Your Ministry of Mercy

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Good Morning. My name is Lauren Ramer, and I am one of the leaders around here, and we are so excited that you’ve decided to worship with us this morning. If you’re on campus or watching online, we just want to welcome you. We’ve been in a sermon series around here called A Blessed Life in a Broken World. And today, we’re going to be talking about mercy. Now, I don’t know about you, but God has shown me his mercy on so many different occasions in my life. And if I’m being honest with you, he shows it to me daily. The song that we’re about to sing. The lyrics begin with. I was hopeless. I knew I was lost, and death and darkness were my only songs. I was listening to this song in the car the other day, and I was reminded of a time in my life. A time in my life when I felt hopeless. I felt lonely. I felt empty. And I felt like I was living in that darkness. You see, there are certain circumstances in my life where I decided to turn my back away from God instead of running towards him and laying my problems down at his feet. I decided to put the blame on him instead of putting my trust in him. Eventually, I got tired of feeling tired and lonely and hopeless and like I was living in that darkness, and I knew something was missing. And when I needed rescuing. Guess who is there to save me? It wasn’t the friends that I had been surrounding myself with, but it was God and His mercy. And He was waiting there for me the entire time, just waiting for me to receive it. Friends, that mercy is waiting there for you where we deserve punishment. God replaces with his mercy. It doesn’t matter the sin that you walked in here with this morning, the baggage that you’ve been carrying around, or even the stresses that you’re feeling about tomorrow. God wants to take that from you right now. More so than just freeing us from the punishment that we do deserve. God gives us something else, something that we don’t deserve. And that’s Grace. Grace that has no strings attached. Grace, that has no conditions that you have to meet. It’s completely free, and it’s endless. We have given God a million reasons to give up on us. But I have some good news this morning. He never will. As we go into this next song of worship, we are going to be witnessing that grace and that mercy with two baptisms this morning. These ladies have decided to accept that mercy and grace and take their next spiritual step. So where there was once sin and shame in their life, God has now replaced it with His mercy and His grace.

Good Morning Eastside and the people online. My name is Micah. I’m your middle school and college pastor here at Eastside. I’m so thankful to continue this series. A blessed life in a broken World. Thank you, Jacob. What a great guy. So as we’ve been on a journey learning the eight ways God blesses us and wants us to be happy. The fifth way God wants to do this is found in Matthew chapter five, verse seven. And so it says this.

“God blesses those who are merciful for they will be shown mercy.”

Matthew 5:7 (NIV)

Now can we be honest? By nature, I am not merciful. By nature, I want justice. And so what that means is when I get cut off going on the highway. It just happened literally yesterday. I want to speed up. I want justice. I’m going to cut in front of the other person. Right. Or when someone hurts me or hurts my family member, especially my brothers. Where is this? Where’s this person at? Let’s go get him. Let’s go talk trash about it. And let’s go do this. When someone says something mean to me, I want to say something. Mean back. Right? Because justice says, you get what you deserve. And that’s what I want. But. What I’ve came to understand. Is that? Mercy is completely different. I mean, could you imagine? If Madison County. It was a place known not for mercy. But known for bringing justice to the county. Right. There was no mercy at all. A terrible place to live. Everybody gets what they deserve. I mean, could you imagine if the church did not show mercy? And only cast out. Justice. What would it feel like to be in this room? Well, I tell you right now, it would not be a perfect place for imperfect people. It would not be okay not to be okay here. And the funny thing is. As I want justice. I want justice to be done to people that are doing wrong. I want to receive mercy. What a double standard that is that I want people to get justice for doing wrong. But yet, when I mess up. When I do wrong. Please have mercy on me. What a double standard that is. But Jesus says, No, no, no, no, no. If you want mercy, you must give mercy. I am so grateful that God showed mercy on me that, you know, just as warm was talking about that. You know, first, I was hopeless. But now I have hope. I was found in darkness. But now I’m brought into the light. So much so that God has considered me. Micah. A son. A child of God. And the same for you. Like, are we not just grateful for God’s mercy and how he has shown it to us continuously throughout our lives. And if we want Madison County to be known. For mercy. It starts here. It starts with learning how to practice it. And so this morning, I want to give you five practices that we can do literally this week. And so the first one is this. Be patient with people’s quirks. I love. Ephesians 4:2 says It says this.

“Be patient with each other, making allowances for each other’s faults because of your love”

 Ephesians 4:2

Don’t raise your hand, but I’m sure this morning. You guys woke up ready to get dressed or to eat breakfast, and you came across somebodies quirks. You came across some quirks, and it made you frustrated and upset. I see some people laughing. The thing is, I have quirks. You have quirks. You know, some of us may grow out of them. Some of us may never grow out of our funny quirks. And one quirk that I had when I was living with my dad was 90% of the time. Every time I took out the trash, I did what? I never put a trash bag back into the trash can. I’m that guy. That was my quirk. But now I got some good news for you guys at Eastside. I have grown out of doing that. So. Yeah, when I got married. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So when I know you guys laugh, now wait for this. So when I got married, I grew out of that. I started putting a trash bag into the trash can. And the funny thing is, bless my wife’s heart. I loved her so much as I grew out of it. She didn’t. And so I finally understand why my dad was so upset and so frustrated all the time. You see, dealing with people’s quirks can be hard, and it can be frustrating. But if you’re not patient with people’s quirks, it turns into quarrel, to a quarrel which is. Which is a heated argument. Now. I grew up hearing a lot of heated arguments and tell you right now they’re not fun to be a part of, and they’re definitely not fun to listen to. But practicing mercy looks like being patient with the ones that we love. And so now my wife takes out the trash. She doesn’t put a bag back in it. I don’t call her up when she’s at work and say, Hey, you know what? Did you forget? Or I don’t bring it up when she gets home. So, hey, you know, You left empty trash can over there. No. Instead, because of my deep love for my wife, I don’t bring it up. I don’t try to make a big deal out of it. I just simply go back and pull out a trash bag and put it in the trash can. The second practice we can start today. Is this.

PRACTICES OF MERCY

Help anyone hurting around you.

Look around. The world is hurting. Countries are hurting our community are hurting. Our church family is hurting. And you know what I’ve realized? That you really can’t tell if people are hurting until you slow down. And you talk to them. We get so busy. We’re saying good morning. No, thanks. Thanks. How are you doing? I’m fine. We never take the time to be very intentional with the people around us. And so, let me paint a picture. What if Jesus was like this? What if Jesus never stopped to talk to or to heal somebody to get to know their story? What if he never stopped to hear you as you’re crying out to him? It would be awful. In Proverbs 327, it says this.

“Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it.”

Proverbs 3:27 (TEV)

Now doesn’t say when we can put it in our calendar. It doesn’t say when or whenever we can do it, and we can post about it, and we can get recognition for it. Now it says, God, whatever the time, whatever the occasion, let me do good to those who need it right now. Let me share a story that just happened in the student ministry. And so a lot of you that have been coming here at Eastside, you know, the Berrys and Andy Berry just passed last week. And she and her family are faithful members here at Eastside, and we’re a true blessing to a lot of people here. And our students knew Emma, who is the oldest daughter of Colin and Andy. They saw her hurting. You know what they did? They messaged their life group leader, and they said, Hey, for this life group, we are going to write encouraging letters to Emma. We want to encourage her and Scripture, tell her that we love her. And so that whole time they were in life group. They were encouraging and writing things, looking up verses to give to Emma. They simply saw somebody hurting, saw somebody that needed good in their life. Hope, encouragement. And they did it. They acted on it. And they did it with joy and purpose. I’ve got to say if you’re a student. Is not coming to Sunday nights or is not in a life group. They are missing out on how they can impact others and how others can impact their lives. I say that it would be quite impossible to help people around us if we don’t do this next practice. And that is.

Build bridges of love to the unpopular.

Jesus did this all the time. He modeled it for us. Look at me in Matthew, chapter nine says.

“Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” they asked his disciples. When he heard this, Jesus replied, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor–sick people do. Go learn the meaning of the Scripture, “ I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices!” For I have come to call sinners. not those who think they are already good enough.”

Matthew 9:10-13 (NLT)

Jesus found a common ground to meet people where they are at and to build bridges of love to the unpopular. I love what Rick Warren says. He says you can’t win your enemies to Jesus, but you can win a friend of Jesus. Now, let me say that again. I think this needs some amen right now. So it says you can not win your enemies to Jesus. That’s what we often think, right? But you can win a friend to Jesus. And I was a full witness to this thing happening in my brother’s life. My older brother. I love him so much, and some of the earliest memories I have are. Him tieing my shoes. Him loving me. Unconditionally. It doesn’t matter what I did. I could have pushed him downstairs, and he was like I love. So much so that I remember that there were times when I got in trouble. And I did something wrong. And my older brother said, No, no, no, no, it’s okay, Micah. I’ll say that I did it, and I’ll get punished for it. That’s the relationship I have with my brother. And I could talk all day about our relationship, but honestly, it would be just an emotional mess that I’m not ready for, and I’m sure you’re not ready for it. But what I want to share was when I was in eighth grade. My dad and stepmom were separated. They didn’t get divorced, but it was me, my dad, and my older brother, and we moved in with my grandmother. And right before school, I woke up, and I started praying. I’m just praying to God about my day, and everything like that, and my older brother comes up to me. And it kind of shoves me. He said, Why are you praying? If God loves us, He would be making us go through this. Right. How can he care for us if we’re here suffering? Eighth-grade me had just started to cry. I was like, Only if you knew what you’re saying. Only if you knew. You see, my brother would tell you that an Eastside’s terms. He was a nun. He didn’t affiliate with any religion or religious practice. In fact, he probably hated them all. To many, he was considered to be unpopular. Unliked. A bad kid. Cussing was the second language, is getting sent to the principal’s office and getting detention. All these things. And before he dropped out. He met a guy whose name was Wess. And Wess knew my brother in the way that he found a common ground to build a bridge of love to my brother was through music. My brother loved rap music. This Wess guy used to listen to all Christian rap. So he starts telling my brother about Lecrae. And all these Christian rappers, and he starts to build a connection with my brother. And then, my brother dropped out of his sophomore year of high school. And even though Wess did not see him at class every day anymore. It wasn’t easy for him to go out and just talk to my brother. He had to make an effort, and he made that effort over and over and over the next five years. Continue to ask hey, when can you go see this movie? Have you heard about this music? Or how do you listen to this guy? And over five years, I watched Wess. In eighth grade, Micah remembers what his older brother said to him. I watch Wess. Love my brother unconditionally, no matter what he said, what he did, what he was known for. And because of that, I get a text message. My brother says hey, you need to come to this church. I said, okay, why is my brother talking about church? And sure enough. Wess led my brother to Christ and baptized my brother. And I’m just sitting there in the front. Weeping. How many of you guys have stories like that? That you came to know who Jesus was because somebody befriended you. Someone asked you to go out to eat. Whatever it was, someone befriended you. And because they became your friend. You started to see what it looks like to be loved unconditionally, to be loved, and how Jesus loves other people. I’m so thankful for the people that continue to do that here at Eastside. And again, if we want Madison County to be a county known for mercy, we have to do this.

PRACTICES OF MERCY

 Build bridges of love to the unpopular.

We have to build relationships of love to the unpopular. That’s going to be really hard and difficult if you don’t.

 PRACTICES OF MERCY

Value relationships over rules.

This means you put love before the policy. You put love before the law or the procedure in place. Look with me how Jesus did this. It says.

“Another time Jesus was walling through some grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick some grain and eat it. Some Pharisees saw this and protested, Your disciples are breaking God’s law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath!’ But Jesus said, ‘Haven’t you ever read what King David did when he and his soldiers were hungry? He went into the house of God, and they ate the holy bread reserved for the priests?…You would not have judged these innocent men if you knew the real meaning of the Scripture, “I want you to be merciful. I don’t want your sacrifices!” For I am the Lord of the Sabbath!”

Matthew 12:1-8 (NLT)

These Pharisees were telling Jesus, Hey, your friends, your people, they’re breaking the law. And what that means is they need justice. They need to get stoned, and they get put in jail because they’re breaking the law. Jesus says, Hold up. They’re just hungry. He tells them, You don’t get it. He tells the Pharisees, you have no idea because you don’t know who the father is. You don’t know his character. You don’t know his nature is actually to be merciful. He says, go and learn this. But really, who can really blame the Pharisees? They saw over and over Jesus healing people on the Sabbath. His disciples picking grain, healing other people all on the Sabbath. And they were probably tired of Jesus and his disciples breaking the law, putting relationships first instead of the law. And they don’t want to give him a second chance. They don’t want to give his disciples a second chance. They wanted justice. And that’s why. Our last practice. Is this.

 PRACTICES OF MERCY

You have to give people a second chance.

This, for me, is really hard because when people hurt me, I want to cut you out of my life. I don’t want to be friends with you. I don’t want to consider you part of my family anymore. Do you remember what you have done to me? You’re out. Do you remember what you did to my brothers? How you made them feel. Or my mom, my grandparents, or my dad. I don’t want anything to do with you. That’s how I feel when people are starting to hurt me or my family members. But. I believe. Giving people a second chance. It’s a little bit more than just forgiving them. Because when you forgive somebody. You’re doing it for yourself. You’re doing it so that you can be freed from the guilt, the shame, and the trauma that they did to you. It’s no longer weighing you down. But see, when you give somebody a second chance, you’re saying I’ve forgiven you. But now I want you to be a part of my life again. Be in relationship with me again. That’s hard. The best story that I was given was the story of Peter. Who is a disciple of Jesus? And Peter was a normal guy. He had a wife and three kids. He had a brother, and his mother-in-law lived with them. I can imagine all the personal quirks that they had to work over. But they were just fishermen. He and Andrew were just fishermen. And Peter was impulsive. He often said things without giving much thought at all. And because he did this so often, he found himself and others in difficult situations. And in the Book of Luke, we start to see how Jesus calls this man, this ordinary man, to follow him. And so Jesus is preaching on the shore of a lake. And more people are gathering, and he decides I’m going to step in in this boat, which is actually Peter’s boat. He steps on this boat and pushes it out ten 15 feet on the water so he can see everybody start speaking to him. And after he gets done speaking to him, he tells Peter says, hey, hey, Peter, you need to drop your net on the side so you can catch fish. NPR’s like. I’ve been fishing all night. We have been fishing all night. My brother had a fish all night and got nothing. And now you’re kind of saying if I’m just 15 feet from shore, I’m going to lower my net. It’s going to be filled with fish. Peter says okay. Because you asked Lord, I’ll do that. It’s so what does he do. He drops the net in, and sure enough, fish are just flying out of the nets, overfilling the boats. And he calls another friend, and he brings his boat. And there’s so much fish that the boats actually begin to sink.

So Peter jumps off the boat, and he falls at Jesus’s feet. Do you know what he says? He says, Go away from me. Go away from me, Lord, because I am a sinful man. He says you’re too good. Go away from me. I’m too bad. And Jesus says, Don’t be afraid. He’s like, Now I’m going to make you. Fishers of men. So then he dropped everything. Peter and his brother drop everything, and they follow Jesus for the next three years. They’re watching Jesus heal people. Show mercy on people, love people. All this stuff for three years. And right before Jesus is about to be arrested, he has the Last Supper, Right? And at the Last Supper, we have bread being broken for them for the people, and how the wine is the bloodshed for them. For their sins. And Jesus tells them, He says, One of you guys. You are going to betray me. It’s one of you in here. And they start talking. And Jesus says, And when this comes now when I’m delivered into the hands of man, then you guys are going to scatter. All of you guys are going to disappear. And, of course, Peter being impulsive. Said, No, not me, Lord. I’m not going to do that. Even if everybody else runs away, I will be here. And Jesus looks at Peter. Peter, the time that the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. Peter, like, Nope, no way. And what do we see? What do we read? Jesus gets arrested. He’s taken away. And now Peter is found in the courtyards with other people. And people start coming up here saying, Hey, I remember you. You’re with Jesus. He says No, I don’t know him. Another one. He walks away from that conversation and goes to another one. Hey. Yeah, I remember you. You were there when he healed so and so. He said, No, I don’t know. And finally, a little servant girl says, Yep, you were with Jesus. I can tell because of your accent. And by this time, he says, Nope, I have no idea who this is. I was never what this guy was. And the rooster crows. Could you imagine? The shame and the guilt that Peter felt at that moment. Like Jesus even told them, Hey, this is what’s going to happen in the future. I’m just going to warn you and tell you that, Hey, you’re going to deny me. And even with that insight. He still disowned Jesus. You know, Then we see Jesus go to the cross. He’s beaten, he’s whipped, he’s scorned, nailed to the cross, and finally put to death.

He’s resurrected, and he goes to see his disciples for the first time. A second time. And after the second time, they’re really lost. They don’t know what to do. They are like, cool, we did all these things. We used to help people. We had the Holy Spirit now. But what do we really do now? What is our mission now? And so Peter decides, you know what? I’m going to go fishing. And his friends join him. The disciples go with him and join in doing the old things they used to do. And sure enough, they try to fish all night. Nothing. And as they’re pulling up to shore the next morning, Jesus is on the shore. They don’t know it’s him yet. And he yells out, Hey, throw your nets to the other side, and you’ll catch fish. And they throw it. Again this is three years after Peter has experienced this the first time, and now he’s experiencing it the second time. He throws it over, and the fish start coming into the net. And so Peter does something completely different. Part of that impulsive behavior. He jumps into the water and starts swimming to shore because he knows it’s Jesus. And Jesus is there around the fire, and he has breakfast made. I can imagine Jesus. Breakfast is pretty good. And he’s there with his disciples, and he’s talking to them. And after they’ve eaten breakfast. He goes to Peter, and he has a conversation with Peter. And he says, Peter. Do you love me? Peter says, Yes, Lord, you know I do. Jesus says. Then feed my lambs. Jesus asked again. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord. You know I do. Then take care of my sheep. Finally, a third time, Jesus asked Peter. Peter, do you love me? And he’s hurt. It’s like, Man, I can’t believe Jesus asked me three times. And he says, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. Jesus replied, Feed my sheep. You see, right here, I think Jesus was. Allowing a second chance to be given to Peter. He asked him three times, Do you love me? Knowing Peter denied him three times.

So here at this moment, after Jesus extends mercy. Inviting him back into relationship with him, invited him back on board with ministry, and what? Peter was first called to do this, which was to build his church. We go out, and the Book of Acts, and we see Peter preach the gospel for the very first time. Do you know what happens? Thousands are saved. Thousands believe and are added to the church. And it all began because Jesus decided to give someone a second chance. He’s given us a second chance. We don’t deserve it. If we want Madison County. To be known for mercy, to be known for people that seek out the unpopular, to help people that are hurting, to be patient with people’s quirks. To give second chances. This is what we have to do. So right now, we’re going to take this moment. I don’t want you to take this lightly. And so if you have a pen or your phone. Open up your notes. And for each practice. I want you to put a name. So who is it? Ask God right now. Who is it? God, I need to be patient with their quirks. Is it my family? Is it my spouse? Is it my kids? Is it my grandparents? Is it my in-laws? Father. Who is it? I need to be patient with my quirks and type and write their name out. Second. Slow down. Ask God to slow your mind down. Don’t worry about what’s going on tomorrow or what you’re eaten after this. But ask God, who is it that is hurting around me that I can help? You know, people, if you just slow down, you can think of names of people that are hurting. You’ve heard stories. You’ve yet to reach out to them. To extend love. To extend mercy. Who is it? Write down their name. Number three, build bridges of love to the unpopular. Who is the unpopular in your realm of influence? It could be a coworker that does everything wrong. That despises Christianity. They’re impulsive. They say things without thinking, yet they need a friend. Because, you know, we say this all the time. We are that person who needs Jesus. But I want us to be a church that says You want, I’ll be a friend to them. Because we know. We can win, friends to Jesus, not enemies. Number four, who is it that you need to value your relationship over rules? Some of you guys are great leaders in your workplaces, and you have people under you when you’re friends with those people. But when they mess up, you’re quick to give justice. You’re quick to punish. And instead, we need to care about the relationship. You need to care about the relationship that you have with that person over the walls, the procedures, and the policies that are in place. Because we want Madison County to be known for relationships. We care about relationships far. More than we care about the laws, the rules, the policy. Write down that name in the last. Who is it? You need to give it a second chance too. Maybe not just forgive. But say, Hey, you know what? I want you to be part of my life again. It could be an old friend. That did you wrong so many years ago. It could be a family member. You just decided to cancel now. I don’t want you anymore. But in order to receive mercy, we must show it. And in order for Madison County to be known to be merciful. It starts with these things. It starts with giving people a second chance. Loving the unpopular, hurting, or helping the people that are hurting around us. And being patient with people. So as you guys finish that, I want to invite Todd Johnson, who is a member here at Eastside, and he has a tremendous story of how he extended mercy to his realm of influence.

Good morning. So Virgil called me earlier this week. And asked me to share my experiences with extending mercy or getting to that ability to extend mercy. And I was very honored and excited to be able to do this. He told me to keep it to 2 to 3 minutes. To be honest with you, I could probably talk for 2 to 3 hours and not miss a beat. I’m that passionate about it. So like many of you, I’m sure that you’ve let people into your life, into your heart, into your soul, and developed bonds and relationships. That only love can do. And probably, like many of you, I’ve had those relationships. Destroyed or tattered. By an unbroken trust. And when that happens, or at least I’ll use my statements when it happened to me, when it happened to me over the years. It felt as if a huge boulder was placed upon my chest, and it just put me into a place of darkness. You probably would have never noticed it on the outside, but on the inside, I was in a dark, dark place because of that trust that was broken over the years. I’m 56 years old. This started when I was probably 11. So just those relationships get broken, and there’s this chasm. It’s a huge chasm between you, and that loved one, right? There has to be loved there for you to be that heartbroken, right? Well, that weight sitting on my chest and on my heart was destroying me. From the inside, it was destroying the relationships I was in. And God kept telling me. What are you doing? If I can forgive those who trespass against you, who are you? And I have to admit, I didn’t want to come out of that dark place. I didn’t want to forgive them. I didn’t want to let this go. But it wasn’t until that day that I finally succumbed to God’s will. It wasn’t until that day that I finally realized that is my only way to peace. My only way to peace. It’s to just trust in the Lord and forgive those who had done me so wrong. It was the greatest day of my life because that boulder was gone. Just gone. And I had peace. My family had peace. And it was. It’s the greatest day that I could ever think of. And I want to leave you with one last example because it just happened recently. I’m not from here. I’m from Nebraska. I’ve been gone since 1985. My whole family still lives in Nebraska. Well, my brother and sister were here just last month. Just last month. And we’re out on my back deck, and we’re talking about some pretty heavy things, things that we’ve never discussed. And the conversation was about who was my dad? We grew up thinking it was the same dad as there’s. And to be honest with you, as we had that conversation, I had some ideas that maybe my dad was. He’s been passed away for a decade or so. That conversation wasn’t even a pebble. It wasn’t even a stone on my chest. It just wasn’t. And it wasn’t because I knew who my father was; I knew. So if I could leave you with anything, I beg you to try and sow love, sow forgiveness, and sow mercy. Because it can be free and bring you peace. Thank you.

Now Micah shared these five steps. It’s five things. I don’t know if you took your phone out or if you took you to know what we put on your seat to write this down. But here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to take time right now and just pray for those five names. I am still on the team this morning, that I think I have like 15 names. Right. So right now, if you guys would, after hearing Todd share what he shared, after hearing Micah, share what it could look like. Right now, we’re just going to take some time to pray over these names. So, Father. I think about what your mercy has done for me. That father, whenever I was lost. Whenever I was. Totally someone else. Father, I had people come into my life and extend mercy to me. Father. More importantly, you have continued to show your mercy every morning. So, Father, right now, I think of those that might be thinking or those who have already written it down or of those that we got to be patient with, those that their quirks. We just got to be. We got to give them mercy. Father. I think about those that we know who are hurting. We see them at work. We know it’s the relative. Father. We want to extend mercy. Then we want to help them. We just don’t want to sit in the background and watch them go through this. Father, we want to come alongside them. Father, I think about these bridges. It’s the Bridge of Love. Who is it that we need to build a bridge of love with? Father. I think about relationships. That Father. There are those that. I could say for myself I forget about the value of the relationship. Won’t allow the hurt or the past or what they haven’t done. To overrule the value of what they mean to me. And Father. Lastly, Andre, for those. Father, I got to give a second chance too. And my friends here at 11:00 that they might have written down the name. I’ve been the first time that they’ve had to write this name down for a second chance. Father could be a spouse. It could be a child. Faruq had been a friend. The father, the. This is. The time that we can focus. Knowing that you are doing some amazing work, so Father. We give these names right now. We just don’t end on it today. That father that we know that if we want to continue to see Madison County change, more people become all in for you that father. We have to extend mercy. So, Father, we give these names, you and you alone. We say this. Your wonderful name. The name of Jesus. Amen. So if you guys would, would you all stay with me? You know, the only thing I could think of was this 11:00 service. Just to be able to sing those words that we sang before Micah came up, that he found us, that he healed us. So if we were, let’s sing these words together. Come on.