WEBVTT 00:00:06.030 --> 00:00:12.990 Psalm 150, verse 1. Hallelujah. Praise God in 00:00:12.990 --> 00:00:16.390 His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. 00:00:16.730 --> 00:00:20.550 Praise Him for His powerful acts. Praise Him 00:00:20.550 --> 00:00:24.089 for His abundant greatness. Praise Him with trumpet 00:00:24.089 --> 00:00:27.769 blasts. Praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise 00:00:27.769 --> 00:00:30.289 Him with tambourine and dance. Praise Him with 00:00:30.289 --> 00:00:34.049 flute and strings. Praise Him with resounding 00:00:34.049 --> 00:00:38.320 cymbals. Praise him with clashing cymbals. Let 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.240 everything that breathes praise the Lord. Hallelujah. 00:00:42.780 --> 00:00:46.700 Let's pray. God, we thank you for this psalm 00:00:46.700 --> 00:00:49.539 of praise. God, you are worthy of our praise. 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.740 Sometimes we may need to be reminded of that, 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.439 God, and the stresses and the burdens and the 00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:59.200 worries of this world. Sometimes we just need 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:02.579 to be reminded of your greatness, dear Lord. 00:01:03.289 --> 00:01:06.189 Sometimes you remind us in mighty ways, and sometimes, 00:01:06.290 --> 00:01:09.549 God, it's in the smallest of things that you 00:01:09.549 --> 00:01:12.629 help us to know that you are there for us and 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:15.549 care for us and provide for us. And so, God, 00:01:15.609 --> 00:01:18.870 I pray that we know that you're a God we can 00:01:18.870 --> 00:01:22.510 seek when we are in need, but that, God, we do 00:01:22.510 --> 00:01:25.129 not forget to praise you for all the blessings 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:28.120 that you have blessed us with. I pray that your 00:01:28.120 --> 00:01:30.459 Holy Spirit would be among us today, that you 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:33.299 would just help our hearts to praise you today. 00:01:33.379 --> 00:01:36.340 Maybe we come in here with worries and distractions 00:01:36.340 --> 00:01:39.480 and stresses and pains, but I pray in these few 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:42.200 minutes that your Holy Spirit would be among 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.159 us and that we would rejoice in you in this place. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:49.459 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:52.829 --> 00:01:56.769 Beautiful psalm of praise. Just excitement. Just 00:01:56.769 --> 00:01:59.750 reading this psalm. It starts with a hallelujah. 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:02.209 It ends with a hallelujah. And there's a lot 00:02:02.209 --> 00:02:05.930 of praise in between. There's an excitement. 00:02:05.989 --> 00:02:08.289 I don't know who this psalmist is. I don't know 00:02:08.289 --> 00:02:10.490 when this psalmist was written. But there's an 00:02:10.490 --> 00:02:15.120 excitement in the writer of this psalm. a follower 00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.460 of God who is praising God for his goodness, 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:20.620 for his power, for his mercy, for everything 00:02:20.620 --> 00:02:24.439 that God is. The psalmist here is praising God 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:26.219 in his greatness. Now, I don't know when this 00:02:26.219 --> 00:02:28.500 psalm was written. It very well might have been 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:30.400 written at the Vacation Bible School, for all 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:33.879 I know. I don't know. But I think that that's 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:37.020 kind of the heart. I think of everybody that 00:02:37.020 --> 00:02:39.500 had part in this Vacation Bible School. I think 00:02:39.500 --> 00:02:43.340 that it was a lot of praise this week. There 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:45.919 was a lot of rejoicing in the Lord this week. 00:02:45.979 --> 00:02:49.039 There was a lot of excitement this week. It is 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:53.840 probably my favorite week of the year because 00:02:53.840 --> 00:02:57.719 there is nothing more beautiful than to see a 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.060 church full of children who are laughing and 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:05.219 playing and learning about the Lord. And that 00:03:05.219 --> 00:03:11.139 alone is worthy of our praise to the Lord today. 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.099 then we would praise the Lord that we have the 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:18.439 privilege and the opportunity to do Vacation 00:03:18.439 --> 00:03:22.020 Bible School every year. It is a lot of work, 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:25.860 a lot of effort, but it makes a difference. You 00:03:25.860 --> 00:03:28.479 know, I remember when I was really young going 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:30.740 to Bible school. Some of you probably do too. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.800 Bible school these days looks a little different 00:03:33.800 --> 00:03:37.240 than it did when I was a kid. Even back that 00:03:37.240 --> 00:03:39.639 long ago, I remember when I was really young. 00:03:40.090 --> 00:03:42.689 bible school here at enterprise we didn't have 00:03:42.689 --> 00:03:45.509 any decorations that i recall and our snacks 00:03:45.509 --> 00:03:47.490 we had two of those little circle cookies with 00:03:47.490 --> 00:03:49.789 like flowers you put them on your finger and 00:03:49.789 --> 00:03:51.930 you get a little cup of cup of juice or kool 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:53.729 -aid or whatever about that big and that was 00:03:53.729 --> 00:03:56.289 snack time and now we're full -blown meals and 00:03:56.289 --> 00:03:58.849 and i mean everything is just decorated to the 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:01.409 t i'm not i'm not complaining i think that's 00:04:01.409 --> 00:04:04.930 a that's a beautiful thing but but i thank the 00:04:04.930 --> 00:04:08.280 lord that we get to have the Bible school here 00:04:08.280 --> 00:04:10.439 every year. I praise God that we're doing that 00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:13.740 again. When I was really young, we had Bible 00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:16.519 school here, and then we went for a long time, 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:20.279 and we didn't have Bible school here. And I remember 00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:24.459 the lady that really got it kicked back off to 00:04:24.459 --> 00:04:27.439 kind of get us back in that flow. And some of 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:30.079 you will know her, and some of you won't know 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:32.300 her, but her name was Miss Margaret Garrison. 00:04:32.769 --> 00:04:35.069 I'm going to reminisce for a few minutes, if 00:04:35.069 --> 00:04:38.689 y 'all will just humor me this morning. Ms. Margaret 00:04:38.689 --> 00:04:44.170 Garrison decided, I believe this was 2001, she 00:04:44.170 --> 00:04:47.129 decided that we needed to have Vacation Bible 00:04:47.129 --> 00:04:49.569 School at Enterprise. Now, Enterprise really 00:04:49.569 --> 00:04:51.829 has always kind of had the same problem, and 00:04:51.829 --> 00:04:55.529 that is we just don't have a lot of kids. And 00:04:55.529 --> 00:04:58.829 at that time, we had very few kids, maybe less 00:04:58.829 --> 00:05:01.740 than now. And she decided that we needed to have 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:04.480 VBS, which I thought was quite silly. Now, I 00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:06.879 was a teenager at the time. I was 19, I think, 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:10.420 at the time. And she decided that we needed to 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:13.819 have VBS. And she, for whatever reason, God only 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:16.899 knows, she said, I want you to help me. She asked 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:19.170 me if I'd help her. Now, what in the world a 00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:21.629 19 -year -old boy has got any business trying 00:05:21.629 --> 00:05:24.009 to do Bible school? I don't know. But she said, 00:05:24.110 --> 00:05:26.170 well, you be my assistant director. I didn't 00:05:26.170 --> 00:05:28.129 have a clue what it meant to do assistant director. 00:05:28.329 --> 00:05:29.589 I didn't even know anything about Bible school. 00:05:29.850 --> 00:05:32.050 Here was our setup back in those days. We had 00:05:32.050 --> 00:05:35.430 this little projector screen that we would pop 00:05:35.430 --> 00:05:38.579 up and we would stand right here. And then right 00:05:38.579 --> 00:05:41.180 down here on the front, we had an overhead projector. 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:43.120 A lot of you gun folks don't even have a clue 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:46.160 what that is. It's a big light that projects 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:49.120 into a mirror that projects onto a screen. And 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:51.699 we had these clear, these little clear plastic 00:05:51.699 --> 00:05:54.699 sheets of paper, kind of is what they were. And 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:57.040 you took your marker and you wrote on there what 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:00.279 you wanted to show on the screen. And Lifeway 00:06:00.279 --> 00:06:03.139 would send us... some little you know black outlines 00:06:03.139 --> 00:06:05.800 of pictures and the verses and the pledges and 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:08.620 so we'd say one pledge and we'd flop that plastic 00:06:08.620 --> 00:06:11.839 off and flop the next one on there and uh and 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:14.500 that was our opening assembly and it wasn't much 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:18.800 to it it was it was really rough but i think 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.319 we had about maybe maybe 12 kids that year I 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:24.600 can tell you the theme that year was truth trackers. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:26.879 That was the theme that year, truth trackers. 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:30.240 And we had maybe a dozen kids, and it was pretty 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:31.980 lackluster. I'm going to be honest with you. 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:35.620 It was pretty low energy, but God was good to 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:39.160 us, and we did it again the next year. It was 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:41.019 Amazon Outfitters. I won't go through the last 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:44.180 20 years of Bible school, but that's what it 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:46.600 was, Amazon Outfitters. I still remember the 00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:50.930 song, Amazon Outfitters. And I don't remember 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:52.490 what comes after that, but I remember that hook. 00:06:52.810 --> 00:06:55.089 And so it's amazing how these songs stick with 00:06:55.089 --> 00:06:57.389 you. And that's part of what's good about VBS, 00:06:57.670 --> 00:07:00.790 is the stuff that sticks with us. But we continued 00:07:00.790 --> 00:07:05.129 to do it, and Miss Margaret didn't do it anymore 00:07:05.129 --> 00:07:08.290 after that, and then my mom took over, and somehow 00:07:08.290 --> 00:07:12.389 I still got to be assistant director. But I was 00:07:12.389 --> 00:07:13.829 so proud, because I'm kind of technological, 00:07:13.889 --> 00:07:17.329 I was so proud when I discovered that the association 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:22.160 building, had a real video projector that churches 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:24.939 could use. And I said, this is fantastic. And 00:07:24.939 --> 00:07:26.560 so we would borrow that projector, and that thing 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:29.060 was horrible. It was the worst picture ever. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.480 It was so fuzzy. And we were still using VHS 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:34.379 tapes at that time. You kids don't even know 00:07:34.379 --> 00:07:38.519 what that is either. And it was just so crazy. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:42.500 And so we moved. We switched our screen to this 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:44.439 side, and I put this projector up. And I had 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:46.680 all these cords just running way back to the 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:49.060 sound system that we had and duct tape to the 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:52.500 floor. And I thought, we are really doing it 00:07:52.500 --> 00:07:55.709 now, y 'all. We are having it. vbs and and we 00:07:55.709 --> 00:07:59.290 continue to grow and get more and more kids and 00:07:59.290 --> 00:08:02.790 and this went on for several years and we we 00:08:02.790 --> 00:08:05.769 we we finally kind of figured it out i think 00:08:05.769 --> 00:08:10.490 by like 2007 2008 we kind of got it we kind of 00:08:10.490 --> 00:08:13.449 began to figure out what was working and how 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:16.310 to reach kids, and how to make it exciting. And 00:08:16.310 --> 00:08:18.550 my mom started getting decorations from other 00:08:18.550 --> 00:08:21.170 churches, which was the best idea ever. We'd 00:08:21.170 --> 00:08:23.790 just get their leftovers, and we started decorating 00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:29.470 more and more. And then by the 2010s, God had 00:08:29.470 --> 00:08:32.850 blessed us tremendously. We had some real high 00:08:32.850 --> 00:08:35.470 -tech equipment. We even bought our own projector 00:08:35.470 --> 00:08:40.029 here at the church. And, man, we were high -quality, 00:08:40.149 --> 00:08:44.470 high -tech. It was great. We worked our way up 00:08:44.470 --> 00:08:49.929 to about 60 kids there in 2012, 13, 14. In that 00:08:49.929 --> 00:08:52.789 age range, we had a church full of kids. And 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:57.029 then our help kind of began to decline a little 00:08:57.029 --> 00:08:59.370 bit. And some of our teenagers that had been 00:08:59.370 --> 00:09:02.370 helping grew up, moved away, went to college. 00:09:02.389 --> 00:09:09.629 And 2016 was the last year we did VBS. And so 00:09:09.629 --> 00:09:12.330 we had a bit of a break for about seven years. 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.649 And last year, I praise the Lord for this, Dana 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:20.049 said, I think we need to have VBS again. Of course, 00:09:20.070 --> 00:09:21.789 we had the same problem we had when Miss Margaret 00:09:21.789 --> 00:09:24.490 had that idea in 2001. We didn't have many kids, 00:09:24.590 --> 00:09:28.090 but as the movie says, if you build it, they 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:31.750 will come. And so Dana worked really hard and 00:09:31.750 --> 00:09:34.669 really took the decorations to the next level 00:09:34.669 --> 00:09:38.210 and did a great job promoting last year. And 00:09:38.210 --> 00:09:40.809 we got all our old stuff back out and started 00:09:40.809 --> 00:09:43.769 getting things set up. And praise the Lord, God 00:09:43.769 --> 00:09:46.389 blessed us with a bunch of kids. And then we 00:09:46.389 --> 00:09:49.590 had it this year. And it really is fantastic. 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:53.450 Because last year I think we had six kids that 00:09:53.450 --> 00:09:55.570 trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord, put their 00:09:55.570 --> 00:09:58.950 faith in Jesus. This year we had three young 00:09:58.950 --> 00:10:02.289 men that trusted in Jesus and accepted him as 00:10:02.289 --> 00:10:04.570 their Savior, put their faith in him. And that's 00:10:04.570 --> 00:10:07.250 what it's all about. That's what we do it for. 00:10:07.450 --> 00:10:10.490 I look back at my life, and maybe it's just me, 00:10:10.549 --> 00:10:14.070 I don't know, but I would like to hope that some 00:10:14.070 --> 00:10:16.370 of the other teachers and some of the kids that 00:10:16.370 --> 00:10:19.870 get to take part in something like this remember 00:10:19.870 --> 00:10:21.809 the things that they are taught. These kids, 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:25.610 look, we talk about the decorations and the videos 00:10:25.610 --> 00:10:27.850 and the dancing and all those things and all 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:32.570 are fun, but make no mistake. These kids are 00:10:32.570 --> 00:10:35.789 learning these Bible stories. They know. Their 00:10:35.789 --> 00:10:39.149 teachers are so good. I was so impressed with 00:10:39.149 --> 00:10:43.429 the quality of answers, the best quality of answers 00:10:43.429 --> 00:10:46.570 that we've ever gotten at a family night, Friday 00:10:46.570 --> 00:10:48.710 night. When I asked those kids questions and 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:51.029 would call on different ones, they didn't just 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:54.570 give a couple of words. They gave real, deep, 00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:58.830 well thought out. good answers to these questions. 00:10:58.909 --> 00:11:01.330 They understand these stories. They have learned 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:04.509 about Jesus. And they know important truths that 00:11:04.509 --> 00:11:07.230 we need to know and be reminded of. That Jesus 00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:09.690 cares for us. That he has not forgotten about 00:11:09.690 --> 00:11:12.549 us. That we go through storms in life and Jesus 00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:16.389 shows up for us in our storms. That even if we're 00:11:16.389 --> 00:11:20.070 in sin and not doing like we should, Jesus loves 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:22.769 us and wants to forgive us of that. Jesus wants 00:11:22.769 --> 00:11:26.789 to use us to serve him. And what a beautiful, 00:11:26.950 --> 00:11:30.210 beautiful truth that we see all throughout the 00:11:30.210 --> 00:11:34.049 Bible of God's love for us. And that's worth 00:11:34.049 --> 00:11:36.830 rejoicing in. That's worth praising God over. 00:11:36.889 --> 00:11:40.350 And all this week, we came into this building 00:11:40.350 --> 00:11:45.529 and we praised God every day. Friday night, we 00:11:45.529 --> 00:11:49.309 left this building praising God for a good week. 00:11:49.529 --> 00:11:53.789 Now all this week, Every year we like to try 00:11:53.789 --> 00:11:55.610 to pick something that maybe the kids can kind 00:11:55.610 --> 00:11:59.049 of relate to to use our offering for. And this 00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:01.090 year we decided that we were going to give all 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:04.600 of our VBS money to... Food for the Hungry. Some 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:06.419 of you may know it. It's a Christian organization 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:09.519 that focuses on getting food and water and even 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:13.000 educating kids in poor areas. And not just trying 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.059 to help the kids, but trying to help the families 00:12:15.059 --> 00:12:18.480 to be able to have means to support themselves. 00:12:18.980 --> 00:12:21.159 And it's a really cool thing. You can look it 00:12:21.159 --> 00:12:24.500 up after church if you'd like. But we decided 00:12:24.500 --> 00:12:26.940 we were going to give all of our offerings this 00:12:26.940 --> 00:12:30.289 week to Food for the Hungry. We were going to 00:12:30.289 --> 00:12:32.210 have a competition. This is something we had 00:12:32.210 --> 00:12:34.889 never done before, but we decided to have a competition 00:12:34.889 --> 00:12:38.250 between the boys and the girls to see who could 00:12:38.250 --> 00:12:42.730 take up the most offering this week. And it was 00:12:42.730 --> 00:12:47.649 not even close. The girls just totally outgave 00:12:47.649 --> 00:12:51.210 the boys all week long. I mean, it was a landslide. 00:12:51.389 --> 00:12:53.730 I mean, every night when the kids would bring 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:55.789 the buckets of money back after offering, I mean, 00:12:55.789 --> 00:12:57.909 the girls were just like, it was heavy, and the 00:12:57.909 --> 00:13:00.750 boys, it was just... It just wasn't much in there. 00:13:00.929 --> 00:13:05.009 And so we kept on taking up our money all week 00:13:05.009 --> 00:13:08.830 long. And going into Friday night, we had about 00:13:08.830 --> 00:13:11.850 $600 that we had taken up throughout the week, 00:13:11.889 --> 00:13:13.830 which I think is the most that we had ever taken. 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:17.710 Praise the Lord. It was fantastic. And so we 00:13:17.710 --> 00:13:20.009 get to the family night. And, of course, you 00:13:20.009 --> 00:13:21.669 got all the parents and all the grandparents 00:13:21.669 --> 00:13:24.629 here. And I'm telling them. I'm telling the grandparents 00:13:24.629 --> 00:13:26.669 as they come in, and apparently I'll help the 00:13:26.669 --> 00:13:28.970 boys out now. The boys are way behind. Try to 00:13:28.970 --> 00:13:31.149 help them out so it'll be a little closer. I 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:32.929 want it to at least be respectable. You know, 00:13:32.950 --> 00:13:34.549 I don't want the little boys to get beat by a 00:13:34.549 --> 00:13:38.509 lot. And so we took up our offering, and while 00:13:38.509 --> 00:13:40.409 we were continuing our little program, they went 00:13:40.409 --> 00:13:43.090 back in the back, and they counted it, and they 00:13:43.090 --> 00:13:45.889 came back out, and they told me the numbers, 00:13:45.950 --> 00:13:52.850 and I was in shock. That just... Just Friday 00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:59.309 night alone, the boys took up $729. And just 00:13:59.309 --> 00:14:03.490 one night, just the boys. For our whole week 00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:10.409 of offering, we took up $1 ,645 .22. Now that's 00:14:10.409 --> 00:14:13.009 worth praising God over. These are the kind of 00:14:13.009 --> 00:14:16.149 things that we need to say, Hallelujah! Sometimes 00:14:16.149 --> 00:14:19.350 I think we just need to let loose a little bit. 00:14:19.409 --> 00:14:21.029 Maybe I need to start coming in here on Sunday 00:14:21.029 --> 00:14:22.990 mornings like we do at VBS and I need to say, 00:14:23.029 --> 00:14:28.129 how y 'all doing this morning? And maybe y 'all 00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:32.149 would say, we're doing good, yeah! But probably 00:14:32.149 --> 00:14:34.529 y 'all would just look at me like, he's kind 00:14:34.529 --> 00:14:38.409 of crazy. But maybe we need some of that excitement 00:14:38.409 --> 00:14:41.590 like a child. Maybe we lose that some as we grow 00:14:41.590 --> 00:14:45.289 up. We kind of go through the motions. Maybe 00:14:45.289 --> 00:14:47.289 we need a little more of that excitement. Maybe 00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:51.029 we need more of Psalm 150 in our life. Maybe 00:14:51.029 --> 00:14:53.870 we need a few more hallelujahs in our life. God 00:14:53.870 --> 00:14:57.070 is worthy of our praise. He's done so much good 00:14:57.070 --> 00:14:59.149 stuff in our lives. And if we would just stop 00:14:59.149 --> 00:15:01.769 and realize that there may be more that he does 00:15:01.769 --> 00:15:04.610 and blesses us with than we ever have imagined. 00:15:04.809 --> 00:15:09.450 And he's worthy of our praise. And so when I 00:15:09.450 --> 00:15:11.309 got the word on that offer and I said, this is 00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:14.840 unbelievable. This is unbelievable. Think of 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:16.860 all the kids that are going to benefit from this 00:15:16.860 --> 00:15:18.399 money that was given this week. I mean, this 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:22.059 is going to feed a lot of kids for a while. That's 00:15:22.059 --> 00:15:26.039 unbelievable. So I thank you all that helped 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:29.620 and put money in, and all the kids and grandparents. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.779 It was fantastic, but that's only part of the 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:36.899 offering story. The competition was not just 00:15:36.899 --> 00:15:39.340 to see who could make the most money, but the 00:15:39.340 --> 00:15:41.960 competition was this. If the boys ended up taking 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:46.269 the most money, they would get to pick a female 00:15:46.269 --> 00:15:49.210 Bible school worker that was going to have to 00:15:49.210 --> 00:15:52.570 kiss a pig. And if the girls took up the most 00:15:52.570 --> 00:15:56.029 money, they were going to get to pick a boy Bible 00:15:56.029 --> 00:15:58.450 school worker that was going to have to kiss 00:15:58.450 --> 00:16:02.490 a pig. So I was really thrilled whenever that 00:16:02.490 --> 00:16:04.710 money come through and the boys really showed 00:16:04.710 --> 00:16:06.909 out Friday night because I figured they were 00:16:06.909 --> 00:16:10.129 going to pick me. But they didn't. They didn't 00:16:10.129 --> 00:16:13.909 get a chance because the boys won. And so the 00:16:13.909 --> 00:16:18.309 boys got to pick one of the adult workers to 00:16:18.309 --> 00:16:21.309 kiss a pig. And it was a tie between Miss Donna 00:16:21.309 --> 00:16:26.450 and Miss Macy. And so there you go right there. 00:16:27.350 --> 00:16:29.610 Macy and Donna got the privilege to kiss the 00:16:29.610 --> 00:16:31.610 pig. Thank you to Susan and Al for providing 00:16:31.610 --> 00:16:34.669 the pig. The pig was well cleaned. It was a cute 00:16:34.669 --> 00:16:38.409 little pig. But it was a good laugh and a lot 00:16:38.409 --> 00:16:42.240 of good fun. And we had a good time. I had a 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:43.879 good time, and I think I can speak for everybody 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:47.559 else. And I think we had a lot of fun, but I 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:50.559 think we learned about the Lord. And I think 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:55.019 that these things that these kids learn and us 00:16:55.019 --> 00:16:59.000 adults learn in Bible school, I think they stick 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:01.259 with you. I thought about this this week. This 00:17:01.259 --> 00:17:05.779 is kind of silly. But there's this little key 00:17:05.779 --> 00:17:09.480 chain, and some of you may remember these from 00:17:09.480 --> 00:17:14.710 2011. Big Apple Adventure. B -B -B, B -B -B, 00:17:14.809 --> 00:17:18.230 Big Apple Adventure. Y 'all may not remember 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:20.430 that song. I remember all these songs. I don't 00:17:20.430 --> 00:17:22.930 know why. But our thing that year was New York 00:17:22.930 --> 00:17:27.069 City. And we had these little taxi cabs. And 00:17:27.069 --> 00:17:30.029 it's a little flashlight. It's a keychain flashlight. 00:17:30.589 --> 00:17:34.970 And would you believe that since 2011, this thing 00:17:34.970 --> 00:17:37.650 still lights up. Every time I use this spare 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:40.569 key, I always push it. I'm always amazed. That 00:17:40.569 --> 00:17:43.230 14 years later, that this light is still shining. 00:17:43.890 --> 00:17:46.750 And I thought about that this week. You know, 00:17:46.809 --> 00:17:49.809 I think VBS probably has that impact on the lives 00:17:49.809 --> 00:17:53.089 of some of these kids. That years and years down 00:17:53.089 --> 00:17:55.569 the road, that something they learn about the 00:17:55.569 --> 00:17:58.839 Lord, that their light is still shining. At least 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:01.019 I hope that's the case. I hope that's the case 00:18:01.019 --> 00:18:04.599 for all of us. That even though things like DBS 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:08.240 come and go, every time we come together to worship 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:10.539 the Lord and look at His Word, hopefully there's 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:13.380 something that sticks with us. There's something 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:15.160 that's in our heart. There's something that the 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:17.779 Lord can recall to us. There's something that 00:18:17.779 --> 00:18:20.880 He reminds us of that we can depend on Him in 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:23.500 our times of trouble and that we can praise Him 00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:27.220 for being a good God and for taking care of us. 00:18:27.980 --> 00:18:30.359 And so this week, we spent a lot of time in the 00:18:30.359 --> 00:18:34.420 classes the students did learning about Jesus. 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.539 And that's what we come here for. That's what 00:18:37.539 --> 00:18:39.859 we come to celebrate. We can come here today 00:18:39.859 --> 00:18:43.279 and celebrate because Jesus Christ gave his life 00:18:43.279 --> 00:18:46.500 on a cross and was raised again so that we could 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:50.259 be forgiven of our sins. And that's our mission, 00:18:50.380 --> 00:18:53.039 brothers and sisters in Christ, is to get that 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:55.859 message, to get the gospel, to get the good news, 00:18:56.140 --> 00:19:00.119 to spread it around the world. And a good place 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:03.599 to start with that is in the lives of a child. 00:19:04.380 --> 00:19:06.579 Because the scripture says, bring up a child 00:19:06.579 --> 00:19:08.200 in the way they should go, and when they are 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:12.680 old, they will not depart from it. It's a lot 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.640 of hard work getting ready for VBS. And every 00:19:15.640 --> 00:19:18.579 year leading up to it, there's always a little 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:20.920 bit of dread. It's like, oh, I have to do all 00:19:20.920 --> 00:19:24.880 that. But then the closer that it gets, the more 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.079 exciting that it gets. And all it takes is one 00:19:28.079 --> 00:19:31.319 night. All it takes is one little kid to run 00:19:31.319 --> 00:19:34.960 up to you and give you a hug. And it changes 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.920 everything. And then you get that for five nights. 00:19:38.619 --> 00:19:40.599 And you get the same little kids every night 00:19:40.599 --> 00:19:43.569 to come up to you as happy as can be. They're 00:19:43.569 --> 00:19:45.509 praising the Lord when it's time to praise the 00:19:45.509 --> 00:19:48.230 Lord. They're learning their scriptures. They're 00:19:48.230 --> 00:19:50.170 learning their mottos. There was one little girl. 00:19:50.349 --> 00:19:53.849 She'd come up to me multiple times a night. Little 00:19:53.849 --> 00:19:57.549 bitty girl. And she'd say, magnify God. That 00:19:57.549 --> 00:19:59.650 was our motto. Part of our motto. Magnify God. 00:19:59.730 --> 00:20:01.529 She'd come up to me with the biggest smile on 00:20:01.529 --> 00:20:06.109 her face. Magnify God. Do we have that excitement 00:20:06.109 --> 00:20:08.269 for the Lord in our life? Maybe we do or maybe 00:20:08.269 --> 00:20:12.829 we don't. But we should. We should be just like 00:20:12.829 --> 00:20:16.069 the psalmist of Psalm 150. There's a lot of good 00:20:16.069 --> 00:20:18.170 that God has done in our life. A lot that he 00:20:18.170 --> 00:20:21.430 blesses us with. And VBS this week is just one 00:20:21.430 --> 00:20:25.089 thing. That God is worthy of our praise. So I 00:20:25.089 --> 00:20:27.069 don't know when the last time you gave the Lord 00:20:27.069 --> 00:20:30.549 a good hallelujah was. But perhaps you need to 00:20:30.549 --> 00:20:32.509 give the Lord a good hallelujah in your life 00:20:32.509 --> 00:20:36.789 today. Let's pray. God we come to you. We thank 00:20:36.789 --> 00:20:38.390 you for your good word. We thank you for this 00:20:38.390 --> 00:20:41.170 good week dear Lord. We're just celebrating today 00:20:41.170 --> 00:20:43.390 your greatness. Just like this psalm says, God, 00:20:43.470 --> 00:20:46.049 we just are praising you because you did such 00:20:46.049 --> 00:20:48.930 great and mighty works this week through the 00:20:48.930 --> 00:20:51.829 workers and through the students and just everything 00:20:51.829 --> 00:20:54.849 that took place, dear Lord. I just thank you 00:20:54.849 --> 00:20:56.970 for being good to us. I thank you for this church. 00:20:57.029 --> 00:20:58.769 I thank you for the people and their dedication. 00:20:59.009 --> 00:21:01.509 I thank you for the hard work. And I thank you 00:21:01.509 --> 00:21:03.789 for these children who came this week. I pray, 00:21:03.869 --> 00:21:06.829 God, that you just would bless them, that you 00:21:06.829 --> 00:21:10.509 would help them to... remember and to just recall 00:21:10.509 --> 00:21:12.910 the things that they learned this week, that 00:21:12.910 --> 00:21:15.009 they would recall the stories about Jesus, that 00:21:15.009 --> 00:21:18.089 they would recall the love of the people in this 00:21:18.089 --> 00:21:20.109 place for all them this week. I pray that you 00:21:20.109 --> 00:21:22.670 would just protect these children and encourage 00:21:22.670 --> 00:21:25.609 them and their families and their parents, dear 00:21:25.609 --> 00:21:30.170 Lord. And God, we just thank you. We just praise 00:21:30.170 --> 00:21:33.490 you today, God. I pray that you just would continue 00:21:33.490 --> 00:21:36.509 to bless us and take care of us as a church. 00:21:36.569 --> 00:21:39.660 Use us to be a a light for this world, dear Lord. 00:21:40.519 --> 00:21:44.059 And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.