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As a parent, there's plenty of us that probably feel at times, am I doing this right? You know, am I doing, am I, am I making the right decisions? Am I doing this wrong? Maybe you think to yourself at times, if you are a parent, you think to yourself, maybe I need to be more involved there, or maybe I need to be a little less involved with that. Maybe I need to be more stern about this and less stern about that thing. You know, whatever it is, it constantly has you in this place of, am I doing the right thing? So there's so for me, there's times that I really feel like, I don't know if I'm doing it right. But then, but then there's times when I know, when I know, like, wow, I am doing a good job as a parent. Like, this is it. I know I did it. And in the gains household, we kind of got this little motto we've been working on. We say this: we say, we are a family, we are a team. Teams don't compete, teams complete. Teams don't compete, teams complete. And so they gotten that pretty good, but it shines best when my kids are outside of the house in the world. So, for example, recently or over the fall, we took our kids to the park. Um, we took them to the park, and um, and and my five-year-old, my now five-year-old, um, our middle son, Jameson, he loves to do the monkey bars because his sister loves to do the monkey bars. And so he was doing the monkey bars the best he can, and uh he got he got pretty far and then he then he fell off the monkey bars. He felt he fell pretty hard too, but but uh but he got up, so I was I was proud of that. Yeah, you're tough. Okay. But um, but he fell. But when he fell, there was a kid in in the line who laughed at him, who laughed at him, and Jameson, my son, is very sensitive. He's a very sensitive um kid. And so he started to get sad because this kid laughed at him. And so this is what he did. This was my this was my proud parent moment. He runs to his sister, he didn't run to me. He runs to his sister, his older sister, Kingsley, who's seven, and he and he tells her, that kid laughed at me. And then my daughter, my seven-year-old daughter, says, Who laughed at you? And he pointed at the little girl that laughed at him, and she said, Okay. And so Kingsley walks to this little girl and says to her, Did you laugh at my brother when he fell down? And the little girl's like, Kingsley's like, you did, and don't do it again. And then the little girl was like, Okay, and she ran off. And then I was like watching her. I say, You get her, Kingsley. That's what I'm talking about. Woof. I'm sorry. No, but for real, I love it. She stood up for her brother. It was a proud moment. I'm still I'm standing there thinking, that's my girl. We're on the same team. We stick up for each other. And honestly, there is nothing like seeing your kids choose each other. As a parent, it really does. It blesses your heart. There's joy in seeing them defend each other when they play nice together. Come on. When they love each other, when they stand with each other. And that is exactly what the apostle Paul is celebrating in Philippians chapter one. And Paul is not talking, Paul isn't talking to a random crowd of people. He's talking to a family. He's talking to his family, he's talking to a team, he's talking to his partners in the gospel. Paul's joy wasn't that just that they believed in Jesus. His joy was that they stood with him. They were in this with him. He is basically saying, we complete each other. We're not here to compete with each other. We are partners in this thing called the gospel. And that's the heart of our message today as we continue this series. We want to complete, don't compete. Complete, don't complete. Because joy grows when church stops acting like individuals in the same room and church starts acting like brothers and sisters on the same mission. Same for your family. Same for your family. When your family dynamic begins to see that we're in this together, we're not individuals that are living in the same house, but we're a team. For your um friendships, your marriage, when you're when our families get on the same page and work together, when our when spouses see that they are partners with each other and not in competition with each other. And here's the big one that's often overlooked. Here's a big one. When friendships start to become face to face again and not primarily on devices only. And it's the same, the same it brought me joy to see Kingsley standing up for Jameson. Paul found joy because this church stood up with him. Now, my prayer for you for us over the next 13 weeks, and now 12 weeks of this series is simple. That you would you would accept God's invitation to choose joy. And here's one thing that we wanted to do to help you. We made these awesome magnets that you can put on your refrigerator, put on wherever magnets go. And it says our kind of our declaration of the series, I can't change yesterday, I can't control tomorrow, but I can choose joy today. And that's what that's and that's my heart for us during this during this journey. Is that we were learning how to choose joy today. And not that fluffy, feel-good kind of joy. Not as, oh yeah, I'm gonna fake it till I make it, whatever that means. No, but a deep-rooted, steady trust that I can choose joy no matter what comes my way in life. And this week and the next week, we're gonna camp out in Philippians 1, verses 1 through 11. Here's kind of the kind of nerd out again for you guys. I was so excited to do this series because we're like going verse by verse of the book of Philippians, and this was supposed to be uh this message was supposed to be all the way chapter one, I mean verse one through verse 11. But man, God spoke so much to me, I had to break this one up in two parts. So I say this is gonna be a 13-week series, but it might be longer. And I'm excited for it. I'm excited for it, okay? Here you go. All right, so we're gonna jump right into it. Okay, so right from the jump, right from the start, Paul introduces a theme that runs through this entire letter. And that theme is partnership. Partnership is the theme, and it's it's a kind of spiritual partnership that doesn't compete with each other, but it completes each other. And again, that's where joy begins. So let's focus on verses one through eight. And I want to give us two ways to that we can become, that LVC can become a complete church, or you can become a complete person, a person that wants to complete others, not compete with others. And so here you go. But before I dive into that, before I dive into those two points, let's say something about Paul's introduction here, okay? Let's highlight something very important about verses 1 and 2. Check this out. Philippians 1 2 says this Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. Okay, there's something way more profound here than just introduction. See, so I want I want to stop there. So, like most ancient letters, Paul follows the traditional opening of a letter by introducing himself. He's following his traditional um just just this way at how you write a letter. It's me, Mario. I mean, it's me, Paul. Um, but notice two things. He says, Paul and Timothy. Paul and Timothy, why include Timothy? Timothy was not in prison with him, Timothy did not co-write this letter with him, but Timothy, who Paul later defines him as a spiritual son, was with Paul in Rome as his associate. See, Paul mentioning Timothy wasn't just random or wasn't just polite, it's intentional. It tells us how the church is supposed to work. He doesn't say, hey, it's Paul, the guy in charge, writing to you. He doesn't say, hey, it's Paul and my assistant, Timothy. No, no, no, no. Paul, uh Timothy wasn't Paul's assistant, he wasn't Paul's note taker, he wasn't Paul's intern running copies and getting him a cappuccino. No, no, no. Timothy was a partner. He was a trusted partner, but he was a battle-tested partner. See, see, here's the thing. Here's the thing, he was battle-tested. In your marriage, you may get into a marriage and you're like, oh man, I love her, she loves me, oh, we good, yeah, this is good. But then battles start to happen. There begins to be, there's been things that happen that puts a strain on your marriage, on your relationships, and you begin to become battle-tested. See, see, see, we want partnerships without the battle. See, we want friendships without the tough times. But it's in the tough times, it's in the battle times, it's in the times when things aren't going the way that you want to go, you'll see who your true friends are. And so, and so Timothy is a trusted, battle-tested partner. Like any partner, any coworker, boss, spouse, you don't know if they're a good partner until your partnership has been in the battle. And so Timothy stuck it out with Paul. Even when in Rome, when Rome easily could have arrested Timothy for his association with Paul, Timothy stayed close. Timothy helped plant the church in Philippi. He traveled with Paul, he suffered with Paul, he preached, he taught, he visited churches, he carried the message, he carried the letters, and Timothy, Timothy carried Paul's heart. He carried his heart. So when Paul says, it's Paul and Timothy, he's saying, everything you're about to read comes from a place of our partnership, our unity, our shared mission. This isn't competition, this is completion. Paul didn't do ministry alone, Paul did ministry and partnership. And also, this is so important. This is so good. Also, Paul is modeling for us, modeling for the church in Philippi. He is modeling, Paul's modeling spiritual family, not spiritual celebrity leadership. And one of the things that has hurt the American church more than anything is pastors who think they're celebrities and congregants who lift them up to a place where they're not supposed to be. He's showing us that leadership in the church isn't about hierarchy or ego, it's about shared servanthood. N.T. Wright says it like this Paul is showing that the gospel work is never a solo project, it is always a shared work. Paul is teaching the Philippians without even preaching it that the church is a team, the church is a partnership, the church is a family on mission. And friends, this is so important because today in our culture, we live in one of the most individualistic societies ever. Everything's about you. You do you, boo-boo. You do your thing. So not only does he mention Timothy, but notice the title he gives them Servants of Christ. This is so funny to me. Paul's funny. Paul has humor. When you understand the Bible, you don't understand the Bible has a lot more humor in it than what you really think. This is funny because the Greek word there is doulos, which comes from the word dio, which means slave, tied to, either figuratively or not, but it's a word for what? Prisoner. This is great. I love this. So Paul is a Roman prisoner at the moment. He's in Rome in prison, and he writes a letter to the church and says, I might be in, I might be a prisoner of Rome, but truly, truthfully, I am a prisoner of Christ. I'm a prisoner of Christ. He's saying, He's saying, Yeah, my situation says I'm a prisoner right now. My situation says I can't get out of this. But in my heart, I am tied, I am bound, I am committed, I am a slave to Christ. So no matter what the world throws at me, no matter what title they try to give me, I my title comes from who God says I am. Come on, preaching good today. And so he says, I am captive and I am captivated by Jesus, and I will serve him. It's so good. And it gets even better. He says to all God's holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and the deacons, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So who is he talking to? He's talking to everyone. Who's God's holy people? Everybody. Everyone, everyone who comes to Jesus. Who started this church in Philippi? Remember, it was a businesswoman, a demon-possessed girl, and a guy named Joe. I don't know if his name is Joe. Just he worked out of jail. It seems like people work at jail, their name should be Joe. There's a blue-collar worker. So it was everyday people learning how to become Jesus followers. And so then they start this church together. And so everyone gets the opportunity. And this line is so good. This line is so good. I love this. It is greeting. This greeting he gives them is better than yo. It's better than Haya. This greeting he says, grace and peace. Grace and peace. Grace and peace. Paul opens the letter with two words that change everything: grace and peace. Grace, that's God's part. Peace, that's the result. Grace, that's what God does. Peace, that's the result of it. Grace means you don't earn it, you don't deserve it, you can't perform your way to it. God loves you for first. Peace, that's what happens when grace gets all up inside of you. It's wholeness, it's healing, it's nothing missing, nothing broken. It's your soul finally breathing. And so he introduces, in other words, grace is the gift, peace is the evidence. And again, where is Paul writing this letter? In a Roman prison. He's in a Roman prison, but his heart is a prisoner for Christ. Come on, come on, come on. This is too good. This is too good, LVC. He's in a Roman prison on house arrest, tied up to a guy named Debo. But even though his current circumstances says I'm here in his heart, he says, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I might be in this circumstance when my faith is in Christ, in Christ alone. And so he writes this in a Roman prison, not a very peaceful situation. And he's writing this letter of joy, not from his vacation house, not on a cruise boat, but in a prison, which highlights this peace is not the absence of problems, but peace is about the healing of a broken heart. See, your circumstances can be broken, but your heart can be healed. Let me say that to someone. Your circumstances can be broken, but in that broken circumstance, God can heal your heart. He can heal your heart. And Paul greets the holy people of God with a reminder of who God is and who they are in God. Grace and peace, grace and peace, grace and peace to you, LVC. Grace and peace. First point. Can I get to my point? First point. A complete church that celebrates each other. It celebrates each other. This is good because it's a game changer. It's a game changer for a church. It's a game changer for your family, for your kids, for your relationships. It's the value of learning how to celebrate others, even when your celebration hasn't come yet. Let me say that one more time. It's the value of learning how to celebrate others even when you're still waiting for your miracle to happen. Even when things haven't gone the way you want it yet. Philippians 1, starting verse 3. I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Paul, again, writing from a Roman prison, chained up and facing possible execution. Yet he thinks of his friends and he thanks God for them. How does he start this letter? He doesn't start it with not with pray for me, this is terrible. It's just terrible what's going on. No, no, he doesn't not with things are so hard for me right now. He doesn't start this letter with here's everything wrong in my life. No, no, no. He starts this letter with gratitude. He starts it with celebration, he starts it with joy. And I want you to catch the spiritual principle about joy here. Joy isn't the absence of hard circumstances. Joy can be your reality in hard circumstances. Paul writes, I thank my God every time I remember you. Just the thought of these people causes joy to rise up in him. Why? Because the heart shifts, because the heart shifts when we choose to remember goodness. For example, I got a good example. The other day I just got back from a little family trip at the end of the break, and then the winter break, we just got back, and on the last day we're in the airport, and my my four-year-old, my youngest four-year-old, throws the biggest temper tantrum ever. I thought he was Linda Blair. I was like, what is happening? I mean, it was insane. Like I never, my yeah, my kids don't do that, honestly. And he was just going nuts because he wanted the cake pop that I was about to give him. I don't even get it. I try to reason with them, but it didn't make no sense. Anyways, so then for the next couple days, you want to know what I kept thinking about? That one moment at the airport that lasted about 35 minutes instead of all the great memories that we just had on that little trip. And every time I thought about that moment at the airport, I thought about, man, what a horrible dad I am. Man, I'm not doing something right. Oh, I should have done this better. But then when I choose to remember the good things, something in my heart happens. Joy begins to rise up. Now let me say something real quick about that though. Because when you practice, when you practice the spiritual habit of silence and solitude, which is I'm gonna talk about that more in the series. When you practice that, God will bring up some hard moments for you. God will bring up some hard memories that He wants you to deal with. Because we can't push away our hard moments, but God will bring them to the surface so we can learn from them and grow in them. But we'll talk about that later in the series. But but but for right now, sometimes most of us, we wake up remembering the wrong things. We wake up in the in the morning, we think about what bothered us yesterday. We think about who hurt us, we think about how Jordan love isn't clutch. I woke up sad this morning. Go bears. We got a prayer team that will we think about what stresses us, what we think about what still isn't fixed and what we have to do. And whenever you start remembering, what do you start doing? You start to you start to feel it too. Paul chose us to remember with gratitude, and it changes the emotional climate of his soul, even from a prison sale. Joy grows when we choose gratitude. Celebrate the good people instead of comparing yourself to them. Instead of thinking, why is their life easier? Thank God, thank you for what you're doing in them. Instead of replaying what hurt you, remember the people who helped you. Instead of scrolling through Instagram and feeling less thin, celebrate someone who's doing good in life. Celebration isn't denying your struggle, it's deciding that your struggle won't decide your spirit. See, here's the key, here's the key. Celebration changes our prayers. See, look how Paul prayed in all my prayers for all of you. I always pray with joy. And who can you honor? Honestly, say, I always pray for that person with joy. Probably not many. And Paul teaches us that celebration turns frustration into intercession. Most of us, we pray reactively about people. Something goes wrong, we pray. Someone bothers us, we pray for them. And then our prayers sound more like, God, would you fix them? God, would you handle them? God, would you change them? God, would you help them stop being difficult? Would you help my four-year-old learn how to act like an adult? Paul's prayer isn't fix them. His prayer is thank you for them. See, celebration shifts your prayers from complaint to blessing. When you celebrate someone, when you stop competing with them, you stop resenting them, you stop comparing your life to theirs, you start seeing them the way God sees them. Here's something. Try to do it. Just try to do this. You can't stay bitter towards someone when you're constantly praying for God to bless them. Come on, come. This is the hard stuff of the gospel. This is the hard stuff. Can we talk about the hard stuff of the gospel? Is these God bless me? Oh, yeah, Lord bless me on the mountaintop. But when God wants you to pray for someone who hurts you, I'm not talking about going up to them and praying for them, but in your quiet time, in your time, God, would you bless them? Would you heal them? Would you help them? This is when it gets real. That's when this thing gets real, guys. And so, so when you celebrate someone, it changes things. Celebration changes our relationships as well. Paul gives us the why behind his joy. He says, because of your partnership in the gospel. And let me be clear about what this partnership Paul is talking about here, what he's referring to. He's talking about the kingdom of God. He's talking about a kingdom partnership. We are partners in the Lord's prayer. May your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Friends, kingdom partnership isn't tied to Sunday mornings. The kingdom of God wants to invade every aspect of your life. It wants to invade your marriage, your home life, your workspace. Like Nick said, your finances, your goals, your dreams. The kingdom of God can be at work in all those places and spaces in your life. And Paul's not saying, I'm thankful for just seeing you in the lobby and saying, How them cowboys are doing? No, no, no. He's saying this relationship isn't just a social aspect. It's not just a surface level conversation. Our relationship is deeply rooted in the kingdom mission. And my hope and prayer for LVC is that we will be a kingdom-focused church. That we will give to the poor because there's no poor in the kingdom. We will pray for the sick because sickness ceases in the kingdom. We will offer forgiveness because there's no room for bitterness in the kingdom of God. We will give generously because our provision does not come from our bank accounts, but our provision comes from our Father God, who is always good and always faithful. We are kingdom people. And Paul prays with joy because of their partnership in this gospel, in this kingdom, meaning they shared a common mission and they had a common purpose. But here's the important part partnership does not mean sameness. Let me say it one time. Partnership doesn't mean the same. They all look different. They didn't all act the same. They didn't have all the same stories or backgrounds. Remember the people who started this: a wealthy businesswoman, a demon-possessed girl, and a blue-collar worker. They are not the same kind of people. They had, but they had unity and mission with diversity in people. And the best way I can picture, and the best way I can picture this for us is some illustration. It happened a couple Super Bowls ago. We hosted a little Super Bowl shindig at our house, and it was the Chiefs versus the 49ers. And we hosted this Super Bowl at our house, and I'm telling you, it was a house divided. One house, one half of the room is Chief fans and all the band and wagon fans that they have. All the Swifties were on that side. The other half was all the Niners fans. Now, my brother, he's been a Niners fan since Steve Young, since day one. He loves them. And at the end of that game, I honestly thought we were about to see some divorces in our church. I thought we're about to see something split up. It was rough. It was rough. Some friendships were on the line. And why? Because they weren't partners. They were competing. They weren't united around a mission. They were divided by a preference in the gospel. We're not fans in rival jerseys. We're a family on the same team. And we don't compete with each other, but we complete each other. We may be different, but we're united in purpose. And that's what Paul is celebrating, that we can pray with joy from prison because he knows these are my people and we're on mission together. And even though I'm locked in chains, they're still doing the gospel work for me and because of me. You are my partners in what God is doing, not consumers, not spectators, not competition, but partners. And here's the point. Here's the point. Competing communities compare. Completing communities celebrate. Celebration creates unity. Competition creates insecurity. If you want to kill the joy in a church, compare each other. If you want to release joy in the church, let's celebrate each other. Because when people feel celebrated, they open up, they grow, they stay, and they begin to believe what God says about them. And that's the importance of small groups. Small groups provide an avenue for people to come together from all different walks of life and be able to confess their sins, talk about what's going on in their hearts, and have people around them rally around them and celebrate them and say, we are doing this together. But here comes the heart of the matter. Wait, can I just say something real fast? Hey LVC, can we pray to have our own building this year? Come on. Come on, let's pray that God will provide us a building, not just so we can have another plot of land in Melothian, but so that we can have a place that will be a beacon of light, a beacon of hope to our community, so that we can host people, that we can help people, that healing can happen, that we can host AA meetings at our church building, that we can host NA meetings at our buildings, that people can find freedom from their bondage, find freedom. Come on, can we pray for that LBC? And that we don't have to worry about technical issues that aren't our fault. Okay, so a complete church carries each other. Notice the words Paul uses here. Being confident of this. I love this. Come on. He who begun a good work will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you since I have you in my heart. Come on. And whether I am in chains or defending or confirming the gospel, all of all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. Guys, listen to the words here. This is deep love for brother and sister. This is not just attending lane, this is not just attending church. How you doing, bro? This is intimate language. It's personal, it's vulnerable. But he's saying, even in chains, even in chains, he never says, Hey, I'm on my own. Even in his chains, he never says, Pray for me because no one gets me. Even when he's in chains, even when he's in prison, he never says, I'm isolated out here all by myself. No, no, no. Instead, he says, We're in this together. We share grace. Your story is a part of my story, and my story is a part of your story. We're partners in this. And Paul is teaching them and using and teaching them and teaching us that competition isolates, but completion unites. When you compete with people, you stand apart from them. Get this. But when you carry people, you stand with them. Try to carry someone from across the room. You can't do it. You got some super mind powers or something. You can't do it. How do you carry people? By getting close to them. Getting close to them. Getting next to them. Rubbing shoulders with them. And I love how Paul in the prison is still praying for them. And he says, I am certain that God who began a good work within you will continue his work. And Paul uses Genesis 1 language there, wordage there. Genesis 1 is the creation poem where God made the heavens and the earth. And he said, It is good. After he made it, he said, it is good. And Paul says, You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. And God says, You are good. You're good. And this good work, this good work. And what is work? Work is a process. Paul in chains, literally praying for the continued growth in God. Oh, let me just Paul's in chains, in prison. His prayers could be, God, get me out of here. He probably prayed it. Get me out of here. Get me out of here. But while he's locked up, his prayers are interceding for his friends. He's praying for their continued growth. He's praying for their continued growth. And Paul shows us something powerful and honestly not always easy to do. He shows us that even though you are in pain, you're not the only one who is hurting. You're not the only one who is struggling. You're not the only one who is fighting a battle. Somebody near you is carrying something too. Maybe heavier, maybe different, but they're hurting too. And here's what Paul teaches us: when you're in pain, don't just look inward and get isolated, but look outward and begin to refresh other people. Even in your pain, look how you can be a blessing to other people. Pray for someone else who's hurting. God bless them. God protect them. God provide for them. God carry them like I need you to carry me. And Paul continues, whether I'm in chains or defending the gospel, he's saying, you didn't walk away from me because I got because things got hard. You didn't ghost me because my life got messy. You didn't distance yourself from me because I ended up in prison. You stood with me. Partnership isn't proven in the easy seasons. Partnership is proven in the chains. That was too good. Partnership is not proven when things are going okay. It's when things are going hard. And can I speak some hope over marriages today? Things are going hard, but God is building character in your marriage through the hard things. Don't give up yet. Don't give up yet. Chains didn't break the relationship, chains revealed the strength of the relationship. When Paul is at his lowest, he discovers he isn't alone. The church in Philippi did send someone to Paul who did provide finances for him and food for him. And I'm going to talk about that in the next few weeks. And it was a risky journey, but they did it. But that's what we do. When we love each other, it's not comfortable or easy. Who are the people that God has put in your life to carry? And who is carrying you? Who has stood next to you when you were in chains? In the church, we don't say good luck, good luck with that. We don't say that's your problem. In the church, we say, I'm with you in that, in the struggle and in the calling. And that's how that's how joy, that's how joy grows. You weren't meant to carry your burdens alone. And again, that's why at LVC we do value small groups. Groups are where we can carry each other. That's why we value serving on teams. Serving on a team is where you can carry the mission together. Generosity is how we can how we can shoulder the weight as a family. Prayer teams are how we stand with people. Spiritual habits are how we carry us through the week. And 21 days of prayer and fasting. This morning call is like the family waking up together and saying, I'm going to pray together as we take on this day. Even though we're going different places, different circumstances, different lives, for 15 minutes, we're coming together and say we're going to be here as a family because we're partners in this gospel. We're partners in this. We're not isolated. We're not alone. We're in here together. Now go forth and do great things. So this isn't a program, this is a partnership. And when we stop competing and start completing, that's when joy takes root and grows. So God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, thank you.

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Thank you that you call us partners.

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And that you're in this with us, God. God, we praise you that you're not just a distant deity out there somewhere, but you are close. You are near.

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You are intimate. We thank you, God. We thank you, God. That you are Emmanuel. You are God with us.

SPEAKER_01: 34:05

And I just feel the Holy Spirit nudging me. Like Paul. Yep. Someone put a label on you. Servant of this. Slave to that. Prisoner of that thing. I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying, your circumstance on the outside. Yeah, yeah, that might be what they're saying. But he says he wants to win your heart. He wants to grow your heart. He wants to heal your heart. So even though my circumstance screams this, what God says about me is different. And I'm a servant of Christ. And if you're in here and you just feel kind of held captive by circumstance in your life, just you know, every eye closed, every head bowed. But you feel held captive by circumstance in your life, and you just want to be freed from that. I don't know what the circumstance is, I don't know what the problem is. It could be mental, it could be emotional, it can be whatever. If that's you, can you just shoot a hand up in the air real fast so I can see who I'm praying for? I see you across this room. You can put them back down. God, I pray for every hand that just went up. And they just feel held captive by something. Whatever it is, Lord, you know what it is. You know what it is. God, I pray your healing and your blessing, your provision. That God, even though they're in a tough circumstance, God, you are with them. You are with them. And Holy Spirit, I pray that you give them songs of praise to sing in the darkest nights. And Holy Spirit, I pray that you bring hope where hope feels like it's diminished. And God, I pray you bring joy in their lives. Because who the sun sets free is free indeed. Who the sun sets free is free through and through. Yeah, Lord, and I just pray for marriages that are being battle tested right now. I pray for unity, Lord. For equal submission. And compromise. And a shared mission. Come, Holy Spirit. Yeah, I just feel like someone in here today is you're taking a stand to break a generational curse, a generational pattern, or something. Something that just everyone in your family has just always done or something. And I just feel like the Holy Spirit is saying, don't give up. Don't give up. Just lean into me. Lean into me. Come, Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit. Yeah, I just want to speak prophetically over some parents today. And I just prophetically want to speak that you are a prophet over your kids. And what I feel like the Holy Spirit is saying that, what the Holy Spirit is saying is the words you speak over your kids matter. Come on, come on, Holy Spirit. Do it only you can do, Jesus. So Jesus. We come to you and we say we want to be partners with you. We want to know you more. We trust in you. We put our hope in you. We say we're in this with you. Your kingdom come, your will be done. Your kingdom come, God, your will be done. Your kingdom come, your will be done in us, through us, and around us. God, we love you and we need you. In Jesus' name, the church says, Amen. Amen. Come on, let's give God some praise in here today.