I am excited to preach the Word of God to you today. I really am. Oh, man, I believe God's going to bless us. So our purpose today is really simple. We want to sow financially into the future of Cathedral. And we believe that it's a worthwhile endeavor to sow into our future because we serve the God who rules over our future, the God who holds our future.

And we know that the Lord has a future of great impact for us as a church to walk into, reaching people throughout Southern California and beyond. God holds that future, but it's important that you understand that it's up to us to participate in that future by being ready to walk into it. And particularly today, to have the finances that are needed in order to walk through the doors that God wants to open to us. There's a man named Henry Nouwen, who was a well -known Dutch Catholic priest who lived in... in the last century. And he wrote this statement that I wanted to read to us today. He says this,

So what I want to do today is very simple. I want to remind you of God's vision and God's mission. And perhaps I'll remind you in some ways maybe that are fresh to you with fresh language because the mission of God is ultimately what we are giving towards today. It's not some particular project. It's God's mission that we're giving towards today as a church.

And something we've seen come up a lot over the last couple of months as we've been journeying throughout the book of Ephesians and as we've been going through our series on work called Good Work is this fact that God has a mission, and that He has created humanity to partner with Him in that mission. And one of the ways that we've been describing that mission is that we would overcome evil and that we would fill the world with the goodness and the glory of God. Hands up if you've heard me say that statement at least a dozen times over the last few months. That you and I are to partner with the Lord to overcome the presence of evil in the world and to fill the world with the goodness and with the glory of the Lord.

And of course, the first place that we see that mission is at the very beginning of the Bible as God plants a garden. Everybody say garden. Yeah, God plants a garden in the beginning and then He creates man and woman and He places them in the garden to grow it and to guard it, to protect it from the presence of the serpent, of the evil one. And the idea is really simple, that Adam and Eve were tasked with expanding the garden throughout the rest of the earth.

That they would be fruitful like God is fruitful. That they would protect us from evil. That they would perpetuate the life and the goodness that God had given them so that that goodness would fill the world. And in this process of growing the garden, they would be overcoming the serpent. They'd be overcoming Satan and the powers of evil that had rebelled against God. And they would engage in that project, that activity until the whole world, the Bible says, would be filled with the knowledge, filled with the glory of the Lord. That's the partnership that God was inviting Adam and Eve into. And of course, you probably know the story, surprise, spoiler alert, they failed.

But the picture of God's desire for partnership does not disappear. Rather, it comes up again and again throughout the biblical narrative. God continually seeks to partner now with innately flawed human representatives in order to redeem humanity, to rescue them from their sin and to rescue them from the deception of Satan. But each time, those human representatives, they take the goodness of God, that he gives them, and what do they do? They orient it around themselves.

They make it about them. Whether it's in the Garden of Eden or the Vineyard of Noah or the Promised Land of Israel that flows with milk and honey, God's partners continually turn his generosity in on themselves. They reject God's invitation to be a light to the nations and to fill the world with his goodness and instead they are deceived again and again. You'd think that they would learn, but they never learn.

They continue to fall for the despotism, the deception of the serpent, they start worshiping false gods, things that they make with their hands, and they completely lose sight of where the goodness they have received comes from in the first place. And they spiral deeper and deeper into selfishness and idolatry until the whole redemption project falls apart. And so God, as He had planned from the beginning, ascending, sends His own Son, His eternal Word, who takes on human flesh. Why? In order to fulfill the partnership between God and man that He has been seeking all along, and to fulfill that partnership in and through Himself. And His name is Jesus.

We've been singing about Him today. And of course, the first thing that we see Jesus do in His ministry, which we should not be surprised by, is He overcomes the deception of the devil. He overcomes the deception of the devil. He overcomes the temptation of the serpent, of Satan, when Satan comes to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, and Jesus resists him. Jesus triumphs over Satan, not only in the wilderness, but all the way to the cross, when Satan tries to tempt the Son of God to abandon His mission of self -sacrifice.

Not only that, but Jesus triumphs over the devil all throughout His ministry. He liberates people who are oppressed, harassed, and controlled by demonic powers. He sets captives free who are struck with sin. He sets captives free who are struck with sin. He sets captives free who are struck with sickness and disease. He teaches people what it means to obey God from the heart. He teaches them to believe in Him so that they can be born again into brand new life.

And then He goes to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Get this picture. He who did not just receive the goodness of God as a gift, but He who was the goodness of God, He who was the power of God, did not use that goodness to turn in on Himself, but rather He used it to give and to serve. He who, being in very nature God, did not count. Equality with God, something to be used to His own advantage, but rather He became the nature of a servant and used the goodness of the Lord to bless other people, even to the point of giving His life on the cross.

And wouldn't you know it that the place where Jesus was buried was a garden? Everybody say garden. John 19, 41 and 42 says, At the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there in that garden tomb. And of course, on the third day after His burial, Jesus rose again, having overcome not only the deception of the serpent, but also the death that came about as a result of that deception. A brand new resurrection day had truly dawned.

And so when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus, only to discover that it was empty, it says in John 20, verses 14 and 15, that at this discovery she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, Woman, why are you crying? Who is it that you are looking for? Thinking that He was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me, where have you put Him, and I will get Him? And Jesus said to her, Mary, and her eyes are opened to see that it is Him.

And of course, these verses right here should be going off like so many church bells in our minds, because these are not some random details about the and the resurrection of Jesus Christ what we are seeing here is the complete restoration of the mission that was given by God and lost by man here is God's garden and here is God's perfect partner depicted as the gardener the mission of growing the garden of overcoming evil and filling the world with the goodness the power the glory of God has been recovered forevermore and this time the victory is guaranteed because Jesus Christ has conquered sin death the grave and the devil and now you and I as the church of God get to partner with him in appropriating that victory throughout the world and that plan will be successful it will come to pass just as Romans 16 20 says the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet under the feet of the church the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you for this endeavor oh it's good news you see if you want to be a part of the church you can be a part of the church you can be a part of the church you want to understand the purpose of the church that's it right there we are announcing the victory of Jesus and partnering with him by proclaiming the gospel in word and indeed by his grace as his church in order to finish what he started 2 ,000 years ago way that we say it is that we are a church for the glory of Christ the beauty of the bride and the good of the city because God has a mission and we are joined with him in that and coming back to that Henry now and quote that we read at the start to fundraise around that vision and mission is to connect ourselves to it all the more deeply and when the church forgets that vision she perishes when the church forgets that mission she loses her way but of course it's not just meant to be our collective vision mission but our personal one as well such that when you forget the vision of God you begin to perish when you abandon the mission of God you begin to perish you begin to lose your way

how God's mission works out in practice is that we are firstly we are a worshiping presence driven community we are a discipling community and we are an evangelistic expanding community that's cathedral because that's the mission of God and here's what struck me very recently is that all three elements of that cathedral mission they are the mission of God are as old as time itself literally presence discipleship and expansion are right there in the beginning of the bible at the garden in other words God has been invested in these things from the start and so it only follows that you and I would be invested in these things as well let me show you what I mean in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 10 it says this that a river watering the garden flowed from Eden and from there it was separated into four headwaters or four rivers so here's this picture of a river running through the garden as it comes out of the garden it separates and becomes four water sources four rivers and of course we should not be surprised to learn that God plants his garden initially alongside a river because it's the river that makes the ground fertile and that causes the garden to grow but the thing that I'd never put together before is the connection between the expansion of the garden and the splitting of the river into four directions I want you to picture this the garden of Eden if you look up some artist depictions you'll see the river flowing north south east and west out of the garden in all four directions and that's on purpose because four is the biblical number of the whole earth so as the four rivers come out of the garden the idea is that they are flowing to fill the entire world or to reach the entire world and that's why I'm so excited to be here today and I'm so excited to be here today and this is the picture of how the garden is meant to spread out and fill the earth and the way that that's supposed to work is that humanity are meant to garden alongside the four rivers where the ground is really fertile and in this way the garden expands now I want you to think about this picture for a moment because there's a lot in here you've got this multi -directional life -giving river which of course all throughout the scriptures that river of life symbolizes the presence of God and ultimately the gift of God and the gift of God and the gift of God and the gift of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit given to followers of Jesus Jesus says in John 7 38 and 39 whoever believes in me as scripture has said rivers of living water will flow from within them by this he meant the spirit whom those who believed in him were later to receive so that's the river of God's presence and we see that right there in the original picture of the garden and then of course in that original picture you have the activity of gardening Adam and Eve are created to be gardeners alongside that river and gardening of course is a picture of the river of life -giving water and that's the picture of discipleship John 15 1 and 2 Jesus says I am the true vine and my father is the gardener interesting connection here in the gospel of John by the way how the father is called gardener and then later on we see that Jesus is called the gardener because John wants us to know that Jesus is Yahweh that he is with the one God his father son and holy spirit and the father cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful that's a picture of discipleship and of course we see that gardening in the original garden and then you've got the evangelistic expanding focus because the garden is meant to follow the outward flow of the four rivers those rivers they don't flow into the garden those rivers they flow out of the garden I think that there's a message in that for us as well we often think that to become full of life we need more intake we need more things to flow into us but the bible would say that the most picture -perfect beautiful stunning garden of God was so lush and beautiful that it was so full of life that it was so full of life that it was so rich and rich because a river didn't run into it but a river ran out of that garden and the gardening is to follow the outward flow of the four rivers in other words the only way the gardener can be effective and the only way the garden grows is by staying close to the river of God's presence Jesus says in Matthew 28 19 therefore go and make disciples of all nations that's expansion baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you that's discipleship and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age that's his presence you got all three right there in the great commission and this is what cathedral stands for is the presence of God the discipleship of his people and the evangelistic expansion into the world because that is the mission of God and it's that mission that today we so financially into to help us keep fulfilling God's vision in more ways and at a greater scale and the interconnected relationship of all three of those things matters you cannot just have one or two and neglect the others if we don't have the river then we cannot adequately garden in other words if we are not a presence centered church then our discipleship will always be working with hard ground that's why we emphasize worship and prayer the way we do at cathedral but also if we're not a community focused on discipleship and we're just out here singing our songs and lifting our hands and dancing our dances then we will forget one of the major purposes for which God gave the gift of his presence in the first place which is the discipleship of his people that's why we teach the bible the way that we do that's why we care so much about our discipleship structures and systems like we do and if we're not evangelistic then we will stop following the spirit where he's leading us which is to reach lost people with the gospel and keep growing and planting churches so at cathedral we are a church of worship discipleship and expansion because all of that together is the way God has designed his mission to be fulfilled and God has called us as a church to partner with him in that vision how through our giving towards our local church look at philippians chapter 1 verses 4 and 5 the apostle paul begins his letter to the church in philippi with these words he says in all my prayers for all of you i always pray with joy because of your let's say this next word together out loud because of your yeah your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now and the kind of partnership the apostle paul is talking about here is the financial partnership of the philippian church who had begun giving to ministry from the beginning paul says from the day they came into relationship with jesus you can read about that story in the book of acts by the way because they they saw it as necessary to partner with paul in his mission to plant churches throughout the roman empire you see our giving is part of what grows the garden of god's kingdom throughout the world no wonder the apostle paul in second corinthians 9 likens giving to the sowing of seed because to give is to garden and it's activity that expands the garden of god throughout the world so a couple of things just practically today as we prepare our offering number one we give to partner with god's plan we give to partner with god's plan i think we should say that out loud together we give to partner with god's plan yes we do if you're still confused on what god's plan is jesus is just like this in matthew 16 i will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it and when jesus says that what he's making clear is that his church is right at the center of the plan of god to overcome evil and fill the world with the goodness and the glory of the lord the apostle paul picks up on exactly that same idea in the book of ephesians chapter 1 verses 22 and 23 you ought to have these scriptures deep in your heart by now and paul says god placed all things under the feet of jesus and appointed him to be head over everything why for the church which is his body the fullness of jesus who fills everything in every way those verses alone ought to bring you to your knees in worship about who jesus christ has made us to be in other words jesus is filling the world how through the presence and through the activity of his church so by virtue of the church his very existence we are called to partner with god in his great mission of salvation and redemption and as we saw a moment ago in philippians one of the ways that we perform that partnership is through our giving and when we give what we're saying is we're saying god we believe that you have a plan now obviously we believe that god has a plan for the capital c church but today as we bring our house offering what we're saying is god we believe that you still have a plan for cathedral we hear the stories we hear the stories of the k's we hear these amazing testimonies in our churches of what

god is doing in the lives of people here and how he's blessing the ministry of cathedral to make a difference in the lives of people there are hundreds more stories that we can tell and as we give today what we're saying is lord we believe that there are hundreds even thousands more stories like that that you want to use us to help tell and so as we step out what we're doing is we're saying god we believe that and we're also fostering a lifestyle of obedience to god and we're also fostering a lifestyle of obedience in ourselves you see as we bring our offering today we're not just we're not just giving to advance the mission of the church we give also to invite god to work in us because giving is costly isn't it and it requires faith it requires obedience and so as we do that we embrace an obedience that god calls us to have to believe the word of the lord on this subject is to obey him just like in every other area of life and as we practice that ongoing obedience god leads us into greater impact my seminary professor told me a story of a student that he had who's very passionate about sharing the gospel with people who did not know the lord and so one day he walked into a park in his city and he approached a local gang there in that park and he was all excited he was jovial jake he was all pumped to share the gospel that's a call back from several weeks ago pumped to share the gospel with with these people and so he begins witnessing to them the next thing he knows he wakes up on his couch two days later because that gang knocked him out so fast as he approached them he recovers he goes back to the same park shares the same gospel with the same gang i'm not really sure to what effect to be honest with you i don't know that part of the story but what i do know is that he ended up becoming a missionary in syria in other words the obedience that took him into the park is the same obedience that took him across the ocean into the middle east and god used that same obedience to to carry him in a life of increasing impact it's no different for us as we give today it's just it's simple obedience and as we practice simple obedience we're cultivating a lifestyle that god is looking for his eyes are searching to and fro throughout the earth for those whose hearts are devoted to him and when he finds those people he pours out his his hand of partnership upon them and he uses them to make a difference in the world second corinthians 9 8 says god is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work now what that that is right there that's a picture of increasing impact abounding in every good work how through ongoing obedience so maybe for some of us it's been a while since we had an offering to the lord like today i just want to encourage us to recommit ourselves to a lifestyle of obedience as the scriptures teach us because that will lead us to a life of ever increasing impact as well as cathedral by the way speaking of syria every single year as we've been taking up this end of year offering which we've been doing since 2016 by the way isn't that amazing uh every year that we've received this offering we've always given a portion of it to the persecuted church in syria in iraq in afghanistan directly to churches that are on the ground there through the network c3 that we belong to who have churches in the middle east and we will do that again this year because we give not just to a partner with god in the building of this church we give to partner with god in the building of his whole church throughout the world and it's our privilege to be able to do that second and finally today we give here's the second reason we give to prepare everyone say prepare yeah we give to prepare for god's timing in the book of first chronicles we read about how when david became king he wanted to build a house for god's presence he wanted to build a temple where god could inhabit but god didn't want david to build that temple because david was a man of war he had a lot of blood on his hands and so god said to david your son solomon he will be the one to build a house for my presence and so look at what david did in response to god's instruction in first chronicles 22 5 it says david said my son solomon is young and inexperienced and the house to be built for the lord should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations therefore i will make preparations for it so david made extensive preparations before his death david prepared the materials that would be needed for the house of god so that when god's timing came hear me when god's timing came they would be ready to seize the moment he goes on to say directly to solomon in verse 14 this is david speaking to his son i've taken great pains because sometimes financial partnership financial preparation comes at a cost it brings about a little bit of pain every now and then pains why to provide for the temple of the lord a hundred thousand talents of gold a million talents of silver quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed and wood and you solomon you may add to them now i love that because that's a picture of generational giving that david makes preparation then he says to his son you can add to what i've prepared for the building of god's house in the same way for you and i today there have been people who have come before us in this moment who have given to the financial foundation of our future and you and i get to add upon that foundation as we believe in the mission of god being fulfilled through cathedral david goes on in chapter 29 verses 2 to 5 now and now to the entire nation israel he says with all my resources i have provided for the temple of my god it's so personal for david is it personal for you the house of your god gold for the gold work silver for the silver bronze for the bronze iron for the iron wood as well as onyx for the settings turquoise stones of various colors all kinds of fine stone and marble all of these in large quantities besides in my devotion to the temple of my god i now give my personal treasures of gold silver for the temple of my god over and above everything i have provided for this holy temple three thousand talents of gold gold of ophir where's that pastor jake no idea let's keep reading and seven thousand talents of refined silver for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings for the gold work and the silver work for all the work to be done by the craftsmen now who is willing to consecrate themselves to the lord today now we've been talking a lot over the last several weeks about that idea of deeper consecration in our church i love it when the holy spirit stitches things together because i just stumbled upon this passage last week i was like look at that there's god just doing the heavy lifting for me helping me to connect the dots between consecration and giving and that's what david is saying here hey i'm preparing for the house of the lord by giving generously like this you consecrate yourself not tomorrow not the next day today consecration is not a deferred activity it's something you embrace in the moment say god today i consecrate myself to you and you read the rest of the story the people they give over and above even what david gave and friends the reason they do that is because there is power in our preparation there's importance in our preparation so much so and i want you to hear me really clearly we cannot fully partner for the future if we do not adequately prepare in the present but you are deeply connected with one another see the future of our impact as a church really is up to the lord believe me when i say nobody is more surprised each sunday than me when i hear the sound of you all worshiping when i see god working through our church my my first response is i don't know look you're amazing i can't manufacture opportunities in the future it's up to god to bring those opportunities but what i do know about the lord is that god is not an equal opportunity provider

rather those who are faithful with little will be trusted with much so god gives opportunities to us as we are diligent and faithful to prepare for them in other words preparation is an act of faith to say god we believe that you have opportunities coming and believe me god does there are more properties for us to own there are more churches for us to plant there are ministry endeavors in this house through the giftings of the people that god has placed here and for the people that god wants to open doors for those ministries to flourish and make a difference in our city there's all kinds of opportunities that god has awaiting us but it's us up to us to prepare to step into them to say it really simply we'd probably say something like this that tomorrow's miracles are up to god but today's preparation is up to us that's why today we give as david gave we have it in our means as a community to make a big contribution towards our future it's not about a few people carrying the weight it's about all of us sacrificing together to make a collective difference

and we want it to be just in response to the goodness and grace of god we want to give as we've decided in our own heart reluctantly not under compulsion but cheerfully generously because we recognize who god is what he's done for him what is his purpose for us and the mission that he's called us to partner with him. with that, I want to invite up Ranae to come and talk us through how it is that we give today. Can we put our hands together for Ranae? Thank you for that incredible word, Pastor Jake. South Bay Highland Park, can we just honor our lead pastors for leading us through our very first house offering, reminding us why we do this, why we give, and the importance of preparing for the future of this house together. So I'm here to walk you guys through how to practically do this, and we're going to go through it all together. So there are three different ways that you can give today, and we're going to use something called a pledge tool. It's all digital. It's going to be on your phone, but let me remind you about the three different ways that you can give. So the first one is some of us might want to bring a one -time offering. So one -time offering is an amount that you've prepared, and you want to give it all today. The second one is that some of us may want to give an amount, and we'll split it up over the course of the next year, and we'll give it in installments, whether that's every month or bi -weekly or whatever we choose to do. There's even an option in that to give a portion of that amount today or not. And then the third option is if you have cash or check that you prepared and you want to give it, there's an envelope on the back of your seat. You can go ahead and take that, and you can begin to fill it out. But regardless of what type of pledge you're making, the process is easy to follow, and we're going to go through it all together. So you can go ahead and grab this house offering card that's on the seat backs in front of you. Go ahead and scan the QR code with your camera, and I'll give you a few seconds to get in. So we're going to walk through it all together before you start punching everything in. I want to make sure we're all on the same page, and we're prepped and ready to go.

All right, so we're going to break this down together. Remember, you're looking at your screen, you're not looking at me. So let's just listen through as I'm going through this with you all. So the first thing to know is that when you get in, there's an option to begin making your pledge. So you want to click that so that we can see the next page, and we're going to follow through. So there's four sections that you can see on this form. You're going to complete each one, no skipping steps. Then we're going to review. The summary at the bottom to ensure everything that you've entered is correct, and we're good to proceed. So that's the process. In the first section at the top, this is very important, you'll want to enter in the full amount of what you would like to give. So this is your total pledge amount. For example, if you're deciding you want to give $200 today, whether you're giving all of it today or you're giving a portion of it today, you're going to enter that full amount in there. And then in the second section, you're going to see that there's the option to create a payment schedule. So you're selecting the frequency of how you want to be charged. Think of it in that way. If you're giving a one -time offering, you just select that custom option. It'll bypass creating a giving schedule because you're going to give it all today. And then in the third section, this is where you're going to put in that giving frequency. It's going to default to today's date, but you can change that to a future date if you prefer. And then in the fourth section, you're going to put in it's going to allow you to select the amount that you would like to give. So you'll see in there that the full amount that you entered at the top will pop up in there and it'll be an option for you to select. So if you're doing one -time offering, you just hit that, review your summary at the bottom, and then you can create your pledge. If you're going to be splitting up your amount into installments, you're going to be following the exact same steps, except in that giving frequency question, you're just going to add the schedule of how often you want to give. So if you're doing one -time offering, you're going to start with the date that you would like to give. And then you're going to put the start date for today or whatever date it is that you would like to begin. And then you can proceed to the fourth section where you're going to select the amount that you would like to give today. And if that's not anything you're going to give today, you don't have to put anything and your schedule will just start whenever you've selected it. So once you've reviewed all of that, then you can review your summary. Make sure it's all good to go and then on the next page is where you start to enter in your payment method. all of that's super simple. We're not going to go in that right now. We're going to go into a time of prayer. So Pastor Jake and Nicole are going to pray over us as we're all going to take the time to give our offerings, and then we'll close it out. So Pastor Nick, can you

Thank you so much, Rone. There's nobody more qualified than you to walk us through that very detailed process, and you did a wonderful job. Let's pray, and then we'll give. Honey, do you want to? Why don't you pray? Thank you, God. Yeah, because you have a tickle in your throat. No, I can pray. Thank you, Jesus. Father, we thank you, Lord, that your word reminds us that you give seed to the sower. And so, Father, we just reflect on your generosity and your goodness towards us as a church. We thank you for the seeds that you have placed in our hands, and that, God, we get to plant by your river here today. And we thank you, Jesus, that as we sow these seeds faithfully and obedient, in honor and in faith. God, we know that there is such a beautiful harvest. Oh, God, the garden that you are establishing through Cathedral, the garden that you have called us to tend to, to nurture, but to also to multiply. So, Lord, would you bring your hand into this equation and multiply as we come and allow the soil that you have watered generously over this last year as a community, Lord, would you allow it to receive the seed well, so that we can go forth and be such a beautiful testimony of a God who is for them, a God who is for Los Angeles, for Nashville, for South Bay. We honor you, Lord. just want to share a prophetic word that was sent to me this morning by a member of our community. Isaiah 43, 18 and 19. It says, forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. That's a picture of God's garden growing up, even in the midst of desert. And the word that they had said is they feel like God is telling us, I don't need to rely on what has been before in order to reveal what is to come. In other words, God doesn't need to borrow a page from the past to write what comes next for our church. And so, God, we just thank you for that word over us today. And we pray, Lord, that you would breathe upon that and that truly, Lord, that the future story that you're writing for us as a church would be marked just so profoundly by your goodness. God, that our future would not just be the sum of all the past parts, but rather it would be supernatural. Fill us with your glory, with your blessing, and your faithfulness to us, your church. Thank you for letting us partner with you. God, you could do everything you wanted all on your own, but you have decided in your sovereign grace to bring us into the adventure of a lifetime. We thank you for that. In Jesus' name, let's all stand at our feet. Actually, no, no, we're going to give. What am I doing? And we have time. Wow, we just managed the time of the service so well. I'm so proud of myself.

Let's take a few moments and let's follow Ranae's instructions and go ahead and give our offering. There is a bucket that's going past if you opted to put cash or check in the house offering envelope instead. Let's do that now.