Happy Birthday Tribe! Tribe 2022-10-31 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Say hello to the camera and hit and to our livestream, I'll welcome. And then I won't see anything else. You can greet people that are Whatever you wanna do. To you. We're We're be We're balloons that. And celebrations. But as we just find our seat, my friends in the room, as we find our seat, friends in the room, then the Holy Spirit will come, but not till you're seated. Oh, but let's just take a moment and just if we had a great week, that's awesome. If you had a great week, that sucks. But you're still here, and the Lord honors that. Let's just take a moment. Take a breath or two if you need to. Just a deep breath and let everything that is not of the Lord go. Breathe in his presence. Breathe out anything that's not of him. Lissa's not here today. We have our good and dear friend, Nate. Today, he's gonna be leading us. His family just moved to Montana, so it's basically a hop, skip, a jump over here. But we're really expecting something today every time we come and we gather. Lord, you are welcome here. Just take a moment as we begin worship today. Just posture your heart to the lord. Compare your when my heartbeat comes free and the shame is I done. And your presence for your presence lord just take a moment to bless him and thank him with a heart just look at him. Look to him. Look at him. Oh, how he's beautiful. To see the Lord. You're beautiful. You're wonderful. You're the one who skips over the mountains for us. Stay in that. Stay in him. Tasted love. Nothing satisfies me like you do. You're the found that won't I have taste. Lizzie always says it so much smoother than I do, but, in this moment of tenderness, softening of our hearts, would anybody have maybe the Lord put a bible verse on their heart or a word to share or maybe do you see a picture? So Gretchen has the mic and she'll pass it around to you. Let's just make room and opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak through us so that he can contribute to the service. Through one of us, perhaps. So I saw this on the Internet, and I've shared it quite a bit. But, it says we cannot force someone to hear a message they are not ready to receive, but we must never underestimate the power of planting a seed. And the picture that goes along with this is a tree growing up through a, a boulder. So I thought that was pretty pretty cool illustration as to kinda what we talked about last week and being ready to share the gospel. And, of course, I think the conclusion last week was the I think the best way to do it was with our each individual's life and how you live your life and how you are seen by this world. I'm I'm visiting can you hear me? So my husband and I started doing devotionals together just a couple of weeks ago, and he called me this morning with a really beautiful one. When Jesus died for us, and we teach this, we share this, he died to free us and forgive us of our sins. Right? We all hear that. But he also died to give us a new life. And that's where the big impact for me is, the story they told in the devotional was a prostitute gets saved, and now she's a forgiven prostitute. But if her identity is a forgiven prostitute, what will she do? She'll probably just keep living, thinking that she's a prostitute. But she's given a new life. She's now the bride of Christ. She's the queen. If she has an identity of a queen, how is she gonna live? She's gonna live very differently. And so how we think of ourselves based on Christ in us, who we are, will change how we react in this world, how we'll love others and live, and it's just a beautiful thing. Yeah. Lord, thank you that you said that, in that day, in this day, we would know by experience that we are in you, you were in the father, and we're one. Thank you for this for this identity, this union, this mystical union that we would not see ourselves less than caught up in the trinity, less than who you say we are and and and and what you have paid for us to walk out New life in you, new creations. Yeah. Take us take us high and deep and wide and into all the dimensions of of the reality of your love for us and in us, that what it is accomplished. And, yeah, give us grace to not, not sell that short one bit. You know what you're doing. You knew what you're doing. Thank you for fully identifying with our with our lowliest states and seating us with you. Yeah. As your bride, as your children, as your partners, as your friends. Yeah. Give us grace in this, God. I am unaware of these afflictions eclipse by glory. I realize just how beautiful you He Can we just all stand together and sing it with me? Maybe touch your neighbor on the shoulder and declare it over him. He loves us. Father. A I just feel the devil. Make make declaration over your next door neighbor. Speak the love of Jesus over them. There are no toxic levels. No toxic levels of the love of god. Thank you for your love. Just thank him for his love. Thank you for your love. You for your Thank you for your love. Thank you for your love. Thank you for for your love. Thank you for your love. Yeah. Let's just keep sealing that with a little more gratitude. Just, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's like how to respond to such reality. Thank you for now. Thank you. Let my life demonstrate gratitude for this reality that you would come, that you would take on our life, Jesus, and give us your life. Thank you for this love, the greatest, most powerful, nothing, noncomparable love of God. Thank you. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for shedding, spreading, appropriating the love of the father all in our hearts, all in our bodies, all in our minds. Overtaken. Let us be overtaken by the presence and power of your love. When we make it what it's not, bring us back. Bring us back. Teach us to love you. Teach us to love each other. Teach us to love our neighbor. Thank you for a fresh impartation and touch and healing of and from and in your love, Jesus. Holy, holy love. Holy love. Holy, holy, holy, holy, love of God. Holy God who is love. No toxic levels, not a cliche or soft prayer at all, not an elementary emphasis on the Christian life to talk about love. Nothing supersedes the love of God. Let us walk around drenched, shining, glowing in the glory of the love of God. Holy, holy, holy Jesus. Amen. Alright. Even though we wanna stay here for a long time, you can in your heart, but we're gonna worship the Lord in a different way. So grab a seat, get a fizzy water, empty your empty your coffee, fill your coffee, and we're gonna start in one minute. Livestream, you do the same. See you in a sec. Oh, yeah. The the teenager VIP section. Come sit with your father. Yes. And we're back. Good morning, livestream family. Good morning, tribe family. Good morning, Ryan. Thank you. Get your coffee. Come have a seat. Balloons are making you rowdy. It's the balloons. Yes. Yes. So today is Tribe's birthday. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Tribe. Does anybody does anybody know how old Tribe is today? Six. Six. That's right. Today, Tribe is six years old, and we have Nate with us. Didn't Nate do a great job? Now when I know if you're sitting near him, give him hugs and squeezes, but when service is over, please do your tribe thing and just make him feel loved and welcomed like family. And I see that, like, most of us in the room this morning are family. We're like regular tribe family. Can I ask something of you guys real quick? Can I ask that every time you come in these doors, whether there are or aren't streamers, decorating the doorway, could I ask you to be on the lookout for people who visit Tribe? We're on the verge. Right now, it's off season, but we're on the verge of starting our winter season. And with winter season, we're gonna have if you come on Tuesdays, we're gonna have lots of new young adults coming. We'll have seasonal people coming in here. And you don't need to swamp them, but I don't know, maybe you do. But could could each of you could each of you take it upon yourself the responsibility to pretend that this is your house and a person walking through that door is a guest coming into your house? Could you even conceive of inviting somebody over to your house and then not greeting them when they come in, not doing your part to make them feel welcome? You guys are really great at that, and I just want to remind you that we're about to come into a season of new people coming in and looking for a home. And we want every single person that the Lord puts on their heart to call tribe home. We want them to feel welcome and loved and connected. Can we can can we do that? And you guys are really good at that. I just want to tell you to to keep it up. Today is tribe's sixth birthday, and I want to continue worship by playing a quick little video for you of some of the highlights and snapshots from this last year. And so let's watch our little slideshow of tribe's birthday, and then we'll dig into god's word together. Alright? Being born, mission trips. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So a a lot that Tribe has done in its fifth rotation around the sun, and I can't wait to see what the Lord has for our Tribe fam as we start our sixth rotation around the sun. And we'll we're we're gonna share a little bit more with you, like a a snapshot specifically of our finances and benevolence ministry, but we'll we'll we'll get to that in just a little bit. If you have your Bible with you this morning, would you please turn to first Chronicles chapter seventeen? First Chronicles chapter 17. My goal is to keep it short and sweet. See see how we see how we do. I don't even have a keynote for this morning. It's it's supposed to be that short and sweet. First Chronicles chapter 17, and Gretchen will keep an eye out for you. Let's take let's take turns and read verses one through 16. So you can read a few verses and pass it on to the next person, and we'll read first Chronicles 17 verse one through 16. And if you're a part of a discipleship campus watching the livestream at home, you guys take turns and read that as well. When David was settled in his palace, he summoned Nathan the prophet. Look, David said, I am the living I am living in a beautiful cedar palace, but the ark of the Lord's covenant is out there under a tent. Nathan replied to David, do whatever you have in mind for God is with you. But that same night, God said to Nathan, go and tell my servant David. This is what the Lord has declared. You are not the one to build a house for me to live in. I have never lived in a house from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. My home has always been a tent moving from one place to another in a tabernacle. Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel's leaders, the shepherds of my people. I have never asked them, why haven't you built me a beautiful cedar house? Now go and say to my servant David, this is what the Lord of heaven's armies has declared. I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people, Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all of your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth. And I will provide a homeland for my people, Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won't oppress them as they've done in the past. Starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will defeat all your enemies. Furthermore, I declare that the Lord will build a house for you, a dynasty of kings. Through to 16, so you can hand it off. For when you die, up I will one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house, a temple for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father and he will be my son. I will not take my unfailing love from him as I took it from Saul who ruled before you. I will establish him over my dynasty and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever. So Nathan went back to David and told him everything that the Lord had said. And then read to the comma of verse 16. Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I? That comma? There you go. There you go. So several years ago, I I took a friend hunting, and, I'm glad to see Jeremy here this morning. I was wondering, I saw Lindsey here, I was like, Jeremy's not here. He is out there like like the elk whisperer tracking him down and blasting away. But I don't see that he's covered in blood or he got it done so well he could even get to church and put his dress shirt on. Were you hunting this morning? Okay. I feel a little better about that. But I took a friend hunting and I know I know like like I enjoy hunting but like I'm just so terrible at it. So me taking somebody less experienced than me out of it was like the blind leading the blind. I took them out hunting, and we were north of town. And we were we were making our way right at sunrise up over this really long, sloping, gentle rise. And we were kinda walking along. There was no cover or anything. And we came up over the rise, and at about 800 yards perpendicular to us, a herd of about 30 elk just come rumbling up over the rise. And it was so thrilling and exciting because most of the time when I go hunting, I don't even see elk come. Like, I spot trees and rocks and sagebrush and and and not the elk. But here come 30 head of elk at, like, 800 yards just rumbling up over this gentle rise across the plateau. And I was like, this is so exciting, like, least for seeing elk. And my friend that I took hunting, they got so caught up in the moment. They had never been hunting before. They got caught up in the moment. I stopped and was trying to, like, you know, look for my rangefinder or maybe grab I I just stopped. But they got so excited and caught up in the moment of seeing and hunting elk that they just took off running after the elk. My first my first thought was get back here. You're you're gonna run-in front of my gun. Like, you don't run-in front of the person with the gun. My second thought was you'll never catch them. My third thought was, well, let's just see how this plays out. And to protect the dignity of this person, I won't tell you who it was. In a similar way, we see David who gets out a little ahead of himself. Today we're going to as we talk about our conversation for this morning, We're gonna look at the experience that David went through in God's response. If you notice back in verse one, when David was settled in his palace, he summoned Nathan the prophet and said, look, David said, I'm living in this beautiful cedar palace, but the ark of the covenant is out there under a tent. Now remember, while that that the ark of the covenant had been traveling through the wilderness, God had given instructions to Moses of how to build this tent, and now here we are generations and generations later, and the Israelites are in the promised land of Israel, but the ark of God is still in a tent. And when you see that word tent, there should be a little bell that goes off in your mind about something that we've been talking about recently. What is that? Sukkot and tabernacles. So so the ark of the covenant, god's presence, has been tabernacling tabernacling in a tent, a temporary dwelling that could be set up and taken down. Where was David living? In a castle. In a palace. David sees this. He comes to realize this moment. And he says it's not right that I'm living here in this beautiful palace while while the presence of God, the very heart and the treasure of Israel is living in a little tent. We should build him a nice beautiful place. So David tells that to Nathan. Nathan the prophet goes home, goes to bed that night. That night, look at verse three, but that same night God said to Nathan, go and tell my servant David, this is what the Lord has declared. You are not the one to build a house for me to live in. Now, I think that David had a really good idea. He might have even had a god idea that the lord needed a place to dwell that was more befitting and more appropriate for who he is. But then David went, got a little ahead of himself. He took off running after the elk, And he thinks that he is the one to build a house for the Lord. But I wonder let's remember you hear me talk about this all the time. Let's activate. Let's use our holy sanctified imagination, and let's put ourselves in the shoes of David when Nathan the prophet comes and tells David the the very first part. Hey, I went home. I slept on it, and I've come back with the word of the lord. The lord says, you're not the one to build me a house. If you were David in that moment, how do you think it would make you feel? What thoughts would be going through your mind when you heard the words of Nathan? That who was. Oh, okay. Okay. So elaborate on that a little more and the mic's coming to you. So I think we're we're always kind of looking inward but if if it's not us inwardly doing the task then we wanna know who is doing the task. So that so that we can kind of make the comparison of where we are, I think. That's or that's the way I would see it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Alright. So if if not me, Lord, then who? And what if now the text that let's not try to stretch the text beyond what it can bear. The text does not say that god said to David, build me a house, but not but you're not the one to do it. It just says, look or observe or consider. I'm living in a beautiful cedar cedar palace, but the ark of the covenant is out there under a tent. Nathan says, do whatever you have in mind for God is with you. So Nathan is saying, that sounds like a sounds like a really good idea. But then for him to come back and say, but you're not the one to build it. What would be going through your mind? What would you think? I would immediately be like, well, then I'm not good enough. Yeah. Right. Yeah. What did I do to mess it up? Or Yeah. You not like me anymore? Sad. Yeah. Tear. Yeah. A tear. Yes. Cry face emoji. We would immediately say why. Yeah. Why? Why am I number one? Yeah. Isn't it interesting that God would would would let's say for the sake of this conversation, I don't think we're we're saying something in the text that's not there, but let's say for the sake of the conversation, wasn't just a good idea, but it was a God idea that David had. It's reasonable to assume that based upon Nathan, the prophet doesn't say, you're in your flesh. He just says, go and do whatever you have in mind for God is with you. But why would God do something like that where he would say, here's what I want to accomplish on the earth, but then follow it up with it's not going to be by your hand. What is he up to? And this is not a teacher question looking for an answer. I'm just wondering and considering with you we're all in this conversation together. Yeah. Could it be that may maybe god it was a teaching moment for Nathan, the great prophet, and for David, the great king to you have a good idea, but you need to see, did God authorize this good idea? Because obviously, he didn't. Right. Right. Or is it that God had God I'm not disagreeing you with you, but I'm saying yes and. What if God said, yep. This is what I want to accomplish on the earth, but David, don't get ahead of yourself. It's not gonna be you to build it. I do wanna do this Yeah. But don't go chasing elk Well, then maybe or waterfalls. It's it's like David David had done so many times in the past. He say, Lord, when? How do we go about it? Yeah. And who's gonna I mean, all his major military victories, that's the pattern that he followed. Now, he did not follow that pattern. Yeah. Interesting. Alright. I'm I'm enjoying this conversation. So I think when we start building, unfortunately, sometimes we take our eyes off what we really should be focusing on. You know, what is the purpose? And, you know, I've seen being from the South, I've I've seen churches split over what color the carpet's gonna be, you know, in the sanctuary. You know, people just think that they know what's best. Well, you know, we need to focus on what what we're doing it who we're doing it for Mhmm. As opposed to this temple that we are building like it's like we're building it for ourselves. Super humbling. And did you say did God tell David to do it? God we do not see in the text that God instructed amongst himself just to do this. So yes. So So God's Go ahead. Basically gonna tell David to wait on me. I have a plan. You know, you're getting ahead of yourself like we always do. I mean, raise your hand if you ever get no. Because that's all of us. Right. Good intentions, but Yep. Yep. Oh, that's good. Okay. I just keep thinking of a conversation I have with my brother who is also he's very prophetic, and we see from scriptures how prophetic David was. Yeah. And his closest adviser is also a prophet. And he's been through the dirt with David. Yes. He So his knee jerk reaction is, oh my gosh, of course, God is with you. He's gonna bless whatever you decide to do because you're prophetic too and that's totally from God. But the Lord's intervention is, wait. Mhmm. It's not my timing. Mhmm. And one conversation I had with my brother was, like, he gets all these prophetic words, but everybody else is kinda, like, slow to react. Right? Mhmm. And it's, like, moving a huge object where it's all in the Lord's power and timing for this to come to pass. Mhmm. And so God's saying, I got this. Yes. That was a word for me, but I'm gonna work it out, and it's gonna look like I want it to look like. It's good. I you you are bringing this is why I love the collaborative effort of these conversations that we have because you might not have implicitly said it, but your comment just now makes me wanna go back and reread and re preach this message from Nathan the prophet's perspective. He says to the king of Israel, go and do whatever is in your heart. Like, mean, his he knows that his words carry weight. Then he goes home. God speaks to him in a dream, and he has to come back and be like, remember when I said go and do? What I meant was God says you you aren't the one to go and like, what a great different perspective. Boy, that'll that'll preach. Maybe you should preach that perspective next week. I think also, like all of us, we tend to get prideful, and we tend to try to do things on our own. We try to do things on our own. But, God uses the humble. He uses the weak and I think maybe he was showing David. David's too proud maybe in his heart at that point and trying to do things on his own. And God's saying, oh no, I'm not gonna use you, you know, because of your heart. We don't know the posture of David's heart at that point. But, you know Yep. So there there could be something there. We see in the text when David was settled in his palace, we're gonna come back to that phrase, he said to Nathan the prophet, Look. So the idea, there's another place in the Bible, well there's multiple, but one of the places that come to my mind in the bible where it is said so I'll I'll try to let let's play a little fill in the blank. I'll try to say it without giving it away, then you make the connection. Okay? So that I don't make the connection for you and then baby bird it into your mouth. You think, you consider. Okay? Thank you for the visual. There's another place in the bible all the way, like, towards the left part of your bible where another person looked and saw something and then ended up going right into a ditch. They looked and they saw and then in their own eyes, their own perception that it was good. And the next thing you know, they're right in a ditch. The The promised promised before then, and it and the promised land was a good thing. I'm thinking of a woman when her eyebrow raises. Oh. Who? Abraham's wife. Oh. That's not what I'm thinking of but go. I don't know where to go to. Oh. Sorry. I'm sorry. Not Abraham's wife. Amanda, help us out. I was helping Lee out. It's Sarai before their names change. Know, God promised. I love this. Yeah. Promise them a baby. And she's like, well, I know how to do that, but we're old. But it's not happening. So I'm just gonna make it happen with someone else. Like Yeah. On my time and my terms based on your promise. There's a there's another great example of, like, chasing elk. Right? That's not the example that I was thinking of because I'm trying to I'm trying to draw us to a clue here in the text. And she looked and saw that the fruit was appealing to the eye. Jim's like Jim's like, yeah. I I that's right where I was headed to, pastor Brian. I was thinking of that. But so so we we need to so these the the every word in the Bible is not only put there in place, but it is designed and intended for us to to see hyperlinks that that will take us forward in the overarching the the overall story arc of the Bible, the plans and purposes of god, and to take us back. And when I saw this, look, David said, look, consider, observe, and it's exactly what Eve did. She saw and perceived with her own eyes. And when the when the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and attractive, they just they they took so so the Bible tells us to not walk by Sight. Sight, but by faith. And so we see here David, and it could be a God idea, but it could be his own pride like like, now that I've got my stuff taken care of, let me let me do something for the Lord. Let me let me help you out, God. And God's like, wait a minute. So six years ago, the Lord spoke to Lysa and I and said, I can't sometimes I feel like he said I dare you to, but we'll just say I want you to to begin a new work. What did I call you to this valley to do? To lead, love, and shepherd the people of this valley. And the the at the time, the current situation we were in, that door was closing and we're like, how in the world would we be able to do that? He said, just do what I've called you to do. Well, how are we supposed to? Then he's like, bonk on my old hard wooden head. We're like, you want us to plant a church? I was like, I've always thought, you know, I've been in in full time vocational pastoral ministry for over twenty years now serving in various capacities and different levels at different sized churches and different staff And I always thought, like, missionaries to, like, Cambodia and church planters, like, those like those were the real Christians. Those were the hardcore Christians, and I definitely was not one of those. And through a series of of events and prayer and prophetic words and and having an unshakable feeling that this was the assignment that the Lord had for us. We put our yes on the table to plant tribe, and we said, Okay, Lord. We'll plant tribe, and we'll start a new work here in the valley. He said, Okay. One condition though. You can't tell anybody what you're doing. We're like, How are we supposed to start a church and we can't tell anybody that we're starting a church? He's like, I got this. You can't tell anybody that you're planting a church unless they have come to you and expressed like, hey hunters, what are you guys doing? Like like, let us know. And we'd either like to be a part or check it out or visit or we're with you. We're we're with you. And there as I look around the room, how many of you were at that original vision casting casting dinner in the lobby of Shepherd of the Mountains Church, the night that Cory will never forget? It was it was it was an awesome it was an awesome night. It started with with just a a handful of us and Carolyn McFarlane, are you back? Yeah. Were you at that dinner also? Yes. Woo hoo, that's right. I just didn't see that hand, but I was thinking, I knew she was there. So that was six years ago. Started at Shepherd of the Mountains. We had if you were involved in children's ministry at that time, we had, like, this this, like, maze of, like, ABS, like, pipe and drape curtains that we would set up, and the kids would knock over and run through. And joy, it's a miracle that she's like still with us. All the Abbads after all that they endured at Shepherd of the Mountains. And do you guys remember there was a was a family that was attending tribe a part a part of tribe at that time. Wonderful family, the Gibsons, Josh and Leah Gibson, and their oldest daughter who's now I don't know. She could be driving. It's only six years ago, Brian, but it feels like that long ago. And and After a time at Shepherd of the Mountains, we approached Snow King several times, but the rent was so high. And and we just said, we we can't afford that. We can't afford that. They came back to us lowering the price for for monthly rental agreement, and we're like, we can't afford that. And one of our board members, Bob, who's just wonderful and awesome and probably watching the livestream this morning, said just throw out this crazy low number. And we threw it out and they're like, yeah. Okay. Wow. So we're under we're under contract to lease a space at Snow King, which even though it was a really low number at the time, it was still four times higher than what we were paying for rent at Shepherd of the Mountains. But God was good, leading us, guiding us every step of the way. Snow King, the days at Snow King where we had so much room. And even though we had to do setup and tear down every week, those were just wonderful days. There's fond memories in my heart of the multiple children's classroom, the beautiful lobby that we could use, you know, like the stuff that every, like, church wants to have with their space. Right? And then COVID hit, and the wheels came off to a greater or lesser degree, really in all of our lives. All of our lives were disrupted and impacted by COVID to some degree. If you remember those days, for a long time we were meeting online. There were a few families that's like, by hook or crook, I will meet with people in my family on a Sunday. And we were live streaming from our living room, and they're like, we're just going to sneak in, and we'll just sit in the back. And, like, you never have to see us, but we have to do church with family. And that worked great until one of the dads sat a little too close to the camera and picked up his horribly out of tune voice on the live stream. Does anybody remember? Who's there? Who's meeting? Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I won't I won't I won't say that it was Tim Vetter, but let's just he could take it. He where is he? Was he out hunting? Yes. Oh, yeah. With Elisha this weekend. Alright. Well, lord, we pray for for the veterans that they would have success. They would get the brown down and fill their freezer full of meat this season. After Snow King, when COVID hit, we stopped meeting and you remember we met outside, we met in people's homes. During that time, we bought this place and we bought it. If I could be really honest with you, we bought it really at the direction and leadership of the Lord. Yes, we had a lot of vision for this place, being able to be a resource for the community. And the high school has met here, like Jackson Old Community High School. They've met here for various events. Right now, currently, we are using this space on Thursday for an ecumenical, like multi church high school youth ministry. They come in here and make a mess, and it's wonderful, and then we clean it up. So it's been used for various community events, for outreach, when we take our tribe bus and get out into the community and out into Riverton. This space for us to move the offices of Tribe out of our living room and into a space so that old PB can go to work and then leave work and come home and have a family life. And for those of you who work from home, you know how difficult that is to like separate. You gotta rig up a little curtain on wires and like, I'm going to work now. I'm looking at Corey because a lot of his meetings involves clients and he's on on screen and and they don't wanna see like I don't know. Amanda's book pile makes sense. Amanda's book pile and clothes pile and everything. And so so it gave us this opportunity. But as we were meeting outside on the hillside of Snow King, how many of you remember those days? Yeah. Does anybody remember the I will never forget. I was doing I can't remember what the point was, but I had an object lesson with a jar of peanut M and M's, and I said I needed a volunteer, and there was The dirtiest, sweet hearted little hippie volunteered for that little object lesson and and the object lesson involved him, like, reaching his hand into this jar of peanut and and Kai had already claimed him for himself after church. He's like, I get the whole jar. Yeah. And I saw this guy's hands reach in there, grab this handful of M and M's, and I was like, Kai, those M and M's are all yours. But the days do you remember? Bless his little heart. And we never saw him again. But the Lord, I'm sure, really touched his heart and hopefully gave him a bar of soap. But then as as we got into the fall, it got too cold to to meet outside and we had this space and we were utilizing it, but we were we're still trapped in this model, this this format of like a large church. All of us, when you say church, you all have a picture in your mind of like rows, pews, pews, seats, auditorium, stage, you know, all the things. And we're like, it's getting too cold to meet outside. COVID's, like, not going anywhere. Like, where in the world are we gonna meet? And we're all here we had this beautiful space. We're scratching our head. Like, where are we gonna meet? Where are we gonna meet? And then it was Lee who spoke up, who's a member of our pastor's council, and said, I feel like the Lord is saying just use what I've given you. And if you remember as a leadership team and board, we were all like, wait. You want us to have church in here? There's no way that will ever work. Here we are two years later of being here at the TMC. And in the midst of COVID and transitioning here and having to adapt our format and and really breaking a lot of stuff off me and and of, like, what I thought I was supposed to do and achieve and accomplish and, you know, God has just done some wonderful, wonderful things in this format, in this environment. And I'll remember Clay, as they started coming to Tribe and calling Tribe home, one day he spoke up and he's like, I mean, yeah, this is great, but let's get back to the big and the and the everything we're and then we were sharing this. And then, like, at the end of the service, he's like, I just need to say I stand completely corrected. This is amazing, and this is awesome. And I know that this is this is really what the church has looked like for two thousand years. It's looked like this a lot more than it's looked like the church perhaps that you have come from. I don't want to ever poo poo that model in that format because God is still doing great things through that format. This is just what he has called us to. And I think also because of this venue, church has become more intentional rather than just showing up in the big sanctuary to be a Sunday Christian. You know, this is not necessarily comfortable when you're stepping over people's feet and everything. So people that are here want to be here. And I just love how it is a family. And because so many other churches had closed their doors, tribe kept their door open. That's why we're here. Mhmm. You know? We wanted to go to church. Mhmm. We didn't wanna stay at home. And because you did listen to what God was telling you to do and open the doors to this small place, I think God's blessing it. Yeah. It's hard to hide here even though even though Carolyn still manages to do a decent job of it. But I'll just keep calling her out. How many of you won't be back. Oh. Oh, I know where she lives. We'll go have church at her house. How many of you have ever noticed somebody new coming in and they get two steps in the door and they're like, oh, boy. Oh. Now, just like a as a quick matter of housekeeping, we are always working on improving our online presence so that people don't get surprised. Want them to have at least some idea of what they're walking into because nobody likes to be, like, surprised in that way. I love surprises, but but nobody wants to be surprised in that way. And so we're always working on improving it. And as you look at our website, if you have any suggestions, please come and tell Joy Abad about those suggestions. So and or Corey so that we can work to improve that experience. But you know what? This is a steep on ramp to this community and this family. It's a steep on ramp. Where did the name come from? Oh. That's a good story. Okay. I'll I'll I'll tell that story just really quick. And then and then I wanna show you a couple of things in this story of David, and then we'll we'll continue on with worship. So we put our yes on the table to to planting a church here in Jackson. One of our first questions is, what are we gonna call it? And about that time, through four or five diff completely different avenues, a book I was reading, a conversation that I was having with a with a a person down in Moab, and through podcasts, this name tribe, like, just started, like, inescapable. And I thought Tribe I mean, that sounds like the name of, like, a like a Miami nightclub or something. Like, tribe, really? But but the the the values and ideas behind tribe some people think of tribe as being kind of like self centered, self looking, and like this self preservation, like, it's just our tribe. So exclusive. Thank you. Thank you. But really, all of us are a part and longing for connection with God's tribe, and we are a a collection, a collective of like minded, like valued people who are rallying around loving Jesus and accomplishing four things to make the name of Jesus famous and to evoke the beauty of the bride. You walk past it every week on their way up to Jesus. Can anybody name or take a shot at one of those four things that we try to accomplish in our mission here at Tribe? I'll give you a hint. Build strong families. Build strong families. Connect. Trinity. I know. I'm just I just wanted to make you embarrassed. Connecting through community. Third one is developing. Servant leaders. Yes. Developing servant leaders. And then finally, making Disciples. Disciples that will change the world. That's what we're about here at at Tribe. And through those four things, we we strive to originally, I said, make the name of Jesus famous. But as we're getting into our sixth year, I really feel the strong stirring of this additional component of evoking and awakening and cultivating the beauty of the bride of Christ in preparation for the return of the king. And so this name tribe just kept coming up, And I was like, I I just I wasn't really, like, excited about it. And then, Lissa and I went to a Beth a week long Bethel conference, and we're standing in line to get into the conference. And Lissa and I, we just held hands and we prayed and we said, Lord we just threw out a fleece. Lord, if you want this church to be called tribe, I pray that out of the mouth of every single presenter on stage, they would say that word tribe at least once and or we would see a lion because that is our as of yet undeveloped logo for for tribe is just this lion. And I've seen lots of different versions and lots of different people have tried, but I just haven't found it yet. But that's, like, unofficial. So over the course of that that week, from the mouth of every speaker on this stage was the name tribe until the very last session. When the the last speaker got done, the worship team came back out. Nobody had said that word tribe. And I was looking at Liz, like maybe we're off the hook. The worship team comes back out and Bethel style on one side of the stage. They have a painter on the other side of the stage. They maybe have somebody dancing or things like that. Maybe there's opportunity for us to do that here at Tribe. Whoever wants to dance, whoever wants to paint. And at the end of the worship set, when we're concluding, the worship band sits the way the dancer moves off the stage and the artist steps to the side and what had she been painting? A lion. And we were like, okay. Tribe it is. And that's where we got our name from. You hear me from the stage and if you're ever a part of our leadership team meetings you hear us talk all the time about Jesus being the senior pastor of this church and it is we do not we do not say that in trying to just give lip service. I mean it sounds really good, doesn't it? Jesus, senior pastor of this church. Like it sounds really good, But we mean it and we say it as a way of checking us so that we don't run out to start chasing elk. Far be it from tribes leadership or me or us as a family to in our exuberance, in our zeal, in our excitement to run out ahead of the hunter, the one with the gun, and start just chasing elk. There is a quote by a guy named Watchman Knee, and he said, many a work that was begun in the spirit ends in the flesh. And by saying that Jesus is the senior pastor of this church, it does not make us immune from maybe chasing some milk sometime. I think we've done a really good job of not getting out there chasing elk. It doesn't make us immune, but but I say that and we say that to continually remind us as a tribe family and tribe leadership. I see elders and board members and staff here and just die hard. This is my family tribe folks here today. I say this to continually remind ourselves so that we can be put in a position and a posture of not getting out ahead of the Lord. Let's look at verse seven and eight. This is what Nathan says to David. Now go and say to my servant, this is what the Lord of heaven's armies has declared. I took you from tending sheep in the pasture, and I selected you to be the leader of my people, Israel. I have been with them with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all of your enemies before your eyes. Now I'll make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on earth. So David says, we should build a house for the Lord to take care of him. What does the Lord reply to David? No, bro. I'm the one that's been taking care of you. I saw you in obscurity. You had no pedigree, no power, and no potential to achieve what you've achieved apart from me. When you say, oh let's do something great for God. Let's take care of God. God, like a good father does, says, hey let me help you to see. You don't need to take care of me. I am the one. If you will recall, David, you were a shepherd boy on the backside of the desert going nowhere fast. And look what I have done through you and what I will continue to do. I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth. But isn't it interesting that he goes on to talk about a building or a structure? Let's jump into verse 10 through 14 and and and stop me if you're seeing something or or need to make a comment or make a connection. Verse 10, furthermore, I declare that the lord will build a house for you, a dynasty of kings. David says, you know, I think we should do something nice for god. Let's build him a house. Maybe he was being a little bit prideful, let me do something, trying to build a legacy, but I think the motivation of his heart was genuine, like I want to do this for the Lord. But then God flips it and says no, no, no, you're not going to be building me a house. He literally says, I declare that the Lord will build a house for you, David. But what kind of house? He clarifies. A dynasty of kings. Lee, were you gonna say something? You took the words right out of my mouth when you said pride. That, you know, pride takes many different forms and it and it could be which you said maybe there was a little bit of pride that welled up within David. You said, hey. I'm pretty well set. You know, I I wanna do this. It just rang a bell with me. Mhmm. It it it could. We're we're not clear from the we're not quite clear from the text. So David wanted to build a physical house or structure for God, but typical with God. He says, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But here's what I wanna talk about. And then what is on God's heart? Let's look at the let's look at verse 11 through 14. And what is it that is on the forefront of God's heart? Can read the read the words yourself, look at it, and take a take a stab at it. I'll read it for you. You consider and then tell me. For when you die and join your ancestors, I will raise up one of your descendants, one of your sons, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house, a temple for me, and I will secure his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my favor from him as I took it from the one who ruled before you. Who is that? Saul. Saul. Exactly right. I will confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever. What's on God's mind? Creating a legacy? And who said that? Britney's mom, Jesus. David is thinking about a physical house and a structure. What's on God's mind? My son. And it it is reasonable to read this at at two different levels. So that would be the higher deeper level. What is the the shallower more surface level? There you go. So yes, he's talking about Solomon, but we all know Solomon died. So it had to apply more than to Solomon. And when we read this, I will be his father and he will be my son. What should that that should create a hyperlink? Beep beep beep. That as our cursor goes across that text, that should be underlined in blue and remind us of something in the New Testament. What's that moment in the New Testament? In the life, in the inauguration of the ministry of Jesus? Hung on Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Tell us it. Jesus said, this is my son, whom I love, with whom I love peace. Yes. So when Jesus yes. When Jesus comes up out of the waters of baptism after being baptized by John the Baptist, John the not John the Baptist but John the apostle who's writing that biography of Jesus from John's perspective said that in that moment, he saw the Holy Spirit descend and remain on Jesus and it looked like the best way I can describe it would be like a dove coming down out of heaven and then everybody that was there heard a voice that says, this is my son. Today, you have become my son. Prophesied by the prophet Nathan fifteen hundred years before Jesus ever set foot on the scene? David wanted to go in a certain direction, build a house for the Lord. What was on God's heart? On God's heart was his son, Jesus. Nate, what are you seeing? What have you got for us? I might be going retrospective, but hopefully it ties together. What what keeps standing out to me is, you know, when we are sharing what what might be our responses if if the words like good idea, but I'm I'm not gonna do it how you're thinking. It was almost so I'm I'm just seeing the mercy of the Lord and how he addresses how he addresses David. I think there's a, you know, godly practical wisdom and and and a blessing and going forth and and being ambitious and and Nathan was like, do it, man. You know, the Lord's the Lord's with you. Then God adjusted that. It's it's just the the profundity of it is hitting me because because the Lord's response with a rhetorical question. Like, have I been talking about a house? I I haven't been talking a house. And then the humility of God to to address David, to remind him of of where he's taken him from. And so he's not impersonal. He's not like striking him down like a a physical house. What do you? Like? Stupid? Yeah. Yeah. He's not saying that. Yeah. Yeah. That rhetorical question was like leading him up to take his vision higher, which is so very much like the Lord. We might have like a bit and a piece or maybe we step out with well intentionality. And it's just very much like the Lord to lead us and guide us. And then after he addresses us, like, I just find that that is God's humility. Like, he's not above. I mean, that is his condensation display time and time again that that he gets personal with him, and then he lifts him up Yeah. And he shows him what what he really is gonna accomplish for for God's purposes, but it's also out of David's lineage. And I don't know. God's humility is just hitting me in that in that conversation, in those in those declarations. So I love where he's at. And he's like, let let me remind you. Thank you. I'm not talking about a house, but remember our history, and we're gonna go so much further. Yeah. So, yeah, just just something about God's humility and and the way he addresses his son, David. Oh, I love that. I love that. It's so good. David David's vision is like right out here, but God gently takes his finger under David's chin and lifts his gaze beyond what's right here and says, let me show you this, a dynasty of kings that will last forever. I'll confirm him as king over my house and my kingdom for all time, and his throne will be secure forever? Imagine David's like, ah. So do you want tile floors or hardwood? Let's look at our response. How do we connect this to us? What does this mean for us? What does this mean for tribes? So we're gonna start to land the plane here. I want you to look at where David first started out at the beginning of this story. Look in verse one, and I I ask you these questions so that you can be searching the text for yourself. And if you have a electronic bible, great. If have your paper bible, I would say even better so that you can make notes out to the side. If you have your notebook, you can be taking notes. But let's consider what geographical or physical position do we see David in when the story starts out? What does the text say? In his palace. Yes? Settled. He's comfortable. Boom. He is he is what in the palace? Settled. Settled. It's important. When the story first starts out, David is settled or seated surrounded by his own vision, his own kingdom, things that that he's built and made with his own hands. That's where that's where he's settled. Now let's look at the end of the story and see where David ends up. Somebody look at verse 16 and tell me where does David end up? Who am I? But where does he end up? Then King David went. And he sat before the Lord. Sat before the Lord. If you're taking notes this morning, that can be the title of your notes this morning, Seated Before the Lord. David started seated in his own understanding, in his own wisdom, his own palace, his own kingdom that he had created. When David was seated, settled, comfortable, All these things play out, but I love David's heart. Where does he end up? Seated. And check me on this. That word in Hebrew for settled in verse one is the exact same word in verse 16. It's the same word. At the end of the story, David ends up sitting in a posture of humility before the Lord. That's what I want for our tribe fam. I want us to be seated before the lord. And what are you doing when you're seated before the lord? You listen. You listen. You listen. We could we could continue. David has a great prayer of humility. Pardon me. Because I'm because I'm adding to my just just the first point that you said to me because it's for even further on in the text. Yeah. David starts off, I'm gonna build a house for you, and then ends God saying, I'm gonna build a house for you. I was just like, just blowing my blowing my mind the yeah. That it does not I don't know. Just like, obviously, the response is is humility to that. Like, what what else can you do except sit, bow before, be before the Lord in response to that? Yeah. Like, I've got an idea, and he's like, no. How about I build you one? And it's it's way beyond your your your capacity. Mhmm. That would it it's just wrecking me in a good way. Oh, that's so good. That's exactly what we want. Mhmm. Remember when the the two brothers on Jesus' leadership team, the the sons of Zebedee, where they're like, Lord, should we call down fire on on these guys? And Jesus is like like, I mean, a right idea right idea, but, like, let's wanna do it let's do it differently. What strikes me in all of this also is the fact that he David goes, oh lord, it is an eternal blessing that you are giving. And that's not just for David. That's for you and me. He has an eternal blessing for all of us. Mhmm. It is Jesus. But that that blessing is within our family lineage. And Jesus is our family lineage. Yeah. And it isn't it interesting that the Lord, what was on his heart about his coming son who would rule as king over all of the nations of the earth. God had in mind what we have yet to see unfold in the the the pages of of history. But I do I don't think it's coincidental that the Lord has had our tribe family on a journey of two plus years now of learning about, pressing into, becoming fascinated, and yearning for the return of his son, Jesus. I believe that we're touching the father's heart because David had this plan in mind. But God was like, I wanna tell you about a coming king that will rule the nations of the earth. That was what was on his heart. And so today for our birthday, I thought it would be a good idea to give as a present to senior pastor Jesus on the birthday of this church, a renewed commitment from all of our hearts to letting him be the senior pastor of this church and lead, guide, and direct this church. Not absolving us from responsibility of actions or anything, but rededicating and recommitting as a church family. And for those of you watching the livestream that will listen to the podcast later. This this reestablishing and reaffirming God's leadership here in this church for whatever may lie ahead for tribe. It could be a new property. It might it might not look like what we were trying for in August. It might look different. It might be this for five more years. It might be something else in in five months. But we wanna make sure, Brian, that I don't get out ahead of the one with the gun in the orange vest and go chasing elk. That'd be a great way for y'all to pray for for old PB. He doesn't get drawn off by chasing elk. So let's just take a little bit of time and just reaffirm that Jesus is the leader of this church and that he is the leader of your heart. And as you pray, you might the Holy Spirit might tap you on the shoulder and say, hey, in this area, you've been chasing elk. You've out ahead of the hunter. You never you'll you will never be able to run down an elk. And I can say that with authority having done a decent bit of running in my life. So let's just let's just go before the Lord. Have him just speak to us for a moment. Okay? And I'm gonna leave this mic here because Amanda's coming up in a moment, but quite confident your voice can carry if there's anything you wanna say or say. Jesus, help us. Help us to be seated before you, before your leadership, before your presence. Get our hearts in tune with what's on your heart and on your mind. Senior pastor Jesus of Tribe, we honor you. And the greatest desire of our heart is to follow your leadership because you're trustworthy. And man, you do it so much better. Just take a moment and talk to him from your heart. I think it would be encouraging for all of us to have David's heart who turns from saying, I will build to no lord, you will build and with a sense of thank you, God, for seeing beyond what I see. So as we continue to read his word and live in his word that our eyes will be on Jesus to the point that everything will be laid before him. And to receive Nathan's strength in saying what god told him after he said something different. So, Jesus, may we, our relationship be with you so that the Nathan's that we are seeking counsel from can come back and say, god, speak truth. Nathan, speak truth to me, to my heart, to my life. May we not hold on to anything so tightly that god can't shatter it. In Jesus name. As we just remain here in this Holy Spirit moment, as we conclude our service, we're not in a we're not in a rush of anything the Lord wants to do. But as we remain in this attitude of worship, as we are about to bring our tithe and our offering to the Lord, and just as we're thinking about it being our birthday today and all that we've been able to do, I wanted to share just a few things that just a few things from our benevolence report that we have and the ways that we've been able to help people this year. I just wanted to read a few. So we've we've done so many things. When we bring our tithe and our offer to the Lord, we do it out of obedience, period. That's why we're doing it. We're not doing it to check off the Sunday box. We're not doing it to impress anybody. We're it's between us and the Lord and we do it simply out of obedience. And we leave as Charles Stanley says, obey the Lord and leave the consequences to him. So that's what we do and that's why we bring our tithe. But practically speaking, it's encouraging to see where it goes sometimes. And so this past year, as we think about our birthday, we've been able to do many things. We, we have helped single moms with daycare expenses. We've I wanted to say countless groceries, but it's not countless. It's in an itemized list, but so so so many groceries for people, gas, basic supplies. We bought dishes for a family, some kitchen stuff that they didn't have in the kitchen. We were able to book a hotel room for a sweet little friend who otherwise would have been on the street for just a little bit. Lots of Christmas gifts for kids in town who legitimately wouldn't have any otherwise. We've been able to provide a little bit of temporary housing for both businesses businesses and personal things. Man, we bought snow boots and big five for friends over the hill who would not who would be cold, if we if we hadn't done that or if the Lord wouldn't have allowed us to use use us in that way. There's a sweet single mom. We just, found her baby shower online and just took care of every item that she had on our list. That was beyond she was overwhelmed by that. Lots of vehicle repair repairs. Oh, my goodness. There's so much. Clothing for families and just meeting basic needs. And again, I say that's just a few snapshots of where this money goes. Over $10,000 this year in benevolence things. And that's not counting the actual money where many of us in this room have picked somebody up from the dentist office. There's there's a opportunity I had to do that and I didn't even know what the person looked like. So at the front desk they're like, who are you here for? I was like, my friend. Who are they? Like, it's it's really cool. But it was it's such a delight to serve the Lord in that way. You know, we want to give our time, our talent, and our treasure. We're a combination of any of those. Like Brian said, like, we're family in this room today. That's what we do. We serve. We serve each other. Period. So as we think about that, as we think about how the Lord likes us to be obedient, as we bring our tithe and our offering to him, I'm just gonna read you second Corinthians nine six. And it says, remember this, a farmer who plants only a few seeds gets only a few crops, but the one who plants generously gets a generous crop. You guys were very generous this year with our benevolence that I just read. You must each decide in your heart how much to give, and don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure for God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And that word cheerful in the Greek is a sense of readiness. Being prepared to act is what that word cheerful. It doesn't mean putting on a smile when you can't buy groceries because you're putting your money in the offering bucket. That's that's false humility probably. That's not what we're talking about cheerful, ready to act. And I can only speak into my personal experience, not what you've experienced or how the Lord will work in your life. But Cory and I, over the years, when the Lord has asked us to give generously above and beyond the offering, have been the times when we're like, we can't, you know? It hasn't been when it's been over money's been overflowing and the Lord's like, I guess go ahead and give a little to my kingdom. It's been when it's been when we can't on paper. And he's like, yeah, give all that. And so never, not once has he asked, we've obeyed, and he's he's not been faithful. The the end of that verse says that and God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. And our definition of that and God's is different. So we don't always need what we think we do. But in that spirit, let's close our eyes. Whether you're giving now or another time, I just want us to posture our hearts every opportunity we have inside of tribes walls or out to give of our time, our talent, or our treasure. Let's do it obediently whether we feel like it or not. Heavenly Father, we just come to you and say, we love you. You're so faithful, so very faithful. And you give us opportunities to obey, that little nudge we feel, that little ping in our heart or our spirit. Lord, help us to not only feel that, but to have the courage to obey the voice of your holy spirit when he nudges us to give above and beyond. Thank you for all the people that tribe was able to generously give to because of these generous people, your people, us here. Lord, we love you so much. We thank you for a wonderful next year for Tribe where we'll be able to give even more, and our hearts will be changed even more, and our willingness to obey you will just be softened even more. We love living for you, father. Whether we feel like it or not, we say thank you, thank you, thank you for who you are and that your character and nature never change. Thank you for all the tithes and the above and beyond that, the offering that are being brought in either today or later this week, whatever people's rhythms are. Thank you that that will go out and do exactly what you wanted to do. Bless everybody here in the way that you see fit. Thank you for giving us what we need, not what we think we need or what we want. We trust you in that. In Jesus' name, we all say, amen. Just real quick, if you wanna sign up for a Tuesday meal, it is on the fridge. Please, please, please take a handful of cupcakes on your way out the door. You can continue the celebration at home while you watch football. And let's see. Brian, will you oh, don't forget youth Thursday night for high school students right here at the TMC. Brian, come pray us out, please. Okay. Thanks. Good job. Just before I have you stand up, pray for you, dismiss you to get out the door, let me check-in with Nate. You you're in a unique position in stature. And also just like, you know, you you don't know all of these folks. You come into this. But I'd love to get just a little bit of maybe your thoughts on tribe or or our conversation today or the the vibe of tribe. Like, what would you have to say to us? And this mic will pick it up without having to adjust the mic. Yeah. Very very simply, I I I just sense that you all are in goods good hands, in in the lord's loving hands, but in the hands of each other. And that's like the appropriate communal touch and embrace of, yeah, knowing knowing each other after the after the spirit and in and in real life. When my wife and I came up here last year, it was just such a such a blessing to walk into the into the room and the and and the presence of the Lord here. That's that's how we live our life is the is the can you can you sense the Lord present in the people and and around, you know, which is which is kind of atmosphere and an environment created. So so when you ask that question immediately, I hear you're in good you're in good hands, and that's that can be cliche, but I think there's there's something something there. So, yeah, I I feel an honor and a rejuvenation and a quick and a quickening personally subjectively. So thank you for that. And Yeah. Yeah. I think it's Jackson Hole, Jesus Hole. Good. Well, thank you. Thank you. Since that. Yeah. Thank you. And bring Jillian and the family down next time they live up in Montana. So we probably won't see Nate until the snow melts unless he wants to drive the long way around. But they have moved from Oklahoma to Montana. So an eight hour drive from Montana is just a hop, skip, and a jump compared to a two day drive from Oklahoma. So, hopefully, we'll see Nate and their family more often. Would you stand up? Would that be alright if I prayed a blessing over you? Lord Jesus, help us. Help us. Help us to not run after and get ahead of you and chase elk. I only leave ourselves tired and worn out, but help us to be seated in your presence, under your counsel, and under your leadership. Lord, I command a blessing over each and every individual person here. And God, I ask that you would bless tribe as much as Chris Baxter's hair is long in this coming season. We pray these things in Jesus name, the strong son of god and everybody said. Amen. Amen. I love you guys so much. Grab a cup cake. Stick around if you can. Say hi to Nate. Have a great week. And remember, you got this.