Where Did That Come From?

Good morning again everybody. It's good to see you in church. Just stay standing for just a couple minutes if you can. We're going to open our Bibles here. Luke chapter 6. If you brought your Bible, you can turn. You can just hand me that. All that's great. Yeah. Luke chapter 6. We're in a message series. We started Oh, started at Advent. So, it's been a minute now. Four months, three three months uh studying through the Gospel of Luke. We're going to be in Luke chapter 6 today. And And I've been growing. I hope you've been growing, being challenged, learning authentic, the unfiltered story of Jesus. And I love the word of God. I love how it changes us and impacts our life. You know, the Bible works if we actually read it. And uh also the Bible's awesome if you actually read it. And so today, it's it's kind of it's fun for me. the passage I'm going to teach out of today. I wanted to teach out of this passage, so I made sure and adjusted the preaching calendar so I could make sure I got to teach this passage today. Um Megan, my wife, she's she's teaching in our Virginia locations today and she's teaching in Luke chapter 7. So next weekend I'm going to be I'm going to backtrack in Virginia into Luke chapter 6. Um I love this passage. It's really convicting but also encouraging. I think it can be helpful for our life. And so we're going to be in verse 43. I'm going to read verse 43 through verse 49. After that, I'm going to pray and then you'll be able to have a seat. Jesus said these words, "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit." People do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briars. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart. And an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say. As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house who dug down and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, when the flood came, the torrent struck that house, but could not shake it because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete. Jesus, we we want you to speak to us today. We thank you that we have the written word. And so so now, Holy Spirit, we're asking you that you would breathe on the written word that what each of us needs to hear practically in our own lives, what we need to know in in relationships and in decisions and economics and across the board. Holy Spirit, would you speak to us today through your word in Jesus name? Amen. can have a seat. If you're newer with us today, my name is Michael and my wife Megan and I are the senior pastors of a live church and we're multi-sight church here in St. Louis. We also have two locations in Southeast Virginia and we do international work in the Philippines and we also partner with several other organizations. And so I'm just grateful for the house of God. So, I'm grateful for a local church um where we can gather, where we can hear uh the word of God, where we can pray, where we can worship, where we can be together in community. And uh I hope that you are walking in 2026 and that all God has for you. And uh today, we're going to man, we're just going to get into it because some of us sometimes say something and uh and maybe this has happened to you before in your life. Maybe you've said something and then this was your response right after you said it. I didn't mean to say that. Anybody could I could I just see is that has that happened in your life? You ever you ever have something where this happens to me maybe maybe this has happened to you. You're by yourself and potentially you get upset about something, a little bit frustrated about something and then something comes out of your mouth and you have the thought, where did that come from? Like I've said some stuff. I probably shouldn't confess this as the pastor, but it's okay. Uh we're all God's working on all of us, right? This isn't I'm not up here as the perfect person whatsoever. Sometimes something comes out of my mouth in a moment of frustration and I'm like, "Oh man, I did not know that was still buried somewhere inside." And then Jesus says these words where we start today. He's like, "Whatever comes out of here, oh, it's just revealing what's in here." And you know what I want to say? No, Jesus, that's not really true. Sometimes I just say stuff. Jesus would say that that this is merely the overflow. of what's happening here. So when we ask that question to ourselves, where did that come from? Whether we would feel like it's a good thing or sometimes maybe it's a bit of a negative thing, where that came from was our heart. Where that came from was our was our mind. It's the attitude. It's the emotions. It's it's the very essence of who we are. Our mouths reveal right what is actually going on on the inside. In this first of the passages we're looking at today, Jesus is dealing with the reality that following him is never is never about an external thing. He he starts talking about right fruit and and getting to the root and this this idea that we can't be measured by just doing the right things on the outside that following Jesus isn't about a a behavior modification system. I grew up going to church uh was in church since I was I think like a week old. My mom said, "I don't I don't remember being in church until I was a year old." Just kidding. Um some people they're like, "I can remember when I was a baby." I'm like, "That's incredible." Uh I think my first memory is about age six. But anyway, that has nothing to do with anything right now. Um I can remember different seasons of my life and I would say childhood for me in my my early early adolescence uh the idea of following Jesus was here's the behaviors you're supposed to do as a Christian and so work really hard to do these right behaviors as a Christian and if you work really hard to do these right behaviors as a Christian then you'll be doing the right thing and that's exhausting. It's really exhausting because we can never be perfect. And so often people end up going one of two ways. They just give up on the whole thing or they just go through life heaped with shame and guilt because there's this feeling of never being actually able to be good enough. And Jesus is like this is not the point. The point is not what does the behavior, the fruit look like. The point is what does the root look like? What is actually on the inside? Because if we get the inside right, there'll be a natural outflow for what's supposed to happen. We can't just make something be on the outside that's not on the inside because it's exhausting. I mean, I just think about it, you know, practically, right? We're all different in our in our in our uniqueness and all of us have different personalities. We have somewhat of a different makeup. And if you try to act like someone you're not, it's exhausting. You know, some some of you, you are like you are the most joyful people ever. Like I legit think you hear birds singing in your head when you wake up. You know what I mean? You just you there just a smile and you're like there's never been bad news. You've never met a stranger. You know, someone walks in the doors of the church and you're like, "Oh, it's so good to see you." And you know, you're hugging and and you just met that person for the first time. You know, there's others that maybe you're a little bit more a little bit introverted and you know you're like, "Hi, it's good to see you." If you ask that person who's a little bit more introverted to do what the person who's got the bird singing in their head, they'll be exhausted. Why? Because we can't just be someone else. We can't just take someone else's fruit and claim it as ours. I don't how long you've been following Jesus. But I remember earlier in my walk with with God, I would be around people and and this still happens to be honest where I'm like I I want to know Jesus like they know Jesus. I remember when I before I was going to preach my my first message and I love telling the story because I was going to preach my first message and gosh now I don't remember the year probably around 2008 or something like that and and uh was riding with with uh my pastor and we were on our way to a prayer meeting and and he was going to help me and I was like trying to teach on serving in the house of God, why we should serve and why it all matters. And then he just starts just giving me scriptures and examples and I'm literally just like how do you know this stuff? I've already spent like 50 hours and I've got like one example. Oh, it's years in it. You don't just get it. You got to do the work of it. When I'm around people that they just know a they know a Bible verse for the moment of what you're walking through, I'm like, I want to be like that. Well, you just got to be in it. You just got to actually read the Bible. You got to learn it. You got to get it into into your system. You got to get it into the root system. So then that's the fruit that ends up being produced. Sometimes if you ever been around somebody when they're praying and and you I mean you legit hear them pray and you're like, I'm pretty sure they better than Jesus. You're like, they are just like whatever they say, I think God's going to do it. And then you're like, I want to pray like them. You know how you do that? You pray. You get to know God. It doesn't just happen. You have to get to the root system. Do you like the fruit that you're producing? Do you like the fruit of your life? What needs to shift about certain things? What needs to change about certain things in your life today? Because the goal is never can we just get the fruit. The goal is can we get the root healthy? Can we get the root right? Have you ever tried to tell somebody to be peaceful when they're ridden with anxiety. You can't have peace when the root system is anxiety. It's just not possible. When you tell somebody, "Hey, we should be patient and you're unable to be patient." Why? Because the root system is anger. When you say, "Hey, I want to be loving, but the root system is bitterness." Can't be It's all about the root. Real simple statement that's true and and um we we don't need to argue about it because it's biblical, but it's also just agricultural or whatever. It's this root determines fruit. And you can remember that it rhymes. It's helpful. Root determines fruit. Why do I see what I see in my life? It's coming from the root system. And it's a continuous thing, right? I want to continue to strengthen the right roots and break off the ones that shouldn't be there. Paul, the Apostle Paul in the book of Colossians, he wrote these words. Colossians chapter 2 verse 6. He said, "So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith just as you were taught and overflowing with gratitude. Be rooted and built up. Be rooted and built up. In Isaiah 37, God's talking about how he's going to work in his people again one day. And in Isaiah 37:31, he says, "The surviving remnant will once again take root downward and bear fruit upward." It is that it is that root downward season for our life that we have to have the Holy Spirit help us have a desire for because in the strengthening of the root season there is nothing sexy happening. Hey, what's going on in your life? Man, the roots are just growing. Oh, I really can't tell. I know. It's because the roots are growing. You have never walked outside and saw a tree and gone, "Strong roots. Look at those roots." No, the root season's boring. Everything on us on the outside, the root season's not exciting. That's when the most important things happen. I I remember I can't remember how many years ago it was now. Uh maybe 18ish years ago in this auditorium. Uh there was a lady here speaking named Christine Kaine. You might know who she is. Worldwide ministry author had a big impact over the last several decades for the kingdom of God. And I remember she told this story about how people had said to her, "Man, it just seems like all of a sudden your ministry is really blowing up and God's just really using you. And she goes, "All of a sudden, I spent years and years and years laboring where no one knew me." And that root system time is worth it. That root system for your life, the the person you want to become as a mom or a dad, the person you want to become as a husband or a wife, the the person you want to become as a leader, the person you want to become as an entrepreneur. We all just want to go take what somebody else has and then say that's us now. But that's not how it works. It's the root system season. It's the strengthening of the root system. You're never going to be able to pull out and live from what's not actually here. I was thinking about this way uh this week. You ever you ever you ever go into your closet and you go, I have nothing to wear. Just see. Does this happen to anybody else? I just want to, you know, I'm like I go into my closet and you know there's 73 black shirts lined up and I'm just like I have nothing to wear. In case you're new to our church, I wear a black shirt 99.9% of the time. Today's a massive one off. And you go in there and if you're like me, sometimes I can have an idea in my mind like I know what I want to wear. I know what I want it to look like, but I can't find it anywhere. Even if I want it here, I can't just make it happen unless it's actually inside. And we we might want to be that person. We might want to be that kind of friend. We might want to be the person who's wise. But I don't just get it because I want it. Got to develop the root system right here. I love about Jesus, by the way, when we come to passages like this that that for me are is both convicting and encouraging is that Jesus always guides us to things that we can do by his spirit. Jesus Jesus is not the kind of God who is like, "Hey, bet you can't do that." No, he says, "This this you can. And I want to help show you why it matters. I want to help show you who you can be. I want to make sure that I don't I don't just try to, you know, tape somebody else's fruit onto my own life. You know, it's true, right? You can't go buy a bag of apples at Trader Joe's and go tape them onto one of these trees out here and go poof apple tree. And I know we're like, duh. And Jesus is going, "That's you." You don't just be that thing. You have to let yourself root down in the things of God. But if you will allow yourself to focus and prioritize and to root down in the things of God, watch what he will do. Because listen y'all, the root produces the fruit. Let your roots grow down deep into him because what happens when you do? He produces the fruit. We don't have to. He makes us become who we're supposed to be. We don't have to. It's part of the upside down thinking of the gospel that doesn't make sense to our human minds. 5 talks about the fruit of the spirit and it says the holy spirit produces this kind of fruit in you. It doesn't say if you choose to follow God and work hard you'll be able to accomplish these things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. No. If we try to do those things, we will fail. You know how I know that? Every time someone has said to you, you just need to be patient. You didn't go, okay, I'll be patient. You go, I don't want to be patient. So, I want to be patient. Holy Spirit, you need to produce patience in me right now. Does when our roots grow down into it changes us. And so, this passage and the next one the same as we walk into it. It gives us almost like a framework or an opportunity to do regular self evaluation, right? What does the fruit of my life look like? And the best way to to analyze it is what are the words that come out of my mouth? What are the words that come out of my mouth when I'm around other people? What are the words that come out of my mouth when I'm excited? What are the words that come out of my mouth when I'm angry? What do I say about myself when I'm by myself? You know, I think about And we're going to do a series after Easter, a threee series on on your mind and your thoughts. I think it's going to be really important. Then we're going to dip right back into Luke. But the words that you say about yourself that no one else hears but you are the most shaping words for your entire life. It's why I get so mad at my kids. Whenever they make a mistake and they say, "I'm just stupid." They say that because the natural reaction humanity has when we make a mistake is shame. It's ingrained in us. We didn't do what we were supposed to do. We feel shame about it. And so then, right, we can then say that out of our mouths. I don't want to ever hear myself say bad things about myself. That might not have been correct grammar. Too many there. I'm not real sure, but No, I want the words that come out of my mouth to bless myself. Well, that doesn't happen unless right here is the truth of what God says about me. Is the identity of what God says about me. So Jesus says, "Let your mouth be the test of the overflow of your heart." Then this is part of why I'm loving the study of of Luke. And also sometimes I'm just like Jesus. It seems like you should take a break because the way Luke records it, Jesus says this, which I would think would be challenging for his hearers 2,000 years ago, just like it is for us today. And it feels like the next thing he should say is, "No, let's just hang out." But instead, he says, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?" That verse I don't like it. I'd like to give you a different I don't like it. I mean, I've been studying for this week. I preached it last service, preaching it again. I'm like, I think that's me. There's so many times I I do what I want, not necessarily what God wants. It's so much easier to just do what I want. than it is to do what God in in a in a big picture reality for us living in the United States of America. We we can live often unintentionally as what you would call a practical atheist where we would say we believe in Jesus but then we live as if he doesn't exist. And we can do that living in the nation that we live. And I'm I'm I'm not making this uh I'm not making this assessment by the way to somebody in the room or anything like that. I'm saying just take a general with me. Hundreds of millions of people that live in the United States of America. Maybe a couple hundred million people in the nation would would profess to be a believer in Jesus right now. You can profess to believe in Jesus and live as if he doesn't exist. That's a danger of living in a nation like America where you could say you're my Lord but then be comfortable to not do what he says. I think it was David said in talking about a sacrifice and an offering to the Lord, he said, "I refuse to give to the Lord a sacrifice that cost me nothing." And so I'm I'm 45 years old. I've lived in this country my whole life. What I know is that in this country, you can say you follow Jesus and it cost you nothing. doesn't have to, but that that can happen. And I think this verse causes us to think about that a little bit. Do you call me Lord, Lord, and not actually do what I say because you can get away with it here? I recently read a book called The Insanity of God. And um Megan had read it I guess a couple months ago, a few months ago and she's always like, "You need to read this book. You need to read this book. You need to read this book." And so I read it in about three days, two or three days last week. And it's a story of a guy who was a missionary in Somali land. his whole family. They were they were missionaries in now I forgot maybe Kenya but but then they then they from Kenya were in Somali land. That's the first half of the book and just what they went through. The second half of the book he decides that they're going to almost go on like a it's like a tour to go talk to and visit Christians in the nations of the world where it's illegal to be a Christian. where if you profess Jesus, you get arrested, tortured, or killed. And and the second half of the book, it's like there's most of the time it's not the person's real name. Some of the times it's not they can't even say the real country that they're in to even have it in print because of what's happening. And I begin to process as I'm reading these stories and I'm thinking about the faith of these people that get together from 1:00 a.m. to 3 a.m. where 12 people can get together in the dark of night where there's one copy of a Bible and they will risk their life going to a place that if they got stopped on the way they would be suspected they were doing something they're not supposed to do. They will risk their life to just quietly in a dark room with a little candle have someone read the Bible out loud because they so badly just want to hear the word of God. And they so badly just want to get closer to Jesus even though it means they could be killed and tortured. And I I hear that. And you know what I want to say? I would do that. They worship knowing it could legitimately cost them their lives. They share the gospel. They tell people about Jesus knowing there's a good chance they're going to get arrested. And there's a line in that book that one of the leaders and I don't remember which nation says to the guy who wrote the insanity of God. He says don't give up in freedom what you wouldn't give up in persecution. what we wouldn't give up in persecution. He says where you're free to worship Jesus, people give up gathering. Where you're free to worship Jesus, people give up sharing the gospel. I mean, I know this isn't true for all of you in the room today, but what is true for a lot of us in the room today, we have multiple copies of Bibles in our homes. I mean, body that has a smartphone, you can have the Bible for free on your phone. They're risking their lives to read the Bible. Do we just give that up in our freedom? I'm so glad, by the way, that I live in a nation where I'm free to worship Jesus. I want to be clear on that. I'm not asking there to be persecution in America. You know, I got out of my car this morning and I put my backpack on my shoulder and my Bible was in my backpack and I did not have a thought in my mind that was like, man, if somebody knew my Bible was in here, I could go to jail. Like I'm really glad that when I get on a plane and I travel, I can have my Bible and I don't feel nervous that somebody's going to arrest me or that, you know, I'm I'm thankful for that. I'm also challenged because I wonder if I'm too passive as a believer because it's so easy to be a Christian in America. I I'll just I want to double down one more time. I'm not asking for persecution. I don't want to be persecuted. Just to be clear, I'm not asking for you to be persecuted. I'm saying, could we be as passionate about Jesus in our freedom to be passionate about Jesus as the persecuted churches? Could the Holy Spirit do a work in us so that we would say, "Lord, Lord," and then actually do what he told us to do that we would believe the word matters that much. It made me think about my prayer life. I was sitting on on the deck Friday morning here here in St. Louis and it's a great day, right? By the way, in case you didn't know, everybody says the exact same the weather in St. Louis as they do in Southeast Virginia. It it swings by 75 degrees half the time in a day. So, just so we all know, you know, anyway, because Friday was beautiful and this morning I was frost on the windshield and I was so confused. I was sitting there Friday and I was praying. I was praying for our church. I was praying for you. I was praying fully live conference yesterday. I was praying about church today. I was I mean just decisions. I'm asking God to be honest. I was Some of my prayer times feel pretty boring, uneventful. I felt like it was a decent prayer time. And I felt like the Lord said, "All you need to pray is that you would obey what I tell you to do. Just pray that you would obey me." And I think sometimes we're good to pray for our kids and pray for our marriages and pray for our business and pray for for I mean like pray for revival, pray for God to move, pray for all these things that are that are good prayers, but we skip you o would you help me obey your word? Could my life be the kind of foundation because I obey your word that's storm proof? Because Jesus said, "If you hear me, you call me Lord and you hear me and you don't do what I say, let me tell you what it's like." And this parable that Jesus gives is another one of those that if we just read it, we'll miss what I think is the most significant thing about this parable in Lukeapter 6. He says there's two builders and there's two houses. There's one storm. If I was God, I'm not at all. If I was God, I would say there's two houses, there's two people, there's two houses, and there's two storms. How I would write it would be that the person who doesn't follow my word is like a person who built their house on the ground. Storm came, wiped them out. The person who does hear my word is a person who built their house on a solid foundation and no storms ever came into their life at all. It's how I would write it. But instead, what the text says is that the storm is going to come to the person who builds their life on the word of God and to the person who doesn't. That building your life on the word of God is not to stop the storm from coming. Building your life on the word of God is to stop the power of the storm to destroy you. I mean Jesus, you know, John 16:33, one of the most, I hope, familiar verses to a lot of us. He says, "I've told you these things." He's given his disciples and us all these promises about how he's how he's with us, how the Holy Spirit's going to come into our life, all the all the things. He says, "I've told you these things so that in me you may have peace because in this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I've come over the world. Oh, thank you. I mean, this is my personality. Thank you for the peace, God. Thank you for overcoming the world. But why did we have to have the trouble? You're God, right? But how good is God that he's telling us how to live our life so that when the storm comes, it doesn't take us out. When the storm comes, it can't destroy us. Hebrews 12 vers 28. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be I want you to say that word out loud. Since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be I feel like the world spins. There's wars and rumors of wars. There's economic downfalls. There's pandemics. There's my Bible tells me that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. It's like a shake proof life. So, that's what you're that's that's your life. That's your life. So, what do we do in response? He says, "So, let's be thankful. What do I have to be thankful for?" If you can't think of anything else today, be thankful that you're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. So, he says, "Let's worship God with reverence and all." And then again, I just love the Bible, for our God is a consuming fire. If you thought that Jesus was just like happy happy passive just like hope things work out. You don't know the Bible. You don't know Jesus. What it says Jesus is doing right now. You may have wondered it's 11:47 a.m. on the clock that I'm looking at right now. What Jesus is doing, he's in all time zones, by the way. What Jesus is doing according to scripture is he is making intercession for you and me. It means he is praying fervently right now for you and I. He's not chilling until one day the father says, "Okay, now it's time to go return and set up a new heaven and a new earth." No, he is he is praying. He is asking the father. He is on our behalf, standing in the gap for where we are right now for our needs. Standing on the gap so that the lost would be saved. He is he is fighting the real war, the real thing that matters. And you and me are in that kingdom where our king is praying for us. Our king is fighting for us. He's already done the work. By the way, just so I don't want to mess up anybody's theology. We're in this weird in between time that in our humanity, we can't fully understand how the kingdom of God is here and the kingdom of God is coming. Jesus has already paid the ultimate price. He already is victorious. And until what the scripture says, the number of people going to come into the kingdom. The number of people are going to get saved until that time happens. Earth is as we know it right now. And Jesus is praying for us. So during this time, there's going to be storms. And I don't want storms and I don't want persecution. And I'm not prophesying that over any of us. I'm just saying Jesus never promises stormree living. He promises storm proof foundations because when the foundation's weak, you feel freaked out. I remember Megan and I's first house, you probably heard me tell this story right down the road in Finton Parkside Acres. And uh I remember last service, by the way, this is a funny story and then we're going to pray. So this will hopefully not remove the spiritualness of this moment. I remember uh I was walking my dog in that park across the from where we live and I don't remember the name of it but it's right down there acres area anyway and I was walking my dog and I got pulled over by a police officer I was walking my dog and my dog took a poo and I I didn't have a bag and I'm being honest right now there's like a stand with bags in it I was going I was walking to the to the stand with bags in it and this police officer comes flying in his car off onto the off into the grass and gets out and goes Hey, are you going to pick that up anyway? Just have some experience in life and then they pop into your mind and you're like, "That really happened. I didn't know that could happen. That really happened." But in that first house, I remember our foundation was caving in. And you know, you can like your house as much as you want, but if your foundation's caving in, you don't feel very confident about life. You don't feel very We redid the kitchen, but didn't much matter if the whole thing was going down. Now, the Lord provided, by the way, Megan got a $20,000 bonus from her work at the time. And and I would have loved to have gone on some extravagant vacation or done something fun. said, "We spent that $20,000 to get our foundation fixed." Because if the foundation's not strong, nothing else matters. Jesus promises we can live with a strong foundation because the word works if you work it. The word works if you work it. And you know the thing about having your foundation strong, the time to get ready for your foundation to be strong is not when the forecast says there's a storm coming. Most of us live our lives like this. We say, "I'll get ready when I need to be ready." Most of us today, if you're a follower of Jesus, we would say, "I would stand for Jesus." If it was if even if it meant persecution, we've never been in that environment. Many many of us, some of us have. And we live our life planning to be ready instead of being ready before we need to be ready. I always think about that with with like when there's a you know a blizzard in the forecast, snowstorm or in Virginia we get hurricanes in the forecast and everybody goes to the grocery store and everybody buys three items, milk and eggs. Everybody eats French toast for weeks. is the only logical thing you would do with those three ingredients and the amount of those things people buy. Because there's this freak out moment that says, "I'm not ready. I need to go get ready." What I want God to find in me and what I want to find in what I want him to find in you is someone who's ready for what? I don't know. He's God and I'm not. We don't know what tomorrow looks like. We don't know what 10 years looks like. Like we don't but we don't have to fear that when our foundation is built on the word because even if the storms come, it cannot take us out. I want to pray. I want to pray for you. I want to pray for us that we would have our lives built on the word that our roots would grow down deep into that we would be as a result confident, not fearful of the future, but living confident. I know what I've built my life on and I know I'm stronger. God, we seek you together right now. And Lord, I know all of us, we're we we have some of us have some specific struggles, specific things that we need help with right now. Lord, you know the worries that that go in some of our minds. You know that the attitude of our heart. You know exactly what's going on in every one of us. And so, Holy Spirit, I pray right now that you would help us make this a moment, a clean moment to say, "Jesus, I'm going to build my life. I'm going to build my life on your word. I'm going to build my life on your truth. I'm not going to fear bad news. I'm not going to fear the future because I know No matter what happens, I am storm. Lord, I pray that over us individually in our walk with you. I pray that over every marriage right now. I thank you that every marriage represented in the house today built on the word of God. Over every family built on the word, strong foundation, roots down deep. Lord, I prayed over our church. I prayed over a live church right now. God, would you find in us a church whose roots grow down deep into you? A church that is built on the word of God that our foundation is secure and strong. And God, we pray for the church in America. We pray over the church in America right now. And we ask you, would you move in the church in America so that our roots would go down deep into you, Lord? that our foundation would be built on the word of God, not the word of man, not what's politically correct, not what's success in a moment, but that our our faith is built, our foundation is built on the word of God. And we thank you, Lord, that we are strong, that the church is strong, that we fulfill what you have for us in this moment in Jesus name. Amen. And amen. Let's give Jesus praise.