Sermon Transcript
I first met a young lady by the name of Dana Curry a number of years ago whenever I was in college. Dana and I are about the same age, and we attended college together. She had grown up in Nashville, Tennessee, and her parents got divorced when she was in middle school, and Dana’s life spiraled downward after that point. Dana would tell you that she was admittedly more interested in her middle school and high school years in partying and in meeting boys. She started shoplifting.
She drank a lot. She experimented with drugs. She became physically involved with boys and even got pregnant on her 17th birthday. That was the low point of her life. She didn’t know where else to turn, and she ended up getting an abortion and breaking up with her boyfriend, and it just led to the greatest heartache and pain in her life.
And she— when I heard her testimony years later, she recounted about the fact that as she was getting her abortion, she just was praying silently, God, save this baby, but take me.
I met Dana in college when she and I were part of the same college group. And by that point, Dana was a changed person. You see, after her abortion, she turned to the Lord. Her parents were Christ followers, and even though they had gotten divorced, they had maintained a level of stability in her life. And she was a part of a, of a church group in her later years of high school, so that whenever she hit college, she immediately found a church home that she could plug into.
That’s a wonderful church home, and that’s where I met Dana. If you met Dana, you would know a couple things about her. She loves the Lord, absolutely loves the Lord. Sometimes there are people in a time of worship where you’re watching them from afar, and you really should be focusing on the Lord, but you just are watching people’s countenance sometimes, and you’re just ministered to by them. And Dana was one of those individuals.
She was also an incredibly caring, compassionate individual. The Lord just changed her life. And after those high school years, as she got to college and she was a part of this college group, she surrendered her life completely to the Lord. She volunteered at the Waco Center for Youth in Texas where she mentored young girls who had been sexually abused and abandoned. She went on several mission trips.
I got to go with her to Mexico a couple years with her college group, but she also went to Guatemala. She also even one summer went to Siberia during her college years to do some humanitarian aid work there. She absolutely loved the Lord. She graduated from Baylor with an undergrad degree. Social work.
And Dana, after that point, went into a missionary training school known as Master’s Commission that was available to her. And she didn’t know what the future held for her, but she just knew that she felt called to the nations. She felt called to love others, and she especially felt called to invest in women and in children. And so she was open to whatever the Lord would do, and part of her missionary training after college, she actually did a 2-year stint in Uzbekistan, in Tashkent, and she did some humanitarian aid work there. And she just fell in love with the people there in Central Asia.
She, after that 2 years, came back to Waco, taught for 3 years as a social worker at an alternative school for troubled youth, but her heart was still in Central Asia. And so she accepted a call in the late ’90s to go to, of all places, Afghanistan. There was an opportunity for her to work in Afghanistan at a women’s and health— a women’s and children’s health clinic there. And she and her colleague, Heather Mercer— I didn’t know Heather. Heather was younger than Dana, but Heather was one of these individuals who was part of this group that was doing some humanitarian aid work there.
Earthquake relief, flood relief, providing food for the poor, working at these health clinics in these deplorable health conditions. And Dana just loved it, and the Lord blessed her. Asked what was happening there, and she was actually in Kabul, again, of all places. Well, we know what happened on 9/11, and they weren’t aware of it at the time, but just in the days leading up to 9/11, Dana just once again surrendered her heart to the Lord. Her journal entries at that time said, Lord, I give my life to you.
She counted the cost of being in an unfamiliar place, uncertain, as to what her future held, but she said, Lord, I’m open to whatever you want to do. Well, she and Heather Mercer, her colleague from the United States, as well as 6 other individuals— and you may have heard about this in the news— were arrested and imprisoned by the Taliban on August 3rd, 2001. So this is pre-9/11, but she had been invited into a family member’s home in Afghanistan, a family that she had known over the 2 years that she had been there and had a great relationship with, and the family had invited her in. And the Taliban came in and arrested her, and they imprisoned her and Heather and these 6 others. You may have, again, seen this on the news.
It was in magazines. It was on CNN just about every night. We, of course, back in Texas where I was living at the time, were following this because I knew Dana and I knew her story. And so it was odd for me to watch somebody from afar, but I knew that Dana’s heart was in this and that she was open to whatever the Lord would do. Well, they stood trial, or they were scheduled to stand trial before the Supreme Court of Afghanistan.
And word back in the United States was that the Taliban was talking about the death sentence as a possibility. And so we, of course, were praying night and day, round the clock, as part of her church and staying connected with her in this uncertain future. Of course, wanting to see a positive result. But if you go back and you read Dana’s journals, even during that time, she As days turned into weeks in prison and weeks turned into months, in all this uncertainty, one of the journal entries that she had written said, Lord, I know that you’re good. And if your will is for me to die here, then I know that I’ll be with you.
And I’m open to whatever you wanna do in my life. I trust that as long as people come to know the Lord in my life or by my death, that’s what I want.
Well, as it turned out, and again, if you remember the story, this is after 9/11, the day after. They didn’t know what had happened there in the prison there, but they knew that the next day, as they were standing in the courtyard and they can hear bullets whizzing by back and forth over the courtyard of the prison in the compound where they were, anti-aircraft bullets whizzing back and forth, bombs exploding night and day, night and day, shaking the foundations of the prison. They were moved from compound to compound. They were never really told, Dana and Heather and her colleagues, what the future held for them. They were moved around from place to place.
Some of them were infected with parasites. They just dealt with all of this uncertainty. But on November 15th, 2001, after 105 days in prison, the Northern Alliance came in late one night. They managed to escape the prison. They were rushed to a tarmac where US Special Forces were there to rescue them by helicopter, helicoptered them to Pakistan, and then from Pakistan they made it back to the United States.
And you may have seen the press conference that Dana and Heather had with President Bush in 2001. What an incredible story. And I was thinking about Dana and my relationship with her as just a really a little bit more than as an acquaintance. We haven’t stayed in touch during these years, but Shannon and I both knew her. And I was thinking about Dana as I was preparing for this message, thinking about the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul, didn’t he deal with uncertainty around every single corner? Don, I bet you’ve dealt with uncertainty during your 35 years of ministry, you and Cynthia and your family. Unpredictability as to what the future holds. All of us at one time or another are faced with uncertainty, and Paul is sitting here. We’ve been studying through the book of Philippians.
We’re gonna continue in the book of Philippians chapter 1, and I’m gonna read some scriptures here in just a moment to just again set the stage that we remember that Paul in prison didn’t know what the future held. You or I, whenever we face unpredictability, we’re fazed by that, but he remained unfazed by uncertainty and unpredictability. How is that even possible? When you are encountering an uncertain, unpredictable future, whether it’s with your job or with your family or with your health or with the economy or whatever it is, we tend to turn inward. We tend to become anxious.
What did Paul do? He rejoiced. Nothing is certain in this life. We’re not guaranteed our next meal, let alone our next heartbeat or our next breath. Can any one of us actually tell what the future holds for us one year from now?
Do you know exactly what your life will look like a year from now? We can, we can make predictions about that. What will your life look like a month from now?
We begin to realize that all of our best forecasts are merely just educated guesses, right? And we’re here in the United States, let alone have a person like Dana who was serving in Afghanistan at that time. Where the Apostle Paul, who was in prison, and yet despite his troubles, despite his detractors and his enemies, despite the fact that he could die in prison, and despite the fact that he was facing a completely uncertain future, Paul rejoiced. So let’s pick it up there in the book of Philippians chapter 1. We’re gonna look at some ways that he dealt with his uncertainty in his life.
We’re gonna start in chapter 1. We’ve been reading through the first 18 verses, and we’re gonna start here in verse 19. Paul has said, listen, I rejoice. All Paul cared about was that the gospel was being advanced. And as long as the gospel was being advanced, as Pastor Dave reminded us last week, as long as the gospel was making progress and going forth, it didn’t matter to Paul whether he lived or died.
And so he says, I will rejoice In verse 19, for I know, and that word I know was not just, I’ve mentally understood. No, this was a certainty to him. You could put money on it. I know. What does he know?
That through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, that what has happened to me, being in prison and all the circumstances leading up to that, that what has happened to me, I know, will turn out for my deliverance. Verse 20, I eagerly expect and I hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now, as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Verse 20 or verse 21, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Now, if I am to go on living in the body, He says, if I’m going to stay alive, well, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose?
I don’t know. I’m torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. He’d rather be in heaven. But it is more necessary for you that I remain in this body.
So convinced of this, I know that I will remain and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. How was Paul so certain in such uncertainty? How was he unfazed by uncertainty? There’s a couple things that he points out here in these first couple verses. One, he’s absolutely confident, absolutely certain that God will deliver him.
That God will deliver him. That word for deliverance there is the same word from which we get our word soteria, salvation. He’s not talking about his spiritual salvation. He’s And in fact, Paul doesn’t even seem to know what form his deliverance will take. Will he be vindicated?
Will he be released from prison? Will he die and be in heaven? He doesn’t know. But he knows the Scriptures, and he goes back and he looks throughout the Psalms. He looks throughout the Old Testament.
And Paul, being a man of Scriptures, says, I know that God delivers the righteous. God will deliver. God will rescue. God will save.
And it didn’t matter to him what others might think might happen because ultimately he placed his life in the Lord’s hands saying, God, I believe that you will deliver me. Some of you are going through a time of uncertainty right now.
And my hope and my prayer is that we can look at Paul’s example and say that you would take hope in the fact that this truth This principle that is true again and again, that we don’t know exactly what form of deliverance will come your way in your circumstance right now or in mine, but God will deliver.
God is at work right now in your circumstance in the face of uncertainty, and he will deliver. Why else was Paul so certain? Well, he said he was also so certain and so confident in the face of uncertainty because of the prayers of others on his behalf. He said, I know that through the prayers of the saints, the prayers of others on his behalf, he knew that others were praying for him. When Dana Currie returned with Heather Mercer back to the United States, they talked about the prayers of others on their behalf, people that they didn’t even know, people around the world were praying for them.
And they felt so sustained by that. Some of you have gone through difficult circumstances and you felt buoyed and encouraged and lifted up in prayer.
I know that there have been seasons of my life, even just in recent days, where whether it’s a family concern that Shannon and I are dealing with as parents, or whether it’s something related to our extended family or something related to our ministry, so many of you pray for us and we feel that. Even whenever I get up here to preach, I know that there’s an army of people praying for me. I got a text last night from my mother. She’s always texting me and saying, I’m praying for your message. There’s some of you who tell me, I’m praying for your message.
I’m praying. And I appreciate that. I feel that. Before we moved out here to California, boy, you talk about some uncertainty. We were back in Texas, and I had another church that I was talking to that was right there in Waco, Texas, that was on the verge of offering a position there.
And it was, do we stay in Waco, or do we move 1,800 miles across the country to this land that we did not know.
Well, 5 years later, here I am.
And yet it was the prayers of others at that time that just strengthened us. This is why, guys, it’s so important that you be part of a group of people, whether it’s a life group or a Bible study or an accountability group, and people who are praying on your behalf. If you’re not part of a group like that that lifts you up in prayer, You are missing one of the blessings that God wants to give, to give you confidence in those times of uncertainty. You need others’ prayers and they need your prayers. Another reason why Paul was so confident, he talks about the provision of the Spirit.
He was absolutely confident that he knew his circumstances were completely temporary, but however long he was in prison, however long he was in prison, whatever the future held, life or death, that the Spirit would sustain him and would give him whatever he needed. If he needed courage, God would give him courage. If he needed encouragement, he knew that God would give him encouragement. If he needed provision, he knew that God would provide. Whatever it was, God would provide, and he was absolutely confident of that.
And then a 4th thing of which he was confident was that whether he lived or he died, Jesus would be exalted. He said, to live is Christ, to die is gain. And that means Paul was saying he knew nothing else of life except Jesus. Jesus was the focus, the goal, the center aim of his life. His life was built around Jesus Christ because of what the Lord had done for him.
And he said, whether I live or I die, Christ will be exalted. If I live, I’ll preach, I’ll build the church, and Christ will be exalted. If I die, Christ will be exalted.
In the process of me dying for his name. Either way, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And the reason why he could say to die is gain is because he didn’t put stock in this life. You and I, if we were to look at that verse, verse 21, to live is Christ— let’s say we take out the word Christ out of that and we just put a blank there. To live is blank.
How would you fill in the blank?
For those who observe you and know you well, How would that blank be filled? To live is blank. You see, so many of us invest in things that are really worthwhile and worthy things, but Paul had nothing to do with that. He was saying, I’d— listen, I’d love to be in heaven, but if I live here, if I die, it doesn’t matter to me. And if you fill that blank, if I fill that blank with anything other than Christ, then dying is not totally gain for us.
It’s gain, but it’s also loss.
And if asked and given the choice between whether or not we’d rather live or die, most of us would say, I’d rather live. Well, why do we do that? Well, because of things that we still want to do in this life. We don’t want to leave loved ones behind. We have obligations.
We’re going to go on a trip later on this year. We’ve just bought a new house or a new car, or we want to provide And Paul, while again he would say those are worthy things, he knew nothing of that. He was absolutely determined that Christ would be exalted in his life, whether by life or by death.
So you look at those first 3 of those 4 things, that he was confident that the Lord would deliver him, he was confident in the prayers of the saints, he was absolutely certain that the Spirit would provide for him. And you notice that those things that he mentions there are things outside of himself that were out of his control. They were dependent upon others.
See, so often we turn inward and we try to do things in our own strength whenever we’re faced with uncertainty. And yet Paul realized that to a large extent he was dependent upon the Lord. He was dependent upon others. And that gave him confidence though that because of those certainties, that whether he lived or died, he was certain that he would exalt the Lord. So then in verse 27, Paul, for the first time in his letter, turns from narrative to imperative.
He turns from talking about his situation to, in verse 27, now he’s gonna give us some instructions. How do we live in light of uncertainty? How are we to conduct ourselves? Let’s look at verse 27.
He says, whatever happens, life or death, whatever happens to me, whatever happens to you, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle that you saw that I had, and now hear that I will have. See, Paul gives us some instructions here.
He was unfazed by uncertainty. How are we to live in light of an uncertain future? One, he says, conduct yourself. Live in such a way that is worthy of the gospel. He’s talking about being consistent.
He’s talking about practicing what we preach. He’s saying, conduct yourself. That phrase, conduct yourself, is a phrase from which we get the word citizen. He’s saying, conduct yourself as a citizen. Behave in such a way that a citizen would behave.
Well, Paul later on in the book of Philippians, as we’ll see whenever we get to chapter 3, verse 20, says our citizenship is in heaven. So how does a citizen of heaven conduct themselves? In a manner worthy of the gospel.
It doesn’t mean that we are to live in such a way that we demonstrate ourselves worthy of the gospel, that we demonstrate ourselves worthy to be saved and part of God’s family, the body of Christ. No, we are to live in such a way that shows how worthy God is, that shows how worthy the good news of Jesus Christ is. The gospel is the good news about Jesus coming to the earth, living among us, dying on our behalf, taking our sins upon him, and then rising again and offering salvation to any who would believe and confess in him. And he’s saying, live in such a way in this pagan culture That others would see that you are a new creature, that others would see that your citizenship is not here on the earth, that you are a citizen of the family of God. Live in such a way that when others look at you, that they see something distinct and different, that your confidence is not in your circumstances, your certainty and your confidence is in the Lord.
And then he goes on and he gives us another instruction. He says, stand firm. Stand firm with other believers in unity there in verse 27. That phrase, stand firm, is the same phrase that means to be at post in a war. It means standing firm in a position of war despite the onslaught of attack and to, to not budge from your post.
I shared a couple years ago that I had the chance to go with my oldest son to the East Coast on his 8th grade East Coast trip. He’s now in 10th grade, but on his East Coast trip to the East— his 8th grade trip to the East Coast, and we went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And my son was given the privilege of being one of 4 students to get to lay a wreath at the tomb. It’s a very, very moving ceremony. I learned that day there, my first time there at the tomb, that a sentinel has been on duty at the tomb Every moment of every day since 1937.
And whether it’s pouring down rain or it’s snowing or even on 9/11 when the planes were attacking and you can see the Pentagon off in the distance, it’s not that far from Arlington Cemetery.
And the soldiers were there even whenever the plane flew into the Pentagon there, and they still stood their post. And that’s the idea behind standing firm. And it’s not that we’re to stand firm by ourselves, we’re to stand firm in unity. He’s talking about being of one mind, of one heart. What are we to stand firm?
Well, Paul is sort of, I think, alluding to the fact that you’re going to face opposition. You’re going to face the opposition and your mind and your faith is going to waver. And so you need to stand firm with other people in unity, other believers in unity, being of one mind and of one heart. Now, how do we do that? I’m gonna share more next week.
So if you’re gonna pick between whether to be here this week or next week, you’re gonna wanna come next week, okay? So don’t miss next week because I’m going to talk about the things that you and I need to do in order to stand firm with others in unity. So come next week. Okay, don’t come this week.
But we know that we’re going to be under attack. We’re going to be tempted. We’re going to be tempted to turn inward. We’re going to be tempted to turn against others around us. And Paul is saying stand firm.
He also instructs us that in the face of uncertainty, we are to strive together. We are to strive together for the faith of the gospel. That word strive together, that phrase, is actually the word from which we get our word athlete or athletics. It’s this metaphor, this picture of a group of people working towards a common goal against a common enemy. What is our common goal?
What should be our common goal? The faith of the gospel. You see, whenever we’re faced with uncertainty, and listen, this is a message for this church right now, As we, as we look at transitions, as we look at the budget, as we talk about what the future holds for us, it would be easy for us to turn inward when God is saying, I want you to lift your eyes and look to me. And I want you to look at the needs around you. And I want you to, as you worry about the things that you worry about here, I want you to be concerned about the things about which I’m concerned, says the Lord.
And what is he concerned about? That the gospel would go forth, especially during uncertainty, that the gospel would go forth, that we would not shrink from this responsibility and the opportunities that God places us in, that we would put more emphasis on that than on anything else, than on our programs and on our, our own agendas, that we’re focused on what the Lord would have us do. We’re striving together as a team. If you have a team and you have separate agendas on that team, it’s no longer a team. You’ve been a part of organizations and groups like that.
It doesn’t work well. So what should we be focused on? What’s the big idea? It’s the faith of the gospel. And then he gives us one more instruction there in verses 28 through 30 as he says to expect opposition.
He says, I want you to view suffering as a blessing. View it as a gift of God. It says, it has been granted to you to suffer. That means suffering is a gift of God’s grace. Do you view suffering as a gift?
I know I don’t. I usually view it as a burden.
And yet, again, going back to Dana Currie and her journal, one of her journal entries— I just finished reading her book again, it’s fantastic— one of her journal entries said, Lord, I consider being imprisoned and arrested to be a privilege. What if you and I were in the midst of our piddly little circumstances here in the United States, our first-world problems, the things that are concerning us, and we were to say, Lord, I don’t understand how you’re going to deliver me, but you will deliver me. And I don’t know what you want to do in this circumstance, but I view this as a blessing as a follower of Christ, especially whenever we suffer for his name. You share the gospel with somebody and you get backlash, or you live in such a way that you were trying to live as unto the Lord and somebody disagrees with that and they push back. Paul is saying especially that.
It has been granted to you to suffer.
So Paul was certain of certain things that we too can be certain of. God’s deliverance, the prayers of others on our behalf, Certain of the provision of the Spirit. And to be absolutely determined. Wouldn’t that be awesome if each of us was determined that whether we live, whether we die, whatever the future holds, the next few moments, the next few days, the next few weeks, the next few months, years, whatever the Lord grants to us, we view suffering as a blessing. And to live is Christ, to die is gain.
Jesse McMillan is a lead pastor at a church in Cypress, Texas, which is just outside of Houston. And I’ve been following his story as it’s been blogged about by his wife. You see, Jesse, this lead pastor in Texas, has a brain tumor that was 10 centimeters big in his brain. He has 4 small kids, or 4 young kids, and is married. His wife does a lot of blogging, and I’ve been following his story a little bit.
I’ve never met Jesse, but I’ve been intrigued by his story. This blog post was written by his pastor friend, Brian Haynes. And Brian said, for a moment, brain cancer became enviable. Brian says, I experienced a moment of clarity and hope this afternoon in a place that most people would consider wrought with despair. MD Anderson Hospital in Houston is a place where people chase hope while sailing on a sea of physical brokenness.
It’s a place that feels heavy despite the amazing staff and facility. It is heavy there because in every room, in every hallway, in every beautiful gathering space in the hospital, it is— there’s a very real elephant in the room named mortality. We all know the mortality rate in every generation that ever walked the planet is 100%. But in the best cancer hospital in America, people are there hoping for more sunrises and more sunsets, more birthday parties and more weddings, more hugs and kisses, more of the goodness that is the gift of life. There is a fear that life will somehow end, giving way to the worst-case scenario in human existence: death.
My friend Jesse, Brian says, has brain cancer. He’s more than a friend; in Christ, he’s my brother. And through the years, we’ve had our moments, both good and bad, all for the glory of Christ and in the context of brotherhood. On this day, however, we had a moment I believe might change my life, both in micro ways that no one sees but me and in macro ways that influence many. You see, today, either with precise intentionality or by complete accident— I’m not sure which— Jesse spoke to me with unbelievable power, recognizable to me as the whisper of the Holy Spirit.
To understand the moment, you need to know a little background. There are 2 things about Jesse that are clear to anyone who knows him. First, he begs God daily to be used in magnificent ways for the expansion of the kingdom of Jesus. And this is one thing that I love about Jesse. Secondarily, Jesse has always been a person who needs to be in control.
In fact, we have had many heart-to-heart conversations about this issue from every angle. We sat down today face-to-face in a beautiful living room at the Rotary House where Jesse is awaiting surgery. I’ve been on the side of these meetings before. I’ll be honest, all day I was preparing myself emotionally as a pastor to help Jesse walk through planning for the worst-case scenario. The thought of the conversation was making me sick.
Instead, Jesse looked right into my eyes and opened his hands. He left his hands open for the entire conversation. He began to tell me about the enigma he is to the neurological staff at MD Anderson. How was a man with a 10-centimeter brain tumor exhibiting no despair and my own— and by my own testimony, exuding pure joy and peace? In the past few days, he has had countless meetings around this question with baffled neurosurgeons and patients searching for hope.
I believe he has shared the gospel dozens of times. Hands still open, Jesse looked at me and said, I have begged God to be used, not perfectly, but honestly, and he is doing it in a way I would have never imagined, and I love it. Closing his hands and looking down at them, he told me that his greatest sin in life was to live life with closed hands, clenched, trying to control things, even with the best of intentions. He opened his hands again and said the brain tumor brought him unbelievable theological clarity. He said, when we live like this, hands opened and surrendered to Jesus, we win no matter the circumstance.
Our gracious King is constantly filling our open hands, but when we close our hands and control things, we attempt to become gods and we lose every time. I have so much freedom, Brian, and I don’t want to lose it. My greatest fear is that I would be healed of this cancer and lose my sense of surrender.
In that moment, I envied my friend with brain cancer. I envied my friend with brain cancer. He has crossed over. Loving surrender to Jesus more than life itself, and this gives me great hope. As I drove home, I thanked Jesus for talking to me through Jesse.
I preached the gospel to myself out loud in the car. I repented of my desire for control, and I surrendered again my head, my heart, my hands, and my feet to Jesus and returned to the Prince of Peace in humility. Here’s the lesson: all to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him, and in his presence daily live.
We’re to live life with our hands open. Live life in the midst of uncertainty with your hands open, allowing the Lord to do whatever he wants to do so that he will be exalted now and in the future. Let’s pray.
Father, thank you for the Apostle Paul and his example, and it’s something that I know that I personally here in my first-world existence that I have a difficult time in relating to sometimes. I listen to Paul’s story and I think about how many times I complain about little things compared to eternal matters. I pray, God, that you’d forgive me for the times that I have my fists clenched.
I pray that you would remind me once again that you are a deliverer, you are a provider, And you are gracious even in giving suffering and allowing me to go through the things that I go through. I pray that we would have gratitude as your children, trusting you all the way. I pray that if anyone here in this room lives with clenched fists, that they would open them up to you.
That they would open their hands and say, Lord, I surrender all. To live is Christ, to die is gain. The future belongs to you. Thank you for this reminder today. We pray all these things in your Son’s name.
Amen. We’re gonna enter into a time of communion.
