MidTree Church
The sermon audio of MidTree Church in Harris County, Ga. BEHOLD // BELIEVE // BECOME
MidTree Church
Love's Perfect Timing | Pastor Will Hawk | May 11th, 2025
The Song of Solomon might seem like an unlikely text for Mother's Day, yet it reveals profound truths about God's perfect timing that speak to our deepest relationships and longings. Through ancient wedding customs, we discover a beautiful picture of Christ's pursuit of His people.
When the bridegroom comes "leaping over mountains" to claim his bride, we glimpse the eagerness of a lover who has prepared everything for their future together. In biblical times, betrothal was followed by a waiting period while the groom prepared rooms in his father's house - a powerful parallel to Jesus' promise: "In my Father's house are many rooms... I go to prepare a place for you."
The seasonal imagery throughout this passage reminds us that God orchestrates our lives through different chapters - sometimes winter's waiting, sometimes spring's renewal. For those experiencing Mother's Day with complicated emotions - whether celebrating motherhood or carrying the weight of unfulfilled longings - the message rings clear: "God's timing is never late and always loving." Your times are truly in His hands.
We explore four relationship seasons: summer drought (when love feels dry and nourishment lacking), fall harvest (enjoying blessings but sensing coldness approaching), winter death (when relationships feel lifeless), and spring renewal (fresh growth and excitement). Each season requires different spiritual responses, yet all can be navigated with faith.
Perhaps most powerful is the bride's request to "catch the foxes... that spoil the vineyards" - a recognition that even in seasons of blessing, vigilant protection is needed. This metaphor speaks to our inability to fully guard what matters most through our own efforts, pointing us to Christ who offers to do what we cannot.
The passage culminates in beautiful covenant language: "My beloved is mine and I am his." This mutual self-giving relationship represents God's ultimate desire for His people, available only when we "arise and come away" from self-sufficiency into His perfect love. Where are you in your season today? Will you trust the One who is bringing you safely home?
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
When I was looking at the text that we had for this week, one of the things that I immediately thought was Mother's Day in Song of Solomon. Challenge accepted, we are going to be in Song of Solomon. But the kicker of it is, the more I spent time in the text that I felt like the Lord had called us to look at a number of months ago, the more I realized this isn't really going to be too much of a challenge to preach, quite honestly, and one of the reasons is a lot of this has to do with timing God's perfect timing in all things. If you're in your Bibles, go ahead and begin turning in them to Song of Solomon or Song of Songs. We will be in chapter two, starting in verse eight. You'll see it up on the screen in just a minute, but, as you do, can I just tell you I'm not just dressed up for Mother's Day, I am dressed up for Mother's Day, but I had to go and get a new suit for a wedding yesterday, also had a wedding last Saturday. In the event that you don't know, this spring is wedding season in pastor land, and this is kind of what we end up doing, and so I hung it up after last night's wedding and I looked at my wife and I was like I don't know, what do you think? She was like, yeah, go for it, why not? So pulled it right back off the rack. This will be maybe the only time in mid-tree history past seven years, nor in the next seven, that I have worn a jacket two times in a row. So if you are old school and Baptist, just eat it up right now, because you shouldn't bank on it for a long time. I'm not even convinced I'm going to make it all the way through, but as I'm standing at these two weddings last week and this week the best part of the wedding the best part of the wedding I know you guys love it when the doors open and the bride walks down To me the best part of the wedding is the kiss and then the release, because in that moment everyone in the bridal party is breathing in the sigh of like. Nobody passed out, nobody fell over. The flowers made it, the ring bearer didn't run off with the rings and us like we did it, we made it. We have finally arrived, and there is a piece of that reality in the text that we are going to look at together. So this is the text for this morning and we're going to take it a little bit of a piece at a time. Now, what I want you to know Is sort of remember how we got here.
Speaker 1:The woman has spoken. She shared all of these reasons that she loves the man. They've got incredible chemistry. He's a man of character. Their community loves this relationship. He, as of last week, has now responded to her and we find ourselves here In verse 8.
Speaker 1:The voice of my beloved. Behold, remember, when you see that in the Bible, the Bible is saying sort of like lean in, look closely. Behold, he comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. She did not marry Clark Kent. This guy is not actually leaping over mountains, but when she sees him coming, he's not walking down the aisle like a guy who had to be there. He has longed for this moment. His eyes are filled with tears while a smile is on his face. Leaping over mountains, bounding over the hills, my beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Speaker 1:Behold again, the Bible says look closely. There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. What is happening here? I've already told you he's a man of character. He's not a peeping Tom. He has not snuck up on her to peek through the window. A better illustration of this would be he has been running toward her house, picking up pebbles on the way to throw against her window so that she would come to it and he could say I'm here and more than that.
Speaker 1:It is time. It is time for our love to turn from this youthful infatuation into an eternal covenant that we are going to make together. There's a reason that he is here, that he is excited, but to appreciate it, you have to understand they didn't do weddings like we do weddings. If you're the kind of person who doesn't consider a sermon as good unless you learn something new, this may be your moment to lean in. Okay, I know you people. Okay, it's fine, I grew up as one of them. When you look at this, it's going to be hard to appreciate.
Speaker 1:If you think about this man coming to her in our construct of love and marriage, the way that it worked back then was that you would get engaged. They used the word betrothed, but an engagement was hardier. It meant more, which is why, if you look in the New Testament at the birth of Christ, when Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant, even though she is his betrothed, scripture goes so far as to say he was contemplating divorcing her quietly. How do you divorce somebody you're engaged to? You haven't been married yet? In their culture, to be betrothed was a commitment while you were waiting for the celebration. Everybody got that so far. Okay. So then what would happen is this Land wasn't plentiful, resources were not abundant.
Speaker 1:It was unlikely that the young guy at 17, 18, 20 years old was going to be able to provide a house, run a business the way that we sort of expect our young adults to do. So what he would do is he would find this woman, fall in love with her, meet with her family and they would get betrothed. He would then disappear. The reason he would disappear is because the only person he knew that had land where he could start a family was dad. So he would go to his father's house and usually he would begin a construction project. He would start adding on to the house he grew up in, or adding on to the property, and the bride didn't know how long it was gonna take for him to complete the project. Which is why, when it talks about the return of Christ, it talks about virgins who are waiting with their lamps burning.
Speaker 1:They didn't know when the guy was going to come, leaping over the mountains and bounding over the hills to say the house is ready, our life is prepared, we are committed to one another. Your family's on board, my family's on board. Let us enter into this love together. No, in this day and age, it was a little different. He would come and she didn't like. This is the most mind-blowing thing. She didn't know what her wedding day was, she couldn't send out the invitations, she didn't get to pick all of that stuff. She just knew. I love this guy. He's putting a life together for us and I hope he shows up soon, which is why Jesus says to his church the bride be ready, you do not know when I'm going to come leaping over the mountains and bounding over the hills. But in the event that you only know this verse from a song in the 90s Big, big House with lots and lots of room. Who sang that? Who was it? Audio Journal and did that one? Okay, I want you to think about this verse in that context.
Speaker 1:Jesus looks at his followers and he says in my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place to you. Why is Christ always referred to as the groom and the church is the bride? This is what Jesus was saying. If I'm going to go and prepare a place for you, bank on it. I am going to come again and I will take you to myself that, where I am, you may be. Also. This isn't just saying heaven's big enough and it's got space for you. This is Jesus saying. I am going to come to you like one leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. Are you looking for me? Are you ready for my return?
Speaker 1:The church is the bride of Christ. He chose her, he pursued her, paid for her, adorns her and one day he will come to take her home. This is the hope of every believer. And, by the way, if you're not a Christian in the room, this is what Christ offers that he would choose you when you are not lovely, when you are running around in his house like a little terror, making all kinds of problems for the people around you. He still loves you, that he is the one who pursues you, that he pays for you on the cross and he doesn't leave you there. He makes you like himself. He adorns you with himself. So when we come back to this text, he comes and he says my beloved speaks and says to me arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. He has come to her house. This is what she has been longing for. And he says I have great news for you. The time has come. We're walking down the aisle and back again, life is about to begin, but one of the things that we can pick up from this man is that he understands timing.
Speaker 1:Let me teach you something about the Bible very quickly. This is called bracketing or an inclusio. It's when you see the same thing arise, my love, my beautiful one. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. This is called a bracket. And when scripture keep in mind, the Bible was written before digital media was around. We weren't highlighting things, we didn't have a printing press to italicize. So the Bible has to convey things to you using means that we don't typically do.
Speaker 1:Repetition is one of those Holy, holy, holy. That's the Bible putting things in bold or underlying. When it wants you to realize two things being held together and what joins them together. It uses bracketing or what's called an inclusio. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, all the way down to the bottom of 13. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. I have come to bring you home, but what does the Bible want you to realize? Before this can happen, the time must be right. Behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. If you want to close your eyes, this is a poetic section You're not going to offend me. I want you to picture the timing of this. As this young man says, it's time. The winter is past, the rain is over and gone is past. The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard. In our land, the fig tree ripens its figs and the vines are in blossom. They give forth fragrance.
Speaker 1:How is it that this young woman can feel the freedom to leave her old life behind? And if you haven't noticed it yet, that's exactly what he's asking her to do. My love, arise, leave behind the house you have known, leave behind the life that you have lived. Follow me into a land you have not yet seen, on a journey you have not yet made. Trust me, it is better. That's what this young man is saying. And when Christ speaks to us, when the spirit of God speaks to us, do you realize? The message is much the same Get up, stop living life the way that you have been living it. You have made a home in this place that you aren't satisfied with, and you know you're not satisfied with it. My love, the one that I have pursued, come with me. I promise you there is a better life. You keep looking at grass that is greener. I can actually take you to the place where grass is actually greener. In my father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I've gone to prepare a place for you, and the place that I have prepared for you is literally perfect. And now it is time.
Speaker 1:How can she trust this man with the days ahead? What assurances does she have? She has this assurance, when we look at the timing, that God's timing is never late and it is always loving. Timing for love and all things is in God's hands. And this little text that we're reading is the Bible saying. Let me get your eyes for just a moment when we look at this little section. My beloved come away. When we look at this little section, my beloved come away in that specific moment on the planet at that time. It was their time for the thing that she had longed for.
Speaker 1:Let's be honest Mother's Day is a wonderful day. Child dedication is a really fun thing. But there are many in this room for whom Mother's Day is not easy. Mother's Day is attended with great longing and striving. People who walk into a Mother's Day and this may be the first Mother's Day since you lost your mother. You may be a mother in this room who has lost a child. You may be somebody in this room who is saying well, will, if timing is so important to God, why is it that timing hasn't worked out for me? What if it isn't my time for love, even though I want it? What if it isn't my time for children? And I would tell you this the Bible can handle longing, and the Bible does handle longing. Oh so well, god's timing is never late and it is always loving. This is Psalm 31, 3, 14, and 15.
Speaker 1:At eight o'clock this morning, a number of us got together in a room that I'm looking through the window of right now, in the back corner of the church and we opened up a time for people who knew that Mother's Day was gonna be hard for them. They'd wanted to have children and they haven't yet. They have lost children along the way and they enter today with mourning Some of you in this room just saying, hey, I just thought I'd be dating a guy by now. Honestly, I thought I'd be dating somebody, and that hasn't panned out either. Please listen to this passage out of Psalm 31, which we have already prayed together as a church, for you are my rock and my fortress. For your name's sake, you lead me and guide me.
Speaker 1:Christians, don't miss this. It's okay for the world to not understand it, but it's not okay for you to not understand it. When God comes and he receives you on your journey home as you are leaving behind the house of your sin and brokenness but we have not yet arrived at the house that he has prepared for us as we are on this pilgrim, progress. John Bunyan, you're welcome, greg, looking to you as we are on this journey, please understand this. You are not on the journey for your own. You have been bought at a price. Your life is about you living for the namesake of God, and he will always be for your good. But many times it may look like you saying this, but I trust in you, o Lord, I say you are my God, and when I look at my times, my God, and when I look at my times, they are in your hand. God's timing is never late. It is always loving. If you are not a mom, it is not a lack of love from God. If you are not married, it is not a lack of love from God. If you are not dating today, it is not a lack of love from God.
Speaker 1:Elizabeth Elliot puts it this way. I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty and to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts. It is easy to talk oneself into a decision that has no permanence, easier sometimes than to wait patiently. It's so easy to just cast our longings away. It's harder to long for something, and long for something and tell yourself that God is good and loving in the midst of that. Christian, you were built to bear uncertainty through faith. Christian, you were built to carry within yourself a question that to this moment remains unanswered. It is what you were built for, and when we look at this passage, god's timing for you is not bad. It is good and great and glorious, and if you could just see it from the days ahead, you would begin celebrating it even now.
Speaker 1:The question is, where are each of us in our season? Just a quick question for how your relationships are looking Now. You can apply this to whatever you want. You can apply this to romantic relationships. You can apply this to a spousal relationship. Certainly out of this text. I just want to give you four categories to kind of help you think through and pray in a meaningful way.
Speaker 1:Is your relationship in a bit of a summer drought? The temperature is high. Your relationship is dry, suffering from a lack of vital nourishment. Do you feel like you're striving rather than thriving? Maybe there's nourishment that has been lacking. Where can you go to restore it? Well, I would recommend that you go here If it feels like the temperature is high and you are dried out relationally. Jeremiah reminds us my people have committed two evils they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water. Is there a chance that your relationships are dry because you're trying to find in a relationship what only God can provide as satisfying. He is the fount of living water, christ would say. Instead, have you hewed out cisterns that can hold no water? Have you tried to find something that will satisfy you? And yet it hadn't. Because here is the promise of God, isaiah 51. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desires, even in scorched places. For those of you who are in a summer difficulty, what about those of us who may be more in the fall? Guys, I'm so upset I can't get my slides to do what I want them to do right now. Okay, there we go A fall harvest.
Speaker 1:You're reaping some rewards in your relationship, but you can feel the coldness coming on. You're not going to say that there's nothing good going on, but you can feel cold days and cold nights seem to be on the horizon. Maybe you're enjoying some blessings, but feeling distant or mechanical. What would it look like for you to return to your first love? Well, it might look like this Do not grow weary of doing good. When you begin to see the blossom of the fruit of faithfulness, do not give up, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. Perhaps you're in the room and you're like Will.
Speaker 1:If I'm honest, I don't feel like there's much life in my relationships at all. You might be married and feel this way. You might be so upset that we're doing the Song of Solomon and you're like, are you kidding me? Like I just spent all of this quiet and now we've got to spend seven weeks talking about love and romance and the God who pursues. Maybe you look and you're like, how can timing be right? I'm longing for something and there is no life in this longing. Maybe something's died in your relationship, maybe you're missing trust or joy or affection. But what would it look like today for you to ask God to breathe new life into that? Maybe it would look like Ezekiel 37.
Speaker 1:When Ezekiel looks at the deadest of things bones that are dried out and God says to him, son of man, can something that seems dead and lifeless live? And he answered oh Lord, god, only you know. And then God says I will put my spirit within you and you shall live. Christians, please hear me on this. If you are going through a season that feels lifeless, god is not wasting his time and he has not forgotten you. It is his desire that you would live, that he will place you in your own land, that you would know that he is the Lord, that you are not able to provide meaningful life yourself, but he is the one who is able to do it.
Speaker 1:And then finally, and I do hope for many of you, here you're in springtime. We look outside and things are wet and they're growing and it's beautiful. Life is everywhere. Things are blooming and fresh and exciting. If that's you right now, don't waste the season. What habits, what spiritual rhythms have helped you to grow and bloom? Have you thanked God for these things? Have you celebrated these things with others? But what I would tell you as you consider all of these things Hosea 6.3,. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going out is sure as the dawn. He will come to us as the showers, as the spring that rains, that waters the earth.
Speaker 1:But when you look at this and you kind of pick where you are and some of you may be in one place in your marriage and another place with your parents, you may be in one place with your kids and a completely different place with your spouse or something else what I need you to realize as we work through this passage of Song of Songs is this life in all of its aspects, is seasonal, and if you wanna know how to navigate life as a Christian, you must know this. You must know this there is no promise that it is always going to be springtime, but there is also no promise that it is always going to be dry and parched. There is a promise that you're going to go through winter, but there is also a promise that you will reap a harvest if you do not give up. And so, as you look at your relationships, as you think about the timing of God, where are you and can you trust him? That life, in all of its aspects, is seasonal.
Speaker 1:When we look at this, I do want to be cautious, though for them, this is an awesome time of life. Everything is going well. We've got doves cooing in the background. You got grapes growing on the vine. What could possibly go wrong? The pastor says, with a slight cliffhanger, until he slides and reads the next two verses what could possibly go wrong? Oh, my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice. Quit throwing pebbles at me from down below. I just wanna be close. I just wanna be near to you. Your voice is sweet, your face is lovely, and then we hit verse 15. Let me be honest with you. It's a bit of a handbrake in the poem. Everything's beautiful, it's the smell of honeysuckle and butterflies in the air, until you get to verse 15.
Speaker 1:You get to verse 15 and she looks at the guy and she gives him a job. This is how you know they're in a committed relationship. Okay, she looks at the guy and she's like yes, you're lovely, your face, all of the. Okay, there's something I need you to do for me. I left my pills downstairs and if you would go and get those for me, I would appreciate it, or whatever it is in your iteration. Here's what she asks of him. By the way, guys, when you feel like your spouse has asked for something difficult, just be glad she didn't ask for this. Go catch some foxes, okay, time out. What?
Speaker 1:In the midst of this beauty, in a season where everything for them is going well, she looks at him and she says, hey, go catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom. What could go wrong? I'll tell you what could go wrong. Everything could go wrong. Every possible thing could go wrong. Her sin could go wrong. I'll tell you what could go wrong. Everything could go wrong. Every possible thing could go wrong. Her sin could go wrong. His sin could go wrong. The sin of the people around them could go wrong. The sin of the world that they're in could go wrong. So she looks at him and she says my beloved, you got to kill her face and I love it. I love the fact that you can leap over hills, but I need you to do this thing. Don't let something ruin this love that we have. Now. To appreciate this, you need to remember something. You need to remember what her job was. Her job was not an easy job. The Bible tells us in a few chapters before that her mean half-brothers had made her work the vineyard.
Speaker 1:She knows what it's like to go catch foxes. I've never caught a fox in my life. Closest thing I can come up with is a raccoon. All right, raccoons are like foxes. They're cute, they wear little masks everywhere they go and they have these awesome little paws. They're amazing little creatures. There was a little like juvenile one running up a tree a couple of months ago when I was driving by, threw the car in part, hopped out, pet the thing as it was running up. I've washed my hands since. I just think they're awesome. All right, until you have baby chickens, until you have a garden.
Speaker 1:And then you read this and you're like go catch that doggone fox. If I have to go to Tractor Supply one more time and replace this $9 chicken that is chick, that is never going to produce enough eggs to repay the investment that I put in. This is what she's saying. There are things that want to ruin the season of goodness that I am in and I don't want to miss it. In a sense, she's looking at the man, looking all the way back in time and saying this you didn't handle a snake really well, let's see how you handle a fox. That's kind of what this is coming across as. Are you going to step in where the world would attack us Parents?
Speaker 1:The greatest gift that you can give to your children has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with the house that you can put them in. It has nothing to do with how many sports you can support them in. None of that matters. It doesn't matter what school you've gotten them in. Can I tell you what you can give them. If you're a mom and a dad, if you're in a single parent home, whatever it is, give them. If you're a mom and a dad, if you're in a single parent home, whatever it is, this is the greatest gift that you can give them. Hey, kids, I want you to know I'm never going to stop chasing off the foxes that want to ruin this thing. I'm never going to quit. I'm not going to quit trying to keep away the things that want to ruin the good things that God has done. And when I fail, you're going to see me repent over and over again. But better yet. I'm going to go to the one who has never failed in this. I'm going to go to the one who can absolutely handle this, because here is the deal she has already tried.
Speaker 1:Song of Solomon 1.6. My mother's sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I haven't kept. This used to be my job. Will you be the kind of guy who does the job I wasn't able to do? That's what she's saying Now. Move out of the romantic love to the pursuit of Christ to his children.
Speaker 1:This is a Christian saying Christ, the groom who has come to rescue me and take me to my forever home. Will you handle this life? Because I keep screwing it up. It doesn't matter how hard I try, I keep failing. Can you actually do this keeping for me? Because guess who wants to step in and do the job that we keep failing at, christ? Christ wants to step into the garden of your own making. You've been working in this garden that you were never able to keep. You have been building this life that you were never able to manage, and foxes keep wreaking havoc in the garden of the life that you are trying to create. But praise be to God.
Speaker 1:Romans 3.20. He promises us this by works of the law, by your best efforts, you will never be justified in the sight of God. You will never make the garden the way it was supposed to be. You can never undo all of the messes. You can never shoo off all of the foxes. You can't do what God wants for you. However, by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. All you're going to do is realize how far you come short, but that is not the end of the story. You come short. But that is not the end of the story. Our attempts at removing foxes in the garden fail, but God pursues us. And here is what he says to us arise and come away. This is the last thing that I want to point to you. This passage ends like this my beloved is mine and I am his. That's marriage language, that's covenant language. That's put the ring on and then walk out.
Speaker 1:Stokesy, if you're in here, you can go ahead and come up. This is where Christ is trying to get all of his children to. But did you see what happened first Before? There is this mutual self-giving love and, by the way, in every Christian relationship the expectation is that it's mutually self-giving. I'm going to outdo you while you're trying to outdo me in showing love and grace and peace and kindness, but before we can get here, we must arise and come away. We must realize that if we want to get to this relationship, god is going to move first. Can I tell you, this happened long before you ever got here and even as Adam and Eve sinned first Genesis 3.15, this promise was made that one was going to come who was going to fix this garden that they ruined. Arise and come away.
Speaker 1:He has already done this difficult thing. I've asked you to do one hard thing today and I'm going to ask you to do one more as we close. The hard thing that I've asked you to do is trust God's timing. For some of you, that is an exceedingly difficult thing. Now, for all of you, I would ask for one more hard thing. But if you would do this, I would ask for one more hard thing. But if you would do this, it will be worth it. I promise you.
Speaker 1:Not only do we trust God's timing singles who are looking for love, marriages, looking for an oasis in the midst of their desert, people who are desiring to celebrate Mother's Day as a mother but it's not the timing that God has but now we find that this girl looks at the man and she says are you going to do what the other men in my life were not able to do? Are you equipped? Do you have that kind of ability, love care, do you have that kind of a desire for me? I'm tired of trying to do it and I don't have the ability. This is how we should all be looking at our own lives, the garden that we would build for ourselves, the best life that we would build for ourselves is insufficient for what God wants for you. There are just too many foxes, too many things that go wrong too many times, and even if we have a good relationship, these foxes aren't going anywhere while we're on this side of eternity.
Speaker 1:But Jesus is sufficient. He is able to do the work. He was the one who was intended to do it from the very beginning. So he offers to do what we couldn't. Ready and waiting, christ looks at us and he says my beloved, come to me, arise. Where the grass really is greener, where the foxes are kept at bay, where love can grow and flourish. In the garden that I am building and that I myself tend In my father's house, there are many rooms, but will you leave behind the garden that you have been making?
Speaker 1:I know that it's scary and I know that it feels like a risk, but when we do arise and come away, what we find is this perfect, promised, covenant relationship. I am yours, god says, and you are mine. This is covenantal language. This is God saying in the moment you choose to leave your old life behind. You are mine forever and I will carry you all the way home, regardless of what that journey looks like.
Speaker 1:I don't know what timing looks like in your life, I don't know what difficulties you have walked through, I don't know what season you are in, but I will tell you this we have been justified, for those of us who are in Christ, by faith, so we get to have peace with God through our Lord, jesus Christ. Through him, we have obtained access by faith into the grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And it doesn't matter which of the four seasons you are in. Arise, my beloved, and come to me. Stop working yourself.
Speaker 1:So let us respond to God's word today. A couple of ways that we do that every week Feel free to go in the back and pray, wander around in the grass, listen to the singing of God's people, or remain in the back and pray. Wander around in the grass, listen to the singing of God's people, or remain in the room, stand, sing, kneel, pray. And if you want to talk, if you want to celebrate, if you want to receive prayer from a pastor, we will have some of them down front and we will go on the front porch. Let us be a people who can trust in God's good timing as we celebrate his goodness over us today.