Speaker 1: 0:00

All right. So every summer we love to do a church Bible study, so we're going to keep the tradition going and this year we're going to look at the book of Jonah. Now we're going to take some time. We're going to go, verse by verse, a little bit more expository of it, and I encourage you during this process, to read along, read the book of Jonah for yourself and study it and dig a little deeper into it, because it's going to be really awesome. Okay, now I have a question, though, for you.

Speaker 1: 0:30

I have a question for everyone in here today. Who in here would say that you want to experience God's will for your life? I would think most of us would say that right. And even if you're new to this church thing, this Jesus thing, you're not sure where you are with all of this you will probably still say I want to fulfill my purpose in life. I want to figure out what my purpose in life is, and through this Bible study, we're going to look at that. We're going to figure this out, because if you grew up in church, you probably know the basic story of Jonah. It's a great Sunday school lesson, isn't it? Jonah runs from God. He gets swallowed up by a big fish. He gets spit out, preaches and the people repent. What a good Sunday service, huh. But there's so much more to it. Jonah is layered with meaning that speaks for everyday life, and it challenges us how to respond to God. It challenges us how to treat others, and it challenges us to really understand the unconditional grace of God, and so we're going to look at this, and I'm super excited for this.

Speaker 1: 1:40

Okay, so here's the first question who is the main character in the book of Jonah? Who, would you say, is the main character in this book? And the answer is not Jonah. It's not Jonah. Good guess, though, but you would have lost in jeopardy. Okay, jonah is the only name mentioned in this book. There's no kings, no captains, no other named characters, but he's not the main character. So some might say well, maybe it's that big fish. Is the big fish the main character of the story? Well, oddly enough, four chapters of Jonah, the big fish is only mentioned in three verses, but he gets all the time, he gets all the credit, doesn't he? So I would say no. So if it's not Jonah, if it's not the big fish, who is the main character in the book of Jonah? Well, the answer is the Lord, god. The Lord God is the main character. Check this out.

Speaker 1: 2:37

Jonah 1.1 says this the word of the Lord came to Jonah. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. This is how Jonah's story begins, that the word of the Lord came to him, and I want to tell some people today that God still speaks. Today, god speaks. Back then he spoke to Jonah and he speaks now. I would actually say God's voice is so active.

Speaker 1: 3:03

The problem that we have is we have so many notifications popping up on our phones that we can't even hear the voice of God. So many of us are so afraid of the silence that we can't spend intentional time with God and hear the purpose and the plan and the promise that he has for us. God still speaks, and my hope for you, lvc, is that during the next four weeks, that the word of the Lord will speak to you, that God will speak to you, and God will commission you and champion you from the very beginning. In the beginning was the word, and the word was speaking, and he's still speaking. The word of the Lord came to Jonah, and just know this, though. Just know this and just know this, though. Just know this when God speaks and he does.

Speaker 1: 3:47

When God speaks he may ask you to do something that you don't want to do. He may ask you to do something that you don't want to do. The word of the Lord came to Jonah. Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me. God says to Jonah hey you, jonah, you're a prophet. He's like I am. He's like, yeah, you are. Go, do what prophets do. Go, preach repentance to those evil people over there. Call them to turn from their ways because they've done some terrible things. And what did Jonah do? Well, he did what a lot of us do. And what did Jonah do? Well, he did what a lot of us do Jonah ran. Verse 3 says.

Speaker 1: 4:27

But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa. Get in the Joppa, sorry. Wow, woo, get in the Joppa, okay. He went down to Joppa where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Speaker 1: 4:55

Scripture says that he ran from God. In fact, if you understand the map of where Joppa is, where Nineveh is and where Tarshish is, nineveh is up this way, tarshish is literally 2,500 miles the other direction, and Tarshish is not only the opposite direction to Nineveh. Tarshish is a vacation spot, man. It's the beaches over there. Jonah's like I'm not going to those people, I'm about to get me one of those little cups, one of those little drinks, with the little umbrellas in it, and I'm about to enjoy a vacation. He ran the opposite direction Now, but why?

Speaker 1: 5:37

Why did he do this? God told him to go to Nineveh, but Jonah found a ship that was heading to Tarshish, and it leads to a principle I want you guys to know If you want to run from God, the devil will always offer you a ride. If you want to run from God, the devil will always offer you a ride. If you want to run from God, the devil has no problem pulling up an Uber for you. He always has a different option. So if you want to get away from God, I promise you, I promise you, you will find a boat sailing in the opposite direction of what God wants.

Speaker 1: 6:02

So what did Jonah do? He ran from God. He disobeyed God. God gave him an assignment and he said I'm not doing that. But why? But why Did he run away just because he was afraid? Did he run away? Because he didn't want to do it? Why didn't he want to go preach to the Ninevites? And the reason why is because he hated them. He hated the Ninevites.

Speaker 1: 6:23

I'll give you a little context. Jonah was a Jewish, hebrew from Israel, and Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. The Assyrians hated the Israelites and the Israelites hated the Assyrians. Jonah despised them and honestly, for probably some good reasons. The Assyrians were brutal. They were brutal when they conquered a city. They would abuse women, kill children. They were brutal when they conquered a city. They would abuse women, kill children. They would torture their survivors in horrible ways.

Speaker 1: 6:52

Jonah didn't run just because he was afraid. He might have been a little bit afraid, but it wasn't just because he was afraid. He ran because he knew God. What do you mean? He ran because he knew God and he knew God. What do you mean? He ran because he knew God and he knew, if he would preach about the love and grace and forgiveness of God, that God would be faithful to forgive even them, and so he didn't want to go. He said these people didn't deserve forgiveness, these people don't deserve that grace. So Jonah ran away from God and he rationalized his disobedience.

Speaker 1: 7:28

And what does it mean to rationalize sin? He probably thought something like this. He probably thought, hey, those people are too bad, so if I don't do it, it's not that big of a deal. They probably wouldn't listen anyways. So he rationalizes sin. And when I say rationalize sin, what do I mean? It's when our mind makes an excuse for something that God's word forbids, or we know in our spirit that is wrong. That is wrong. That's what it means. That's what it means to rationalize sin. And the reality is this we do that often. We often just say I mean, isn't it that big of a deal? I mean, if no one knows, it's okay, right. And we rationalize it.

Speaker 1: 8:11

And so maybe God asked you to do something Like you were prompted to serve somewhere or give somewhere, or give to someone, or be a witness, or to forgive someone. And you thought I'm not ready for it, this isn't the best time, I don't feel like it, I'll do it later. And you're putting it off. You're putting off what God told you to do, and I want to remind you this that delayed obedience is disobedience. And every parent knows what I'm talking about. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Speaker 1: 8:43

Have you ever, for the parents in here? Have you ever done the three count technique to your kids? You've got three seconds to put that toy down. One, two. I'm about to get there, like my youngest son, hayden. When I say that to him, he doesn't do that as, oh, let me hurry up and stop doing what I'm doing before daddy gets to three. He looks at that and says, ok, I got three more seconds to keep doing this thing. And now here you go. When it's putting away a toy, it's really not that big of a deal, hayden. You got three seconds. Better put that toy away. He keeps playing with it until three and he puts it away. But if he was running in the street, now that's different, isn't it? Hayden, don't run in the street. Hayden, don't go after that ball. I've given you three seconds. One, two and a car comes. See, here you go. Here's the truth.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Delayed obedience is disobedience. It is disobedience. And when people think about spiritual maturity, what does it mean to really have a mature relationship with God? A lot of times Christians may say well, it's Bible knowledge, and Bible knowledge is good. But you can know a lot about the Bible and be one of the meanest people ever. And that's because you have Bible knowledge doesn't mean you're spiritually mature. But it's not just Bible knowledge, but we do need that. It's what you do with the knowledge.

Speaker 1: 10:06

A good definition of spiritual maturity is this Spiritual maturity is a short time between God's command and our obedience. It's when God speaks to us, when God says something to us, when God prompts us and leads us and nudges us. Instead of having all these different excuses why I can't, why I shouldn't, I don't know what about them we say yes, lord, I give you my yes, holy Spirit. I say yes to what you're calling me to do and, as you, as an everyday person who's learning how to become a Jesus follower, and as we become more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, that yes becomes a lot sooner. Sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, that yes becomes a lot sooner. It becomes a lot sooner to do it. That's what spiritual maturity is and that's what maturity does.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Again, back to parents. You know how awesome it would be if your kids listened to you the first time Now. Wouldn't that just be great? My whole life would be so much better. Just be great, my whole life would be so much better. How awesome would it be if I didn't have to repeat myself.

Speaker 1: 11:08

So what we see is the word of the Lord comes to Jonah, and Jonah ran from God. And when he ran from God, do you think his life got better or do you think it got worse? Well, obviously it got worse. It didn't work out too good. Once he started to run from God, his life went downhill. And when you read through the book of Jonah, you're going to see two directions mentioned often.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Okay, now, lbc, I want to do something that we never do as a church. Okay, I want us to actually say a word together. We never do this. Okay, so here you go. This is what I want us to do. This is what I want us to do. When I say the word down, I want us to all say it together. Does that sound good? All right, here you go. I got some Bible verses for us.

Speaker 1: 11:51

Okay, jonah went down to Joppa. Jonah went down to the bottom of the ship. Jonah was thrown down at the bottom of the sea. You guys sound so good. That was awesome. Jonah went down, down, down when God was calling him up, up, up. But his life went downhill. It started going down. God calls him up, but he rebels and things go down.

Speaker 1: 12:22

It continues. Then the Lord check this out. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. I got to say something to that, because don't we isn't one of our favorite gospel stories about how there was a storm and the disciples were in the boat and they were freaking out because of this storm. And they're fishermen, they're sailors, they know how to handle a bad storm. So this storm must be really bad if the fishermen are freaking out. And then they go into the back of the boat.

Speaker 1: 12:56

And where do they find Jesus in this story? He's sleeping in the back of the boat while there's a great storm happening. And they say to him. They say to him the classic line that we often say to God when storms are happening in our lives. They say to him don't you even care that we're drowning? Don't you even care that all this chaos, that all these problems, that all these things are happening, jesus, do you even care? And what does Jesus do in this story? It's beautiful, right. He gets up. He doesn't even pay him any attention. He doesn't say of course I care. He just gets up, he speaks to the winds, he speaks to the waves to be calm, and immediately the storm is calm and we celebrate that God is a God who calms the storms.

Speaker 1: 13:41

But when we read in Jonah, jonah says to us that God also sends the storm. So if God's a God that calms the storm, why would God send a storm? What would God be doing to send a storm? When I thought he was the God that just makes everything all good for us, I thought he was the God that just moves things through for us. Isn't that what he does for us? Make everything better? Maybe, just maybe, the storm, the storm you're dealing with in your life, isn't because something bad is happening. Maybe it's God's way to get your attention. Maybe God's trying to grab a hold of your attention. And this is what we see. And it says.

Speaker 1: 14:37

And I got to say something, jesus followers, when we run from God, the people, the people who do not yet know God, they're afraid of this, and then they throw their cargo away. See, when us Jesus followers aren't doing the thing that God has called us to do, the people who do not know God yet are throwing away the purpose and the plans that God has for their life, and so we see this here in this text. And then Jonah check this out. Jonah had gone below deck, where he laid down and fell into a deep sleep. Similar story to Jesus, isn't it? But instead we see that Jesus gets up. What does Jonah do?

Speaker 1: 15:17

What's interesting is, when the storm hit, the pagan sailors were the ones that started praying. They didn't even know the true God, but they were like whoever can help, please help us. And here's the thing the sailors had done nothing wrong, they were innocent, but they were caught up in a storm because of Jonah's rebellion. Jonah disobeyed God, and it didn't just affect him. It hurt the people who didn't even know God yet, and some of us in here today, we've been hurt by the storms that other people create. Some of us have been affected by the storms of other people's disobedience, and some of the people you love have been hurt by the storm you created, and so they've seen the people. So they've seen the people who, and this is the problem.

Speaker 1: 16:05

This is a powerful picture, though, of how the disobedience of God's people can cause pain for others, and, if we're honest, that's why so many on-church people want nothing to do with church, because they've seen the people who claim to follow God live in a way that creates storms and not peace. They've been caught in the fallout of a leader who is a hypocritical, a judgmental or indifferent. And what Jonah is doing? In the middle of the chaos? He's asleep. He's oblivious to his own actions. We have to ask ourselves are there areas where we've been asleep to the impact of our disobedience, that our disobedience is having on the people around us, our disobedience that our disobedience is having on the people around us, especially our families, especially those who are far from God? His life is going down, down, down, and he's asleep and not even noticing it. And this is the scary place. This is the scary place because Jonah has become comfortable in his disobedience, he's become comfortable in his compromise, he's become comfortable in where he's at, and so, as everyday people who are learning how to become Jesus followers in the process, we can become comfortable in our compromise. It happens. It happens to all of us.

Speaker 1: 17:23

I love how Nick just shared his story during worship and how anxiety was flooding his mind, how vulnerable he was to that. But man isn't that so relatable Like yeah, man, I love Jesus. I love Jesus with all my heart. But anxiety still sometimes comes up, fear still sometimes comes up, and that doesn't make you bad, that makes you human and that makes you and that also gives you the opportunity to say God, I surrender even this to you. I surrender even this thing to you because I don't want to be comfortable in my compromise. You're running from God, you're ignoring God, you don't even care and you got no idea all around you that your life is starting to go down, down, down. If you know God, but you're running from him, or maybe you've just grown spiritually complacent. I have good news for you, good news that might not feel like good news at first that God won't let you stay comfortable in your sin. God won't let you stay comfortable in your sin. He won't let you settle into your compromise Out of love. He will allow our sin consequences to get your attention.

Speaker 1: 18:27

One of the things I've learned as a parent is that one of the best ways for my kids to learn something is through them experiencing natural consequences, like if I'd say, hey, don't jump off of that. But they don't listen and they jump off of it. My job is not to be a Superman and catch them. My job is to let them fall, because once they fall and hit the ground, they would say I probably shouldn't do that again. See, sometimes, natural consequences are the ways that we say hmm, maybe there's a better option here than this. So God won't let you settle into compromise.

Speaker 1: 19:08

In Jonah's case, god sent the storm not to punish him, but to bring him back. Sometimes God sends a storm, sometimes God allows a storm, sometimes God calms the storms. Sometimes the devil may send a storm, and sometimes, though, you may bring the storm on yourself, because sin always has consequences, and I know some Christians who do the wrong thing. They end up in a bad place and they say, well, the devil made me do it, did he? The devil doesn't bring every storm. He definitely brings some, but sometimes we bring our own. Someone may say, well, the devil took my job. Did he take your job, or were you just always late? The devil put me in debt, did he, or did you just always late? The devil put me in debt, did he, or did you just love your Amazon Prime account a little too much? In this case, god is actually lovingly working and sending this great storm to Jonah.

Speaker 1: 20:07

Jonah's life was going down, down, down. He didn't even notice it because he was comfortable in his compromise. But check this out. So they asked him tell us who is responsible for making all this trouble for us. Jonah answered I am a Hebrew and I worship God, the God of heaven, the God who actually made this sea that we're in and the God who made the dry land. It's almost funny because everything's going wrong and they're like man, whose fault was this? And Jonah's kind of like yeah, it's probably me, it's probably my fault that this is happening, because I was supposed to be in Nineveh but I was trying to go on a cruise real fast.

Speaker 1: 20:58

He says he worships God, but he's not obeying God. And again, can I please say this again, lvc, one of the biggest problems represented in the church today is when we say yeah, yeah, yeah, jesus, I love him, but then we are far from God in obedience. The word of the Lord came to Jonah and Jonah disobeyed the word of the Lord. And so in our church and at LVC, we love community. We love community. We believe that healthy community can bring the life change you want, and so we're better together. And so we do small groups at LVC, but obviously during the summer we're doing what's called summer meetups and again, these meetups are times that you just can connect relationally with people. You can work on that horizontal relationship us to others, because when that relationship is tight, when we have good friends, good people in our lives, it actually helps our vertical relationship to God and good people in our lives, it actually helps our vertical relationship to God. And so when we're connecting with people and what I want us to do in our meetups, they're so fun. Most of them are geared towards just doing fun things together. We got a taco night in one of them. The men are going to Taz's kitchen. I mean it's a lot of great stuff.

Speaker 1: 22:11

But one thing I want us to ask at our meetups this week. I want us to ask each other in love where in your life are you rationalizing sin and running from God? Where in your life are you doing it? Where in your life are you doing something? If you slow down long enough to be honest, financially, you're not honoring God In your marriage, you're not treating your spouse with respect or honor, your kids are not obeying mom and dad. You're looking at things you shouldn't be looking at. What is it? What area in your life are you rationalizing sin and running from God, and in our meetups I encourage you to ask those questions to each other. But if you can't make it to a meetup, have a godly friend in your life that you can ask that question to. And then, when you ask, ask that question. I want you to pray about it, confess it. I want you to confess it, pray about it and turn from it. Check this out.

Speaker 1: 22:59

Jonah continues. He says the sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked Jonah, what should we do to make the sea calm down for us? In other words, if it's your fault, what do we need to do about it? And watch this and watch how sad this is, jonah replies. He says pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm.

Speaker 1: 23:19

I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Jonah says it's my fault. Jonah said it was me, it's my bad, I brought it on. And I want you to see how heartbreaking this is, how sad this is, and I want you to feel the sadness, because what he's saying right here is this I've gone so far away from God that I don't think God can take me back. I ran away, I disobeyed, I've been doing things that no one knows about, and this storm is catching up to me, and maybe for you. You're like man there's a storm in my marriage, there's a storm in my finances, there's a storm in my dreams. There's a storm in my head, in my heart. This anxiety feels like a storm that I cannot manage. And you're like I don't even know how I got here. And, like Jonah, you may have reached a place where you say just throw me into the water, I'm not even worthy anymore.

Speaker 1: 24:28

So the sailors on board? They're like we can't do that. The pagan sailors so if you modernize it, they're the people that aren't Christians are telling the person who's a Christian. If you modernize it, hey, we can't do that. The pagan sailor so if you modernize it, those are the people that aren't Christians, are telling the person who's a Christian. If you modernize it, hey, we can't do that. We don't think that's right.

Speaker 1: 24:42

And again, when we, as Jesus followers, are living in a place of disobedience, we get disillusioned to the voice of God. And when we're disillusioned to the voice of God, we think we need to do more to earn God's grace, instead of understanding the gospel message. It's not about doing more to earn God's grace. It's about surrendering to God and just receiving His grace for your life. So if you in here because I know I have at times walked away from the Lord, I disobeyed God, I said God, maybe not now, maybe later, when life is a little bit more comfortable, if that has ever been you don't feel the shame. That's the voice of the enemy. Don't feel like I can't come back to God. That's the voice of the enemy, or insecurity, because God will always call you back and say just get back up again and receive my grace.

Speaker 1: 25:35

And so what happens? What do the sailors do? They say, well, they don't want to, but they toss them overboard. They toss them overboard and Jonah goes deep down in the water, depressed, hopeless. He sees no way out. He wonders if it's worth it. Can I say something, though? When we get to a place like that, often we start looking for someone else to blame. It must be the sailor's fault, it must be the Ninevite's fault. Well, it must be God's fault, because he's the one that told me to do this. Jonah, comfortable in his compromise, loses all hope and says throw me in.

Speaker 1: 26:27

Verse 15 says Then they took Jonah, threw him overboard and the raging sea grew calm. At this, the men greatly feared the Lord and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. And this is kind of a crazy part of the story. This is the crazy. The sea went calm, completely calm, and at this the men greatly feared the main character in this story and they feared and they went like afraid of him. But there was this reverence of like, wow, if this guy can calm a storm, then I will worship this God. And I just got to say something to someone.

Speaker 1: 27:00

Sometimes, in our biggest mess, god can still make a message. Sometimes, even in our disobedience, god can still use those very things to create a message. Because what does Paul tell us? The Apostle Paul says all things work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. That doesn't mean all good things always happens. That means even when bad things happen, god can take those very things and take them, turn them around for something good and there's hope in that. And so here you go, so he continues, and they're worshiping the Lord and they worship God and they're like this God is powerful. This is amazing. And here's the thing that I want you to know this. This is what I want you to know.

Speaker 1: 27:42

They say any God that is that powerful, that God is worthy of our surrender. If God has ever reached out to you, the word of the Lord has ever come to you and you have stepped away. I want to tell you about the goodness of God. Our God is our refuge and our strength. Our God is our ever-present help in time of trouble. His name is a strong fortress and the righteous run to it and they're kept safe. Our God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Our God is compassionate. Our God is a God who heals the brokenhearted and heals their wounds. Our God is a generous God who meets all of your needs according to the riches found in Christ Jesus. Our God is a good God and he does have an enemy, and His name is Satan. And Satan is a liar and a thief and he comes to steal, kill and destroy. But our God sent His Son, whose name is Jesus, who came, that you may have life, and life to the full, and when you seek God and when you call on God, you will find Him.

Speaker 1: 28:39

A God like this is a God worthy to worship. A God like this is a God worthy to have reverence for, and a God like this when the word of the Lord comes to us. A God like that deserves our yes and amen. That God deserves yes, put me in, send me out. I say yes to you, god. I say yes to you to do the scary things. I say yes to you, god, come Holy Spirit. I feel the Holy Spirit saying for some of you, the scary thing is getting in that marriage counseling. I say yes to you, god. I say yes to doing the things that I don't have the courage to do. And here's the best part about the gospel you don't have to have the courage to do it, you just have to have the surrender to say God, I receive your grace, I can't do it. It's actually the best part. It's not about you in the first place. It's not about how much you can muscle up to do something. It's about how much you can step down and say God, I'm going to do what you call me to do, I'm going to listen to you. A God like that is a God that we can honor, worship, fear, trust, obey and surrender.

Speaker 1: 30:05

So Jonah's overboard, he's in the water. He's got no life jacket. He's got no little boat coming his way to get him. It looks like game is over, because the word of the Lord came to him and he ran from the Lord. The word of the Lord is coming to you and God is a loving God. God is a God who speaks. He speaks to you. So I ask you again what area of your life, where in your life, are you rationalizing sin and running from God? We're going to acknowledge it, confess it, we're going to turn from it, because here, friends, when Jonah is going deep, deep down, down down in the water, grace meets him in the most unexpected way, and we'll talk more about that next week. Pray with me.

Speaker 1: 31:06

God, jesus, holy Spirit, we acknowledge areas of our life where we have ran away from you. Yeah, we acknowledge areas where we have made excuses because we're afraid. Man, I just feel this. I just feel the Holy Spirit kind of giving me this image that you may be afraid and he's a loving father that's not coming to increase that fear. He's a loving father coming to relieve you of that fear. Come, holy Spirit. Scripture says the kindness of the Lord leads to repentance. Jesus says that grace comes first in truth, and God's grace is here and with you. So we say come, holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 32:24

If you're in here and you know there's an area of your life where you've been rationalizing sin, you've been making an excuse on why you haven't done something that you know God's been nudging you to do, it's right where you are to say God, I hand that to you, I acknowledge it, I confess it and I surrender. Give me the courage. So, jesus, we thank you that you do calm storms. That's like the Holy Spirit saying some of you in here, you have been in fact affected by the storms caused by other people, and Jesus says that he is with you in the storm. He will calm the storm in your life. Just surrender, lean to him, lean in on him. He is the way maker.

Speaker 1: 33:32

If you are in here and you're dealing with just anxiety yeah, that's what you feel like that is a word from the lord. If you're dealing with anxiety and it just feels out of control, just put again, eyes closed, head bow. I'm not trying to call anyone out, but if you're dealing with anxiety, can you just shoot a hand up in the air so I can just see who I'm praying for? I see, yes, you, can you just shoot a hand up in the air so I can see who I'm praying for. I see you. I see you, holy Spirit.

Speaker 1: 34:08

We pray healing over anxious hearts. We pray healing over anxious minds. We pray Matthew 6 over people where we say do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough troubles of his own, but we give our entire attention to you, jesus. Come Holy Spirit, bring freedom to the anxious heart, bring love, lord. Bring love. So, jesus, we thank you. We thank you that, when we have ran from you, god, that your grace has still met us and that you're with us and that you're for us. So we say yes to you, jesus, say yes to you. We love you, say yes to you. We love you in this place today, in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, let's give God some praise.