TRANSCRIPTION | Sunday, July 11, 2021 | It Is What It Is | GREATER Series

 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I'm excited about the message that I get to share. I want to preface the message with this; I believe that our church has been in a series the last couple of weeks, and I was unaware of it until this week. Let me give it to you in this way. Jesus has said this, that he is our shepherd, and his sheep know His voice. And so for followers of the Lord, He has decreed us to be sheep in His pasture. And one of the most famous passages in the entire Bible is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leadeth me beside still waters, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” And so as I think about us as a church, kind of navigating through God's Word, I think of sermon series, message series, like pasture fields. It's a place where we find green grass in Scripture, and we enjoy what it is that he's giving us from that specific passage, or that specific principle for a season. And as a senior pastor, I always want to be on the forefront of that, I always want to know where we're going, but sometimes I just sense transition, and I kind of start maneuvering through Scripture. And then I'll look up and I realize, wait a second, God's put us in another field. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I was thinking about when pastor Joe Dobbins was here and the message that he preached, Pray Bigger, such a phenomenal message. In it, he shared these three things: God, increase my vision; God, decrease my doubt; God, do the supernatural. He was instructing us those are things that we should begin to pray if we want to start praying bigger. And I attempted to follow that message last week with a message entitled Make It Happen. And if I could give you that message in one sentence, it would be this; as a follower of Jesus, don't ever forget what he made happen for you, so that you can think the right way and make something happen for the good of yourself, your family, and others. So as I was preparing for this particular week, I realized that I was in the same vein, or the same field if you will, as those last two messages. I believe right now we're in a sermon series that we could label “Greater.” Believing for the greater things that are yet to come. Can I get a witness from somebody somewhere? Greater.

Why don't you just testify to somebody beside you, greater things are yet to come. Greater things are yet to come.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Our anchor text last week will serve as well as our anchor text for this week, it’s 1 John chapter four verse four, it says this “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Greater is He that is in me than he does in the world. Could you guys just, if they can place it on the screen for you, 1 John 4:4, I want you to say it out loud with me “Greater is He that is in you than he that's in the world.” You guys can remember that right? So I want you to replace the word you with me. Greater is He that's in me. We're gonna set it out loud, ready begin, greater is He that is in me then he that is in the world. Come on say it again for emphasis, greater is He that is in me than he that's in the world. Last time, y'all already, greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. 

We're going to talk about this message series “Greater,” and I want to share a message with you entitled “It Is What It Is.”

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Father, help me to preach, help me to teach, help me to deliver your Word. God, I pray that today you would cause me, Lord, by your grace to be used to encourage and inspire your people, Lord, to believe for the greater things that are yet to come. Let it be done in Jesus’ name, and this church said, amen.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

You know, it seems to me that some things they just are what they are. Or maybe we could say it like they say it in Creelsboro, some things it just is

what it is. For instance, 21 years ago, Mandy and I got married, and from that point forward, we've had an ongoing struggle in two particular regards, one that involves her and one that involves me. First is, my wife when she decides that she wants cereal, whether she goes to the cabinet or the pantry, when she serves herself that cereal, it is guaranteed that she will not put the box lid down on the cereal box when she finishes. It is what it is. She has also come to realize that during our nightly ritual of preparing for bed, when it's time for me to brush my teeth at least once a week, when I finish, I just can't seem to get the toothbrush free from all of its water. And so it tends to go back into the toothbrush holder, just drizzling excess toothpaste and water. It has reached a point where she says that really all I'm good for is feeding the mildew that is sure to come. In fact, she will no longer share a toothbrush holder with me. She has resolved when it comes to Eric and his toothbrush, it is what it is. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

You know, thinking about older people, I turned 41 this week; I think I'm now older people. I feel like older people. But here's the thing, have you ever tried to convince an older person that they should change their ways about something? Like something that they've done for a really long time. It doesn't matter if technology has evolved, it doesn't matter if you feel like you can make it easier for them, if that is the way that they have always done it, you are going to have a very difficult time changing their mind. It is what it is. Someone who professes to be a part of a particular political party, and they lean strongly in that regard, if you've ever tried to change their mind, good luck. It is what it is. I don't know if you use that phraseology a lot, it is what it is, but even if that is not specific verbiage that you use, there is probably a high likelihood that the concept associated with that verbiage is recognized by you in your daily life quite often. You know, you think about it for a second. When you say it is what it is, you're submitting verbally to the current state of whatever situation you're facing. It is what it is. And however you choose to phrase that, or however you choose to say it, we all have something in our vocabulary, most likely that leans towards the way things are is the way they're always going to be. And in those moments of frustration, it actually leads to indifference. It is what it is. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I want you to think with me for a second though, about some men and women that are in Scripture. We're going to take a look at their lives, and we're going to kind of just lay a foundation for what it might have been like to have been that particular person in Scripture. I want to give you the opportunity to imagine yourself as that biblical character. We'll start with Daniel. He has a book of the Old Testament that's actually named after him. And I want you to imagine yourself as Daniel for a moment. There has been a decree that has come through the land. And with that decree from the Emperor, it is now understood that anyone who is associated with your religion is going to receive a death sentence and that includes you. To pray to your heavenly Father is to risk death. And so feeling impending doom, and an element of hopelessness, and this sense of there's not really anything I can do about this, you mutter “well, I guess I just won't be able to pray publicly anymore.” It is what it is.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Imagine yourself as David. David is up against a giant, he's up against Goliath, and Goliath is nine foot tall. He is considered to be a giant that is a hero among his people. Like he seldom found anyone that could even give him a worthy battle. And Goliath is up against David. Imagine yourself as David facing this giant. He's bigger, he's badder, he's madder than any soldier that you've ever faced before, and so you feel like certain defeat. And so you declare to anyone that will listen. Let him blaspheme. Let him say whatever he's gonna say. There's nothing we can do about it. It is what it is.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Old Testament, there's a woman by the name of Esther. Imagine yourself as Esther for a moment. There's a conspiracy at work to wipe out any one that professes your religion. In fact, there is a man named Haman, who is the closest thing to Hitler in the entire Bible. And he has this desire to completely annihilate your people. And you know, if you try to intervene, if you try to do something, you're going to risk your social standing. And so you just decide the risk is too great. After all, you've got a pretty good life, you don't want to mess anything up, and you're just gonna kind of wait it out and just kind of see what happens. It is what it is.

Pastor Eric Gilbert

The New Testament, there's another woman that we're told about. We don't get her name. There's no book of the Bible that is named after her. She is simply in theology referred to as the woman with the issue of blood, and to imagine yourself in her shoes for a moment, you need to contemplate and you have spent everything that you have trying to get medical help to resolve an issue of blood. You are bleeding internally, you are bleeding uncontrollably. There is nothing really that you can do to resolve this, despite all of your efforts. And now, there seems to be just a small glimmer of hope, with this guy named Jesus that is known to be a healer who is passing through, but the crowds are too great, and you are too frail. There's really no way that you could get to Jesus and have any kind of encounter of lasting effect in your life. So you just kind of settle into I guess I'm just bound to live in misery, and I guess I'm just doomed to die. It is what it is. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

New Testament, one of the most famous figures in the entire Bible is Paul. And Paul, imagine yourself as him for a moment. Like you have accepted this call to preach. And yet everywhere you go, you run into problems. Like people are beating you, people have left you for dead outside of cities that you felt like God sent you to, you have been imprisoned on more than one occasion. Even just trying to travel, you have been shipwrecked more than once. Like, it's starting to feel like this whole gospel spreading business isn't working out so well for you. Like, it must not be that God is really interested in your life. And so maybe you just ought to kind of like send letters of resignations to all the churches that you were scheduled to go visit for this next little tour of ministry you were going on, and just call it a day, because this is just a little more than what you signed up for, and people are going to have to deal with it because it is what it is.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Mary. I mean, you're barely even a few pages into the New Testament. If you want to imagine yourself as her, an angel walks in and tells her that she is pregnant even though she's never been with a man. Not only that, she is pregnant with the Son of God. And her belly has barely even begun to grow before people start to revile her, and try to ruin her, and say all manner of evil against her falsely, and she feels like she can't even hold her head up in public because she is so embarrassed by the gossip that is associated with her name. Hey, Mary. If you're sitting in her shoes, is there some possibility that you simply say it isn't worth my name being ruined? It isn't worth people saying all this stuff against me that's not true. Like, let's just, let's just abort this baby.

It is what it is.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

This guy in Scripture. You may have heard of him. His name is Jesus. To imagine yourself as him, you've had a good run, man. I mean, you've opened blind eyes, you've unstopped deaf ears, you've raised dead people back to life. Like, there's some stuff that's really went your way. But now it's took a sudden turn. And now people are yelling that they want to see you crucified, and the government is running betrayals against you with some of your closest friends. And so now you're at this place of like, hey, they're talking about a cross, they're talking about Roman executioner's. So you just kind of get all your buddies together, you set them down, you can't really look them in the eye, you don't have the courage for that. You just kind of let him know as softly as you can. Like, dude, they're talking about a cross here. So I think you know, it's been real good up to this point, but this is a little more than what I'm in for, what I'm signed up for. So like, peace out, man. I'll catch y'all later. And you understand, right? Because, I mean, it is what it is. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Can you imagine how differently the Bible would read if men and women of faith had of taken an attitude of indifference towards their situations? Can you imagine how the Bible plays out if Daniel just looks at the government conspiracy and says, ay, man dude, it is what it is? Can you imagine what it would be if David says the giants too big, the Giants too bad? Man, it is what it is. I didn't sign up for all that stuff, get me out of here, and get me out of here now. Like I'm just dropping off cheese and bread for the brothers because dad told me to. Like, none of this is for me. Can you imagine how the Bible reads, and how the nation of Israel is affected by a holocaust at the hands of Haman. If Esther just says, man it is what it is. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

The New Testament without the faith that the woman with the issue of blood, without the persistence and the perseverance of Paul, without the desire of Mary, without Jesus going to the cross. And yet, how is it that we can look at the stuff that hell throws at us with such casual indifference and just be like, man there’s really nothing I can do about it, it is what it is. Because when you read the Bible, what you see playing out is stuff like Daniel chapter six, verse 10. It says, Daniel always prayed to God three times every day. Three times every day, he bowed his knees to pray and praise God. And even though Daniel heard about the new law, he still went to his house to pray. He went to the upper room of his house, he opened the windows facing towards Jerusalem, and he bowed on his knees and he prayed just as he always had done. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

You, you want to read about David, 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 45, David said to that Philistine of over nine feet in height, you come against me with a spirit of sword, but I come against you in the name of the Lord. You want to talk about Esther? Esther risked everything, all of her social status, all of the promotions that she's achieved up to this point. And this is how she responded in Esther chapter four, verse 16, she said, “You need to go, and you need to get every Jew in this land, and you need to have them fast for me. And my maids and I, we will fast likewise. And I will go to the king, which I understand is against the law, but if I perish, I perish.” When's the last time you made a statement like that? I'm all in. If I perish, I perish. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

You need to understand that the reason we don't do what Daniel did, and the reason we don't do what David did, and the reason we don't do what Esther did is because we don't do what Daniel did, and we don't do what David did, and we don't do what Esther did. There's this hesitancy in us to really take any level of personal responsibility for anything that we seem to be up against, we're always expecting the other fella, or the other lady to step up and be the one, but at some point, maybe you're the one, maybe you're the one that... Like maybe, maybe at some point, you got to bring it into your vocabulary. If I perish, I parish. Could you just practice it for a second? Could you just say it? If I perish... Now we're getting better, okay. I've been to three locations this morning, this being the third one, and that's the best we've done all day. But I've learned I kind of got to exhort you a little bit before I get you there. Try it one more time, if I perish, I perish. The woman with the issue of blood, she's lost everything. Doctors couldn't fix her. Medicine couldn't fix her. There was no cure for the thing that she had wrong with her in that day and in that hour, but what we find unfolding in the gospels is she makes a statement like this, she says, they might be pressing against me, and there might be a lot of people who are going to take advantage of my vulnerability and my frailty, if I can paraphrase for a second, but then she specifically says this, “if I can just get a hold of the hem of His garment, I'll be healed from the top of my head to the soles of my feet.” She came to understand, like, I'm not gonna settle for anything less than the overflow of God's presence in my life, because he is greater than this sickness. He is greater than this adversity! He is greater than this vulnerability! He is greater! And I'm not stopping till I get a hold of his greatness! 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

There’s Paul. Now there's some controversy among scholars as to whether or not Paul was actually a good preacher. Because there's an instance in Scripture, he fell asleep, somebody fell asleep while he was preaching. There's other places where he's like, I don't come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom. Some think that was kind of his way of saying, I'm not very good at this. Who knows. What I can tell you is this, you gave that man a pen and a piece of paper, he could preach. And so, despite the shipwrecks, despite being in prison, despite being beaten, you find him writing things like this to the Corinthians, “We are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed. We are perplexed yet we are not in despair. We are persecuted but we are not forsaken. We are struck down but we are not destroyed.” He's just getting warmed up because now he's about to write to the Romans. And he says this, “What then shall we do with all these things against us? I'll tell you what we will do. If God be for us, who can be against us?” A few paragraphs later, he drops it like this. “Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any of these present things are those which are to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.” Now the church in Philippon needs a little encouragement. So he says, like this, “Brother, I do not count myself to have apprehended. I'm nothing special. But there’s one thing I do, I forget everything that's behind me, and I reach for that which is ahead of me. I press towards the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Mary, when she's faced with the scandal, she simply says this to the angel in verse 38, “Let it be, according to God's word.” Jesus, faced with the cross, though there's pain, though there's agony, though there’s struggle, he resolves to this statement, and this prayer in the garden of Gethsemani, “Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done.” Aren't you glad they didn't say, it is what it is, like a bunch of weak-kneed, watered down modern day Christians? Aren't you glad that they had some intestinal fortitude? There was something stirring on the inside of them. It's almost as though we need to talk about it for a second. So this time, I don't offer it to you as a phrase, or as a statement. This time, I want to pose it as a question in the context of the example of the men and women of faith that we just talked about. It is what it is? Here, try it, turn and ask somebody. Ask them, say, it is what it is? Now listen, if you're really going to sell it, you got to look a little bit bewildered. It is what it is? Because it seems to me like that Daniel realizes it don't have to be that way. It kind of appears to me like David and Esther, the woman with the issue of blood, and the list goes on, were of the thought process, nope that's not how it has to be. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I need to introduce you to someone. Now for this congregation, I could point to the second row, about four seats over, but I'll just give you a picture. I would like to introduce you to Donnie Gilbert. As my father, I called him Donnie, once. I now affectionately call him The Don. So anytime I'm in a message and you hear me reference The Don, that's this guy. Now, my dad's a man of few words. He doesn’t say a lot, very quiet. My dad doesn't claim to be nor would anyone in conversation with him walk away saying that he is an overly articulate man. He is not known for stringing together eloquent sentences. That's not his thing. It's not his vibe. But my father is commended by most people that know him on a personal level as being a man of incredible common sense. In fact, my son who is 13 years old, any time that he goes to spend a day on the farm with his grandfather, he will come home talking about how brilliant his grandpa is, about all these little engineering tricks that he saw his grandpa do on the farm. Of being able to lift something you shouldn't have been able to lift, or put together something that was considered to be destroyed or completely broken. He's just got a lot of common sense. And that common sense is not only towards the practical things in life, but it's also towards the spiritual things in life. And so I have this habit of saying something around my dad quite a bit, and he really struggles with it. And so I don't think I've ever said it, that he doesn't interrupt me, and rebut me, correct me. Many times, regardless of who is around, or how many people are present. It recently happened again. I'd had a rough day. I was extremely frustrated. Bottom line, I was mad. And I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. There was a situation I could not fix, I could not resolve it, and it seemed to just be happening over and over again. And I'm just kind of spewing all of this out. I'm vomiting it out in the presence of my father, and I'm just telling him all these things in the cynical, toxic, negative way. And then I get to the conclusion of my discourse, more like a monologue, and I said, but you know, it is what it is. To which point my father leaned into me, pointing his finger at me, and he said, no, it's not, it's what you make it. So just practice being The Don for a minute and help me look over somebody and tell them, “it's what you make it.” 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Because when I view Daniel and his circumstance, he chose to not settle for what the enemy was dealing out to him, he chose to make something happen. When I view David, I don't see a guy who chose to settle for a less than scenario, he chose to reach out to a greater God than his current circumstance, and it seems to me like he made something happen. Is it just me or did Esther and the woman with the issue of blood, and Mary, and Jesus, and Paul himself, did they make something happen? And so I want to take you back to last week, and I want to remind you again of 1John chapter four, verse four, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Here's what that means; there will never be anything against you, that is greater than the God that is in you. And so what that means is that ultimately you can by faith make something happen. It's not by your might, it's not by your power, it's not by your fleshly wisdom, it's not by your own intellect or learning, but you come to realize though, it may not be by my might, and it may not be by my power, it is most certainly by the spirit of My Lord and my Savior, because He is the author, and He is the finisher, and He is the beginning, and He is the end, and He is the King of Kings, and He is the Lord of lords. I'm trying to help somebody this morning to understand that you do not have to live a life of defeat, and of discouragement, and of depression, and you can just lean back and keep on saying, “well, my granddaddy was an alcoholic, and my daddy was an alcoholic, and I guess that just means I'll be an alcoholic. You know, honey, it just is what it is.” No, it’s what you make it! “Well, my mama couldn't keep a relationship. She is mean as the devil, and I got an honest, and you know, the Bible says better to be on a rooftop than in a house with a contentious woman. I guess I'll just never have a relationship that works. It is what it is.” No, it’s what you make it!” And at some point, you got... it’s all right, I had no help all day long. It is what it is.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

Just look at somebody and tell them, make something happen. Like, you got to stop settling for the lie of the enemy that tries to convince you that the way it is, is the way it's always going to be. And so you can wrestle with the hurt, and you can wrestle with the habit, and you can wrestle with the hang up. And those are very real struggles that every single one of us have to face, but at some point, you got to stop making the excuse of your physical DNA and realize that when you come to Christ Jesus, old things pass away, and everything becomes new again, because we are new creatures in Christ Jesus. Make something happen.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I read, and it's in my notes. I got 10 verses here, 10 verses here from the book of Romans, chapter one, verses 22 through 32. It's a bad deal. It tells you everything that's going to go wrong in culture. It talks about the demise of a culture. It talks about the first thing they're gonna do is they're going to get into idolatry, and then it talks about they're going to become sexually perverse in a multitude of ways. And then it goes into this thing about how they're going to begin to be inventors of evil. They're not going to have a God consciousness. They're going to be doing every ungodly thing that you possibly can imagine in the cities and in the streets. All right there, verses 22 through 32. You can read that, you can step back and just be like my goodness, culture is just bound to demise, it's always going to be history repeating itself, it just is what it is. Or, you can choose to read verses 16 through verses 18, which go down in Scripture before verses 22 through 32, and you will discover that Paul said, there's a fix to the whole thing to keep any of it from happening. It starts with verse 16, by saying, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” verse 17, “for the just shall live by faith,” verse 18, “so don't suppress the truth!” I'm hopping around in Scripture, to point out some things to you. That, yes, there will be difficult moments, and yes, there will be challenges, and yes, there will be struggles, and yes, there will be trials, and yes, there will be cultures that lose their minds, maybe even ours. But when you read 2 Chronicles 7:14, it says stuff like this, “If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, I'll hear their prayer from heaven, I'll forgive their sins, I'll heal their land.” He did not say Hollywood had to turn to him. He didn't say the White House or Frankfort had to turn to him. He said if my people. If my people, which are called by my name, will just do what I'm asking, this whole thing will resolve itself and something good will happen. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I just want to believe that something good is about to happen, because I believe there are people that are awakening to realize I don't have to settle for the enemy's plot when I've got God's plan on my life. And I came to encourage somebody, before your mama thought about you and before your daddy ever even dreamed of a child, God had plans for you. And they are plans to give you a hope, and they are plans to prosper you, and they are not plans for you to keep living under the addiction, and to keep living in the hang up and the habit. They are plans of God to set you free from the top of your head to the soles of your feet as he proves to you that he is greater than anything the world can bring against you. And even when Something doesn't go right, and even when something goes wrong, you serve a God who is so much greater that he says it like this “what the enemy meant for evil, I will mean it for your good, for all things shall work together to the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” Am I making sense to anybody? Just don't settle, don't settle, don't settle. Open your window shades, turn the lights on, get out of the depression, come out of the discouragement, as you realize, greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

I want to take you back to Luke 22, I took you there last week. Reach into the seat back in front of you and take out communion if you would. It should be in all those seats. Maybe somebody can help me up here, open one for me. I want you to just open it. I want you to hold the bread in one hand. I want you to hold the cup in the other, and I just want you to look at it. Just look at it. Now, if the guys in the back can put up Luke 22, about the bread and the cup, can you guys put that up? There you go, awesome. It says “And Jesus took bread,” you got the bread. “And he gave thanks and he broke it. And he gave them saying this is my body which is given for you.” Say “for me,” for me. So do it in remembrance of Jesus. The next verse, “And likewise, he took the cup after supper and he said this cup is for the new covenant in my blood, my blood which is shed for you; everybody say “for me,” for me, for me. Jesus said when you take this bread, and you bless this bread, and you break this bread, and you give this bread, you are to be reminded that it represents what his body went through for you. He paid a price to get on the inside of you. He paid a price to be broken so that you and me could be made whole. He took the cup, and He said this cup, it represents my blood, it's shed for you. And so when you hold this cup in your hand, like you're literally getting to celebrate, he did it for me. He poured out His blood for me. That's why I can testify that I don't have to settle for the way it is. And that by and through the name of Jesus can make some stuff happen. Because he's for me, and he's in me, and he's with me. And he wants me to remember it and never forget it. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

They're gonna play some music softly. As you hold the cup and the bread, I just want you to just think and pray through it for a minute. Let the Lord speak to you for a second. I’m going to ask you to bow your heads, close your eyes. Don't be religious doing that either. Like, do it because you feel and sense, hey I need God to reveal to me where I've settled for less than his greatness. Someplace in my life where I've just

pointed to and just said it is what it is. And today the enemy's lie is exposed. 

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

My wife and I met a young lady one time, and she started pouring her heart out to us. And she made some really bad decisions in life. And it's just kind of getting worse and worse all the time. We're talking with her and trying to talk her through it, like why are you making these decisions, why do you keep letting the enemy lead you down this path. And she said that's just the way people see me. This is the way people view me. I guess it just means this is who I am. I'll never forget it. She looks across the table and with almost like self-hate said it is what it is. And that day, Mandy and I had the chance to tell that girl what The Don has repetitively told me, no, it's what you make it, and buy and through Jesus it can all become something else. Don't let the enemy win, stop the head games. Thank you Jesus.

 

Pastor Eric Gilbert

If you need to call on Jesus as Savior, if you need to confess your sins and put your life under his blood, whether it's for the first time or a rededication, I invite you to do that right now. Don't hesitate. You're dealing with Eternity. He is a prayer away, a commitment away. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I’m going to ask all of you this morning that confess Jesus as Savior and confess Him as Lord, I’m going to ask you to take and eat of this bread. His blood shed for you. I’m going to ask you to take and drink of the cup. I'm gonna give you a chance to stay seated for just a moment. Jaron’s going to start to sing out over you, and as he fills this atmosphere with song, I really want you to lean into the place in your life, that the Holy Spirit may reveal to you, that you've settled for it is what it is. And today you're ready to put a question mark at the end of that phrase, as you step into something more than you thought possible when you walked in here today.