1 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:15,880 Friends, this morning our teaching scripture is 3 verses 2 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:24,040 from three different books. Come, let us return to the Lord. 3 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:31,320 Hosea 6. Return to me with all your 4 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:38,760 heart, Joel Chapter 2. Return to me, says the Lord of 5 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:43,600 hosts, and I will return to you from Zechariah. 6 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:50,760 This is the word of the Lord. OK, thanks for being here, 7 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:53,360 friends. Welcome to the new year. 8 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,240 Welcome to a new season of of your life. 9 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,560 I don't know if that's how it feels for you at the beginning 10 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,040 of the year, but that's that's kind of how it feels for me. 11 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,920 I'm super grateful to be here with Parker and the rest of our 12 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:08,920 teams. You know, obviously it goes 13 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,760 without saying that at the turn of a year, there's a lot of 14 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:16,080 reflection that goes on, a lot of sort of assessment of the 15 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,120 past year, a little bit of a looking ahead to the next year. 16 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,040 And if you were with us last week, we heard from three people 17 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,400 who have leaned their life towards this community and the 18 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,680 invitations that God is having for them over the past year, 19 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:39,360 June and and Quran and Joel, thank you. 20 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:41,640 I'm used to seeing Joel in the back corner, but he's not there. 21 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,440 They did a phenomenal job of just sharing with this community 22 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,760 just ways in which God has been inviting them to respond. 23 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,800 It was, it was very meaningful and it just got me a little bit 24 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,160 reflective on my, I, my past year. 25 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:59,120 I've been thinking a little bit about where I find myself in my 26 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:03,560 own story at the end of 2025, at the beginning of the year of our 27 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:06,720 Lord 2026. And you know, like what's the 28 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:09,479 shape of my story? I don't know if you guys, you 29 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:11,760 guys get reflective at all at the end of the year. 30 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:15,800 It's a little different than just setting resolutions. 31 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:21,440 But I just noticed that like I'm slowly making my way to the age 32 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:26,440 of 50, which sounds incredible. I'm, I'm still 2 years away. 33 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:31,080 By the way, I'm in my 25th year of marriage. 34 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,480 I have a really a handful of really hard years behind me. 35 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,640 I have a lot of gratitude for the shape of my life. 36 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,200 I'm in a season where most of my kids are heading into their 37 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,280 adult years. And I've just been a little 38 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,840 reflective on the basic shape of my story. 39 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,600 Like this is the basic shape of my story right here in the 40 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,560 middle of my life. And, you know, this is the kind 41 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:55,680 of thing we do. We, we ask some questions, we 42 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,240 make some goals. Maybe some of you have chosen 43 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,160 some some words for the year. That's kind of a bit of a trend. 44 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,880 You know, words like, you know, eat pray, love. 45 00:03:04,880 --> 00:03:10,440 Do you guys remember that eat pray love kind of word season? 46 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:12,000 Actually, that sounds like a great year. 47 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,400 I bet I could find a sign to put on my wall to just help me 48 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,840 remember that. That's a good agenda, but I'm 49 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,160 crossing over. We're crossing over from one 50 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:26,560 year to the next. And I've been reflecting on the 51 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,360 shape of my life in the season, and I've been sitting with this 52 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:32,760 idea, and I came across something that writer Kurt 53 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:36,160 Vonnegut used to talk about. Vonnegut was one of those odd 54 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:40,240 prophets of the 20th century, kind of sarcastic, a little bit 55 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,160 brilliant, a little bit heartbroken. 56 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,080 He actually would have fit really well in this community. 57 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,320 And he survived the firebombing of Dresden in World War 2. 58 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:56,040 And he spent most of his life and writing career trying to 59 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,800 make sense of a world that seemed kind of bent towards 60 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,480 absurdity. And he wrote novels to try to 61 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,840 find meaning. And anyway, Vonnegut gives this 62 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:11,560 lecture that you can find on the Internet by Googling it, it's 63 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,840 became kind of a popular lecture. 64 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:19,480 And he would begin to to kind of sketch out the shape of stories 65 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,240 on a chalkboard. And he basically said that the 66 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,960 stories that we see in the novels and the movies, they have 67 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:32,120 a particular emotional tenor and a typical emotional shape to 68 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,040 them. And he says that you can kind of 69 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:38,440 graph the the movement of a story with the horizontal axis 70 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,200 representing the timeline from the beginning to the end, and 71 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:46,160 the vertical axis representing the character's good fortune or 72 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:48,840 I'll fortune. And when you, when you hear 73 00:04:48,840 --> 00:04:51,160 Vonnegut say it, you realize like, he's right. 74 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:56,600 There's like four or five basic kinds of stories that all of the 75 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,280 stories sort of move into. And he believes that the shapes 76 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:04,360 of stories are not random, but they reflect the rhythms of 77 00:05:04,360 --> 00:05:07,760 human experience. The rises and the falls, the 78 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:12,360 losses and the gains, the good years and the hard ones, the 79 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,640 things that we wish did not happen and the things that we're 80 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:18,280 really grateful that have happened. 81 00:05:19,280 --> 00:05:22,360 He says this next graph, he kind of graphs it out. 82 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,200 He says that this is a story where the character starts out 83 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:28,920 fine and falls in a hole and everything kind of turns out 84 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:30,800 fine in the end. It's like the man in the whole 85 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:35,160 story is what he calls it. And here's another story that he 86 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:36,920 talks about. He says this is a story where 87 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,240 something somebody is going through, like a bad season and 88 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:43,800 just goes from bad to worse. And like, people actually love 89 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:45,120 this story. They have to read about this 90 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,400 story. Or there's another story about a 91 00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:51,160 little girl who's in a really bad shape and, you know, she 92 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,880 loses her mom and her dad remarries another woman. 93 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,560 And the other woman had two sisters. 94 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,720 And so now she has two stepdaughters and things are not 95 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:04,000 going very well, but she meets a fairy godmother who gives her a 96 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,480 dress and some shoes and a way to get to the ball and to meet 97 00:06:06,480 --> 00:06:10,440 the boy. And at midnight, the clock 98 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:15,680 strikes and down, down, down, she goes into the hole until the 99 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:18,440 guy shows back up with slippers. And she lives happily ever 100 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:20,160 after. Like, this is the shape of that 101 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:22,880 story. And he believes that the shapes 102 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:27,440 of these stories were of literary structures were kind of 103 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,400 reflective of the of the shape of our own lives. 104 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:37,000 OK, why am I saying all of this? It's because the Scriptures are 105 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:41,040 just stories. And most of the stories of the 106 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,960 Scriptures are about different parts of the journey of one 107 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,680 particular people called the Hebrews, which was a people that 108 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,320 was originally made-up of 12 tribes, which then multiplied 109 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,800 and increased in population. And each of these tribes can 110 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,800 trace its origin back to a common family, the family of 111 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,720 Jacob, who was later named Israel, whose father was Isaac, 112 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:10,040 whose father was Abraham. And almost all of what we now 113 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,520 call the Old Testament is the story of this family who God 114 00:07:15,520 --> 00:07:19,160 began to reveal himself to through a series of visions and 115 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:23,520 dreams and conversations that began with Abraham and then 116 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:26,920 continued on down in the line of his family. 117 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:30,920 Where God slowly reveals to this family, which had become a 118 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:36,760 people and a nation, what kind of God he was and how this God, 119 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,520 whose name was Yahweh, was different from all of the other 120 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:42,480 gods. This is the basic shape of the 121 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,360 Old Testament story. The other gods that people 122 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,320 worshipped were gods of war and violence. 123 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:55,360 And this God, who was said to be the God over all of the other 124 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,560 gods and the one responsible for all of creation, was not a God 125 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,440 of War. He was not a God of violence. 126 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,240 He was not a God that required you to sacrifice your babies on 127 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:10,040 an altar. This one God who revealed 128 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:15,160 himself to Abraham was a God pursuing peace and justice, and 129 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,960 he desired to reveal to this particular people, not just to 130 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:23,040 this one family, but to the whole world, that all of the 131 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,120 people have been created by God in a way where God has placed 132 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,120 inside of them a representation of his own self. 133 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:35,600 You and I were made to be like God. 134 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:41,600 That is how God has created you to be, and that the people have 135 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,520 always been meant to reflect back to each other what it is 136 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,920 that God is like. And so this family that becomes 137 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:53,480 this collection of tribes, which become a people who trace their 138 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:58,840 ancestry back to Father Abraham, are the recipients of this 139 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:04,520 ongoing slow relational outpouring of the Creator's love 140 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:07,040 for the humans and for all of the world. 141 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:10,320 Sounds like a pretty good story, right? 142 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:16,320 But over time, what happens is that the relationship has these 143 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:19,760 seasons where the relationship between the people and God 144 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:23,760 becomes strained. And so the story takes on the 145 00:09:23,760 --> 00:09:27,040 shape of like the man and the whole story, everything is going 146 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:29,640 fine. And they dip down and they come 147 00:09:29,640 --> 00:09:33,240 back up and they're constantly being reminded that they were 148 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,240 meant for a kind of relationship with their Creator that was 149 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,000 better than the one that they were living in. 150 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:44,800 And so while they're in the midst of their own story, they 151 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:48,640 tell another story to try to make sense of the plight that 152 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:52,360 they find themselves in. And they told a story inspired 153 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:58,040 by God that was meant to explain what it is that had gone wrong 154 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,280 in the whole situation. And the shape of the story that 155 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,120 they told to to explain sort of how it is that they've ended up 156 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:09,640 a bit of a mess over and over and over again. 157 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:15,240 The shape of the story they told was, was this, they said in the 158 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:19,240 beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and the 159 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:23,800 earth was formless and empty and darkness was hovering over the 160 00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:27,080 surface of the earth and over the waters. 161 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,520 And so they start their story with this story of darkness and 162 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:36,840 chaos and emptiness. Darkness, chaos and emptiness. 163 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,840 And then the God that has been wooing this family into 164 00:10:41,840 --> 00:10:45,560 relationship is also there at the beginning through the spirit 165 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:50,600 that is hovering over the darkness and the chaos and the 166 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,640 emptiness. And God said, let there be 167 00:10:53,640 --> 00:10:55,880 light. And the origin story is off to 168 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:59,080 like a really good start and it looks something like this. 169 00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:04,200 Everything is fine. We could just do this forever. 170 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,160 Light comes in the midst of darkness. 171 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:10,440 Order is spoken into chaos. The emptiness is filled with 172 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,600 life and beauty and abundance and vision and love and 173 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:17,760 tenderness and a sense of purpose and vocation. 174 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:21,440 And it's said that God walked with the humans in the cool of 175 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:24,800 the morning and everything is going great. 176 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:31,760 And then the serpent comes and the lies and the shame and the 177 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:36,080 nakedness turns into hiding, and the rightly ordered loves and 178 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,120 desires begin to get off track and the mutuality between God 179 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,560 and the humans is broken. Do you do you see the shape that 180 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:48,120 the story is beginning to to make right here? 181 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,160 This is the shape of the story that they tell. 182 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,440 We're over and over, this God of all creation comes to the family 183 00:11:55,440 --> 00:12:00,800 and says, I made you. I love you and I'm coming after 184 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,080 you. I'm inviting you into this 185 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:11,200 project of restoration. And over time, this God gave 186 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:15,320 them some feedback and some input and he says, I want to try 187 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,560 to make you like me once again. And so I'm going to give you 188 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:25,760 some laws to try to follow, like simple things like don't lie to 189 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,840 each other. Don't covet the things that your 190 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:30,600 neighbor has. I'm, I'm going to give you 191 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:32,720 everything you need because I'm a God of abundance. 192 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,040 And so don't covet. And you can just trust me. 193 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:39,800 Don't commit adultery. Just be faithful to the one that 194 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,360 you have because this relationship is actually 195 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:46,080 indicative of the kind of faithful love that I have for 196 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:48,840 you. You know, don't, don't lie to 197 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:50,920 your neighbor. Don't bear false witness about 198 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,240 your neighbor. Relationships are built on 199 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:58,040 trust. All of these things God began to 200 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,560 say. And so God begins the 201 00:13:00,560 --> 00:13:06,840 restoration project to restore and rightly size all of the 202 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:11,040 human relationships. And the stories multiply. 203 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:14,000 There's seasons of glory. There's seasons of heartache 204 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,320 where their God is near and leading them and guiding them 205 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:19,960 and providing for them. And then seasons where they 206 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:26,760 wonder if God is even real. And I happen to know that there 207 00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,880 are some of you here that you have been in a season where you 208 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:32,760 are just like, I don't even know if any of this is real. 209 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:37,800 And I just want to let you know that the scriptures have 210 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,800 multiple instances where people are asking that question. 211 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:42,400 So you're in like, really good company. 212 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:48,160 So the general shape of their story becomes like this. 213 00:13:50,440 --> 00:13:52,440 It's the one with the really curvy. 214 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:57,240 There you go, over and over and over again, ups and downs. 215 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:00,240 There are seasons where their shoulders are turned towards 216 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,040 God. There are seasons where their 217 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:03,760 shoulders are turned away from God. 218 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:07,160 And in these seasons where their shoulders are turned away from 219 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:12,480 God, there are a few people among them who have not 220 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:18,080 forgotten who got it. In fact, there are a few people 221 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,920 among them who have a really tight knit, close relationship 222 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:24,520 with God. And God begins to speak to these 223 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:28,880 particular people and ask these people to tell everyone else and 224 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,320 to remind everybody else of what they're supposed to be doing and 225 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,920 the kind of relationship that they're supposed to have. 226 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:39,680 And these people, the ones who have not forgotten about God, 227 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,840 they live their life in a way that tries to get the attention 228 00:14:44,440 --> 00:14:48,760 of all of the other people. They tried to explain to the 229 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,320 others or remind all of the other people and all of the 230 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:55,880 leaders of the people that God was still around, that God was 231 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,800 waiting for their return, that God was desiring them to be 232 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,320 faithful to their mutual commitment to one another. 233 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:08,280 And these individuals, they told stories, they told particular 234 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,680 kinds of stories. They lived their story as a as a 235 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:14,720 witness to the faithfulness of God. 236 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:19,320 They embodied their life with a message that corresponded to 237 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,680 what God had wanted the people to pay attention to. 238 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,360 And these people became known as the prophets. 239 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:34,440 There it is, the prophets. This is all to say we are 240 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:39,240 beginning a new series. We are going to spend the next 241 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:45,280 12 weeks all the way up to Easter looking at a group of 242 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:50,520 prophets that the tradition has come to refer to as as the minor 243 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,760 prophets. And these minor prophets, 244 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:54,760 they're not minor because of their influence. 245 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,120 They're minor because they just didn't write very much. 246 00:15:57,920 --> 00:16:02,120 So I don't know what that means. Maybe write more, I don't know. 247 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:07,040 But the minor prophets, the scope of their writing was 248 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:11,360 small, But in the Hebrew tradition, there were twelve of 249 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:14,760 these minor prophets that are interspersed throughout the 250 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,240 story of the Hebrew people. And as these stories were told 251 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:22,920 and written down, they were copied into one single scroll 252 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,200 called the Book of the 12. Did you guys know that? 253 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,040 I actually didn't know that until about 4 weeks ago when I 254 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,160 was looking into this. I was like, I and I've been 255 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,960 saying the scriptures for like 25 years. 256 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:39,840 So they were, they were copied on one single scroll called the 257 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,840 Book of the 12. And this book of the 12 Minor 258 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:46,280 Prophets has some sort of light editorial help which suggests 259 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,440 that there is some intentional unity and some sort of 260 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,600 theological coherence that formed it into a scroll. 261 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:58,080 They tried to make sense of the shape of the story that the 262 00:16:58,080 --> 00:17:02,880 people of God were in. And what what we read about in 263 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:06,800 this book of the 12 is that they looked at their long history and 264 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:11,000 they noticed that it seems that there are sometimes in our 265 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:14,800 history as a people that we can see that over and over and over 266 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:16,839 again. We're kind of falling and 267 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:20,359 turning away from God and we start following the ways of the 268 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:25,280 world and we seek after other gods and we try to gain our own 269 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:27,760 security and, and follow our own ways. 270 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:31,160 And then what happens is that, well, what happens? 271 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:34,360 We fall in a whole things don't go well for us. 272 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,760 And then God sends a prophet, and that prophet generally does 273 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,880 three things they tell. They tell us the truth about 274 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:47,720 ourselves. They extend to us an invitation 275 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:52,040 from God, and they remind us of the promise that God has made to 276 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,120 us. Over and over again this 277 00:17:55,120 --> 00:17:58,800 happens. The story within the story 278 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:02,840 changes, but the shape of the story, friends, is basically on 279 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,840 repeat. The prophets come and tell the 280 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,000 truth. They extend an invitation, and 281 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,360 they remind the people of the promises of God. 282 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:14,960 So they collected all these prophetic voices. 283 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,360 They put them on a scroll. And over the next 12 weeks, 284 00:18:18,360 --> 00:18:21,040 heading into Easter, we're going to take a look at the book of 285 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:25,600 the 12/1 prophet each week. And we're going to try to wrap 286 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:29,120 our mind around the shape of the biblical narrative, the shape 287 00:18:29,120 --> 00:18:34,880 that God is telling his people, because the shape of this story, 288 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,840 you might have noticed, tends to also be the shape of our story. 289 00:18:41,560 --> 00:18:44,680 Do you guys have years where you're just like you felt like 290 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,840 you fell in a hole? Anybody have those kinds of 291 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:52,680 years? I happen to be coming out of 292 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,080 2025 was sort of a year coming out of like a three-year hole 293 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:04,560 for me, like a real wilderness season for me, struggled in all 294 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,720 kinds of ways and grateful for friendships and for my marriage 295 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,920 and for my kids and for this community and for other 296 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:16,240 communities. But it just is the shape of our 297 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,320 story that our story ebbs and flows. 298 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:22,640 And sometimes that is not necessarily related to like the 299 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,280 sense in which you're following God. 300 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:30,440 We live in a really weird world and sometimes there are just 301 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:33,640 holes that like, through no fault of our own, we kind of 302 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:35,120 fall into. Does that make sense? 303 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:41,400 Other times, it's not that way. Other times it actually is 304 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:44,760 because of the kinds of choices that we're making or because of 305 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,840 the things inside of us that are unhealed or, or, or the 306 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,760 relationships that we refuse to sort of like work out. 307 00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,360 So we're going to try to pay attention to the way that the 308 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:59,200 biblical story is shaped and try to pay attention to how that 309 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,440 might inform us for the shape of our own story. 310 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:10,240 When I was about 9 or 10, I was really into BMX bikes. 311 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,560 Anybody remember the BMX bike phase of the 1980s? 312 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,040 Like my neighborhood was the height of the flurry of 313 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,720 activity. Of BMX bikes and we could 314 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,600 literally ride our bikes to this BMX park and we would sneak in 315 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,800 right at dusk, which was not too dark where we would like lose 316 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,840 our way on the BMX track, but dark enough that people couldn't 317 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:36,720 quite see us. And so all of that BMX energy 318 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,120 got transported back into my neighborhood and and I lived on 319 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:42,880 a cul-de-sac. So we would build all of these 320 00:20:42,880 --> 00:20:47,480 ramps and the traffic was kind of low and we sort of knew all 321 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,440 of the little curbs that you could kind of hop over and the 322 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:54,360 kind of places that definitely were not up to code by any 323 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:57,880 stretch of the imagination. But it worked for us on our 324 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,800 bicycles. And there was this one evening 325 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:06,240 where some friends of, of mine put up a couple of ramps like 326 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:10,280 this and they were actually pretty close together so that 327 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,040 you could go down the sidewalk and you can jump over 1 ramp and 328 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,880 then kind of slide down the other side of the ramp. 329 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:22,280 And I'd probably done 20 or 30 turns on this ramp. 330 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:26,080 And then I got called in for dinner and it was tacos. 331 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:30,440 And you're like, how does he know what he had for dinner in 332 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,640 1987? Oh, hold on, we're going to get 333 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:37,960 there. So it was dinner and where my 334 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,720 story really progresses. I got on my bike after dinner, 335 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,560 kind of woofed down those tacos and I was at the top of my 336 00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:50,600 driveway and I barreled down the sidewalk at the top speed headed 337 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:52,960 for that same set of home built ramps. 338 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:56,640 But what I didn't know is while I was at dinner, some of the 339 00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:00,280 older boys have come around, you know, and they they're the boys 340 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:04,680 that had like titanium BMX bikes, like a third of the 341 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:08,400 weight of my bike. And, you know, I'm, I'm riding 342 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:12,320 this like clunky steel Dukes of Hazzard sort of banana seat 343 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,360 looking thing. And you guys remember the Dukes 344 00:22:16,360 --> 00:22:19,760 of Hazzard. OK, What a show, man. 345 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,520 OK, actually, could that show even be made today? 346 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:28,800 I don't think it could, no. So I'm barreling down the 347 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,920 sidewalk, and what the older boys had done is they had moved 348 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:36,560 the ramps quite a bit apart because they could jump farther, 349 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,200 and they were bigger and stronger and older, and they 350 00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:43,160 were riding real BMX bikes made of titanium. 351 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:48,440 And I didn't know any of that. And what also happened is I 352 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,160 didn't really pay much attention to the dozen or so neighborhood 353 00:22:52,160 --> 00:22:55,320 kids that were lining the sidewalk yelling at me, trying 354 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,680 to tell me that the thing that I was dead set on doing was not 355 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,320 going to end well for me. And so I speed towards the 356 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:05,720 ramps, and the prophets were shouting at me. 357 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,600 They were telling me to stop, to turn back, to slow down. 358 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,680 And yet I was convinced that whatever warning they were 359 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,600 trying to give me probably didn't really apply to me. 360 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,280 And over the ramp I went, with the front tire of my bicycle 361 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:25,440 hitting the front edge of the second ramp, sending me over the 362 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:27,840 handlebars, chin first, into the sidewalk. 363 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:31,360 This turned out to be the my greatest childhood injury. 364 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:37,920 Skin ripped off to my bone, 11 stitches, emergency room and 365 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,160 somewhere in the middle, throne of tacos. 366 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,400 That's how it happens. So I want you to imagine that 367 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,360 the story I've just told you, it's, it's a little easier story 368 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:52,440 to remember than like Obadiah, right? 369 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:00,840 This is a parable that actually happened, by the way, a parable 370 00:24:00,840 --> 00:24:04,440 for the book of the 12 prophets, because this is basically what 371 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,080 the storyline is for God's people in the Old Testament. 372 00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:12,640 And 1 by 1, standing on the sidelines of this unfolding 373 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:15,920 tragedy, doing everything they can to get the attention of 374 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:17,920 God's people. They're shouting and they're 375 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:20,360 waving their hands, and they're jumping up and down. 376 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,160 And time after time, God's people just run headlong into 377 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,400 their own ruin. And the book of the 12 is the 378 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,920 collection of the writings of the 12 prophets who were 379 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,400 standing on the edge of the sidewalk yelling and waving 380 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:34,640 their hands. Does this make sense? 381 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,880 They told the truth when no one wanted to hear it. 382 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:44,520 They invited people to return to God, and they held out in front 383 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,080 of people and reminded the people of the faithfulness of 384 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,920 God's promises even in the midst of going into ruin. 385 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,600 That's the good news. This is the pattern, by the way, 386 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:00,600 of the prophets. The truth, the invitation, and 387 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:04,440 the promises. The truth, the invitation and 388 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:08,800 the promises and through the stories that they would tell 389 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:12,720 and, and the kind of peculiar lives that they would live. 390 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:17,440 Guys, these, these prophets were strange people and their life 391 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,720 took on the shape of, of a kind of strangeness. 392 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,880 But some of that strangeness was meant to put on display the 393 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,400 message that God was trying to communicate. 394 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:32,480 Like Hosea, who marries this woman named Gomer who he knew 395 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,760 was going to have an affair. And God uses his life and his 396 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,440 story as a parable for God's covenant love for his people who 397 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,920 are unfaithful to him. And in this story, the prophet 398 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:48,800 Hosea's suffering, it reveals not just divine judgement, but 399 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:51,680 the way that God aches for the people that God loves. 400 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,400 The prophet Hosea puts on display the grief that God 401 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,800 carries for his people who keep running after the things that 402 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,280 will not satisfy. Or the Prophet Amos. 403 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,280 His message was directed at the religious elite of his day. 404 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:15,120 I'm really looking forward to our Sunday on the prophet Amos 405 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:22,920 because there is a problem in our land around the commingling 406 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:27,240 of religion and whatever else we're going to call the thing 407 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:31,880 that we're living in. This guy doesn't even identify 408 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:33,520 as a prophet or the son of a prophet. 409 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,680 He doesn't come on the scene rolling out his resume. 410 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,720 He doesn't sort of wave a flag saying that you should listen to 411 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,720 me. Like he is a shepherd and a fig 412 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,640 picker from the middle of nowhere. 413 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,360 And his status as a no named outsider to the places of 414 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,680 influence reinforces and embodies God's confrontation 415 00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,080 with the corrupt system of worship and power that have wed 416 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:01,520 themselves together. Or the well known prophet Jonah 417 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,560 who gets swallowed up by a whale when God asks him to go and 418 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,240 share the good news of God's love with his enemies. 419 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,920 And and what does Jonah do? He says I'm not going to do 420 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,920 that. He refuses to do it. 421 00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:20,400 And his resistance to preach grace to his enemies becomes 422 00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,040 part of the truth telling message. 423 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:25,680 And the invitation. God's mercy extends to those 424 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,440 that we ourselves cannot stomach. 425 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:34,800 God's mercy is for every person. So as we look through the book 426 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:39,120 of the 12, we're going to focus on three things all throughout 427 00:27:39,120 --> 00:27:42,160 this series, among other things. But we're going to focus on the 428 00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,400 truth and the invitation and the promise. 429 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,720 And just briefly, let me name a couple of things about each of 430 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:52,000 these. First up, the truth, the 431 00:27:52,000 --> 00:27:55,600 prophets. They name reality as they see 432 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:59,240 it, and one of the main things that that they keep crying out 433 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:03,440 from the edge of the sidewalk is that God's people, they tend to 434 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,640 turn their shoulders to other gods. 435 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,560 And in the language of the Scriptures, that's called 436 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,360 idolatry. They turn their shoulders to 437 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:16,520 worship idols. And this describes the way that 438 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:20,920 the people kind of latch on to security and adoration and power 439 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,920 in ways that the world is inviting them into. 440 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,360 And sure, like that might work out for a little bit, but in the 441 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:35,880 end, what the prophets say is that trusting in anything else 442 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,160 other than God is going to lead us to ruin. 443 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:46,160 Trusting in anything else other than his provision and his love 444 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,520 and the energy that comes from God and his spirit has a way of 445 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:55,520 deforming us, has a way of bending ourselves towards 446 00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:01,520 destruction. So like a primary, not a primary 447 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:06,120 example, but one example could be, you know, you might think, 448 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,400 OK, 2026, it's the year to open up my retirement fund. 449 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:12,600 And honestly, that's actually probably a good idea. 450 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,160 If you don't have a retirement fund, you should, you should 451 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,440 think about that given the culture that we live in. 452 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,040 And you can imagine that, you know, it starts off like 453 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:25,760 innocuous enough, you just like put a little bit of money away. 454 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:28,080 But then if there's a season like down the road where you 455 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:31,120 become kind of obsessed in your thinking about about how much 456 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:35,120 money is in that fund, you start holding back generosity from 457 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:39,000 other people. You start squeezing really tight 458 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,520 onto the things that God is actually asking you to let go 459 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,240 of. Something good becomes outsized 460 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,480 in a way that the scriptures will call idolatry. 461 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:54,760 It's really simple to happen. It's really easy to unfold like 462 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,320 that. So the prophets constantly 463 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,640 expose how trusting in idols, they deform people and they 464 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:06,680 cause us to lose our capacity for the things that God is 465 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:11,280 creating in US, namely justice and compassion and faithfulness 466 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:15,720 to one another. So, for example, Hosea and Amos 467 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:20,160 and Micah and Malachi, they all confront a people who've not 468 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:25,400 sort of outright rejected God, but they've allowed the things 469 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,920 of the world to commingle with their life with God in a way 470 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,040 that is actually unfaithful to what God is inviting them into 471 00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:36,160 and naming the truth of what is going on. 472 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:40,080 Hosea says of God's people. Their hearts are divided. 473 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:44,400 They're performing all of these rituals, but their hearts are 474 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,960 somewhere else. And that split allegiance 475 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:51,400 creates a spiritual confusion and social injustice because 476 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,720 it's really hard to take care of your neighbors when your focus 477 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:57,800 is not in that relationship with one another. 478 00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:01,960 And sometimes the prophets, they speak of judgement, but not 479 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,160 judgement of like an angry father or a wrathful God. 480 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:10,120 It's kind of a divine judgement that Pope Benedict many years 481 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:14,720 ago said that God allows us to feel the full weight of our own 482 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,280 choices. You guys ever had that happen to 483 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:20,560 you? You just like choose something 484 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,960 that's not best and now you're just like stuck with the 485 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,920 consequences. This is sort of how the Old 486 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:31,320 Testament narrative and the prophets thought about what it 487 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:35,040 meant that God was also a God, that that spoke judgement. 488 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,040 So friends, the prophets, they tell the truth about the 489 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,320 situation. And what we're going to learn 490 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:47,400 over the next 12 weeks is that. Nobody really loves. 491 00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:52,280 To hear the truth about themselves When? 492 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:56,040 The truth about ourselves. Exposes the little bits inside 493 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,080 of us that are maybe a little unlovely. 494 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:01,800 Do you guys know? That there are unlovely. 495 00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:08,160 Parts in your life? I happen to know that there are 496 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,480 unlovely parts in my life. I have. 497 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,920 I'm married. And. 498 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:22,760 I have 4 kids and life has a way of exposing some of that 499 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:26,240 unloveliness and nobody likes to get present to any of that. 500 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,000 But my friend Caleb has a friend named Paul and Paul's all says 501 00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:32,880 this. He says the good news begins 502 00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,920 with this, that in your unloveliness, you are beloved. 503 00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:39,920 That's the gospel, and it shows up. 504 00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,080 Over and over and over again through the prophets. 505 00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,840 So, friends, we are. Meant to become a community of 506 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:52,160 people who know how to gently and kindly and lovingly be a 507 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,440 prophetic witness and a prophetic voice to one another. 508 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:58,120 We don't. Have to wait. 509 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,520 You know, for like an old guy with a beard and a robe named 510 00:33:01,520 --> 00:33:05,400 Obadiah to show up in our life to tell us where we might be 511 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:10,160 headed down the wrong path. So when we can hear. 512 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:13,720 The truth about our lives as it really is and name reality. 513 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:18,200 What we find is this constant and faithful invitation from 514 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,120 God. Listen to the invitation from 515 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,120 Hosea. Come, let us return to the Lord. 516 00:33:25,920 --> 00:33:28,880 Or or from Joel. Return to me with all of your 517 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,560 heart. Or through Zechariah. 518 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:36,040 Return to me, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will return to you. 519 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,520 Do you guys hear a little bit of a repetition here? 520 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:44,080 The invitation from the minor prophets to the people of God 521 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:46,920 and to you and I is always just just come on back. 522 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,000 You can just come right on back. You can turn your shoulders 523 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,440 again back to this relationship, back to the goodness that I have 524 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:58,120 for you. So the invitation of God is. 525 00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:01,840 Always the invitation to be welcomed back into relationship 526 00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,240 and back into the family of God and I'll. 527 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:10,920 Close with this. Once we do that, we are able to 528 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:17,320 be reminded of the promise, and the promise is that God is 529 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,880 always faithful, even when we are unfaithful. 530 00:34:22,080 --> 00:34:23,639 You can turn. Your shoulders away from. 531 00:34:23,639 --> 00:34:27,000 God over and over and over again. 532 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:28,560 And do you know what will happen next? 533 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:31,400 God will. Come looking for you. 534 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:34,320 And he will. Get in front of. 535 00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:35,920 You and he'll be like, come back to me. 536 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:39,880 And. Even for those of you that are 537 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:44,280 like, like following Jesus, like you're really, you're in it. 538 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,239 I promise you that there are. Things that God. 539 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:52,719 Wants to continue to reveal about the truth about your life 540 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:56,520 all of these little microwaves that God just wants to sort of 541 00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:01,240 come right down like a like a gentle dad and put. 542 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:03,880 Your face in his. Hands and just said can you just 543 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:08,480 come back to me in this one particular area so I. 544 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,120 Don't know what the. Shape of your life is at the 545 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,840 beginning of 2026. I, I don't, I don't know how 546 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:15,960 much thought you've given it, but what we're going to try to 547 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,000 do as a community from now until Easter is to think about the 548 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:23,640 shape of our life, to try to imagine where are you on this 549 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:25,920 graph? What? 550 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:27,960 Is the truth. About your life that God would 551 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,400 want to reveal to you. What is the invitation that God 552 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,960 would want to extend and what are the promises that you need 553 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:41,400 to be reminded of in the? Season that you're in so as we 554 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,280 turn towards a. Time of of prayer and ministry 555 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:47,480 and worship. I want to invite Noah and Naomi 556 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,040 to come back up and. I just want to. 557 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,560 Extend a little bit of an invitation to you for prayer. 558 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,080 We're going to have some folks in the corners to pray. 559 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:03,080 I think I'm. Just curious, you know? 560 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:07,800 What season you might be in? Are you in a season where you're 561 00:36:07,800 --> 00:36:09,360 like, I'm ready to hear the truth? 562 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:15,240 Lord, we would love to pray for you just to see if God would 563 00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:19,240 stir up, you know, the kind of ears that we need to have in 564 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:23,920 order to hear him. And then secondly, I just think 565 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:26,520 that there's probably some of you at the start of a year, you 566 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,840 just need to remember what God has promised. 567 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,280 And we would love, we would love to pray for you, particularly as 568 00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:34,720 we head into this season of teaching. 569 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:39,760 OK, if you're able to stand, I would invite you to stand as we 570 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:41,640 worship and respond to God in prayer. 571 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,840 If you're part of our prayer ministry team, could you find 572 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:47,640 your way to the sides? Thank you.