Souvenirs

Well. Good morning. Church. My name. Yeah, yeah. Good morning. Well, I’m. The energy in here is great. My guy Parker. I’m the youth director here at Black Church, and it’s an honor to be here at the on this last Sunday. Of the year of 2025. It is honestly a joy. We ended up canceling middle school.

And so if you’re a middle schooler in this room, let me see a hand real quick. I know Parker’s here. Yeah. All right. There’s a couple of us. It’s Youth Sunday, and so if you’re greeted by somebody that, as a student here, we’re we’re just grateful that we have a team that’s able to do all the things that we’re able to do at the youth, in the youth.

And so somebody that you haven’t seen yet, or maybe you have, is Michelle, and she works hand in hand with me, and she does a lot of the work. And the she is the hands and feet of our ministry. And so just a quick shout out to some amazing people that I work with. And so, yeah.

All right. So last year I was in this exact position and I was talking about a new year, and I was saying about a fresh start and I was saying, hey, you’re my to walk into a new year, you’re about to have a fresh start, 2025. And so as I was saying all these things, I literally was about to start something new.

In January, I got married. And to the lady that just gave the announcement, yeah, I it’s an honor. It’s an honor to be married. And so I get married in January and I’m talking about a fresh start. I’m saying, hey, you got a new year, you gotta have a new start. And this year is totally different. Totally different message.

We’re not talking about a fresh start because I lived it, and I realized there’s a lot of things that we hold on to and we we kind of clench really tightly to and so, as anybody would know, like, hey, I’m getting married, I’m preparing a house for, for my wife. And so, you know, I move into the apartment and I pack everything that I own into boxes, and I move it in before my wife, my soon to be wife.

And so I move in on a bunch of random things that have no business being in this new home that I’m about to walk into. And sure enough, I get married in this exact place. I got married here in this church, just a little bit like we’re about to hit a year in January and we take off into, our honeymoon and some some.

We had the luxury of taking off right into our honeymoon, and we went off to Bali. My wife is Indonesian, and so we head over to Bali. And as we’re in Bali, there’s one thing I need, and that’s sandals. And I said, hey, you know what, babe? I need some sandals. They can be cheap. We can just buy it head on out.

And she’s like, don’t worry, I know the exact place, this exact place, exact time. Don’t say a single word. They know you’re a tourist. I’m Indonesian, I speak Indonesian. Let me handle the bargaining. I said, of course, you know, like why, if you got it, I’m watching this exchange happen in the marketplace. My wife is over here. Oh, yeah, for 450,000 rupiah for some sandals.

Now, this number, I’m like. And that sounds like a lot. Let me do the calculations about this real quick. It’s 16,000 per dollar. These fake sandals are worth a gazillion dollars. They say made in Sweden. And on the bottom they say made in Indonesia. And I’m like, hey, hold on, babe, we don’t need to spend $40 or whatever the exchange rate is for these sandals.

And she sure enough, you know, I was a good husband. And I said, hey, I’m going to be quiet in this moment, and we end up paying, well over $20 for $2. Sandals. Now, I still have these sandals. I still own them. They’re in my closet right now. They’re my like. They’re my beta’s is what we call them.

And I wear them around. They’re mighty, they’re dirty. And the reason why I have them is because there’s a story to it. There is like, an emotional attachment. You know, I just got married. My wife told me to be quiet. And now these sandals are that that idol that piece that I’m like, oh, you remember when you told me about that?

That’s a whole story that’s tied to the sandals. And some of us, we’re going to be talking about souvenirs in our life and how we hold on to some little treasures in our life, and we need to let them go. We need to let them go. When I packed everything up and I moved into this apartment, I had this random Mickey Mouse.

It’s a stuffed Mickey Mouse, and I don’t even know why I have it. I don’t even know who gave it to me. I don’t know where it came from, but I literally have had this for years and years and years and I’ve like moved over the past seven years. I’ve moved and moved and moved and for some reason it ends up in my apartment.

And so that’s where I’m packing things. This is some of you guys will understand this as we’re unpacking things. There’s a random stuff Mickey Mouse there. And your wife, she looks at you and she says, oh, wow. Like, where did this Mickey Mouse come from? And so this Mickey Mouse, there’s two scenarios that this can play out to you, and I’ll, I’ll give you both, the Mickey Mouse is there, and my wife, she says, hey, where’s this Mickey Mouse from?

And I say, oh, I don’t, I don’t know, babe. Like, I have no idea where it came from. And she’s like, okay, why do you have it? I was like, oh, I don’t know, babe. I don’t know why I have it. Okay, well, are you going to get rid of it? I was like, oh, I don’t know.

Should I get rid of it? And she’s like, yeah, you should throw it away now. And I oh yeah, I’ll throw it away right now, babe. Don’t worry about it. This Mickey Mouse has no business being in this new house with me. Now, that could be one scenario. Or it could be a whole different scenario depending on how she’s feeling that day.

She could be like, we never went to Disneyland together. Why do you have this stuff? Mickey Mouse here. Who gave you this Mickey Mouse? See, there’s souvenirs in our life that have no business being in our life. And for some reason, we brought it in. We said, hey, you know what? I’m going to enter into this new life.

I’m going to pack everything up. And, you know, I’m going to go this way and we end up following. We end up going and jumping in to this fresh start, to this new life. Hey, 2026. And we have a whole bunch of things that we’re holding on to in 2025, 15, 16 years ago. And for some of us, it’s been even longer.

And so my goal this morning is to tell you there some souvenirs in your life, some treasures that you got to let go of this year. There’s only a couple days left in December, and you get to have a decision to say, hey, you know what? This might be the day that I let go of the souvenir. Whether it’s the sandals that have some type of emotional heavy attachment to it, or maybe it’s literally just taking up empty space.

And for some reason, we love to hold on to these items. And even so, more and even more, we do it so with the God that we worship here at Blue Oaks Church, you know, as a as a youth director, as someone who pours into your students, into your kids, into this community, we’re going to be talking about a lot of things and about the treasures of our heart, and how there’s a lot of treasures that compete for our heart.

And some of us have let those treasures win over us, and we still want to follow Jesus. We say, hey, you know what? Jesus is so important. I want to follow him. But I’ve been holding on to this souvenir in my life. And Christ is saying, hey, you know what? I love you too much to let you hold on to it this year.

Right now, you got to let it go. I’m going to pray for us, and then I’m going to walk us through the treasures of the heart, and we’re going to go through Matthew six and give us a little little piece of Matthew six. And I’m going to walk us through Romans six seven, and Romans eight. I had to do it.

I had to do it. I’m a youth guy. It’s horrible. And so it’s an inside joke if you’re too old to understand that. And I’m sorry, but we’re going to be going through Matthew six, Romans, Romans six through eight, and then hopefully I give you some tools to actually get rid of some of the treasures that are in your life that have no business being in your life today.

And so if you would join me in prayer this morning, father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather and just to slow down and to reset. Lord, father, would you reveal to us what you have in store for us this morning how the deepest desires in our heart. And, Lord, where would we be able to just let it go?

Would we be able to be washed in the grace that is given by you? Lord, we pray that you would open our hearts and our minds to the scriptures as we read them this morning, and in Jesus name, Amen.

The passage that I’m going to read is in Matthew 619 through 21. I’m in the NLT and it says, don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroy them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy. And thieves do not break and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there, the desires of your heart will also be.

This year I’ve learned that we accumulate a lot of things in our life and they can weigh us down, and they have a physical toll on us and the treasures of our heart are in competition with what God desires for us. And I’m going to elaborate on this in Romans six. It says in Romans six it says, we are oh, I mean, Matthew six.

In Romans six it says, for we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the father, now we also may live new lives. Hey, I just want to say, if you’re a Christ follower, you have been called into a new life. Being able to work in youth just this past summer, we ended up baptizing 13 youth and just one of our leaders, and we’re celebrating so much joy over these people’s lives.

And I’m constantly encouraged by what God is doing in the lives of the young. And I am encouraged constantly and constantly, and it pushes me forward to live a life according to what he’s called me to do. And I’m like, yes, this is so true. Is that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the father, now we also may live new lives.

And some of you guys have never lived a new life. Some of you guys are still walking and in your past life, and you’re holding on to a lot of things of your past life. And just like myself, you were like, you know what? I want to follow Jesus. I want to give Jesus everything I own. And you walk into this new life and you held on to a couple of Mickey Mouse ears in your life.

You held on to a couple of sandals that have no business being there, and you’re walking into it and you realize, and this is my other piece, is that Paul puts it perfectly there is a war within us, and this is in Romans 721. It says, I have discovered this principle of life, that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.

I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. Man, as a Christian, there’s a war going on within our mind. This power makes me a slave to this sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death.

You know the souvenirs that we hold on to, that we grasp. And I know for a fact, as myself included, there are souvenirs in our life treasures that we have held onto for many, many years. And we have tried to follow Jesus. And we said, thank you, Jesus, for saving me and letting me walk into this new life.

I’m forgiven for everything that I’ve done. And you know what? There’s no condemnation. We’re going to talk about this. There’s no condemnation through Christ. And we walk into this new life. And as we’re here, we have this souvenir, this treasure, this emotional attachment. And it’s probably not a good one. And we say, hey, you know what? This is a great thing, but I know I need to get rid of it.

Jesus. But let me just bring it in to my new life. Lord, can I bring this souvenir into my new life? And I just want to let you know that Jesus, he loves you too much to allow you to bring that in. He loves you too much to allow you to bring that in to your new life.

Sometimes the death that is behind us has so much shame and power, and we give it all of this and we say, Lord, I can’t let it go. And we’re holding it like this, and we’re saying, Jesus, I want to follow you, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And we’re holding on to all of these treasures from hell. And this is the thing that I want to say is that Jesus didn’t just save you from hell as a Christian.

He frees you to drop it. Souvenirs. And by the spirit walk and a new life, you got to let it go. The souvenirs that you’re holding on, they smell like death. And it’s not a good smell. And Christ loves you way too much to allow you to bring that in. So if you ever pleaded with God, if you ever came to that place and you said, Lord, who will save me from my miserable self?

Paul answers it right after this. He says this in verse 25. In Romans seven he says, Thank God, thank God, man, praise God. Amen. It is right. This has to be good. Thank God. The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is in my mind. I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave to sin.

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Hey man, I just want to say there’s no condemnation through those who follow Christ, and it’s not by our own power. It’s by God’s, literally, the power that raised Christ from the dead.

He gives you that. He says, hey, by my strength, you will be able to carry out what needs to be done.

Something that I feel like has been heavy on my heart, that I want to share with you guys, is that I truly believe this community is extremely gifted. You guys work extremely hard, you guys persevere and you guys don’t want anything give in freely. If I didn’t earn it, I don’t want it. We want no participation trophy. I work and I work at Foothill.

I’m a coach and man the strive for excellence is a magnificent thing. I’m the same way. I’ll make sure that everything is. I love saying, I’m going to put you in the right place at the right time to make the right decision. It’s up to you to do it. And this is how I coach. This is how I lead.

And we are all, for some reason, in Pleasanton just wired to just like, we’re going to do it. And there is this great quote by Dallas Willard. He says, grace and effort. He says Grace is not opposed to effort. Effort is an attitude. Grace. If wait, let me go ahead and just look at the screen. You got that Dallas quote for me.

Dallas will equip. I know you do. All right. It’s okay. Grace and effort. Gosh, I can’t even I’m blanking. Should I should have wrote it down. Oh, praise God. Grace is not a post. Whoever’s back there, you’re saving my life. Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.
And I believe this community needs to put more action into our grace. You need to live a life of grace. We put a lot of effort and a lot of earning into our grace. I mean a lot of a lot of earning into our grace. And that’s not how it works. You got to live a life and you got to strive for the grace.
You have to be washed by it. And it’s not a free gift. It’s not. I mean, I need to slow down. I need to slow down. It’s not a free gift. That’s complete blasphemy. It’s it’s a it’s a free gift from God. It’s a free gift from God. What I want to say is that it’s a free gift from God to give that Dallas Miller quote almost got me killed.
Luckily, we’re not in the early century. They would have stone me to death. Well, anyways. All right, grace effort. You got to have both. And this community needs to strive for the grace. I believe that we work really hard to earn a lot of things, and we haven’t been washed by the spirit. I believe we tried to earn the spirit.
And it’s clearly says that, hey, it’s just, hey, I’m in Romans eight. And because you belong to him, the power of the life giving spirit has freed you. It’s not about your power. It’s about Christ’s power that lives within us. And he’s able to transform your life. And so whatever souvenir that you’re holding on to, hey, I know that it’s tough.

I know that it’s difficult to let it go and it by yourself. You cannot do it. It’s by the free gift of God and His grace that washes over us. And so I don’t know what it is that’s going on in your life in 2025. You’ve probably experienced a lot of emotion, a lot of highs and a lot of lows.

And maybe over your entire life you have held on to some really dark souvenirs, and you are so ashamed that if it came to the light man, Christ would never left me. And so what I want to say to you this morning is that, hey, I want to give us a couple steps. I’m very like, there’s this thing I’m going to walk us through, and I do this with our youth.

And I say, hey, like, if you have a bed and you lay down, you look up, you have a ceiling. And when you look at the ceiling, do these things. And so what I want to do is I’m going to walk us through, hey, if you’re ready to let go of some souvenirs, some treasures in your life, this is what I want to encourage you to do.

Leave the souvenirs behind. And the first step is, as you have to name it, there are some treasures in our life that might be hidden to us, or we might just not want to bring it to light. And a simple prayer is in Psalm 139. You could write this down some 139 it says, search me, O God, and know my heart.

And I think when you’re laying down in bed, everyone here has a place where they lay down and they probably have a roof over your head. And as you lay down and you look up at your blank ceiling and you say, Lord, search me, oh God, know my heart, and I guarantee you, the God of the universe that you love and you worship will be able to tell you the things and your desires of your heart.

But it doesn’t stop there. Once you name it, you have to confess it. You can’t just say, oh Lord, thank you for revealing all these things about my heart and these treasuries that I so deeply cling to. Thank you. That’s it. Thank you Lord. Thank you for revealing these things. The next pieces. Hey, we have we have these souvenirs, these treasures.

They stink like death. They came from hell. And as we’re walking, Christ is saying, hey, I love you too much. You got to let him go. You got to confess it. I’m going to read this. This is Psalm 32. It’s not on the screen, but it’s something that’s been heavy on my heart that I want to give to you guys.

And it’s just a simple, simple prayer. It says, when I refuse to confess my sin, my body wasted away. And I believe that when we hold on to the treasures of our past life, it takes a physical toll on your life, a physical toll. I’m talking physically. It weighs you down. There is something burning you today, and you’re clinging to it.

And God is saying, hey, the psalmist is saying, when I refuse to confess my sin, my body wasted away. When you’re laying up and you’re staring at the ceiling and you’re saying, Lord, reveal to me the treasures in my heart, man, you got to. You got to be okay with just letting it go. Your body is wasting away.

When I refuse to confess my sin. My body wasted away. And I groaned all day long. Day and night. Your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water. And the summer heat. Finally, I confess my sins to you and I start trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, I will confess my rebellion to the Lord, and you forgave me.

All my guilt is gone. If you’re laying there and you’re laying at night and you’re staring, and God’s revealing the treasures of your heart, and there’s some deep tragedies that are in your life currently, it says that the Lord forgives you. There is no condemnation to those who follow Christ. Now you’ve been made new. You are walking in a new life, and Christ is asking you to let go of those souvenirs.

The next pieces is that once you name it, you confess it. You got to cut it off. You got to, you got to, you got to cut the power cord. You got to. You got to change the direction of where you’re headed. I simple thing, what I was thinking about is like, hey, there might be some place that you’re going to right after work.

And what you need to do is you need to just take a different route home. You need to say, you know what? I don’t need to make that stop. I can make a different stop. I can go a different route. I can stop using this app. I can stop looking at this. I can I need to get rid of whatever it is you need to cut it off.

You can’t just let it still be there. We confess these things and we think that, hey, God, I want to confess all these things. I’m using same analogy over and over again. It’s because we say, yes, Jesus, and we say, Lord, forgive me for everything that I’ve done. And Lord, I’m living in a new life. And our fists are still clenched and we’re being dragged by it.

At this point, it’s like we’re being held by it and we’re like, Lord, I want to follow you, but I want to bring in this treasure that is so deep to me. It has emotional ties to me. It has a lot of shame to it. And I just can’t let anybody see it. I just want to let you know you got to literally cut it off.

Cut it off, man. Jesus says this like crazy statement. He says, if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. What I want to tell you is that you got to cut it out. The next thing is you have to replace it. We are habitual creatures, something that I practice in my life, and this is what I do to replace moments in my life, is I learned how to pray, is that my mind would go into dark places.

And I said, hey, you know what? There needs to be a different route that I can take. There needs to be a different a different avenue. And so what I learned to do was I learned how to just write down my prayer in that exact moment. And I said, you know what? I’m going to give the Lord every thought, every word that comes from my mouth.

It’s not pretty. It’s just the wrong notes and the raw prayer of my life. And I type it. I write it, and this is my way of practicing a spiritual discipline. So simple. Dallas Willard, I’m calling this guy again. Dallas Willard wrote the book Spiritual Disciplines. And there a lot of great spiritual disciplines that you can cut something out and replace it with.

The spiritual disciplines are there to support you in your faith. And I want to encourage you and say, hey, I know that there’s some deep treasures that are not what God desires for us. And he’s saying, hey, it’s time for you to cut it out and replace it with me. And I don’t know what spiritual discipline you can pick up.

The one that I picked up that I still use today after all these years is prayer. I got a little prayer journal, I got multiple, and I just write down the moments that come in and my mind when it gets dark and I say, Lord, hey Lord, I don’t know why I’m feeling this way and yada yada yada.

And it’s just a unleash. I just unleash it all. And the Lord says, hey, it’s good, it’s good. And I picked up this small spiritual practice that has slowly changed my life. It has slowly loosened the grip. My last piece that I have for us is Remember who you are. Hey, if you’re a child of God, you can’t forget that you’re a child of God.

Paul clearly states that I do what I don’t want to do, and I keep doing right, and I don’t do what I need to do. And so in Romans eight, this is Romans 815 through 16, it says, so you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.

Now we call him ABBA Father, for His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. You got to remember who you are. If you’re a Christian man, we are. There is a war within us. And yes, there will be a day when we walk into heaven and will be made new, completely new and perfection.

What Christ did here on earth. And that there is a God, a living God, who literally is interceding on your behalf right now. And he’s saying, hey, I want you. I don’t want the treasures that you have from your past life. Hey, you are an adopted. You are loved by the God of the universe.

Man, now we get to call him father. Some of us in this room have never been able to call Jesus our Lord and Savior. Our father in heaven. And maybe that’s what you need to do walking in to this new year. You need to say, hey Lord, I want to. I want to be able to call you the Lord of the universe.

My father in heaven. Maybe you’ve never even prayed that simple prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. Our father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Or maybe you have. And it’s been 20 years since. And the reason why you haven’t created is because you have had a couple souvenirs in your life that had been slowly dragging you away from the presence of God, and you need to be reminded to be washed in the grace of God.

I want to read this for us. This is Romans eight. This is one of my favorite, favorite passages in Scripture, and it’s for the believer. And if you are a Christian today, I want to encourage you into this new year. Whatever treasures that you’re holding on to and that you’re about to confess to the Lord when you’re laying down a night and you say, Lord, reveal it to me, and the Lord reveals it to you, and you confess it to him.

And you’re feeling ashamed of the weight that has been you’ve been carrying. I want to read this for us. This is Romans 831. It says, what shall we say about such wonderful things as these? What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own son, but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

Who dares accuse us, whom God has chosen for his own? No one for God Himself has given us right standing with himself, who then will condemn us? No one for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. The God of the universe is seated in heaven, pleading for you, pleading on your behalf.

He’s saying, hey, whoever you are, sitting here, the God of the universe says that, hey, I am literally pleading over you. You are so worthy. And he’s asking you, hey, don’t bring that old life into the new life. Let it go. And he’s pleading on your behalf. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Doesn’t mean he no longer loves us.

If we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger, or threatened with death, as the scriptures say, for your sake we are killed every day. We are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us. I just want to let you know that overwhelming victory is ours.

It’s yours. It’s mine, and it’s not by us. It’s through Christ, through His Spirit that washes us and gives us the grace we so desire. Your soul desires in.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love, neither death nor life. Neither angels nor demons. Neither are our fears for today nor worries about tomorrow. Not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or on the earth below, and nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the promise given to those who love Christ, and that is that nothing can ever separate you from the love of Christ. And I don’t know what shame you’re trying to bring into 2026. What treasure? What souvenir? Something deep. I know we have a lot of deep scars here, and there’s something in us that we’re trying to bring in to this new year in 2026.

And Christ is saying, hey, I love you too much to allow you to bring that in to your life. And maybe today is a day you got to let that souvenir go. This could be the day some of us have never actually said, hey, I want to follow Christ. Hey, you know what? Maybe I have been living just in death.

And there’s this beautiful verse in Romans six. It says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of our God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Not only do the believers need to hear that in the room, but those that don’t call Jesus Lord and Savior. You probably need to hear that just as more man, the free gift of God.

There’s a physical weight that takes on our soul, and we have the greatest opportunity this year right now to say, hey, you know what, God, I don’t want to let this weight go. I want to just open up my palms and say, Lord, I’ve been holding on to this souvenir for too long. How it stinks. And for some reason, I’ve been loving this and I don’t want to love it anymore.

Lord, would you wash me with your grace? Would I be washed with your grace? I can’t do it alone. I’m going to pray for us. And we have one more song of worship. And I just encourage you if you need to just find a space. Would you pray with me? And would you just join the Lord as we just walk into his presence and we say, Hey God, there are some souvenirs, some treasures in our life right now that we need to get rid of.

Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather. Lord, we know that there are some souvenirs, some treasures of our past life that we need to get rid of right now. Lord, we picked it up in 2025, Lord. We picked it up 15 years ago, and for some reason, it is still following me, following me around. And Lord, I am ashamed to even say this, but I don’t know why I can’t get rid of it.

And I’ve been trying so hard to do it by myself. And Lord, I need to learn how to live in the grace that is given by you and by your spirit. Lord, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the same spirit that lives in us. And so, Lord, for those that are struggling to let go of whatever they are holding on to, would you give them the power to do so?

Would your spirit go before us? Would it give us a new heart? You promised to give us a new heart and a new soul in Ezekiel, Lord. And for those that call upon the name of the Lord, they shall be saved, Lord. And so we, Lord, we give you this offering to you. What a joy it is to worship you.

And for those that have never asked for it, never called on the name of Jesus. Lord, would you just open our hearts and our mind? And when we lay down tonight and we look at our life and we evaluate the things that we’ve been holding on to these treasures that moth and rust destroy. Where thieves come in and steal.

That there are treasures in heaven. Where nothing can destroy. Where thieves cannot steal. And you’re saying I love you too much for us to bring in our past life. And so, Lord, for those that are living in our past life, would we be washed by the grace? Father, it is a joy to be with your church this morning and to worship the living God as we sing this last song.

Lord, would you pour out your spirit over us as we get to worship you as a church? In Jesus name, Amen and amen.