Freedom of the Spirit | Pentecost

Freedom gets sold to us as independence, but Scripture paints a sharper picture: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” We sit with 2 Corinthians 3 and ask a practical question that hits home fast: what if the choices we call “freedom” are actually us running ahead into a mess, while the Spirit’s presence is the protection we keep leaving behind?

We talk through the slow, steady work of transformation, one degree at a time, and why that pace is not a failure, it is God’s kindness. We also unpack what the Holy Spirit is like in real life: the promise of the Father, our Helper, our teacher, our advocate, and the Spirit of truth. Along the way, we get honest about how attitude can hijack our day, how exhaustion makes obedience harder, and why learning to be still with God changes more than our schedule, it changes our witness.

Then we move into Jesus’ words in John 14 about love as commitment and obedience, and why the Spirit guides believers into truth in a way the world cannot understand without Christ. We also make space to respond: prayer for empowerment, a clear invitation to follow Jesus, and a reminder that our identity is rooted in being with God, not performing for Him.

If you want a deeper, more grounded Christian life and a clearer understanding of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, and biblical freedom, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review with the part that challenged you most.

Cornerstone
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/

Follow Jesus
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/follow-...

Life Groups 
https://www.cornerstoneaz.org/life-gr...

Giving 
https://cornerstoneaz.churchcenter.co...

Church Center App - Download then add Cornerstone Christian Center in Avondale, AZ

iOS
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-ch...

Android 
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

----

Instagram 
  cornerstoneaz  

Facebook
  cornerstoneaz.org  

Twitter
  cornerstoneaz.org

Transcript

Welcome And Freedom Theme

Jason Brown 0:00

Good morning. Freedom of the Spirit. If you have your Bible, your tablet, your phone. This morning we'd be looking at 2 Corinthians 3, starting in verse 17. We'll have that up for you here as well. But I would encourage you that you would take and have your Bible with you. If you own a paper Bible, then let it be something that comes to church with you. You could show it where you know it wants to be friends with other people who have one of these. You guys do have one of these, yes? If you don't have one, we want to be able to put one into your hands. We have one available for you. We want everyone to have a Bible so that they can read it themselves as well. Today, starting here in 2 Corinthians

Where The Spirit Brings Freedom

Jason Brown 0:42

3.17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Today, friends, we're talking about freedom of the Spirit. Say it with me. Freedom of the Spirit. Now, it says that where the freedom of the Lord is, he is there. He is spirit. And so that's what we know is that freedom comes from alignment with the Spirit of God. Now, we can also be those who are very transparent, and that we understand that many times when the Holy Spirit comes and challenges us, that we might not be those who say yes right away. Other people are lying. No, what we know is that that's often true because many times that's what we talk about is as we're empowered to walk for Christ, what does Christ say? I will send my spirit to you. And so the Holy Spirit is challenging us. He's trying to tell us when to shut our mouths and not say the mean things. Maybe it's somebody else I'm talking to. What I was saying is he tells us to shut our mouths and not say the mean things. And because of those things, whenever we have a good alignment, to Annie's point right here exactly, is that we experience freedom. And when we experience freedom, it's because our alignment with him, it takes us out of that pothole and this pothole and that side of the road mess, in this side of the road mess. How many people know what I'm talking about? And sometimes we start getting some momentum, making good decisions because we've been listening to the Holy Spirit. And when we start going, we start going, we start going, we start speeding up in our life. He's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, where are you going, man? Hey, oh, hold on, hold on. It's like, you know, like parents with like a little toddler when they start getting their feet underneath them, right? Because we're walking along with them at first, right? They're holding our hands. How many people know what I'm talking about? Grandparents in the room are like, this is what I'm talking about. That's why we need more of them. See? Sorry, kiddos. You guys know more grandkids. That's how it works. So then he, and they're why and they're why they're so excited, they're getting those steps, and that's how we are after the after Christ, and we're listening to the Spirit, and He's helping us get some steps going. And pretty soon, we don't want to hold on anymore. And that's good. He's like, listen, you can trust me, you can listen to my voice. I don't need to navigate you through everything. I'm gonna walk, I'm gonna be right here with you. And you're like, that's great, that's great. Ah! They start running away into traffic for some reason. Into traffic. But it feels that way sometimes, doesn't it? It feels like we're getting ahead of where the Holy Spirit wants us to go. And we start making these decisions that end up not being freedom for us. We think it's freedom because we're trying to lead the guide rails behind, but actually, the very presence of who He is is what's giving us freedom. Because He's the Iron Dome over us, He's the protection, He's the eagle's wings over us, He is the strong tower, He's all the things, and so when we run away from that, we're running away from freedom and into a mess and into a mess. It picks up here, it continues in this piece.

Transformed One Degree At A Time

Jason Brown 3:57

It says, And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. Somebody say transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is spirit. And I love this as we talk about Pentecost and we talk about the Holy Spirit. We see Holy Spirit as being all these things. Obviously, we see him as spirit. We also see him as the promise of the Father. As Jesus says, Behold, I will send the promise of my Father to empower you. So we see him as power to live for God. He empowers us, he is with us. It says he is in us and he empowers us. We see him as the anointing of God, the presence of the anointing of God. His presence being with us. He is our advocate. He is someone who is a lawyer on our behalf. He is fighting the battle for us. He is the teacher who we listen to. For all the teachers in the room are like, Amen. He is the teacher we listen to because he is the one that's he's the onboard navigation to show us how to live for him. He is the real wisdom. And he is truth. He is all these things. And so it's saying that the challenge we see here in 318 is that it's saying, as we encounter his glory, as we encounter his presence, as we walk towards him and towards his countenance, we are included we are encountering the most holy God and his presence, his anointing, he washes over us and it transforms us. It transforms us. And it does so from one degree to another. It says one small degree. How many people are thankful? It's that. So this is why one degree is not a bad thing, because we're walking one degree at a time with him. If it was more degrees, we would lose an arm every time he was trying to do something. Because he's like, no, I need like 35% chop. You know what I mean? You're like, ah. No, he's trying one degree at a time, every

Identity And Influence In The World

Jason Brown 6:28

day process. And that's why he's been talking to us about identity. It's why we've been talking about identity in our theme moxie. It's why last week Pastor Celeste talked about our identity and not in doing things for God, but with being with God in his presence and our identity and tying connected to him and what that means for us as Christ followers, because the Lord said, I will use you as evidence, as essentially the calling card to the world. I will use the change in your identity to show other people who I am. So what he's doing is Holy Spirit is anointing you to use your influence out in the world where you are. It's to use your influence. And the reason your influence is so important because it was never called to be my job. My job is not to save all of your friends and family. How many people know that? Your job is to be a light to your friends. It's not your job to save them either. That's the Lord's job. But your job is to be an accurate witness, empowered by his spirit, so that you're a good reflection of the power of the Lord. And so we're each called to walk with this influence and then the attitude of God, because if we don't, we're gonna have a bad attitude and it's gonna set us off not listening to the Holy Spirit every day, going back to the first scripture.

Attitude, Rest, And Daily Alignment

Jason Brown 7:54

Now, I'll give you a short window. Now, I'm someone who battles with insomnia. I have always I get it from my dad who never slept either. And now I see my children who are like, you know, college and high school, and they're like, you know, European vampires who are awake all night and I'm like, go to bed. And they're like, you go to bed. No, they don't tell me that. But I also need to go to bed. But it's hard because I'll be up and I'll be running late into the night, and then I'll wake up and it'll it'll be a very, very short night because you know everyone gets up early and starts going, and I'll grumble. I mean, I'll stay and spend time with the Lord in the morning. No, I'll be honest, some days it's a grumble. How many people know what I'm talking about? And I'm grumbling, I'm like, Lord, if I had more rest, then I could make better decisions. He's like, cool, go to bed. I'm like, I'm trying, I'm trying to do it. And then I have an attitude and I walk down the thing, and you know, someone they left the gate so that our our fat puppy dog, who is very fat, she fat. Whenever she runs upstairs and she goes poo-poo, and the place that I don't clean up the poo-poo, that was the deal when we got the dog, you guys know what I'm talking about. But all my family, they're already where they're supposed to be, so now I have to deal with the dog poo-poo. And I'm like, Are you serious right now? Stomping for no reason, no one's there. It's just for me. I clean up the thing and I do the thing, and someone left their whatever these foam shoe things are by the back door. They're always in the way, and I'm stumbling, trying not to get mucky all over the house. Stupid shoes. Who left these shoes here? I look down, they're my shoes. I'm like, come on, what is that? It's attitude. And then I come to the church and I'm very holy, and I'm gonna pastor. It's good. These are good things. No, you see, this is the thing, all of us are fighting this out every day, and you have to understand that the problem is not the circumstances. The circumstances are gonna be what they are. The problem is my attitude with how I'm dealing with the circumstances. And I'm glad it's only me. This is only a me problem. But maybe you guys can learn if you ever have an attitude in the future that you would know how to navigate a little bit better. And I thought back to this really good sermon I listened to last Sunday about being still in the presence of God and not trying to be busy. And I was like, oh. Maybe if I did that more instead of trying just to get more things off my checklist, then I probably would have a better attitude. And I probably would be a better reflection of the love of God to other people, and all of the other things would come into alignment whenever I embrace the freedom of the Spirit. The freedom of the Spirit. Say it with me. Freedom of the Spirit.

Pentecost Sunday And Life Groups

Jason Brown 10:51

Today we're talking about Pentecost. And next Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. We're gonna have an opportunity. We are uh we're a spirit-filled church, we have an opportunity this next week. I want to pray for those who like to experience a baptism of the Holy Spirit. We just want to agree with you this next week, and so you can be praying to that effect at the end of the service next week and being those that are embracing the fullness of what God wants to do by his spirit through his church. Amen. Now, if we haven't met, my name is Jay. It's a blessing to be with you today here at Cornerstone. God bless you. Thanks for being a part of what God is doing. And if you're a guest of ours, welcome home. We see ourselves very much as people in need of a savior. So we use this imagery of Christ walking with his disciples because that's how we see ourselves. None of us have arrived anywhere, none of us is perfect. We're all walking after Jesus, where he's leading us to go. And so our ambition together and personally is to be more like Jesus. Say it with me. Be more like Jesus. It's why we love God, it's why we make disciples, it's why we reach the world. And so our challenge is to be those that are intentional in our growth after God. That's why we encourage you. Hey, get a part of what's happening in the life of this community of faith. Be a part of life groups. They just started, and so you have uh another six weeks of groups that are going to be happening. So we encourage you to jump in and be a part of what God is doing in this semester. Those groups are connect groups, grow groups, and serve groups. So get involved in those and let them be a blessing to your life. Amen. Now we're talking about the freedom of the Spirit.

Jesus Promises The Holy Spirit

Jason Brown 12:25

And as we get into Pentecost, we start to look to the very start of where this comes from. In fact, if you have your Bibles today, we'll be looking at John 14 and we'll be coming back to 2 Corinthians at the end. But what we start with is, of course, Jesus. And so he is on the scene. He is our Savior and Lord, has done all of this teaching, all of these miracles, all these amazing things have happened. And so he is both pretelling his followers what's going to happen by the power of the Holy Spirit, and then later, before the ascension, after he's come back to life from the dead. Somebody say amen to that. After he's come back and risen from the dead, he's teaching his disciples. And in both of these situations, he's explaining whose Holy Spirit will be for us. And so we see this as part of his timeline and how he's speaking to us about the promise of the Father, about Holy Spirit, and being those who are open to what God wants to do as he empowers us to do so. Looking here to the Word of God, John 14, 15. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. If you love me. And it starts here with this idea of love, because we know that love is not just a feeling, love is a choice. That's why we can say, I make a commitment to you that I will love you. It's my commitment is my love. My commitment is my everyday. It's not, I don't feel like loving you today, you don't look the way I remember when we got married. I'm sorry, it's over. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about a commitment that goes beyond feeling. That's why when we were the enemies of God who stood against him and worshipped other garbage, he loved us anyway. And came all the way to us and retold us the path he had already told us before. Remember the toddler walking? And he was giving us the path of how to do it. And then we ran off into the ditch and he got us back out of the ditch, right? He went and found the lost lamb, put you back over here, trying to give you some navigation. The Lord help us. It says that we're called to be those that follow his commandments, his commands. And as we see what he commands us to do, he's really trying to teach us a new culture in our personal lives, a culture of our community, of people that walk in step with God in the freedom of the Spirit. So it's not about this rule and that rule and all the things we read in the beginning of the Torah. It's not all these rules that you go through in Leviticus and you're like, wait, is my polyblend? I'm not supposed to have a polyblend. Am I going to hell? What's going on? See what I'm saying? We say, no, Jesus came and fulfilled the law, the fullness of the law. It's no longer you have to have the right haircut or the amount of doilies or whatever's going on. You don't have to have that anymore. No, Christ has done all the work for us all the way to us. But what he asks is that we walk in step with him. And see, for those of us who haven't, who have or not military people, we have lots of military people with us, or those who've done, understand, they understand that a command is a command. It's not a suggestion. And since it's not a suggestion, then that means he expects us to do what he asks us to do. And the reason he's doing that is because he loves us and he wants us to thrive. And since he loves us and wants us to thrive, then he's giving us commands that make sense to do things that he's asked us to do because he knows what he wants us to do in the future, but he needs you to do this step first. So he's saying, Hey, spend time with me. You need to abide with me, you need to go. These sit and wait upon the Lord and listen to him and spend time with his presence. And meanwhile, we're like the toddler running into traffic. And he's like, No, wait, come over here. Let me help you learn this process every day. And so we look here again to scripture, it starts to talk to us about the command of the Lord and our love for him. It says, I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Someone say amen to that. And it's right here on the face of why our culture, why the world around us doesn't understand. What does it say? It says the world around you, right here in the scripture, will not understand, whom the world cannot receive. And why can't they receive Holy Spirit? They can't receive Holy Spirit because they have not believed in the truth of who Christ is. So that's the only reason he sends the Spirit to us. That's why the Holy Spirit is with us, is because we have accepted Christ and his work on our behalf. And the world, the world in all the world, outside of decision for Christ, all of the world cannot receive the Spirit because they have not made a decision with Jesus. Does it make a sense? And so we have the Holy Spirit who walks us through and navigates us and teaches us how to step with him, but we understand that this is counter-cultural in being obedient to God.

Truth, Obedience, And Forgiveness

Jason Brown 17:38

Means we're gonna have to have guts, maybe moxie, as we talked about, to live for Christ because we're gonna be empowered by the Spirit of God, and many times the Spirit of God is gonna go against the very culture we live in. How many people have experienced that before? You know, whenever it's okay to be a certain way, and then you're trying to be Christ-like and see the fruit of the Spirit come off your lives, and that is counter-cultural to the group you might be standing in. And here's the thing that's okay. Go ahead and stand and be a light, be salt in the world right where you are. Let the Holy Spirit of God empower you to do that very thing. And so it picks up here in this narrative and it talks about who the Spirit is for us and remind you that this is Jesus who's teaching us what this is meaning. So John 14, 26, but the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrances all that I have said to you. And I love this. Says he will teach you. I'm so very thankful that he's willing to teach us and go back over it again if we don't get it the first time. How many times have you been prompted by the Holy Spirit as you're drawing near to him and to his heart, and he starts talking to you about something, and you're like, no, no, no, no, I don't want to hear that part of that. I don't want to do that yet. And he's like, okay. And he'll back off a little bit and come right back with the same piece of information. Anybody ever had that experience before? Where God is speaking to you about something, he's like, hey, I really need you to do with this unforgiveness in your life. You're like, I don't want to deal with that. How about something else that has to do with blessing in my life? He's like, I'm trying to get to the blessing part. First, I need you to forgive. And he's you're like, cool, cool, cool, cool. I don't want to do that. How about just bless me and I still have a bad attitude about it? Well, how about I teach you through a circumstance that I didn't create, but I'm gonna allow it to happen so that you can learn to trust me when I tell you to do something. And you're like, wait, wait, I don't want a lesson. I don't need a lesson. Can we go back to the other part where I'm just obedient the first time? He's like, that part is past. We're gonna teach you a lesson. How to navigate, how to trust. So is this too real? This seems very, very real. Because as soon as I start saying it, everybody in the crowd starts sitting back and they're like, suddenly everyone has a phone call from work. They're like, we're not even open on the weekend. Yeah, we are. No, we are, definitely are. The Lord help us. None of us is perfect. All of us are in need of a savior. That means every day, every day we're in need of a savior. It means every day we need Holy Spirit to guide us. Every day we need us to empower us. Every day we need it. We need the freedom of the spirit. Someone say it with me. Freedom of the Spirit. Now it says, now when the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak of his own authority. What did the what did Jesus say? I speak, the Father speaks through me. Now the Spirit is speaking what Christ has said to us. Whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare the things to you that are to come. What Jesus says is that Holy Spirit is the truth. That's why we see Father, Son, Holy Spirit, one God, one triune being. What does it say? The truth will set you. And so we know that freedom is only found in walking with the Spirit of God and not in anything else. It's not in some kind of construct that's brought up by humans. It's not in some kind of idea of some kind of understanding of government. Even though I believe in governance and I'm thankful for vote and voice and all those other things, the real freedom is not found in some kind of construct, it's found in the truth of God alone. And the reason we know that is because He's the only thing that's eternal. And we've seen, even in our own situation of our own democracy, how messy things can get whenever our own. Own interests get involved. Whereas he is not that, he is the truth that supersedes it. He is the truth. So if we're those who want to walk in the truth, if we're those who want our family culture to be one of truth, then we need to be those that embrace the freedom of the Spirit and listen to what He's asking us to do. Would you say amen to that? And I'm with you. We are this. This is a sermon first to me and then to you. So we're together, amen. We come back to this very idea as we come together today.

Communion And Living God’s Truth

Jason Brown 22:37

We're talking about who the truth of God is. As we come to remember Jesus' sacrifice as we go to communion today, we're still understanding that his truth is the truth. Pastor Rich gave a great word to our seniors at the brunch this week about identity and about how we are not living our personal truth. No, we're living to the truth of who God is. And that's why our alignment is with him, because he is the truth. And as we come and we set our hearts to remember the sacrifice of Christ for us, remembering his body, which was broken for us, his blood that was shed for us as he went to the cross, as he took the whipping upon his back. It wasn't for what he did, it's what I did, it's what for what you did. When he did that for us, he became the truth, and the truth is that God loves you. And he loves you so much, he was willing to take your place. And he loves you so much that he won't allow you to remain in brokenness, but he'll challenge you by his spirit. He'll challenge me so that we can be those that walk in freedom of the spirit. Someone say it with me. Freedom of the Spirit. Now, we come back to that same scripture that we talked about before. Now the Lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So what it means is that for each one of us is that as we walk after the ways of God and the character of God, we are challenged to be those that embrace what he's saying for us to do. We talk about one degree, one step towards him. Friends, that's the very thing we talk about every life group season, is that we want to see people take a step closer to God. It's the same concept we see here today, is that we want to be those in this season of Pentecost, as the Lord returned back to the Father in His ascension, as He pours out His Spirit on the upper room, he does so so that we can be empowered to live for God. That we can be those that walk in freedom as an example to others because we're in alignment with him. Living in the love of Christ that we've embraced, that he loves us, and his pure love, even through broken vessels, as he helps to fix us to become more like his image, it's reflected back to others, and they see the example that they want in their lives through you and through your story. And so you get to be freedom for them because you are an image-bearer of the holy God which you have inside of you by the Spirit. And so we're reflecting the freedom of God as we walk in who he is. And so, friends, as we listen to his commands, as we walk in the way of God, as we're listening to his voice, we don't have to have the guardrails, but we're listening and trusting and not running ahead, but walking where he's leading us to go. And each one of these things are embracing who he is for the day so he can build on us every day towards what he wants us to do. We read here in the scripture, we read it before, and with this an unveiled face, beholding his glory. We're being transformed. We're being transformed, and this comes from the Lord. Today we want to be those who have our influence coming from the Lord and not from culture, but being those that embrace the very thing he's calling us to do. That we understand, as we talked about last week, and Pastor Celeste challenged us, that our identity is in him and not in what we're doing or some kind of title. And since our identity is him, then friends, let's be those that embrace the work of the spirit so we can walk in his freedom. Freedom of the Spirit. Say it with me. Freedom of the Spirit. Today, as we talk about Pentecost, we're reminded about the power of Christ, about the power of the Spirit, about all he has done on our behalf, and giving his life for us, and giving Holy Spirit to us, and Holy Spirit being diligent to speak to us, to challenge us, to encourage us to be more like him.

Responding To Jesus And Prayer

Jason Brown 27:02

In just a few moments, we're gonna have an opportunity to respond and come forward to this altar. Just ask more of the empowerment of the Spirit to pour out on you today. Then we'll go and we'll have that moment of communion. But before any of that, we want to give an opportunity for any that might be here that have never made a decision to follow Jesus. That question is have you embraced Jesus? For us as Christ followers, that's why we hold and hold dear the cross. Because the cross is the place where Jesus took all of my sin and all of my shame and all of my brokenness, and he paid for it with his life upon the cross. And so the cross is a place of freedom because Jesus He paid for my sin there. And he paid for your sin there as well. In fact, he took all of our sin and all of our shame, all of our brokenness, all of those things, and he paid for it once and for all upon the cross. And so our faith is not done in anything that we do, we can't earn our way in, we can't buy our way in. No, it's only in our faith in Christ, saying, Jesus, I believe you are who you say you are. The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome, he says this, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Friends, today is your opportunity to say yes to Jesus, to invite him into your heart and life, to change everything. I'm asking if you're here in the room, if you'd stand to your feet right where you're at and bow your heads as Christians are praying. Friends, if you're with us online somewhere, just take a moment and pause for what God wants to do in and through your life. If that's you, you say, Pastor, that's me. I want to make a decision for God. I haven't invited him into my heart and life and I want to. Or maybe you have made a decision like that in the past, but you need to make a recommitment to him and living for Christ. As Christians are praying and heads are bowed here in the room, if that's you, you need to say, Pastor, that's me. I just want to be included in that prayer take. You just raise your hand right where you're at, just to indicate to me that you're making a decision for Jesus. I want to agree with you today. See the hand that's there and the others that are there. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. As people are making decisions. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. We see those hands making decisions today. Friends online, wherever you're at as well. That's you, thank you, Jesus. I'm gonna ask if you would, if everyone to pray this prayer out loud after me. Lord, thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending Jesus. I believe Jesus who died on the cross for my sins. I believe he rose again. Forgive me of my sins. I surrender my life to you. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen, friends. We rejoice with you, those that made a decision to follow Jesus today. Hey, if that was you, hey, take a moment, take a snap of this QR code. We just want to put some process, some uh some things into your hand so that you can be connected and make a decision after God. If you're in the chat with us today, let us know about uh your decision that you made. We want to rejoice with you for making a decision to follow Jesus. Amen. So today, here in just a few moments, we're gonna have communion together. But first, we're gonna have an opportunity for you to come and just embrace what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life. You know, no one knows your story better than he knows your story. And he knows exactly where you are, he knows what decisions you're making, he knows what process you're in, he knows what phase of life you're in. He knows all those things. They don't surprise him one bit. And so as you come, you're asking him to empower you, empower your family to say yes to what he wants to do in and through you in this season, that you would be used by the Most High God. Lord, we thank you so much for your word today, Lord. As we come to your altar, Holy Spirit, we pray that you pour yourself out upon us. Lord, that you are truth. And Lord, you add you encourage us to live in your freedom. And so, Lord, we come to you today, Lord, asking for that empowerment, asking, Lord, for for you, more of you and less of us. And so, Lord, we ask for more of your presence. Lord, we know you are there. And so, Lord, we're coming to you with all that we have today at this altar, prepping our hearts to remember you and your sacrifice for us of your holy table. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Let's get a stand for the blessing.

Graduation Notes And Final Blessing

Celeste Brown 31:50

We it is graduation season, and we want to honor every graduate that will be graduating from high school, um, community college, university, a trait. We want to honor them. So if you go into the app or you call the office, there's a place to do so. Um, but we want to just recognize them. It's coming up on one of our Sundays soon, um, but we want to give honor where honor is due. And they have done a lot of hard work to get to this point. So please do not forget to register them.

Jason Brown 32:18

Amen. Before we go, I want to pray this blessing over us. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Lord, I pray a blessing upon your church, your people. That you would empower us by your spirit to live your love out to those around us. Pray all this in the powerful name that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Know this. We love you very much. You're a cornerstone. God bless you and have a great week.