That's it. When you think back 25 years, our church is over 70 years old, and the decades of faithfulness and serving, when this particular part of the church was built 25 years ago, in my heart, I think they envisioned weeks like we just had, where there's hundreds of kids from our church family, there are hundreds of people serving in our church family, God is being glorified, people are turning to Jesus, and we know what happens here, it goes out into the community. We're a sending church, and yesterday we sent and continue to pray this week. We have high school students in Orofino, and also we're so grateful. I was talking to Jesse Peters yesterday, our student ministry pastor, and he's blown away and inspired by the number of people in our church who are also going on the trip. And yes, it could be during their vacation. Yes, they may be away from family, but as one team, they're in Orofino this week, and what happened here with Main Event is gonna be happening in Orofino. So we're connected, and we're serving across the nation as well. Here's some other significant updates. Once a year we have an annual vote, and the results of the vote, the budget is approved, and that's significant because God continues to provide. Thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity. We're united around a vision, and we don't take that for granted. In a lot of churches, sometimes there's strife that happens, but here we're really walking together with a shared purpose and passion with our eyes on Jesus and making disciples. Also, all of the elders, every year we vote for the elders, and the elders are predominantly not paid staff, myself and Pastor Mark are also elders, but the majority are people in our church who are serving, and every year we together as a church family vote for the elders. They were all approved, and those are not paid positions. You say, how do we have elders? Why do we have elders? Because that's the plan in Scripture. God lays it out very clearly. The local church. is God is right there building up local churches and prayerful decisions about who will lead as elders. We are an elder-led church because that's the pattern in the Bible, and we celebrate that together and the leadership, so pray for the leaders in our church. Pray also for the leaders across the land during this significant time. The Bible tells us to pray for all leaders, so let's continue to pray. And then in some other minor details, this screen, I'll tell you, it died, this one, It's kinda like Lazarus, we brought it back a few times. All that to say, there'll be no official funeral for the screens, but replacements this month, Lord willing. Thank you for being over here and being patient and looking a little further than the other side of the room. But God has provided there. Also on the outside of the building, there'll be painting this month, Lord willing. I've been here almost nine years and we haven't painted. So just to protect the place and it's gonna have a new look. So still come in if it looks different. It's the same church, it's just gonna on the outside look a little different. So God's moving in all kinds of ways. We're going through Just Choose Hope together. We're rejecting the narrative of hopelessness because we worship the God of hope who's overflowing with hope and hasn't run out of hope in 2024. And in these three stages, first we had 28 days of hope. And if you missed it, go to the website, justchoosehope.org. There's daily devotions there. Also, right now, this summer, unite. We don't just wanna talk about unity, we wanna experience it. Open up our hearts and homes and our church family coming together. And then it leads to taking flight in the fall. In this run through Unite, 12 different elements, looking at different relationships in the Bible. Today, the message is on trust. Today, let's focus on trust. Trust is the core of every relationship. Trust is a decision. and your most important decisions in life will come down to who you trust and how much you trust. Let me say that again, your most important decisions in life will come down to who you trust and how much you trust, primarily with God. And the Bible's clear, trust God with all of your heart. Trust God fully, 100%. And then there's also trust decisions with people, and the emphasis in the Bible is be prayerful, be discerning, and ask God for wisdom in your relationships when it comes to trust. Now, yes, love, trust, and because life is about relationships, primarily, trust is a massive decision. You have so many different relationships, and you're trying to assess what is trustworthy, who is trustworthy, and what does it look like to live a life of trusting God? I'll say it again, at the core of every relationship is trust, and a lot of times, we don't talk about trust enough. Trust is something that can increase, it's also something that can decrease. Trust is built through consistency and reliability. How is trust built? Consistency and reliability. Starting in Psalm 136, this is a responsive psalm, and there's both the start of the verse and then the conclusion of the verse. I wanna get a little participation here. This is your line, his love endures forever. Go ahead and say that. His love endures forever, that's it. And I'm gonna read some of the beginning of the verses and then I wanna hear that His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love endures forever. Who made the great lights. His love endures forever. The sun to govern the day. His love endures forever. The moon and stars to govern the night. His love endures forever. To the one who remembered us in our lowest state. and freed us from our enemies, and who gives food to every creature, give thanks to the God of heaven. That's it, you're sounding good, you're preaching. Keep saying that. Preach to yourself all week. His love endures forever. That's not an accident or random that God had that in every single verse for the community of faith to say that together. Why? Because repetition leads to meditation. And meditation leads to more confidence in God. Sometimes we forget during the week His love endures forever. But when we keep saying His love endures forever, His love endures forever, it reminds us that we can trust God. It reminds us of truth. It reminds us of facts and facts lead to faith. If God's perfect love endures forever, I can trust Him for eternity and I can trust Him daily. Spend time in God's word, listen to scripture, repetition, meditation, it builds up your confidence in God. God renews the mind, God ignites the soul, and as you spend time in scripture, listening, reading, studying, memorizing, meditating, God's word is living and active and it transforms our lives. It's good time investment, seven hours a day on devices and screens in our culture right now. What we're saying is let's take at least 28 minutes back and let's get, Abiding with Jesus and in God's word, this Psalm reminds us. Also Psalm 56 verses three and four, we read this. When I am afraid, it doesn't say if, but when. All of us, there's gonna be moments where we're worried, scared, afraid. During the day, when I am afraid, I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise, in God I trust, and I am not afraid. What can mortals do to me? When I'm afraid, I'm gonna make a decision. I'm gonna trust God. I'm gonna intentionally trust God, because the more I trust God, it's gonna drive out fear, it's gonna drive out worry. They're gonna be displaced, because God is powerful, and when God's presence is there, he drives out nothing. No, worry and fears and despair cannot stay in the same place. There's not room here for trust and praise and worry. So I'm gonna choose God's love, and God's gonna drive it out as we trust in him. Isaiah chapter 26, verses three and four. This is a choice with your mind. Think about what you think about during the day. God says you will keep in perfect peace those who minds are steadfast because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever for the Lord, the Lord himself is the rock eternal. The rock eternal, the rock greater than us. If your trust is in yourself, that's a pebble. If your trust is in technology, that's a pebble. If your trust is in money, that's a pebble. If your trust is in other people, that's a pebble. But we're talking about the rock eternal, the rock that is greater than us. Put your trust in Jesus, our rock. Make that shift today. Spiritual growth happens when we move from just doctrinally knowing that we should trust God to daily deciding that we're gonna trust God. Growth spiritually happens when we don't just know the facts, as good as that is, but we move forward believing and living out our trust in God together, united. Now, you're hearing this and maybe you think, but trust is trickier than that. You're making it sound so simplistic. And this is where trust gets complex because we say we trust God until we don't get what we want. Until the results aren't what we wanted. And it's really hard to say, God, I trust you with the results. It's hard to trust God when the calling is costly. and it is costly. It's hard to trust God when he moves you out of the nest and it's no longer comfortable. Those are the times when you have to declare your love endures forever. I will trust the Lord. Why is it so difficult to trust God? Because when you trust, you're letting go. When you trust, you're submitting and surrendering. It's not passive and discouraged. It's fully alive and active, but at the core, it's a trust, it's a surrender. It might feel out of control to trust God, to say, God, I'm trusting you, your character, your track record. Your provision and protection. God, my life is in your hands. I commit myself to you. That's real trust. To get specific, you might wanna pray this to God. God, I will go wherever you want me to go. A lot of people don't pray that. God, I will go wherever I wanna go. That's not the prayer. God, I will go wherever you want me to go. God, I will say whatever you want me to say. Most people, they'll just pray, God, I'll say a few things once in a while if you really, really, really keep pestering me, then I'll say something. That's not the prayer. I'll say what you want me to say. I'll go where you want me to go. God, I'll do what you want me to do. If it means going across the street to love my neighbor, God, I'll do whatever you want me to do. That's the prayer of trust. and God, change me to be who you are, Jesus, and to be more like you. That's where trust, the rubber hits the road. When you pray that prayer, it's powerful. That's worship. Worship is not the songs we sing or the lights. Worship is not the lyrics, although that's contributing and that's part of it, but real worship is so far deeper and beyond that. Real worship is we get on the altar and say, here am I, Lord, Here am I, that's the worship that moves God's heart, is when we say, here am I, Lord, send me. And that's the kind of trust that's consistent, reliable, because that's God's character. When you get a clear view of God, and you abide with Jesus, you become more like Jesus. And you become like whatever or whoever you worship. and that's why we worship Jesus, because he's fully reliable, keeps every promise, trustworthy, consistent, and the more you abide with Jesus and worship Jesus and trust Jesus, the more that we will become consistent and reliable in our own lives when no one's watching, and then actively serving in our community. I was talking to someone who serves in an elementary school, and has been making popcorn once a week in an elementary school here in Auburn. I said, well, how did that start? His children went to the school. Now his children are graduated, long gone, and people ask, why are you still popping the popcorn? You've been doing this for over a decade. Your children aren't here. Because he understands to build trust in the community, it's about consistency and reliability. And when you show up every week and build relationships and love, what happens? Trust increases, and then God opens the doors. When you think about the homeless community just in King County alone, did you know it's rapidly growing? Rapidly growing, it's up to about 16,000 homeless people. in King County, so how are things gonna change? How is there gonna be healing? It's not just gonna be show up once and provide some food. It's gonna include going to the encampments and meeting people and showing up consistently, reliably, building relationships, because the number one need is relationship. You see, God calls us to be like him and to be consistent and reliable and loving and good, and that's, coming out of this trusting relationship with God. When you trust God, God transforms. Moses learned he had to trust God. When Moses decided to trust God, God moved powerfully and delivered people from slavery. There was a generation that wasn't trusting God, but when Joshua and Caleb trusted God, they moved forward into the promised land. New breakthroughs, new victories when they trusted God. And then when Amos trusted God, you'd say, who does God use, a farmer like Amos? When Amos trusted God, the word of God came forth to stubborn, hard, calloused hearts. And when the fishermen that Jesus chose, Jesus didn't choose, he wasn't looking for who went to seminary, who are the religious leaders. No, he chose everyday people, that's what God does. People who will trust him, fishermen who will trust him, and look what happened, they changed the world upside down and continued through the book of Acts. People who trusted him like Stephen, faithful to the death. But God used that murderdom to light the church on fire in persecution. The people who trust God in the Bible are inspiring. That's where the transformation happens. Anyone in this room can decide today, I'm gonna fully trust God. And what God will do when you make that decision will go so far beyond your plans or your thoughts. If you call the shots and you don't trust God, your life will look like a tidy little box. And you know what, you might be able to check that one and check that one and check that one, but deep down, you're not really trusting God. When you open it up and say, God, have your way, I trust you, that's when God's beautiful masterpiece You are a masterpiece, and God is gonna bring extraordinary works through you, but it's your decision to fully trust God. Trust brings freedom, and we're gonna talk about relationships now that are more horizontal, from controlling, stressing, and despairing. These are relationship traps. If you're in a relationship, friends, family, coworkers, where you are controlling, stressing, and despairing, that's the fruit and a symptom of not trusting God. So how do we proceed in our relationships with trust? These are prayerful decisions. All of us have many relationships, and let me encourage you to read through the book of Proverbs, because this is a book that's so practical about relationships, and it says be aware. Be aware of who gossips. Be aware of who keeps their word. Be aware of who's lazy. Be aware of who lies. Be aware of who has a temper. Notice these things. And so we're not gonna trust everyone the same way. We want to love everyone, but you gotta be realistic, the book of Proverbs says, and sometimes even distance is wise in some situations. So I'm saying that so what you don't hear today is just a blank check. Be naive and just trust everyone fully. No, be very discerning and prayerful, is what the book of Proverbs says. What does trust look like in our relationships where it's inspiring? And I think of the book of Ruth. Ruth, the setting here is a tragedy, and Naomi, who's the mother-in-law of Ruth, loses her husband, and then her two daughter-in-laws also lose their husbands, so Naomi loses her two sons. There's probably nothing more painful on the earth. than to lose two children like that. And Naomi's going through a difficult time. Ruth chapter one, verses 11 through 13, Naomi says, return home, my daughters. And Naomi says, why would you come with me? She's gonna go back to Jerusalem. Am I going to have any more sons who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters. And she's saying, go back, Moab. I'm too old to have another husband, even if I thought there was still hope for me, even if I had a husband tonight, and they gave birth to sons. Do you hear how she's lost hope? She said, would you wait until they grow up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters, it is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord's hand has turned against me. Have you ever been grieving and lost hope? Have you ever been grieving and mourning and just lost perspective of who God is and his goodness? Or maybe even blame God for some things that really don't land on him? Naomi said, change my name to Mara, and that means bitter. And she was losing hope quickly. Let me say this, a trauma, tragedy, a trial is the perfect time to trust God. and one person that'll trust God in the middle of the tragedy can make all the difference. This is where Ruth steps in, and we read in chapter one, verses 16, Ruth replied to Naomi, and Naomi at her low point, now Ruth replied, don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me. And when Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Ruth made a prayerful decision of loyalty. She made a prayerful decision to go with Naomi, to take care of Naomi, who would be a widow and very vulnerable at her age. and that decision inspired not only Naomi in her faith, but then also the community saw Ruth trusting God and then trusting and serving Naomi. Boaz noticed, Boaz is the kinsman redeemer, Boaz would marry Ruth and God would redeem. Even in the lineage of Jesus, there's a story of a kinsman redeemer. and ultimately it points to Jesus who sees us in our lowest state, who sees us hopeless and brings hope, brings a covenant relationship and redeems us through his shed blood. Redeem means to buy back and we are purchased, we are adopted into God's family forever. This story, Ruth and Naomi and Boaz is all pointing to the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's all about the hope that can come when anyone trusts God. Trust in the Lord for he will renew your hope and you will soar on wings like eagles. Ruth, Naomi, you're gonna soar again, but the key is gonna be to trust God together. And when you stay united as a family and you trust God together, if your family starts to have schisms, you just come back to are we trusting God together? Trust God together. God heals, God restores. God will be the one who gets all the glory for this. Now, let's take a deeper dive practically, realistically. What about if you've been burned? In a relationship, disappointed, trust has been an issue. I wanna say this. When I was going through premarital counseling with Lori, we were going through premarital counseling together. There's a lot on the line when you decide to get married. That's probably the number two trust decision that you ever make. I mean, with Jesus first, and then who you marry is the second most important trust decision in your life. So going through premarital counseling, we had books, we had a mentoring couple, we got into conflict with the mentoring couple to watch us and coach us, right? But underneath all that, and I'm so grateful for it, I'm so grateful the marriage investors in our church and all the ministries here to support marriage, when we were going through that, underneath it all, and we have different personalities and perspectives and preferences, underneath it all, do I trust her, does she trust me, and together, do we trust God even more than we trust each other? And that's what got tested in the premarital counseling time, and I'm so grateful for the couple, Nevin and Janine, that poured into us to really prepare us for that trust decision in the years to come. So what if you've been burned? Let me just say, all of us will be burned. Jesus was perfect and he got burned, okay? Judas betrayed Jesus. The disciples denied Jesus. You're gonna be burned in relationships. Now, here's a couple things to avoid. Don't overreact. If you've been burned in dating, you don't need to say, I'll never date again. If you've had a friend that burned you, you don't need to say, I'll never have another friend. If you go to a church and you feel like you've been burned, you don't need to say, I'll never step foot in another church again. Healthy relationships are where God will bring the healing. He'll bring a healthy friendship, he'll bring a healthy church, he'll bring a healthy dating relationship that's centered on him. And when you're hurt, it's easy to build walls. It's easy to be calloused and a lot of cynicism. When you hear cynicism from someone, it's probably because they've been hurt and disappointed and burned underneath that. So you listen for those pain points. And ultimately, when we are disappointed or betrayed, inside it hurts so much, we think and feel, I never wanna go through that pain again. Amen? If you've been betrayed, you just think, I never wanna go through that pain again. So a reaction then that's not healthy is, I'm never gonna trust again. I'm never gonna love again. And sometimes when we've been hurt, we really, our modus operandi is to go through life trying to minimize any possible pain. But if your goal in life and in relationships is to minimize any possible pain, you will also minimize your growth and your calling and your community and your unity. You can't let that past scar determine and dictate the direction of all your future relationships. So trust God fully and then start to rely on God prayerfully with these relationships. Now another extreme to avoid is being unaware. I've got to admit, when I became a pastor, kind of naive and unaware. I just always would assume like what I see is who people are. And someone I remember coming alongside of me and say like, pastor, like everyone acts their best around you. I was like, they do, they do? Like, they're nicest when you're there, pastor. They're not always like that. What? Could it be? Is this really true? And so I had to learn to ask more questions. I had to learn that when other people saw something, maybe I should tune in. When there's a flake, I had to learn that when I'm interacting with someone, I gotta check that with the Word, because that didn't sound right, what they were saying. I've gotta learn that the Holy Spirit gives insights and conviction, and God gives us intuition, and to not always just keep turning it all off and saying, oh, nothing's wrong here, nothing's wrong here. None of us wanna be duped. None of us wanna be deceived. We all can be. We need God's help with discernment in our relationships. We don't wanna be unaware, so we pray and rely on God, his word, his spirit, his people, and together we're trusting God in relationships. If you're in the room today and you just feel like I've blown it, I haven't been faithful, I haven't been consistent, I haven't been trustworthy, don't do this. Don't stay in shame. Don't stay in shame. God wants to set you free from shame and guilt. And also, don't stay the same. Jesus wants to change you and transform you. Don't stay the same, don't stay in shame, move forward with Jesus. And God is so full of truth, and Jesus was direct. He didn't trust everyone the same way. He said, that one over there's a fox. Those ones over there are hypocrites. Those ones over there are brood of vipers. That's how Jesus talked, okay? So he's very discerning and full of truth. And at the same time, Jesus' longest prayer is that we would be united. Do you know we need Jesus to be united? In this room, we need Jesus to be united. Why? Because we have many different generations in this, and we are so thankful for that. But you know what happens with generations? Sometimes one has a different pace than the other, or different preference than the other, or different perspective than the other, and it's hard to humble ourselves and really know that we're all equal when it comes to different generations. We have different ethnicities in this room, and I don't know how much you're aware, but it can be difficult to trust someone who's a different race or color or from a different nation for a lot of people. For some people, there's a lot of forgiveness that needs to happen. For some people, there's repentance that needs to happen. For different people, it's stepping out of what's comfortable. To come together as the body of Christ, diverse, God's body is all nations together in heaven, this is God's will. How do we live that out on earth? That takes trust, that takes healing, that takes friendship, that takes open hearts, that takes open homes. Well, what about denominations, tribes? You know, there'll be a group in the body of Christ that's like, this is the only translation, and they get their translation buddies, and they say, everyone who doesn't have our translation is a second-rate Christian. I'm not making this stuff up. Our denomination's the best, everyone else is second rate Christian. That's not the unity Jesus prayed about. Politicians, I'm not gonna get any political, but if you voted for this one or that one 10 years ago or 20 years ago, then I can't be your friend and I'd cancel you. Where's that in the Bible? So we have a lot of areas where yes, we need to be biblical in all areas. but we also need to remember that Jesus prayed we'd be united and we have a unity in Christ that's so stronger, so much stronger than our differences. Let me try to make it real simple here. I got a picture and I've got some shoes on and you're gonna see a picture of shoes. So there's a difference between the two shoes and the shoes that I have on. As you look at it, one is of course untied, and one is tied. As I was thinking this week, the difference between untied and united, those two words, is just one little switch. You just move the I and the T. One little switch from untied to united. When you think about a shoestring and you look at one that's untied, okay, you look at that and you think, I don't think that's quite how it's supposed to be. When my kids are running around during the day and the shoelaces are untied, I say, tie your shoes, right? You might stumble, you might trip. You're not designed to have shoelaces that are untied tripping as you're walking. So you see that, it's untied. Now here's gonna go a little deeper, right? When you think about now a tied shoelace. How many shoelaces are in a shoe? One shoe has how many shoelaces? One sulis. Do you know that when it comes to followers of Jesus, you're already one? You already are one. We're not 100, we're not 1,000. How many bodies does Jesus have? One body. How many families does God have? One family. The Bible says because you are already united in Christ, now guard that unity. That's the command. It's not go create somehow the unity. No, you are already united with the same spirit and same Lord. But what happens? That one shoelace becomes untied, and distant, and strife, and hatred, and resentment, and bitterness. And what do we need to do? We need to look at the picture. The shoelace is tied. Is it hard for you to tie your shoes? You could do something else and not even think about it, right? You're just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Oh, no problem. See, it's untied, I know what to do. I wanna encourage you, just like you tie your shoelaces daily, I wanna encourage you to guard the unity daily. You see the distance and the strife, I know what to do. I know to forgive, I know to pray, I know a gentle answer turns away wrath, I know I'm gonna apologize for the things I've done. That's just gonna be the habit I'm gonna cultivate every day and we're gonna get that shoelace tied. We're gonna go from untied to tied. We're already united, we're gonna guard that unity. We're not gonna walk around with untied shoelaces for weeks in our marriage. No, you're already one. You have a covenant with God, with each other. You are one already, so guard that unity together. It's not something new. Is that picture making sense? Is that helpful? Okay, that's the picture I want you to have where we're already one, so let's not walk around untied. Let's come together. Relationships are only as healthy as the level of trust. Let's say that together. Relationships are only as healthy as a level of trust. We're gonna start today by recommitting a full trust in God because your relationships with people won't be healthier than your relationship with God. So where does it start today? Relationship with God. Proverbs chapter three verses five through eight. Let's say this all together. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. It's true individually, it's true as a nation. Let's look at Psalm 33 verse 12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance. My friend Ikki Soma had a quote that I read a couple weeks ago, it stuck with me. He said, so many people are looking where is the grass greener? Where is the grass greener? Should I move to this state or this state? We're just looking, grass greener, grass greener. And this is what he said. God will often call you to where the grass is brown and make that grass green. Do you see the difference? When you trust God, you're letting God direct you, and where he plants you, you blossom. As you abide with Jesus, God will use you, he's gonna transform you as you trust him, then you're gonna bring to relationships what's missing, because you have a source far beyond yourself. And right now in our nation, we need healing. Right now in our nation, we need restoration. We need hope, we need Jesus. I'll say it clear, we need Jesus in America right now, not just in a week. We need Jesus right now. The solution is not complex. We need Jesus right now so that our hearts will be right, our minds will be right, our souls will be right, and when we trust God fully, God is gonna move in our relationships, in our homes, in our church family. The church will become the most hope-filled place in America when we trust Jesus together. and that's where we wanna enter in. We're gonna take communion in a minute, and I want to look at this between the storm and the Savior. Look at this verse from Matthew chapter eight. The disciples were looking at the storm, and when there's anxiety and fear and worry and trial, sometimes we turn against God. They tried to rebuke Jesus for taking a nap. during the storm. I mean, you can feel the division that's picking up, and what they were missing is trust in Jesus. And Jesus replied, you of little faith, why are you so afraid? That's a good word for 2024. Why are you so afraid? Why are you so afraid? Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the waves and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, what kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him. It's not about the size of the trial, it's about the size of the trust. Disciples, it's not about the size of your trial. It's about the size of your trust. It's not about what is happening and what is coming. Things might get more difficult. It's about who is with you and the goodness, the consistency, the reliability of God. Your most important decisions in life, it's not what you eat today for lunch. It's not the entertainment you're gonna choose this weekend. It's not the neighborhood or the size of your house. It's not even your retirement fund. The most important decision of your life today is how much do you trust God? And when you make that decision, it's gonna change your relationships and there's gonna be a real unity, a deep unity that's built on trust and love through Jesus. Let's pray. Father, as you search our hearts, we thank you for your goodness to us. God, most of all, we thank you that as we worship you, you keep every promise, you're reliable, you're faithful, you're trustworthy, you're worthy of our praise, you're worthy of our allegiance and our devotion. You are worthy, and we declare you are worthy today. God, move in our hearts where there would be discernment and healing and wisdom and unity today. Father, we need your help. God, bless each one who decides to follow you today, Jesus, who decides to get baptized today, who decides to join a life group or serve, who decides to say yes to a calling right now in the community. And we give you praise for how you're leading us, Jesus. You're our good shepherd. We trust you. We pray in your name, amen.