Thus Sayeth the Lord: Be Content with My Provision

Coveting often begins in small moments - like seeing someone else's cosmic brownie - and quietly convinces us that God hasn’t given us enough. This message, brought to us by Jay, explores why coveting is ultimately a worship issue, how it blinds us to God’s blessings, and how Christ grows true contentment in our hearts. 

Transcript

Good evening everyone. Oh, we'll try that again. Good evening everyone. - Good evening, Jay! - There we go. I don't want to be in the projector. I want to blind you guys. I did shave like yesterday, so it's really bright. So, well, where's Micah? Good morning, morning, sir. Oh, I need to face you guys. Okay, here we go. Alrighty, okay. So, I told Simon to ask that question. So I want to get the greater audience. Raise your hand, Christmas music, year round, before Thanksgiving. Thank goodness that's the few. What about everyone else after Thanksgiving? There we go, that's my people. Alrighty. Alright guys, alright guys. I guess that's a very controversial statement. Alright guys, let's bring it in. Alright, let's bring it in, let's bring it in. That was my fault, sorry. Alright, for those of you who don't know me, my name is Jay Gordon. I'm the men's house minister here at CCF, and I'm really grateful to be here tonight with you guys. Before we dive in, I want to remind us of a few intentions when I speak. First, I want to thank you guys for being here. You guys took time out of your night. Yeah, to just sit under the word, get into fellowship together, sing worship. Yeah, it's just really special. Hope you guys hold on to that. Second, I want us to understand that we approach God's word with open hearts. That goes for me as well. Going through this specific commandment of coveting, that was really difficult. Having an open heart to really be convicted by the Lord with what He had to say. And so as tonight, we're looking at the command that goes straight to our heart that says, do not covet. This is about what we desire, and why we desire it, and how God wants to reshape those desires in our hearts. And then finally, my last intention is always that the gospel is at the center of everything that we talk about. Whether you're new to the Bible, to Christianity, or you've been walking with Jesus for years, the gospel speaks to you. And so tonight, we're going to see how it changes the way we want things, the way we trust, and the way that we see our identity. And so now, before we get into the scriptures, I'm going to start with a story from my life. So when I was in elementary school, my mom used to pack me lunches all the time. Who else's mom's packed them lunch? All right, all right. So my mom would pack me really good lunches. It would be sandwiches, it'd be cheetos. I know that's a hot take. Cheetos are great. String cheese, my favorite thing in that lunch. And then fruit, and she did it right. She loved me, she fed me, and she made sure that I had what I needed. But when we, me and my fellow fun-sized friends, got to the lunch table, something happened. I opened my lunch, you know, I saw all those things, and I saw the kid next to me, opened his lunch. And there it was, the holy grail of childhood desserts. What do you think it is? It is the cosmic brownie, the cosmic brownie. A thing that we all really wanted 'cause everything else didn't really matter. Sandwiches, protein, whatever, fruit, and it's healthy for you, whatever. We wanted that cosmic brownie. And so my lunch was good, it genuinely was. It had the things that I needed. But the moment that I saw that brownie, my contentment evaporated. My lunch felt lacking, even though nothing about it had changed until I saw what they had. All because I saw that he had the cosmic brownie. I was gonna show you some pictures tonight. I didn't get them, unfortunately. There's one that makes me look mischievous and I promise I didn't steal his cosmic brownie. But I was a problem child in the other ways, but we'll get to that later if you wanna talk to me. But, and so it sounds silly. You know, the feeling of being jealous, coveting something as small as a cosmic brownie. But that feeling doesn't disappear when we grow up. The cosmic brownie just changes. We get jealous of other people's relationships. We get jealous of other people's grades. We get jealous of other people being more fit than we are. We get jealous and coveting of people's jobs. They got the job that I wanted and I'm stuck here. We get jealous of the friend group that people have, that the crowd that we wanted to be in, other people got accepted and we didn't. We want that. The spiritual life that people have, that's often what, man, they know so much. I just wish I had that. I'm not good enough for God until I get to that point. Or the other opportunities people have. I know co-ops, internships, those are real things. Some of you guys see all of your friends getting them and you feel that lack all of a sudden when you don't have it. So, coveting starts in moments like that. Small, invisible moments almost. But what we really see that it's a window into the heart. So, could I have a volunteer read Exodus 2017 for us? I'm going to continue on my thing of calling on people 'cause I like doing that. So, does anyone want a volunteer to read that for us? Oh snap, there we go, Jeffrey. All righty, thank you, sir. - So, not coming to David's house. So, not coming to David's life. Or to mail through his email, through his office, or to talk to you or his physician. - Thanks, Jeffrey. So, this command is about desire. But not just desire itself. It's about the desires that shrink our contentment in God. And we see that the 10 commandments begin and end with the same theme. The first one is, you shall have no other gods before me. And this one tonight is, do not covet. Both deal with the heart, with what you trust, bless you. What you trust, and what you look forward to for satisfaction. Paul even calls coveting idolatry in 1 Timothy 6. And so, we see that it's when your heart quietly starts to believe, if I just had what they had, I would finally be happy. I would have everything I need. And our culture doesn't see this at sin, calls it marketing, commercials, social media, the new iPhone that comes out every time. You're perfectly fine until someone shows you something new, and suddenly your life doesn't seem enough, or the stuff that you have doesn't seem enough. We aren't immune to this, guys. Coveting is sneaky, but scripture is very clear that it's not harmless. So, tonight I want to give you three things, three truths that we need to walk away with to know about this 10th commandment. So, these aren't random principles I made up. They're connected to the heart, connected to the gospel, and to the way that God transforms our desires. And so, if you're taking notes, the first truth we're gonna talk about is that coveting is a worship problem before it's a stuff problem. Because coveting isn't just wanting something, it's a heart little issue. Here's the simplest way to put coveting. Coveting is desiring other things so much that your contentment in God starts to diminish. John Piper says, "When your contentment in God "goes down, your desire for other things "to satisfy you goes up." And that tradeoff, that exchange that we're making in our heart is covetousness. And this is why the 10 Commandments begin to end with basically the same idea. We see number one is no other gods. And number 10 is don't covet. They form bookends around the same problem. Where do you look for satisfaction? Where do you look for life? And where do you look for enoughness? Paul says in 1 Timothy 6 that coveting is idolatry, which means it's not just a desire problem, it's a worship problem. Because idolatry is putting your affection, your trust, and your satisfaction in something other than God. Coveting is the inward version of that. And here's the tricky part. Our culture doesn't consider it a sin. Our entire economy is built off of it, like I said. So a funny example is you could be totally happy with your phone until Apple drops a video with a guy saying, "We move the camera slightly." Or we added another camera as if we need three cameras. Although I did use mine for the Roar of Borealis the other night, fantastic. But, and so suddenly when that new one comes out, your perfect phone feels like a dinosaur. And the only person in this room, I know of that likes dinosaurs as shandy. If everyone else, I mean, that's fine. But, I'm guilty of this, I do have my phone on me, but I don't want to fidget with it. So, but, you know, I upgrade as soon as the next one comes available, I got the new one. And so I'm guilty of this as well. Social media, I'll say to everyone in the room right now. You scroll for three minutes and you're convinced that everyone else has better relationships than you. They have better experiences, they have better clothes, and maybe they just have a better purpose in life than you do. And you start feeling like your life isn't enough. Materialism thrives on coveting. It convinces you that fulfillment is one purchase, one achievement, or one relationship away. And here's what it does inside your soul. For completely honest, here's what it does. It blinds you to everything that you have. You start looking at the magnification of all the things that you don't have. It also creates a sense of entitlement. If I should have that, that should be mine. It plants jealousy that rots at the heart. So, instead of seeing the great gifts that God gives other people, we want it. We can't enjoy the thing that they have because we have a jealous heart. It suffocates gratitude to the things that God has given us, the gifts that we have been so graciously given. And I'm thinking of an example right now. I can't sing, I can't play any instruments, except for a wooden box, maybe half the time. And my wife can play a piano, she can play a guitar, she can sing. And those are all things I'm like, man, I wish I could do that. And over time, I had to keep telling myself, I'm completely diminishing the gift that they have, simply because I'm realizing what I don't have. And so I completely ignore the wonderful gifts that my brother or sister and Christ have. It leads to all kinds of other sins. Shandi kind of talked about hers going into stealing starts with wanting something that someone else has. It starts there. So when we see things that we want that we don't have, coveting leads to all kinds of other sins. And the last thing that coveting promises satisfaction, and then it abandons you when you need it the most. Scripture gives us sobering examples. Akin and Joshua 7 saw gold and clothing and wanted it, and he took it and his coveting cost Israel dearly. We're going to have to run through these. So if you want to take note down, please read that story. That is actually a prime example of coveting. Gehasian II Kings V lied to get silver and clothes from Naaman and it ended in judgment for him. Judas traded Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and found out too late that coveting betrays you in the end. So James 115 gives us the spiritual anatomy of coveting. It says desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin. And when sin is fully grown gives birth to death. So the truth to nine guys is coveting doesn't stay small. It doesn't stay with those cosmic brownies. It grows. It every day you're met with the things that people have and the things that you don't have. And it is a day in and day out thing. It grows, it multiplies, and it will take over your life if you let it. A discontent spirit is vulnerable to temptation. Because if God isn't enough, everything else becomes an option. Alistair Begg says when we factor death and eternity into the equation, we begin to see just how foolish it is to fall in love with the world and the things of the world. Guys, coveting is a foolish thing. And maybe you all are in agreements with me and that's great. But we're going to keep going because this is something that quite frankly, we're going to leave here tonight and struggle with it. Maybe as soon as we get out these doors, we're going to struggle with it tomorrow. And it is going to be something we have to lean into to what God has for us and push away that desire to want the things that aren't ours. Coving is foolish, not because wanting things is wrong, but because none of those things can deliver the life that they promise. A prime example, a few were, a few guys were in my small group, I'm about a year, year and a half ago, my wife and I lead one on, how goodness, I'm blanking all of a sudden. Reagan, what's the book called? There we go, ruthless elimination of Harry. And one of the things that we talk about in that as we get to the practical side of it because we talk about it and then we do it, is looking at TV ads and seeing what they really promise. Guys, looking at the Ford commercials, looking at those trucks, where are they promising you that you can go off road in the Sahara desert? How many of you are going to do that? I mean realists, I mean, the Liberty Mutual ads, I honestly don't know what they're communicating at this point anymore. But I mean, Guy Coat, we have all these things that are trying to convince you that if you just have it, if you just do it, that you will have this wonderful life that you have never had before and it simply will fail you. It might last quite a while. I just bought a truck recently, I love it. But it will fail me if I let it take over my heart and get in the place of God. And so, coveting whispers, if you had that, you'd finally be okay, but that's a lie. And so we know that scripture exposes it. So truth number two, if you're taking notes. Contentment is learned through trusting in God's provision for you. So if we're talking about that coveting is a heart problem, how are we actually going to fight it? Well, here's the good news. It's not under your own strength. The way to obey the 10th commandment is not by trying harder, it's by trusting in God deeper. Coveting is defeated not by self discipline, but by contentment in God. You can phrase it like this, that obedience to the 10 commandments as a whole is the fruit of faith. It's not the cause of faith, it's the fruit of faith. Faith produces obedience, not the other way around. And Jesus gives us one of the clearest promises of contentment in the entire Bible. So it could have another volunteer for John 6.35, and could someone read that for us? Someone want to read that for us? Shoot a hand, say something, yell at me. There we go, Steve, all right? You just said that I am the bread of life. You can come to me, sell that for you, if you need me, you need me, you need me, you need me, shall I? Thanks. Jesus is saying, if you come to me, I will be enough for you. I will satisfy you at the deepest level, more than anything else ever could. Faith at its core is an experience of contentment in all that Jesus is for me. Guys, this is one of the most difficult messages in my life. And I told someone earlier, I was like, I had to preach on the crucifixion last semester, and this one is difficult because this is something I struggle with a lot. Is that being content that Jesus is all that I need? And Jesus has everything like He is for me. And so how do we grow that contentment in our relationship in Jesus? Romans 10, 17 gives us this answer. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. So if faith fuels contentment and contentment fights coveting, then we need to stay near the Word of God. Because when we drift from God's Word, we will be deceived by substitutes. The world's solutions that look like satisfaction end up being illusions. Let me put it simply. You will not have more life because you have more stuff. And you will not have less life because you have little. Life isn't measured by accumulation. It is measured by communion. Paul uses the word contentment in Philippians 4. And what I found really interesting in researching, I guess, researching this, is that the word was a favorite of stoic philosophers. And they interpreted contentment as self-sufficiency, saying, "I am enough on my own or in what I can do." But Paul flips that completely on its head. For Paul, contentment in that in Philippians 4, he's saying, "Contentment is Christ's efficiency. I have enough because God provides." Derek Prime beautifully says, "Our contentment needs to be not in what we expect others to give or what we are to strive after, but in what God unfailingly provides for us by one means or another." I'll say it one more time. Our contentment needs to be not in what we expect others to give or what we may strive after, but in what God unfailingly provides for us by one means or another. Contentment is not passive resignation. It is active trust in God. It's learning to see beyond yourself and beyond the world's offerings and fixing your eyes on God. In fixing your eyes on the desires that He has for you, His provision for you and His goodness towards you. And the 10th commitment reminds us of something very humbling that our thoughts and our desires do not escape God's attention. He sees the heart even when no action follows. James Montgomery Boyce puts it like this, "Covetousness is an attitude of the inward nature that may or may not express itself in outward action." That's why scripture speaks so directly to our hearts. Jeremiah 179 says, "The heart is more deceitful than anything else." And Psalm 1912 says, "Who can discern His own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults." And so in the midst of this, I think it's important to say that not every desire is coveting. Desire is a part of being human. A man desiring to have a wife isn't wrong. Parents longing to have children. They're not sinning by desiring that. And for you guys wanting to use your gifts, whether it be here at CCF or in the local church, that's not a bad thing. It's actually a beautiful thing. But desires become coveting when they become idols, when jealousy grows, when our gratitude dies. And when we believe God has ultimately failed us by giving something to others and not to us. So I put all the bad stuff in front of you, so what are we going to do about it? What is the Bible call us to do instead? And I feel weird saying this because you want more to it. You want all the steps. You want to figure out how to do this. And three things I have to say are, be content with what you have. I can say that to you, but I'm challenging you guys to believe that. I have a hard time being content with the things that I have. Be grateful to God for what you do have. So looking back at my lunch, I had everything I needed to have a good lunch. I didn't eat lunch today, but at that time, I had lunch. And I was completely ungrateful because I simply saw something that I didn't have. Guys, be grateful to God for what you have. Even if it's little and that is hard, it is hard to be grateful when you don't have much. But trust me, appreciate the blessings that you have because maybe even in the little that you have, that's already more than some people have. Paul isn't calling us to poverty or to pretend that we don't need things 'cause going back to first time at these six, he simply warns us against piling up extra securities, trying to create backup gods in case we think the real one won't come through. Christ is our contentment. Christ is our security. And he's also our weapon against coveting. Paul says in Philippians 4, that contentment must be learned. You guys are in school, so you're learning a lot right now. I'm adding one more thing to it. So there you go. And another thing, it's not instant. You can just read this once and be like, I got it. If you do, I'm kind of amazed. I want to talk to you 'cause I have been living since kindergarten learning this lesson and I still haven't. Guys, it's not automatic. It unfolds slowly through experience. I was actually talking to some guys earlier. If you are being discipled, listen to them. You don't always have to experience it the hard way, but you will experience it in your life. But don't put yourself in some situations where you're gonna have to learn it the hard way 'cause you're just so hard-headed. Like listen to the people who are discipling and investing in you, but also experience the contentment that God is calling you to. Could someone read Philippians 4, 11 through 13 for me? Who wants to do that for me? Duncan? You wanna do it? All right. Awkward silence. Sometimes you can have read and describe learn in a collaborative way to change your mind. I know how to be blah, blah, and now hundreds of them. Any and every student who stands have learned that these are the things that you can consider something to do. You can do all of it for me. Thanks. As Paul is saying, if we were to sum that up, he's saying, I've been fed and I've been hungry. I've been warm and I've been cold. I have had a lot and I've had very little. And through all of it he learned, Christ is enough for me. His contentment wasn't tied to circumstances. It flowed from a relationship. From the living Christ present with him in every moment. And that's what contentment is for us too. Trusting that Jesus is enough even when life isn't. As we sing that song right before I got up here saying, Christ is enough for me. If you can't agree with that tonight, that's fine. I want you to dig into that though. I don't want to just sit here and tell you be content and not even like acknowledge that some of you might be struggling. Some of you might be having a hard time believing that that is something you can do. I just talk to people around you. Talk to people you know who have been through things and still have some sort of joy in their relationship in Christ. They'll be honest with you that it's hard. I'll be honest with you if you want to come talk to me about it. It has been very difficult to say God is still good in the midst of certain circumstances where I don't have much. And yet I'm asking us, myself included, guys, when I speak I'm trying to talk to myself at the same time. So I'm not just talking to you. I'm talking to me, I'm talking to a staff like lean into the truth of what God has for us in saying to be content in Him because if we believe Scripture is true, there's something to that. All right, so the last truth, truth number three, if you're taking notes. The gospel frees you from coveting by securing your identity in Christ. So if coveting is a heart problem and contentment is learned through faith in God's provision, well here's the ultimate truth is that the gospel frees you from coveting by securing your identity in Christ. It's crucial for us to be reminded and even humbled that our Christian life is not grounded in what we can do for God, but in what He has already done for us and what He continues to do in, through, and for us. Coveting disappears when we stop measuring our worth by what we lack or what others have and instead rest in who we are in Christ. Guys, think about it when your identity is tied to your grades, your job, your relationship status, or even your social media presence, you will always be looking outward. You will always see what other people have and that will drive your heart towards discontentment. Bless you. So when your identity is rooted in Jesus, you no longer live to acquire, to compete or to compare with others. You live because you are already secure. You live because you are already loved and you live because Christ has done everything necessary for you. This is why the gospel is the ultimate weapon against coveting. Nothing else can satisfy the heart, the way Jesus does. Instead of chasing after the next cosmic brownie, whether that's a promotion, a relationship, or recognition, by the way, if you take away cosmic brownie from tonight, make that applicable in some way, not just the dessert. But understand that we can be content with what our Heavenly Father has already given us. Again, I'm gonna say, I can tell you this all night, but it's gonna take you believing it. Guys, I was telling a couple of students that I was meeting with this week that I could say all the right things in this 2025, hopefully not 30 minutes sermon. I don't know how long I've been up here. And you could walk away and not change a bit. And I'm not asking you to change because of me. Lord knows I've been through a lot, I've messed up a lot. And sometimes you look at me and you're like, am I really listening to that person? But because there is so much that I have learned and being content in God. And that's hard. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and throw this out there. So when I was starting in, when I was starting in campus ministry, when I was in an intern at UCM, that's where I was before here, I was told I had to fundraise most of my salary. I'm not gonna share the numbers, it doesn't matter. But I was told a certain amount and I was told that, you know, you're like, no one's ever done that before. They never said good luck with it, but that was kind of the inflection that I got. And two weeks before school started, I was nowhere near that mark. And I was angry. I was upset. Some people are given, but because it wasn't enough, I didn't really care because I'm not where I wanna be. The amount of times that I continually remind myself how quickly I can give up on God and how faithful he is. Is it like that? Ooh, goodness, I didn't expect to get emotional here. Sorry guys, guys, God can provide in the most unimaginable circumstances. And again, numbers don't matter, but you know, the end of that story is that God provided double fold more than I could have imagined. And that's not to say that because, you know, I tried praying more that God gave more. That's not how that works. Don't give up on God early. If you have a little, which a lot of college students at least have little money, continue to lean in, don't give up. And again, I'm saying that I need you guys to believe that, not because of me, but because of what scripture says. I've gotten a little off my notes here, but I figured that was something meaningful to share. Contentment will take a lifetime to fully learn. There will be struggles along the way, but that's okay. Because we're not alone in the process. Colossians two, nine through 10 reminds us, for in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. And in Christ, you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. When I say we're not alone in the process I'm talking about Christ, we are complete in Him. Our hearts are secure. Our desires are transformed, and our longing for what others have gets redirected towards gratitude, towards trust, and worship to God Himself. And here's the good news for anyone tonight who feels the weight of coveting, who feels the weight of comparison or discontentment. The gospel is not just for those who have it together. You may be have heard that before, I'm gonna say it again. The gospel is not just for those who have it altogether. Honestly, I don't know someone who has it all together. It's for you, right where you are. Jesus invites you to stop striving, to stop measuring yourself by the things of this world and rest in Him. He says in Matthew 11, 28 through 30, come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble and hard, and you will find rest for yourselves. This is an open invitation. If your heart has been running after the wrong things, whether it's grades, whether it's success, friendships, or spiritual achievements, that your heart has replaced God with those things, or that's where your heart is at, 'cause you don't know God. You can stop and place your identity in Christ, and experience the contentment and peace and freedom that only He gives. I'm not saying that it gets easier. There's still difficulty along the way, guys. But there is, again, inexplainable provision that the Lord has for you, and it might look different than you want it to. It might not look like the thing that you want, God is going to give you what you need. And so tonight I want you, want to invite you to surrender your striving, your comparison, and to wrap it all up. You're coveting, if I've missed anything, that's the point tonight, is you're coveting. Let Jesus secure your heart. Trust Him, delight in Him, and let Him be your satisfaction, your treasure, and your identity. 'Cause everything else that the world has to offer, it will fail. Read Ecclesiastes, I'm not going to quote the entire, I'm honestly reading the entire book, but I mean read the whole Bible, of course, but like see that chasing after money, chasing after things, chasing after something other than God is an idol that really is just an illusion. Again, desiring in general is not a bad thing. Just be careful that it doesn't become an idol. This is the gospel and action, the freedom that we get when we place our trust in our contentment in Christ. It conquers coveting. This is the life that God intends for you. It's contentment, joy, and security in Christ, not just now, but for eternity. 'Cause everything in this world isn't gonna last. Christ is eternal. So, right before, came to catalyst tonight, came to catalyst tonight. Sorry, trying not to get emotional here. Some of you may know that our fearless leader Sam's dad passed away this week. He's not, that's why he's not here tonight. He's with family right now. That's hard. Sorry. So, we, we grieve as a community. If you guys don't know Sam that well, I still ask you to keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He is just a man doing so much and he is hurting right now. So, don't bombard him all at once when you see him next, but just keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Guys, ultimately, his dad was a believer. And there's a lot of hope there. There's a lot, I mean, there is grief right now, but there is joy that his dad is no longer here. And that's hard to say for those of us who experience that, for those of you who've lost a loved one, who was a believer. It's hard to say that. I've lost two grandparents. I've lost friends. That's hard. But there is so much joy for those of us who have faith and who Jesus is and what he did on the cross. And so, I didn't put my dream in thought together for this. Sorry. Yeah, I just want us to take time to pray for Sam specifically. I'm not trying to make a big deal out of this. I just want our community to know what is going on and that we, as a community, this is what we do. We pray for one another. We sit with one another. We grieve with one another. We also rejoice. We celebrate. We do all those good things, but sometimes life is hard. And so, I want to enter into a time of prayer right now. If you had bow your heads with me, the worship team would come up. So, we're just going to pray for Sam. God, you are good. God, that statement is very difficult to believe at times. God, life throws things at us that we don't expect. Maybe things we do expect and it still hurts. God, we know you are good. Your word says you are good. You have proved yourself time and time again that you are good. It is who you are. It's not just something about you, it's who you are. God, as we grieve together as a community, with Sam and his family at the loss of his dad, and the sorrow that that has for our relationships here on Earth, Lord, we rejoice that he is with you. Lord, rejoice in the one day that we will all be with you for those of us who have believed in the sacrifice of your Son, that he died and rose again to save us from that punishment, that we rightly deserved. God, as we've been going through the tin commandments, Lord, maybe we've not broken all of them, but we have failed to follow even just one. God, would we rest in the contentment that you ask us to have, the joy that you ask us to have? This joy is not just a happy feeling, Lord, it's a joy in that you are greater than anything, even death. So, God, we thank you for the eternity we get to spend with you, Lord, would that be a comfort over Sam and his family? And for anyone else in this room who has lost a loved one recently, or has a loved one in a hospital, or would you surround them with your comfort, your peace, in the midst of this hard time? Or we just ask, as we leave tonight and I wrap up this prayer, that we finish, whether in reflection during this worship song, or we finish singing our hearts out, believing what the words say. Lord, and if it's hard for us to get to that point, may we speak to one another, Lord? May we encourage one another, may we sit with one another? God, you are good. Teach us our entire lifetime that you are good. And we ask this all in your name, amen. We stand, we'll come to him in worship.