Okay, so in um, 2022, I went on a solo camping trip to Mount, uh, medicine Bow National Forest. This is an area just outside of Laramie, Wyoming. It's this beautiful, it's one of those places where there's mountains and mountain lakes and you can fish and camp and hike and all of that kind of fun stuff. And I was out there by myself. And if you're impressed by that, don't be. Um, I, uh, wasn't prepared for the weather. I had to cut the trip short and come home, and that's the way those things go sometimes. But I was there, uh, for a few days and I got a chance to, uh, to do some hiking. In fact, there was one day in particular where I decided that I was gonna go back behind the main mountains. So, just to show you, this is Medicine Bow. This is what it looks like. Not bad, huh? It's gorgeous place. And so, uh, just to the right of those, uh, mountains that you see there, it looks like this. This is the kind of the big medicine bow peak that everybody, uh, looks at. You guys have that other picture? There it is. Um, so I was hiking back around behind that because there were more lakes back there. Apparently it was quiet. Not a lot of people go back, uh, into that part of the, of the area. And so I said, I'm gonna do this. And so I packed a lunch, packed some supplies, threw my backpack on, and I started to make my way out, um, into the, into the woods. I ended up at this mountain lake. I'm sitting on the edge of this lake looking at that mountain from the backside. And it's just absolutely beautiful. And I'm eating my lunch. Am I painting a pretty good picture for you guys? It's like one of those gorgeous places when all of a sudden this black cloud came over, that peak moving fast, the temperature dropped 20 degrees like that. All of a sudden this fog started to roll down that hill and onto the lake that was in front of me. And I thought, oh, no. So I immediately stuffed all my stuff, like a half eaten apple into my backpack, and I threw it on. And I started to make my way as fast as I could, like pretty steady clip back to the trailhead, which was gonna be a couple hours of hiking. And I, I thought, man, what? You know, if you've ever been out in the elements like that, I mean, it started to rain, then it started to sleet. I was like, sting in my face while I'm hiking. If you've ever been in anything like that before, it can be kinda scary. I thought, am I gonna get stranded out here? Am I gonna get hypothermia? 'cause I wasn't prepared for this. Like, am I gonna be okay? And so I started to hike. Now, the other thing is, if you've ever experienced something like that, you realize that once you're out in it, it's really not as scary as you as you first thought. So I started to kind of get used to the environment here a little bit, and I started to try to cheer myself up. And so I started doing something that I often do in these moments. I just started to sing out loud, like, you know, to myself, there's no one around. And I got to one of my favorite hymns. And while I was singing this, I'm kind of laughing to myself and I'm singing. And all of a sudden that hike changed for me. And I'll never forget it. The song I started singing was, uh, I Come to the Garden Alone while the Dew is still on the Roses. Now, for me, that's kind of a, there's a funny irony to that song and challenging moments to sing that, right? So I'm just singing it and laughing to myself and the voice I hear falling on my ear. The son of God discloses. So if you of, you know, this song, seen the course with me, and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own. And the joy we share as we tear none other has ever known. Some of you guys throw some harmony in there. That's good. The joy we share as we terry there, as I'm in the middle of this mountain storm. So I, I, now, that's one of my favorite hymns. Here's the thing. Some of you already knew, that was one of my favorite hymns. 'cause I told you about that a few years ago when I was telling this story about how I was mowing my, my lawn in the back. And I have this really steep hill. I don't mow it anymore. That's another story. But, um, but while I was mowing and I was singing this song to myself and laughing, I told you that story. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why. But that is one of the, the stories you all tell me. You remember the most, the one about me mowing my lawn. Um, but like, you come and you tell me this, and, and I've just been thinking about all these different stories. And some of you right now are going, well, you were just in the middle of the story and you did, you forget, I'll come back to it in a few minutes, I promise. But I just started thinking about all these stories I've told you guys over the years and all of the songs we've sung and all the scriptures we've read together. And, you know, I I just started thinking about all of that this week because as many of you know, this is kind of a special weekend for me. Several weeks ago, uh, Greg and I announced to the church that I was gonna be stepping off of staff after being here just almost 18 years, not quite. Um, and I was gonna be doing my own thing. And so, uh, it turns out, this is like the last time that I get a chance to speak to you all as one of your pastors. Now, this isn't my last weekend. Next weekend is my last weekend. Uh, and so I'll be here, Greg will be back. We're gonna celebrate, uh, it's gonna be a beautiful weekend of worship. So come back for that. But, um, but today is the last time that I get a chance to talk to you, is one of your pastors. And to be honest with you, I don't wanna make too much of this right now 'cause we've got more important stuff to talk about. But I couldn't help but just take a moment to say some things to you all in the midst of this moment. So if you'll allow me, I wanna just thank one more time. My lead pastor Greg, uh, for the way that he's navigated this transition, the entire, the board of directors, the pastoral team, has been absolutely amazing. I think it's a testament to their leadership that I even get to be here talking to you all today. And so I'm grateful for that. Uh, I'm grateful for this whole process. 'cause it's just been, it's been nothing short of amazing. The staff, the the leaders here have encouraged me and helped make this transition as smooth as possible for me and my family. And I'm grateful, I'm grateful to you all because you have been amazing. I can't tell you how many stories you all have shared with me. You've sent me emails and messages reminding me of times that we got to share moments together where we got to pray together or go through something like baptism together. I I am just so grateful. Many of you have been saying you've encouraged me, you've said you're praying for me. Many of you have offered to try to help me as I kind of kick some new things off. And it's honestly, the whole thing's just been overwhelming. So I want to just reiterate, uh, right here that, um, first of all, this is another story that I get to now tell about how special this church family is. You all practice what you preach. And I'm so grateful for that. And I wanna reiterate that I'm not leaving my family and I are excited about continuing to be a part of this church and, uh, and being a part of what God is doing here. Now, you'll probably not see me for just a little while, while I step out of the way and let some folks step in and fill in some holes and that kind of thing, but it won't be too long before I'll probably grab a guitar or a microphone or something like that. And we'll keep doing this because I've said this all these years and I'm saying it to you now. There is absolutely nothing like serving in the body of Christ. And so join me in that. But, um, but in, in the meantime, I'm just grateful there, there's, it's after almost 18 years of being in here, um, 18 years is a long time. I looked back at my first message that I taught here at The Crossing. It was in November of 2008. And I made a joke about MySpace. If you all even know what that is, that's how long it's been. Uh, so, uh, here we are now. And God is not finished with this church. He's not finished with you or me. And some of you like are ready to keep going because honestly, you're like, Tim, big deal. I don't even know who you are. I came here to learn something about Jesus. Well, me too. So let's get after it. Can we, I want to talk to you guys today about what I think is one of the most important words in the Christian faith, like top five easily. Now, do you know what that word might be? Maybe you could take a guess. Go ahead. Just real quick, lean to the person next to you and whisper in there. I think it's this word. I think it's this word. Tell, tell everybody what you think it is. Cast your vote. Okay? Those of you at Mid Rivers and Fenton at Grants Trail, tell somebody real quick, you got it? All right, we're gonna open scripture together here in a minute, but before we do, I would love to pray for us and then we'll dive in. You ready? Okay. All right, let's pray. Father, you are so good to us. We thank you, God. You are, you are worthy of all of our worship and our trust and our devotion, and we're so grateful for how you've called us to this life together in the church where we get a chance to open your word and learn and grow and experience community together. What a thing it is that you have called us to. I'm praying that this morning you would remind us that it's actually even bigger than we first thought. Show us God, what this looks like to do life with you in a new, fresh way. And meet us here with all of us coming from all of these different places, different needs, different struggles today. Meet us in all of it. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so, uh, we're gonna open God's word and we're gonna be in Second Corinthians chapter five. So if you brought your Bibles and you wanna flip to Second Corinthians five, that's where we're gonna be. Love it when you guys can follow along in your word, uh, in, in your own bibles. In fact, let me just say this, this is so important. We really do believe that this book, the Bible, is how God speaks to us. And I wanna say that here at the outset, because maybe if some of you're here and you're here because you're looking for spiritual truth, or you are trying to become more spiritual, or you've got questions about the Christian faith and those kinds of things, you need to know that we don't get to just make this stuff up based on how we feel, right? It's rooted in deep ancient truths. In fact, this book is full of beautiful, historical, reliable foundational truths that we can build our lives on. It's full of wisdom that helps us know how to live. And so, in different places in scripture, you'll see the authors of scripture referring to other scriptures, uh, in the Bible and saying, using different metaphors to describe what the word of God is. They'll describe it as a, a priceless treasure or a map that leads to that treasure. A couple weeks ago, Chris Nation in Miguel Brown both reminded us of Psalm one and Jeremiah 17, where scripture says that it's like a stream of water, that if we will meditate on the law day and night, then, then, then we're like a tree planted by that water that takes up the, the water from that stream. And we grow strong and we bear fruit. Sometimes the word of God is described as a lantern that lights the path in front of us. Sometimes it's, uh, a delicious food that nourishes the body. One of my favorites is when they say that your word is like honey on my lips. So I just want us to remember that whenever we have the privilege of opening up God's word together, can we remember that Now as we go to two Corinthians five, all right, I'm gonna be in verse 17 and we'll read through to the end of that section. Um, but here we go. Paul is writing and he says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. Now, real quickly, I'm, we're gonna keep reading, but that verse right there is one of my favorites. And if you'll come back in two weeks, one of our pastors, Nathan Brown, is gonna unpack that one verse. It's gonna be such a great message where he helps us understand what it means when Paul says that we are the new creation. And so, come back in a couple of weeks and Nathan's gonna unpack that for us. I can't wait to be part of that, but, um, but I'm gonna keep reading today. Okay? So all this is from God. Paul says, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Now that we've read God's word, do you have an idea of what the, the word is that I want us to talk about today? Take a guess. Go ahead. Reconciliation is the word. Did you get it? Yeah. Was that the one you voted for? I mean, it's tough, isn't it? How do you even break it down? I, I I bet you some of you said love, grace. One of my favorite words, surrender. Maybe some of you said Jesus, that's always good answer in these moments. But, um, but reconciliation, there's the word, man, that's such an important word. And I want us to see why. So, uh, in fact, I want you to go back to the people you were just talking to and tell 'em now that we've read that verse together, what do you think it teaches us about reconciliation? What's the point of what we just read? Go ahead and talk to each other about this for a couple minutes and, uh, yeah, just unpack the scripture together. Okay? Um, so let's, uh, let's talk about this because this is so important. What Paul's saying here in this passage is this idea of reconciliation. God has given us the ministry of reconciliation as followers of Jesus. This is our calling. So if you've given your life to Jesus, yes, he moves in and he restores us. He cleanses us from the inside out. He transforms us and he begins to make us new. He gives us new life. All of that is true, but sometimes I worry that when we think that that's the gospel in, in its entirety, and we, we come looking for that, we start to think about the Bible as though it's something that belongs in the self-help section of the bookstore. Does that make sense? Where we go, I wanna improve myself. This idea of transformation sounds really, really good. And so I'm gonna look to Jesus to see if I can continue to improve myself. There's a couple things wrong with that. First of all, this isn't self-improvement at all because we can't do this without Jesus. And it's admitting that, and it's admitting that we need him. So it's, it's not a self-improvement plan. But the other part of it is, if anything, it's a world improvement plan. It's a world redemption plan. The story about Jesus and what he's doing in this world is just bigger than just you and me. See, this is what Paul is saying here, is that this is the mission. You who follow Jesus have been called to be God's ambassadors, representatives of the kingdom of heaven sent out into the world to represent God's message of reconciliation to every corner of the universe. It's really that big. He talks about this in other passages, like, uh, in Romans eight. If you go look at that, Paul says, all of creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. All of creation is waiting an eager expectation on the edge of its seat for what? For the children of God to be revealed. Now, what is that? Well, that's those of us who've trusted in Jesus. We are the children of God. And this is so important because this means that somehow in some amazing way, God has invited you and me to be a part of what he is doing in his plan to restore and redeem all of creation. And all of creation is waiting for this to happen. See, there's so much to say here about how this affects our lives and how this changes the way we live, but in order to really understand it, we've gotta go back to the very beginning. Because if we've been called to reconciliation, then we need to understand like what's been broken in the first place, right? So in order to understand that, we've gotta go all the way back to the beginning, to the Book of Genesis. How many times over the years when we've looked at what Jesus is doing in this world, have we had to go back to the very beginning. So Genesis one and two, God creates everything. Most of you know this part of the story. God makes things like, uh, the, the, the air in the sky and the in the seas and the land. And he puts creatures and he gives the sun and the moon and the stars and all of this. And when you look at the creation story, part of what theologians have noticed is that you see God mostly separating things. He's separating day from night light from dark. He separates the sea from the dry ground. He separates all of the living creatures from humans. Humans are different from all of the creatures. And then he even separates humans, male and female. And then he starts to bring all of these things together, different. There's this beautiful diversity in God's creation, and yet all of it is living harmoniously in relationship together. That's what was happening in the Garden of Eden. And so, uh, this is what you see in the very beginning. Now, some, some theologians have said that you see this reflected in the very nature of God. That who God is is reflected in how he's created things. God exists as father, son and spirit. We call this the Trinity. It's a mystery. It's a, it, it it, it's bigger than we can understand. But somehow Father, son, and Holy Spirit are so deeply connected in love and in essence to one another, that God is one. And we see in his creation the same thing taking place, day, night, land and sea animals and humans, male and female people, and God, all of these things different and yet interconnected and harmonious. So much so that originally God's plan was for it all to be one. And that's how it was until you get to Genesis three. And Genesis three is when you start to see all of this break down. Now I'm gonna move again really quickly through this 'cause we've got so much to cover. But when you see Adam and Eve, the first people in Genesis, they choose to eat from a tree that God has forbidden them to eat from. And as soon as that happens, you start to see these relationships between all things break down. Lemme just show you. It starts in verses eight and nine. It says, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And they hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. But the Lord God called to the man. Where are you? So the first relationship you see breakdown is the most important one between God and his people, between God and human beings, where they used to walk with God in the garden, in the cool of the day. Now, sin has crept into the story. Shame has showed up, and now they are hiding it. It's a question that should honestly break our hearts. When God calls out to Adam and Eve, where did you go? Where are you? This beautiful relationship between human beings and the God who created us is now fractured and we are apart. And now all of human history is the story of humans trying to manufacture ways to get back to God on our own. And God doing the one thing that only he can do that will reconcile us by sending his son Jesus on the cross. That's the whole story. And so there's more relationships that are broken in this moment. And so I want you to see all of them. In verse 15, God's talking to the serpent who, who deceived the people. This is the, the creature that convinced Adam and Eve to eat from the tree. And God says to him, I will put enmity between you and the woman. Essentially, he's saying, now there's gonna be a break, a division between uh, people and the rest of the living creatures. But he expands on this when he talks to Adam later in verse 17, he says to Adam, now cursed is the ground because of you through painful toil, you will eat food from it all the days of your life. So now our relationship with the earth, with creation is, is, is broken. Our relationship with things like the environment and the living creatures that live in it, our ability to understand the weather and how to navigate things. Uh, even our work, our labor has all been broken because of this moment. It's all messed up now. Now, some Bible scholars think that God's original plan was for people to be in the garden of Eden with him, where he would teach them how to interact with this creation that he's given them, teach them how to do this in a harmonious way. And as they learned, they would expand the borders of Eden until it encompassed the entire Earth. But now that plan has been broken. It's not going to happen anymore because Adam and Eve said to God, no thanks. We think we can figure this out on our own. We'll do it. We've got this. Here we are. So now our relationship with creation is broken. Our relationship with each other is broken. God says to Eve, your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you. So now here in the very beginning, you see the power struggle between the sexes start to take place, but this division between people becomes even more graphic. As in, in Genesis chapter four, when Cain kills his brother Abel, and then this guy named Lambic brags about killing a guy to his multiple wives who he has subjugated under his power. And it's just so dark and ugly. And all of this is you just start to see this broken to seep into everything. In fact, it even creeps into our relationship with ourselves Now that sin has entered into the story. We experience shame and we hide. Now what does that look like? Well, it looks something like this. You're having a really good day. You've been walking with God in the garden, in the cool of the day. You've made plans for the evening, you're looking forward to them. You kiss your wife goodbye and you go to a Coldplay concert. So, okay, some of you are gonna have to ask the person next to you at the end of the service, what, what are they laughing about? What is that? Um, can I just say a couple things? First of all, I absolutely just played that for a laugh. And if that offends you, seriously accept my apology. I think there is something funny about the absurdity of these viral stories and how quickly we make jokes about them and all of that kind of thing. We, I don't think there's anything funny about this story. I think it's kind of heartbreaking really, when you think about the two families at least that are gonna be affected by what happened When you think about, uh, the, the company and how employees now they're like, employment could be affected by how this goes for them and the company, the whole thing. All because of this colossal foolishness on the part of a couple of people. So it's not a funny story at all, but I can't tell you. Can I just tell you what's even less funny about it? All of us are quick to judge and laugh, but it could be any one of us because every one of you has a story that if it showed up on the jumbotron, it would destroy you. 'cause we're all in hiding. We're all experiencing the thing you're feeling right now is shame. We all have that in our lives. And this is what sin does, is it just wrecks us and it destroys us and none of us are getting out of it alive. And so we need something to come in and reconcile what's going on in ourselves. We need somebody else who can come in and make things right. And this is what we see in Genesis chapter three. All of these relationships are now broken. So this is what it looks like. Let's just summarize here. Humans to creation, human to human, human to self, and human to God. Most importantly, all of these relationships are now broken. All of it has been divided. All of it has been wrecked. And this is why we are called to this idea of, of reconciliation. I mean, no wonder all of creation is groaning and waiting an eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. Deep down. We all sense this. We all want to see things made right? We all long for this to be so in our lives. And this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the good news of Jesus. And it is nothing less than this. Look at what the apostle Paul says in Colossians one. He says, God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Now, there was a theologian whose name was Abraham Kuper, who really famously said this, there is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ who is sovereign overall does not cry mine. That's mine. And I'm making it right. Again, I'm reconciling it to myself because it's mine. So with that in mind, let me ask you, what do you long to see reconciled in the domain of your human existence? Can you think of some things? It could be any one of those categories. If you look at those again, is it something with creation? Is it something uh, with relationships between humans, something inside yourself, something with God? It could be all four of those, right? I'm gonna ask you to just take a little bit of a risk now and go back to your conversation groups and tell 'em what do you long to see reconciled in this world? It could be really personal. If you know the person next to you, if you don't feel comfortable sharing, then just share something more general. 'cause there's lots we could talk about, right? But tell somebody what do you long to see reconciled? So can we just hear in this room in Chesterfield, just to, uh, uh, somebody tell me, what, what did you share? What do you long to see reconciled? You can keep it safe for the room, but what do you long to see? Reconciled? Relationships. Relationships. Yeah. Yeah. And you could say that like in a general way or you could say in a really deeply personal way, right? Yeah. What else? Anybody? Myself. Yourself. Yourself. Yeah. All of us are looking for this healing, and it's all of us. Yeah. So you're not alone. People in creation and the Environment, the environment, people in creation. Uh, you just look at it, it wherever you come down, I mean, we, we, we get political about this kind of stuff, but we long to see the world heal, right? Yeah, it's good. All of these things are like, they're so important. We long for this. So we are called, scripture says to be ministers of reconciliation, to be a part of what God is doing in this world, which means we're called to all of this. So I wanna tell you just a couple of ways that we as a church are doing this. Like collectively some things that you can participate in in the months to come. Uh, really exciting stuff I wanna tell you about that. And then we'll go back to making this really personal. But there's some exciting stuff coming down the pike and we just want you to know what's going on. So, uh, first of all, um, back in, uh, 2019, we started doing this new thing that we call for the Lou. Now, I wanna be clear. Uh, this church has always done things for the community. It's always been ministering to people and even beyond this community. That's been a part of the crossing since it became a church. But in 2019, we started this new movement. It was this beautiful thing where we said that we were intentionally gonna reach across divides in our community. We were gonna get to know our neighbors and serve them and love them without an agenda selflessly, humbly with open hands. We were just gonna say, what do you need? And we were gonna serve the way Jesus served in our community. And then we said, we're not just gonna do this one time or once a year, but we're gonna do this all the time throughout the year because that's who we want to be. And so we are gonna be for the loo. Now, back in 2019, I got a chance to kind of talk to you about all of this. And this is what I said. I, I said, what would it be like as the people of God if, as followers of Jesus, what would it be like if we made it known that God loves St. Louis and that he longs to do something in our midst? You've heard people say that a lot of the time, followers of Jesus have become known for the things that we are against. What if we became known for the things that were for and what if we became known for being for St. Louis? So today, today, after each of our services, there are gonna be tables set up in each of our lobbies at all of our campuses, and they're gonna be staffed with some outreach staff and volunteers and some folks who are really connected with our serving partners. And they're out there to tell you stories, to answer questions, to resource you, and to help you figure out how you can be for the loo. So I wanna encourage you, when this service is over, wherever you are, go out to the lobbies and find those tables and ask those people for help. Ask 'em to tell you stories. 'cause there's some amazing stuff that's happening in this church community. And I want you to know some of those stories. They shared some of those stories with me this week. Can I just tell you one of them? There was a group of people that went with our, one of our partners, and they were spending the day there, uh, sorting some things and doing some work. And one of the things I love about our outreach teams is they always prioritize relationships and building community. And so as they're working, they're laughing, they're telling stories, and they're having a good time getting to know each other. And in the conversation it comes up there, there's one woman in this group who is going through some pretty significant grief and loss in her own life, and they begin to ask gentle, caring questions. And as she began to share some of this, they said, well, we need to pray for you before we leave today. We're just gonna gather around you and we're gonna pray. And so they did. They got in a circle, they put their hands on her, her shoulders, and her arms, and they just began to pray over this woman. Now, while that was going on, there was another woman who was there with the organization and she saw these people praying and it took her breath away and they got done. And she said, I've never seen anything like this before. I don't even know who you people are. What is this? I, I've never seen people care for each other, pray this way. And now she's on a spiritual journey where she begins asking questions about Jesus and prayer and faith and all of this. And now she's on her way to figuring out who Jesus is. And this is what happens when we show up to be ministers of reconciliation. The Holy Spirit moves in, in force and empowers us. And what happens is exponential things start to happen where more and more stories get to be told and we begin to find hope. So again, go talk to somebody after the service. They'll give you some hope, ask 'em to tell you some stories. Ask 'em how you can be a part of things. They'll give you some great ideas, but just watch how God is reconciling people to people and people to God. And one of my favorite theologians is a guy named Mr. Rogers. You ever heard of him? I I think he's actually said some pretty deeply profound things like, uh, just in the wake of the nine 11 attacks, he did this big public service announcement. And some of you'll remember that. And one of the things he said was something that his mom had taught him when he was growing up. He said, whenever you go through times like this, look for the helpers. You can always find people who are stepping into help and it can give you hope. Now, Mr. Rogers was a follower of Jesus, and I think he knew exactly what he was talking about there. This is honestly, I think what it means for us to be ministers of reconciliation. We get to be the helpers. And when we do this and we do it in the name of Jesus, then the world begins to see what God is doing here, and that is how we find hope. Now can I tell you something else Mr. Rogers said that I just love, he said this a lot more often, some of you'll remember this. He said, you make each day special just by your being you. Now again, that's not some wimpy self-esteem kind of a thing that's deeply theological here at the church. We would say it this way. Every human being bears the image of God, which means when you step into a situation bearing the image of God, you make that moment special. There is something about you that reflects who God is in a way that nobody else quite does. You make each day special by your being you. Which is why, because we are so of so much worth and imbued with so much dignity in how we reflect our creator, that it is worth working to try to reconcile ourselves. It's why this church takes things like emotional and mental health really seriously. It's why we've partnered with counselors for such a long time to refer people to Christian counselors, to teach classes with them alongside them. They've helped us develop some of the classes here in some amazing ways. Last year we started this new thing called The Abundant Conference, and we're kicking it off again this year on September 12th. And you should sign up and you should come to this. We're partnering with Joy FM this time, which is really exciting. They're gonna bring in Austin French, who is the singer songwriter, he's gonna share his music with us and tell his story. We'll hear from speakers like our lead pastor Greg David Hawkins will be there, some amazing counselors who will be there to speak about things like parenting in the 21st century and navigating, uh, anxiety and, and how to, uh, heal through trauma and, uh, and uh, like how to have good boundaries in your relationships. All of this stuff. It's gonna be Friday night, September 12th and Saturday morning, two days. And here's the deal. This tickets just went on sale today, and they're gonna go fast. So if you wanna be a part of that, we'd love for you to get on it. Okay? Sign up and come and join us with this. But whatever your next step is, whatever you're thinking about doing next, I would just say this, don't wait. Because all of creation is waiting on the edge of its seat for the children of God to be revealed. And it doesn't matter what arena of life you're in, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, it's all an opportunity to declare that the universe belongs to Jesus and to live as though pointing people to him. And what he's doing in the world is what you were called to because it is. Greg Fink says this, I I love this. Jesus is very clever. Wherever he wants you to start being a missionary, he already has you there. See, in our neighborhoods, in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces, in our, whether you're in business or law enforcement or uh, manufacturing or insurance, whether you're a, a teacher or an athlete or a professional or a laborer or you're in the health industry, every arena of life is an opportunity for you to be reminded that you are first and foremost an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven, and you represent Jesus wherever you go. And you're called to be a minister of reconciliation again, if you're a follower of Jesus, listen, your relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. It's not your job, it's not your finances, it's not your family. It's not your friends. It's not your reputation. It's not your security. All of those things matter. They're all important and they matter to God. But what we're called to do as followers of Jesus is to take every single one of those things and lay them down at the feet of our Lord Jesus and say, it's all yours. What do you want me to do? Lead me. God, heal me. Change me, but use me. Here I am Lord. Send me. And when we do this and we say, God, I want to be a part of what you're doing, things begin to change in the world around us. Your question should always be, did the people who were around me get a better sense of who Jesus was by being around me? Like, did I point people to him or did I put all eyes on me? Because I wanna point people to Jesus? Now, I don't mean that you become one of those people who tries to fit Jesus into every conversation. It's so awkward. Don't be that guy, alright? That's that's not, that's not it. Your job isn't to convince people that you're right and everybody else is wrong. Your job isn't to win arguments. That's not how we do this. How do we help people see who Jesus is? We love and we serve as Jesus loved and served. That's our calling. But it all starts with you putting Jesus on the throne of your life in every possible way. Paul was writing about this and he couldn't get over it. And he finally just kind of says, in the most emotional of ways, I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings becoming like him in his death. And so somehow to attain to the resurrection of the dead, not that I've, I I've already obtained all of this, or I've already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. So I'm on this hike in Wyoming, and I'm getting pelted with the sleet in the rain, and I, I, I'm doing okay. I just start singing this song and I start laughing to myself, and then I found myself crying and the tears started. I, I swear, if you saw me on that hike that day, you'd have thought I was nuts. And I kind of was. I mean, I was out there in that storm and I'm singing and laughing, but in that moment, I'm singing that song. And God brings to mind this Bible verse that I learned when I was a kid. I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine. And I just fell apart because I belong to Jesus. He's reconciled himself to me on the cross. And it doesn't matter now what storms I face because I'm his and he's mine. And no one can take that away. And church, oh, how I want that for each of you. So listen, this is for all of you, but there are some of you who like this moment is for you. If you would not describe yourself as a follower of Jesus. This is the life that God wants to invite you into. And it is beautiful and it is glorious, and it is anchored in these deep truths that you can build your life upon. And so I wanna say this to you, be reconciled to God. Choosing to pursue Jesus with your life is the most important decision that you can make. So come and see and ask questions and struggle with it. And there will be pastors and leaders here to help you along the way. But even more than that, be reconciled yourself to him. You'll begin to see how you are the beloved. And even in the difficult moments of your life, God will be there in the most beautiful of ways. And you will not only become a recipient of his grace, but you'll be an ambassador of it. And he'll walk with you and he'll talk with you, and he will remind you that you belong to him. And even in the deepest, most intimate details of your life, you can bring the scary stuff, the stuff you're hiding to Jesus. And he will graciously and lovingly restore you and love you in those moments. And he will meet you in all of it. I've been a follower of Jesus for around 30 years now, and I'm telling you, every time I think I've come to the end of his grace, there's more. He shows up every time his mercies are new every day. And so my prayer for all of you is that you would know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his suffering, becoming like him in his death. And so somehow to attain to this resurrection life, this life that gives us hope for eternal life with Jesus. And we look forward to that day, but it also gives us power now to live and to be a part of what He is doing in this world, and to know that we are the beloved as God begins to transform us from the inside out and reconciles all things to himself. So I want us to take a moment now here at the end to consider everything that we've been talking about and, and maybe just to come before God in prayer. In fact, wherever you are, I I would ask you to bow your heads now, and if you'd like to, you can sit with your hands open in your lap, your palms up like this. It's just a, a posture of saying, God, I'm here to receive. Because what I want to ask you is what is the next step that God's calling you to take in all of this? What is he convicting you about these days? Convicting is not a word we use a lot. It's kind of a scary word, but it just, I, to me it just means what does God need to break your heart about that matters to you and to him? Is it time to receive this gift of grace? Is it time to be reconciled yourself? Is it time to say, God, you've been putting this thing in my heart for a long time and now it's time to, it's time to do it. I gotta take that step into healing, into community, into service, into leadership. Father, we come before you now speak to our hearts. Your servants are listening.