[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: This quarter we're doing a class called Words of Life. I kind of I explained that last Wednesday, but our goal in this is to try to focus on the scriptures and we've asked for there to be two ladies per class time to come and share their story, but also share the scriptures that pulled them through either a good time in their life or a hard time in their life. And so we're calling it Words of Life because those words will get us through, as we all know. So that's kind of the thought behind the class this quarter. We had an awesome class last Wednesday. It was so, so wonderful and we've gotten so much awesome feedback from those ladies and what they shared. And so I'm so thankful for them and their transparency and what they shared with us. That was awesome. And so just a reminder, there will be announcements on the slides at the beginning of class. Make sure you peek at those or take a picture of them. It's got a lot of things that pertain to ladies specifically on those slides.
And then we have so I'm going to introduce our two speakers tonight, but we also have Sweet Emma who's going to lead us a song tonight. We appreciate her being brave and coming up here and doing that. But we have two ladies. We have Pam Gross, precious Pam, and Christy Key, who is such a good friend of mine, and I'm so thankful that they've agreed to do this. I'm going to read their bios so we can learn more about them. Pam Gross is a retired dental hygienist who who has called Huntsville her home since the age of four.
She has two kids, both of whom are married, active in their congregations, and raising their families in Madison County. She has four grandkids and another one due to arrive in April. That's exciting. Pam is grateful for the Solos ministry, which came at just the right time and has helped so many of our single ladies to get to know one another. Comfort and kindness has become her favorite ministry. And so many good things are being done by so many precious ladies, Ms. Pam says.
And then Christy. Christy is married to Chad and they have three children. Christy homeschools the younger two, Maddie and Caleb, and her oldest, Lindsay, is in the ninth grade at Madison Academy. Chad and Christy lived in trustful for 19 years and worshiped at the Deerfoot Church of Christ. But recently they moved back here in August and have enjoyed being a part of the Madison Church family again. So that's a little bit more about them. And we'll get Emma to come up here and then after, if we have any time left over at the end, we have a couple of songs we want to sing, a few things that I'll say if, if we have time. If not, we'll just defer to next week for those thoughts. But I'd like to lead us in prayer and then we'll have Emma come up here and lead us. Okay. Dear Lord, thank you so much for bringing us here safely in the rain. Thank you for the rain that you've given us to replenish our earth. And we're so thankful for your provision in that. We're thankful that we could all be here tonight healthy and ready to learn more about you. We're thankful that you've brought these ladies our way that are willing to share with us and willing to open up your word with us. And we just pray that you give them courage and that you'll put a blessing on the words that they say, knowing that your word does not come back void and that it is going to be used to help so many people continue on and to encourage us tonight. And so I just pray for that. I pray that you will be with all of us as we receive it, that we'll hear the words well and that we will put it into our hearts to use for the rest of our week and beyond that. And we thank you for Emma and we pray that you'll be with her. And we thank you for everything you've given us. In Jesus name, amen. Come on up, girl.
[00:05:02] Speaker C: The weapon that's passion against us will stand. The battle belongs to the Lord and we sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord we sing glory, honor, power and strength to the Lord.
[00:05:36] Speaker D: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.
Just to give you some background. I'm a preacher's kid. I went to a Christian school. I married a Christian man. When Don and I married at the age of 19, we had known each other for eight years and had been high school sweethearts.
We both had grown up in faithful Christian homes and had seen examples of faith lived out in the lives of our parents every single day. Faith in God was never a hard thing for me to grasp. I had been taught about God all my life, and I learned so many scriptures. In my world, everyone believed in God. I know I've lived such a blessed life. Hebrews 11:1 says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, conviction of things not seen. And Hebrews 11:6 says, and without faith, it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek Him.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. By the way, when he tells us not to lean on our understanding, that does not tell us not to use our minds. This is in Proverbs. And Proverbs is full of things about wisdom, any kind of information about wisdom. We want wisdom. They want us to have wisdom. So it's telling us to not rely on our own understanding, but to rely on God.
Like I said, having faith in God came easy. Learning to trust in God was much harder. I realized when Don passed away in 2017 that I'd sometimes given him more trust than I did the Lord. My husband was a fixer. Some of y'all know the type. I depended on him for everything, and I mean everything. But God would always be my safety net.
When Don was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, the prognosis was 6 to 19 months with palliative treatments, and there were very few people who knew that information.
For about six months, he was like his normal self, or about as normal as someone can be who's taken chem. But I could tell he was in a decline. We went on a couple of day trips, went on our annual family weekend at the lake, and he was able to work for a few months until his body made it clear it was time to let that go.
But he wasn't ready to give up on life. He had signed up to teach one of the adult classes with Norm Glock and ended up in the hospital and couldn't finish the quarter.
Ironically, about the time he was diagnosed, he was teaching a class on why do bad things happen to good people?
Anyway, I knew that asking God to heal him would have to be a miracle. And in my groanings, I asked him to do that.
Sometimes I couldn't get the words out, and sometimes I just asked God to just listen to my heart.
I had faith that God could see the whole panorama of our lives.
I just had to learn to trust him with the outcome.
Trust is acting in faith. The Hebrew word for trust means to lean on, to be confident.
One thing I learned as I've grown to depend on God more is that when I pray, I can stake my faith in God alone and not the thing I'm asking him for.
I'm learning to accept the outcome because God is working. Even when I'm waiting. God might be working on the things that I need, or he might be working on me.
Don took great care of our family in so many ways. When he was suddenly no longer there to solve the problems and to fix things, I felt very blindsided.
You know, we call our spouse our better half.
And I can tell you from experience that when you lose them, you might just feel like half a person.
I did.
Through paralyzing grief and feeling like I was only going through the motions of whatever I was doing, I had to learn so many things, and I still do.
I'm so grateful to the people at Madison who helped me, who prayed for me and those that gave me good counsel.
I can't imagine what life would be like without a church family to get me through the tough times. Times. I'm so glad God provides that for us. And I'm so glad God supplies not only our basic needs, he supplies our peace and our comfort, his grace and protection, his guidance and direction.
There's a story that's been told for over 100 years now. You've probably heard it. But it's a great illustration of trust, which is about Charles Blondin, who was a French tightrope walker.
And some of y'all probably know exactly what I'm about to say. Blondin's greatest fame opened, happened on September 14, 1860. He became the first person to cross a tightrope stretching 11,000ft across Niagara Falls. He walked on the tightrope several times, doing different daring feats. Once in a sack. He went on stilts. He was on a bicycle. He did it in the pitch dark. He did it blindfolded, even once, he carried a stove and cooked an omelette in the middle of the rope.
At one point, he pushed the wheelbarrow loaded with 350 pounds of cement. He asked the onlookers if they believed he could safely push a man across in a wheelbarrow. And the crowd cheered with just enthusiasm and agreement. And he asked one of the men who was applauding the loudest, sir, do you think I could carry you across in this wheelbarrow? Yes, of course, the man replied with a smile. The great blindedness said, get in. The man didn't do it.
Do you ever feel like the man in the audience, God, I have faith in you, but I'm not ready to surrender to you.
Psalm 37:5 says, Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him, and he will act in all your ways. Acknowledge him. Acknowledge in the Hebrew language is to know God and essentially to obey him and to live in awakened with his authority. It has to do with how we live and the decisions that we make.
God truly wants us to know Him. He's always wanted a relationship with his people. Even when the sin of Adam and Eve caused them to be cast out of the garden, God went with them. He didn't stay in the garden.
He didn't forget about them. He essentially left the garden and went with them. It was the same with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He guided them and then he guided the children of Israel. Even when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, God wanted to build a tabernacle and put it in the middle of the camp so he could be with them before the Israelites crossed into the promised land. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
His entire plan of redemption the reason Christ died on the cross is so we can be with Him. He loves us that much.
Hebrews 13:5 6 says, Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me to have that relationship? To know God requires that we learn what the Scriptures say.
Those are his story, his plan, his words.
Read the Bible regularly and look for God in every chapter. Examine what the Scripture says about Him. Look at the context and see who's being addressed and what's going on at the time.
And ask yourself, is it telling me something I need to do to have this relationship with Him?
There are some wonderful reading plans out there. If you need one. Listen to an audio Bible while You're doing your chores, or while you're out walking, help your children memorize verses and you'll learn them yourselves.
I grew up reciting memory verses, and I didn't realize when I was a kid how meaningful it was. What did Jesus do when he was tempted?
He quoted the verses that he learned as a Jewish kid.
He resisted the enemy with God's truth. The Word of God not only teaches us who God is, it's our sword of the Spirit. It's in the armor of God.
Jeremiah 9:23 24 says, Thus says the Lord. Be not that not the wise man boast in his will, wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. Let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.
Acknowledge God in your words and in your actions, whether at work or at school, at home, with your family, strangers, enemies, acknowledge God. Colossians 3:17 says, and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Acknowledge God in your prayers.
I'm not about to tell you that I have a perfect prayer life, but I can tell you it's changed for the better over the past eight years.
I don't feel like God is too busy. I don't feel like he's too far away. I know that I'm never alone. I know he's always with me and he gives me peace.
Isaiah 26:3 says, you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts you.
I remember Brandon saying a long time ago that he would open his prayer in the morning. He would talk to God throughout the day, and then he would end his prayer at night.
Talk to God as you go through the day. He's always there to hear anything you want to say.
Look for God in all your ways and acknowledge his power, his love and his guidance, and he will make your path straight.
The Hebrew word means to make smooth, to make straight, to make the way free from obstacles.
God doesn't want anything in the path that's going to block him from you.
What are the obstacles that get in your way? Is it pride? Distractions? Self sufficiency? Sin?
Doubt?
Maybe it's an issue you're dealing with right now, something you're trying to get through. Grace? Hurt?
Illness? Unemployment?
[00:17:09] Speaker E: Loss?
[00:17:11] Speaker D: Gene McCarley reminded me the other day that you can't always go around the bad stuff. Sometimes you just have to go through it. Sometimes. We don't know where he's taken us, but we know he's directing us. We know we're not alone.
God sees the whole picture and he knows our outcome. So be of good cheer. Psalm 73:4 says, you guide with your counsel, and afterwards you'll receive me to your glory.
Get to know God. Lean on his truth. He wants us to always trust Him.
Even Christ showed His trust to His Father when He prayed, thy will be done.
I've never regretted praying to God for His will to be done.
I love the fact that he has a will for my life and it's becoming easier to wait on whatever his answer might be because I know he can see the big picture and I trust that he knows what's best.
Deuteronomy 7:9 says, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
In closing, ask God for wisdom.
Know the Scriptures, listen to his words.
Get to know God's love throughout the Bible.
Lean on his truth. Test your own thoughts with the Scriptures.
Be aware of him every day and tell him what's on your heart. He loves you so much.
[00:18:45] Speaker E: Thank you, Pam. That was beautiful. And I love the way the Lord works because actually a few of the things that you mentioned were some of the things that the Lord had laid on my heart too. So it's just neat how that, how that works out sometimes. For those of you that I haven't met yet, I look forward to getting to know you. We, I grew up in this church is a very special place to me. But like was said, we moved back in August and so there's a lot more of you guys than when I left. So I've been enjoying though getting to know everyone and last week was such a blessing. This class is already been such a blessing to me. So I was talking earlier with Ms. Kathy and was just saying that, you know, every single person in this room has a testimony of the Lord and how they've worked, how he's worked in their lives. And so I hope tonight that something that said will just encourage you and maybe help you in whatever you're facing right now.
So thankful that Cindy asked me to share a little bit of my heart with you. And I, like I said, I appreciate the ladies who've already spoken and the ladies who are willing to speak the rest of the rest of the classes, I'm excited to hear them as well. I love the theme words of life. And when I think about the scriptures that have helped me throughout my life, there's a lot that come to mind. The Psalms, I mean, the psalms, that's probably the first place I go.
So many of the Proverbs, Romans, the book of James. But tonight I wanted to talk about a scripture that I memorized a few years ago.
Just. I don't know if you can relate to this, but a lot of times in the quietness of the night when it's dark, my mind races and all of these crazy scenarios that probably will never happen play out in my head. And so when you're talking about the word of God being our sword, I think about. I learned as a child, you know, that's the only one when talks about the armor of God, that's an actually an offensive thing that we have against the enemy. And so I think anytime we can memorize scripture and we can use that when these thoughts of anxiety or just irrational thoughts come in and we can memorize that scripture and say it to ourselves, it really does combat the enemy.
And so I wanted to share that scripture tonight. It's Philippians 4, 6, 7. And it says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer, with supplications, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So tonight I wanted to talk about peace that passes understanding.
When I think about peace, that.
That passes understanding, the first picture I have in my mind is of Jesus. And I think about the passage in Mark 4 when he is peacefully sleeping on a boat in the middle of this incredible storm.
And I love all the gospels refer to it, but I love Mark's description because he actually says that Jesus was in the stern asleep on a pillow. So the water is literally filling the boat. The disciples are terrified, and Jesus is asleep on a pillow. And I just think that that's beautiful because that is what I think of when I think of Jesus. Just this calm. Now, I said some of you mamas with little ones could say past, probably say, yeah, I could see my husband sleeping through a storm. I could see that. But seriously, when I think of the life of Jesus, I think of all of these moments when I would have been so frazzled. But the Lord is just in perfect peace.
Another story that came to mind was Jesus in the garden when the soldiers come for him, and Peter's taking up arms Cutting Malchus ear off at Jesus restores his ear and goes willingly. And you know, I'm sure we know from what we saw in the garden with him sweating drops of blood. He, you know, it was very heavy, but he was still at peace. And so once again, a scripture that we both were thinking of, that I wanted to share tonight also was Isaiah 26:3. Because I think the secret to having this type of peace in our lives is found in the scripture and I will read it again. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.
So a mind that's fixed on Jesus and a heart that trusts in God are the keys to this peace that doesn't make sense to the world, quite frankly. It transcends all understanding.
We know as humans that we should have this peace. Peace. But sometimes it's easy to take our eyes off Jesus. And so that made me think of another story with the boat. And this is when we know when Peter steps out of the boat to walk on the water to Jesus and we know that he actually is for that moment doing it until he takes his eyes off of Jesus and he starts to look at the waves and the wind around him, and then we know that he begins to sink.
And I think that that is something that we can probably all relate to. I know that I can.
And so I wanted to share tonight a couple of examples of times in my life when I struggled to keep my eyes fixed on Jesus.
But when I did, when I was able to surrender, I truly experienced a peace that did not make sense and that passed all understanding. So for those of you who know, there's probably many of you who don't because you weren't around. You're probably maybe in preschool in 1999, or possibly not even born yet. But a Beautiful day on November 7, 1999, after church, my family was traveling to Tennessee to visit my great grandmother when a drunk driver sped through a stop sign into our family's maser protege and crushed the side where my sweet mom and my sister were sitting.
My precious 10 year old sister Lori was killed and my mom was left fighting for her life with many injuries, including a traumatic brain injury. And up until this point, I just really had not experienced loss. I still actually had three great grandparents in my life at the time.
And so living a life of pretty typical 16.
But in an instant, my life changed. My sister was gone and my mom's prognosis was uncertain.
And that night in the hospital, there were so many people from this church, so many people from our family and friends that were surrounding us and praying over us and for us, praying for my mom and praying for our family. And in the midst of just indescribable grief and confusion, there was a peace that I could not explain.
And in the days that followed, again, life was very surreal.
Mom was still in critical condition at Huntsville Hospital while we went on with my sister's funeral. But in all of this, walking through those days that were somewhat of a blur, there was a peace that passed. Understanding. When I think about my mom being here tonight to support me, I'm reminded that God is faithful and he has been so faithful for the last 25 years. We still miss Lori very much. And although many years have passed, it's still painful, especially for my mom. But she would tell you if you asked her that there is peace from the Lord, that we will see her again. And we know that God has never left our side.
In 2012, Jesus was peace in a literal storm when Chad and I lost our home in a tornado. And I can remember crying out to God as the tornado swept over our house much in the way that that I had back in 99. And I remember grabbing Chad's hand and saying, we're going to be okay no matter what.
And there again, there was just this moment of peace that we could not explain, but we knew was the Lord. We prayed and we thanked God for protecting our 19 month old daughter at the time and, and he again blessed blessings more than we deserved.
And probably I needed his peace the most in 2018 when I found a lump in my breast and found out that I had invasive ductal carcinoma that had spread to my lymph nodes. So at the time, my kids were 7, 5 and 2.
And as many of you in here, I'm sure have experienced either a cancer diagnosis yourself or have watched someone that you love.
It's a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach and anxiety. But do you know what happened? Immediately, as our doctor was delivering the news, he immediately asked to pray with us. And I knew that the Lord was with us. I just felt this peace that washed over us like a wave that God was with us even in the midst of, of this struggle.
A month into, well, after chemo and then the double mastectomy, a month into radiation, I received the gut punch though, that my precious daddy had had a heart attack and was going to need open heart surgery. And despite his successful surgery In January of 2019, his incision became infectious and he ended up in the Hospital again with sepsis.
Ironically, it was February 14th of 2019 when I remember hitting my knees in the Huntsville Hospital and just begging the Lord to spare his life.
And he did live for one more month. But on March 15, one day before his 60th birthday, the Lord called him home.
I had prayed so many prayers for Daddy's healing, and you were talking about praying for God's will to be done.
I distinctly remember on one trip from Birmingham to Huntsville, just my spirit just wrestling with God, just, you know, please, you know.
And then I got to a point where I said, I can literally take my hands off the wheel because I was driving. But, you know, Lord, it's in your hands, because I know you know what is best. And there was a supernatural peace in that, even though it was extremely painful to let him go. But at the same time, there was a peace that God knew. And I do love Romans 8:28. I know someone's going to speak on that later on this semester, so I don't want to steal their thunder, but I hold on to that verse very closely, that God is working everything for good, even when we don't understand it.
This picture up here, this is the first time I've ever shared that one publicly. But I gotta. I want to tell you the story behind it.
So Daddy had. When he went back into the hospital, he had to be on the ventilator. And I was. This is actually like the last week of my radiation. And mom was telling me, like, you don't need to. You know, he was still on the ventilator at that point. She's like, you know, don't. You know, don't worry about trying to come up right now. He's still on the ventilator. And I know she was just thinking about me and having to go back the next day for radiation again. And I know she was thinking, you don't need. You know, you don't need to do that. But there again, I just had that gnawing. I gotta go. I gotta go. And that picture was taken right after he had come off the ventilator. So literally, like an hour. So I'm not even really sure how long before I walked in. They had taken him off. And so the first person that he really recognized when I walked in that room was me. And I gotta tell you what he said. He said, I didn't know whether I was or. What did you say, like, in heaven or on earth? He said, but I knew you were there, so it was going to be a good place.
And so There were so many moments like that. We, you know, don't have the time tonight to share those. But there were so many moments where again, the Lord's peace was there with us. And even though it's hard to look at that, at the same time, when I look at that, I just remember God's faithfulness even in the hardest moments.
I like acrostics. It just. It helps things to stick with me, remember a message. And so I wanted to leave you with a little acrostic tonight for peace.
And so the p I have is pray without ceasing. And I've mentioned tonight, you know, about prayer, but, you know, a lot of times it's hard when you are going through struggles to even find the words to say. And I know I've experienced that many times, but I think a lot of times just we have that promise that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we. With grin, you know, our.
Our words are not coming out, but he knows. And so just being with the Lord in his presence, e is embracing. Embracing whatever season you're in, embracing whatever situation you find yourself in, because you know the Lord's at work in that, whatever that is. He's writing a beautiful story. And we may not understand it always, but if we can embrace it and know that God is working, he's using this, whatever it is, for good, I think it is easier to find that peace. A ask for help. And help may be asking a friend to pray for you. Maybe that is going back to, you don't have the words, you don't know what to ask. But. But talking to our Christian sisters and asking them, hey, will you pray for me?
I'm really struggling here. Or this is just something that I can't find the words. C Commune with your sisters. Kind of going along with that. I know sometimes when things are tough, our initial feeling is to withdraw and kind of stay to ourselves.
But really being with our sisters in Christ and our church family is one of the best things that we can do and then finally exalt the Lord.
Most of these times, during the hardest moments, I would turn on some praise music, worship hymns, something. And it is amazing how that would uplift me and help me. And so I just want to encourage you if it's a tough day, if it's tough, you know, turn on that. Turn on that music and praise the Lord and see if that helps your spirit to feel more peace. I wanted to leave you with a prayer that includes peace. And this is one that I pray for my children often. And it is my prayer for all of you lovely sisters. It is, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace. May you all be filled with the peace that passes understanding through Christ.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: Let me just take a second. I know y'all feel the same way. That's awesome. Thank y'all so much. Y'all are so.
You know, there's certain people that when they speak, you're just, you know, you hang on what they say, and they just pour out. It's like honey that comes out of their mouth. And those are two that are just like that. So I just love y'all, and I just appreciate you sharing those stories. That was awesome.
That's great. Just like last week, so I know it's going to be great.
We have just a few minutes. I was just gonna kind of give these ideas, throw these ideas out there, because Cindy and I talked about how if there's a few minutes left over at class after class, I'd like to have time to fellowship and sing. But I also wanted to start to introduce some different thoughts regarding our words.
We talked about the words of life from God himself. But then there were some thoughts that Cindy and I had about, like, our words and how we use them as women and things that God has said pertaining to our words as women from his scripture.
Words are powerful. We know that. And they hold their own special power because we know God used them to bring the world into existence. He literally said, God. God said, let there be light, and there was light, and they speak into our souls. And he's entrusted us with words, which is such a special gift. And so I know we all want to use them wisely. We all want to use them well.
And women are addressed a good bit in Scripture when it comes to our words.
God knew that he needed to speak specifically to us because of two reasons. You probably already know what they are. We've been given a lot more words than men. We are blessed with the gift of gab, right? And on average, we speak a lot more words than they do. And so there's a lot that we have to remember about how we speak. But also, the second thing is that we are tone setters. We set the tone in our home. I know y'all have seen evidence of that in your own homes, how when we're not happy, ain't nobody happy, etc. And so the Bible says, the wise woman builds her house, but her own hands will tear it down. And so David also said, please set a guard over my mouth, Lord, and keep watch over the door of my lips. That's from Psalm 141:3. But I wanted to encourage you in the middle of the week. I know you all know those things about our words, and we've heard lots of lessons in Bible classes about those things. But I wanted to just say, like, I have been so impressed and encouraged by all of you and the other ladies that are teaching Bible classes, all my sisters in this church, because I have seen some amazing positivity come from your mouths. I've seen gossip start, stopped in its tracks.
I've seen you be so respectful to your husbands and encouraging the leadership and patient with your children.
And I've seen y'all in the hallways just really say some awesome things to each other and build each other up. And then I've. I've experienced that. So I just wanted to encourage you to keep going with that. You're great at it.
And to.
[00:38:33] Speaker D: To.
[00:38:33] Speaker B: To not stop and to thank you for. For being that way.
And so just like they've mentioned, whatever we do in word or deed do, all in the name of the Lord. And I just wanted to encourage you in the middle of the week to keep that up. And let's stir each other up to love and good works with our words this week and forever. And thank y'all again for all those awesome things that you shared with us. Let's sing one song, and then we can talk the rest of the time.
[00:39:08] Speaker C: Holy words long preserved for our walk in this world they resound with God's own heart O let the the ancient words impart Words of life Words of hope Give us strength Help us cope in this world where every roam Ancient words will guide us Ancient words ever true Changing me and changing you we have come with open hearts O let the ancient words impart.
[00:40:22] Speaker B: All right, you're dismissed. To encourage each other.
