Downward Mobility

Pastors Brian and Jacque Lother

Pastor Brian: One of my favorite accounts in the scripture is, after the resurrection, Jesus appears to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They didn't recognize him. He somehow kept himself from recognizing who he was. The scriptures tell us that on this walk, he opened up their eyes to understanding who he was from the law and the prophets. We have to understand that the New Testament wasn't written yet. There was no Book of Romans. There was no gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. There was no book of Acts. There was no Book of Philippians or Hebrews. Certainly, the Book of Revelation was going to be quite a ways down the road. And yet Jesus took what was the scriptures at that time and opened up the understanding to these two disciples on the road to Emmaus as to who he was.

Oftentimes, we miss the importance of that specific event because all of the scriptures point to Jesus. They all point to Jesus. God didn't give us the scriptures so that we could debate each other theologically. He didn't give us the scriptures so that we could begin to argue over every jot and tittle like the Pharisees and the religious leaders did. If we miss that idea, that concept, if we miss the whole purpose of the Old Testament, we are going to miss who Jesus is. We will miss who Jesus is. Nobody likes someone who acts as if they are the center of the universe. Do we?

Have you ever been in a room with someone who you can just tell they think the whole world revolves around them? Nobody likes to be in a room or with a person like that. And I'm sure we've all probably met people like that. If you are anything like me, you probably don't want to meet 'em again, right? But the one exception to this would be if God was there in that room. That would be an exception, wouldn't it? He is a person; he is the center of the universe. God can say things that other people, if they set him, would be completely offensive. For example, God can say, “worship me.” And we are inclined to really want to respond and do that. If I were to say worship me, you would say, what? Who do you think you are? God?

God says, serve me. God says, do my will. And it's appropriate for him to say that because God is inviting us to center our minds and our lives on him. Isn't that what it means to become a Christian, to center our hearts and minds on him, follow him? Which is for our highest good. God never asks us to do these things, to follow him, to serve him, to honor him, to worship him for our detriment, as opposed to his good. It's always for our good that he does this. But of course, if anybody else gave us these messages, serve me, honor me, worship me, we would say to that person, who do you think you are? God?

If we read the New Testament, we find Jesus actually saying and doing some things that would lead anyone who met him at the time to say to Jesus, well, who do you think you are, God? And of course, the answer to that is yes. Many people throughout history have struggled with the idea that a human being could somehow be God. But what if we thought about that in a reverse order, that intellectual challenge of can a human being be God? What if we thought about that in a reverse order? Do you think it's possible for God to become human? I mean, he became a burning bush, right? He was a pillar of fire to the people of Israel. He was a cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night, a burning bush. So becoming one of his own image bearers on earth should not be a big challenge for God.

The message title today is “Downward mobility”. That's a negative term in our culture today, isn't it? We all want what? Upward mobility. But Jesus personified downward mobility. And we see the Book of Philippians that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, this wonderful example of what Jesus did in his downward mobility. Philippians chapter 2:5-8t.

Jacque: And consider the example that Jesus, the anointed one has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation. He existed in the form of God.

Pastor Brian: So here we go. He existed. Before he became Jesus on earth, he existed in the form of God. Yet–

Jacque: Yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God as his supreme prize.

Pastor Brian: That was not his goal, to become, in a sense, in the eyes of people, equal with God.

Jacque: Instead, he emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant.

Pastor Brian: When he did this, he gave up his omniscience. He gave up his omnipresence. He actually gave up his omnipotence. He gave up all of those God qualities in a downward mobility to become human.

Jacque: He became human.

Pastor Brian: He became human. God became human.

Jacque: Pause and think about that.

Pastor Brian: Yes.

Jacque: He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death, a criminal's death by crucifixion.

Pastor Brian: If we want to know Jesus the way the disciples did, we need to start with Jesus being in the form of God, which he was, preexisting in equality with God, and then deciding to, in a sense, empty himself of all of those God qualities. Or maybe I can use the expression all of those divine privileges and powers to become fully human, serving our needs, even to the point of death. We miss some things sometimes by not understanding that God is spirit. God is a spirit. We are spirits, but our spirits are housed in this earthly tent called our bodies.

The spirit of Jesus, which was eternal when it came to this earth, born as a baby in a manger, which we will celebrate at the Christmas tea. That spirit, which was eternal was placed inside that little baby and that spirit was Jesus. That spirit was the spirit of God. It was the spirit of God. The early Christians were scoffed at and ridiculed, not because they were attributing deity to a human being, actually. They were scoffed at because they were attributing humanity to the one true God. They were saying that it's ridiculous that God would ever become a human being. Why would he ever do that? Become a human being? Why would he ever lower himself to do that? He is God.

And so, the early church was actually scoffed at because of this whole idea that God would actually become a human being. The question for them was not, can a human be God? But rather, would the one true God creator of the universe really become one of his own creation? Would God do that? And they just couldn't wrap their minds around it. Do you ever struggle wrapping your mind around something? That's one of those idioms we talked about, right, Mark? Where you have Japanese kids come over and he says stuff like, I can't wrap my mind around that. And they are trying to think, how do you do that?

Jacque: That’s probably the same as our–

Pastor Brian: Yeah, that's probably the same with our Haitian kids. Jesus had this incredible habit of offering people forgiveness for all of their sins directly apart from the temple sacrificial system. We see that in Matthew chapter 9, verses 2 and 3. Let's read that.

Jacque: Just then, some people brought a paraplegic man to him lying on a sleeping mat. When Jesus perceived the strong faith within their hearts, he said to the paralyzed man, my son, be encouraged, for your sins have been forgiven.

Pastor Brian: Understand this, that Jesus understood that salvation is connected to faith, not works. And Jesus perceiving the strong faith within their hearts, Jesus said to this paraplegic who was being carried by his friends.

Jacque: My son, be encouraged for your sins have been forgiven. These words prompted some of the religious scholars to think that's nothing but blasphemy.

Pastor Brian: Forgiving people sounds compassionate enough, doesn't it? But it actually makes very, very little sense. If Jesus is simply a prophet or a good teacher to go around forgiving sins, you can forgive someone who offends you. And we should. That's clear in scripture. I can forgive someone who offends me. You can forgive someone who offends you. But what if I offered forgiveness to someone who had offended you? What if I got a call from a person, a lady, and she said, “Pastor Brian, I need to talk to you. There are some things happening in my marriage that I'm really struggling with.” So we make an appointment. We'll call her Anne, okay? And Anne comes to visit me, and she starts to reveal that her husband is a heavy drinker. He is becoming very abusive to the kids. That abuse is now carried over to her, not only verbally, but physically. She comes to me for advice and direction, and I tell her, well, you know, one of the Jesus things to do is to forgive him because that's the only way your pains are going to be released.

And that is true. That is true. That's the only way that our pains from offense are ever released is by forgiveness. But what if in that meeting, I asked her, what's her husband, Jim, what's Jim's phone number? And she gave me his phone number and I called him up and I said, “Hey Jim, this is Pastor Brian. I just want you to know that you are forgiven, and everything is taken care of.” What would you think? What would you think? Most of you would probably be flabbergasted as would Anne, who am I to forgive the sins Jim has committed against Anne? Who am I to forgive those sins? In fact, I would be actually robbing Anne of the role. Only she could play. Only the wounded party can really extend forgiveness to the offender.

All of this leads to the very, very important question. Who in the world is Jesus to forgive every one of their sins? It sounds like he is meddling in people's lives, doesn't it? Who is he that he can do that? Or is Jesus actually somebody who embodies God to us in a very unique way? And because he is God, he actually can forgive sins to everyone, because every sin ultimately is a sin against the law of God and God himself. Every sin we commit against each other is a violation of the law of love that God has set down for us.

When we sin against one another, Jesus can come on the scene and say, I forgive you. Because ultimately that sin was committed against Jesus because he is God. Without him being God, he would be quite audacious at forgiving other people of their sins. But if he is God, he has every right to step into that place and role because ultimately, it was his law that he set forth in the beginning that was violated. And it was his law that brought him into a place of being the one that could forgive. And so we see that Jesus is more than just a good guy. He was more than just a good man who suffered for us. He began to try to explain that more clearly in John chapter fourteen, verse nine, when Philip, who had been walking with Jesus now for several months and years, and Philip asked him this question, can you show us the Father? And here is what Jesus says.

Jacque: Jesus Replied, Philip, I have been with you all this time and you still don't know who I am? How could you ask me to show you the Father, for anyone who has looked at me has seen the Father.

Pastor Brian: According to Jesus, when we place our trust in him, we are trusting in God. When we look at Jesus, we are seeing God according to Jesus. I think this is good news. I think this is good news. I think it's fair to say that our world offers us some very mixed signals about what God is like. I think our world offers a lot of mixed signals, and that's why people throughout the world today struggle with thinking that God is good. Most people think God is an ogre that's angry. But God is good. He is good. But it's fair to say that our world sends us some mixed signals about what God is like, and we get to know certain aspects of God's goodness by looking at his creation or his creativity. I get so fascinated by watching these ocean programs with all these different fish and the colors and the shapes and the creativity. God has gone way beyond Gene Roddenberry. And so we have this beautiful creation that reflects the glory of God.

I was talking to Paula's brother yesterday at a memorial service for Brad's mom, and we were talking about how man, he loves to go out to Yellowstone Park or these areas and just go fishing. After he has been there for a few days, it's like God starts to download because he is around all of this beautiful creation. But we also have to understand that on the other hand, all of creation is also affected by the effects of sin. So, we see an account of this in Genesis chapter 3:17-19

Jacque: He told the man, because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from– He had said don't eat from this tree– he very ground is cursed because of you getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife. You'll be working in pain all your lifelong. The ground will sprout thorns and weeds. You'll get your food the hard way planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk until you return to that ground yourself dead and buried. You started out as dirt, and you will end up, dirt.

Pastor Brian: I think this was a very sad conversation God had with Adam. A lot of times we read this portion and we think God is just, you know, smoke is coming out of his nostrils type of thing, you know? But I think he was very, very sad when he had this conversation with Adam, because now the earth was going to be different than what God had intended it to be. Let's go back to Romans chapter 1, verse 19 and 20. And here is what Paul says about that.

Jacque: In reality, the truth of God is known instinctively for God has embedded this knowledge inside every human heart.

Pastor Brian: Yes. So, there is an instinctive knowledge that we are born with to want to know this creator. Now, let's read that again, to verse 23 in the Message Translation. I really like how Eugene Peterson writes this, that the basic reality of God is very plain.

Jacque: But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes, and there it is. By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see.

Pastor Brian: We can't see. We sing a song called In the Spirit, and the first line of that song is, is it possible to know a God that your eyes have never seen? What Paul is writing about here in Romans chapter one is that our eyes can see creation or nature, and by that visible input download into us, what ends up happening is in our hearts, we begin to believe because of what our eyes are seeing. But our eyes aren't actually seeing God. Our eyes are seeing what God has made, and that pushes us or draws us to believe in God. Let's go on.

Jacque: So what we can see with our hearts is eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse.

Pastor Brian: A good excuse to what?

Jacque: Not believe.

Pastor Brian: Not believe, not believe. Let's go on.

Jacque: What happened was this: people knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion.

Pastor Brian: Does that sound like where we are at today in our culture where we haven't treated God like he ought to be treated? We refuse to worship him. And as a result, we have trivialized ourselves into just downright silliness.

Jacque: So that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives.

Pastor Brian: Do you feel at times like our world has no direction, our government leaders are, absent of any point of reference to really help stabilize all of the cacophony of terrible things that are happening in the world? One of my teachers once said to me, “Brian, we are being educated away from our common sense.” That's kind of what Paul is saying here. There is no sense of direction. They've trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there is no sense of direction left in their lives. It feels like we are a cork on a turbulent sea, our world with no stability, no mooring. Let's go on.

Jacque: They pretended to know it all.

Pastor Brian: Oh yeah. Don't they? Don't we all act like we all got it under control?

Jacque: But we are illiterate regarding life.

Pastor Brian: Well, what a way to say this. but we are illiterate regarding how to do life, how to do life.

Jacque: They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

Pastor Brian: Well just, just picture that they traded the glory of God, the manifest presence of God for something anybody could buy at a roadside stand.

Jacque: They were happy with just a little idol that they could–

Pastor Brian: I know. I know. And so we see that God has made in creation a way for us to discover him. And yet we also, if we are honest, we could say that creation has also been really affected by sin, hasn't it? You are watching an African safari program and here is this cute little spring buck just jumping around and all of a sudden outta nowhere comes a lion. And he didn't come up to lick him. Next thing you know that little spring buck has been a meal. We can go swimming in the ocean, and we see the beauty of all of the coral structure and all of the snorkeling and all the different fish that God has made and created. And out of the blue comes a shark that eats that beautiful fish. Nature can be breathtaking, but it can also be very cruel, can't it?

We have natural disasters which offend me incredibly, that they are called acts of God. They are not acts of God; they are acts of Satan. And the reason I believe that is when Jesus was walking on the water, and it was turbulent, and they were in the boat, and he was sleeping and master, carest thou not that we perished? That's the King James version, right?

Jacque: Carest thou not.

Pastor Brian: Yes. Or maybe that was a song we used to sing. I don't know. And he wakes up and the scripture says he rebuked the wind and the waves. If those winds and waves are from God, Jesus wouldn't be rebuking himself or his father in heaven. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put some of this together, right? So why do we call all these tragedies acts of God? But nevertheless, we have earthquakes, we have famines, we have floods, we have tornadoes, we have wildfires. We experienced that this year in Minnesota, didn't we? All the wildfires from Canada colored our sky virtually all summer smoke. And these can all seem like man, nature's out to get me.

Jacque: God's out to get me.

Pastor Brian: Well, that's the next conclusion. God's out to get me. And then if you throw into the equation all these catastrophic diseases that we've experienced throughout history, the bubonic plague all the way up to covid, we could be left wondering why God seems to be so absent. The world thinks God is absent. And so another way to say this is while we may want to believe that God is good and trust that God is love, nature is so full of death, so full of blood, that belief in God's love can be hard to hold onto. Is this really a world made by a God who is love?

Are we really a species made in the image of God when we look at how we treat each other? The murder, the rape, the wars. From the beginning of time until now, some historian did a study about what was happening throughout the whole world, and he concluded that since the dawn of man's history to the present day, there has only been 20 years where there hasn't been some war going on someplace in the world. We who have been made in the image of God, are we really reflecting what that image really is?

Richard Dawkins, I'm sure most of you have heard of him, he is a renowned atheist, was a renowned atheist and he helped sponsor an advertising campaign for atheism and he made or helped pay for signs that they put up. I think he partnered with some British guy, or some British company and they made signs in billboards that read, “There is probably no God, so stop worrying and enjoy your life.” There is probably no God. So, stop worrying and enjoy your life. What's interesting to me about this and yet very sad about this campaign was this, in Dawkins’ mind, it was the absence of God that was to calm everybody's worries rather than the presence of God that would calm everybody's worries.

In Dawkins’ mind, it was God that brought all the worries on because God was the one that was doing all these things. What does that say about our idea of God as a world or the perception of who God is in the world? It seems very apparent to me that the mixed messages of history of how we've treated each other, the mixed messages of nature, as well as the complete misunderstanding of scriptures have created a huge question mark regarding the goodness of God. And how can we know once and for all that God is good? How do we know that with all of these mixed signals coming to us? How can we cut through all of these mixed signals to show us the true heart of God? We need a way of knowing what God is really like. And so God gave us a show and tell. Remember when we were kids in grade school, we had show and tel?

We get a glimpse of God not through theological debate, not through arguing different doctrinal positions. We get a glimpse of God through the life and the teachings and the stories of Jesus, of Jesus. Stories that are so simple, yet heart moving that even children believe in them. You don't have to be an intellectual to know them and to believe in them. They move you even as a four or five- or six-year-old would be moved. So much so that when a child senses that understanding of the goodness of God, he wants to, or they want to serve him like you did when you were a child, 11 or 12. I just want to be a missionary or a pastor's wife. I just want to serve God. That was your response.

I had been in church, not that Jacque hadn't been, I had been in church and saw how people treated my dad who was a pastor, and I said I don't want to have anything to do with the ministry. Because I was raised in probably a little bit more religious culture as a denomination, and it turned me off. People would ask me, are you going to be a preacher like your daddy? Nope. I'm going to be a concert pianist like Van Clyburn. I started saying that when I was six and seven. I didn't understand very clearly the true love and goodness of God, that God is good, that God is good. But these stories of Jesus, this life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus can appeal to people of all ages on how good God is.

We see God in the manger lowering himself, humbling himself to be born in such a place. We see God forgiving through Jesus seventy times seven. We see God through Jesus waiting for the prodigal to come home so that he can run to him and embrace him and give him a new wardrobe and a new life. We see God on his knees in the person of Jesus washing the feet of his followers, we see God in Jesus on a cross forgiving those who were actually murdering him at that very moment in time. We see God in Jesus rising from the dead not for revenge, not for revenge, but to reconcile and to forgive. The earliest statement that we can see in the scriptures, a statement of faith is found in Romans 10:9 where we read this.

Jacque: And what is God's living message? It is the revelation of faith for salvation.

Pastor Brian: This is a living message. It's a revelation of faith for salvation.

Jacque: Which is a message that we preach for if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will experience salvation.

Pastor Brian: Those three simple words: Jesus is Lord. Those were the words that changed all of history. It changed the direction of this world. Christ followers have always known that God is love because Jesus is love and because Jesus is Lord. The people who follow Christ, the people who walked with him and talked with him and ate with him, who lived with him knew he was love. In spite of the fallenness of the world that was fallen because of Adam's sin and how nature can be so cruel and how humanity can be so cruel. This person of Jesus showed that God was love. Christ followers have always known that God is love because Jesus is love and Jesus was and is God. Therefore, God is love.

Another way of saying this is this: God is Christlike and in God is no unchristlikeness at all. We should maybe make some signs that say that. God is Christlike and in him is no unchristlikeness at all. Jesus repeatedly said things like, I am the light of the world. Isn't it great when you are in the dark to have a light? When you are in the dark and you can't see for a light to be turned on? That's Jesus. Isn't it great when you are hungry to have a piece of bread to eat? Jacque and I were watching this program, and it was about these people that get dropped off in the Arctic and they gotta survive. And whoever survives the longest wins I guess. They can't take any food with them. They have some kind of ways to survive, I guess. But they are eating mice, worms. One guy caught a trout, took the eggs out and ate the eggs raw.

Aren't you glad that when you are hungry Jesus doesn't give you a stone, but he gives you bread? Because he says, “I am the bread of life.” When you are outside in a storm and you are trying to get shelter, isn't it great to have a door to walk through? Jesus says, “I am the door.” When you don't know where to go, isn't it nice to know how to get home safely? Aren't you thankful for GPS? Well, Jesus is GPS. He is the way. And when he says, come to me all you who are heavy laden and burdened, I'll give you rest, or follow me,it doesn't come across like he is an angry ogre, does it? And this is our God. Jesus is a personification of our God in heaven. Jesus was convinced that to trust him was to trust God, for those who trusted in Jesus were trusting in God. And to know Jesus was to know God and to see Jesus was to see God.

And so in this world, when we have all sorts of people saying there are many, many ways to God, they are wrong. There is only one way. And it's through Jesus. Because Jesus is and was God. And that's why I suffer to preach nothing, but as Paul says, Christ and him crucified, Christ and Him crucified. And if I could have a dying wish, which I hope I'm not dying, but if I had a dying wish, I would wish that all people would be able to take the scatteredness of their thoughts and just focus them all on Jesus. Because Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. He is the answer.

Sometimes people don't like it that I will sing a song that was written 50 years ago, but Jesus is the answer for the world today. Above him, there is no other. For Jesus is the way. Jesus is the way. Jesus in our coming, Jesus in our going, Jesus in our eating, Jesus in our sleeping, Jesus in our working, Jesus in our playing, everywhere we go, it should be about Jesus. It should be about Jesus. Let's pray. Pastor Robert.

Pastor Robert: Praise Jesus. As I was listening to the message, there was one prevailing question coming through my mind for us: do you know him? Now in English, we are very limited by our language. I'm sorry. Our language is very limiting because we have words that we use for different things, but they don't really let us really get to the heart of the message. Because that question, do you know him, is deeper than our English tends to– So I like to– we have French-speaking folks amongst us, right? Mis a mi francophone despa? So, I like to be able to relate things in a way. See in French, there are different words that mean to know. So, there is a word savoir, which is to know, but it's a factual knowing. You know the facts of things. Then there is a word, there is connaitre, which is to know also, but it's to be familiar with, to be acquainted with. And then there is reconnaitre, which is to recognize, it's to know, but it's to recognize something.

Now if we ask this question, do you know God? See, we can know like the religious Pharisees, the facts of God. But we know they didn't recognize God because God came amongst them in the flesh, in the form of Jesus. For Jesus says, “if you've seen me, you've seen the Father also.” They weren't acquainted with God. So, when I ask you or ask us their question, do you know him, I'm asking you beyond the facts of God, beyond the existence of God, or are you acquainted with God? Do you recognize him?

For those that are online and those in the audience today, the best person you could ever get acquainted with in your life is Jesus. Do you know him? If you don't know him, I'd like to give you an opportunity to get to know him. And as you accept the invitation, he will reveal himself to you more and more. You see that revelation is not just one time. He will reveal himself to you every single day of your life. So I want to take this time. Anyone here that wants to know him? Anyone watching by livestream or even we'll see on a recording later, do you know him? If not, I want to make an invitation to you to get to know him.

According to the scriptures, all you need to do is accept him. Believe in your heart that he is God. Believe that Jesus came in the form of man because God loved us and wanted to be reconnected with his creation. And so he offered Jesus in the flesh, he became flesh for us. Your God, that's how much your God. Do you know him? He loved you enough to strip everything majestic about him and lower himself to be like you, your creator. That's how much he loved you. He wants you to accept him, believe in him, recognize that without him you are lost. And you are separated from him because of sin and sinfulness.

He wants you to reject sin. He wants you to lay it down right now so that you can be forgiven of your sins because he can do that, because he is God. And once you do that, once you believe in your heart, once you confess, openly confess, even right now, wherever you are, confess that Jesus is Lord, God will accept you because you believe by faith that he has the power to forgive your sins and grant you eternal life. I invite you right now to accept Jesus in your heart, to confess that with your mouth and believe that he is your Lord. If you accept that invitation and you pray that right now, then I welcome you into our eternal family as a family of God. And I pray that God will reveal himself to you every waking day of your life, and that you will walk with him on this side of eternity until that day that you meet him in glory when we really will live with him.

Our Father, I pray for anyone that has believed what the words that I've spoken, have acted upon the message that the pastors have brought. I pray and declare that they are yours and that they will hold on to you and they will begin to trust you even more with their lives and show them what living is all about. Let them get to know you, be acquainted, be familiar with you so that they can grow in their faith. And as they grow in their faith, they will speak about it to others. I pray, father, as they are in your hands, I pray that you will keep them for all eternity in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Pastor Brian: Thank you, brother. Jim and Brenda will be here to serve communion for you after the service. Please stick around for the lunch with our wonderful Russian friends. Let's just start saying five simple words many times throughout the day. It's this: Jesus, you are my Lord. Let's say it together. Jesus, you are my Lord. Let's begin to say that many times throughout today, and let's just see how it transforms our futures. Let's raise our hands together.

And now may the Lord bless you and may the Lord keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you his peace. And may we all know that Jesus is Lord and God is love. This, we pray in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. God bless you. Thank you for being here today. Please stay for lunch. If you want communion, we'll be serving communion over here to my right. And we will have people to pray with you at the altar as well. God bless you.

Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 10-1-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.