1 00:00:16,590 --> 00:00:20,830 Well, good morning, Forward. Happy 91st birthday Forward 2 00:00:20,830 --> 00:00:26,830 Church. You're looking pretty good for 3 00:00:26,830 --> 00:00:30,320 91 years old. I got to say, if you're new here 4 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:32,640 today, I want to welcome you. We're thrilled that you've 5 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,040 joined us here today. This is a little family party 6 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,560 that we're having and we hope that you feel welcome and 7 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:42,440 joining the party with us. A couple things I want to just 8 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:44,280 say before we get into the message today. 9 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:48,840 First of all, the other day my wife said, Kirk, I know 10 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,920 Celebration Sunday is a big day, so I bought you a brand new 11 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:54,360 shirt and I want you to wear it on Celebration Sunday. 12 00:00:57,960 --> 00:00:59,760 Don't get excited yet, Andrew. It gets better. 13 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,200 It gets better. So I get here, I put on the 14 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,880 shirt like a good husband should do when his wife tells him to. 15 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:10,280 And then I'm up here at before the service starts helping to 16 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:12,320 get things ready for the baptisms that are happening a 17 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:16,040 little bit later on. And I look over and I see 18 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,800 another guy who has the exact same shirt on. 19 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,880 And then I see another guy who has the exact same shirt on. 20 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:29,120 Then I discovered that the women in my discipleship group lobbied 21 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:33,760 together. Guys, stand up all the guys in 22 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:45,120 my discipleship group. So you can thank Katie Gibbons 23 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:51,880 for that. 2nd, we have a new member to welcome to the Forward 24 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:53,600 Church Family. Would you just join me in 25 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,320 welcoming Sandra Gouda as member of our church? 26 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,920 And last, we have a ministry here in the church called the 27 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,919 Forward Leadership School. And this year we have several 28 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,040 people who have completed a three-year journey of walking 29 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,280 through our leadership school program, our second group to 30 00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:17,000 graduate. Now not all of them are able to 31 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,840 be here today, but those of you who are here, if you would just 32 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,240 come on up. We have a few of them who are 33 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,440 here, and I just want to give them a gift and recognize them 34 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:30,320 for their three years here. So we have Jared and Lisa, and 35 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:43,770 there's Nick back there. No, you can go back down, Jared. 36 00:02:43,770 --> 00:02:46,370 I know you don't want to. Congratulations, Lisa. 37 00:02:49,570 --> 00:02:52,530 Hey, Nick. Thanks, man. 38 00:02:52,730 --> 00:03:00,240 All right. Yeah, take your Bibles open up 39 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:04,600 to Psalm 138. That's page 547. 40 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,960 If you're using one of the Bibles in the seat around you, 41 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:10,920 Psalm 138. And just as you're opening 42 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:12,200 there, I want to ask you this question. 43 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,680 What are the best celebrations that you've ever been part of? 44 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:20,440 Maybe you think about a cultural celebration. 45 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,720 I, I live in Paris, and in Paris we have different cultural 46 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,080 celebrations that happened. The Paris Fair is the biggest 47 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:28,600 waste of money that you will ever have. 48 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,200 We also have the Maple Syrup Festival and I know some of our 49 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,040 people I ran into at the Maple Syrup Festival in Paris. 50 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,560 It is like such a bizarre small town thing. 51 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,920 The Maple Syrup festival in Paris had all these display 52 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,120 booths out and all these food trucks and two tables that 53 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,680 actually had Maple syrup. And so, yeah, we've got these 54 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,000 cultural celebrations that that we have. 55 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,360 Maybe it's an individual achievement in your life, maybe 56 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,960 a graduation after finishing school. 57 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:06,920 I think that the best celebrations are the 58 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:10,400 celebrations where you share a common passion with the other 59 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:13,600 people who are in the room, whether it's your family, when 60 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,519 you celebrate Christmas or birthdays together, whether it's 61 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:19,240 some type of a group achievement. 62 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:22,760 There's just something about winning together as a group that 63 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,600 feels really special. Well, over the last number of 64 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,560 years here at Forward, we have marked the end of June as 65 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:34,480 Celebration Sunday, a time for us to celebrate together as a 66 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,320 church family. But I I want to make something 67 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,640 really clear right up front. We are not here today to 68 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:47,040 celebrate our achievements. This is not a day for us to pat 69 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:51,640 ourselves on the back and say look how great Forward churches 70 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:56,200 because everything that we are seeking to celebrate today is 71 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:58,360 simply because of the goodness of God. 72 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,800 The Bible tells us in James chapter one that every good and 73 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,720 perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of 74 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,840 lights who's who does not change like shifting shadows. 75 00:05:15,280 --> 00:05:20,200 Everything that is good about this church family is because of 76 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,560 the goodness of God. Every good gift we have received 77 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,760 is because of Him. Now when you have a name like 78 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,120 Forward Church, it's really easy to keep looking to the future 79 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:33,960 and to say what's the next thing? 80 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:35,920 What's the next mountain to climb? 81 00:05:35,920 --> 00:05:37,800 What's the next vision to accomplish? 82 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,920 What's the next ministry? How can we meet the needs of 83 00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,040 more people and reach more people with the good news of the 84 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:46,040 gospel? But one of the most critical 85 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:50,720 things that we can do as a church is to have a habit of 86 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:56,160 pausing and looking back and enjoying what God has done 87 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:00,200 amongst us. Now, when someone's been good to 88 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:02,800 you, there's a lot of different responses that you can have. 89 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,040 You can sit there and go, well, I did a lot of the work already. 90 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:09,400 They just kind of helped out a bit. 91 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:11,920 That would not be the right response. 92 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,880 With God, you, you can take it for granted and you can just go, 93 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,000 well, of course, God's supposed to be good. 94 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:21,080 Of course he's going to be good and show his goodness to us. 95 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:22,800 And so you just learn to take it for granted. 96 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,920 It's a little bit like when you were a kid at Christmas and, 97 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,320 and, and in the first early years of Christmas, you get 98 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,720 super excited at all the things that you got at Christmas time. 99 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,560 But then as time went on, you started to go, it's Christmas 100 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,120 and there's more presents at Christmas And you just assume 101 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,600 you're going to get more presents at Christmas time and 102 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,720 you start taking it for granted that it's always going to be 103 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:47,760 there. Or maybe your response to 104 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,840 someone's goodness to you is just a polite thank you. 105 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,200 It's like sitting at the dinner table and and saying thank you 106 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,240 for supper because your mom or your dad told you, you need to 107 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,880 say thank you for supper, right? You just, it's the polite thing 108 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:07,280 to do. Well, Psalm 138 gives us a 109 00:07:07,280 --> 00:07:10,600 really specific way to respond to God's goodness. 110 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,960 And it's this. The goodness of God should 111 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:18,720 compel us to thank Him with our whole heart. 112 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:25,880 Look at verse one of Psalm 138. He says, I will give you thanks 113 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:31,560 with all my heart. I will sing your praise before 114 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:37,360 the heavenly beings. There is no polite nice thank 115 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,440 you going on. There's just this deep sense of 116 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:44,080 gratitude and being thankful it comes from the depths of his 117 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,320 being to express his gratitude to God. 118 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,600 And I love this description because it doesn't leave room 119 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:55,440 for half hearted thank yous. Like, I wonder how many of us 120 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:59,320 have gotten so used to good gifts from God, we've just 121 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:00,920 started to take them for granted. 122 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:07,120 I wonder how many of us settle for a polite thank you instead 123 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,600 of a wholehearted God. I can't believe you've been so, 124 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:15,920 so good to us. When you understand that what 125 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:21,480 makes a gift a gift is you don't deserve it, you can't help but 126 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,560 be thankful from the bottom of your heart. 127 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:27,440 You know, I, I got to tell you, I've grown up in church my 128 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,160 entire life. I've had the privilege of 129 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:34,880 traveling across Canada and I've seen other churches up close. 130 00:08:35,039 --> 00:08:38,360 I've been in ministry for 30 years, over 30 years. 131 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:44,640 Let me tell you, we should never take for granted the good gifts 132 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:46,240 that God has given to this church. 133 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,120 We, we are a church family who lives every single day in the 134 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,480 goodness of God. What? 135 00:08:54,480 --> 00:09:00,160 What God has blessed us with is not always the story of other 136 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,560 churches. Now, are we a perfect church? 137 00:09:02,560 --> 00:09:05,160 Absolutely not. No, we're not a perfect church. 138 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,480 But our perfection isn't what determines the goodness of God. 139 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:11,920 The goodness of God just comes from the character in the heart 140 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,760 of who God is. It's not about how well we've 141 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,280 performed for God. Have we made mistakes? 142 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:21,880 Sure, we've made mistakes. It's not about that. 143 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:26,520 It's about His goodness, His kindness towards us and for 144 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:31,920 David, he just needs to he's compelled to express in praise 145 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,200 how thankful he is. And it's not just his words. 146 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:39,880 His actions also say it. He he's so thankful. 147 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:42,800 He says, I can't just stop praising God. 148 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:46,160 Verse one, I will sing your praise before the heavenly 149 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,080 beings. So I have to sing about your 150 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,760 goodness. I got to tell you, like sitting 151 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:54,240 up here at the front listening to you worship and sing praises 152 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,680 to God this morning was amazing to listen to you. 153 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:03,000 Some of us, we live in a state of, hey, it's enough for me just 154 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:07,160 to be thankful on the inside. I don't need to kind of say it 155 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:10,360 too loudly and proudly. That's not where David lands. 156 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:13,640 He's like he lands in the space of if you're wholeheartedly 157 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:16,800 thankful, you cannot contain it on the inside. 158 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:22,600 You have to praise God. But last Sunday I was in Brant, 159 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,480 and man, it was just so cool listening to the group of people 160 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,320 in that little room lifting up their praises and worship to 161 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:33,480 God. And when we come together, we 162 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,000 praise the one who's been so good to us. 163 00:10:36,280 --> 00:10:38,960 But it's not limited to praising God when we're together as a 164 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,440 church. Notice the words. 165 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,440 I will sing your praise before the heavenly beings. 166 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,240 Some Bible translations use the word God's there. 167 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,760 David praises the goodness of God in the face of false gods. 168 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:56,840 What David is saying is I don't just praise God on Sunday when 169 00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:58,440 we're together as a church family. 170 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:01,600 I praise God all the time when I'm out in the community, when 171 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,880 I'm at work, when I'm with my family, wherever I'm interacting 172 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,760 because there are false gods everywhere and I'm just going to 173 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,760 go everywhere I can go and proclaim how good God is in the 174 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,160 face of the false gods. To tell them you guys are 175 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:16,520 useless compared to the one true almighty God. 176 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:23,040 That's the kind of affection that is stirred up inside of 177 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,680 David. He has to proclaim his praise of 178 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:30,640 God. And it's not just how loud he 179 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:32,680 sings and how loud he proclaims it. 180 00:11:34,040 --> 00:11:38,880 He also says he has to bow down and quietly give thanks to God. 181 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:43,440 Verse 2 says I will bow down towards your holy temple. 182 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:53,640 Neither of these expressions of praise are very Baptist. 183 00:11:55,240 --> 00:11:57,360 Now, for those of you who don't know, Forward is a Baptist 184 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,160 Church. That might shock some of you. 185 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:02,840 We're a Baptist Church, but neither of these expressions of 186 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:07,200 praise kind of land naturally for us as Baptists. 187 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,400 A lot of us are like, I don't know about that whole praising 188 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,720 God out loud thing. And a whole bunch of us are 189 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,760 like, you want me to bow down, get on my knees and worship 190 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:22,640 before God? That, that feels like an 191 00:12:22,640 --> 00:12:25,240 expression that I don't feel real comfortable with. 192 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:28,960 They're not very Baptist, but they are very biblical. 193 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,800 See, I, I want to not only give you permission to praise and 194 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,560 worship God in this way, but I want you to consider this. 195 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:45,920 We're nothing without God. We don't exist as a church 196 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:50,400 community apart from Jesus. Our salvation is in him alone. 197 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,120 He's the one that has brought us together. 198 00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:55,240 He's the one that has rescued us from sins. 199 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:58,560 He's the one that has saved us. He's the one who says you're a 200 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:02,160 church. None of this exists apart from 201 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:07,200 Jesus. So gaze on the goodness of God 202 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:11,080 and allow the depth of your thankfulness to come out in your 203 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,520 actions. Praise Him, be vocal about your 204 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:20,600 praise, but also bow down before Him in humility because you 205 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,240 don't deserve any of the goodness that we've received. 206 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,400 Now, I know we live in a fairly individualistic society. 207 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:31,840 We, we more easily see things that are good for me before we 208 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:33,720 see the things that are good for we. 209 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,040 We, in other words, we more easily celebrate when something 210 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,160 good happens to ourselves or within our immediate circle of 211 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,160 friends. But because we get caught up in 212 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,240 our own world so often, sometimes we miss the goodness 213 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:51,880 of God in the collective group. And so from this Psalm, I want 214 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:55,680 to give you 4 reasons that we as a church family have to 215 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:59,240 celebrate and to be thankful with all of our hearts. 216 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,760 First reason is we celebrate God's faithful and constant love 217 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:06,720 in verse 2 that that's what David says. 218 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:09,960 I'll bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your 219 00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,520 name for your constant love and truth. 220 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:18,160 You've exalted your name and your promise above everything 221 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:21,120 else. David recognizes that God has 222 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,560 shown his faithful love over and over again. 223 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:27,840 And and I know that we talk a lot about God's love here 224 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:32,160 forward, but I think sometimes we talk and even as church 225 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:33,640 family we talk. Yeah, God loves us. 226 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:37,000 God loves us, but we talk at high at such a high level we 227 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,920 don't know how to pay attention to where's God showing up and 228 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,880 showing his love for us in the everyday of life. 229 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,520 I got I'll be honest with you and tell you that not everything 230 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:52,600 about this past year has felt good or simple. 231 00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:56,960 There's been a lot of tough things, a lot of tough things in 232 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:59,040 our church, a lot of tough things and many of your own 233 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,160 personal lives over this past year. 234 00:15:02,200 --> 00:15:05,040 I'll say that for me personally, this was probably one of the 235 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:08,760 most challenging years that I've had in ministry for all kinds of 236 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:10,600 reasons. And I won't go into all the 237 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:15,040 details, but I can tell you this over and over again, the 238 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,000 goodness and faithfulness of God has shown up to protect this 239 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:25,400 church and carry us through. God's faithful love has shown up 240 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:30,200 time and time again. I see the compassion of the Lord 241 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,920 so often in the course of a year in this church. 242 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,400 We had 10 people who passed away part as part of our church 243 00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:42,280 family this year. And as I went to each funeral, 244 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,480 you know what I saw and I heard over and over again from family 245 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:49,560 members? They kept talking about how God 246 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:54,240 was their comfort, how they were at peace and at rest because 247 00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:58,560 they were experiencing the closeness of God in their grief 248 00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,560 and their sorrow. I've heard so many stories of 249 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:06,560 people who have told me about encountering God's love in our 250 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:10,480 worship services or as they study the Bible in discipleship 251 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:15,480 groups or in sermons on Sunday. A lot of times, God's faithful 252 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:20,160 love is expressed through you as you serve. 253 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,000 You are the hands and feet of Jesus. 254 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,200 Every person who's ever served at a funeral in our church or 255 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:35,160 brought help to a family in crisis, as you've experienced 256 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,640 the goodness of God in your own life and you've served other 257 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,240 people, you're helping them to experience the goodness of God. 258 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:46,480 I see it in our seniors care team who visit and care so well 259 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,840 for so many people, some of whom may never be able to come to 260 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:51,200 church again because of their health. 261 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:57,400 It shows up as you invest in families in need through 262 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:02,800 organizations like say Families. It's shown up in our ESL program 263 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,520 that we have here in Cambridge. You know, when ESL first 264 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,480 launched, it had really large numbers. 265 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:11,920 And over the last year, the numbers have really kind of 266 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,200 slowly dwindled and gotten smaller. 267 00:17:14,319 --> 00:17:16,440 But there's been a more consistent group of people that 268 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,800 have been coming to ESL. And as that group of people 269 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:23,520 came, relationships, deeper relationships were being formed 270 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:28,359 with the people who are serving and leading in ESL, and we began 271 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:32,440 to see God working in ways that we could have never expected. 272 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:38,320 Most of the attendees in ESL came to Canada with a faith 273 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:41,440 already, but basically nothing else. 274 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:47,120 They had nowhere to turn for practical needs to get settled 275 00:17:47,120 --> 00:17:51,240 in Canada. But this team stepped up and 276 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:55,960 served these families in need in the most practical ways and 277 00:17:55,960 --> 00:17:58,200 showed the goodness and kindness of God to them. 278 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,520 This team has used their knowledge and their circles of 279 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,080 influence to provide practical assistance and to see lives 280 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,360 change for the better. They've lived out the command in 281 00:18:09,360 --> 00:18:13,200 the book of Deuteronomy to love the resident alien amongst us. 282 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,440 It's beautiful you as you serve. You are expressing the goodness 283 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,160 and the constant and faithful love of God to others. 284 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,280 We experience God's faithful love in our church as He 285 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:27,040 consistently kept His promises towards us this year. 286 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:31,160 God has provided for all of our needs as a church family. 287 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:35,400 You know there is a sense of God math that doesn't always make 288 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:39,800 sense. As you know this year we started 289 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,480 2 brand new church sites. We sent out about 100 people 290 00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:47,920 from Cambridge to help start the Branton Arabic sites. 291 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,400 And you would think that would result in a drop in giving in 292 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:57,040 Cambridge, but actually the opposite happened. 293 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:01,480 Somehow God gave an increase in giving in Cambridge. 294 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,480 See, God keeps providing for our needs as a church family, 295 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:10,240 showing his faithful love over and over again. 296 00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,840 God has been so good to us, but it doesn't end there. 297 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,320 We also celebrate what he's done in answering our prayers. 298 00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:20,240 Look at verse 3. David says, on the day I called, 299 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,240 you answered me. You increased strength within 300 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,680 me. He's recognizing that God is the 301 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:31,960 God who answers prayer. God has done the same for many 302 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,240 of you over this year. I I know so many of you have 303 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,320 experienced God's answer to prayers in your own personal 304 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,080 life. And it's so important when you 305 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,440 experience God answering prayers that you don't just move on. 306 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:46,840 It's important you stop and say thank you to God. 307 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:49,760 If you're going to ask Him to show His goodness and His power 308 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,160 in a situation, it's essential that you stop and say thank you 309 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,800 God, for showing up and for answering this prayer. 310 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,480 Andrew Murray described answered prayers this way. 311 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:04,400 He said answered prayer is the interchange of love between the 312 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:10,160 Father and his child. You know, I think about all the 313 00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,480 ways that we pray together as a church family. 314 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,760 I think about our prayer and worship nights that we have 315 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:20,800 together, this powerful moment when we come together to pray 316 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,360 for each other and for the needs of our church community. 317 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,320 I think about the prayers that happen in discipleship groups or 318 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,080 when your ministry teams that you're serving and come together 319 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:35,240 and you pray within friendships, watching people after church 320 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,680 services, just standing around in circles and praying for each 321 00:20:38,680 --> 00:20:41,120 other as you've experienced different things. 322 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,360 Every Sunday morning, our elders meet at 8:00 AM to pray for you 323 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,000 as a church family. Over 400 people receive our 324 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,120 weekly prayer e-mail and pray for different requests in our 325 00:20:52,120 --> 00:20:56,080 family. And every year there are 326 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,240 hundreds and hundreds of prayer requests that get brought to us 327 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,400 as a church. And over and over again we see 328 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,440 God answering those prayers. Just this week, a family who had 329 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,560 asked us to pray that God would sustain their business through 330 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,400 the spring reported back how God has answered that prayer and 331 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:20,160 then some. So many of you, I look out in 332 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:25,720 this room and as a pastor, I know so many of your stories of 333 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,480 things that you were desperately asking God to show up in 334 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:34,640 situations. I know so many of your stories 335 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:39,960 where there were health concerns, financial concerns, 336 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:47,480 and relationship concerns. I know that some of you, if we 337 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,080 would have had this conversation three months and six months ago, 338 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:51,840 you might have said, I don't even know if I'm going to make 339 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:53,800 it to be alive on Celebration Sunday. 340 00:21:55,960 --> 00:22:01,040 And here you are. I look out and I just see the 341 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:06,600 goodness of God in answering prayers over and over and over 342 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:11,320 again. When you prayed for our Brant 343 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,800 and Arabic congregations to start, God has answered those 344 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:17,840 prayers and we're seeing people coming together and forming 345 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,040 congregations and it's beautiful and it's powerful to see what 346 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,880 God's doing. You know, one of the things that 347 00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:28,000 we pray for as pastors all the time is that we would be a 348 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000 church who keeps growing to be more and more like Jesus. 349 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,360 And we can see the ways that God's answering those prayers. 350 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:41,280 Over 1800 people are connected somewhere in our discipleship 351 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:43,040 ministries in the life of this church. 352 00:22:43,680 --> 00:22:47,360 There's a hunger and a desire for people who want to become 353 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:51,440 more like Jesus. We have almost 500 people who 354 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,240 serve on a team somewhere in the life of our church. 355 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,040 Like the fact that you are willing to give of your time to 356 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:02,000 serve Jesus and to serve others and love others in that way is a 357 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,040 beautiful picture. One of the things that our 358 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,400 elders pray for all the time is unity. 359 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:13,800 And I am so deeply grateful to be part of a church family where 360 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,200 we can agree to disagree on some things, but we can still be in 361 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:22,160 unity with each other. Like there is a difference 362 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,640 between unity and uniformity. We'll never be in uniformity 363 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,000 because we're all different. We all different ideas and 364 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,240 thoughts and backgrounds and expertise and everything else. 365 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:35,000 We'll never be in uniformity, but we can always be in unity 366 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,600 because we have one thing in common and it's Jesus. 367 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,560 It's his love for us and it's His mission that He's called us 368 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:47,280 to. When I think about all the ways 369 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,040 that God has answered prayers for our church family over this 370 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:56,560 past year, I cannot help but look to the Lord and just say 371 00:23:56,560 --> 00:24:02,960 thank you, God, Thank you for your faithfulness to us. 372 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,920 Thank you for showing your power over and over and over again. 373 00:24:10,360 --> 00:24:14,480 Thank you for hearing our prayers and answering when we've 374 00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:19,640 called out to you. But His goodness doesn't end 375 00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,880 there. We also celebrate His grace. 376 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,160 The verse 4. All the kings on earth will give 377 00:24:27,160 --> 00:24:29,000 you thanks, Lord. When they hear what you've 378 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,920 promised, they will sing the Lord's ways, for the Lord's 379 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,840 glory is great. Though the Lord is exalted, He 380 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:41,920 takes note of the humble, but he knows the haughty from a 381 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:45,840 distance. In these verses, David talks 382 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,200 about how even the mighty are going to recognize their limits 383 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:52,360 when they encounter the glory of God. 384 00:24:53,840 --> 00:24:58,200 The the eternal God, the all powerful, all knowing Creator of 385 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:01,400 everything. The one who put the oceans and 386 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,320 the mountains in place. The one who is capable of just 387 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:08,600 simply saying a word and speaking something into 388 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,120 existence. The one who judges anything that 389 00:25:12,120 --> 00:25:16,240 falls short of his standard. Who is wholly imperfect in every 390 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,800 way. The one who is greater than your 391 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:23,120 mind can possibly fathom, whose ways and thoughts are so far 392 00:25:23,120 --> 00:25:27,480 beyond what you can imagine. And frankly, his ways and 393 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:31,120 thoughts are so far beyond what AI will ever be able to come up 394 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:45,800 with that God loves you that that God sees the brokenness of 395 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:51,720 the world, the brokenness in your life, in my life, the sin 396 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:56,520 and the shame that we carry. And instead of running away, 397 00:25:56,520 --> 00:26:01,560 that God comes to rescue you. And not only does he come to 398 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,240 rescue you, he comes to keep walking with you and to be with 399 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,480 you every moment of every day for the rest of your life. 400 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:14,320 He's a God who does not need you in any way. 401 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:21,040 But the evidence says he does want you to know him and to know 402 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,080 his love for you. That's grace. 403 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,600 That's the unmerited favor of God. 404 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,160 And Psalm 138 tells us in the verses we just read that the 405 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,320 Lord is exalted. He takes note of the humble. 406 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:41,800 Over this past year, we've seen people encounter God's grace 407 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:47,040 over and over and over again. We have seen people of all ages, 408 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:52,400 kids and youth and adults in all of our sites who've come to know 409 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,600 and believe in the goodness of God and have come to faith in 410 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,640 Jesus. That's God's grace showing up 411 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:02,400 over and over again. We've seen 49 people baptized in 412 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,280 the past year between all of our sites, and today that number is 413 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:15,410 going higher. We have a bunch of people who 414 00:27:15,410 --> 00:27:18,130 are going to get baptized today in the service. 415 00:27:18,130 --> 00:27:21,320 We got at least 8 and there are some of you who are going to get 416 00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:23,560 baptized today and you didn't even know you were going to get 417 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,760 baptized today. Because what we're going to do 418 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:31,040 is we're going to open up the baptism to anyone who is a 419 00:27:31,040 --> 00:27:35,720 believer and follower of Jesus to be able to say today is the 420 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:39,520 day where I'm going to go public and I'm going to say Jesus is my 421 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:41,600 Lord. I'm going to live in obedience 422 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,480 to him. Today is your opportunity for 423 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:47,840 you to be baptized, even if you weren't planning to be baptized. 424 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,680 We do this because we've encountered God's grace in our 425 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:55,440 lives. You see, baptism is just an act 426 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,560 of obedience. It's what Jesus has commanded us 427 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:02,600 to do as an outward sign to show what is already true in our 428 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:07,240 hearts, that we have experienced His grace and put our faith in 429 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,040 Him for the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation of our 430 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,280 lives. And if you're a believer and 431 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:15,960 follower of Jesus today and you've never been baptized, I 432 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:20,160 want to say today is your day. And you're thinking, well, but 433 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:22,320 do I just wear the clothes I got? 434 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:24,760 We got you. We got clothes for you. 435 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,280 We got towels for you. We are taking away all your 436 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,080 reasons so you get back to not get baptized today. 437 00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:36,840 All right. But grace is not something that 438 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,480 just ends when we come to faith. Aren't you so glad that grace 439 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:41,240 doesn't just end when we come to faith? 440 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:45,040 We need the grace of God every single day in our lives. 441 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:47,800 You know, a few months ago, I had two different people come up 442 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,440 to me and say this about forward within like a week of each 443 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:52,680 other. It was really crazy. 444 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:57,040 They said, I cannot believe how open and transparent people are 445 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,000 in this church about the challenges that they're facing 446 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,840 in life and about the sins that they have. 447 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,120 And they said this, it's like this church lives like we know 448 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:10,160 we all have problems and need a Savior. 449 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:14,320 Man, if you're going to be known for one thing, isn't that a good 450 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,160 thing to be known for? Like we live like we know we all 451 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:21,440 have problems and need a Savior. That's our story. 452 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,960 And can I just tell you that when I heard that, that's an 453 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,240 answer to prayer too. If you were to walk down the 454 00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,280 hallway where our staff offices are, you would actually see a 455 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,760 prayer request on the wall that says this. 456 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,320 Pray that. Shame and secrecy would lose 457 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:42,400 their power in Christians, and we are seeing the Holy Spirit do 458 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,800 that work in our church family, and I praise God for that. 459 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,280 In the video you saw earlier this morning, you saw stories of 460 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,680 people who walked through Freedom Session, and every story 461 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,920 of freedom is a story of God's grace amongst us. 462 00:29:57,720 --> 00:30:00,240 But I'm so glad that we're not a church that just keeps this good 463 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,800 news of grace to ourselves, that that we're a church that is 464 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,960 committed to seeing the people in our community and all around 465 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,320 the world discover this same kind of grace in every Alpha 466 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,000 program, every youth Alpha in Kitchener, community outreach 467 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,680 events that we've done, community programs that we run 468 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,880 camp forward through our global engagement partners. 469 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,360 And as you interact with people in your everyday life, God is 470 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:28,120 using this church to help so many other people know that he's 471 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:31,520 a God of grace. And that's our story we have to 472 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,560 keep telling over and over and over again. 473 00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,760 The goodness of God over this past year is everywhere. 474 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:41,400 But there's still one more thing for us to celebrate, and it's 475 00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,560 this. We celebrate the future 476 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,280 victories that He's already won. Look at verse seven and eight. 477 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:51,800 If I walk into the thick of danger, you will preserve my 478 00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:54,280 life from the anger of my enemies. 479 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,560 You will extend your hand. Your right hand will save me. 480 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,240 The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. 481 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:03,120 Lord, your faithful love endures forever. 482 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:07,080 Do not abandon the work of your hands. 483 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:12,160 David has this absolute confidence that because God has 484 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:16,360 been good, he's going to keep being good in the future, no 485 00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,120 matter what might come. He says if I walk into the thick 486 00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,760 of danger, you will preserve my life. 487 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:27,080 He says the Lord has a purpose for me, even when it feels like 488 00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:30,800 life is uncertain. And if there's one thing that I 489 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:33,880 know to be true over the next 12 months, it's this. 490 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:37,200 I have no idea what's going to happen in the next 12 months, 491 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,720 but here's what I do know. The God who has been good for 492 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,280 the past 12 months is not going to stop being good for the next 493 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:52,840 12 months. No matter what comes, God is 494 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,640 still good. There are so many more victories 495 00:31:56,640 --> 00:32:00,200 and moments of experiencing His goodness that are waiting for 496 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:01,920 us. We just need to pay attention 497 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,000 for them. And if you haven't heard one 498 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,040 thing I said today, I want you to hear this. 499 00:32:07,840 --> 00:32:09,720 No matter which site you are a part of. 500 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,240 The best days of Forward Church can still be ahead of us. 501 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:20,680 Not because we're great, but because His faithful love 502 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:26,600 endures forever. That's why and that promise and 503 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,960 that hope should never lead us to any sense of arrogance or 504 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,640 entitlement. It actually should move us in 505 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,280 the opposite direction to complete dependence. 506 00:32:38,120 --> 00:32:41,960 It should move us to a place of how David ends this Psalm. 507 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,280 He says he praises the God who is faithful and good, but then 508 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:48,560 he says, God, please don't abandoned the work. 509 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:53,000 You've already started a complete dependence on God. 510 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:59,520 I am confident in the goodness of God, but I also know we are 511 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:03,200 nothing unless He continues to show His goodness to us as a 512 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:07,040 church. And So what do we do with that? 513 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:11,560 Well, for David, there's only one thing you do with the 514 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:16,080 goodness of God. You praise him and you worship 515 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:18,520 him. That's what you do. 516 00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:24,640 We fix our eyes on the one who has rescued us from our sins, 517 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,880 who has saved us, and we celebrate his goodness amongst 518 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,320 us. We're going to sing a couple of 519 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:35,720 songs, one to praise God, one to really reflect and worship God. 520 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,720 And as we're singing these songs today, if you are here today and 521 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:43,000 you've never been baptized before, but you are a believer 522 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,880 in Jesus, then I want to challenge you as we're singing 523 00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:48,280 these songs, here's what you need to do. 524 00:33:48,520 --> 00:33:51,400 You need to just get up and go out the doors on this side. 525 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,600 If you're up in the balcony, go out the door on this side as 526 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:55,320 well. And we have some people from our 527 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,440 team who are going to meet with you and help you get ready for 528 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:00,280 your baptism. Today is your day. 529 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:04,040 Don't let fear get in the way of you saying yes to Jesus. 530 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:07,360 If you're here today and you've never put your faith in Jesus 531 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:11,639 before, man, I can't think of the better moment for you than 532 00:34:11,639 --> 00:34:14,560 right now. He's a God who loves you, who 533 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,280 sent his Son Jesus to die on a cross for your sins in your 534 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,199 place so that you could have the gift of eternal life, that you 535 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:24,920 could have the gift of calling this godfather. 536 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:29,800 And what you just need to do is turn to him in faith and say, 537 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:31,600 Jesus, would you come and forgive me of my sins? 538 00:34:31,600 --> 00:34:35,520 And I place my faith on you. And when you place your faith in 539 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:39,920 Jesus, God says he gives you the gift of eternal life, not 540 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:42,400 because of anything you've done, but because of how good he is. 541 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:45,320 And guess what? If you pray that prayer right 542 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,880 now and say, I want to come to faith in Jesus, you can get 543 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:53,000 baptized right now too. We'd love to be able to do that. 544 00:34:54,520 --> 00:34:56,960 So as we sing these songs, just get up and leave to the back 545 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,840 doors over on the side, and our team will meet with you if you 546 00:34:59,840 --> 00:35:03,320 want to get baptized today. Church, let's stand together. 547 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,480 We have so much to praise the Lord for. 548 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,840 We have so much to worship our God for. 549 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,480 Let's do that over these next couple of songs.