We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. We have two
weeks left. We have this week, and then we finish
Just Camping next week with Easter, and I'm so
excited to celebrate the tomb is empty. Like,
what better way to celebrate Just Camping, right?
And so within that, we've been in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, and specifically now, we've read this
verse before, but it kind of frames up where
we're going today. Therefore, verse 17, is in
Christ. The new creation has come. Is anyone
in the room or online in Christ today? Then that
means, what this means is you are new today.
You're not waiting for it to come. You are new
today. It is here. So much so that then he says,
the old has gone, the new is here. All this is
from God. We talked about this last week. It's
all by grace. All this is from God. who reconciled
us to himself through Christ, who reconciled,
so all this is from God, who reconciled, he brought
relational harmony between us and God. How did
he do that? He removes the barrier of sin, the
thing that was between us, he removes it so that
you, as someone who is new, those of you that
cheered, those of you that were too shy to cheer
or missed the prompt, Right? Like you, you are
new. And what that means is you are in relational
harmony with God right here, right now. All this
is from God. Who reconciled us to himself through
Christ and gave us, and gave us the ministry
of reconciliation. God has given to us. Who is
the us? Those that are new. Those that have said
yes to Jesus. Those that have relational harmony
with God, that have had sin removed. Those who
are in relational harmony with God. He goes,
he has given you the ministry of reconciliation.
And you're like, what in the world is that? Well,
remember, reconciliation is. Harmony brought
between two groups. So your relational harmony
with God, he has given you the ministry to show
the world your relational harmony with God. What
does ministry mean? It's the idea of serving.
It's the idea of as you go through your life,
as you step into this life, it is a service to
everyone around you. And what you're now a broadcast
for in your actions is, hey, I'm someone, if
you wanna know what relational harmony with God
looks like, look to me, because this is what
it looks like, right? He goes, he gave us, it's
a gift. And I'm just curious, what are you doing
with the gift? Like, is it still unopened on
the shelf? You're like, I don't know if I want
that one. Right? As part of being new, he gave
you the gift to serve others in such a way that
they would see you and go, man, I understand
what it looks like to be in relational harmony
with God. Isn't that beautiful? That your life
could point somebody else to what it looks like
for what they were created for? He carries on
and he says, kind of doubles down on this idea
in verse 19, that God was reconciling the world.
To himself in Christ. So God, the initiator,
he is bringing relational harmony. What's the
point of it? To bring you back to himself, back
to where you always belong, back to what you
were created for. How did he do that? Through
Christ, not counting people's sins against them.
And he has committed, he has entrusted, he has
entrusted to us, those that have said yes to
Jesus, those that are new, he has entrusted to
us the message. of reconciliation. Okay, so you've
got the ministry, which is the service, serving,
and now you have the message, which are the words.
Maybe an easier way to say that is this, that
it is the story that your mouth tells, right?
That your life, your life, both in action of
service, But your words can lead somebody else
to understand the relational harmony that you
have with God. That you've been entrusted. God
is entrusted to you. That you would be the person
that tells the story of how to come into relational
harmony with God. It's so interesting. People
are like, well, I can't share my faith. That's
for those evangelists, right? We use a big word,
big church word when we're like, oh, that's for
them. We dump it on them. Those were given a
gift of evangelist. We quote the verse out of
the Bible so that I don't have to tell people.
And even worse, when somebody's got the gift
of giving, we're like, praise God you got that
one and I didn't. Or you got the prayer warrior,
you know what I mean? Like, oh, you're a prayer
warrior. I don't have to pray now because isn't
it interesting? God entrusted, he entrusted to
you that you would tell your story of how you
came into relational harmony with him. It's that
simple. How do you come into relational harmony?
And he connects. Look what he just did. He connected
the actions of your life with the words of your
life. And he goes, God has committed, he's entrusted,
and he's given as a gift the ability to do this.
And then he carries on, kind of puts more language
to it in verse 20. Therefore, we are therefore,
we are therefore, based on all of that, Christ's
ambassadors. As though God were making his appeal
through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf,
be reconciled to God. And what he's just done
when he says that we are therefore Christ's ambassadors,
he's taken us all the way back, all the way back
to the Garden of Eden, to the beginning of the
book. He takes us all the way back to the beginning
where it says that human beings were created
in the image of God. The first humans were created
in such a way that everything they did, spoken,
everything that they did with their actions,
they reflected the relational harmony that they
had with God, the relational harmony with one
another, and they were a reflection in everything
they did. So when they rolled up to Jamba Juice
in the garden, they're at the juice bar because
that's all there was, and they're adding their
protein. Can you imagine what that? Grass was
like put in there. Because your reflection, your
reflection, your image bearers, you're showing
everything around you what it looks like to be
in harmony with God, to have a relationship with
God. When you interact with one another, when
you go about your tasks. He goes, you're acting
as one that is in perfect union with God. What
is Paul getting at here? He's going, hey, what's
been restored for you and for me as followers
of Jesus is that we have been restored as brand
ambassadors for God. That you've been restored
into image bearing. That your life can now be
a display. This word ambassador. We are therefore,
we are therefore. It's a statement, right? So
it's declaring who you are. You are Christ's
ambassador. And often when we think of ambassadors,
I don't know about you, but I grew up traveling
a lot as a missionary kid. And it was often in
a foreign country. You needed the embassy and
you needed the ambassador for your country to
represent you. And whether that was getting a
passport, a visa, whatever it happened to be.
And so what's interesting with that is we often
take this. and it's not wrong, and we put it
into the foreign idea, right? Because we are
foreigners. You know, anywhere you go on this
planet, once you say yes to Jesus, you're a foreigner.
It's not home, which is why you're just camping,
right? But as an ambassador, here's where it
breaks down for me. An ambassador in a foreign
country normally lives in an embassy. They're
not with the people, and the people come to them.
What I see when we say that we are Christ's ambassadors,
As I see it more culturally, we have the language
of a brand ambassador, right? We understand that
somebody gets an endorsement, a company chooses,
and they choose to pick an individual, and then
that individual begins to represent them and
speak for them, and as they carry out their life,
represent who they are. One of these was Kobe
Bryant. And Kobe Bryant in 96, he got signed
by Adidas. And he was with Adidas till about
2002. And in 2002, it became clear that he'd
kind of reached the ceiling. So he took a risk
and bought his contract out with them and then
stepped into kind of his own platform. Why? Because
his game was good enough at that point and his
reputation was good enough and he was waiting
for the next endorsement. Well, then what happened?
If you follow the Kobe Bryant story, there was
this very public scandal, misstep that happened,
right? all the endorsements around him started
to back away. And so in 2002, he went into brand
management of Kobe, if you like. He started,
the way he played, he started wearing different
shoes, and so he's representing different companies.
And in 2003, Nike go, hey, we're going to take
a risk on you. The risk came at a $40 to $50
million contract. That's quite the risk. And
they said, but what we think we can do is we
can rebuild you for long legacy. And so, true
story, walking through Miami at the airport,
and I see this guy coming towards me. He's got
this black sports shirt on across the front.
It just says Mamba. And I was like, man, I'm
so curious what's on the back. Sure enough, who's
he representing? Kobe Bryant, why? Because what
Nike did is they rebuilt Kobe Bryant to be their
representative and a Mamba mentality that is
now known by so many people within the basketball
world and beyond that this idea, this brand,
and he went on to be one of the most successful
people Nike have had. Everything he did represented
what? The brand. Every aspect of life, good or
bad. Johnny Depp, right? Jack Sparrow, Captain
Jack Sparrow. Johnny Depp had some stuff outside
of the movie world in his personal life and Disney
back away from him. Why? Because he was representing
them to the world. You have Lance Armstrong.
Lance Armstrong with the whole doping thing that
happened. And what happened? Nike go, hey, we're
not going to have you endorsed anymore. What's
amazing is this, Kobe Bryant. He took a risk.
He stepped up his stats. He had this long legacy
in front of him. They thought he could be a lifetime.
And here's what's fascinating. It was all based
on Kobe Bryant. If he got the brand ambassador
stamp or not for that company. Guess what? The
person of Jesus Christ has looked at you and
said, you are my ambassador. And it's not based
on what you did. It's based on what Jesus did.
It's based on what was done on the cross for
you. And guess what? When you mess up, he doesn't
go, I'm going to back out of that endorsement.
Whether you're good in how you represent the
brand or you are poor in how you represent the
brand, you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ
in everything you do. You represent to the world.
what it looks like for a human being to be in
relational harmony with God Almighty. And Paul's
been kind of driving this idea that our lives
are what's happening. If you turn back, I have
to turn back one page, but chapter 3. So 2 Corinthians
3, verse 2. You yourselves, so he's speaking
to the church in Corinth. He goes, you yourselves
are our letter, written on our hearts. known,
listen to this, known and read by everyone. You
show that you are a letter from Christ, the result
of our ministry written not with ink, but with
the spirit of the living God, not on tablets
of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. What's
he saying? He goes, your life, your life is a
letter. And your life is being read by those
around you. There's a gentleman, Bobby Conway,
who wrote a book called The Fifth Gospel. And
in that, he kind of based it on a quote from
Gypsy Smith that said this about your life. There
are five gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
You heard of those four, anybody? Right, like
there's a story that tells us about Jesus when
his time on earth. They're the recount of his
life. They show us what Jesus is like. They show
us what God is like. There are four gospels.
The fifth one and the Christian. But most people
never read the first four. What is Gypsy getting
at? The average person is never going to read
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're not going
to see Jesus in the scripture, but guess what
they will read? They will read your life like
a book. What version of Jesus does your life
portray to the world around you? What gospel
is your life portraying? And that's what Paul's
getting at. Like your life really matters. This
camping trip matters because what you are doing
leaves a version of the gospel. When you said
yes to Jesus. what it looks like to be new, what
it looks like to have relational harmony, what
it looks like to have life as worship, you get
to live that everywhere you go. The next chapter
over, he talks about hardship and how this works.
Chapter four, verse seven. But we have this treasure
in jars of clay to show that this all -surpassing
power that we've been given inside of us is from
God, not from us. We are hard pressed on every
side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in
despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck
down, but not destroyed. We always carry around
in our body, in this tent, on this camping trip,
we always carry around in our body the death
of Jesus. Why? So that the life of Jesus may
also be revealed in our body. For we who are
alive are always being given over to death. For
Jesus' sake, why? So that his life may be revealed
in our mortal body. So then death is at work
in us, but life is at work in you. What is he
saying? That this camping trip, when things get
hard and the imagery in one of these is like
an olive that is being pressed, right? And the
oil is coming out. That when you are hard pressed
in this life, what's supposed to come out of
you because you are new, because you are in relational
harmony with God, you get to put on display for
someone. What does it look like to go through
hard things and the result be them see your harmony
with God. The result be them see Jesus is your
life. What does it take for you in the midst
of hardship for them to see? I'm just camping,
man. I ain't holding on to this too tight. That
diagnosis is okay. I'm just camping. Does it
hurt? Sure. All that hardship I'm going through,
I don't know how those financial things, it's
all right. I'm just camping. Worst comes to worst,
I know I win. I know I'm getting the upgrade.
I know that this life, all of a sudden it allows
you, it allows you to what? In hardship to display
what is really true. Remember, Pastor Todd a
couple of weeks ago talks about your behavior.
Your behavior follows what? Your belief. If I
really believe I've been saved by Jesus, if I
really believe heaven is waiting, if I really
believe this life is just camping and I'm on
a mission and the mission is to show Christ to
everybody around me, why? So that they can see
what it looks like to live in relational harmony
and just maybe they find Jesus. then man, I'll
go through this hardship if it means you find
Jesus. Because that's my job. That's my role.
I've been given it as a gift. And I get to live
it out. And in the message translation, the verse
we read about being we are therefore ambassadors,
in the message translation, there's just some
language that's really helpful for us. I'd love
to just walk through it together. God has given
us. Given who? Those that are new, those that
are followers of Jesus, said yes to Jesus, of
telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's
representatives. God uses us to persuade men
and women to drop their differences and enter
into God's work of making things right between
them. We're speaking for Christ himself. Now,
become friends with God. He's already a friend
with you. Isn't that so good? Right now, okay,
hang on, hang on. Those of you that have said
yes to the gift, you are a friend of God right
now. And your life, Your life, you get to show
the world all the time. This is what it looks
like to be a friend of God. All of a sudden,
this whole thing just got real simple, didn't
it? I just show what it's like to be a friend
of God. I can do that. And so this week I was
dropping my kid off at school. And those of you
that know me. I'm always late. I think time is
more like a rubber band. It's meant to be stretched.
It's elastic, not fixed. Spoken like a true missionary
kid, I think. But the idea behind it is, because
I'm that way, I have a daughter who also thinks
time is elastic. And so when I'm taking her to
school, there's a good chance we ain't making
it before the gate closes. So we've been working
really hard to be there on time. This day I get
there, she's on time, the gate's still open,
and she rushes in through the gate, and I flip
a Yui and come back, and it's a four -way stop.
And as I'm sitting at the four -way stop, I notice
another parent is pulled up, but they're not
coming in to where I was. They're just going
to sit at the four -way stop and let their kid
out. And so their kid jumps out and you can tell
like we're all beating the gate, right? Like
we're all beating the gate closure. So the kid's
in a little bit of a rush and I see the kid look
at me and the parent look at me like, are you
gonna go or is my kid gonna go? And then I look
over at the crossing guard and the crossing guard's
like, and I was like, I'm just gonna relax and
go ahead. So even though it's my turn, kid walks
down, crossing guard comes out, they go across.
And I drive away, and God goes, you left a brand
of what it looks like to walk in relational harmony
with me at the crosswalk. And I went, huh? I
started a process. I was patient. Well, we know
God is what? Extremely patient. That's the only
reason we're here, right? He's extremely patient.
We know God is kind. We know God is not self
-seeking, right? I could have gone first. And
so 30 minutes later, I'm studying for the message.
And there was like a quote that I remembered
that I thought I saw on Instagram somewhere.
And so I jump on Instagram and open it up. And
like what pops up is a comedian. And the comedian
pops up and I don't get a lot of comedians on
my feet. So I'm like, well, why are you here
for starters? So I start listening. Person's
funny. Well, then it turns dark. And it turns
into a topic that I'm like, I hope nobody walks
in. And I'd love to tell you that I turned it
off. But I laughed to the very end. And I got
done and I got the quote and I got moved on.
And God goes, what brand of relational harmony
with me did you leave in your usage of Instagram?
And it got me thinking, you guys, that when we
go through life. That the idea of being an ambassador
can be a really big kind of concept. But I think
it's supposed to be a whole lot more simple.
Here's what I mean. You can purchase one of these
hats outside. This is the camping hat I was telling
you about. When you go hunting with your buddies.
You're just camping in this life. Which tells
me that as part of just camping, we're left here
with a mission. We're left here with a message.
We're left here to be brand ambassadors for God
Almighty. What brand of relational harmony with
God do you leave with your hunting buddies? What
do they experience? Let's see what else we got.
You know, when you're working out, taking care
of your health, doing the things your body needs,
you're just camping. What does that mean? Don't
become obsessed with the wrong thing. Oh, I'm
not saying don't look good, right? Everybody
likes to look good. But I'm saying don't become
so obsessed with looking good that that's your
motive for why you're doing what you're doing
to take care of your health. You know why you
take care of your health. Because you're just
camping. And part of the camping trip is this
body has been made the temple of God. And this
body has a mission by God. So I need to take
care of my health. Why? So I can continue with
the mission. So I need to steward what God has
given me on this camping trip. And my health
is something that I need to steward. Why? Because
there are people all over that need you to steward
your health. Well, why? So that you can show
them in living flesh color. Just like the person
of Jesus did what it looks like to be in relational
harmony with God. That's why you take care of
your health. And you drink your water that you're
supposed to drink. Especially in Arizona, you
look like a lizard. Let's do this one first.
The books you read, reading is a crazy, crazy
trend right now. Maybe it's always been and I
just noticed lately. But there are more people,
more people reading things and investing time
and energy into a space to escape reality, to
escape what's actually my life. And in the midst
of escaping what is actually my life, in the
midst of creating a fantasy world, I'm missing,
I'm missing what God has done. This camping trip,
what I read and the way I read it and the way
I represent it to everybody tells something about
the relational harmony that you have with God.
Why? Because what you consume is what you become.
And so in this day and age, and I'm not saying,
please don't hear that John said, you only read
your Bible. This is just, I just put it on this
one because I didn't want to carry another book,
if I'm honest. But what we read, we represent.
Why? Because we are ambassadors. We're brand
ambassadors. You represent what it looks like
to be in relational harmony. And if in relational
harmony with God, reality is not good enough,
we got a problem. And then there's this one.
Maybe you open a laptop because you got work
to do. Maybe you open a laptop because you're
gonna stream something. Maybe you open a laptop
because you're gonna go on Facebook. Maybe you
go on your laptop because you're gonna leave
a review. All of the things that I do on here
represent someone in relational harmony with
God. Right, like everything I do on here, right?
So think about it, when you leave a review or
you decide to get in the comment section, the
way that you respond is being a brand ambassador
for God Almighty and you are expressing through
your words, this is what it looks like to live
in relational harmony and be a friend of God.
And they're like, if that's a friend of God,
I don't know if I want to be a friend of God.
Why? Because what I do on here, it's not just
me. I'm representing something so much bigger.
I saw a stat recently. It was in an article that
Arizona is the fifth highest state in the nation
when it comes to, and they measured it by money,
money spent that's being spent on OnlyFans. If
you don't know what OnlyFans is, it's an adult
website. Don't look it up. The fifth highest
state in the nation. Remember, when you decide
to enter whatever website, you are a representative
of what it looks like to be in harmony with God.
You're representing the brand who is Jesus. And
I just wonder in our computer usage and... And
how we go about it, if we're aware that I'm actually
representing, maybe this one's a little closer
too, or a little easier. Your private life should
be the same as your public life. Integrity is
not what I do in public. Integrity is what I
do when nobody is looking in private. Integrity
is when I'm on a device and nobody really knows
and there's a delete button and I can delete
my history and I figured out how to delete all
the connections to it, right? Like you're representing
Jesus even in your private moments. You are leaving
a flavor of the brand of Christ in everything
that you do. We're still going, okay? We're not
done yet. This one's fun. In your sports and
your recreation, you're just camping. Right?
What does that mean? That means that at a U7
soccer game, you're not going to lose your mind
as a parent. How do I know that happens? I used
to coach club soccer for a long time. But what
it means is this, that you show up and you show
up as somebody who's in relational harmony with
God. I'm a friend of God, right? And yes, my
kid's doing terrible, but I realize I'm just
camping and this isn't the end. I realize that
I don't have to coach my kid in how to be the
best soccer player, especially at the expense
of not coaching my kid to be an ambassador for
Jesus. In that game. You guys, I talk to a ref
every week from this town. And he coaches high
school and he coaches rec leagues and whatever.
And he goes, John, it's getting worse, not better.
What if the brand representatives of Jesus show
up and make it better? What if we show the world
what it looks like to actually respect a referee?
I don't know, gentlemen, it often falls on us,
I think. When your team loses, it's okay. You're
just camping. I know you spend a lot of money
to watch them. And I know they're terrible. And
I know they're still looking at Aaron Rodgers.
But you losing your mind communicates something
to everyone around you. And you probably don't
look very harmonious with God. Because we're
called to what? Even in our recreation, we're
just camping. Hopefully worship doesn't trip
on that on their way in. I don't know why I looked
at my laptop. There's no notes. This one hopefully
connects. By the way, we're just camping. This
one hits a couple of ways, right? Because this
hits on the, I'm gonna go help you with your
car. You know what I mean? Stranded in the parking
lot. How many times as a brand representative
of Jesus does this make you feel good? Versus
you go, no, I'm living on service that you would
see somebody who cares about other people because
that's the brand I represent. You would see somebody
that's gonna put, oh yeah, I'm on a time crunch.
Well, I got rubber band time so I can stay and
help you with your car, right? Or I carry jumper
cables because I know I'll meet somebody that
needs them, right? There's all that. There's
also the element that this could represent work,
that whatever work you have, whatever you do
in your life from a professional perspective,
mechanics in the room don't be that mechanic
that gives people something that they don't need,
right? No, I'm going to take my work and I'm
going to do it before God. There's a verse in
the Bible. That says, whatever you do, do it
as unto the Lord. So my work becomes as unto
God. What that does is that frees me. That frees
me from people that don't know Jesus, like the
manager I had at 19 in a restaurant that threw
a trash can lid at me and hit me in the neck.
Metal trash can lid. I wish I responded at 19
like I was harmonious with God. Not so much.
But that's the opportunity we have, right? That
when everybody else is stressed and losing their
mind, we can go, hey, we're just camping. We're
just camping. We don't have to take this so serious.
It's interesting. If you got stressed, go to
counseling. Right? Let's take care of our stuff.
Why? Because we're brand representatives of Jesus.
This one. Some of you are like, can you buy all
this out there? No, you can't. Some of the women
in the room was like, is that gonna come off?
Do you know how hard that's gonna be to peel
off of that? How you rest. You are a brand representative
in how you rest. We may do a collection on this
at some point, but the way that you rest as a
human says an awful lot about the brand, the
God that you trust. You know what's amazing?
You were designed to sleep. No matter how long
you go, at some point you're gonna fall asleep.
And you know what happens? The world keeps turning
while you sleep. Why? Because God is in control,
not you. Right? And so what I do when I rest,
when I rest, I acknowledge that I have limits.
I acknowledge that he is God. I acknowledge that
in this life, I'm just camping and I'm not the
one holding it all together because I'm just
camping. And what it does to everybody around
you when you have rhythms of healthy rest, when
you're not on the grind and getting ahead of
everybody else, what it says is this, that, That
getting ahead is his business. My business is
to show you what it looks like to be in harmony
and put my head down and go to sleep. Another
thing this represents for me is this, your sex
life. In your sex life, you are a brand ambassador
of God Almighty. What is being said of your sexuality,
how you handle yourself in the area of sex, what
is being said, what brand... Representative,
ambassador, what is left of the brand when you
leave? We had to do this one. The mundane. Anybody
do laundry in the room? You're like, it just
keeps coming. Don't know where it comes from.
But I'm sick of it, right? The laundry just piles
up. It's the mundane. Even in the mundane, you
are a brand ambassador for God Almighty. There's
something in how you do the mundane tasks. Something
in the mundane tasks speaks volumes to the brand
that I believe Jesus to be. The way you serve
others. The way you do it when nobody else can
see it. It speaks volumes. And then there's this
guy. What this guy represents, should have sat
down the whole time. What this represents is
you go camping with people. It's your family.
Hey, parents in the room, what brand of Jesus
do your kids see in you? What are they left with?
You only, you by the grace of God, and who knows,
you have limited years to show them what it looks
like to be in harmony with God. You have limited
years to pour into them what it looks like to
be a friend of God Almighty, to live out the
brand. And at home is what you do at home. Do
they see the same person out here? Husbands and
wives in your relationship is your relationship
one that enters on the platform. If we are ambassadors
for God in the way we do this relationship speaks
volumes to our world around us that need the
person of Jesus in their life. But don't make
a mistake. We are ambassadors. You are a brand
ambassador and you represent God almighty in
all that you do. And here's one last thought
and we're done. We created these, you can buy
these. It's not why we created them. We created
them because some of us need to understand. This
is a journal. And what goes in a journal is often
my personal, intimate thoughts. And what this
is, is this represents that if you are going
to be a brand ambassador for God in all that
you do, you need intimacy with God to be the
marker of your life. What do I mean by that?
I mean that that isn't just showing up on a Sunday
and then not thinking about the God the rest
of the week and showing up on, that's not how
this is supposed to work. You will never understand.
I wonder how many of us don't even understand
the brand that we've been given in Jesus. We
don't understand the gospels because we've never
read them. We don't understand who Jesus is,
so we don't understand what we represent. Intimacy
with God, what? Shapes my thoughts, shapes my
soul, shows me what God is like, and it transforms
the way. that I interact with every single part
and piece of my world. We are, we are, it is
a gift that God has given. We are ambassadors
for Christ. Why? Because you're new, you're new,
and you have relational harmony with God. What
does your relational harmony look like to the
world? And so when I get this, I get to this
point, I'm like, God, I just need to process
that you're worthy of it all. I need to get my
eyes on you. I need to see who you are. And I
need to go, man, you are just, God, you are worthy
of everything in this life. Every single part,
every single piece, you are worthy of each and
every one. Why? Because you have purchased me.
And I'm your friend. And you're his friend. And
so we're gonna use our voices. We're gonna sing
together. We're gonna declare. I'm gonna pray
and then we'll sing. God. We just thank you.
We thank you for being good to us. We thank you
that your goodness is what leads us into relational
harmony with you, God. We understand you chose
us. And so God, even in these moments when we
get to raise our voice, even in these moments
when we could choose to represent you in a different
way, God, would you help us to choose to step
in and go, this is what it looks like for someone
in relational harmony with God to raise their
voice and to sing. This is what it looks like
for someone to declare you are worthy of it all.
Every single piece. Why? Because everything we
have, we recognize has come from you. And God,
we just give it back today. So God, thank you
for the reminder that we are just camping in
this life. Thank you for the reminder that the
end is secure and one, the new heavens and the
new earth. And in the meantime, we just say,
you're worthy of everything in this just camping
life. It's in your name we pray, everybody said,
amen.