Well, good morning, church. It's good to see
you guys this morning. Welcome, welcome. If you
haven't been welcomed yet, I would love to welcome
you. I'd love to welcome those online, out in
Pauldin, Baghdad. If you're watching from wherever
you are, we're so glad you're joining with us
this morning, and we're glad that we get to open
God's Word together today. Something I've noticed
about people, all of us, is that I think we're
all nerds. Like, if you're honest, right, we're
all nerds. There's different brands of nerds,
you know what I'm saying? Like, different brands
of nerds. I know for a fact when it comes to
me, I'm a sports nerd, okay? I'm a sports nerd.
I'm in three different fantasy football leagues.
I'm in three different fantasy baseball leagues.
At my house, sports is always on. I could tell
you a random fact about a random team and a random
player that you never wanted to know, okay? I
got that. We're all different brands of nerds.
And something I've learned over the last 18 years
of working in youth ministry is that it doesn't
matter what brand of nerd you are, you have to
be able to relate to all the brands of nerds.
That was my job. And so a couple of years ago,
I had some students come up to me and they go,
hey, Pastor Todd, we're going to Comic -Con.
Do you want to come with us? And I'm like, sure.
And so I went to Comic -Con and listen, that's
not my brand of nerd. I'm just telling you. Like
I had no clue what was happening like 99 % of
the time. I'm like, I have no idea what's happening.
I have no idea what I'm seeing. I don't get these
stories. I don't know what's going on. And so
as I was there, man, like I was there, I showed
up, I was around it, but I had no clue what was
happening. And so there was one girl who was
with us who apparently there's a lot of opinions
that you can have. And she had a lot of them.
And so she was telling me a lot of things about
everything that was happening. And she was the
one that was telling me the most. So I was like,
okay, I guess I'll believe what you say here.
And here's the thing. I think when it comes to
our faith, a lot of times we don't actually know
who God is. And because we don't know who God
is for most of us, we just like had this vague
idea of who God is. And we show up and we're
like, yeah, I'm here, but we don't actually know
who he is. And because we don't know who he is,
we tend to listen to the loudest voice around
us who tells us who God is. And so you have to
answer the question for yourself. Are you gonna,
when it comes to knowing who God is, are you
gonna listen to TikTok or are you gonna listen
to the Bible? Are you gonna listen to that video
that your crazy aunt sent you or are you gonna
listen to the Bible? Where do you get your source
of truth when it comes to who God is? Because
understanding God's character, understanding
who God is. is the determining factor for how
you will follow God and how you will live your
life because his character matters. And the thing
we know about God's character is who he is is
who he is. It doesn't change. That's who God
is. And so we have to understand who God is.
And as we've been walking through this idea of
snapshots, we're taking a snapshot of the book
of Exodus and a snapshot of the book of Exodus,
we look closer and with any snapshot, any photo
that you have, the closer you look, the more
things you discover. When you look at it, I found
this story this last week of a woman who was
showing her husband a photo of her at Disneyland
when she was a kid. And she showed him this photo.
And in the background of this photo, the husband
looked closely and he saw himself with his family
in the background of her photo when they were
kids and they had no idea who each other were.
Some of you weren't impressed with that. I thought
it was a lot cooler than that. You're like, oh.
Gee, it's 930. You should be awake by now, people.
But when you look at a snapshot, there's details
that help you understand something more. And
as we look at the snapshot today, it's going
to help us understand the character of God, who
God is at his core, the character of God. And
so the context for today's snapshot is this,
man, I feel bad for Moses because Moses is leading
these Israelite people out of Egypt. And man,
I just imagine him taking these people and trying
to get them from point A to point B. And here's
why I feel bad, because I have five kids. And
I know what it's like to get them from point
A to point B. To get them from the house to the
car and then drive and then from the car to the
church is like, it's a miracle every time. It
reminds me of this summer, we took a trip to
the Dominican Republic and we took about 15 people,
most of which were students and navigating in
an airport with 15 students isn't one of the
most favorite things I've ever done. I'm like,
don't go there. Nope, we're in this terminal,
not that one. Make sure your phone is on you.
Don't eat that. You don't spend your, I'm like,
come on now. Like I feel bad for Moses navigating
this. Because here's what the Bible says. It's
an absolute logistical nightmare. It says in
Exodus 12, 37 through 38, the Israelites journeyed
from Ramses to Succoth. There were about 600
,000 men on foot besides women and children.
Many others went up with them and also large
droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. All
right, now let's do some quick math. We don't
know the exact number here, but we can kind of
estimate and we can do some quick math, which
some of you got excited because that's your brand
of nerd, right? You're like, math, awesome. 600
,000 men. We can assume then, we're not for certain,
but we can assume there's probably 600 ,000 women
as well. 600 ,000 men, 600 ,000 women, and then
we can kind of assume if there are couples here,
I know some of them probably were unmarried,
but if there are couples, we can kind of just
guesstimate two children each. Now, some of them
didn't limit the fun and had a lot more children.
I know, I got five kids, I can say that, okay?
But for some of them, there's more, so we don't
know the exact number, but we can do some rough
math here to figure out that there was probably
anywhere between 1 .8 million and two million
people, but then it says many others went with
them. I don't know how many, many others is,
but it sounds like a lot. And then animals and
livestock as well. So there's an absolute logistical
nightmare when it comes to leading these Israelite
people out of Egypt. And Moses is the one that's
having to lead them. In fact, it's not just a
logistical nightmare. It seems impossible. It
seems like an impossible situation. And I think
there's probably some of you that came in today
that might be facing an impossible situation.
Or maybe you're going through something and you're
going, I don't know how I'm actually gonna get
through this. I don't know how I'm going to do
this. And as Moses is facing this impossible
situation, he's going, this looks impossible,
but God, but God, that's when God steps in. I
don't know what situation you're facing that
feels impossible, but I know that we serve a
God that steps in. So here's what it says. It
says, after leaving, Which, by the way, some
of you might feel like you're living in Succoth.
All right, I'm just saying. Your life is Succoth
right now, and you need to leave that place.
You're like, I got to get out of here. All right,
don't laugh at that. That's bad. Come on. So
when they left, they camped at Etham on the edge
of the desert. And it says, by day, the Lord
went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide
them on their way. And by night. and a pillar
of fire to give them light so that they could
travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of
cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night
left its place in front of the people. It never
left. I don't know who needs to hear this today,
but some of you came to church today and all
you need to hear is this. God will never leave
you or forsake you. God will never leave you
or forsake you. If you don't hear anything else,
then this is the word that you take home today
is God will never leave you or forsake you. That
is who God is. It says this pillar came and it
never left the people. It stayed in front of
the people. It guided the people. And because
of this pillar, through this pillar, we get a
peek into God's character. It's not just a pillar
of fire or cloud. It's a peek into God's character.
And it shows us something about him. As we look
at this snapshot, we can learn things about him.
If you're taking notes today, the first is this.
The pillar is God's. provision. The pillar is
God's provision. God provides for their practical
needs. Just very practical here. He provides
for their practical needs. I'm what is referred
to as a weather wimp. I'm a weather wimp. I grew
up in San Diego where they do not have weather.
It doesn't exist. Some of you are like, is it
really that nice? Yes, it is. And they pay for
it, a lot for it. But it's really that nice.
And so when I moved here, I was like, we're moving
to the desert? This is crazy. I need sunscreen.
My bald head can't handle it. But not only that,
I need a jacket. I didn't own a jacket until
I moved here. I was like, I gotta get something.
We gotta take care of these practical needs.
All right, we know what it's like living in the
desert. He's taking these Israelites through
the desert. And so what does God do? He provides
a pillar of cloud to provide shade during the
day because it gets hot in the desert in the
day. And he provides fire at night to keep them
warm. Practical needs. God is a God of provision.
God provides, which means he provides for our
practical needs. He provides you when it comes
to the food that you eat, when it comes to the
water that you drink, when it comes to the air
that you breathe. Aren't you ever taken a good
breath before? Where you're like, oh, that was
a good breath. God provided that for you. We
take these things for granted and we don't realize
that God provides it. He provided the relationships
that you have, the family that you have. The
guidance that you have, the wisdom that you get,
all of those things is God's provision in your
life. So my question is this, when was the last
time you thanked him for it? Because we take
things for granted and we go, okay, I don't need
to thank God because here's how it actually works.
I got a job and I got money and I bought the
food. So why do I thank God? Because I'm the
one that did it. No, God provided it for you.
When was the last time that you took a breath
and you go, oh, I just want to thank God because
I breathed it. Because he provided the breath
that I took. We take things for granted. When
was the last time you got in your car and were
like, God, thank you that I have a car. And some
of you drive a ghetto car like me, but you ain't
walking. So thank God for it. God, thank you.
Thank you that you provided this for me. God
has given us these things and he's provided for
us. And here's the thing. What our response to
a God who provides should be is trust. should
be trusting that God will provide, right? Look
what God has done. God will provide. That's who
he is. That's his character. But I get messed
up with that because I look at my bank account
and I go, oh man, it's time for a freak out now.
It's time for a panic. Instead of realizing that
God provided before and the same God that provided
before will provide again because God provides.
That's what he does. That's who he is. Next is
this. The pillar is God's protection. The pillar
is God's protection. I mean, come on now. There's
a pillar of fire and clouds stretching to the
heavens. There is nobody that's trying to roll
up on that. You know what I'm saying? If you're
in an army that's going, oh, look at all these
people. I can attack these people. And then you
see this pillar of cloud and fire. You're like,
uh -uh, I ain't rolling up on that. When I was
in high school, I went one night to 7 -Eleven,
because that's what you do when you're in high
school. You go at like 11 o 'clock at night to
get a Slurpee. And I went with my friend. He's
this huge dude. He played college football. His
name was Kellen. And Kellen was this big dude
with a big afro. And so we're in 7 -Eleven. We're
filling up our Slurpees. And as we're over here,
this guy walks in the door. And I look at him
from across the store. And this guy was literally
three times the size of my big friend, Kellen.
And I was like, oh, snap. And as he walks in
the door, this massive dude, he looks across
the store. And he looks at my friend, Kellen.
And he goes, what's up, Jamal? To which my friend
goes, oh, what's up, man? How's it going? And
I am utterly confused at this point. I'm like,
wait a sec. I've known you since fourth grade.
Your name is not Jamal. You are Kellen. What
is happening right now? So I was like, hey, what
was that? And he goes, I have no clue who Jamal
is. I'm just glad he's on his good side. He's
like, I'm just glad I'm on the right side here.
You know what I'm saying? Like there is a pillar
of cloud and fire to the heavens. And anybody
looking at them is like, I just want to stay
on that good side. You know what I'm saying?
If you're looking to attack that, you're like,
uh -uh. Like, my palms are sweaty, my knees weak,
my arms are heavy. You know what I'm saying?
Like, some of you didn't get that. You require
less counseling than the rest of us, okay? That's
what I'm saying. All right, some of you are over
there now, and you're like, I'm spaghetti, right?
Like, you're just keeping it going. But can you
imagine this pillar of cloud and fire? And here's
what God is doing. What God is doing in this
moment is that the armies of every other nation
understand how this works because they don't
have the communication devices that we have.
And so to identify who the commander of the army
was, or the multiple commanders in the army,
they would have this thing called a mishael.
And it was this long pole. And on the top of
the pole was this big bowl filled with oil. And
they would light it so that it created a little
pillar of fire to identify who the commander
of the army is. So that the rest of the army,
when they looked, they could say, that's the
person I'm going to listen to because he's the
commander, because he's in charge. And so there
is their identifying factor for all of the other
armies to say, yeah, here's this little bit of
fire and this is where their commander is. And
then all of a sudden you look at the Israelites
and you see a massive pillar of fire so that
anybody looking at them goes, there is no doubt
who their commander is and I'm scared of him.
God is protecting them. God is protecting them
through this pillar of fire. God is the commander.
And what commanders do is commanders protect.
This is what it says in Exodus 14, 19. Then the
angel of God, who had been traveling in front
of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them.
The pillar of cloud also moved from in front
and stood behind them, coming between the armies
of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night, the
cloud brought darkness to one side and light
to the other side. So neither went near the other
all night long. God said, hey, I'm going to protect
you and I'm going to put darkness on your enemies
and I will leave you in light. But I think there's
something we need to notice here. God controlled
both the darkness and the light. God is the God
of the darkness. And for some of you, you walked
in and you feel like you're walking in darkness
right now and you need to know that God is in
control. You need to know that it doesn't matter
how dark it gets in your life, God is still in
charge of the darkness. God still controls the
darkness. And take it a step further. You need
to know that the spirit inside of you, because
God has given you his spirit, you have power
over the darkness through the power of Jesus.
And I don't know where you came in with. I don't
know what darkness you're facing, but I need
you to know that God is in control. And what
God does is God just protects. It's not just
an act he does, it's who he is. That is his character,
God protects. God protects us physically. Aren't
you ever been in a situation before and you don't
take off right away at the light and then all
of a sudden someone comes speeding through and
you're like, man, if I did, I would've got smashed.
Have you ever gone through something and afterwards
you look back on it and you go, man, I was just
five minutes away from being in that accident.
God protects us physically. God protects us emotionally.
You ever prayed for something that didn't happen
and then you look back on it and you go, man,
God had my back on that. I was cruising for a
burgeon and God's like, no, no, no, I'm gonna
take care of that. Have you ever been in a situation
where spiritually you're protected before? God
protects, that's what he does. If you were here
two weeks ago, Pastor John was up here talking
about the plagues that happened. And when the
plagues happened in Egypt, each one of those
was directly pointed at the little gods that
Egypt worshiped. And so God, Yahweh, the God,
went rounds with each one of their gods, proving
that, yes, you worship this little God, but I'm
so much bigger, I'm so much better. And Pastor
John put up all the different characteristics
of who God is in that situation. God is this
for us, God is this for us, God is this for us.
And as I was sitting in these same seats, I was
sitting right over here, I felt like God was
telling me as I'm looking at that, that I've
been trusting in the little gods in my life instead
of who God really is, specifically when it comes
to social media. And I felt like God, as I was
sitting in the seat just right there, I felt
like God told me, hey, you need to delete your
social media right now. And so right that moment,
I deleted the social media. And here's the thing,
I'm affected so much by the negativity that I
see on social media. When somebody posts a crazy
video and they're talking crazy, I start internalizing
this. When there's all this negativity and people
are fighting and going back and forth and all
this stuff, and I'm just scrolling and I'm seeing
it over and over, it affects my life in a way
that it shouldn't, where I'm mean to my family,
I'm mean to my kids, and they did nothing wrong,
but it's because I'm stressed out and I'm bringing
all this anxiety from what I watched on social
media. Now, I don't know if you know this, but
last week was an absolute dumpster fire on social
media because of Charlie Kirk's murder. And God
was protecting me from that before it even happened.
I didn't even know it was happening, but God
said, hey, I'm gonna remove this because I know
what you're gonna walk into, you're not gonna
be able to handle. God protects us before we
even get in the situations that we don't even
know are coming. God's got our back. God's looking
out for us because that's who he is. God protects.
All right, next is this. The pillar is God's
guidance. The pillar is God's guidance. All right,
how many of you need guidance? That's awesome.
Most of you are lying in church right now. That's
great, right? We all need guidance. You need
guidance. I remember when I first got married,
I was like, oh, I got this. I got this. I read
a book on it. And then I got married and I was
like, I don't even know if I like her. Like,
what are we doing? Why is this happening? Like,
she keeps telling me to put my socks in the hamper
and I'm like, that's not where they go. Some
of that got too real for some of you. You like
nudged your wife right there. You're like, yo.
Why are you crazy like his wife? Yeah, I know,
I know. I remember when we had kids. My wife
was a child development major. She's great. She
knows how to do it. I was like, we got this kid
thing. And then the hospital did the craziest
thing. They let us take them home with us. I
was like, what am I supposed to do with this
thing? Like, I don't know how to do it, right?
And then they become toddlers. And you're like,
God, I need you because I'm living in hell right
now. Those of you that aren't laughing don't
have toddlers. You don't know. We need guidance
in our life. We need somebody to guide us because
the truth is that every day that I'm married
is the longest I've been married before. I don't
know how to do it. I've never done this before.
Every day is the day that my kids are the oldest
kids that I've ever parented before. I don't
know how to do it. I've never been here before.
Every day that you live is a new opportunity
that you go, man, I don't know what's coming
because... We don't know what's coming and God
does. God is our guide. And what God does is
he guides. Here's what I love about this pillar.
It says this in Numbers 9, verse 17. Whenever
the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites
set out. Whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites
encamped. At the Lord's command, the Israelites
set out and at his command, they encamped. As
long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle,
they remained in camp. But when the cloud remained
over the tabernacle a long time, Israelites obeyed
the Lord's order and did not set out. Do you
catch this? They moved when he moved. When God
moved, that's when the Israelites moved. When
the pillar moved, when their guide moved, that's
when they moved. But we, what if we were to do
that? Because what we like to do is we like to
move when we want to move. Or we try to convince
God to move so that we can move. And we don't
move when he moves, we put it on us. We want
to be the guide. By definition, if God is the
guide, that means that he guides you. You don't
just drag him along. Some of you are like, we're
going this way, God. This is what we're doing.
And God's like, that's not what I said. Like
I said, stay and you wanted to move. Like I said,
go and you're just stuck there. The problem is
this, is that we want God to fit into our schedule.
God, that's really inconvenient. I get that you
want me to do that. I get that you're the guide
and all, but like, that's inconvenient. I think
about the Israelites, dude. It says that they
camped. Listen, sometimes I say no to my kids
to go in camping just because I don't want to
set the tent up. They camped. That means when
they woke up the next morning and the pillar's
moving, they're like, we got to pick it up. Let's
go. You know how inconvenient that is? But in
our life, we don't like to be inconvenienced,
but you need to understand that you're not the
guide. God is. And when we try to guide and we
don't let God do his job, we end up in a place
we should never be at. What this is, is it's
letting God set the pace and then it's being
submissive to his pace because we like things
to happen on our time schedule. And God's going,
no, no, I got a better plan. Let me guide, let
me do it. Okay there, control freak, come on,
give me the reins. God's going, hey, I got the
pace. I'm gonna set the pace. So how do we know
where he's moving then? It's like, okay, well
then that's great. That was easy for them. Giant
pillar of fire moved, easy to know. If we're
gonna know where he's moving, then we gotta know
our guide. Because if he's the guide, we gotta
know our guide. And you're like, okay, super
easy still. They had a pillar, we don't. How
do we follow that? You're right, they had a pillar
to follow. But who's our guide? Our guide is
Jesus. How do we know who Jesus is? How do we
know who our God is? It's through his word. The
Bible is our guide. I think a lot of times we
just never open the word of God and we go, how
come I don't know where to go? How come I don't
know what to do? Well, have you consulted the
guidebook? Have you consulted the instructions?
We're men, we don't like instructions. I listen,
God's saying, hey, if I'm the guide, then you
gotta follow the guide. It's not about where
you wanna go, it's following God because God
is our guide. The pillar is God's guidance. Next
is this. The pillar is God's faithfulness. The
pillar is God's faithfulness. I said it earlier.
I'm going to say it again. God never leaves you
or forsakes you. God never leaves you or forsakes
you. 2020 was a dark time for a lot of people.
It was a dark time in my life. I had a lot of
questions, a lot of things that I was going,
God, I don't know where you're leading. I can't
hear you. I can't feel you. I don't know where
you are, God. And I was questioning a lot of
things. I was questioning, God, do you even want
me to stay in ministry doing this? God, should
I just go somewhere else? What should I do? What
do you want for me to do? And God was saying
the whole time, hey, just trust me. But I'm like,
God, you're silent. I don't know where you are
and I don't know how to trust you and I don't
know where you're going. And God was going, hey,
I've been faithful. I've been faithful. And so
I intentionally spent time just going, hey, I'm
gonna seek God. I'm gonna intentionally do some
things and not do some other things to try to
hear where does God want me to go? What does
he want me to do? And I didn't know, God was
kind of leading me and I'm going, do I plant
this church? Do I go do that? And God's like,
no, no, no, that's not what I want. I'm like,
but then what is it? And God's going, hey, I'm
faithful, just trust me. I'm faithful. And God
started leading me to Prescott, Arizona. I'd
never heard of Prescott before. He led me to
Heights Church. I've never heard of Heights Church
before. I'm going, God, why would you do this?
And he's going, trust me, I'm faithful. And God
led me exactly where he wanted me to be. Because
what God does is God says, hey, I'm faithful.
And when I'm faithful, it allows us to understand
that we can trust him. A lot of times in the
storm, we forget the God that controls the storm.
When you're going through a storm and some of
you have storms in your life that you're going
through and you need to understand that you're
not just going through it alone because God is
controlling the storm. He's in charge of it.
And when you know the guide, when you know the
provider, when you know the protector, when you
know the God who is faithful, who controls your
storm, it's a lot easier to weather the storm.
And it's not for God to just say, hey, God, take
away the storm. It's for us to trust God through
the storm. Trust God through the storm. What
we're doing is we're trusting his faithfulness.
And it's because of God's faithfulness that it
allows us to have more faith, right? Because
you put your faith in something that is faithful.
Because of God's faithfulness, we can have more
faith. God is a constant presence through their
journey as the Israelites are traveling through
there. He's a constant presence in their journey
and he's a constant presence in our journey.
Whatever it is that you're journeying through,
God is a constant presence in that. And he spoke
to the Israelites through this cloud. It says
this in Psalm 99, seven, he spoke to them from
the pillar of cloud. So I think about this, if
he's speaking through a pillar of cloud, then
it would make sense that they need to be close
to that pillar of cloud in order to hear what
God is saying. I think oftentimes in our life,
we go, I don't hear God. I don't hear God. I
don't know what God is saying. And it's because
we've moved away from God so much that we can't
hear what he's saying. It's not that God isn't
speaking. It's that we're not in proximity enough
to hear him. When God is absent in your life
or God is not speaking in your life and you're
going, God, what do I do? I can tell you this.
It's not God who moved. Because God is faithful.
That's who he is. That's his character. Are you
putting yourself in proximity? Are you reading
God's word? Are you opening God's word so that
he can speak to you? Are you praying to God and
speaking to God so that he can speak to you?
Are you in a life group? Are you surrounding
yourself with community that can speak truth
into you, can speak life into you, can push you
in the right direction? Because if you're not
doing those things and you're not putting yourself
in a proximity to hear from God and then you're
saying God is silent, God didn't move, you did.
God is faithful. Listen, this is who God is.
This is his character. And this is what I love
about God's character. It's not just that he
does these things. It's who he is. That means
he can't not do them. That's who he is. How do
we know that's who God is? This is how we know.
We know that God provides. We know that God is
a God of provision. We know that God provides
because he provided Jesus. He provided Jesus
because you and I cannot do it on our own. But
Jesus came, the spotless lamb that came to stand
in your place. And God provided Jesus to say,
I love you enough that I'm gonna send Jesus to
take your place on a cross, to take the punishment
that you deserve. We know that God provides.
We know that God protects. How do we know that
God protects? Because he protected us from sin
and death. because the wages of sin is death
and because what you deserve and what I deserve
is separation from God forever. But he said,
I'm going to protect you from that because of
my provision, which is Jesus. And because of
my provision that is Jesus that died on a cross
for you, you are protected from sin and death
through him. God guides. How do we know that
God is our guide? We know that God is our guide
because he gave us his spirit. He gave us his
guide. He gave us something that we can walk
through life with knowing that this Holy Spirit
is walking with us. He's prompting us. He's speaking
to us. He's guiding us. He's alongside us. The
God that provides provided Jesus. God that protects
made a way to protect us from sin and death.
The God that guides gave us his spirit to guide
us. Why did he do that? Because God is always
faithful. God is always faithful. That is who
he is. And what that means is this. It doesn't
matter how far you've walked away because he
is faithful. He is still there because he is
faithful. His arms are still open wide because
he is faithful. It doesn't matter how broken
you are. It doesn't matter how much of a mess
you walked in with. It doesn't matter if you
don't hear God. It doesn't matter if you are
in darkness. It means that God did not change
and he is still there and he is still welcoming
you back to him. And for some of you today, you
walked in different than you're gonna walk out.
Because Jesus is calling you to him. Because
of God's faithfulness, his faithfulness calls
us to him. And he's waiting for you. Will you
come to him? Will you say, I'm tired of doing
this on my own. But because of God's character
and who God's character is, I know that he's
the one that needs to lead. And I need to come
to him. After the service, there'll be people
up front that wanna pray with you and talk with
you. But if that's you today that says, hey,
I need to give my life to Jesus. I need to trust
him instead of trusting me. Don't let today pass.
Today is the day. Let today be the day that you
say, I understand who God truly is. And I want
that God to be the one that walks in front of
me and guides me. Because God is the God who
provides. God is the God who protects. God is
the God who guides. And God. is always faithful.
Let's pray. God, thank you so much. God, for
who you are. Above everything, God, thank you
that you provided Jesus, that you protected us
from sin and death. God, thank you that you guide
us through your spirit. God, thank you that you
are always faithful in the midst of our storm.
God, I pray that you would allow us to trust
you. That you would allow us to leave different
because of knowing who you are and knowing your
character, God. God, we thank you for who you
are. We thank you for your character that does
not change, that we can rest on and know for
certain. We love you, Jesus. We praise you. We
give you this time. We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.