shows up and makes himself available to how the Holy Spirit wants to lead him to invest life into the kids of this church. And it is paying dividends and it will pay more dividends. Patty Curtis, little bit earlier in the summer, when we were talking about VBS. And there was a huge number of things that needed to be bought and purchased and sorted and organized for all the different things that were going on. And Patty since the Holy Spirit saying, hey, I want to use you to run around and do all of these errands and get everything in for a week. I mean, she worked tirelessly and in and out and in and out to be able to make sure that we had everything it is that we needed. And it was so organized. It was so great because it matched with her personality and the giftings that the Lord had given her and he was channeling them in a way that made VBS much more effective than it would have been if it would have been so disorganized.

Marshall Grace shows up every single week and spends hours twice a week mowing the backfield so that our kids with Jeremy talked about with upward soccer have a great place to be able to play and practice and for their coaches to be able to share the love of Christ with them. And he mosey out front over here and edges it to make sure it looks nice so that when we have guests show up in our building, it doesn't look all run down and all over the place. And he has a few others on that team that help out as well. About a year ago, Aaron Belzer was asked by Susan Bumpus, to maybe consider leaving the rec time on Wednesday nights for our kids. And I just want to read to you what it is that he he said when we asked him about stepping into this role. He says when I first was asked to volunteer with gametime on Wednesday nights, I was apprehensive to say the least. He said I didn't have a ton of experience. But I felt there was the gentle breeze of the Holy Spirit pushing me in that direction. He says through my volunteering, I have been able to watch my own kids learn more about Christ, how we can participate in missions and dig deeper and have meaningful conversations with them. He says I've been introduced to the many wonderful volunteers that assist and I would have never or I would venture to say excuse me, that I formed friendships that I may not have found otherwise. And he says and of course I've had the best time running around with the kids, learning the intricacies of Sharks and Minnows scooting through obstacle courses, and just generally getting their wiggles out. But looking back on it, he says I wouldn't trade, the joy, my experience, the joy of my experience for the safety, listen to this, I wouldn't trade the joy of my experience for the safety of not stepping out of my comfort zone is what we're talking about. Then when the Spirit lives in us will sense the gentle breeze of that Holy Spirit, nudging us into investing life in the church and watching him do the work of edifying and building up and making impact in the church. Of course, it's not just that there's a there's a work of what he's doing in and through that that you even sensed it that Aaron brought out of the connecting the friendships that were formed through the investing the joy that it was to see that work that Jesus was doing and and through him to make impact the way it grows our faith to go I'm not so sure about this. I don't know if I have what it takes but to step into it and trust and then oh, but Jesus has what it takes and he's doing it in me and through me.

We talked about remembering the stones of remembrance now it's stuff that Aaron can look back on and go Oh, but I remember or how the Lord showed up and met me there when I didn't think that I could or I didn't have anything to offer in these moments. And so I think the question is, how is the Holy Spirit leading you to serve and to invest life in the body. Again, it's not a matter of if it really isn't. There might be seasons where we kind of step out. And we have different things going on or physically impacting us that we can't be in as involved before. But overall, in general, again, it's really not a matter of if, but when, if you grabbed a bulletin just really quickly, when you come in, you may have noticed that there's an insert in it, if you didn't, I want you to notice that insert, I want everybody to pull it out and hold it up to show me that you got an insert in your bulletin this morning. And if you didn't, then go grab one just a little bit. But on the front and the back, you'll see a lot of different ministry teams in ways that the Holy Spirit might be leading you to be involved in our church, he is bringing you into this local church to play a role to be a functioning member of the body. And you may be the finger you may be the big toe or you may be the knee or you may be the ear or the I don't know. But whichever one it is that fits in here. Please read through those prayerfully consider how the Spirit is leading you to potentially be in volved. But it's not just to serve. It's in all of those ways. How's the spirit you leading you to maybe take the step of membership? If you haven't? To? How is he leading you to pray to invest life in the body? How is he leading you to generously give to find the ministry and the mission of the church that he's called you to. And then, of course, housing leading you to serve. And the last thing I'll say is, keep in mind that this is this is not duty, we're not asking you to check off some religious checklist and go Yeah, I'm being a good Christian. Now, because I'm investing life, I'm kind of serving in some particular way. This is an overflow of the life of Christ that has been deposited into you. Jesus says, I came to give you abundant life, and he is that life. And that when we say yes to that, we get to experience his life, channeling our gifts, our abilities, our personality in ways and to be a part of things that will make a difference for all of eternity, that will be celebrated for all of eternity. So you can't numb this down to just being spiritual duty and checklist and being guilted and shamed into doing it. This is the life of Christ flowing in you and through you. It's why you see life in every single one of these because we discover that life in Christ in the fullness of all that we have, and how it connects life. That's a life that's with other people. But it's the life that overflows, it's his life that's going to invest in the body. It's his life that's going to reach the world. And you and I will miss out on an expression of the life of Christ in us and through us. If we decide to just sit on the sidelines and go, it's really about me just discovering and connecting and being happy with him and the other people that I'm around. And we don't want you to sit on the sidelines and celebrate what it is that he did in and through all of the other people that are in heaven with you one day, we want you to be off of the sidelines and participating and celebrating what it is that Jesus also did in and through you in the life of the church to edify and to build up. And so will you say yes to him in a way that he wants to overflow his life in and through you to make a real difference in his church, that he's plugged you into. Hope that you will, let's pray Father, we are so grateful for the life that you provide for us in Christ. The way that you connect us in this union with you to be our source, or identity are all in all. Thank you for the way that life leads to a connection with others, to be involved in real life with them, to be known and to know others. And thank you that this life that you invite us into that you provide for us gives us the opportunity to be involved in things that

really matter. God we spend a lifetime trying to be involved with things that matter and make our lives count. And you give us the opportunity if we just look to your Spirit to guide us into these ways to participate With you in things that really matter and will matter for all of eternity and that will be celebrated and that you will receive glory and honor for so we make ourselves available to you. Would your spirit lead us and guide us to take a step of membership in how to pray for our church and how you want to use this to generously give to our church, and how you want to take our talents and our abilities and gifts and channeled him in a way as we serve, to invest more life into our church, guide us in all of these ways. empower us to take the steps that you're leading us to take we'll be careful to celebrate them and give You all the praise all the glory all the honor for what it is that you do in us and through us to produce those results. In Jesus name. Amen. Would you stand