God's covenant promise read in multiple translations to show the word Shema translated as both obey and listen
5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Elijah in the cave, God not in the wind earthquake or fire but in a gentle whisper, used to teach how God speaks quietly
9 He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
11 He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” Behold, Yahweh passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake; but Yahweh was not in the earthquake.
12 After the earthquake a fire passed; but Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a still small voice.
13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. Behold, a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Moses receiving his call, referenced as background to the wilderness wandering narrative
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb.
2 Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3 Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
5 He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
6 Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
11 Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
12 He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
13 Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
18 They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’
19 I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go.
21 I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
22 But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Brian was out of town this Sunday, so Joy Abad brought the message, building on what Brian taught the week before about simple obedience. She came to it not as someone who has it figured out, but as someone working through it right now. The heart of what she shared was this: in Hebrew, the word for obedience is shema, and it means listening and obeying together. You cannot have one without the other.
What was said
Joy started by pointing out something that had caught her when Brian talked about obedience the previous week. For her, obedience had always felt like a green light for doers to get busy. Find the problems, make a list, get it done. But the Hebrew word shema, the root of the famous prayer in Deuteronomy 6, does not separate listening from obeying. They are two sides of the same coin, and the listening comes first.
She walked through several passages to show this is not just a translation quirk. When the congregation read Exodus 19:5 aloud in different versions, most said "if you obey" while others said "if you listen." Same word, same command. James 1 and Matthew 7 both make the same point: hearing without doing, or doing without first hearing, both fall short of what God is actually asking for.
She used John Mark Comer's framing of crowds versus apprentices to sharpen the distinction. The crowds followed Jesus and heard his words. His apprentices did what he said and became like him. Joy put it plainly to herself as a mother: what example am I giving my daughters? Am I one of the crowd who hears the word but moves on, or am I someone whose listening and obeying are visibly inseparable?
The 1 Kings 19 passage gave her the picture she used to talk about how God actually speaks. Elijah heard not the wind, not the earthquake, not the fire, but a gentle whisper. Joy drew out what that implies practically. A whisper requires you to get quiet, to lean in, and to remove other noise. She pointed to the words "go out, stand, on the mountain" as a three-part picture: make time outside your normal rhythms, be still, and find genuine solitude where all the inputs are off.
She was clear that solitude does not mean once-a-year hikes. Citing James Clear's idea from Atomic Habits, she encouraged starting with a ridiculously small amount of time each day, something so small it would be harder to skip than to do. The practice she described was simple: take a breath, ask God a specific question, and write down the first thing that comes to mind. She said she thinks we overcomplicate this, waiting for earthquake-level clarity when God is already speaking in the quiet.
The congregation opened up from there. Someone mentioned the shower as their place of solitude, no inputs, a mind free to roam, and Joy pointed out that songwriters and creatives have said the same thing for the same reason. Others shared how they hold strange words or pictures loosely, writing them down without immediately trying to decode them, and returning to ask God to give clarity over time. One person reminded the room of Matthew 7, that a father does not give his child a stone when the child asks for bread, and that asking God to speak is a safe thing to do.
Joy closed where she started. True obedience, the kind the Bible describes, is not doing more things. It is hearing what God says and then doing that, just that. For people facing hard decisions, for doers who hit the wall and wonder why all their effort is not producing peace, her answer was the same: stop, make space, ask, listen, and then you will have something worth obeying.
Touch points
Things you could actually do this week.
Set aside a small, specific block of time each day, even just one or two minutes, to sit in silence with no inputs and ask God a simple question like 'What do you want me to know about today?'
Keep a pen and paper nearby during that quiet time and write down the first thought that comes to mind after you ask God a question, without immediately analyzing or acting on it.
If you hear or sense something from God that seems strange or unclear, do not dismiss it, but write it down and keep returning to it in prayer, asking him to bring clarity rather than trying to figure it out yourself.
Pick one moment in your existing daily routine, like a shower or a commute, where you normally let your mind run free, and intentionally use that time to listen for what God might want to say rather than filling it with music or podcasts.
Ask God for a healthy fear of the Lord and an obedient spirit, so that when you do hear something from him, you follow through on it rather than just adding it to a list of things you know.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Joy said that in Hebrew, the word for obedience is 'shema,' which means listening and obeying together as two sides of the same coin. Where in your own life have you been doing a lot of activity that you thought counted as obedience, but you may not have actually listened first?
Joy drew a distinction between the crowds who followed Jesus and his apprentices or disciples, who not only heard his words but did what he said and became like him. Which of those two categories would you honestly say describes you right now, and what makes you say that?
Pastor Brian estaba fuera ese domingo, así que Joy Abad trajo el mensaje, algo que ella misma aclaró que venía de lo que Dios le ha estado enseñando en su propia vida. Conectando con lo que pastor Brian habló la semana anterior sobre la obediencia simple, Joy explicó que en hebreo la palabra para obedecer es Shema, que significa escuchar y obedecer al mismo tiempo. No son dos cosas separadas: si no escuchas, no puedes obedecer de verdad, y si solo haces cosas sin haber escuchado a Dios primero, eso no es obediencia sino simple activismo.
Joy fue muy honesta al decir que ella misma es una persona de acción, y que durante mucho tiempo confundió el hacer cosas con obedecer a Dios. El peligro de eso, dijo, es que tarde o temprano uno choca contra una pared, agotado y frustrado, porque Dios puede responder: "¿Quién te dijo que hicieras todo eso?" La alternativa es apartar tiempo, aunque sea muy poco al principio, para quedarse quieto y escuchar. Dios habla en un susurro suave, como en la historia de Elías, y para oír un susurro hay que acercarse, callarse y apagar los ruidos de alrededor. Joy sugirió algo muy sencillo: tener papel y lápiz, hacer una pregunta concreta a Dios, y escribir lo primero que venga a la mente sin apresurarse a analizarlo ni a convertirlo en una lista de tareas.
La conversación se abrió a toda la congregación, y varias personas compartieron cómo escuchan a Dios en momentos inesperados, como en la ducha, o cómo reciben imágenes o palabras que no entienden de inmediato pero que guardan con cuidado. El punto central de todo fue este: la obediencia que Dios busca no empieza con el hacer, sino con el escuchar. Aprender a reconocer su voz requiere tiempo a solas con él, igual que en cualquier relación cercana.
---
Pasajes bíblicos mencionados
Deuteronomio 6:4-5
Éxodo 19:5-6
Santiago 1:22-24
Mateo 7:26-27
1 Reyes 19:9-13
Éxodo 20:20
Mateo 14:24-31
Read the full transcript10,281 words
Oh. You're play your it's impressive that you can do both that and guitar. You good, Trent?
And you can always switch the first song is completely in order. The other ones, you kinda have to jump back.
I'm just like, I can't unwrap it. Said Brian's out of town. Where is he at?
Let's stand up. Let's worship the lord today. It's good to see you guys.
We taught you this new song last week. If it's new to you, just roll with it. Words are on the screen. It's got a lot of words, but it's really catching. Pray with me this morning.
Holy Spirit, we invite you into this place today. We tell you we need you just like we prayed this morning. Lord, don't let us do anything today that's not in your spirit. In your house today, we give you all permission today to come and meet
with us.
Just give him permission right now. In Jesus' name, amen.
Holy Spirit. Alright. This is the bridge. It goes like this. Just close your eyes.
Let's invite him this morning. Not just into this space but to speak to you today.
Do you have ears to hear this morning? Yes. Just give him permission.
Be
the Lord is just in his kindness and tenderness. Maybe he's just allowing you to see the areas in your life right now that are hard, that are stony, that you've
not given him access to.
And he just wants to till up the soil. He's like, I know, I know, I know. That part is crusty. Let's deal with that today.
Holy Spirit, come. Holy wanna hear your voice hanging on everywhere. Spirit of the living God, spirit of the living God, we wanna know you more and more, hanging on every word. Because when you speak or when you move, when you do what only you can do, he changes us, changes what we see, and what we see. When you come to the the room, room,
when when you do what only you can do,
it it changes changes us,
changes what we see, we
you do what only you can do, it changes us, changes what we see and what we seek. When you come into the room, when you do what only you can do, it changes us,
Sing that again because when
you speak, just give him permission. When you speak, when you move, do what only you can do. It changes us, changes what we see. And what we see when you come into the room. When you do what only you can do, it changes us,
Lord, we ask that those would not just be words or lyrics to a song this morning, but that when we press into you, that you would change what we seek wherever our path is off, wherever our priorities are off, Lord, today. We ask that you would realign them with your will. We wanna care about what you care about. We wanna love the things that you love.
Seek things that we seek today,
Search our hearts, have your way in us. We can sing these words
that when you speak and when you move,
it changes everything but only if we allow you to because you are a gentleman. You want relationship with us. You want us to yield to you. So this morning we yield to you. King of kings, Lord of lords, the one who was and is and is to come.
That you were the word at the very beginning. That's the king that we worship today. That's the king that we worship today.
Yes, Just
be still before him for a moment this morning. Listen for his voice today. Thank you that you are always speaking,
always speaking.
Though we cry out in your name today, your beautiful name. We remind ourselves of the one that we worship that is worthy today. You know it. Sing it out. I just feel like there's just like a really tender, sweet opportunity in this room today
to just
come before him in repentance. To just come before him and just say, Lord, I just I don't wanna sing another song. I don't wanna just do another church service because it's the right thing to do. Lord, I wanna come expectant today to meet the living God. Lord, bring us back to that place for those in that room that know that moment where we first met you.
That tender sweet moment like in any relationship, Lord, where it was new and fresh, Lord. We just thank you that you're never done with us. Let's just repent before him this morning. Let's sing this. I'm coming back to the heart of worship.
I'm coming back to heart of worship
Lord, just forgive us today where our priorities have been out of line, out of order. It happens to all of us, Lord, but you're so loving and you're so kind that when we run to you, your arms are open. And I just see this picture of train cars, and we come to him and we're like, oh, I don't feel peace. Oh, Lord. I'm I have anxiety.
Oh, Lord. And he just says, do you want me to show you what's wrong? And he just simply takes those train cars and he just says, you got the engine in the wrong place. Let me lead. And he just takes those things and he just realigns them.
And there's just a big exhale. Lord, thank you. That even when I get my cars out of alignment, Lord, you're so faithful. You're so faithful when we run to you. So just cry out to him today.
Listen for his voice today. Lord, we tell you we love you. In Jesus name and everybody said, amen. Great worshipers in here today. We have a special guest who's gonna bring the message today.
Joy Abad is gonna bring a message from the Lord for
us today. Let's cheer for Joy. Yay.
Preemptively psych her up. Turn around and greet somebody. Say good morning and say, hey, guess what? It's not about you. Hey, guess what?
We've got the cajon, Sarah. Will you grab the cajon and bring it next to her for a table? I'll adjust you. Thank you.
I'm really tall right now. Like this?
Yeah. You need the sire?
Maybe. I need my glasses. Okay we're gonna go ahead and get started if you guys want to make your way back to your seats. Andy. Did Andy Okay.
Good morning.
I always cringe when pastor Brian's up here trying to get everybody's attention. I was watching on online last weekend. It takes a minute. You guys are just so friendly and love each other so much. Alright.
If you guys can make your way back to your seats, we're gonna go ahead and get started. For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Joy, and, it's always an honor when, pastor Brian invites me to come and teach to you guys. More times than not, when I end up being led to teach is something that is something that god has been teaching me. And the hard part with that is that I not the hard part. That's not the right words.
But just full disclosure, this is something that I'm learning, so I'm not coming to you as a master or an expert on it, but, somebody who is in the trenches right now learning this. And I'm inviting you to come with me and learn some more about this. As you guys know, pastor Brian always leaves this open as a more of a conversational, atmosphere to learn in, And I encourage that, conversation as well in this time because, like I said, I'm still learning. And so I know there's things that are in you that may be connections, as he would say, connections, questions, or comments that you may see while we're talking that would help me understand this even more too. So, let's go together and learn a little bit more about really, I'm piggybacking off of what pastor Brian talked about last week, which is simple obedience.
We've been talking since the beginning of the year of the word or the phrase, for tribe for 2024 is finding clarity, increasing clarity in complexity. And we all can understand the increasing complexity aspect of that because I believe from all the people that I had talked to in our own lives, the complexity just continues to ramp up in all of our lives. And so to me, when I hear clarity and complexity, there's a little bit of a sigh of relief in my soul, like, oh, okay. Just because it's complex doesn't mean I'm not gonna be able to figure out what god is calling me to. And, last week, pastor Brian talked a lot about obedience, simple obedience, opening opening up that clarity.
And it struck a chord with me because I've been learning that the definition of obedience is a little bit different than what I had originally or not it's different than how I live it out is the truth of the matter. To me, obedience sounds like a really great time for the doers in the room to step up. And I'm a doer through and through and through. I'm a doer. And so when I hear obedience, I think, Okay.
Find more things that I need to do. Look at my circumstances. Look at the problems that in my, in the sitch the problems that need to be solved in my life. And, okay, I can do this. Okay, I can do that.
Okay, I can do that. But in obedience, the Bible actually does not distinguish obedience on its own. In fact, I'm gonna jump way ahead. There's actually in Hebrew, which is what our Old Testament is written in, there is not a word that translates obey. Just obey.
The word for, the word for obedience is Shema, s h e m a, and it is listening and obeying. It's two sides to the same coin. You can't just have obedience. There has to be the listening first. So when God tells us to obey, he's not telling us, do, do, do, do, do, find things to do, get that done.
It's not actions. It starts with the listening. And when we know what God has said, then we obey. And so that's what we're gonna talk about today. So let's go in if you could turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy six verses four through five.
I'm gonna set the stage, and then we're gonna read this in a few different versions so that we have a, an idea of different translations and how they translated the word. Because the word Shema, listen and obey, is in is in this. This passage is actually called the Shema because it starts with the word Shema and so that's just an easy way for, people to distinguish it. We are last week, we were talking about, in Exodus three and Moses was getting his call and listening and hearing what God has told him to do to lead his people out of Israel. Now we fast forwarded in that story and he's led the people out of Israel and into the wilderness.
They have wandered around the wilderness for forty years. In fact, the first generation that was led out of Egypt has all passed away. And now it's their kids. And this is looking at this next generation of Israelites who are getting ready to go into the Promised Land. And he's giving kind of his final words and speeches and reminding them of the covenant and reminding them of who their savior is and who led them out and all that has led us up to this time and preparing them to go into the promised land.
And he says, one of my favorite parts is he basically says, you guys, when you go into the promised land, things are going to get easier. Watch out. And you're like, watch out. Why would you watch out if it's gonna get easier? Like, I would think that if it's gonna get harder, we need to be more on our guard.
Right? But it's that comfort. It's where things get easier that we start to get, I'll just say for me, I start to get prideful and a little bit like, oh,
okay.
I'm feeling comfortable. I'm good. And I spend less time listening to God as opposed to more time. So in Deuteronomy six four through five, he's giving them this prayer to say or to pray over and over again throughout the day. He says, the morning and at night, for the rest of your lives.
And and practicing Jews today recite this on a regular basis as well. Okay. So if I could get somebody to read and if you could tell us what, translation you're reading from, I'd appreciate it.
I am reading from the CSB. Listen, Israel, the lord our god. The lord is one. Love the lord your god with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I've given you today are to be in your heart.
Thank you. Listen. K. Do we have it in a different translation?
The New Living translation. Thank you. Translation.
Do you want me Oh, to
give you Israel. The Lord is our God. The Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your strength.
So we had listen, hear. The Lord our God is one. One more. What translation are you reading?
Some light
so I can see
my glasses.
Do you
need my glasses too?
Yeah. I have four pairs.
Oh, okay.
N A S B. Hear, o Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart.
So good. So we have all these different versions, and I've got a couple of different versions that we can put up on, the board. So listen in the NLT here, which we heard a couple of times tonight. And then m, the message translation it's not a translation. Sorry.
It's a paraphrase. But I thought it was interesting because, the message bible uses the word attention. And actually, from what I'm understanding about the word shema, attention is part of it. So it's there's hear and listen where you get this picture of, you know, like the sound waves hitting their eardrums. But then there is the point of attention.
Pay attention. Because I mean, how many of us can drive down the road and have something playing or be listening to a book on Audible and thirty minutes later, you're like, I don't remember anything I just heard. Right? So there's the there's the part of hearing, but then there's also the aspect of paying attention to it. And then the other side of the coin, it's two sides of the same coin, we don't just listen and pay attention, but then we have to actually go out and do it, do whatever we heard, which really is implying that if you don't go out and obey, have you really listened?
That hurts me to say because that's a hard one for me. And let me show you how this works by let's go to Exodus 19 verses five and six. We just rewind about halfway into that story, And we're back at Mount Sinai in the wilderness, and this is when Moses is getting the law. And we're going to and, again, we're gonna hear the word Shema translated. And so we'll do different versions as well on this one.
Exodus 19 verses five through six and hear what god has to say. This is actually the lord speaking at this point. Go ahead. Oh, tell us what version you're in first,
please. Uh-huh.
I have the, NIV version.
Okay.
And it's exodus nineteen five and six.
Mhmm.
Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.
If you obey fully. Okay. I need another version, please.
I can read from I of NLT.
Okay.
It's five. Hang on. Five. Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on the earth, for all the earth belongs to me. And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.
This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.
K? Maybe one more. We've had obey, obey. Go ahead.
Okay. This is out of, CSB. So it says, now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation. These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.
K. So if you Shema is the beginning of that. How many of you in the bible that you're looking at, it says, if you obey? How many are there? Put your hands way up high so we can all see.
Everyone look around. Okay. How many of you, it says, if you listen? Obviously, the CSV did. Three of us.
Isn't that interesting? Most of the translations in this verse say if you obey. Again, listen and obey. They're two sides to the same coin. Same word, but you can't have one without the other.
And so I wanted to point that out so that you could see that it's not just translated listen, and I'm adding on that shema part or adding on the obedience part. But the listening and the obeying go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. If you don't obey, you haven't listened. And if you're just doing, which which is what I'm really good at, if you're a doer, it is not the same as obedience because obedience to god is listening to what he says and then doing that, just that.
Okay. I'll pause for just a minute. Anybody have any comments or connections so far before we go on? Okay. Well, that's easy.
I'll continue my monologue. Let's go to James one twenty two through 24. This is a scripture that we're all familiar with. I've got it up here on the screen. For if anyone is a hearer listening, now we're into the New Testament.
If you listen to the word and not a doer, don't do what it says. You're like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he's looked at himself and gone away, he immediately forgets what kind of person he was. Again, listen and obey. Listen and do.
They work together. And if you don't, if you just listen and you don't do, or if you just do things but it's not what you have taken time to listen for, then you haven't really obeyed. It's you have to have both of those to work together. Okay? I'll just tell you this one.
In Matthew seven twenty six through 27, this is at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. So Jesus has given one of the the most incredible messages of his entire life. And he ends it with this is gonna sound familiar, hopefully, to most of you. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not, what, obey or put them into practice is like a man who built his house on the sand. There's the crashing waves and the storms, and it falls with a great crash.
Everyone who hears these words of mine, it's not enough to just hear God's words. I've been reading through John Mark Comer has a new book called Practicing the Way and he talks about two different types of people who follow Jesus. There's the crowds and then there's the followers of Jesus or his apprentices or disciples, which is a Christianese word that we have trouble understanding. Apprentice makes more sense to us nowadays. But there's two types.
There's the crowds and the and the Bible says that these people were following around. And it's very indistinct, this massive amount of people that are always following Jesus. But then there's his disciples or his apprentices who are not just following and listening to the words that he says, but they're doing what he says. They're becoming like him. They're doing as he did.
That's the difference. And, man, when I was reading that and thinking, kind of an example am I as a mom giving to my daughters? Is it of one of the crowds where we go and we hear the word at church and we hear the word on some podcasts and and that kind of a thing, but then we don't actually follow through and do what it says? Or am I an apprentice of Jesus and modeling that for my kids that I'm not just hearing God's word, but I'm actually putting it into practice, where they see that that is inseparable in my life. And like I said, I've got a long ways to go.
But I recognize and I feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit that it is it I'm again, I'm great at doing, but what's the point of doing if I haven't taken time to listen? And I've hit that on my own naturally because if you're a doer like me, you can do all day long, and it's exhausting. And you will hit a wall, and you will be frustrated. It will not bring fruits of the spirit. It will bring fruits of anxiety and overwhelm and short fuses, all of those things because I'm like, god, I'm doing all these things.
And he's like, yeah. But who told you to do those things? That's where you hit the wall. Okay. So, again, increasing clarity in the midst of complexity.
So we're gonna talk about how to listen, which sounds a little silly to talk about that because, spoiler alert, I'm basically gonna tell you that you listen by taking time to listen. This is not deep stuff. But I found in my own life, and there's so few times that I actually do listen, that maybe it does help to take a minute to talk about how do I incorporate listening into my life. Cal Newport, who is the author of Digital Minimalism and this doesn't have anything to do with this isn't a spiritual book. But he talks about how he talks about the importance of solitude.
And he talks about how we can actually live our life now, our entire life, and never once be in solitude, never once listen never once stop all the noises, the increasing complexity, right, all the the things that are trying to come in and never once listen. John Mark Comer in his book says that, the capacity to set the heart's attention on God so basic to following Jesus is the very commodity that we're losing to the attention economy, trading, looking for liking, gazing for doom scrolling. But if we can't pay attention, we can't pray. We need to learn how to listen, how to quiet our hearts. So we're gonna look at, first Kings 19, if you guys can turn there.
I have verse 11, but I wanna back up. I just need one person to read this. Let's go back to verse nine. So we'll do first Kings nineteen nine through 13. This is a story that's probably familiar to a lot of you, but I think there's some really key components of listening in here that is important to highlight.
Can I get somebody to read that? First King 19 starting in verse nine through 13. Yes, please.
There he came to the cave where he spent the night. Am I in the right spot?
Yep. This is Elijah, by the way.
Yep. The Lord speaks to Elijah. But the Lord said to him, what are you doing, Elijah? Elijah replied, I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty, but the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now you're trying to kill me too.
Go out and stand before me on the mountain, the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
And after the fire, there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, what are you doing here, Elijah?
So one of the takeaways from this is that when god speaks, it's generally in a gentle or a low whisper. What does that imply for us if god is speaking to us in a whisper? What are some quick thoughts that that means? What does that immediately mean if somebody is speaking to you in a whisper?
Whenever my mom would speak to me in a whisper, I'm like, oh, no. She's she's serious. She's not using her big grown up yelling voice. So, like, really tune in to what he has to say.
Okay. The fear of God or the fear of mom, depending on who it is. What else? What else do we think of when we hear if we have to listen to somebody whispering? Go ahead.
If someone's whispering, you have to be really quiet and intent on what they're saying to hear them.
Mhmm. Anybody else? Up here. I love it.
A lot of times, it means it's really important.
Oh, yeah. Okay. So there's an importance to it. God's not just wasting words on us. Right?
I think that there's also, a physical posture. Have you ever been to a anything? It could be a wedding. It could be a a meeting or whatever. And if the person up front is speaking quietly, what are we physically doing?
We're trying to lean closer. Right? We've got to lean in and get closer as close as we can get our ears so that we can hear it. If god is speaking to us in a whisper, this is not a voice that we are going to hear in the midst of complexity while we let that complexity come and just swirl around us. For a whisper, we've gotta get quiet.
For a whisper, we've gotta lean in. Right? Also, think what's important is in verse 11. My version says, in verse 11, he says, go out and stand on the mountain. Okay.
First part of that, go out. I believe that go out here is giving us an instruction to get out of our normal rhythms. This needs to be something that is set aside for listening, something that's different than our normal thing. There's all sorts of things going on. There's all sorts of noises coming.
But if we're going to listen, we need to go out. We need to make some time for it. Make some room for it. It does not just magically happen. So make time for it.
Get away from your normal rhythms. The next part says, stand, which simply means be still. Stop moving. Stop talking. Allow him to speak means you need to quiet yourself.
Again, I know this is super simple, but how much I'll just speak for myself. How much I put it into practice, though, is a whole another thing. And then finally, it says, go out and stand on the mountain. And to me, on the mountain is a choice to listen in solitude. Is a place where Cal Newport, again, in digital minimalism, he says that solitude is a place where there are no inputs.
Because we can be alone, but that doesn't mean that we're in solitude. We can be alone and listening to music on you know, with our AirPods or reading a book or listening to a podcast or whatever the case may be. But we're not in solitude until we turn off all the inputs. Go out, make space for it, make time for it, carve time into your schedule, stand, be still, and then on the mountain, turn off all the inputs. Create a space of solitude so that God when God whispers, you can hear it.
Right? Okay. I'm gonna make this super, super practical. If we I mean, we live in a great place where we can literally go out and stand on the mountain. But the frequency of being able to go and do that is if we limit our times to solitude and listening to God to that, then it won't happen frequently enough.
I think that it is something that James Clear talks about in Atomic Habits that we can start tomorrow and make time for it in your daily schedule, but make it small. He talks about how the art of forming a habit begins with starting with something that is so ridiculously small that you can't help but not do it. It would be ridiculous not to do it because it's so small. So whatever that looks like to you, is two minutes ridiculously small? Maybe it's one minute.
Maybe it's five minutes. Maybe it's ten minutes depending on, depending on what your morning or evening quiet times or during the day quiet times look like. But choose a time. Go out. Set it aside where you are not doing anything else.
And then I would highly recommend that you have a pen and paper with you because we don't need to overcomplicate this. I know that there's a lot of people, who I've been talking to lately that have to make really difficult decisions in their lives and whether it's about their job or their family or whatever is going on. And it's hard to hear what God has to say. And we're like, oh, well, my question is usually, well, what is God telling you? And I have gotten a couple of different responses.
Number one, like, how do I how do I know what God's telling me? I can't figure that out. It just seems to be quiet. I've also gotten another one recently who said, I haven't asked because I don't want to know what he has to say. That's a lot of good honesty right there.
But we have to make that space to listen first because we want to be because it doesn't count as obeying. Count is the wrong word because I'm making it more of like God's keeping score. And that's not what we're talking about here. But true obedience in God's eyes is obeying what he tells us to do when we listen. So I would say, number one, set aside a time, a very small amount of time to start with.
If you're like, well, I'm going to listen for an hour, that's awesome. It also is probably not sustainable. And so don't let that one day that you do an hour burn you out for the next month before you can set aside an hour again. Okay? So start small.
Have pen and paper with you because listening is as simple as I would take some deep breaths to start with just to kind of quiet my own heart and mind And then just simply ask, god, what do you want me to know about and then you can fill in the blank. What do you want me to know about my job right now? What do you want me to know about my daughter? What do you want me to know about me? What do you want me to know about today?
What do you want me to know about you? That's a fun question to ask. What do you want me to know about your word or what I just read in your word? What do you want me to know about fill in the blank. And then the first thing that pops into your mind, write it down.
That's it. That's God talking to you. I think we overcomplicate it. I think we were like, oh, I need to get up on a mountain, or I need to have a pastor come and speak a prophetic word over me, or I need to, like, I need to have an earthquake. I need to have the winds coming and crashing, and then I know it's God talking to me.
But those thoughts that pop up when we quiet ourselves and we say, God, what do you want me to know? The thoughts that pop up, that's god talking to you. That's listening. And when you make time for that, then when he says, I want you to know that you can have hope in this situation because I'm gonna do this work. So go and, you know, go and and and make that decision.
Now we have something to obey once we have listened. So my invitation to you is super, super simple. Are you going to listen or are you going to be a doer like me and just fill your schedule and fill your life and fill all your hours and all your moments with doing? Because the the the caution is that that is not true obedience. And the Bible says, if you love me, this is how God knows that we love him, we will what?
Obey. Obey what he has told us to do. Which means if we're not listening, then we're not obeying, we're just doing. And if we wanna show as followers of Jesus who want to become like Jesus, the the life that he modeled for us, then we need to then we need to listen, and then we know what to obey. And when we obey, then we're showing God, God, I do love you because I'm doing exactly what you told me to do.
You have something?
Joy, I was just gonna say when you said that, it reminded me of, you know, the first thought that pops in your head. Of course, the enemy can also, you know, try to put thoughts in our head. Mhmm. But I was just thinking about how safe we are with Jesus when we ask him a question. And, I thought of Matthew seven with that scripture about which of you if you if your son asks for bread, will you give him a stone or he asks for a fish and you'll give him a snake.
If you're earnestly asking the Lord to speak to you, there's no fear involved in it. You don't have to worry like you're safe with him when you earnestly come before him was what I thought of when you said that. Because I think sometimes in our world we can think so many thoughts pop into our head Like, how do I know? But I just That's why I thought of that scripture. It was just, he's a safe place to ask, Lord, would you speak to me?
Yes. Yes. And we're gonna we're gonna keep learning. Right? I I think I think if we're if we're being true and just writing down the first thing that pops into our head, the tendency and the the tendency is to analyze.
Was that god, or was that me, or was that the enemy trying to, like, whatever? It's also to, to analyze and and and translate that ourselves like, oh, then that means I need to do, and then we make up the next steps. But don't do that because I'm I'm learning this one the hard way. Don't do that. When God says something and and you're like, okay, I hear you.
I hear hope in the word that you said. But what does that mean? Like, okay, what do you want me to know about that? Like, what do you want me to do with that? And then write down the next thing that pops up.
And keep practicing. Are we gonna get it right every time? Probably not. That's okay. But we are saying, God, I when when our heart posture is listening for that whisper where we're leaning in, where we're being still, where we're making time to listen, if we miss it, God's going to see that heart posture, and he's going to keep talking to us.
And he's going to love us through that because he sees that our heart is to obey and to follow through and do what he says. And so we're gonna keep on trying to listen and he's gonna keep speaking. Another aspect of that is that it's really important to be able to discern his voice and and I think that only comes through through time learning his voice. I think in our busy world and in increasing complexity, we have this opportunity to and I've and I've heard this, and I'm not saying that God doesn't speak like this, but, like, oh, well, I would just, I mean, Facebook is so good for me because every once in a while, like, somebody's in my scroll, somebody posts a scripture or they post a reel of somebody teaching something about the Bible, and I'm just like, oh, that was for me. Or if there's like, like, we're in worship today.
Sometimes in worship, there's, like, parts of the lyrics that are just, highlighted in your mind. You're like, oh, that word is for me. God is speaking to me there. Or maybe it's, you know, it's in a podcast or maybe it's meeting one on one with a friend and they say something and it strikes a chord in your heart and you're like, oh god, that was you speaking through that person to me. All of those are wonderful ways for God to speak to you.
But in our world of increasing complexity, the number of inputs that are coming in right now is by the hundreds if not thousands. And for us to be able to discern that whisper out of all those voices is extremely difficult. So why not spend time learning his voice first and trying it in silence and solitude and then hearing his voice is gonna be so much easier to discern because I truly believe that God is speaking to all of us more than we are hearing. Does that make sense? I think he's always trying to speak things to us but we're missing it because there's so many other voices coming in.
John Bevere talks about when he is in a room and he's talking with friends and the room is full of hundreds of people, when his wife walks in the door on the other side, he doesn't even have to see her. He can hear her voice immediately. Even though there's a din of hundreds of voices in the room, he knows his wife's voice so clearly that he can hear her across the room and know for sure, oh, Lisa's arrived. That's our challenge today is to get to know God's voice so well that when there are the hundreds of different voices coming through, we can hear God's voice clearly over all of that. And the only way that we get there is similar to John and Lisa Bevere in their marriage.
It's because of all the time that they have spent together getting to know each other's voice. We've got to learn God's voice alone in silence and solitude before we rely on being able to hear it in the sea of voices. Right?
I
I just wanna make sure that we are I think I believe that God is speaking right now. There's something burning in in each of your hearts and I don't want to discredit or dismiss the simplicity possibly of what God is trying to say to you right now. Is it two minutes? Is it one minute? Don't ignore that.
Here's your chance. Go ahead.
It's not two minutes or one minute for me. It's getting the shower.
Oh, okay.
Perfect. You're isolated.
Mhmm.
There are no outside impacts. It's relatively quiet. You're doing things that you don't have to think about because you've thought about them a thousand times, done them a thousand times before, hopefully.
I might not fit in that category. And
your mind is free to roam around and do everything you've been talking about.
Yes. I love that.
And I from personal experience, I can tell you things happen in my mind in that posture that have changed my life.
And that that's so good and it's it's setting an intention to listen, to note the things that come to mind when you're in the shower and then write that down afterwards, I would say. But isn't that interesting because I mean, I don't know how many creatives whether it's songwriters, you know, people who write movies, people who write books, how many have said that they got the idea in the shower. Right? Because it's though it God on it's like the law of sowing and reaping. Regardless of if you love God or if you think that that's a law that God created, it still works.
And so when you get into that place of solitude and you and you cut off the inputs, God speaks. How awesome is that? God speaks. Any other thoughts before we go? Oh, I got a few.
Run, cat. Run.
So just so you guys know, I wrestled with this. I'm like, I am not gonna talk today. And then I was wrestling with the Lord because he's like, what if I want you to talk? Are you gonna be obedient? So I'm being obedient.
This morning, we were reading in Exodus, and something jumped out at me while we were reading in Exodus, and it's Exodus twenty twenty. And it said, Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, which piggybacks on what Lyssa was saying.
Mhmm.
God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. And PB shared last week about the fear of the Lord, and it's it's critical to have that in order to be obedient to what you hear the Lord saying. And when you actually listen, the the act you know, like, being obedient requires a healthy fear of the Lord. So I think one of the most dangerous prayers I've ever prayed, perhaps, is besides, Lord, give me patience, which I try not to pray that prayer very often because it you'll always get tested. But also that he gives me a healthy fear of the Lord.
Mhmm. Yeah. And to know what that is, and so I'm just I just wanna submit that challenge to you guys today too to to join me in asking for that. Like, to have a healthy fear of the Lord and grant me an obedient spirit so that when I do hear, I do obey.
Yes. Yeah. Yes. So much of what, pastor Brian talked about last week was hearing the Lord and then without that fear, you never even get to the obedience. And that that idea is if you don't obey, if you don't do what God has said, you haven't really listened.
Go ahead. Who is it? Go ahead, Mike.
Scripture that's that goes along with, and he meditates on his word day and night. So Kate and I have a couple of tools that we'd love to I'd like to quickly share with you guys. One is when we would do a time with our pencil and paper, we'll ask the Lord to give us a verse, and we'll write that down to start. Mhmm. And then as we're as we're meditating on that and listening, thoughts will come like, oh, I didn't pay my electric bill.
Mhmm. And so I have a little list on the far right
Okay.
That says tasks.
Yeah. That's And
I write it down, then it leaves my mind, then I can get back.
Yes. That's so good. I love that. I think, Lee, you have something to share too? So
sometimes I get a what seems to me a weird answer. Answer. Mhmm. It's like
That's good.
Where did this come from?
Mhmm.
Or very frequently, I'll I'll have a the picture. I'll see something and it doesn't make sense. So what you said, I do write it down. I don't dismiss it, but I don't try to figure it out. Mhmm.
I this this is gonna seem kinda harsh, but I say, God, if this is you, I expect that's what I'm feeling. Mhmm. I know that you will give me clarity, that you'll give me understanding. And I leave with that.
Mhmm.
But then I keep coming back to whatever it was and I start out. I say, holy spirit, if this word was from you or holy spirit, if this picture is from you, then I'm here. Mhmm. And sometimes it's a week later. And many times it's in the middle of the night.
And that because I'm not thinking, I'm trying to go go to sleep.
Mhmm.
But I wake up and and there it is. So I I guess what I'm saying is I do my best to not dismiss something strange in the way of a word or a picture. I don't dismiss it. I pursue it.
Mhmm. That's good. In the book Living Fearless by Jamie Winship, he talks a lot about identity and just this simple asking the question, God, what do you want me to know or God, what do you call me? And he said, similarly, he had a guy that they were praying and they said, God, what do you call this person? And he immediately got the word fixer.
And the person immediately, this guy was like, that's not what I want to be called. And he immediately was like, that means I'm just gonna be the one that everybody calls all the time when they need something fixed in their house. I'm gonna be the one. It's like owning a truck. I'm always gonna get called to help people move or whatever.
And he immediately analyzed it and defined it for himself. And, and Jamie Winship cautioned, no, like, let's let God define that. And so when they went back in prayer and they said, God, what does fixer mean to you? What how do you define that? Then God's word was, I you are gonna be the one that fixes people's eyes on meat, which is a completely different definition than what this guy originally had.
But again, when we write these things down, don't be tempted or don't follow the temptation to immediately define it or do immediately or me as a doer, be like, okay, then that means I need to do x y and z. Hold on. Wait. Ask. What do I do with that?
What do you want me to do? You've told me this. Now, what do you want me to do? That's the listening and the obeying. Anybody else before we close?
Okay. I was just gonna share really quick.
Are you done?
Yeah. Go ahead.
Just as we transition, what a great word. I mean, sometimes the most simple things that we think we know, but we just forget to do the most simple practices. You know? How many times have I just come before the Lord in prayer? Okay, Lord.
Here's what I need and here's the thing. And sometimes I'll even be great and I'll say to you, our father, okay, this is how you said to pray. Here we go. Yeah. You know, and I just rattle through all this stuff.
And it was just making me think about, you know, sometimes we have to practice waiting on the Lord. Mhmm. And I think that's what I really struggle with. I I think I try to make time. I'll just sit for a second, but I get so easily distracted.
And I wait for just a second, and the Lord's like, oop, oop. Like, just stay focused. Mhmm. As I was just up here playing, I was just thinking about this one time that I was like, Lord, I'm gonna set time aside, and I'd love for you to give me some new songs. K.
Ready, set, go. Here we go. And I quickly went through all my voice memos on my phone and
I was like, yeah, that
one's pretty good. Oh, that's a cool idea. Let's try it. And and I I mean, hours. I had set this entire thing aside.
Hours. I was just like, not I thought I was listening because I was asking, but then I wouldn't listen. I just jumped to trying to help God, like, write a song or something. And I'll never forget, and I'm not saying this happens all the time. It's rare for me, but man, if you can just stay in that place long enough.
Sometimes it's when you think you're totally done and like, well, I gotta get on to the next thing. And you just stay a minute longer. You linger just a minute longer. Sometimes he can just speak to you in the most profound ways. I think sometimes he's waiting to see, will you wait?
Mhmm. Like, will you wait? You know, it's like with your children when you you don't wanna give them everything immediately, like, no. Like, learn some
patience. And I
was thinking about this time I was asking for this song and finally I was, like, kinda done and I just remember thinking, I don't know what else to do. I mean, like, no songs are coming. It's been, like, three hours. So I was like, Lord, do you have a song? Like, what what would you sing?
What do you have a song? And it was the coolest thing I saw like a piece of paper. It was like it was falling through water. And it just came down in front of me. It was an entire song.
And I just quickly, like, wrote down what I was seeing and the melody. And I'll just play it for you, but I just was weeping, thanking him like, man, I am nothing in my own strength, And you are just so great. And I'm not saying this song is, like, life changing, but this was this song that I heard and saw that he's was was on his heart when I actually listened to him like this. So sometimes if we just stay just a second longer, he might just wanna drop all that's in his heart for us. Sometimes we just we move on too quick.
Amen?
Amen. As we transition into our time of giving, I had got this picture last week and felt like the Lord wanted me to share it this week. But it comes from Matthew 14. When Jesus is walking on the water, and hopefully this encourages some of you that have a hard time with hearing the Lord's voice. Chapter 14 verse 24 it says, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.
And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them. So when they're really tired, they're scared, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, it is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart, it is I.
Do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come out on the water. And he said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried out to the Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand, took a hold of him saying, oh you of little faith, why did you doubt? Talk about complexity. Right? They're tired.
They're in the wind, in the waves. For those of us that are video guys, I always think about like trying to watch a video where the audio is really bad. It's really windy. It's like, it's like, oh, like I don't even like wanna listen to this. I can't even imagine being out on the water.
Like, always I always thought that it was like, oh yeah, like the Lord's voice. Like, you you hear the multitude and it's so clear. Like But I wonder if in that moment, it was like, they could like barely hear Jesus. They thought he was a ghost. He must have been like pretty far away.
And the wind and the waves, like, I doubt it was like crystal clear. Like so I'm not surprised at all that why Peter doubted. And so as you guys are trying to hear the voice of the Lord, like, even if it's unclear, test it. Talk to the Lord. Keep talking to him.
Lord, if it's you, like, command me to come out to you. Like, keep that dialogue going. Like, ask for clarity amidst the complexity. Especially in this time of giving. Think it's such a great practice to go through.
So if you guys don't mind bowing your heads, I'll pray over the the tithe and above and beyond that offering. Lord, open our ears. We are trying to listen, to hear you. We want to know you, Lord, as we spend time in your word and in your presence. We are eager to get to know your voice and to know you even more deeply.
We want to be obedient, Lord. Help us of little faith to to not just listen and hear your word, but to be doers of the word. We desire to give back to you what you've given to us. We love because you loved us first, Lord. We give to you our lives, our time, our talent, and our treasure, Lord.
It's in your name we pray. Amen. Couple ways to give. We got a little box right to the right of the saloon doors. You can drop cash or check-in there.
On the website, there's a little gift tab. And then my personal favorite is just using your cell phone. Text open up a text at 84321. You can just type in a dollar amount if it's your first time. You'll do some setting up, but it's as easy as texting a friend.
Couple other announcements are same thing for that box where you can drop cash or check. You guys might see one of those connect cards. Justin, could you hold one of the connect cards up for us? Yeah. Right there.
You see one of these? If it's your first time to tribe or if you're new and you don't get the text blast that Alyssa sends out, there's a couple sent out last night. So if you didn't get those and you'd like to, write your name, your phone number, your email on there, and we'd love to kinda take you guys under our wing and get you into the loop. On the backside, a lot of people don't know this. There's also prayer requests back there.
So if you have a prayer request, those connect cards aren't just like, we put them on every seat because they're for everybody. They're not just for first timers. Write a prayer request, drop it in that box, which brings me to the next point. In the booth back there, Lanisha, can you raise your hand? Lanisha right there is gonna be doing prayer for anybody that is just wanting to struggle with something, and she's happy to intercede with you.
And And John and Kate. And John and Kate, Micus, if you guys also raise your hands too right there. Just after service, you can meet them in those booths right over there. They'd love to pray for you. We got two sign up sheets going.
We have one to bring Sunday morning goodies over here. We had who do we have? Who brought them? Rebecca Rebecca Rose brought them today. So round of applause for Rebecca Rose.
Thank you for bringing those goodies. Nina, first thing in the morning, she's like, look, you're favorite. I was
like, yes. What were they?
What's your favorite?
What are the little what are they even called? Like, the little like they're kinda heart shaped. What are those called? Is that a Danish? I don't know.
They're like kinda like cookies. I don't know. They're so good. I love those things. I know I don't know what they're called though.
So thank you Rebecca Rose for bringing those. And then we also have a sign up sheet for Tuesday meals. Every Tuesday, for those of you that don't know, we meet in another building called the Tribe Ministry Center, TMC for short. And we pack that thing out with like 30 plus young adults every Tuesday night with a meal. And yeah, we do our life group that night.
So if you guys have a heart to serve and cook good food for hungry young adults that are struggling to pay rent, we would be very appreciative of that. We also have a worship night, like all Jackson Church Community Worship Night on March 13. Make sure to get that down on your calendar. It'll be at Gateway over in Raptor GA, and that is a really, really special time. Really encourage you guys to mark that down.
Let's give a big round of applause for Carla Waters for being so faithful for serving in Tribe Kids for over a year. For those of you that weren't here last week, we announced the transitioning of Tribe kids coordinator over to Kelsey and all of her joy and bubbly smiles. So she's in there right now with the kids loving on them. So if you don't know Kelsey, make sure to meet her and and just help her in that transition and just wanna honor Carla in that.
Yay. And Justin.
And Justin, yeah, for setting up and tearing down so faithfully. And another big announcement is that we will be staying here at the Virginian on Sunday mornings until summer, at least. And then we'll kinda check-in again. So I know we're always kinda like, oh, how long are we gonna be here? Right now, we're extending it until the summer where we can keep meeting here.
And then lastly, just wanna honor Joy one last time for speaking today, bringing that awesome message. Thank you, Joy. Brian is away for the weekend and is doing ministry and building the kingdom through other methods. So thank you, Joy, for stepping up to the plate and giving us that awesome message. So if you guys don't mind, if we can all stand up, I will pray us out and give us a blessing.
Eleven thirty two, baby.
I know. We got really close. Really close this week.
Don't tell Brian. He's telling me.
It's doable. Lord, thank you for this space. Thank you for all the people in this room, the ones that stay to set it up and stay late to tear it down, Lord. What a gift that we have to have arms and legs and muscles and brains to make an awesome space like this, a place where we can meet and worship you and gather in community. God, I just pray a blessing and I ask for your favor, a double portion of favor over each and every person in this room.
May everywhere they walk, may everywhere they talk, go out and just your love in Jesus from inside of them just pour out so evidently in this valley, Lord. We wanna make your name famous here and to the uttermost bounds of the earth. It's in your name we pray. Everyone said, amen. Amen.
We love you guys. Thank you so much for coming. And remember, you got this.
