Throw Open the Gates Tribe 2023-11-13 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Got it. Just keep playing that. Let's stand and worship together. Lord Jesus, come and inhabit the praises of your people today. Even if you're watching from home today, Lord, we ask that you would invade every space as we worship today. Tell you we love you. Spirit, come. Spirit, come in Jesus' name. Sing spirit sound. Spirit sound rushing wind. Fire of God for within. Ghost, breathe on us, we pray. Make this your prayer. As we repent and turn from sin, revival and the smoldering breath of God, fan out sin to flare. Out to him. Fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you, God. I want more of you, Just while we're singing that, I just see this picture in my mind of, you know, we can cry out, pour out your spirit, pour out your spirit. And he's here and he's willing and he's he longs to meet with every one of us. But I just see this picture of like a pitcher of water and we're crying out, pour it out, pour it out, pour it out on us. And we're that vessel and I feel like the Lord is maybe it's saying just to me, but maybe there's someone else in here, but that he will pour out to the measure that we surrender. So the willing the to the measure that we're willing to empty ourselves out of the world of the things that we think are important, of the things that busyness, worry, whatever it is that's like filling that. He's pouring, but we're so full of the world or we're so full of these other things that we're like, yes, Lord. He's like, I'm doing that, but I need you to lay down some stuff so that I can pour, pour, pour, pour. Does that make sense this morning? And maybe that's just for me. I'm not sure. Sometimes it is, but let's just take a minute, far be it for us, for us to come before the Lord and like cry out for something and he's saying it's all available, but here's your part. So right now Lord, we just take a minute and we say search our hearts Lord, search me. For anything in me, Lord, that would keep me from receiving what you have for me today and every day. Let us do an inventory right now, and as you just point out those things that would maybe they're not even necessarily pet things, they're just things that are blocking, things that are in the place of where you wanna pour out your spirit on us today. Maybe it's worry. Maybe it's just flat out blatant sin that you know, and he's just longing and crying out for you to just repent this morning. Just like we sang in that first song, as we, your church, as we repent and turn from sin, revival embers smoldering. Lord, make room in us to receive what we're singing and asking for today. So let's just have this just be a holy moment between you and the Lord. Just let him search your heart if you need to kneel, if you need to close your eyes, if you need to just repent, just do it quickly so that he can just come and fill you with that life giving spirit. Lord, you have already provided everything. We're not begging you to give us more. That's not what we're asking. We're saying that when we walk in our flesh, get dry and we get weary. And we're saying, Lord, we need more of what you've already paid the price for us to have. When we cry out, we need more, it's not like you're withholding from us. It's all available to us. We're saying we we want more of you and less of us and that our part is to lay that part of us down. So when we cry out we want more, we're saying, Lord, this is me surrendering to what you have for me and what you've already done and what's available to me. Rather be. Yeah. No place I would rather be. Then hearing your love, hearing your love. One more time. No place I would rather be. Yeah. No place I would rather be, Lord. No place I would rather be than here in your love, here in your love. Yeah. So we just we just take a minute and we just acknowledge your presence in this place. We're gonna teach you a song this morning. It's a tribe song and we've done it in the past but we haven't done it in a long time and the song just kept bubbling up this week. And the words are that our lives are for you and there's nothing beside you and all our praises belong to you. And then we just invite his presence. We say, come Lord Jesus, come. Beside you all thou praises belong to you and the chorus goes like this just lift your own song to him. Jesus, I know. He loves to hear your worship. Just lift your own song to him. Just tell him you love him this morning. Tell him you he's worthy of your praise today. Let's fill this place with our song to him. You got it. Lift your voice. How I love you. Oh, how I love you. No one can lift Jesus, we tell you we love you this morning. We're here for you that that we didn't get up today and just put clean clothes on and took a shower and came here to just sing words or check a box. We came to meet with the living, the living God today, the one who longs to meet with us. So we come with expectant hearts today to be changed by you because you're always drawing us, you're always wooing us. And we tell you today, our hearts are open. Do a work in us today. Continue to do a work in us today as we just fix our eyes on you and on your word. Continue to search our hearts, Search our lives. Let us not be a people that are carrying around bricks in a bag, slowing us down from all that you have for us. Tell you I'll love you. I give you permission today. Change me. Let that be our prayer today. Send your spirit of revelation as we dig into your word today. We wanna care about what you care about. We want our hearts to burn for what your heart burns for. Pray for every heart in this room right now whether they're close or far away from you. Draw them. Draw each and every one of us closer to you. And I just speak against any lies in this room of the enemy that would speak in our minds. Lies of who we are, lies that would keep us distant from you. A lie that would say, you don't deserve you don't deserve the love of God, you don't deserve his closeness, his intimacy today. We just break off that lie today. You long to take us by the hand and then clean off whatever it is you need to clean off. You don't say get it all right and then come to me. So we come to you today just as we are and we say change us, Lord, by your spirit. We love you in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. What great worshipers in this room today. You make our job easy. I love it. We'll greet somebody, turn around, say good morning. If there's a new face, just introduce yourself. Give somebody. Give somebody. The Lord asked me to share something that he shared with me this morning. Alright. So good to see y'all this morning. It's a little bit it's a little bit odd, but it's just the way it goes some seasons. I had my I had my backcountry ski set up all broken out and got out a couple times and then was like, I don't know. I guess I'll hang my skis back up and pull my running shoes back out. Like, I I guess, but I'm not I'm not complaining. I like this mild fall weather. I like this mild fall weather. It's kinda nice, a little chilly, but dry here in the valley. It's it's alright. Anybody that hasn't gotten a chance to get the brown down, it's a little easier to do it than when there's a ton of snow on the ground. So just enjoy the season in the valley for what it is, I guess. You could split some more wood or, I don't know, rake up some more. I don't know. Just do whatever you're doing here in the valley. If you have a bible with you this morning, let's turn to Isaiah 62. And while you are turning to Isaiah 62, Lee, did you want to share something? Yeah. I wanted to share what the Lord shared with me and then he asked me to share it here. Great. And I've been reading, trying to understand Psalm 91 a little bit better. And I said, Lord, what's the deal three times three times you mentioned the ugly killer plague, whatever translation you want to so I said, what's the deal with that? So so a little bit of context and background that in Psalms 91, if you read through Psalms 91, he talks about like protecting you from pestilence and snare and eat no evil will befall you. So you're reading that, and then you're asking this question to Lord, what's going on? Yeah. What's what's the deal about the deadly plague three times? Got it. So I said, he didn't say anything and and I said, well, I I suppose it must be important if you mention this plague three times. So, again, I asked him what's the deal and then, you know, it's kinda like, I felt like, okay, you're supposed to search and discover this. So I I began to pray about it and this you know, again, this morning early. This is what came to my mind and this is what he asked me to share share. He said, there's three three different kinds of plagues. There's the plagues that come from the environment, volcanoes, floods, all that that kind of stuff. And then there's the the plague of of warfare. And I'm like, okay. I I get that. But then he said, do you remember what I said? The first plague was in verse three that I will rescue you from every trap and I'll protect you from the deadly plague. I I said, yes. I I remember that. He said, why do you think I mentioned that fir it's the first plague? He said, I don't know. And so this is what came to mind is the plague that he's talking about is the lies, the disillusionment that's coming through our culture and our society, the effects of the world and the impression that it has on us and how it affects our flesh, and the fact that our flesh is one of the most difficult things to deal with, to get free from. And he said all of the the isms in our society, The the the false religion of AI, the false religion of transhumanism, of transgenderism, of of even the the false religion of anti semitism. And he just started ripping all the things off and I I couldn't remember. I says, okay. And he said, you need to be very careful that that influence from your society, your culture doesn't taint you. But I have said that I will rescue you from every trap, but it's better to be prepared so that you don't get ensnared. And then he said to me and to us, read the scripture. Do more than just read the scripture. Memorize the scripture. He he said, don't make a big deal of of it. Just if it's just one line, if it's just three words, memorize it. Get it into your mind, and then repeat it through the day so that you can be riding your bike, you can be skiing or whatever, and you can bring it up. You don't even have to to think about it. He said, guard yourself, protect yourself with my word, with my scripture, with my truth, and and pray continuously. Pray continuously. I will and he said, it's not it's not a it's not a discipline. It's not a hardship. He said, I I want you to be filled with joy, to be filled with hope, and to occupy, do business, live your life as you normally don't. Don't get entrapped by the heaviness of of the world. Be joyful. Be in fellowship. Talk with your brothers and sisters. Amen. Lord, that's I just shared what came to my mind this morning at 05:00. Amen. Amen. Jesus said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And in a day and age of exponential increase of all kinds of things coming at us, how much more important is it that we know the truth and the truth will set you free? And I'll use that word free to tee up a video that I wanna share with you here in just a moment. But there was there was a a young lady who moved to the valley many years ago, like a a young adult, like some of y'all in here today. And she had come from a a Christian background. She went to a Christian university. She came here to the valley, and and as is waiting for all of us, especially here in this valley, there there are devouring teeth of, like, hedonism and the lifestyle and all that this valley has to offer that is bankrupt. She just bought hook, line, and sinker, and she spent just a few years in this valley, but put on, like, lots of mileage trying to like like, being really thirsty and then just drinking seawater. This valley has a lot of seawater to offer if it's not in its right place. The mountains and skiing and all that this valley has to offer. When it's in its right place, is great and wonderful, but but what the enemy loves to do is use the wonderful things of this valley like like cheese on a trap. Right? Nothing wrong with cheese. I love me some cheese, especially melted when the chips go in there. But when that cheese is used as bait to trap you for something else, it becomes deadly. And and so she had just, like, like, fallen hook, line, and sinker for for the lie of this valley and was just all caught up in stuff and was about to enter a new season where she'd be moving on to, like, the next place out of the valley and was just like, oh my gosh. I've just spent all of these these few years here and have not gotten anything out of it. And was like, oh, the when I very first moved to the valley, I went to this church called Tribe. Let me look them up and, like, see if they're still around. We were. And oh, they're meeting in a bar. Okay. That's cool. And so for maybe three or four weeks before she moved out of the valley, she came back to tribe and not not that it was tribe that did anything, but it was it was an an outward expression of the inward journey of her returning back to the Lord. It mean like, oh, I almost squandered my entire time here in Jackson by chasing after silliness and got back right with the Lord, fell back in love with the Lord, and then she had been on a journey of like like to just put it really bluntly, like a cultic worship and practice. Tarot cards and Ouija boards and like astral projection and new age movement stuff thinking, you know, like like like really pledging her allegiance to like the the goddess of the universe hoping that if she puts good vibes out there that, like, good things would come back to her. And, like, that religion is so prevalent here in this valley. And and it's easy to be beguiled by the beauty of these mountains thinking that if you treat them like a a spirit and honor them, that they somehow will honor you and send good things back to you. And the mountains have no nor does the universe have any capacity to do that. And it's like gulping seawater when you're really thirsty. And so within the last five weeks of of her time here, she was like, only Jesus, the person, the author and creator of the universe, was able to provide deep meaning and fulfillment to the longing of her heart, heal her brokenness, heal bankrupt philosophies that she had been subscribing to, a beautiful, glorious return to the Lord, and and as a pinnacle, as a culmination of her return to the Lord on October 31 when everybody else was celebrating Satan's birthday, we were celebrating the birthday of tribe because we pick we always pick the last week of no of October to celebrate tribe's birthday to really plant a flag and, like, just just show the enemy who owns October, really. And it's Jesus and his witness of the gospel here in the valley. And she said, oh, for years, October 31 has been a really dark time for me. And by way of an outward demonstration of renouncing all this bankrupt garbage to celebrate my return to the Lord, I want to get baptized. And I was like, that is amazing. That is so great. That's so wonderful. Who will you find to get into the Snake River on October 31? The Lord bless you. And and Carla was there. And so so Carla Carla had had just maybe it was even just one pivotal conversation with her, and it was great. I was like, well, you gotta get in that water with me. And so the volume is a little bit low, but I wanna show you a video of her baptism, and we can celebrate that altogether. And then we'll get right into Isaiah 62. Jesus Ali, have you into your heart, made him the leader of your life? Yes. Based upon your profession of faith, it is Carla and I's honor to baptize you as our sister in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit. So you do this. So you're gonna go down a little bit and then down. Awesome. So awesome. And you can just press pause. Thank you. So yeah. How great how great is is that? So so let's just pray over Ali really quick. Father, pray for Ali and the next chapter that's in her life. And where where did where did she go, Carla? Ohio? Ohio. Hi. That place over there to the east of us. And I think Carla's trying to fill me to sit there. So, Ali, we we pray for you. We pray for you. Your tribe family here in Jackson Hole is praying for you. Lord, your word says that he who begun a good work in you is faithful to bring it to completion. And so God, I ask that right now you would release a special measure of a father's heart for Ali. That you love her, that you are cheering for her, that you are committed to her deliverance and to her fulfillment and to the enjoyment that she has that she can experience in you. And we're so thankful for the time that you loaned her to us here in Jackson, and we just command a blessing over her over her in this next chapter of her life wherever she is east of us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and everybody said, Amen. Amen. Okay. You've had plenty of time to turn to Isaiah chapter 62. This is week four of a series of conversations that we are in that I'm calling Isaiah's prayer for Jerusalem. And we are in Isaiah 62 because we feel like, as a leadership team, this is where the Lord wanted us to camp out on. And so we're gonna be here for a series of weeks as we have conversations. And if you're new to Tribe, hopefully, caught that word conversation. I really would like this, our time together that we have for this part of worship. I really would like it to be a conversation, and I would love to hear from you. Instead of just a monologue where I'm talking and talking and talking, I really want this to be a dialogue. And I would like to hear from you. If you have questions, connections, comments, I would love to hear those things. And the way that it works is that the mic that that Lee had, Kat's got, and in a moment, we'll pass it around to Reed. But if there's a question that you have about the text that we're reading or something that we we cover, I'd love to hear from you. And so you just raise your hand. The mic will come around to you. You'll get to ask your question. Make a connection. And by connection, mean, oh, oh, something that you just said, PB, or something that somebody else just said, that reminds me of. Well, that's a great connection and probably something that I hadn't thought of. And so I would love to hear from you. Just raise your hand. The mic will come around. The reason why we use the mic, not necessarily for the amplification in this room, but for all of our livestream families that are watching. It helps them to hear and participate in service. So if you have something that you would like to share that is germane to what we're talking about, I would love to hear from you. This is week four of a series of conversations that we're in. And to just give you a quick little recap, week one was just an introduction. Who is this guy Isaiah? To whom did he speak and in what time period was he speaking? It's always good to know who you're reading about as you get into his word. Like, who's this guy Isaiah? So it was just kind of a 5,000 foot view, week one. Week two, we talked about the first one and two verses of Isaiah 62, And Isaiah says, I will not keep still, I will not remain silent, and I will not stop praying for her, Israel. And then this past week, we the title of our conversation was choose your own reality, that we can live under condemnation or we can walk in our identity, how God sees us, that we are God's delight. In the same way that God delights in Israel, he delights in us. In the midst of our imperfections, in the midst of Israel's imperfections and flaws, there it is true of God's heart that he delights in the people, the land, and the city of the great king. So that's where we've been in our conversations. Let's read Isaiah 62 again together, and then I'll tell you where we're going today. Isaiah 62, whoever would like to start. Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch. The nations will see your righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by your glory, and you will be given a new name by the Lord's own mouth. The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see, a splendid crown in the hand of God. Never again will you be called the forsaken city or the desolate land. Your new name will be the city of God's delight and the bride of God. And the Lord delights in you and you will and will claim you as his bride. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. On your walls, o Jerusalem, I have set a watch I have set watch men, and all the day and all the night, they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth. The Lord has sworn by his right hand and his mighty arm. I will not again give your grain to be food for your enemies and foreigners shall not drink your wine for which you have labored. But those who garner it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and those who gather it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. Go through go through the gates, prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway, clear it of stones, lift up a signal over the peoples, behold the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth. Say to the daughter of Zion, behold your salvation comes, Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. And they shall be called the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called sought out a city not forsaken. Shoo. If you're taking notes of our conversation this morning, you can write the title of our conversation. I've just titled it throw open the gates. Throw open the gates. And as I've mentioned before, we're not going to go verse by verse in this particular series of conversations, but I thought we would go theme by theme, and so we're kind of jumping around. And today's theme from the conversation that we're gonna talk about comes primarily from verses 10 through 12, and so I'll put that up here on the screen. Verses 10 through 12, and this is where we're going to take off our packs and hang out for a little bit. Go out through the gates. Prepare the highway for my people to return. Smooth out the road. Pull out the boulders. Raise a flag for all of the nations to see. The Lord has sent this message to every land. Tell the people of Israel, look, your savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. Okay. This is a great opportunity for me to check-in with you. I'm not looking for necessarily any, like, deep, profound spiritual observations or or insights, but I would love to hear from you as you read this passage. What stands out of note to you? What do you find interesting? Like, that's that's interesting. That's that's worth taking a second and and looking out. What stands out to you in those couple of verses? I'd love to hear from you. Just in what's going on in today's society, raise a flag for all the nations to see. I don't think there's any nation that doesn't know where Israel is and what it stands for, where Jerusalem is. That's really good. That's really good. For the first time in quite some time, Israel is in the topic of conversation around the world. Now what people are saying about Israel is about as broad and varied as there are options, but raise a flag. The reason why you raise a flag is to draw attention. The world's eyes are on Israel right now. That is a good observation. What else do you see about the text or about this passage? Prepare a highway for my people to return. Hand the mic back. And what's it? What what do you see about that? It's giving us a command and telling us to do something. And I think there's things that we need to take a hold of in that. I like that you said take a hold of for all of our Southern roots people. Okay. So let let's talk about that for just a minute. Yeah. That helps me to see it if you duck down. No. But you can leave the mic right there. People are like, oh, that's the last time I'm gonna make an observation because he's gonna keep picking on me. Smooth out the road, pull out the boulders. That's what you're seeing? That's what's standing out to you? Yeah. Prepare the highway. Prepare the what if it's a command If it's a command, how do we do that? And it's okay for you to say, I don't know. Help unpack it for us, PB, because I'm gonna, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. There's a there's a quote that someone keeps posting on Facebook or Instagram that that stood out to me along these lines and it's just be the reason that people that someone looks to Jesus. And so Great. You know, Lisa talked about it too about moving our getting our flesh out of the way and asking, know, for more of the Lord and what can we do to surrender to him so that his ways can be made and that more people can know him and not see our sin and flaws. Wow. Prepare the highway. I love how when you read that, that that you are seeing a very deep personal application for you. Magnificent. Prepare the highway for my people to return. Who is contained within? If we're gonna draw a quick Venn diagram of my people, who fits under the category of my people? You can just tell me. Jesus followers. Yep. Yep. Yep. That would fit. Yep. That would fit. Who else? Israel would fit. Absolutely. And there's one other big broad category. Everybody. Everybody. We're all his people. Prepare the way for my people to return. The longing heart of God throughout the Bible, he chooses to reveal himself to humans in a lot of different ways, but one of the predominant ways that God chooses to reveal himself to mankind is as a good, loving father. Prepare the highway for my people, my children to return. And being a person that's a very visual person, when he says smooth out the road, pull out the boulders, he's wanting obstacles cleared away so that his work can be done. Absolutely. So get rid of whatever's standing in the way of you or whatever for making it easy to do it. Yes. And that other side of the room's gotta get involved. We're manipulating Really carrying the load. Alright. We'll we'll kick it all the way over to Caleb all the way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Get some balance. Get some balance. Good morning. So I have the NIV and in the second part of verse 11 it says, See your Savior comes, see His reward is with Him and His recompense accompanies Him. And I had to look that up. Recompense. So just a quick Google search says, Make amends to someone for loss or harm suffered. And I've been having kind of a dark couple weeks reading in Jeremiah and even Isaiah there's a lot of wrath of God coming down on Israel but they're literally just walked away from God and he said that there's no one kind of like Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot's like, Well, if there's just one or two, you know, we'll get them out. But God's like, There's no one. There's no one. And so, historically the Babylonians come in and there's a lot of death and a lot of destruction. And so, here we see the prophets saying, Hey, Jesus is bringing his recompense like God's recompense. I think it breaks God's heart to judge but he is holy and I think that's just part of action and what am I trying to say, like the results of action are consequences. But it's been really heavy on me and I feel like there's times for that where we need to try to absorb all these parts that God contains. I don't know, before bed I'll be reading these prophets and then I wake up feeling refreshed like God's working on my spirit at night. But this was really refreshing to me to see he's like, Hey, know you've suffered. And know maybe it's not all like God's punishment that we suffer just through life and the world and many things we go through. But that there is recompense. There is everything that's going to be made right for everything that's been wrong. So that was just really encouraging to me if you're reading through the Old Testament. Anyway, thank you. How does God demonstrate his love, his tenderness, his mercy, his reward without compromising his sense of justice and wrath that must be poured out? We're talking a whole new level of brilliance required by a being that is so vastly superior that he can express, and sometimes even simultaneously, his mercy, his love in the midst of judgment. In the book of Revelations there's a group of people who thought that they knew only the lamb of God and they're like the lamb of God. You know like warm fuzzy feelings at church kind of gospel. You know? But those people in the midst of the great tribulation in the days ahead, they are the ones that are hiding in caves and holes and rocks under the ground saying, hide us from the wrath of who? The lamb. Hide us from the wrath of the lamb. How can he be the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and the lion of the tribe of Judas Judah that brings recompense. Okay. I'll try and tie that all together to the scripture Please, somebody. Oh, you're super good at it, so throw me a bone if you you can. Well, I was just so this made me think of a scripture in earlier in Isaiah about the highway because I also read the NIV most of the time. And, mine just says the way, but this translation says the highway. I'm like, oh, I know another verse about the highway of the Lord. And, before I read that, I feel like getting rid of the boulders are obstacles for people to find the way, the truth, and the life. And those obstacles tend to be us. Like, you know, how many times I mean, I've been a Christian since 1986 and I can't tell you how many times I've heard people say, oh, you know, Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. Mhmm. And I feel like those are the boulders that are preventing and blocking people from going on the way. So when the Lord says, cast off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, it's a charge for us to get right. Yeah. Because oftentimes, we're the we're the stumbling block for people. So not only does he want the best for us, but he also wants the best for other people. And so just encouraging everybody to keep short accounts with the Lord and with others for that matter. But this is a scripture that made me think of. It's in Isaiah. It's Isaiah 35 through 10. No. Isaiah thirty five eight through 10. And it says, and a highway will be there. It will be called the way of holiness. It will be for those who walk on that way. The unclean will not journey on it. Wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there nor any ravenous beast. They will not be found there, but only the redeemed will walk there. And those the Lord has rescued will return. Right? Can I have your pen list? So this is this is one of the ways that I study. I create I enjoy creating manual hyperlinks in my Bible. So it's not digital because I can't click on it, so it's it's analog. So tell me what's that address again? Isaiah thirty five eight through 10. Hyperlink created. And here's here's the good news. Here's the good news. They will enter Zion with singing. Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Oh, we have to okay. Remember this verse because we're gonna come back to it next week because I wanna use that as a as a stepping stone for going into what we're the few things that I would like to highlight together. We have a tendency when we read certain parts of the Bible, whether we were told to do this or not, we have a tendency to just spiritualize things that we read in the Bible, especially passages from the Old Testament, especially something like the book of Isaiah. Admittedly, some of the things alright. Many of the things that Isaiah talks about, especially here in Isaiah 62. We can read that, and because we are confined to a literal physical world, it is challenging for us to enter into something abstract or or mental. But if you are a Christian, the idea is, oh, we'll spiritualize this. So this has something to do with the spirit or with my faith or or in the invisible realm. So what we do is we spiritualize things and we personalize things, and we've seen a couple of examples of that already. Ain't nothing wrong with that. But here's what can happen. We can fall into a ditch of this is only spiritual, and there is nothing literal. But but this patch this passage relates to both physical, literal, and spiritual. And so I we're not going to get to the literal, but it's extremely fascinating. We're gonna touch on that passage. Let's let's do the literal and historical and physical next week. We'll just do the the spiritual this week, but this sounds so cheesy, but, like, don't miss next week because it will have a very relevant tie into current events that we're seeing unfold in Israel and in The Middle East today. But I wanna draw our attention to just a couple of items or phrases that are noteworthy that have very practical spiritual implications. So let's just cover these really quickly without going too deep because we've already had, like, some great conversation about these these few little verses here in this passage. But look at the look at this passage, go out through the gates, this phrase, go out through the gates. And in your notes, I'm gonna go relatively quickly through these. Unless you have a page that loads really fast, you might not be able to to turn there. But in acts chapter one verse six through eight says this, so when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom? He replied, the father alone has the authority to set those dates and times for they are not for you to know. But you will receive power, Greek word is dunamis, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses. Go out through the gates telling people everywhere about me. And these are cons these are ever widening concentric rings and circles. First of all, in Jerusalem, get it sorted out in your own heart, in your own life. Throughout Judea, your close friends, Samaria, those are people that you don't have relationship with and all the way to the uttermost bounds of the earth. So we see echoes of what Jesus is saying in acts chapter one before he ascended to heaven that tie all the way back to Isaiah 62. Go out through the gates. There is a message to proclaim. Don't what's the little children's Sunday school song? Sit on attack? Yes. Devil sit on attack. That's one song. But then there's another song. The devil's gonna sit on a tag, but there's another children's Sunday school song about this little light of mine. Don't hide it under a basketal. I think I said alright. So we have if you have if if if God has done anything good in your life and guys, look where you live, even if it is out of the back of your car right now because we've had plenty of those. Shout out to Chris Bates. Even if you live here, look at the breath in your lungs. Like, yeah, it's off season and, like, the the the budget is extra extra tight. Don't worry. When the tourists come back, the tip money will start rolling in again. But, like, if but it it do we have so much to be thankful for? And when we share that thankfulness with others, that what that's what prepares the way. Open up the gates. Go out through the gates. Let others know what God has done in your life. Here's another phrase that I just want us to pause on for just a moment. Prepare the highway for my people to return. And it's cool that some of the things that you are seeing and pointed out were some of the things that I have right here in my notes. Prepare the highway for my people to return. So there is an instance in the New Testament when people say, like, are you they ask John the wilderness baptizer. Are you the one that we are expecting? Because there was this buzz. Like, if you feel it right now around planet Earth, like, things are shifting. Things are changing. It's almost as if something is building towards some type of climax or crescendo. In the same way, people living in Judea collectively felt like something was about to break loose or emerge on the the global connected collective consciousness of the people of that region. And so they were asking. John the Baptist was doing his thing in the wilderness, and they asked, like, wait. Are are you the Messiah? And then John the Baptist replies by quoting Isaiah chapter 40 verse three. And he says, listen. It's the voice of someone shouting, clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord. Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God. John the Baptist was that voice in the wilderness saying, prepare the way. Prepare the way of the Lord. And it it reminds me of what we read here in Isaiah 62. Prepare the highway for my people to return. Now several years ago, many years ago, Lisa and I and our family, we spent two and a half months in Mongolia, and only 10% of the roads in Mongolia are paved, like, to this day. Maybe it's, like, 11%, like, by now. But 10 of the roads, 90% of the roads in Mongolia are either two track or just dusty dirt roads. There's about 200 miles, like, around the capital city of Ulaanbaatar that's paved. Everything else is dirt roads, except for a few total random sections of road, maybe like 10 miles or maybe sometimes like 50 miles in the middle of nowhere, just like like just rolling grass hills, a beautiful section of paved asphalt, and it is pristine. And as we were bouncing along on the two tracks and I was trotting along in my sneakers, we would get to a section of asphalt. And it's just easier on my knees if I just ran on the dirt two tracks. But we had several support vehicles that were following us, and none of the support vehicles took the nice asphalt. And Lisa and the kids who have been bouncing around for weeks and weeks and weeks were like, please please just just get on the paved road for a second. And they're like, ugh. No. No paved roads for us. And we're like, why? So there was literally a a two track, a parallel dirt track that they would always take, and that's why the the asphalt road was so pristine because nobody drove on it. It just so happens no Mongolian drove on it. It just so happens that the Mongolians were were very prejudiced and racist towards Chinese people. And through government subsidies, it was Chinese workers that would lay these sections of road. And to show their disdain and distaste for Chinese people, they wouldn't even drive on it. And this is like, yeah, but but I'm not racist. And I'd love a little smooth I'd love a little smooth asphalt, please. Nobody paves a road for no reason. Hear what we read in, Isaiah 62, Isaiah 40, what what you just read a moment ago, what John the Baptist is saying, clear the way and there's there's a purpose. There's a purpose. In Isaiah 62, it is so that my people can return and come home. Did you know that the biggest barrier for you coming home to be in right relationship with your heavenly father has been removed? No righteous deeds of your own could remove it. No good works trying to outweigh your bad works could remove it. There was only one thing that could remove that obstacle, and that obstacle was you having broken God's law. If you've ever taken something that doesn't belong to you, even a little eraser off your neighbor's desk when you were in elementary school, if you've been rebellious to your mom and dad and that's sassing back when you were, like, wanted to stay longer at Chuck E. Cheese or whatever it is, if you if you've taken something that doesn't belong to you, you're a thief. If you've ever not told the truth, you're a liar. If you've ever been disrespectful or disobedient to your parents, you are a rebel. If you've ever called somebody an idiot or a fool, and the Aramaic is Raqa, Jesus says that you have murdered that person. If you've killed them, that makes you a murderer. And the bible says that if we keep all of God's law and stumble at just one point, we are guilty of having broken all of God's law. The Bible also says that the wages or the penalty for breaking even one of God's law is death, forever eternal separation from him. You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to like it, but this is not your universe. You did not create it. You did not set up the laws that govern it, the laws of physics, the laws of biology, and the moral law. You can deny God's moral law all that you want, and it's the same as saying that you don't believe in gravity and step off the edge of a high building. You're free to make your choice, but you are not free from the consequences. And the Bible is very clear that the wages of sin, if you in the same way that how many laws do you get to break before you're a lawbreaker? Tell me. One time. Oh, that's pretty harsh. You break one law, you are a a law breaker. You commit one sin, you are a sinner. That is a really big obstacle. But the Bible says that while the blood of bulls and goats only covers man's sin, the perfect righteous blood of Jesus who knew no sin removed all of the guilt from all of mankind. That obstacle, that boulder has been cleared, and now there is a highway to return home to Jesus. Open up the gates. Go out and share the good news. Prepare the highway for my people to return. Each and every one of us. Why would we be hanging out in the wilderness where there are jackals and where our heels are dogged by our own past failures and mistakes, we're trying to chip out our own way. There is a highway of beautiful, smooth asphalt that has been prepared by the precious blood of Jesus for us to come rushing home. Who will take advantage of that? Another another phrase. Let's get through these last ones quickly. Smooth out the road. Maybe this is what God could be doing in the body of Christ right now by exposing and removing boulders and making things smooth with things ripples and and things that are unfolding in the body of Christ here in The United States. But those those have to be removed in order for the road to be smooth to come back. Somebody pointed this out, raise a flag. Let's look at that phrase. Raise a flag. SOS is a is short for Song of Solomon. So I had I had a very a very unique and rare privilege to go with a dear friend of mine to his the the, like, the the team room where he works, like, where they where they all meet. And it's very few people have got to go into this place that don't work there. And I got to go on a tour there, and there's a lot of incredible iconic memorabilia on the walls. But on one of the walls was a big black flag with this, like, really it was really ornately scripted Arabic phrase, and it was an ISIS flag that had been that had been captured as they were dealing with some ISIS troops. And and that flag was just there as, like, you know, like like like a trophy. Right? But the banner over ISIS is is death to Israel and death to anyone that doesn't submit to Sharia law. What is the banner that you run with? What is the banner over your life? I know that nobody in here is under the banner of ISIS, and we should count our blessings every day that that for now, we have not experienced the touch of Islamic jihadist impacting us personally here in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But what is the banner that flies over your life? Is it the banner of performance? God will love me and accept me if I, like, try to do good. Does do you run with the banner of I've I've been divorced? Maybe you're remarried now, but but, like, that that just hangs over you like a banner. Maybe you you run with the banner of of some type of failure. Ask the Holy Spirit, what banner is over my life? Because in Song of Solomon chapter two verse four, which you can write down and come back and look at, the young woman who is it's a story of an allegory and it's meant to be us. Put yourself in the shoes of the young woman. At the very beginning, she says, dark am I yet lovely, dark like the tents of Kindar. I've messed up. I've blown it. I've been out in the sun, which is a picture of the world system. But then she encounters the lover of her soul, and in chapter two verse four, she looks up and what look at the verse. What is the banner that's waving over her life? Love. Love. His banner over me is love. What is the banner that is waving over Israel right now today? It is the banner of love. Do not mistake that banner. Do not allow another narrative to try to raise some other flag over Israel, that they are colonialists. I didn't think I said it right, I'm not gonna try again. That that that they are perpetrating apartheid. Do not allow that flag to be raised over Israel in your own mind and heart because that is a narrative that is unbiblical. I am not saying that Israel is perfect. No. I'm not saying that Israel is flawless. That's not what I'm saying either. What I'm saying is allow God's narrative to rule in your heart when you are reading all kinds of things about what's unfolding there. And you if God sets the narrative, no matter what you see playing out in the news, the truth is that God's banner over Israel is love. God's love and his covenant and his promises to Israel and to the people, God's love and promises to anyone that blesses and loves Israel, God's love over anyone that is connected to and and is innocent, caught in the conflict of what's going on in Israel right now. But make no mistake, there is one banner, one banner that God sees that is flying over Israel right now, and it is the banner of love. And it is the same banner that flies over your heart and your heart and your heart for anybody that has bowed the knee of their heart, asked Jesus to forgive them of their sin, and made him the leader and lord of their life. And someday, we will see that play out nationalistically with Israel, which brings us to our next. And I only have this one and one more. Look at this phrase. Look, your savior is coming. If Israel was perfect right now, they wouldn't need a savior. Let's look at the reality contained within this verse here. Make I am not I do not have a sentimental affection in my heart towards Israel that that that causes me to just put on rose colored glasses, that blinds me to the realities of of of what's going on right now. That please don't don't mistake that I'm saying that. The verse right here says, look, Israel, your savior is coming to you. Israel needs a savior, and it's not the Iron Dome. It's not a one state solution. It's not a two state solution. It is a person. It is a man, and his name is Jesus, born in Bethlehem, coming out of Nazareth and doing a lot of walking around in a very real in real cities, Capernaum, Galilee, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, walked down to Jericho, walked on the water in the Sea Of Galilee, the Sea Of Galilee we read in our Bible. He is the only one that can be the savior of Israel because he was the one that was prophesied back in Genesis chapter three. He's the only one that can save Israel because he's the only one qualified. He's the only one qualified because of the prophecy spoken about him, and he's qualified because he's sinless. He never knew any sin. He never messed up. He walked and fulfilled the law perfectly. And his reward, he handed to us right standing with God. Holy cow. Preak myself into some worship music here. He came once for the forgiveness of sin. In Matthew chapter oh, wait. Zechariah nine. Let's read it. Let's read it. Zechariah nine nine, rejoice, o people of Zion. Shout in triumph, o people of Jerusalem. Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey, riding on a donkey's colt. And all of the horse people in the room said, amen. Okay. Alright. There you go. Shout out to all the Wyoming cowboys. He is righteous and victorious. He is humble riding on a donkey. Jesus came the first time as a suffering humble servant to pay the price for sin. He is coming again as a triumphant conquering king, and we read about that in Matthew chapter 24. The first time he came humble and lowly riding on a donkey, if that's not the most unassuming, humbling, lowly thing that you can do? A donkey. Like driving into town in an old beat up Chevy pickup. But Matthew chapter 24 verse 30 says he's coming again, riding not on a donkey but commanding the clouds, riding on a horse for war and battle, coming with the clouds and fire, the bible says. The Lord or the the the world mistook his first coming. Maybe there's somebody in this room today that you have missed his first coming. You're like, well, I wasn't alive two thousand years ago. You know what I'm talking about. You dismiss Jesus as like, oh, like, yeah, thing you do on church on Sunday or like good wise moral teacher or like historical figure if you even give him that much credit as a historical figure. Do not miss his first coming and respond appropriately by falling on your knees and giving him your whole life because I'm telling you, you will not miss his second coming. And will it be too late then? Do you even wanna take that chance? Clay. Here comes the mic. So thirty five years ago, most people in this room weren't even born, but there was a man named Edgar Weissant, I think was was his name, that wrote a book called '88 reasons Christ Was Coming Back in '88. The rapture. And people flocked back to the church because they weren't real sure. Instead of just being prepared, having their lamp filled and following scripture, they followed this fool who thought he had figured out when god has told us all along, no one knows the time or day. So don't be deceived. There's so much out there that people are trying to make you distract you from reality of the word. That's all I can say. I love it. I love it. The Bible is true. No man knows the day or the hour. Matthew chapter 24. Comma. And what do we say all the time here at Tribe? We are commanded to know what? Season. The season in which he returns. I don't think it is off base that we're seeing a rise and an explosion of all these churches and pastors. Like, we're gonna do a series on the end times. We're gonna do a series on the antichrist. We're gonna do a series on the rapture. I am so glad that churches in America, and I don't know about around the world, but I'm so glad that churches in America, even if they get it wrong, are like, woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. That tells me that the spirit of the Lord is stirring the body of Christ, preparing us. And, yes, it is true on the calendar that we are closer today to the return of the Lord than we were yesterday, than in generations past, than we were in 1988. Last one, and I'll do I'll do quick on this. That he's bringing his reward. What is that? What is that reward? Jesus said in the New Testament, it's not in Revelation twenty two twelve. We'll get to it in just a second. It's not in Revelation twenty two twelve, but Jesus says, you cannot give a cup of cold water in my name without me. I'm gonna write that down. That he is coming with his reward. Some of you are motivated by negative reinforcement and fear. If that's what keeps you from sleeping with your boyfriend girlfriend before you're married? Okay. But he is a rewarder. He is a rewarder. The Bible says, flee from sexual immorality. And when you do and then you get married, there's a reward. The bible says in Revelation chapter 22 verse 12 that for every decision that you have made that honors the Lord, for every time you have denied yourself and you have put him first and you've chosen him and you've done the hard thing and nobody has seen it, even if you've messed up and blown it, the bible says the righteous man falls down seven times, but he gets back up. When Jesus returns, the bible says that he will have his reward with him in his hand for you better than Santa Claus coming down the chimney y'all. Spiritually speaking, these things. Next week, we're going to talk about what I believe will be a soon unfolding prophetic literal fulfillment of this. Next week. So let's take a moment and let's just see what the Lord would have to unpack in our own hearts regarding what we've talked about and invite the person of the Holy Spirit to just speak to us. I think the I think the Holy Spirit would say, just as whatever he's working with you on, but maybe for more than one person in the room, the Holy Spirit would say, son or baby girl, in the eyes of your heart, take a moment and look up above you. What is that flag that somebody has been waving over you or that you have been waving over yourself. My son, baby girl, that's not my flag. There's a verse in Colossians two fifteen, and it in verse 13, says, you were dead because of your sins and because of your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ for he forgave all of our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities, and he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. In the same way that the despicable flag of ISIS was proudly displayed on the wall of this team room. It was as a way to show and to shame ISIS that they have been dismantled as a as a trophy of public disgrace. The banner that waved over your life has been robbed from similar way, because of what Jesus has done on the cross for you, robbed there is apart from your permission, that banner has no place in waving over your life. Why allow it to wave over your life any longer? So I don't I don't often I don't hardly do this, but I'd like to pray for you. It's not like I hardly pray for you. Let me finish. I'd like to pray for you if there's anybody in here today that really resonates with, like, I feel like there is a banner that waves over my life that is not the banner of the love of the father over my life. Maybe sometimes that banner like raise it up, but then I take it down and I raise some other banner over my life of failure or or or whatever whatever it is. Fear, addiction, whatever whatever it is. That's how I'm known. I wanna pray for you that you would take that flag down and you would hand it ceremoniously to the Lord and he'll go and nail that up in his own team room so that it's no longer yours and that then you can raise the flag of God's love over your life. Is the is are you picking up what I'm putting down? Okay. Now let's give you some privacy. So everybody close your eyes. And and only our our staff is looking around so they know who to help pray for. But if you feel like, man, that really resonates with me and you have either raised your own flag or maybe somebody else has tried to wave a flag over you or the enemy keeps constantly trying to wave this flag over you and you're like, I don't want that anymore. Would you raise your hand so that I know who I'm praying for? And just just keep it up there for just a second because in a way it's like an act of surrender. You know, like raising the white flag. Just hold it up there and now instead of that hand being a hand that signifies that's me, turn the hand that's up into just a hand of surrender to the Lord. And your hand can go up at any time. It's not too late yet. Okay. Maybe you know the name of that flag. Maybe there's a couple flags. Or maybe you need the Holy Spirit to identify that flag. In the stillness of your own heart, name that flag. What's that flag? And now, in the just loud enough for your own ears to hear, but say it loud enough for your own ears to hear it. Say, I surrender that flag. Now in your spirit, and if you need to just do the motions, it's okay. Take that flag down. Unclip it from the flagpole and then hand it to the Lord. There is no shame. He sees it. There's no condemnation. Say here, just take it. Just take it. Just take it. And now receive his flag, his banner over you being love. And just say this out loud loud enough for your own ears, and I would invite everyone to say this. Zinolsky. Jesus. Jesus. I receive your banner of love. I receive your banner of love. Over my life. Over my life. You take just a moment, clip it to the flagpole, and then Ring ring ring ring. Send it up the flagpole. His banner of love over your life. Holy Spirit, I ask that whatever banners came down in people's hearts today, that they surrendered to you, that they wouldn't run back and grab and try to raise up that flagpole because, well, there's an element of truth to it or I've been waving that flag for a long time. No. No. No. No. Jesus, nail it to the wall of your team room as a triumph that you have triumphed over depression. You have triumphed over bondage, addiction, depression, alcoholism, drug addiction. You have triumphed over them. You have triumphed over that stigma of divorce and that your damaged goods. You have triumphed over whatever flag that was trying to wave over people's life. And now lift the gaze of your children up over their head to see your banner of love that waves over them. Your love includes your discipline at times. But, oh, your discipline is so good for us. Receive the love of your heavenly father today. God, I ask for just a special release and encounter of your love over our tribe fam here this morning and over my life. Look at that. Look at that banner. You are loved. You are not forsaken. You're not the abandoned city. You're the city of God's delight. We've spiritualized it. We've personalized it. Now I want to take just a moment and will you join your faith with me in agreeing for praying that the God's banner of love would fly over the entire nation of Israel. We stand in the gap for Israel. Right now, the the predominant banner that flies over their life as a nation is the banner of never again. This banner of we gotta it's up to us. We gotta do it ourselves. Lord, would you show them that they that they would if they would just cry out for their Messiah. They need their Messiah, Jesus, the Messiah. God, we pray for the hundreds of hostages that are still being held captive by Hamas Instead of the banner of fear and rape, instead of the banner of abuse and abandonment and torture, somehow, some way, God, could they could they hear the banner flapping over their head of your great love? That you have not forgotten them, that you have not abandoned them, that you have not forsaken them. God, direct the eyes of IDF soldiers to see your banner of love distinctly and uniquely and supernaturally flying over hostages. Children, babies, mothers, women, fathers, holocaust survivors that are reliving a nightmare within one generation. Highlight their location. They're not hidden from you, God. Highlight their location. They're not too far from you. We ask for the release and the safe return of each and every hostage, not just Israeli, but all of the nations that are represented, including American hostages under the control of Hamas right now. And we ask that the spirit of might and zeal, the spirit of your commitment for Israel would reign over and triumph over the spirit of Hamas wherever it's found around the world. A spirit of violence. We speak against that, and we ask that your banner of love would fly over Israel. We pray these things in Jesus' name. And all who would agree say Amen. Amen. Let's land the plane by all by by giving you one more opportunity to worship the Lord, and that's with our tithes and offerings. We worship the Lord through song this morning. We worship the Lord by talking about and by meditating and by chewing on his word that was discussed. We worship the lord one other way through our tithes and through our offerings and that's by bringing a portion of our finances to the Lord by telling him, I love you and I trust you. And with a practical demonstration of that, I wanna offer a portion of my hard earned money. It's all his anyway. He's the one that got you that job. You're not that talented. You are that handsome and that cute, but you're not that talented. That job was handed to you by the Lord. Right? So thank you, Lord, for the job that I have, and I wanna tell you thank you back. And so there's a couple of ways to give. There's a little box that you can jam all your tip money into it. You can also give through the website. A lot of people are generous through their smartphone. And if you open up a new text to 84321, it's as simple as texting a friend. You type an amount in. If it's the first time you're giving, you'll be asked to enter in your bank card information. And after that, it's it's as it's as easy as sending a text. I'll pray over the offering, share a couple of announcements with you really quickly, and then we'll get out of here. Lord Jesus, thank you for the jobs that we have. Thank you for blessing us with the income that you have provided for us. It's all yours anywhere, anyways. And so we just wanna tell you thank you by offering up a a portion of our finances and by telling you that we love you. God, I ask that you would receive these finances. You would use them to evoke the beauty of the bride of Christ here at Tribe, in Jackson Hole, the surrounding region, and all the way to the uttermost bounds of the earth. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The Lord bless your giving this morning. Normally, Amanda is here and does offering and announcements, and she's so good at it. She doesn't need to check her phone. Mhmm. But I gotta check my phone. That's all I'm Woo hoo. Pecky day next week. If you don't know what pecky day is, how many of you have never heard of pecky day before? It's somehow it's not on your Apple or Google Calendar. What? That's so weird. If you don't know what pecky day is, we're going to celebrate pecky day next week. Well, I mean, we got a lot to cover next week. Pecky day, we gotta talk about a literal oh. We'll figure it out in staff meeting on Monday how we're gonna do all of this. That's the main thing that you need to know about. Oh, a pre service prayer happens with Lanisha here. And so if you wanna come do the heavy lifting of prayer before service, come and join us at 08:45. We'd love to have you join with us. We pray over the service. We pray for our tribe fam. We pray for Israel. We pray for whatever else you need prayer for. Let me just say one quick thing. Great. When we whenever I pray for Israel, I feel like the Holy Spirit, you know, builds this, like, unction in me to pray for Israel. And then I feel like the Holy Spirit always reminds me to pray for all the innocent people involved in any situation. But, I mean, there's just I feel like they're sort of the forgotten people to pray for just like all the families, all just everybody that's involved in any kind of war that's affected, that's innocent. Innocent Palestinians. Innocent Palestinians. And in Leo, that would be great to pray for. Innocent Gazans, innocent, you know, just all the people that are involved. I mean, there were so many different people that yes, we're supposed to pray for Israel, but the Lord's heart is also for all those people too. Do that. And then I'll have them stay. You pray for them, and I'll pray for these innocent civilians. So, Lord Jesus, right now, as we are praying for those hostages, Lord, we just we pray over their families. We pray for all the people affected in Gaza right now. All the children, all the families, Lord, that have been persecuted by Hamas for so, so, so, so, so long. They might not even know any other way of life. So Lord, we ask that they would would turn their hearts and their eyes to you because that's all that we can ask for is that we each and every one of us would look to you, that as they've had to flee their homes and their jobs and all the things, Lord, both Israelis and Gazans and Palestinians, Lord, we just ask that they would turn their hearts and their eyes to you, that we surrender, That you would give them a spirit of revelation of who you are in the midst of this horrific horrific war. That some have only known their entire life conflict and war. Lord, give us a heart of intercession for what's going on around the world right now. Even in our comfortable, beautiful bubble that we are so blessed to live in of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Give us a heart of intercession. In Jesus' name. Amen. In Jesus' name. Okay. Stand. Would that be alright if I prayed a blessing over you this week? Lord Jesus, thank you for gathering of your people here today. Lord, continue to remind them. May they go this whole week hearing that flapping flag over their head, which is your banner of love over them. May they hear that with the ears of their heart, maybe even their real ears attached on the side of their head that they would hear and see your banner of love over them. Thank you so much, God. I command a blessing over each and every person that's here today and all of our families that are watching the livestream. Help us to have a great week and enjoy your great love over us. We pray these things in Jesus' name, the strong son of God. And everybody said, amen. I love you. I want you to have a great week. If you're brand new, come back and visit us again next week. And remember, you got this.