WEBVTT 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:04.080 Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:08.960 We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:10.720 Thanks for tuning in. 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:17.359 Well, let's start this uh new series with a question. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:22.000 Um, this series is called The Strange Gifts of God. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:29.440 Have you ever received uh a gift, a good gift, uh in a terrible season? 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:37.759 Have you ever received a significant gift in a time of turmoil, difficulty? 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:45.439 Like have you, in seasons very, very busy, have you been given the gift of time and attention from a friend? 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:52.960 Or have you been so stressed and worried and someone pulls you aside and gives you encouragement? 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.520 And it can just change like the like immediate atmosphere of life, right? 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:03.280 Uh, a couple of months ago, I was in this difficult season um as a pastor. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:05.120 They they happen quite often, actually. 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:10.400 You just feel like you feel weak or you feel insignificant. 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:15.359 And I got in the mail an Amazon gift card and a note from somebody here at the church. 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:22.239 Now, at any other time, Amazon gift card and a note, you might think, you know, I mean, is it the greatest gift in the world? 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:23.120 You know, no, right? 00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:26.079 It's it can be it can seem maybe just insignificant. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:34.480 However, it came at the right time and from the right person and with the right intention of encouraging me in ministry and in life to Ali and I. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.359 It changed my season, man. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:42.560 Just this little strange gift coming through, changing kind of the temperature of my life. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:44.000 Have you ever been there? 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:44.560 You know? 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:47.680 Yeah, this is kind of sometimes how God operates, right? 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:57.439 Like the very moments that we think there's nothing to receive from God is actually the precise moment there's something in the mail on his behalf for us. 00:01:57.599 --> 00:01:59.200 They come at the strangest times. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:09.759 And oftentimes we are so buried in our own experience that we are not taking the invitations and the presentations that God is giving to us in such strange times. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:13.759 And that's what this series is all about, the strange gifts of God. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.759 Because we live in strange times. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:17.360 We live in chaotic times. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:20.159 We live in times that it's very hard to be a human being. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:31.759 And having just, you know, come out of a year of crises of various kinds, it's important and wise for us to ask like, what strange gifts might God be giving to us in this time? 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:36.240 Because that is what the book of Acts ends like. 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:39.039 We've been studying the book of Acts for since February. 00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:41.280 The book of Acts is the fifth book in your New Testament. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:45.680 It tells the story and history of the early church, right after the four gospels. 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:50.080 This book comes and it uh tells wild tales. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:51.120 We've studied all of them. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.599 If you've done our Bible reading plan, you've read all of them. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:01.439 28 chapters of crazy tales of the early church, the very beginning of the Jesus movement is being unpacked through these chapters. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:03.039 And we are here at the close. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:08.560 Uh, for these next four weeks, this series will cover to uh to the end of chapter 28, the very end of the book. 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:10.879 We will we have arrived at the end since February. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.879 We've been studying this book, and here we are. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.560 And the book of Acts ends in a strange way. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:21.199 You know, the Gospels they end with this triumphant uh climactic ending. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.599 Jesus Christ raises from the dead. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:25.439 You really can't get better than that, right? 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:30.479 As far as a story goes, the story of Jesus is a remarkable narrative. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:35.680 The story of the church, you might expect to end in a similar fashion. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:39.439 Throughout the whole book, they're doing a lot of the things Jesus did. 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:41.439 Jesus taught, the apostles teach. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.080 Jesus healed people, the apostles heal people. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:48.319 Jesus uh uh taught with tremendous authority and prophecy. 00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:51.439 The disciples do the same. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:59.759 And yet I hear at the end, uh nothing really happens of great uh enormous importance. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:12.080 Instead, it's actually quite anticlimactic because this whole time, the book of Acts, in around chapter, I don't know, 16 or so, the book of Acts starts to shift and turn into the book of the Acts of the Apostle Paul. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:17.759 So the title of the book is The Acts of the Apostles, but slowly over time it turns into the Acts of the Apostle Paul. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:22.639 And we focus on this man for the closing, I don't know, 10 or so chapters, 10 or 12 chapters. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:34.639 And his story, the whole time it's he's going to Rome to get uh justice on his behalf because he's been accused of various things and he appeals to various courts and he has mistrials, he gets arrested. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:39.759 Uh over these next eight chapters, he's going to have misfortune after misfortune after misfortune. 00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:46.480 And the end of the book of Acts is Paul sitting in house arrest, welcoming people and teaching them about the kingdom of God, and the book ends. 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:47.839 I'll spoil the ending for you. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:48.720 There it is. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:52.879 I'll spoil the ending because it's not really that suspenseful. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:57.199 But the book of Acts is a lot like your life. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:07.120 As much as we want to live this grand story, as much as we want to be this kind of person that a movie could be made out of, life doesn't really work that way. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:11.759 At the end, life is various circumstances that we try to be faithful in. 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:19.839 And the Lord operates within those difficulties, and life sometimes works like the end of Paul's story here. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:37.199 Like, think we're going towards a goal, we're going towards something, and there's a lot of missteps and misfortunes, and Paul's gonna be shipwrecked, and he's gonna be uh have mistrials and have to go to an appeal to another court and face injustice and be imprisoned and face adversity and have all these difficulties along his way. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:39.439 The book of Acts is not a tall tale. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:42.800 It is not a novel, it's a mirror. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:49.680 It's like looks like our life sometimes, that things don't work out always the way that we want them to. 00:05:49.759 --> 00:06:07.360 And could it be that the very moment that we think that God is absent and not giving us any gifts is perhaps the time he's giving us strange gifts, strange invitations in strange times that we have to kind of be attentive to. 00:06:07.519 --> 00:06:11.199 And could our life learn, uh could we learn something from the life of Paul? 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:13.680 And let's be quick to say this at the top of the series. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:16.639 Paul's gonna go through various trials, like I said. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.720 Not every trial that Paul faces is from God. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:26.959 Now, God brings us trials sometimes, but I want to be quick to say that not everything that happens in this world is God's will. 00:06:27.439 --> 00:06:31.279 You know, not everything that happens in Paul's life is God's will. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:38.560 Um, not everything that happens in this world is from the intention of God, but the intention of his enemy. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:40.639 There is an enemy. 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:45.439 And there also are rebels, active agents, human beings that are doing terrible things. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:50.160 And a lot of the things we think God is doing in this world, it's actually us. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:59.519 And we'll explore that through the rest of this series, but let's be quick to say that all the things that Paul, you know, encounters, it's it's not always uh what you think it is. 00:06:59.600 --> 00:07:03.519 And today, Paul, he has a difficult circumstance before him. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.120 In the book of Acts chapter 20. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.120 If you've got a Bible, you can head there with me. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:11.920 Acts chapter 20, there's a difficult circumstance Paul Paul is in. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.839 He has to leave a community that he loves. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.800 He's been there for three years, he's been pouring in, being a faithful pastor and a minister. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:25.759 He's been giving and giving and giving, and now he has to leave, and he knows he hasn't really received the benefits of his work. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.879 Like he's been planting, but the fruit hasn't come yet. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:37.680 And he gives this farewell address to the uh the church in Ephesus, this church he has planted and loved and grown with, and he's got to go. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:39.120 And it's this difficult circumstance. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:45.199 But within the difficult circumstance, he invites the leadership of this church to a strange gift of God. 00:07:45.279 --> 00:07:49.519 And that strange gift is the word sacrifice. 00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:59.120 That as much as we feel tired or weary, Paul says, we are here to give and to sacrifice, to give something up. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:00.399 You know what sacrifice is, right? 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:05.199 Giving up something important for something else of infinite importance. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:12.000 Paul drives home that it is better to give and give and give than to wait to receive, receive, receive. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:13.439 Here's his thesis, I would say. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:14.959 It's kind of at the close of the speech. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:17.040 We'll go there and we'll jump back to the beginning, okay? 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:19.360 Acts 20, verse 34 says this. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:28.720 Paul gives this farewell address, and in it he says, You yourselves, you know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.279 Again, Acts 20, here's verse 35. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:44.960 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:48.639 Do you believe that? 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:51.759 Let's just start there. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:55.360 Do you believe that it's more blessed to give than receive? 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:55.840 Blessed? 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:56.480 What does that mean? 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:03.919 Well, flourishing for your life, good for your life, that you would feel more connected to God when you give than when you receive. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:05.200 Do you believe that? 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:16.399 Even when things are not ideal, Paul says, him leaving, a life of sacrifice is better than a life of self-indulgence. 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:24.720 Even when things are not ideal, a life of sacrifice is better than a life of self-indulgence. 00:09:25.120 --> 00:09:27.200 And to that I say, really? 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:32.960 Do you believe that? 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:38.080 Because as an American, we're about to celebrate 4th of July. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:39.840 I don't believe that. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:47.360 As an American, I believe that the more I consume and the more I receive, the better my life is. 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.159 That's the entire operation of this civilization. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:55.519 To consume and to get what is yours, right? 00:09:56.159 --> 00:10:02.480 I I don't know if I look at this that I would really believe this all the time, you know, plain and simple. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:09.840 This is a strange gift from God to tell you that it's better for you to give away$5,000 than to receive it. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:11.840 That's Jesus' argument. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:16.480 That actually, whatever you are given, it's better to give it away than to hold it onto yourself for yourself. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:18.159 That to sacrifice things is better. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:19.840 Well, we have a lot of problems with that. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:21.519 One is we are greedy, like I mentioned. 00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:22.399 I'm greedy. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:25.039 Like I look at that verse and I'm like, yes and amen. 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.679 And then I see a Tesla and I'm like, maybe not, you know? 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:34.399 Um, like maybe it's better to get stuff than to than to give. 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:41.759 Um, but also when we have given, we've been burned, right? 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:49.600 Like, like we've given and given and given and not gotten stuff back from our gifts and our sacrifices, right? 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:58.399 So not only do we have a problem with it because we're greedy, we have a problem of it because we are afraid of the great 21st century disease, burnout. 00:10:59.120 --> 00:10:59.679 Right? 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:04.960 We are afraid that when we give and give and give, we're gonna burn out. 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:06.480 You have you heard this word? 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:08.399 I hear it all the time. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.519 I I hear the word burnout all the time. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:16.399 It's in ministry, it's in secular workplace, I talk with you guys about that word a lot. 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.879 It it is something that is seriously affecting our world. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:34.639 Um in May, uh, yeah, I think, yes, in May, the um Jill Lapore, she's a historian at Harvard, she's also a staff writer at the New Yorker, she wrote this New Yorker piece on the history of that word, burnout. 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:41.039 And the history for her in her study begins in 1970. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:44.799 So it's not that long we've been talking about burnout. 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:51.519 Now, being overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, fraught with anxiety, all that has existed for all of human time. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:54.879 But this term burnout in particular, she traces it back to 1970. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:59.200 She says this that around the world, three out of five workers say that they're burned out. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:04.879 But in 2020, a US study put that figure at three and four. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:08.639 75% of people are saying they're burned out. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:14.320 There's even a book that came out last year by a millennial. 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:16.879 The title is Can't Even. 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:19.759 That's the end of the title. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:21.360 Uh you're like, can't even what? 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:25.679 Yeah, it was written by a millennial, so the English is like third grade. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:28.879 So I'm a millennial, I can say it, okay? 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:31.600 Uh can't even. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:37.600 Here's the subtitle Um How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:48.240 Like our generation was is known for maxing out, for having batteries we can't recharge, for having no ability to recover. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.919 And so we have a term for it called burnout. 00:12:52.000 --> 00:13:05.039 It is into this culture, at this time, in this moment, that Jesus Christ's word drops in to us today, which says to the burnout generation. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:09.279 It is more blessed to give than to receive. 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.639 So there's something here, there's something for us. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:18.559 And my argument today will be that most of us are sacrificing in the wrong way. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.120 We are giving for the wrong reasons. 00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:25.919 We are giving up our lives over and over again to the wrong things, and it's leading to burnout. 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:33.279 And through God's word, we're going to see that there is actually a right way to sacrifice here through Paul's final speech to the Ephesian church. 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:40.399 It is into this culture that we see that sacrifice, um, there is a way to sacrifice rightly. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:47.279 We're gonna look at this: sacrificing for the right purpose, sacrificing from the right posture and with the right people. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:49.440 The purpose, the posture, the people. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:50.399 Let's get into it. 00:13:50.480 --> 00:13:52.639 The sacrificing for the right purpose. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:14:00.159 Paul is giving this closing testament and going to say, Jesus and his kingdom are the right purposes to sacrifice for. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:04.240 Sacrificing outside of those purposes will mostly lead to a kind of burnout. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:06.559 This is Paul's final will and testament. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:12.320 In the literary landscape of the Bible, this little speech, uh, the literature is called a testament. 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:18.000 Uh, it's like back in Genesis 49, when Jacob is dying, he's giving his final testament to his family. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:24.320 It's kind of this revered figure giving their final remarks of instruction and importance before they leave or die. 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:29.039 And Paul is leaving and he gives this testament, and he said, and what are his farewell instructions? 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:31.440 Here's how he begins, Acts 20, verse 18. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:36.480 You yourselves, you know how I lived among you the whole time. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:38.879 This is Paul talking to the Ephesian church. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:46.799 From the first day I set foot in Asia, I was serving the Lord with all humility with tears, trials that happened to me throughout the plots of the Jews. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:59.759 How I did not shrink back from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance towards God and of faith in our Lord Jesus. 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:07.519 And now, behold, I'm going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:12.399 Look at what Paul says, underline these verses, pay close attention. 00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:13.840 I lived among you. 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:18.639 Okay, Paul was not commuting into the church in Ephesus, he was with the people. 00:15:18.799 --> 00:15:22.240 And look at what he says: serving the Lord, primarily. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.799 He wasn't primarily serving the people. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:32.240 He was living with them, but he he was directing his sacrifice to the Lord, constrained by the Spirit, testifying about Jesus. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.120 Paul's saying, everything that I was doing was about Jesus. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.399 Everything that I was doing was directed towards Jesus. 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:44.320 And the right purpose, the direction, the motivation, that's like at the heart of the center of biblical teaching, right? 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:52.000 Everywhere from Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, when the people of God are hearing from Yahweh, the God of the Bible, the living one. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:16:01.919 You know, God says, uh, Moses says to the people, hear that the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all your mind, with all of your strength. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:05.600 Jesus will tack on to that in uh Matthew 22. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:09.919 At the end, he says, he's asked what the greatest commandment is, and he repeats that commandment. 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:15.519 He says, the most important thing you can do is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:26.480 In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, uh, chapter 6, verse 33, he says, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:31.120 That verse, by the way, is in the context of teaching on anxiety. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:35.039 To seek God first, to direct our attention, to give us a purpose. 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:46.960 And many of you today, this morning, wherever you're hearing this, you are burnt out because you are headed into a purposeless place with your sacrifice. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:48.639 You're bringing it to the wrong altar. 00:16:48.799 --> 00:16:49.120 Okay? 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:55.360 You're you're you're you're you're bowing down and sacrificing for that which will never sacrifice back to you. 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:03.039 And the only way to be truly satisfied in our sacrifice is to give to that which will always out give us. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:07.839 That's what we're expecting when we're giving all the time to friendships, to marriage, family, work. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.160 We are expecting if we give, we will be given something in return. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:19.519 But the problem with that is nothing in this world will give back to you what you expect of it. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:24.079 Your career will never die for you. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:41.119 Your family, as much as you give to your family, they will not give back to you what you expect them to give you because we're busted up and broken human beings, that our expectations of other people are often way too large, and then we don't communicate those expectations to those people, and that's why we're disappointed all the time. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:45.599 Friendships, all of these things, nothing will give back to us. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:51.440 This in you know, the entire tech apparatus, a lot of you work in tech or in businesses that are here to make money. 00:17:51.599 --> 00:18:02.319 Like at the end of the day, if we are sacrificing for the large tech culture here at Silicon Valley, we will always give more to it than it will give back to us. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:04.720 I mean, at best, they're gonna give you stock options. 00:18:05.680 --> 00:18:09.039 Okay, at worst, they will suck your will to live and take you away from your family. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.839 Okay, that's like, but do you see what I'm saying? 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:21.839 If if if you're giving and you're giving for something on the other end of that sacrifice to give it back to you, you will constantly be in despair. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:24.000 And you'll burn out, you'll burn out. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:28.880 And many of you, you are burnt out because you are focused in a in the wrong direction. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.160 You can serve the church with the wrong purpose, you know? 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.640 As pastors are not clear from this. 00:18:34.720 --> 00:18:38.240 In fact, we are notoriously manipulative in this area. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:50.720 That we would serve so that we would be acknowledged, we would preach so that we would be noticed, we would do ministry so that people would like us, right? 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:56.240 If there's a so that on the other end of the sacrifice, you'll always be burning out and disappointed. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:00.880 Because nothing in this life will give back to you what you give to it. 00:19:01.599 --> 00:19:02.880 And you know what? 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:10.960 This is the good news that the gospel drops in is that when Paul says I was serving the Lord, I was constrained by the Spirit. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:14.559 I was giving to this church for the purposes of the kingdom of God. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:17.920 This is what the good news of the gospel does to our life. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.559 We do not give to God in hopes that he will bless us. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:26.079 We give to God because he has blessed us. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:33.279 And you see, we don't have to sacrifice and cross our fingers and hope if God will outgive us, because he already has. 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:35.359 Do you know the gospel? 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:40.319 The good news of the Christian faith is that God has laid his life down for you. 00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.160 He has already given it all. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:49.519 And so, Christians, the only difference in our minds switches is that we don't work for approval, we work from it. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:20:14.480 We don't sacrifice in hopes that God would love us, we sacrifice with the succinct and absolute knowledge that he already has, with the complete commitment to the idea of the love of God, that the love of God would root us so deeply that we can freely work in the tech industry without needing approval, and we can freely pastor churches because we don't need approval, and we can serve in the church, not hoping that somebody in the church would notice how godly we are, but we can serve because we know God already loves us. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:20.960 And we're free to do all of these things and to sacrifice freely because we are serving from the right purpose. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:27.759 And this purpose of the gospel is what should ground you and root you and keep you, keep burnout at bay. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:30.960 Keep it back a little bit because this is what God has done. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:37.920 He's already given it to you, and therefore the mindset of giving is totally different, and you can receive the word of Christ. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:39.680 It is better to give than receive. 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.319 I know this because God did it himself. 00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:49.359 He's not instructing us as a teacher, he's showing us through his very life, his own testimony. 00:20:49.599 --> 00:20:55.279 And it's when that sits in us that actually uh something starts to change within a human being, right? 00:20:55.359 --> 00:21:02.799 Uh, when the gospel hits us, and when we start sacrificing for the right purpose, we actually develop the right posture. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:10.240 And that's the second thing is that we need to sacrifice from the right posture of humility and courage. 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:12.799 Look at Paul, look at this man's words. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:14.319 These are actually remarkable. 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:16.240 Acts 20, verse 24. 00:21:16.559 --> 00:21:18.240 He continues his speech. 00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:29.839 But, he says, I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself, if only that I may finish the course and the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:38.720 To testify to the gospel of the grace of God, and now behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:40.880 He's like, We're ne we're never gonna see each other again. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:49.279 Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:52.799 There are very few people that can speak this way. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:59.680 So many of us do not have the beautiful combination in this paragraph of humility. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.720 And courage. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:03.359 Humility, I do not account my life of any value. 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:04.400 Verse 24. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:06.880 Courage, verse 27. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:12.240 I did not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:17.759 Many of us go through seasons where we develop humility, but we lack courage. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:20.400 So we're just sheepish. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:28.079 And then many of us go through seasons where we have tremendous courage and we're bold, but we have no humility. 00:22:28.240 --> 00:22:30.000 So we become kind of a jerk. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:34.960 But here, hidden within this, is a beautiful posture of humility and courage. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:36.240 How did he get there? 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.160 Well, I think in Paul's life, we see two things. 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:47.279 I think Paul overvalued his character development, and I think he undervalued his self. 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:52.160 He overvalued his character development and he undervalued himself. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:56.720 I want to encourage you to overvalue the development of your character. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:01.680 Paul says, I was here to finish the course and my ministry. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:03.119 He separates the two ideas. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:04.079 What is that verse? 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.079 Um that's verse 24. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:09.440 He's here to finish the course and fulfill his ministry. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:12.480 So the course for Paul is not his ministry. 00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:13.920 He separates the two ideas. 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:15.440 Two distinct ideas. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:18.160 Finishing the course for Paul looks like something else. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:19.759 It's larger than the ministry. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:21.839 He also wants to finish the ministry, but he wants to finish the course. 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:22.799 What is the course? 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:24.960 Paul talks about it all the time in his letters. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:40.880 Running the race with Jesus, continuing to walk with Jesus Christ, developing Christ-likeness in his walk with him, receiving the gospel, the sacrifice of God, that God has loved him and that the love of God would transform who he was to a person of great humility and great courage. 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:44.960 And he puts so much value on the development of his character. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.240 Have you thought about your character a lot? 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:51.279 Most of us think about our personality. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:53.519 You know the difference between these two things, right? 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:57.920 Your personality is your presented self. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.000 It is your strength finder. 00:24:00.079 --> 00:24:01.279 It is your Myers-Briggs. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:02.640 Are you an introvert or an extrovert? 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.079 It is your Enneagram. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:07.119 You're getting my personality right now. 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:08.960 It is my presented self. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:16.640 The only way you really understand who I am, my character, which is your actual self, is if you actually get to know me. 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:19.119 Then you'll see if I'm really a jerk or not, right? 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:25.519 But like right now, my presented self is managed into a place where you can hear it and see it, and you're like, oh, cool, right? 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:28.480 But the more you get to know me, you're gonna actually know me. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:30.240 That's my character. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:35.200 And in our world today, you can guess which one is more valued. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:47.599 Through the tests we take, through the kinds of company cultures we cultivate, the self-help books that exist are all there to manipulate your personality, to present yourself to be a person you are actually not. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.759 And this will burn you out. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:25:00.480 To constantly try to present yourself as somebody you are not is a precise failure, uh precise recipe for failure. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:06.559 This will bring us to a point of burnout because we're constantly trying to prove to somebody else who we are not. 00:25:07.920 --> 00:25:18.880 The gospel balloons our character so much in a healthy way that it makes us uh blur the lines between character and personality. 00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:23.200 Who you present yourself to be ends up being the person you actually are. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:27.680 Because you're humbled every day by God's gracious love on your behalf. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:33.680 Because Christianity is not about how cool and godly you are and how selfless you are and how sacrificial you are. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.559 It is about how selfless and sacrificial Jesus Christ is. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:40.079 All of the world rotates on his existence and his glory and his importance. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:59.039 And when you decenter yourself out of that and realize that this world is not about you, and it is about him, and everything you are here to do is to develop the likeness of Jesus of humility and courage, slowly and slowly and slowly through the grace of God and many missteps, you become the kind of person you were always made to be, which was free. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:01.279 Completely free. 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:03.279 You know who's free? 00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:04.480 Children. 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:06.640 My son Jude is 20 months old. 00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:08.319 He's the freest person I know. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:09.279 Why? 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:13.279 Because the line is blurred between his character and his personality. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:15.200 It's the same thing. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:18.799 Who he actually is is who he presents himself to the world. 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.160 That's why children do the most obnoxious and embarrassing things in public. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:26.720 Because it's only the course of your adult life that you learn to hide. 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:32.559 The only difference between a child and an adult, Tim Keller has said, is the ability to hide. 00:26:33.519 --> 00:26:35.440 To hide who you actually are. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:50.640 The gospel brings you out from hiding, creates a vulnerable, humble self, and you don't have to worry about presenting because who you actually are before God is accepted and loved, and that leads you to live a courageous life, completely free. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:59.759 Free from the anxieties of what people will think about you, and that leads you to a place of continuing to give and give and give because you realize this. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:10.079 In my giving, I am being humbled, I am being nurtured, and my character is being developed, and because of that, I can continue to give. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:22.240 Some of you think that you're burning out, but your character is just being refined. 00:27:23.680 --> 00:27:28.240 Like you think you're too busy, but God's just growing your capacity. 00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:32.480 Now, I want to be careful with this because some of y'all need to like quit things, okay? 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:33.039 You do. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:34.880 You need to like take a day off and you do. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:36.079 You're burning out. 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:39.039 But others of you, you've got to discern with the Holy Spirit. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:39.680 I can't do this for you. 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:45.200 You got to discern with the Holy Spirit, you gotta go to the prayer team, you gotta receive prayer, you gotta be in community to understand this. 00:27:45.519 --> 00:28:04.960 Maybe you're not burning out, maybe you are just changing and becoming more humble, more helpful, more generous, and to subvert and skirt away from the character development God is doing would not be the course for your life that I would recommend as a pastor. 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:10.640 As a pastor, perhaps what you're going through is developing you to become somebody that you need to be. 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:12.960 Those of you who are parents, you understand this, right? 00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:14.000 You can quit your job. 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:15.440 You can't really quit being a parent. 00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:16.880 So you just kind of keep going. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:27.039 And you slowly realize as your children continue to give you difficulties and you're sacrificing, and you give to them way more than they will give back to you, you realize, oh, something's happening in me. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:34.559 And you start to overvalue your character development in a healthy way, and you start to realize this is how God is working in my life. 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:40.240 Paul overvalues his character development and he undervalues his self. 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:41.200 Do you know what he says? 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.559 He says, I did not account my life of any value. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:47.519 Paul saw himself as replaceable. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:52.240 By the way, for the record, I would consider Paul's life very valuable, okay? 00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:56.880 If we're doing fantasy draft picks of New Testament characters, I think he goes second. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:00.559 Like Jesus for sure, number one. 00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:02.960 But like, dude, Paul is like legit. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:04.960 Like, I would not undervalue his life. 00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:06.880 But he didn't see it that way. 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:09.119 Everyone was like, Paul, you're so great. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:10.880 You're teaching such great things, you're so wise. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:13.119 They weep later as he leaves, they love him. 00:29:13.279 --> 00:29:15.920 But he goes, I'm repl I'm replaceable. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:18.640 I did not account my life of any value. 00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:22.640 I mean, that is not a depressive person, that is a free person. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:32.799 A person who can speak that freely to go, I didn't, I don't count my life, I'm replaceable in the areas that I that culture would make me think I'm irreplaceable. 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:40.960 Remember when I was a young pastor, 23, I was newly married, no, no kids, not much ministry experience at all. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:47.119 Somebody came to me and said, Chris, I don't know, I need to say this to you. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:54.960 You need to know that you are replaceable in every area of your life except for your family. 00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:58.880 And this was before children and right into marriage. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:09.119 I think what he was saying, like, even as a son, like even if you're not married or don't have a family family, like even as a son, a brother, a cousin, um, certainly as a parent, right? 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:21.119 Like, I think what he saw in me was a propensity towards crafting a personality and a skill set that would be successful in ministry while leaving my character behind. 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:26.400 And he wanted to humble me for a second and just go, dude, Chris, people, other people can preach, dude. 00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:34.559 Like, I know you think that you're special or whatever, but at the end of the day, you're not the special snowflake that you were trained up in this world to think you are. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.680 And that's great news. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:40.960 I find that incredibly freeing that I'm just like you guys. 00:30:41.119 --> 00:30:42.640 Like we're just human. 00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:55.759 And that humble posture of undervaluing yourself in that healthy way, it makes you realize we're we don't have to be headed for burnout if we hold our life that loosely. 00:30:55.920 --> 00:31:03.200 And we can step into service and step out of service and step into life, like certain opportunities and step out of certain opportunities. 00:31:03.359 --> 00:31:04.720 See, because then it changes. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:06.000 Like then we go to work. 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:08.960 It's not like we quit quit our jobs, but we go to work more free. 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.359 We go to work because we're not hoping for approval. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:14.400 We're sacrificing for the right purpose, and we're also in the right posture. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:15.920 We know, hey, look, I can be replaced. 00:31:16.000 --> 00:31:19.359 I'm just gonna do my best while I'm here and stay humble and know my character is being developed. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:24.480 And yes, it's hard at work, but I know God is growing my capacity right now, and I'm gonna push through. 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:26.240 It's a free life. 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:28.640 That's a very, very beautiful life. 00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:31.039 Well, how do we know that we're on track with this, right? 00:31:31.119 --> 00:31:36.559 How how will we know that we have the right posture and the right purpose? 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:41.039 Paul, finally, Paul will say, you sacrifice with the right people. 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:47.519 It will be the community that holds you accountable to the posture and the purposes of Jesus Christ. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:48.960 You cannot do this alone. 00:31:49.119 --> 00:31:52.240 And we talk about this all the time, but let's put some fresh eyes to it. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:32:09.519 Paul says at the end of his sermon, if you've got your actual Bible open, I don't think it's in the bulletin, but um, Acts 20, 28, right after the this the portion we just read, Paul starts warning these leaders and he goes, pay very careful attention to the kinds of people that are gonna come in and out of this church. 00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:18.480 Because he says, There are going to be, he says, after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 00:32:18.640 --> 00:32:24.640 And from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw the disciples away from me. 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:31.519 He says, Look, people will come into the church and into your life that will flip the word of Jesus. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:34.160 And the word of Jesus is it is better to give than receive. 00:32:34.240 --> 00:32:37.839 And someone's gonna come along saying, It's better to receive than give, dude. 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:43.359 And so Paul says, Be very careful who you are sacrificing alongside. 00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:44.640 Who are you with? 00:32:44.960 --> 00:32:46.640 Be very, very careful. 00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:51.359 Paul ends his remarks, and this is the scene, Acts 20, verse 36. 00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:57.440 When he had said these things, he, Paul, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 00:32:57.759 --> 00:33:00.240 And there was much weeping on the part of all. 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:06.000 They were sorrowful because of the word they had spoken, because he said they would not see each other again, and they accompanied him to the ship. 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:11.359 Notice what Paul does. 00:33:11.599 --> 00:33:15.200 He kneels with these people and they all pray together. 00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:20.559 At the end of this difficult circumstance, they receive this strange gift of God together. 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:25.279 This strange gift that says, man, it it is better to give than receive. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:28.559 This strange gift they receive together and they kneel and they pray. 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:29.359 Do you notice this? 00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:31.440 It's right here, it's right in the text. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:35.119 The community has the right purpose? 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:36.480 They're praying. 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:39.039 And don't they have the right posture? 00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:40.799 They're kneeling. 00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:44.880 Who are you kneeling alongside? 00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:46.480 And who? 00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:50.799 To whom are the are you kneeling towards? 00:33:51.680 --> 00:34:15.679 Because I think a lot of us surround ourselves with people that are divisive, they're gossipy, they're bad leaders, they're selfish bosses, they're just bad teammates at our work or in our life, and because of that community that we've developed, they're pointing us in a terrible direction and with an awful posture of pride and self-indulgence and selfishness. 00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:17.679 And we wonder why we're burning out. 00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:23.840 It's because we've surrounded ourselves with a community that is the antithesis of this teaching from God's word. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:34.159 What would it look like for you to kneel alongside other believers for a season focused on the right purpose and with the right posture? 00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:36.320 It will change you. 00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:38.480 It will change you. 00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:46.800 I see it change people here at Awakening all the time to dedicate to one another through humility and the purposes of God. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:54.239 And as you kneel towards together, communion's a wonderful reminder for us to end on here. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:35:00.559 Is that you know these people are kneeling and praying, and well, who are they kneeling and praying to, right? 00:35:01.119 --> 00:35:04.480 They're kneeling and praying to the God of the Bible. 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:07.280 And at communion, we realize this. 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:18.960 Again, the reason we give is not so that God might love us or someone else might notice us, but because God already has noticed us and loved us in Jesus Christ. 00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:24.639 And we kneel and worship God not because of what he might do, but because of what he has done. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:42.880 And communion is our weekly reminder of this: to sit in the broken body and blood of Jesus Christ to be reminded of the sacrifice that he gave for us, that Jesus, as we bow to him, is not the domineering master who is pleased that all his subjects are kneeling to him and he starts to command them various things. 00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:45.280 No, that is not the God of the Bible. 00:35:45.440 --> 00:36:11.440 The God of the Bible is the lowly one, the humble one, the one who, though he is the master and the king, became the servant and the slave of all humanity, who died on the cross, was punished for the sins that we should be punished for, taking our place, substituting his very life for us, which makes us now receive his life freely through communion, worship, repentance, sanctification, and to lead the life that God desires you to live. 00:36:11.599 --> 00:36:14.960 Wherever you are at today, are you burned out? 00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:27.519 It's time to receive the purpose of your life through the gospel and to have this communion preached to you, to remind you that it is not about what you will break and bleed over. 00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:30.159 It is about what he has broken and bled over, which is you. 00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:31.840 He's given his life for you. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:44.800 So receive freely this gospel and this good news, and may we not live for some kind of future approval, but sacrifice and give, knowing that God has already approved of us because of Christ. 00:36:45.679 --> 00:36:51.519 The song we're about to sing says this: Jesus paid it all, and all to him I owe. 00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:53.840 Make sure you get the order right. 00:36:54.000 --> 00:36:55.199 Let's pray. 00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:07.679 Jesus, we desperately desire for you to work in us that which we cannot work for ourselves. 00:37:07.920 --> 00:37:09.679 Jesus, you paid it all. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:11.519 All to you we owe. 00:37:11.760 --> 00:37:16.159 But can we sit God during communion in the purpose? 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:19.360 God, I pray for my church family here. 00:37:19.519 --> 00:37:25.679 Um I I don't know where everybody's at today, but I sense your Holy Spirit leading us to repentance. 00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:32.320 Uh, to give up terrible, cheap, flimsy purposes that we are sacrificing for. 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:40.079 God, I sense that you are trying to unearth for us the plastic purposes for which we sacrifice. 00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:48.239 Our work, our future, possibilities, all these things we want to be maybe noticed for and known for or seen. 00:37:48.880 --> 00:37:52.800 Um God, help us see your kingdom, help us see your gospel this morning. 00:37:53.039 --> 00:37:53.920 I can't do that. 00:37:54.079 --> 00:37:57.440 You have got to illuminate the hearts and minds of us as your people. 00:37:58.400 --> 00:38:04.400 God, if we lack the posture and we are proud in our sacrificing, humble us. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:07.679 Humble us right now in worship and in communion. 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:13.840 And God, if we are not along the right people, may we take a step into community in some way here at Awakening. 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:14.320 We need you. 00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:15.119 We need that. 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:16.639 God, would you help us? 00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:17.519 We pray. 00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:18.880 In Jesus' name. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:19.760 Amen. 00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:23.519 We hope you are blessed by this message. 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:28.719 Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded. 00:38:28.960 --> 00:38:31.199 And hey, we'd love to connect with you. 00:38:31.440 --> 00:38:37.280 Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.comslash card.