God Is Jehovah-Jireh - Dr. Efrem Smith | Midtown Church Sacramento

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More about Pastor Efrem

Rev. Dr. Efrem Smith is a pastor, consultant, speaker, and author. He is passionate about life transformation, multiethnic development, healthy churches, and community development. Within his church congregation he is known as Pastor Efrem, Pastor E, and Dr. E.

Pastor Efrem was the founding pastor of The Sanctuary Covenant Church, a multi-ethnic church in Minneapolis, MN, He served as the Superintendent of the Pacific Southwest Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church. He also served as the President of World Impact, an urban missions organization. Currently, Pastor Efrem is the Co-lead Pastor of Midtown Church, a thriving and multi-ethnic community in Sacramento, California. He is also Co-Owner of Influential LLC, a speaking, consulting, and coaching ministry. Pastor Efrem is the author of Raising Up Young Heroes, The Hip Hop Church, Jump, The Post-Black and Post-White Church, Killing Us Softly, and Church for Everyone.

Pastor Efrem is a graduate of Saint John's University and Luther Theological Seminary. He completed the Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and received an honorary Doctor of Ministry degree from Ashland Theological Seminary. Pastor Efrem is married to Donecia, and they have two daughters, Jaeda and Mireya. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

I think Pastor O already said something about we have this incredible uh Christian band coming the end of this month, Red Hands. If you've not heard of them, they are incredible, amazing, and you don't want to miss this. So please, please purchase tickets. Also, though, um uh if you when you come to the event, they're gonna have like this pre-concert party where there's gonna be like like I guess it's gonna be like some chicken grease on it. Is that what I heard, Darius? There's gonna be some chicken grease on it, like a little you so uh they they probably didn't turn you off already, so you can't. Oh, yeah, yeah. So if you come to the red hands party, they're gonna have food trucks out there, they're gonna have some fellowship. We're gonna get greasy for Jesus. Like Crisco greasy for Christ. That's right. I just made that up. Ain't even in the Bible. Thank you, Darius. So please come to the Red Hands concert. It is gonna be a great, great time. And uh it's God showing us that part of who we are as a church and a community uh center is uh is to be an event center where people that don't go to church on Sunday could show up to a concert on an evening and give their life to Christ. Amen. So this is a great outreach opportunity. Great outreach opportunity. My name is Ephraim Smith, and I'm co-lead, co-senior pastor here at Midtown Church. Welcome everybody in the room. Welcome to everybody in Overflow. Welcome to y'all watching online. We are so glad that you have joined us. And we are in a sermon series called God Is. God is. We're focusing on the names of God presented in Scripture and how that aligns us with the character and the nature of God. If you're just joining us in this series, no worries. Uh, you can go to our YouTube channel, our website, our podcast, and you can watch or listen to the sermons so far in this series. We're gonna be in this series for the entire summer looking at the names of God. And today we are going to look at God as provider, Jehovah Jirah, the Lord our provider. Um, I think I pretty much uh have known that growing up, my mom and dad provided for me. They did. Put a roof over my head, food in my belly, clothes on my back. My mom and dad provided for me growing up. I didn't have to pay rent, I didn't have to pay a mortgage, I didn't have to help with utilities. Uh I I I my mom and dad provided for me. I knew this, but I really understood to what extent they provided for me when they came and visited uh a few years ago. Now they had already come out to California and visited a few times, but what was unique about this particular time when they came out is they only bought one-way tickets. And I was like, huh. And I love my mom and dad. Now I love my mom and dad. Ooh, I love them, I love them. They bought one-way tickets. And so it was like a little after Thanksgiving, then it was Christmas, then it was New Year's, and we was in the middle of January, and I was watching a game with my dad on TV, and I didn't know how to bring this up. So I love my mom and dad now. You know, do you know if y'all watching, you know I love you. I'm your favorite. Um, so I just thought I would broach, you know, the the issue, and I said, hey, dad, no problem, but how long y'all think y'all staying? And he said, You stayed in my house 22 years. So I just went back to watching the game. And it dawned on me, he was right, he was right. I mean, like, I stayed in my mom and dad's house for 22 years on the corner of 43rd in Portland and South Minneapolis, and and yeah, and and uh I didn't move out until like about three months before Danisha and I were gonna get married, moved into a one-bedroom apartment, but up until that point, my mom and dad provided for me. But what does it mean that God is provider? That above our earthly parents, above the resourced institutions and structures of this world, the creator of the universe is the ultimate provider. God meets our needs. What does it mean that God is Jehovah Jirah, the Lord our provider? Go with me to a very interesting, probably on its surface, controversial story found in Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22, beginning with verse 1, says this. Sometime later, God tested Abraham. He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Then God said, Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you. Early the next morning, Abraham got up, loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father, Abraham, Father, yes, my son, Abraham replied, The fire and the wood are here, Isaac said. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham, here I am, he replied. Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son. Abraham looked up, and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place the Lord will provide. And to this day it is said, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. From this text, sisters and brothers, I want to preach to you on the title, God is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider. God, I pray this would be your message. Please speak. I only want to be the vehicle that you use to say what you want to say. I want to be obedient to your word. So please let it be done. In Jesus' name, amen. God is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our provider. So, yeah, for 22 years I lived in my parents' house. And if I'm honest, confession here, as much as I appreciated their provision, oh, there were so many days when I dreamed about when I would finally get out of my parents' house and be on my own. When I'd have my own rules in my own house. Love my mom and dad, but I was looking forward to the day when I set my own curfew. When I would provide, you know, some of us men, some of us boys, we were raised in condition that one day we would be the breadwinner. We would be the provider. You know, that that that that old school kind of framework. And don't get me wrong, I ain't against men working at all. We should. We should. But I'm also for, hey, the sisters can walk alongside the brothers. Like we we can find out our anointing and our careers and our giftedness and our calling together. You know, you know what I'm saying? But but but but but I still had that that feeling, that thought of like, you know, one day it's not gonna be my mom and dad providing for me. It's gonna be me providing for myself. But is there such thing as fully self-providing for you? I mean, are all your blessings and privileges and opportunities just because of your own self-determination? You pulled yourself up by your bootstraps, you did it all, you did it my way. It's you. Is that the world? It's just survival of the fittest, self-determination, self-will, with a little bit of chance and luck. That is life. Or could it be that there is someone above us participating in our blessings? Is it true that you can't take credit for all the good, all the blessing on your life? Now, some of y'all have been walking with God long enough that you shouldn't need a sermon from me. You shouldn't need a worship song. I shouldn't have to pull no amens out of you right now. There ought to be at least seven people that already know, before I even get into the main points of this sermon, that I know God is my provider. He has made a way out of nowhere, woke me up this morning, started me on my way. God put a roof over my head. It could have been me, but but God, I woke up this morning on this side of dirt. And for that I'm thankful. God is my provider. It's beyond just my gifts, my talents, my abilities, my wherewithal. There is a God somewhere providing for me. Is there a God? And is that God providing for you in any way? These questions have to be answered by the Christian. These questions. So here we are in Genesis 22. God's provision in a perplexing situation. What in the world is going on here? A story of a man about to kill his own son. Is this God's will? Is this God's way? Or is there a deeper lesson to be learned here? It is in this story that Abraham calls God provider, the Lord who provides. We see here uh Lord in capital letters. This points to Yahweh, this points to Yehovah, the proper name of God. To go deeper in that, this is how we started out this series. You can go back and listen or watch a sermon that was preached here called God is the Great I Am. And we looked at Exodus chapter three, a little bit of Exodus chapter four, where Moses says, Hey, uh God, who when I go to the people that you want to be set free, that you are going to set free, when I go to Pharaoh and say, Let them go, who am I supposed to say sent me? And God says, Tell them I am sent you. Tell them the Lord sent you. And what we learned from that is this is the proper name of God, Yehovah. Uh what we also say Yahweh. This means God who was, who is, and always shall be. The one that I'm the great I am. I am who does it, I am who is. It is it is me. I mean, it's it's hard grammatically in the English language to really lay this out the way it's supposed to be said, but it's like I am, that's it. Uh I I was, I am, I always will be. And then you put gyrah next to that. So you take uh Yehovah, uh uh, and then you put uh Jyrah next to that. Yehovah Yrah or Jehovah Jyrah, and this is saying the one who has provided, the one who is providing, and the one who will provide. So you're already living, you're already living in the spiritual confidence in the midst of crazy and chaos because God has already provided for you in the past, and that's enough for you to stand in this moment believing that God is gonna provide now and provide into the future what you need. Now you now you got to participate now. Don't go quit your job tomorrow and say the Lord will provide. The Bible does talk about foolishness. So read Proverbs. Don't you don't you quit your job and say the Lord is my provider. Jehovah Jireh is also saying, not only does it mean the Lord will provide, it also means the Lord will see to it. The Lord will see to it. This means that God is in control. So how can you believe in God's provision if you don't believe in God's governance? See, when you say God will provide, people say, Amen. When you say God wants to govern your whole life, they go, Well. But see, you can't separate God's provision from God's governance. God provides where God is in control. God gives where God is governing. Uh God offers where there's obedience. So so you can't separate the governance of God from the provision of God, is what I'm trying to say. All of that is wrapped up in this name, Jehovah Jirah. The Lord will provide, the Lord will see to it. What this also means is that God is the self-existent one. God is the creator that's never been created. God is also the self-sufficient one, which means God doesn't need no one else to provide for God. God needs no provision, yet God is all provision. So the question of this sermon is how is God our provider and how do we get in the way? How is God our provider and how do we get in the way? I'm so glad you want to know this. How is God our provider? Point one, God connects provision with purpose. God connects provision with purpose. Go with me to Genesis chapter 12, beginning with verse 1. Genesis 12, beginning with verse 1. The Lord had said to Abram, Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse. And uh and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran. Now, now this is this this is it, this is important. The Lord said to Abraham, verse one, go from your country, your people, and your father's household. Sometimes, in order to experience the provision of God, we have to be willing to be released from the structures and entities that we've been dependent on for our provision. Now, again, I'm not telling you quit your job. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what the Bible is saying. I'm saying that sometimes, and I'm gonna get to this in the next point, sometimes there are cultural norms and traditions and superstitions and myths that we have connected our lives through from generation to generation, and we don't know how to live and trust God for provision when we're still too connected, too dependent, too obsessed with superstitions and some family and cultural traditions that have been passed down to us that that cause us not to see who God is. So God has to say to Abraham, I need you to leave. Now, where has he been? He's from a place, a place called Ur, U R. And when you take a biblical map, connect that to a map today, that's Iraq. But what's more important to know is that back then that place eventually becomes Babylon. And there's some stuff about Babylonia that I'm gonna talk about in a few minutes, but just think about this. I just want you to put a pen in that for a minute. In order for God to be Abram's provider, he has to call him from where he is and lead him to a place. Sometimes God's provision is leading you to a new place, a new purpose for a new season. And you need God to get there because God is going to be your provision. Now, the other thing that God does is he gives Abram a purpose. Verse 2 I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. There's a lot of I language in there. You notice it didn't say, You will make you into a great nation, and you will bless you, and you will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. You will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, you will curse. Sometimes you need to let God clap back on your behalf. And all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God is is connecting provision with purpose. So Abraham went. The other thing that we see here, sisters and brothers, is that God provides or resources us in the context of relationship. God's not trying to be a genie. God's not trying to be a supernatural Aladdin. You know what I mean? God is not trying to be your spiritual casino. God is providing, but the context of provision is covenant, is connection. God wants to be connected to us. God wants relationship with us. God wants us to be aware that God exists and that God is real. You can also see this in Genesis 15. Genesis 15, beginning with verse 1. After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. God is our provision and our protection. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, You have given me no children, so a servant, a slave in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came to him, This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your flesh and blood will be your heir. He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars. Sometimes, in order for God to show us that God is our provision, God has to show us something you can't buy that God created. So God has to show you something that you can't purchase in order for you to see the depths of God's provision. You ain't let you know if somebody sold you a star, you should get your money back. I heard people do buy stars and stuff. I heard people sell stuff in the sky that you can okay. So he said, if indeed you can count them. Then he said, So shall your offspring be. God connects provision with purpose. Point two. And remember I said, how is God our provider and how we can get in the way? Here's how we get in the way, but God still can work. Point two, God works through our self provision and dependence on worldly provision. See, um, sometimes it can be difficult for us to experience God as provider because we're too dependent on the system. And structures and institutions of this world to provide for us. Or we're too connected to thinking we provide for ourselves. Now please hear me now, because I I want you to hear this right. Because I I the Bible is saying, I am saying to you from scripture that if you get too dependent on the systems, institutions, and governments of this world providing for you, it will it will hinder your experience of God providing for you. Now I'm not saying there shouldn't be government assistance, I think there should be. Yeah, I think a percentage, a portion of our tax dollars should go to addressing the issues of the most vulnerable in our society, the poor. All the things that the Bible talks about the widow, the orphan, the poor, the foreigner, the sick, the incarcerated, the enslaved, the oppressed, the suffering. Yes, that's not socialism, that's Bible. Now, now, but this should be done in a way so that the people that are the recipients of these resources and services should not become dependent on them long term for their whole life. That shouldn't be the point. Because if you become dependent for life on any system, government, structure, or system of this world, it will hinder your ability to connect to God as your provider. Because this is how this should work. My grandmother was on government assistance for a while. But from there she became a domestic. And from there she started her own janitorial business. See, that's how it should work. That's James Brown theology. I don't want nobody to give me nothing, open up the dove, and I'll get himself. Hi. Oh, you know something. I only did that so it would be clear to you. Access, opportunity. That's what these social services should create. So that we still know that God is our provider. Now, let me let me show you from the Bible what can happen when we get too dependent on self-provision and worldly provision. Go with me to Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12, uh, verse 10. Now there was a famine in the land. Sometimes, no matter how awesome your country is, things can happen. There was a famine in the land, and Abram decided to go down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. Nothing in here says that Abram checked with God and asked God if that's what he should do. That doesn't say that. As he was about to enter Egypt, he says to his wife Sarai, I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, This is his wife. Then they will kill me, but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you. When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abraham well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle and male and female donkeys, male and female servants and camels. Wait a minute. So let's just say my wife is here. Uh John, trying to see if she might go for this. So there's a famine in California. And I heard things is good in Idaho. So we're gonna leave California, Donisha, and you fine. And I don't know what the governor of Idaho is gonna do to me, because I ain't never been to Idaho before. I don't know what it's like. So I'm like, you so fine. Will you just tell the governor of Idaho you my sister? And if he thinks you're fine, he'll just take you as his woman. Yeah, see, she ain't said nothing yet. And I want to go home today. So I'm just gonna say in front of my wife, this is a bad idea. Just want you to know, Dunice, this is a horrible idea. Sarah has no say in this. Now let me tell you something. This is gonna really blow your mind. She actually is Abram's sister. Oh, yeah, before Sister Wives on Cable. She is his sister, and she is his wife. So Abraham ain't lying, but he's also utilizing the system that he is now dependent on. I and and last time I checked, there was a word for when a man gives a woman to another man and get paid for it. He her out. I'm only reading the Bible, y'all. I promise you. I promise you, I'm only reading the Bible. She was taken by Pharaoh. Pharaoh treated her as his wife. She had no say. Let's not act like Sarah was enjoying this situation. She was taken against her will into Pharaoh's palace, and while she is being forced to play house with Pharaoh, her husband brother is getting cattle and sheep and camels and slaves. He's becoming wealthy, sacrificing his woman. See, some people become so dependent, so obsessed, so enslaved with the provision of the world that they will lose their marriage over it, they will lose their children over it, they will lose their family over a job, over a career, because they trust the world more than they trust Jehovah Jirah. And the world will let you lose your marriage, the world will let you lose your kids, the world will let you lose your mind because we care more about the money than the moment of purpose that God has for us. So this is what Abram does, and God steps in. I want you to remember this line right here. But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife, Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram. What have you done to me? He said. We gotta step into that. Take her and go. And here's the funny thing. Abram left rich. Sarah left his property. It is hard to live in provision when you're exercising possession. How can you truly say yes to God's provision when you think you own it? You my woman. This is my house. These my children. This my land. This my business. This mine. This mine. How can you give yourself to provision when you are enslaved to possession? He didn't see Sarai the way God saw Sarai. He saw her as his property that he could give away to Pharaoh. I wish I could get out a point too, but I want to get this in your spirit because somebody in here needs to be set free. You are not the possession of this world. You ain't no man's possession. You ain't no woman's possession. You ain't no job's possession. This country don't own you. This state don't own you. You are liberated by God. You are God's daughter. You are God's son. We we you need to get out of possession so you can get into provision. Oh, I'm so glad I don't own it. My God, my God, my God. I wish I was done with point two, but just give me a second. Just give me a second. Okay, they leave Egypt. I don't know what Abram and Sarai's marriage was like after that. You think there might have been some trauma in there now? This is how you do me? Where are we going next? Who you gonna sell me to next? Who you gonna give me to next? Man, I may I made her real urban right there, didn't I? So Genesis 16, verse 1. This years later. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar. So she said to Abram, The Lord has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my slave. Perhaps I can build a family through her. Abram agreed. That was quick. What happened to Nah, baby? I can't do that. You, my wife's sister. I can't. With her? You want me to have a no? Oh, okay. Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So Abram had been living in Canaan ten years. Sarai, his wife, took does this sound familiar? Her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, You are responsible for the wrong I'm suffering. As if she wasn't participating in this. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. Okay. Why before we beat up Sarai too bad here? I heard that. Her trauma. Okay, her trauma. Her trauma. Okay, you get two credits for that. Okay, all right. The circle gets a square. Okay, now I wonder when Sarai and Abram were still in Egypt and he was getting rich, and what was happening to her once they left, she had to endure that when they left, Abram's bringing Egyptian slave women with him. Oh, we had to take them. Pharaoh wanted me to have her. So this ain't the first time. You think Sarai just came up with this on her own? He's he, these Egyptian slave women came with the wealth that Pharaoh gave to Abraham. Two men making a transaction that is exacerbating Sarai's trauma. Sometimes the transactions of men can cause trauma to people they say they love. And so every time Sarai looked at an Egyptian woman, did it remind her of what Pharaoh did to her in Egypt? All those nights she had to be with a man she didn't want to be with, and now she's looking at an Egyptian slave girl, and she said, Yeah, you know what? Maybe you need to know what it's like. Because it is difficult to experience God's provision when you won't acknowledge your trauma. How can you experience anointing when you won't even deal with your epigenetics? When you don't won't even deal with the fact that your grandmother and your grandfather and your father and your mother's trauma is resting in your soul. And you compound that with what people did to you the people that lied on you, the people that mistreated you, the people that neglected you, the people that abused you, the people that threw you away. And if you won't acknowledge the trauma, and if you won't seek therapy and spiritual direction and get in a healing circle and get about the healing, you'll never experience God as your liberator, as your provision, as your healer, as your God, as your past, as your present, as your future, as your salvation, as your justification, as your sanctification. You'll never know God the way you should know God if you won't get out of the glory of your own trauma. I know they did it to you, but you can still get free. And so Abram and Sarai are they in the way of God being their provider because they won't acknowledge their own trauma. But praise God that God will work even in the depths of our self-provision and our dependence on worldly provision. I told you God will work, but we got to take a step towards God. I'm going a little long on this, but please hear me. Please hear me here. I told you earlier in this message. Remember this now, I told you to put a pen in this. Abram and his family are originally from what would become Babylon. When you don't acknowledge your trauma and you stay in the cultural customs and traditions and myths of where you came from, you can inadvertently turn around and go back to where you came from, opposite of where God's trying to take you. You so hurt, you so mad that you are drifting back to old habits, things in the past. Now the same thing is being rewound again, be recycled. We saw this story before. You're going back here, and God's trying to take you here. Do you know what happens to the people of Israel later in the Bible? They become slaves in Babylon. They basically go back to where their father Abraham came from because they wouldn't let go of old habits they had learned in Egypt and Ur in Babylon before. Liberation should not be disconnected from provision. Okay, I gotta end. I gotta end. Okay, point three. I'm gonna close on this. God provides in problematic circumstances. So here's God's grace. This is where we can say hallelujah. This is where we can say amen. This is where we can celebrate, because even in the midst of our bad decisions and going backwards and drifting back into old behaviors, guess what? God is still working. This is why this story in Genesis 22 is so good. Sometime later, Abraham God tested Abraham. God tested Abraham. That's a good line because I want you to know God's purpose here is not for Abraham to kill his son in the name of Yahweh. Matter of fact, God didn't have to convince Abraham to sacrifice his son. You know why? He was already willing to sacrifice his wife. So sacrificing his son ain't gonna be no problem. Abraham didn't need no pressure from God to kill his son. He already sacrificed his sister wife. So sacrificing his son, this is why it says God was testing Abraham. God will meet you in the very dysfunction of your own behavior. God will accommodate you and me by meeting us in our bad behavior in order to move us to someplace different. That's the lesson in this story. That's why there's a ram in the bush. That's why before he kills Isaac, God says, Abraham, Abraham, that's who you used to be. Let me point you to who you will be based on the promise and the provision I've already spoken to you. God ain't looking for you to sacrifice your children. He gave his only begotten son for all of us. And before you paint that story as child sacrifice, here's the kicker. Jesus is God. You don't need to see the crucifixion as a child sacrifice scene. You need to see the crucifixion of this is God sacrificing himself as the greatest expression of provision ever. God is your provider. He hung the moon and the sun and the stars. He separated the water from the sky to the water in the land. He woke you up this morning. He started you on your way. The reason you're in your right mind, the reason you're still breathing well, the reason you got some good faculties about you, the reason you got a roof over your head and food in your belly and clothes on your back. You didn't come in here naked because Jehovah Jira. When it seems like all hope is gone, God will provide. Let me give you an example. We just found out from the finance director of this church on last Wednesday that we ended the fiscal year in the black. Okay. Not only did we end the fiscal year in the black, remember when I was asking you and Pastor Susie and Pastor Otis was asking you money for camp? You responded so graciously that we raised enough money to pay all our expenses for camp and we got money over to start planning for camp for next summer. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me. I ain't finished talking about it. Let me go a little deeper. Since we became Midtown Covenant Church, went on our own in 2021. I want you to know something. This is the first year since we went on our own that we financially been in the black. The first time. In this season, right now. So I want you to know if there's anybody in here that's been through hell and hot water, if there's anybody in here that's been in between jobs, if there's anybody in here that has lost your way, if there's anybody in here that can't win well at night, if there's anybody in here that greet, give it a lot, give it out, give it up, you know, you don't know, give it a lot. God is faithful when human beings are not.