God's People Birthed: Judah and the Scarlet Thread

Preached by Jaren Singh on 6/16/24

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to the Kalamazoo church of Christ podcast. Thank you so much for listening. We're startup church. We just planted in September, 2020 and at the Kalamazoo church, we believe that Christianity is done best when it is done together. And so if you live in the Kalamazoo area, we would love to connect, be it coming to a Sunday service, one of our small groups, or even just grabbing coffee with a member to learn more. You can visit kalamazoo.church in order to do that. We pray that you are inspired by what you hear today. We're going to get into the lesson this, uh, this, this morning. And so if you guys have a Bible, you can pull it out. But I will say this is one of the, one of the lessons, you know, it's really interesting. And usually in our, uh, in our church, what we ordinarily do, and you guys know, this is we'll grab a single passage and try to put like this magnifying glass to bring out all of the intricacies and what could the, what is the writer mean? What's the background story and what is going on inside of, uh, inside of this story. And so, but, but for this morning, we're not going to do that. Instead, we're going to flip around in the Bible a pretty good amount. The goal is at the end of this lesson is for our understanding and conviction of what God is able to do is expanded just a little bit to greater fit what God is actually able to do. And so wherever your perception is, whatever your impression is about God this morning, the goal is at the end of it, your, your impression grows to be as big or growing to be as big as God really is and as powerful as he really is. Amen. Amen. I want to just a couple of, you know, just personal stuff, uh, just for me, just so you guys know what's going on this last, uh, this last week, me and Bianca celebrated our 10 year anniversary of being married. Yeah, we're excited about that. And so we, we got to go, we went to Chicago first and then we went to St. Joseph. So we got the city and then we got the, uh, kind of the, the relaxing part of, uh, of an anniversary trip. And so that was great. Uh, in a few hours, I'm going to be going over to, uh, to Riga Latvia. So the plane leaves from Detroit at about 6 PM. Um, and so I'm kind of, I'm here for a day and then I'll be gone for another week and then I'm going to miss service. Uh, next Sunday, Paul, uh, Paul is going to preach the word for us. Um, don't, don't, don't clap for him though. Uh, no, no, no, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You guys, you guys can clap if you want. Yeah. But if you clap too much, then I'll think like, you guys don't want me, me here. So, uh, yeah, there's a lay, that was, that was a good, a good, a good amount, uh, at the end of the lesson, then we're going to tie it into the cross and, and the, the goal of any, you know, you think, what's the goal of showing up to church on Sunday? Certainly it's to be inspired. Certainly it's to, uh, to, to have this fellowship in this community. It really is to be able to honor and glorify Jesus. And we should do that all throughout our lives every single day. But there's a special, you know, 45 minutes or about 35 minutes, uh, that that's dedicated that we're going to hopefully expand our thinking and then really grow in our gratitude for Jesus this morning. Amen. In order to do that though, we're going to have to flip. And so if I, I'm painting with a broad brush, there's things you feel like, ah, he didn't cover this. You're right. Even there's things like, oh man, he should have, maybe I should have talked about this or that, that, that, that facet. But we're going to, we're going to speed through, uh, some of these, some of these concepts. Um, so we're looking first at, at Judah and in order to, uh, understand this is where we are in our, our narratives. We just looked at Jacob and we learned how Jacob became Israel and then he has some sons and one of these, these sons is named Judah. He's the fourth born son. What you guys should know is in that day, if you've been following along with us, then you'd understand that the first born is the one that ought to receive the blessing. And yet we see that's not always the case, even in God's story. And so the first three sons that were born, they, they forfeit their blessing due to, uh, just some, some gross misconduct. We can, we can say that. And Judah is not the model of a, of a great God follower, but he becomes one. Um, uh, and, and, and right here, uh, Judah is actually one of the guys who, if you guys remember, uh, maybe you learned about it in school or you saw the play like Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Joseph is one of Judah's brothers. Joseph was the son that, that Israel or Jacob really liked or really loved and favored him and his brothers were not fired up by that. And so it was Judah's great idea in Genesis 37, it says, Judah said to his brothers, what will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hand on him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood. That's so kind. You're going to sell your brother, uh, instead of kill him, um, his brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites who took him to Egypt. And so we have this little bit of an understanding then of Judah that this guy wasn't, wasn't necessarily a great character. And then we even understand after that, the oldest son, Reuben wanted to, he had the idea that he didn't want Joseph to be sold. Uh, and so he was going to grab him, but then he, he goes later to the cistern and realizes he's not there anymore. He's sold. And, and what we could understand and even surmise is that Judah from that point is kind of ostracized from his family, at least for a time because of, of some of his decisions and his, his manipulation. And then, uh, this is probably the definition of painting with too broad of a brush, but we're going to keep following along and we see Judah. Now he goes to a foreign land. He gets married. He has three sons. The first son marries, uh, this, this woman, her name is, uh, Tamar. And Tamar, it means palm tree, uh, women in that day, what I understand were, uh, often named after, after trees. And so that would signify fruitfulness and, you know, motherhood being kind of the pinnacle in that day and age, like that, that you are worthy of, uh, you know, carrying along your, uh, you know, the, this bloodline. And so women were often named, named after trees. And we know that names are very important in this day. And so Tamar is a palm tree, which would, it wasn't like there's palm trees now. I mean, not outside there's palm trees if you go and they're kind of like wispy and swaying, but palm trees in that day would have been straight. They would have been upright. They would have you been like this guy, this, this person is straight and narrow. They're, they're very righteous. And so even Tamar's name means righteous. What happens to Tamar though is her first husband dies. And in that culture, what would happen is if your first husband died, then, uh, then this, your second husband would be the brother of your first husband who died, especially if you didn't have any children yet. And so, and then the first child that's born from, uh, the second, you know, basically the brother and, and this, this woman, his, his wife would be then the eldest son's, uh, bloodline basically. They would carry on that bloodline. Um, Judah has three sons. The first son, uh, dies cause it says he acted wickedly. The second son dies as well because he acted wickedly as well as he's married to Tamar and he does not want to, uh, he doesn't want to pass on his, his, the bloodline basically. Again, if you've read the story, it's kind of, it's, uh, it's in the Bible and it's kind of rated R, you know? And so if you, uh, if you, if you want, if that perks your ears up, then go ahead and read it. Uh, if it, uh, if it doesn't, then, then just trust me and then read it later. Uh, what happens then is Tamar then, uh, kind of, she, she tricks Judah basically. And uh, and what happens is she gets pregnant, um, by Judah's children and Judah, this, this character who later on we're going to learn has this, this change of heart. But in that moment he, he realized, he said, man, she's more righteous than I am. And, and it says, this is the thread that we're going to follow is one of a scarlet thread. Uh, in Genesis 38, 28, it says that she was giving birth. One of them put out his hand, one of these twins that are in her, her belly, one of them put out his hand. So the midwife took the scarlet thread and tied it on the wrist and said, this one came out first. The, uh, then, then what happens is, uh, the second comes out and the second is the one who's, who ends up being, you know, Perez and he ends up being the, uh, the one who follows along this, uh, this, this bloodline, all of this, this bloodline again, why is this important? We're gathering facts at the end of this lesson. I think it's going to make a lot of sense for us though. Let's follow on then Judah, Judah, we understand he's the fourth. He's the fourth son, uh, Reuben, Simeon, Levi all do despicable things. As Judah you'd read, he's not an awful lot better. And yet, uh, by the end of it, he has this impressive dialogue where he convinces, uh, he convinces Israel to allow his most valued son at the time to go meet this, this guy who's this mysterious guy who we understand is, is Joseph. Uh, and again, it's, it's a, it's a powerful dialogue and it really paints Judah as being somebody who has this change of heart. And so he receives this blessing from, from God says, Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down to you. You are a lion's cub, Judah. You return from the prey, my son, like a lion. He crouches and lies down like a lioness who dares to rouse him. The scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations will be his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choice's branch. He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His teeth will be darker than wine, his teeth, or his eyes, sorry, his eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. So Israel on his deathbed gives Judah this great blessing and says, this is, uh, this blessing, we'd understand it even as you read it, probably with 21st century Christian eyes, you would see this is, it's a prophetic message, right? And in, in verse 11, he will tether his donkey to a vine. That sounds a little bit like the triumphal entry, right? When Jesus gets this, this tethered, he tethers this, this, uh, this donkey, this promise that the scepter will not depart from Judah. It would have even been understand in Jesus's day as something that this, that, that means that whoever is going to come, the Messiah has to come from Judah, the, the physical location, but also the, the, the bloodline as well. And this is why people had a difficult time with their perception of Jesus, because we understand Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is a city in town in Judea. Uh, but what do they also called you? They say Jesus of Nazareth, right? Because that's, that's where he spent a lot of his time growing up. And so they would have said, there's no way that Jesus could also be, uh, he, he can't be the Messiah. He can't be the chosen one. The chosen one has to come from, from Judah or Judea. We understand that. Uh, now again, it's, it's so powerful that the Jesus was in fact born in, uh, in, in, in Judea, Judah gets this blessing and we see this, this, this scarlet cord, uh, continue on through again, work with me. Uh, you guys are paying great attention and I'm grateful for it. I, there's going to be something for you at the end. Fast forward 330 years, we, we've got past now Moses and all this Exodus period. And we, we pick up here where there, there's some spies that are interacting with this, this prostitute and the spies get found out and they're going to be killed and they're interacting with this prostitute named Rahab. And it says in verse 17, now the men said to her, the oath you made us swear will not be binding on us unless when we entered the land, you have tied the scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down. And unless you have brought your father and mother and your brothers and all your family into your house agreed, she replied, let it be as you say. So she sent them the way and they departed and she tied the scarlet cord in the window. They were going to catch these spies that were, you know, Israelite spies going to basically to stake out their, their claim and stake out a new land. They, they enter into this house and Rahab has every opportunity to say, we don't, you're not a part of us. Get away from me. You're, I'm going to go tell, I'm going to go tell the people and they're going to kill you actually. And instead of that, she decides to allow them to pass through quietly and go undetected. And because of that, she's, she's blessed. And we'll, we'll figure that out a little bit later as well. But we've got this, this, this, this theme then that's, that's connecting the scarlet cord. One of the, again, we're following through you guys. If you want to turn to Ruth, you're able to, if you don't want to, that's okay. What happens is Rahab is able to marry an Israelite and has a son named Boaz. Boaz is, ends up being married to Ruth. But you see from Boaz comes Obed, who we don't know too much about. And then comes Jesse and Jesse's the, the father of David. David being the guy who slayed Goliath, but also Israel's most powerful, first and most powerful king of this, this, you know, nation. Ruth in Ruth 4 in verse 13, it says, so Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive and she gave birth to a son. The woman said to Naomi, praise be to the Lord who this day has not left you without a guardian redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel. He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age for your daughter-in-law who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons has given him birth. Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The woman lived there. The woman living there said, Naomi has a son. They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. One of the reasons that, uh, that Ruth, this woman is, is blessed is because she decides to be extremely loyal to one of God's people in a time when it would have made sense not to be loyal to, to God's people. She, uh, she decided it wasn't her, it wasn't her culture necessarily. She, she married somebody and this is her, then her mother-in-law who, uh, the, the, the son dies. And so she's just left alone with her mother-in-law. And there's two of them, uh, both, both of, sorry, both of Naomi's sons got married and then one of them, uh, and they both died. And one of them says, okay, I'm going to go live with my own people again. And I'm not going to be by you. Ruth decides, no, wherever you go, I'm going to go as well. It doesn't matter if I ever get married again, I'm committed to being connected to you because I know life is quite difficult and the grief you're going through is too great for just you. We're going to be together and we're going to, I'm going to walk with you. Your people are my people is what Ruth says. And she's, she's blessed because of it. This, uh, this thread continues fall, uh, following through in, in Isaiah in verse 16, we, we understand then that somehow, uh, somehow sin is connected to this scarlet thread. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight. Stop doing wrong. Learn to do right. Seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Come now, let us settle the matter. It says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are like, they are red as crimson. They shall be like wool. This is the, this is the last time in, in the old Testament that the word scarlet is used. So we looked at this, this concept, this thread that it goes from, uh, the, the clothes of Joseph that were dipped in blood all the way through. And you guys would be right. If you asked, well, he's just as connecting dots that don't really make sense to connect that he's just making it up. Basically. What is, what is the point of all of this? I learned a little bit this morning, but I, you know, what I, I don't, I don't, I didn't, I can't do anything with it. And what I want to point out though, is that this is, um, this is the powerful line of Judah. So the line of Judah is where Jesus was born. And we're going to make sense looking at, uh, at really at these three women, uh, Tamar, Rahab and Ruth. Um, I'm going to read the genealogy, uh, because we understand that our Lord and savior, it would make sense if he was born from a bunch of noble people and it would make sense if he was born from a bunch of ethical, amazing, powerful, strong, uh, never did wrong. We're on the righteous path. That would make sense. And yet that's, that's not the case. He's, he's born of, uh, of, of really difficult circumstances and circumstances that wouldn't make sense to you and I, I'm just going to read just a, just a little bit in verse three, verse two, rather Abraham, the father of Isaac, Isaac, the father of Jacob, Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar in verse five, Salman, the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. And then in verse 17, thus, there were 14 generations, all from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile to Babylon and 14 from the exile to the Messiah. It would have been extremely unusual in genealogies for women to be mentioned at all. This would have been, it would have been something that it doesn't make sense that like, whenever there's a woman mentioned, you have to open your eyes and look a little bit closer. How could this possibly be? Because the, the bloodline in that day was understood. It comes from the man. And that's, it doesn't, the women are, are, you know, for, unfortunately are menial. They, you can, you can disregard them as long as the man has the, the, the child. And yet for Tamar, for Rahab and for Ruth, the, the, the Bible is trying to get us to say, what is, there's something going on here. Let's pay attention. And so I want us to learn a little bit from these three women this morning. So you say, well, we're, we're going to have a takeaway from mothers on Father's Day. Okay. Yeah, I know. We should, we could have done it a few, about a month, a month ago. That would have been, that would have worked better. Yeah, I guess next Mother's Day, we'll talk about fathers then, huh? It works out well. So Tamar, what are you going to learn? What are you going to learn from Tamar? As a, as a reminder, Tamar is someone who was disregarded. She was somebody, even in, inside of her own family, who was seen as expendable. Somebody who doesn't, uh, who, who's, who's usefulness to the family had, had worn out and somebody who it's okay to make a promise to, but not follow through. And that's exactly what Judah did. You know what I think the, I think what the, the, the authors are trying to teach us is that with Tamar, God uses the unlikely and God uses the things that we would not make. That doesn't, that don't make sense to use. God uses, uh, people and situations and places that we would not attribute to him. God decides I'm going to use it. It's, it says in first Corinthians one verse 27, but God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. If you are going to call yourself a Christian, you have to understand that you have to be a part of the foolish things. You have to be a part of the weak things. You have to be a part of the lowly things and the despised things. That is, that's a requirement. If you're, if you say I'm none of those things, I'm, I'm, everything's going well for me. I'm doing great. Life is, life is excellent. Everybody respects, loves me. I get all this adornment and praise. And if you can say that, then, then it's worth questioning your, your vocation as a Christian then, because the Bible is clear. The Bible says God chooses the, the lowest and the worst. And, and perhaps you can look at your life and you say, well, some things were going well. Probably most things weren't going all that well. And maybe the things that you felt like prior to coming to faith that were going well. Once you became a Christian, a real follower, you would have been able to say, well, they, they weren't going as well as I thought they were going. Actually says that no one may boast. So this is, this is the point is not to make us feel bad. The point is not to make us look introspect. Oh man, I'm not a good person. I did. How come? No, the point is to look at God, God, God did all of it. God did all of it. Like if, if we don't feel like we are the most, some of the most lucky people to ever walk this earth, then we're missing it. We understand the word and we understand like luck. Isn't what it's about. We understand it's not luck. It's, it's, you know, this God just moving, but I feel this all the time. I just feel like, I mean, I'm just lucky. You know, I think about, uh, I think about all that's been given to me and I just, luck is the word. Like, it just, it seems arbitrary that I didn't do anything to earn it. And yet God decided you're going to be born in this family. You're going to have this, uh, you're going to have this intellect. You're going to have this disposition. You're going to, yeah, I'm going to allow you to have, uh, affluence enough to not have to worry about what you have to eat. I'm going to allow you to be in a home that values education. I'm going to allow you to, uh, to get married. When you got married, I'm going to allow you to have children. I just feel like I'm really lucky. And, and I hope you feel the same way though. God, God uses, uh, I hope you don't feel like it's because of your intellect that you're where you're at, or I hope you don't feel like I've earned this. I've worked for it. And so I've got this. I hope, I hope you don't feel that in your walk with God. What can we learn from Rahab? Rahab, again, somebody who incredibly unlikely, but in Ephesians one in verse seven, uh, it says in him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. It would have been enough for, uh, for the people that were coming in to say Rahab, uh, we're, we're not going to kill your people or we're not going to kill you specifically in your, your family. We're not killing you, but that's it. That's where it ends. That's where it stops. And yet what they said was Rahab, you're able to marry into this, this, this God's chosen group of people, God's, God's, God's, uh, instrument to the rest of the world. You're able to go from not a part of it to a part of it. He doesn't just forgive it. He restores and he gives lavishly. Then, you know, anybody who there are some in this room who are in the process of going from lost to saved and you're somewhere in the muddy middle and I can't speak for everybody or where exactly you are, but understand that God doesn't just, when, when he forgives, it's not just, I forgive you and now work your way on back. When he forgives that the Bible is clear, there's riches of his grace that are given lavishly to us. We go from people who are opposing him to being those who are fighting on the same team. It's, there's not, there's not an in between where we have to earn our way in order to be a soldier for God. We just go from not and actually opposing him to being a soldier for God. Amen. What a great, what a great promise. Think about the amount of confidence that God has to have in his love and in his plan to be able to say, I'm just going to make them from not to, they have all of, now I see them as sons and daughters. Right before this in Ephesians, it says in love, he adopted us to be sons and daughters of his. The Bible says he goes from you, you went from against me. Now you have full standing as a son of mine. Jesus, Jesus calls us friends. We understand he calls us brothers and sisters as well. God has to be pretty confident. He is. Yeah, I, I trust my love. I trust my plan. I trust what I'm able to do that. I don't even need them to understand all of it, but they just need to know they're not going to earn it. I don't need them to understand how they can possibly love like Jesus loved. I just need them to know I love them regardless that they're not going to, they're, they're not going to run away from my love. If they're trying to follow me, that's a confidence. What can we learn from, from Ruth, Matthew 25 in verse 37, this is Jesus is kind of making his way to, uh, you know, to, to praying at Gethsemane. And this is some of in Matthew. This is some of his last teaching that, that he shares and he shares this, the parable of sheep and goats and he, and he gives, uh, this, this commentary on it in verse 37, then the righteous will answer Lord. When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothes? You, when did we see you sick or in prison or, or, and go to visit you? The King will apply. Truly. I tell you, whatever you did for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. The life of Ruth is, is one. We have to understand that God always blesses faithfulness to his people. He always blesses whatever you do. And you can't, you can't hide good things from God. You can't hide bad things from God. And that scares us. You can't hide good things from God either. He sees all of it. He's fired up by it. I, what does that mean? Well, that means when you decide to give a few, a few bucks here, there, that somebody that you know, needs it. God's God's glorified by that. That means that when you decide to say a kind word, God's God's glorified by it. He sees all of it. Tamar with Rahab and with Ruth, God uses the unlikely. He decides to honor what the world deems to be less honorable. God, God gives lavishly to all of us. It's not, you don't got to earn it. And God sees all of it. God sees everything that you do and you can rest secure in that. Nobody else sees how much work, energy, effort you're putting in. God sees it all. Nobody else sees how you overlooked an offense. God sees it all. Nobody else sees how you, how you give and give and give and you never get a thank you. God sees it all. And if God sees it all, we can, we can rest secure that, that he sees it all. And not only that, he sees that we're doing it for him. That's what he said. He said, you clothed me. And he said, when did I clothe you? When you helped that guy out, you clothed me. And when did I give you something to eat? When you helped that guy out, you gave me something to eat. And so as we are loving people and serving people and honoring people, we can understand that we're doing it for, for God. And not only for God, but it's, it's not only for God, like for his honor, but he's saying, no, I view it like you're actually doing it for me. And so as we, as we, we're going to bring it in for a communion right now. As we, we think about Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, his death and, and then his burial and then his resurrection. I want us, we're going to, we're going to read this Lion of Judah, the blessing that is talked about from Jacob. Thousands of years later, it comes to fruition with Jesus. And then in Revelation, it speaks of it. Let's read it together. Follow along, I should say. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll. But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and at seven seals. Then I saw a lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. This Lion of Judah somehow in some amazing way that we cannot understand is king. And yet he allowed himself to become man and be the lamb who was slain for you and for I. Right now we're going to pray. And as we do that, I want to ask you to look inside of yourself, to consider where you need to make Jesus king still. Where has he not been king? Consider where your perception of God has just been a little bit too narrow and where you need to expand it to fit how big God actually is. Amen. Let's pray right now. Dear God, Lord, we're so grateful for your plan. We're grateful for the narrative of the Bible. It's not just a series or a compilation of books put together, but it is a story that takes us through your heart for humanity. Lord, we're grateful that you decide to use us. We're grateful that you decide to use what... We don't deserve it, Lord. We're grateful that you give lavishly to us. We're grateful that you see everything. I don't know how you can comprehend that you're able to see everything and you bless us for everything, but we can't do anything to earn your love and your honor, Lord. You just love us and you give us a place of great honor that we don't deserve. Jesus, we're grateful for your sacrifice. We're grateful that you are the Lion of Judah. We're grateful that you are the fulfiller of prophecy, Lord. Then we're so grateful that you decided to be a lamb for us, to die for us and to give us an opportunity to commune with your father who is our father. Lord, thank you so much for your sacrifice. Jesus, thank you so much that you did it and you did it willingly, but the Bible's clear that you did it for the joy set before you. Lord, we want to pray that you move in our hearts and our lives individually. Lord, I pray that you move collectively in this body. Lord, we love you. Jesus, this is in your name that we pray. Amen. Thank you so much for listening to the Kalamazoo Church of Christ podcast. If you're in the Kalamazoo area, we'd love to get connected. Please go to kalamazoo.church and fill in your information to come to a Sunday service or any other event that we have going on. In any case, you'll be hearing from us next week.