HAPPY: Working It Out Philippians 2:12-18

HAPPY: Working It Out Philippians 2:12-18

{Note: This is from the second service; video is from the first}

My wife Kelly was teaching at “Sisterhood” this week, which is a new evening Women’s Ministry class on Wednesday nights, so I was alone as dad for dinner. I let Chik-Fil-A do the cooking for me. I love taking the kids there. After the kids were done eating, they went to go play in the play area. I was doing some reading and hanging out until a lady brought Reid to me, holding her hand, and said, “I hate to do this to you, but your son was hitting my son.” I looked at him like seriously? His face is like “What??” He’s three-and-a-half which means he’s totally lost his mind. She says, “When I asked him to stop hitting my son, he said back to me, ‘This is my Chik-Fil-A!'” After someone handed me my Father-of-the-Year award, I brought him into the booth with me and we had a long talk about obedience. Whoever coined the “Terrible Twos” didn’t have a three year old yet. I absolutely love the ‘threes’ as far as the challenge of parenting is concerned. We will say something to him about either eating his dinner or picking up his mess and his two favorite responses to us at this point in time are: 1) You are not my best friend anymore; and 2) My brother is going to be mad at you!

As I hear the funny things toddlers and kids say, I’m catapulted back to my childhood and the perspective I had as a kid and hearing my parents tell me to do things. I can remember—-for some reason it is seared in my mind—-sitting at the dinner table one evening and I had to finish the lima beans on my plate before I was allowed to get up. {Dear God, WHY do we eat those things??!! It’s sidewalk chalk packaged a little bit differently!} I can remember walking home after playing at the park and skateboarding with my friends; we had to come home after the lights came on in the neighborhood and we’re murmuring under our breath, “Why do we have to come home?” “Mom and Dad just want to keep us from having fun.” That was the perspective as a kid. When I sat down to do my homework or practice my clarinet like my parents made me do, I was sitting there wondering, “Why in the world are they making me do this??!”

I think we carry that perspective of obedience into adulthood. Nobody likes to be told what to do. That’s what obedience is; it’s allowing somebody else to give us instruction and us following that instruction. Therefore, obedience gets a pretty bad rap. My guess is that when you hear that word you think, “Oh, man! I’m not going to be able to do some things that I really want to do.” That’s what obedience means to most of us—choosing a different way than the way we would normally choose if we’d have OUR choice, because we’re having to execute somebody else’s plan.

As followers of Christ, one of the things we need to be determined to do is to have a different perspective of obedience. Our God is a good God and our Father is a Good Father and every single command {Hear me on this.} that he gives us is for our good. He instructs us to do things like: Love our enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. Rid our hearts of lust, of greed, of bitterness, of anger. To practice the way of forgiveness…not seven times, not seventy-seven times, but seven TIMES seventy-seven times (7 x 77), as if to say, as many times as somebody offends you, you forgive them. We hear those things and if you’re anything like me, I flashback to sitting at the dinner table as a kid going, “I don’t want to eat these lima beans. I don’t want to do this.” God, if you’re saying this is for my good, I have some SERIOUS questions that I want to ask you. {Will you look up at me for just a second?} If we are going to walk in the joy of our Father, we need to walk in the way of our Father. Obedience is not something that we are instructed to begrudgingly do as followers of Christ; it’s an invitation to taste and see that God is good.

And so, Paul writes to the church at Philippi. (Open your Bibles to Philippians 2 with me.) Remember, Paul is writing from jail; somewhere between 60-62 AD. He’s in Rome and this is a letter he’s going to send back to the church at Philippi. It’s a church he planted over a decade earlier; a church that he dearly loves and that he saw God work in in a miraculous way to birth in this little colony of Rome and now there’s this church that’s starting to flourish and starting to grow. If you were here with us last week, we talked about the attitude that we’re invited to have as followers of Christ. To have the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus; to walk in the way of humility, to lay our lives down and to love the people around us. Paul continues with that same line of thought when he writes in verse 12: Therefore, my beloved, {Don’t you just love how Paul writes about this church? My beloved. People who I have an affection for.} …as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…

If we could summarize this entire morning, this entire passage, in one word, it would be the word “obey.” That’s what Paul wants to communicate, that’s what Paul wants to challenge this church (with). It’s as if he’s saying, “Church, look up at me! Walk in the way of Jesus. Obey the teachings of Jesus. Your life depends on it.” In the Greek, this word “obey” is two Greek words put together—hupakoe; “hupo” means ‘over’ or ‘to allow to reign over’ and “akouo” means ‘to hear.’ So the invitation is to hear in a way that the words sit over us. Which begs the question—when we read the Scriptures and when we hear the commands of Jesus, do we stand over them or do they stand over us? Is our initial response to God—Yes, I will…..or is it—God, I’ve got a few questions for you and I’m not sure I like that and are you sure this applies in our modern age, that was so archaic?? It’s so easy to read OVER the text, but the instruction is to read UNDER it. To obey, to say YES before we know what God even asks. So we said this last week and I’ll say it again, obedience is an attitude before it’s an action. It’s the YES before we know what God’s asking, because if it’s not it’s really just up to our own mind and our own reasoning to do what we think is right, but that’s not what Paul’s calling them to. He says, “Obey, even though I’m away from you, continue to walk in the way of Jesus.”

Then he says this: Work out your own salvation. {Quick timeout.} How many of you hear that, like me, and go, “Well, I’m not sure exactly what that means.” Salvation is a gift from God, so how are we suppose to “work it out?” And, God, if it’s by grace, where does it come in that I’m suppose to WORK and work it out? Anybody else like me have some of those questions? I want to point out that the Scriptures are very precise; it does not say work FOR your salvation, it says work OUT your salvation. It’s saying you are already saved, you’re already a child of the Most High God and to work out our salvation does not mean that we EARN anything. But it does mean that we put effort into everything. It means that we put effort into learning what it means to be the children of God. It means that we put effort into growing into the people that God has already made us to be. It means that we sincerely try to follow the way of Jesus. {Look up at me for a second.} You cannot obey the teaching of Jesus by putting your life in cruise control. You can’t. Paul wants to push on that a little bit; he wants to press on the church at Philippi—don’t work FOR your salvation, but work FROM your salvation. Friends, you were saved not BY your good works, but you were saved FOR good works, the Scriptures are really clear on that.

I think in our sort of post-Reformation Christianity, we have a lot better understanding of Ephesians 2:8-9 than we do of Ephesians 2:10. Let me unpack what I mean by that. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works… {So here’s the good news of the gospel, friends; God loves you and is for you, not because you’re awesome but because He is. It’s not because you’ve done anything good, it’s because He is gracious and merciful. That’s what that Scripture is saying.} ….so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship {Literally poiéma; we are his song, we are his poem. We are the anthem that plays in the world that He created declaring His goodness.} …created in Christ Jesus FOR good works… So, you’re not saved as a result of good works, but you are saved FOR good works. You’re saved FOR obedience, to step into the invitation that God’s given you, the calling that He’s put in front of you and the great news of that is he has prepared them beforehand…} ….which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. But it takes obedience. It takes saying back to God, “God, my answer is yes before I know even exactly what you’re calling me to.”

I don’t know what you’re looking at; what you’re looking at in your life, what obedience would demand of you this week. It might demand having a difficult conversation with somebody you love. It might mean walking in vulnerability with a spouse that you have grown distant from and cold towards. It might mean having that conversation with a neighbor or friend that you’ve been putting off for years, but every time you’re around them there’s this burning in your soul where God is saying, “Would you speak to them about me?” I don’t know what you’re looking at and I don’t know what God’s calling you to specifically, but I DO know that there’s this feeling inside of me (and it might be inside of you, also) that when we think about obedience, my first thought is “God, do you really want me to do THAT, because that doesn’t seem like life.” My second thought is “God, I don’t have the resources. I can’t do that! Are you kidding me?!” To that, Paul would say this: …for it is GOD who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. So to the person who’s here this morning and goes, “Listen, I know what God’s asking me to do, but I don’t have the resources to do it and I couldn’t possibly step out of the boat like that. There’s no way my life is going to be held together, the relationship is going to make it, if I do what God’s asking me to do.” I want to say as clearly as I can this morning: You do NOT have the power to do it….alone. But, luckily for you, you are NOT alone. And neither am I. Whatever God calls us to do, He will empower us to do. The word ‘work’ in the Greek is the word energeion. We get our English word “energy” from it. Here’s what Paul is saying to the church at Philippi: The life of obedience that God calls you to live is empowered by the energy that God promises to give. He will not hang you out to dry; he will not let you go. He is at work in you, friends, and I don’t know what you’re looking at as you look at your life and as you look at your calling. Maybe it’s God, how do I walk faithfully with you through this health crisis that just doesn’t look like it’s going to end up well. I don’t know exactly what you’re looking at, I only know this: I know that the same power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, if you’re a follower of Jesus, lives in you. So many times we disqualify ourselves and we stay on the sidelines, because we’re afraid we don’t have the energy or the power to step into what God’s calling us to do and we forget that the same God that raised Christ Jesus from the dead lives IN us!

So what would it look like, friends, to echo with the Apostle Paul that working out my salvation is not something I do on my own, but I get to struggle with all HIS energy that powerfully works in me? What might it look like to be the type of people who start to say, “We have this deep confidence, not in ourselves……” Obedience isn’t a self-reliance thing, it’s a wholly devoted disposition. So many followers of Christ try to obey and live a life where we work out our salvation based on the pressures that are outside of us. So, I’ve got to do this based on what people will think….. Or—if God asks me to do it, I’ve got to try my best to obey and I’ve gotta start pulling up my bootstraps and I’ve gotta do it. We try to do obedience based on the pressure that’s coming from the outside, rather than the power that’s available that’s on the inside. I just want to say as clearly as I can to you today that the obedient life that God calls you to live is empowered by the energy that He promises to give. But a lot of us never taste it because we never step out; we already disqualify ourselves or think there’s no way we could do it. So we need to have this confidence: God, you are at work. You’re at work in the marriage, God, that seems like it’s not going the right direction. God, you’re at work in the addiction that I don’t feel like I can get rid of and I don’t feel like I can be victorious over. God, you’re at work in me, growing me spiritually. It’s YOUR energy as I step into this calling. What a beautiful partnership, isn’t it?

Here’s the thing—you need to have this conviction that God’s at work. Secondly, your approach is defined in this passage of Scripture—Phil. 2:13. Look at the way Paul says it: We have this confidence that God works in us, but at the end of verse 12 he says: Not only obey as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…. What’s he saying? Is Paul saying that as followers of Jesus every single step we take we should be afraid that God is going to punish us if we get it wrong? If we make the wrong decision, if we make the wrong choice, if we go the wrong direction, is God sort of the divine Father up-in-the-sky waiting to go, “Paulson failed again!!” Is that what he means by “fear and trembling?” I would propose to you that it’s NOT what he means. That what Paul actually means is that on the inside, the deep conviction within our soul is that God is out for my joy and I don’t want to miss it. God, I don’t want to misstep and I don’t want to dishonor you, because I believe that you have so much good out there for me and for your world through me. I think what Paul is saying is the same thing Jim Cymbala, the great pastor, said when he said this: “I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf.” That’s fear and trembling. That’s God, I don’t want to miss it because I know it’s so good. It’s the author of Hebrews (4:1) saying: Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stand, let us fear….. All throughout the Scriptures we’re commanded, “Do not fear….do not fear….do not fear…” Here — Fear! Fear that God’s rest is available and you miss it. That’s the same type of fear and trembling that the Apostle Paul is calling us to.

So we have this confidence: God, you’re at work. We have this approach: We are taking obedience really, really seriously. Because we believe that our life is on the line and our conviction, God, is that you are asking us….whatever you do….it looks like lima beans, but we know it’s for our good. So let’s talk about lima beans. Verse 14. Paul’s going to unpack three really practical things that he would invite you to live out your citizenship in the gospel. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights (stars) in world. The command is clear, right? There’s two words that he uses. One is grumbling which is “I’m gonna do it, God, but I’m not going to be happy about it.” It’s this murmuring under our breath—I can’t believe they did that; I can’t believe they said that. It’s to my boss—Oh, yeah, absolutely I’ll do that; then you turn around—What a moron! If that guy had any brain whatsoever….. I’ll do it, but oh, man! This is sort of an inner condition of grumbling and then when it comes on the outside, it’s disputing, it’s arguing. Complaining or arguing the NIV says. So Paul pretty simply says, “Alright, follower of Christ, citizen of the gospel, do everything without complaining about anything.” So, I’m just a little bit convicted, because I complained this week. I complained about people, I complained about situations. As I’ve thought about that in my own heart and as I wrestle with this Scripture, here’s my honest, vulnerable…..your broken pastor before you…. Here’s two things my complaining revealed about me: I hate being out of control. I complain when I lose control. When things don’t go my way, when people don’t execute my plan, when God doesn’t seem to get the blueprint that I’ve given him and He seems to have a mind of His own….I complain. When people didn’t get the memo that we don’t need to work on that same road for five years in a row….I complain. It revealed to me that I love being in control and that when I lose control I don’t like it.

Second thing it revealed is that as much as I war against it, I have an attitude of entitlement. Anytime we complain what we reveal is we think we deserve better than what we got. I started to think of how to get out of this rut. How do I get out of the complaining mentality because I am fully convinced that complaining is a zero sum endeavor. You’ve never met somebody that said, “You know, I’m so glad I complained about that situation, because it really helped.” Sometimes we feel better but we make no progress, right? It’s a zero sum endeavor. What if, instead of complaining, we disciplined ourself in the practice of Jesus to do three things? 1) To become aware of the presence of God all around us. 2) To cultivate a life of gratitude. Did you know it’s impossible to complain when you’re thankful? You cannot complain and be grateful at the same time. You are commanded to be thankful. But you can’t complain and be grateful all at the same time. I was on the plane flying from Paraguay to Buenos Aires and I was sitting next to a guy on the plane. They handed out these peanuts to us. Seriously, it’s like peanut DUST now. They handed us this tiny bag of peanuts, there’s probably three in there. The guy next to me shakes the bag and goes, “Seriously?!” I look at my peanuts and I think, “Seriously?!” I look out the window and I think to myself, “We’re flying through the air at 500 miles an hour in a steel tube that somehow is 35-40,000 feet in the air. It’s 200 tons! And we are complaining about the peanuts!” How much of life is like this, you guys? We’re complaining about the peanuts, instead of recognizing all of life is GIFT! So, we become aware of His presence; we become grateful for his provision. Then we say back to the God who spoke it all into existence and who holds it all together by his very breath and by his very word, “God, if you can do all that, I can trust you with this.” That’s how we start to break the cycle: We become aware, we practice gratitude, and we choose faith.

Paul says here’s what happens when THAT happens. There’s two things: 1) You become blameless and innocent children of God. That’s the way people start to view you if you walk as a child of God, not complaining about anything but doing everything in a way that would honor Him. You start to look different. He goes listen, in this world that you live in you are going to be blameless; people are going to look at you and go, man, those followers of Christ are so positive. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t heard that lately! I found followers of Jesus, especially in light of the political season that we find ourselves in, so captured fear that leads to complaining, rather than faith that leads to saying, “God, how would you want to use us in this situation?” You know what happens when we start to do that? We become blameless and people look at us different. The second thing is you become a child of God without blemish, which is an inner condition. Complaining not only taints the way that people view you, but it starts to be heavy on your soul. He goes, “Oh, you want to live in the freedom that God commanded you? Do everything without complaining about anything.” Just as a quick aside—where’s Paul writing from? Jail. If anybody could have rightfully complained, can we all agree it’s the Apostle Paul? And his command is to do everything without complaining about anything.

In verse 16 he says: {So as you are not complaining….}…hold fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run or labor in vain. There’s this double meaning in this passage. If you have the NIV, it says hold out the word of life. In the Greek it’s this double meaning of “hold TO” the word of life and “hold OUT” the word of life. But the truth of the matter, friends, is that whatever you hold to you’re going to hold out. It’s the most natural thing. You just have to be around people and listen to them and you’ll know what’s important to them, they talk about it. We talk about it. We are human beings. So, here’s Paul’s command: Cling to the Word and carry the message. That’s what obedience looks like. For these early followers of Jesus, you just have to know a few things about them: 1) For them to cling to the word and carry the message meant that they very well would have met Jesus face-to-face because they would have been killed for THIS type of posture in their world. It was flying in the face of a culture that said Caesar is lord and god. When people said we will cling to the word, what they’re saying is we will continue to honor Jesus as our Lord and our Savior, He’s the only name we’re going to bow down to. Which begs the question, as we think about the early followers of Jesus—when they heard Paul write “hold fast to the word of life” what would they have heard? Here’s what we picture: We’re going to hold to the Scriptures, which isn’t a bad thing. Please hear me! I love the Scriptures! I study the Scriptures every day….and as your pastor, you should probably be relieved. But that’s not what Paul’s talking about. The Bible actually defines what the “word of life” is in 1 John 1:1—That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, {What’s he talking about? Jesus} concerning the word of life….

The Bible is beautiful, the Bible is brilliant, the Bible is great, the Bible is how we LEARN about the word of life, but the Bible is NOT, in and of itself, the word of life. The word of life has a name. His name is Jesus and He is who and what we are called to hold on to and to hold out for the world. How we learn about Jesus is through the Scriptures. Absolutely. But for the early followers of Christ, it’s interesting. When they’re talking about Peter and John and the boldness that they have before the opposition, it says: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they {read the Bible… It doesn’t say that.} …that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13) Part of the way we encounter Jesus is through the Scriptures, but you do know {Will you look up at me a second?} it is possible to view the Bible as an end in and of itself and to miss the one to whom it points! The Pharisees — Jesus interacts with them and says to them, “You search the Scriptures and you know the Scriptures, but the Scriptures point to ME and yet you refuse to come to me and have life.” Friends, I want us to hold to the word of life, his name is Jesus, we encounter him through the Scriptures.

You know what starts to happen when THAT happens in our life? Paul tells us: You, as you hold to and hold out the word of life, start to shine like stars in the world. You start to light up the darkness. You start to pierce into the evil and the things that are wrong with the glory and goodness of Jesus. Did you know this is our history as followers of Christ? That we are part of a people, who when it gets difficult say, “We will not go.” Early in the Roman Empire, which was where Christianity was birthed…..in the first few hundred years there were a number of plagues that started to rise up and they decimated whole cities. Many people would run from the plague, they would run from the sickness because the fear was, “If I get this, I’m going down! There’s no hospital on the corner.” Christians said, “We’re not going anywhere. We’re not afraid of dying, number one. And number two, we feel a calling to care for the sick.” Eusebius, in the early years of Christianity, in the early church, starts to write about followers of Christ and he says this: “The Christian rise in the Roman Empire came not by the sword, but by the preaching of the gospel joined with acts of compassion. He (Eusebius) states that because of their compassion in the midst of the plagues, the Christians’ ‘deeds were on everyone’s lips, and they glorified the God of the Christians. Such actions convinced them that the followers of Jesus were pious and truly reverent to God.'” That’s our history shining like stars.

You know the other thing that starts to happen? As you hold to and hold out the word of life, Paul says: So that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. I wrestled with this all throughout this letter. Paul has this excitement and this pride of seeing the church that he’s planted flourish, seeing the people that he’s invested in grow, seeing people throw off the shackles of sin and walk in the freedom and joy of Jesus. Not only do we shine like stars, but we start to participate with God in His desire to see people walk in freedom. I would describe this as the mentoring ministry that we have here. To see other people succeed. Do you know one of the saddest things about that ministry is? One, I love it, but number two, we always have more people who want to be mentored than we have mentors to mentor people. That’s a bummer on two levels: 1) Because there’s people going, “I would love somebody to pour into my life.” 2) Because there’s somebody who God is saying to, “I want you to step off of the sidelines and into the game,” and they’re saying, “No, thanks.” They miss out on what Paul would say is one of the greatest joys in his life, seeing other people grow. So much of the time we say no because we feel like it has to be our power and we have to have all the questions answered and we have to have it all together, but here’s what I want to say to you, “If there’s something in front of you right now that God is calling you to do, the life of obedience is empowered by God’s promise to energize you to do what He’s called you to do.” Step into it.

What does it look like to hold on to and hold out the word of life? Let me give you a picture: A lot of times we think of following Jesus as being the light and having a flashlight that we get to shine on when either when we’re doing something wrong or maybe it lights up our path as we go. Or we get to shine it in the world and go, “Hey, look at the way everybody else is living.” What if we started to view being a follower of Jesus not as having a flashlight, but as becoming a lantern? We ARE the light. The light is inside of us and wherever we go, whether it’s in our families, or in our work, or in our neighborhoods, there the light goes also. We don’t just shine it out there, it shines from within here as we hold to and hold out the word of life. You’re a lantern!

Verse 17: Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, {Which is an allusion to an Old Testament action a priest would do when they made a burnt offering to God. They would also pour out wine next to it. In Paul’s day, it was this picture of laying your whole life out there.} I am glad and rejoice with you all. {You could also read it as I am happy and rejoice with you all.} Likewise you also should be glad (happy) and rejoice with me. It’s this pouring of oneself out that actually starts to remind us what life is all about. It’s not being filled up, but it’s being poured out.

So we ask God today, “God, what does obedience look like?” and it looks like something specific in your life, certainly, but in the most general way, “What does obedience look like for all of us who follow the way of Jesus?” It looks like doing everything without complaining about anything. It looks like clinging to and carrying the message of Jesus wherever we go. It looks like saying back to God, “God, I want my life to be used for your glory,” because that’s how you pour your life out. If you go back and read verse 16, Paul says that he’s keeping in mind the day of Christ. The way we live in this way is keeping in mind the day. The day that we’ll stand before the Lord and that all of our lives will be laid bare. We’ll get to see the impact that God used us to make in his kingdom that will last forever. It’s remembering every day to remember THE day. Secondly, Paul says, “I don’t want to run the race in vain or empty. I don’t want to run an empty race. I don’t want to work for empty things.” So it’s every day remembering THE day and it’s reminding ourselves that there’s only one thing that’s going to last—it’s people! It’s God’s kingdom and what God is up to in the world and it’s leveraging the things that we have to make the most of the things that matter. So Paul says, “I want to pour my life out. I don’t want to waste out. I want to invest it in the people around me for the glory of His name.”

I don’t know about you, but that sounds sort of intimidating to me. Don’t complain. Hold to and hold out the word of Jesus. Pour yourself out. Here’s the good news, friends: His divine power has granted to us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3) He has given you everything you need to step into the calling that he’s put at your feet. The life of obedience God calls you to live is empowered by the energy he promises to give. Friends, you and I, we can work it out because He is at work within! I don’t know what’s in front of you, but I do know the God that’s inside of you. Let’s pray.

Before you go running out of here and move on to whatever’s next in your day, I want to give you a moment between you and the Lord. What does obedience look like in your life this week? Is it having a conversation you’ve been putting off? Is it allowing yourself to be vulnerable with people that you love and inviting them in a little bit more? Is there a need that God has placed on your heart, a passion that he’s put in your soul that there’s a lot of excuses as to why you can’t do but you just know it’s what God’s calling you to? Is there a question mark from the doctor and the most natural thing in you is to say, “God, I don’t know if I can live this life of faith and walk with you in the midst of this.” Maybe it’s the neighbor you’ve been interacting with for years. Jesus, speak to us, we pray. We believe that you designed us, Father, to walk in abundance and fullness of life. In You is the path of life, in You is fullness of joy, and in You are pleasures forevermore, so Lord, would you call us deeper into a life of obedience. May we work it out. May we find out what it means to be a follower of Jesus, in this day, in this time, in the context you’ve placed us in; would we do that with a fear and trembling. Lord, we don’t want to miss it! We despair at the thought that our lives would pass by without seeing You do something mightily on our behalf. Lord, here we are and our anthem back to you is “Yes!” Where do You want us to go? What do You want us to do? We want to obey. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.