Thursday Morning Service - Jun 4, 2026

Just put less than a penny and you're saying she gave more. Why? How in the world could that be true? Because the kingdom measures differently. Because those rich, that guy might have given $100K, but he took that $100k out of a billion. She took that less than a penny out of less than a penny. The Bible says she gave all she had. So, there's a whole bunch in that story. But here's one thing it tells me.

So I can't say, Lord, I'm walking through a hard time. I can't say that, right?

See, the wealthy gave from their abundance.

How do we get there in our own heart? Now, I've heard people say this and you know I understand it because we've seen shysters, unfortunately. I hate it. I'm grieved. When I see preachers or whomever get up and just, oh, manipulate people to give. And oh, it grieves me. I hate that. I know we've seen that and it's terrible. But then you, again that's one dish but then you got other people. We're like, oh, this church is all about the money. And I'm saying, you know, you realize that Jesus talked more about money than anything like and not even just a little bit, a whole bunch more about money than anything else. More about salvation, more about heaven and hell, more than about having a more than any of them. And it ain't even close. Out of the 38 parables, 16 of them deal with money, our possessions and the handling of them. Literally almost half. So that means if we have 52 services, Sundays a year and we spent 20 of them talking about giving, we'd be in good company with Jesus. 2,000 times in the Bible talks about possessions, you know, finances.

Why is that? So when we get, my point is this. When we get frustrated with people talking about money, we got to get frustrated with Jesus because he talked about it a ton. Why? Because there's a recognition that it is a revealer, where I give my finances is a revealor of

I mean, the Bible does say, right? Wherever your treasure is, what? There your heart is also. Well, guess what? Wherever your heart is, guess what? That's where your treasure is too. Whatever pulls on my heart, I give to. So there's a reality to that.

Jesus said in Luke 16, 11. And therefore, if you've not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, and who will commit to you the trust of true riches? He makes this comparison. And here'd be a clear way to say it. If you're faithful in stewarding earthly wealth, then God can entrust you with greater spiritual responsibility, and he calls it true kingdom riches. Now, unrighteous mammon is not just money itself. It means worldly wealth. That's money belonging to the present age. It's often used unrighteously by men or mankind. It's a test of whether we will use temporary resources to faithfully steward for God's purposes. See, we in the church, we misquote and out of the church as well. We misquote this verse in 1 Timothy 6 about the root of all evil or all kinds of evil. What have you heard? You've probably heard this quoted before. Money is the root of all kinds of evil. Well, that's not what the verse says. What did the verse say? The love of money is the root of all kind of evil. Money itself is nothing, right? But how we steward it is everything, right? So if I'm in love with money, I'm not going to be a good steward. Now, again, two ditches. We try to go the other way and we almost take a vow of poverty. So we become terrible stewards and we reject money totally when there is a reality of money to live on this earth. And it's faithful stewardship. I'm gonna say to you is a kingdom principle. So even if you've gone the other way and you've lived and existed in poverty and you've sworn off money, you're making a mistake on the other side of the ditch. You're not chasing after it, but you don't have and I have the love and chasing after it, but you've gone over here where God can't trust you to steward

It's a big deal. We don't talk a lot about it. Dennis Peacock, as some of you know, he's been here a little bit. We've gone through a couple of classes with him and he makes a good distinction, I think, between wealth and riches. This passage here when it talks about true riches, he would equate with wealth, right? And here would be the difference. Riches is like money, possessions, assets, you know, immediate financial increase. That can be inherited, that can be won. Riches can be stolen, right? Consume, quickly gain, quickly lost. You can have riches without wisdom, stewardship, character. I mean, there's plenty of people that have zero of any that have a lot of riches. Maybe a drug dealer with a ton of money, and guess what? You're not honoring God, right? I mean, you're rich, but you're not wealthy. Right? Whereas wealth, like for example. Well, somebody came and gave me the exact statistic in between services. You probably heard this before. The majority of people that win the lottery after a few years, they're broke again. He came and told me 85% of people that win the lottery in five years are broke again. Why? I mean they got hundreds of millions. How did that happen? Because they got it to acquire. That was the word I was looking for. They acquired that too quickly. So they didn't have the maturity to be able

I mean, think about that. You're praying for God to give you financial breakthrough. What if he dropped $10 million on you tomorrow?

Could you make? Could you put it to work? Could you really steward it? And the truth is, most of us could not.

That's strong, I know. But it's the reality. When he gave him the promised land, what did he say? He said I'm gonna give it to you a little bit at a time because it was already, the borders were already there. He said, but you're going to have to possess it a little bit at a time because you can't manage it. It would overwhelm you. And by the way, I'm going to leave some enemies in the land so we can teach

See, we pray for things that if God answered them

It would crush us. I've been there, maybe still there at times. Here's wealth on the other hand. Wealth, on the other hand is productive capacity, stewardship ability, relational capital, wisdom, skill, generational thinking, covenantal inheritance, its ability to create and sustain an increase over time. Wealth includes character, discipline, trustworthiness, stewardship. Here's a great way to say it that he kind of says it concisely that riches is what you possess, wealth is who you are. There's many in this room you don't maybe have riches, but you have a lot of wealth. You have wealth of relationships, even passing things on to your children. There's a generational component to that that we've totally lost. Again, we live in two ditches, right? So true riches, that would include things like a spiritual authority, eternal reward, kingdom responsibility, people ministry, revelation treasures of Christ himself. What does that mean? That means generosity begins internally before it's ever expressed externally. There's a willingness there. It's voluntary and not coerced. I'm going to talk more about that in just a minute. It's worshipful, not transactional. Even in our I mentioned I don't like paperwork. I love our text to give feature. I love it. I'm so grateful for it. It's so easy. It's convenient. That's how we give. Of Elisha and I, I love it. But here's the thing that I have to be conscious of. It's so easy and it's so quick and convenient that I have to, with intention, stop and pray and offer it as worship because it is worship. It's not just throwing money in a bucket or sending a text. It is worshipful to say, Lord, what you've entrusted to my care. Two things that come to my mind when I give my tithe and offering literally almost every time. Number one, Lord, thank you for your provision over my household. So there's a thank you. Number two, Lord, I trust you for your continued provision over my household. Those two things, thank you and trust. Right? An overflow of that. So it's worshipful. It's not just transactional. If you're just, oh yeah, I got done on auto pay and I just send it in there or I just toss me in the bucket and there's no prayer in it, reconsider, church. Am I being worshipful in this? Or am I just being transactional? It's cheerful and not resentful. The Bible talks about a cheerful giver. That's where I've heard the guy say, but he'll take money from a grouch too, right? It's not resentful. I'm not giving begrudgingly. I give him begrudging. That's one reason for myself personally. I mean, we want to train and teach biblical finance and teach people how to give kingdom-wise, so there's nothing wrong with teaching in that. But again, we're very not high pressure at all during the offer time. Well, I don't want to be manipulative. I want people to give out of a willing heart, right? And we have a lot of faithful stewards in the house here. It's faith-filled, not fear-driven. See, why?

The Corinthians had a desire to do it. And Paul says, I want you to complete what began in your heart. I want you to complete it because love without generosity remains incomplete. Eat. If I say I love people and I say I'm a part of the kingdom and I'm not generous, I have to question myself, do I really believe what I'm saying? I believe has my intention moved into action? So true generosity reflects a willingness. Secondly, here's what it. It reflects also, it reflects the kingdom. Look at verse 13 and 14. It says, "Desire is not that others might be relieved while you're hard pressed, but that there might be equality. What a great word that we use today. At the present time, your plenty will supply what they need so that in turn, their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality. In other words, while you have means right here you're going to give and help the other believers. And then when they, there might come a time where you don't have the means and they're gonna help you, right? According to your means. See, generosity creates mutual care within the body of Christ that's representative about the kingdom of God. What does that mean? That means kingdom generosity creates kingdom care. So the Lord motivates my heart to care for other believers and to help them when they're walking through difficult financial times. I love that we have a body of believers that does that continually. We see that happen of believers giving to one another and caring for one another, whether that's actual money, whether that's meals, whether that's furniture, like whatever that is, it's the body of Christ really operating like a family. Now, let me say this.

I'm going to ding on this for just a minute because we've got a whole bunch of Christians running around advocating a very atheistic philosophy of government. And I'm going to get civil government. Now, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt to say, to have a compassionate heart, to care for others. Unfortunately, their heart is not compassionate enough to use their own money.

So what's more greedy? Me wanting to steward my own money

He's not advocating for forced socialism or government redistribution. He's describing kingdom interdependence within the body of Christ. All of this was directed

If you're forced to give, guess what?

That's a transaction. Someone forces you to do it

The early church had a deep understanding of this. Again, we take this passage of Scripture and we advocate socialism out of it. And it's the furthest from that. Acts 4 says, there was no needy persons among them. Now first, let me bring attention to the them.

Other believers.

Now, I believe the church should help the poor. From Scripture, we should help the poor. But in that context, it was not you have an obligation to meet the need of every single poor person. That's not what the Bible says. In fact, can you imagine? When the first deacons were chosen in Acts 6. You know why they were chosen? Because some of the widows, the Hellenist widows that were not the ones in Jerusalem were getting the short end of the stick, evidently they had some sort of social program for the widows and the Hellenist widows were getting less than the widows that were there in Jerusalem. And so they said, we need to give our time the apostles to prayer and the word, we're gonna raise up deacons to be able to oversee this ministry. Now I want to ask you, do you need to be full of the Holy Ghost to tell this widow, you know you can still work and care for yourself. You don't get anything

When you eliminate the opportunity for someone to manage the resource that God has entrusted, do they care you have eliminated the ability for them to mature. If you do not feel the pain of your bad financial choices,

But when you feel the sting of it, what does that do?

Now, this is Jonathan. Forgive me for saying it this way. This is me. This is not straight out of the Bible. Every American that has grown up in the prosperity of the United States that wants to be a communist and a socialist, I literally want to invite them to move to Venezuela, to move to North Korea, to move to China and to be a part of those systems because you are living in the fruit of not that system advocating that system. And all the chirping about billionaires. They don't need that much money

And what if one day somebody says, we don't need any thousandaires. We need to take the thousandaires away. We don't need any hundred heirs. You don't need that much money

If it's the state,

I never heard this on a Sunday morning because we don't preach the Bible. Outside of, hey let's get saved and go to heaven

Y’all okay?

Because again, I'm going on. And I'm being a little strong, but I know there's a generation truly that sees people. And this is where probably my generation, and maybe the generation before me, we could have done a better job of this, of really seeing people through eyes of compassion that don't have means, right? So I think it comes from a genuine heart of care for people. Unfortunately, the way that we've taught

And we've got to show people and understand, again, it's stewardship.

In the Scriptures, God is always sovereign and he moves on the heart of man. And if the state requires it, is confiscation and coercion. Now, that being said, I'm not saying that there's no place for taxation, right? But we should be very clear about what that actually is for. Well, what is taxation for? Because again, it just blooms into this massive thing particularly when you get to the federal level because you have, there's no means for any sort of even representation

Sometimes I say it a little bit tongue-in-cheek, you know. What's more greedy? Wanting to spend my own money or spending somebody else's. I've met a lot of poor people that were really greedy. And I've met a lot of wealthy people that were very generous. And I've met wealthy people that were very greedy. And poor people, they're very generous. I mean, it doesn't have anything to do with the amounts.

There's nothing wrong. I like this old one-liner. There's nothing wrong with having possessions as long as the possessions don't have you. It's the love of money Paul says your plenty will supply what they need. So in turn, their plenty will supply what you need. Right? See, the church was meant to function as a family.

When one rejoices, all rejoice. But the purpose of generosity is not just relief, even though that's a part of it. It's unity in the kingdom. Our hearts are connected together. Generosity, and this is big

This would be worth it if for nothing else.

Growing up in the United States and growing up, and I know everybody is not rich, but honestly, church, even the poorest among us in comparison to the rest of the world, particularly impoverished nations. We're not just rich.

And unfortunately, that materialism can find its way into the church. So we can even make our own greed and materialism sound righteous. So even when we talk about true biblical prosperity, we can we can twist it because the flesh isn't everything, we can twist it so that if I have things, I must be really serving God well.

Although, obviously there are financial principles there.

The wickedness, please forgive me if you have this bumper sticker. But you know, this bumper sticker I don't see it much anymore but I used to see it a lot when I was a kid.

Now, the inheritance to your kids. The true wealth of inheritance, obviously, is that spiritual inheritance that goes beyond finances. But if you're out here blowing the finances just for the sake of living your best life, You're not thinking biblically and generationally. I had a brother in the first year who's been in the financial services industry for a lot of years. He came to him between services. He said, you know it's crazy when I first started out he said people would come and their main thing was I want to be taken care of, you know, at the end of my life. But I want to make sure that my kids are taken care of and I want to plan so that I can pass something on to him. And he said, now it's completely different. He said, people come to me a ton and say, oh my kids are okay. I just want to make sure, I just wanna live my best life. Church, that's not a biblical mindset. That's not a generational mindset. Right now there's a lot that could be taught on that, we don't have time to talk about this morning. It destroys materialism. It's an anecdote to the love of money. Generosity is. If you find yourself, and listen it's easy for any of us to have this for greed or possessiveness or selfishness to kind of creep into your heart, Here's an anecdote for it. Give. Just find somebody to give to and give, and let that just break

It does away with isolation and pride. Paul is saying you're helping other believers and it helps you in that. I got to hurry up here. Alright, true generosity reflects God's provision. Look at verse 15. He says, As it was written, and the one who gathered much did not have too much. The one who got little did not have too little. He's quoting Exodus 16 there. You might remember when the Israelites were out in the wilderness and God said to him, I'm gonna provide for you. I'm going to give you manna and it would fall and basically cover the ground and they'd go out every day and they would collect it. But he said, Don't collect more than enough for one day. I want you to collect it for one day and I want you to come out the next day and I don't know what's going on. And then I want all of you to collect it then and then the day before the Sabbath, I want you to go collect double or it's going to be double and provide for you, right? And so he talks about there. He uses this story that they would have understood from Exodus to reveal the kingdom principle. And here's the principle that God himself is the provider for his people. Now I'm grateful for good jobs. I know many of you have really good jobs. Maybe you're in the process of looking for a better job, job, and God uses those means. That's great. I believe it's kingdom advancement. There's a lot to that. So I'm for all of that, but can I say to you, your job is not your source. God is your source." We got to really understand that. God is really our source. And Paul uses this to say that it's really his sovereign hand over provision. So just like he provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, he'll provide for you today in 2026. And can I pause here to say to you today that maybe you're walking through a real hard financial time. You might be broke, I've been broke. I've had plenty and I've been broke, right? And maybe you're walking through a real hard time. I'm going to say to you, God will take care of you. He'll take care of you. And particularly as you're a tither and he says he rebukes the devourer for your sake. Now, there is something to be said. And coming up this summer, we've got the little seminars that we have. That summer is for family.

Paul writes back to the Philippians in Macedonia about their generosity, and he writes this letter to the Philippines after he writes the one that we're in now, 2 Corinthians. He's probably in Philippi writing this book to, or this letter to the Corinthians. And then he writes a book back to the Philippians after he finishes this letter. And here's what he said to them. Philippians 4. Moreover, as you Philippians know in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel. When I set out for Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except for you. For even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that I desired your gifts. What I desired is that more would be credited to your account. I have received full payment and I have more than enough, I'm amply supplied now that I've received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all of your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. See, generosity flows from a confidence in God's provision.

How many people live in fear? I got to get more and more because what if I don't have enough. Really, faith says God is my source. Why? Because we're stewards, not owners. Can I tell you, church? We don't own anything. I know your name is on the deed. But if you're a believer, that's not yours. That's God's. You're just managing his stuff. That's what you are, a steward, a manager of His stuff. A generous believer understands this. A steward in ancient times would work under an owner. They didn't own anything. They just cared for what the owner entrusted to them. So even today for us, resources that we have are tools for kingdom purposes. Blessing is meant to flow through us not stop with us. That's why you see people that have great needs. I know a lot of people have great means and they are a conduit of blessing. God entrusts them with great riches and wealth. Why? Because he knows it's not going to stop with them. It's gonna flow through them, right? Continually flow through them. And then he knows he can trust us. So what does he do? He blesses us again. Why? Because he knows we're going to give again. And then what does he do? He blesses again because it's just a conduit for that. People who believe that the Father will give daily bread tomorrow can open their hands freely today. Why can't I open my hands for you? Because I know that God's going to supply my needs. The world says you better get a hold of it. You can hold on to all you have. The gospel says give generously. The gospel loosens our grip on earthly things because our security is no longer in possessions but with Christ. The ultimate purpose of generosity is to reflect Jesus. The purpose of generosity is bigger than finances. It really does reveal our hearts. It strengthens the body and it demonstrates trust in God. It reflects the gospel and glorifies Christ. Why, Jonathan? Because God cares more about our hearts than he does our wallets. And yet, they are completely connected. I know it's a challenge. See, God provides for us at times before we even realize that we need provision. He's already working. I was thinking about this message, and I was thinking about my own life, let me finish with this story here. 20 plus years ago, long time God. I'm sitting in early morning prayer, and there was a guy there that was a part of the church. I was not at Destiny Life. I there's a church in South Florida. There was a guy in the church that was a wealthy businessman. As I'm praying, I'm not even thinking about this. As I'm praying, And I feel like what rises up in my heart, I feel like the Holy Spirit speaks to me and says to me, Jonathan, I want you to give. I'm going to call him Mike. That's not his real name. I want you to give Mike $20. And at first I'm like at first I'm thinking Lord is that you or is that just me? I mean that's kind of random, you know. Then I thought the devil's not going to tell me to give somebody $20. So I thought, okay Lord, I think that's you. And then I start battling embarrassment. I don't even think that I was hesitant in giving him the 20 bucks, but it was like now I will say at the time, $20 was a lot of money. I mean, we were young kids.

I don't even think I was battling that. I was really badly more embarrassed. So I'm saying, I'm like arguing with the Lord. You know how to do that inside? Like, Lord, this dude's got millions of dollars and I'm 25 years old, I'm going to walk up to him and say, hey Mike, I got 20 God told me to give you 20 bucks. You know, like I just felt like a doofus, but you know, I said, all right, Lord, I believe that's you. So I'm going to do it. So I went and gave him $20. That might, Man, I feel like the Lord told me to give you 20 bucks. So I just want to be able to get into him. I gave it to him. And I like scurried off real quick, you know. I got in my car and I said, this is how I prayed, this is how I started my prayer. I can remember two ways I've started two prayers in my life. This one, which I started Lord. I'm like such an idiot. I feel so dumb. You know, that's how I started that prayer. The other prayer I can remember is when Elisha and I went to, we were on a cruise. We were chaperoning a trip, I was seeing a trip and we went to Cozumel. She was six months pregnant with Ava and we rented a Jeep to ride around the island in Cozumel and we're about to drive off of the pavement onto the sand. And my six-month pregnant wife said, honey, I think that's a bad idea. I said, baby, this is Jeep Wrangler. We got it. We're going right now. So we drive out there and got stuck and the tide's coming in. And so now I'm imagining this Jeep floating out to sea, missing the cruise ship, paying all this money. To my wife's eternal credit. She did not even say, I told you so. Now, I know 1,000% she thought it. But she did not say it. And I walked back up to the payment. I can remember my prayers clear as day. Here's what I said God, I know I'm an idiot. I know I'm an idiot. This was so dumb but you just help me out of this. And I made some kind of random promise, Chris. And it wasn't two minutes, three minutes later that this truck came by. They call them green angels. Literally, all they do is ride around the island of Cozumel all day looking for idiots like me. Pull this out. That brother had about a 300-foot-long rope and he pulled us out. And we got out and it was fine, right? So I remember the start of that prayer, and I remember this. When I gave Mike the money, I get in the car and I just said Lord, man I really feel dumb but I just, I want to be obedient to you. And so I was, and so I drove off. I didn't think about it again. Fast forward five years, maybe six years. But years later, we're preparing to go to Panama and to do some mission stuff. And we weren't like hard, hard raising money. But we were, you know, raising some money. And this guy, who I gave Mike that I gave the money to. He's sitting in his office. Now, in the five years that had passed, five or six years that it had passed. He had walked through a hard time. And he had walked through a divorce. He had lost his business. I mean, he was like really kind of rebuilding. I mean, he had really walked through a hard time. And he's sitting in his office and he is praying and the Lord says to him, I want you to give Jonathan and Elisha a thousand dollars to go to Panama and I want you to give him his $20 back. So our mutual friend calls me and says Hey, Jonathan, I talked to Mike and he wants to connect with, he's got something for you. And I said, okay, great. You know? I didn't really know what it was, so I go and meet up with him and he puts an envelope in my hand of $1,020 in cash. He said, the Lord reminded me of that day in morning prayer when you gave me that $20 and he told me to give you $1,000 and to give you your $20 back. I'm saying, Lord, now I learned a lot from that particular thing, but one thing that I really grabbed hold of was God was making provision for us when I wasn't even aware of it. It wasn't about 20 bucks. It's 20 bucks. It's willingness. It's obedience, right? It's a hard position before God to say Lord, I want to be generous to you. I want to be generous to your people. I want to be generous and obedient and willing no matter what you ask of me. Why? Because I'm a steward. There's a verse in Ecclesiastes, you might have heard this verse. It says, cast your bread on the waters for you will find it after many days. It's kind of an obscure verse, a little bit a debate of exactly what it means. Some people think it's like an idiom for a ship. That basically in the ancient world, you know, you're loading this ship vessel and it's going on the waters and there's no GPS trackers. There's no radars. You know, it was dangerous. You're taking a risk to do that, but in the right time to profit from that load would come back to you. Some people think it means that others think it means that it's more of an agricultural thought that basically the water would overflow its banks and they would throw seed out there and as the water got back in its banks, the seed would find itself, you know, in different parts of the soil and then the crops would just grow up. And so people that were walking along the river or whatever, you're sowing your seed. And then down the river it's you know there's a crop and you can eat of it. No matter what it literally means, the idea theologically and the principle is the same. And here's what it is. Living by faith requires us to release control. If I'm going to really live by faith, if I'm to really honor God, I'm going to really be generous. Then my heart has got to be positioned to walk in willingness and obedience to whatever it is that God is calling and asking me to do. It's a heart posture. It's not even about the money. It's not even about the amount for sure. See, the world's logic is this. You don't know the future, so hoard everything that you can for self-preservation. Here's what the Bible says. You don't know the future, so scatter your sins your bread as widely as possible. Why? Because God's going to take care of you. He's going to take care of you. A heart of generosity. What would happen? What would happen if the church really embraced kingdom generosity, if we really grabbed hold of it. Can I say to you, and this is not true of Destiny Life percentage-wise. We have a house full of faithful givers and stewards. But you know, Christianity at large for people that would be professing Christians the percentage of professing Christians that actually tithe or they give anything, it is abysmally low church. Abysmally low. And it's not even about the money into the church. It's more about your life. When I talk to somebody about tithing, I got to tell you, always. It's always with their own life in mind. And I talk to my girls. My girls are young adults, and I'm talking to them all the time. And girls, I want to make sure that you're honoring God. I don't even, and I stopped, now I'm not saying this is wrong, but I stopped saying to them, paying your tithe. Because I don't even want there to be this idea that it's transactional, right? It's not a bill, right? It's a hard position before God to say, how do I walk in kingdom finance? And I want to encourage you this morning. And again, I don't remember the last time I looked at individual giving. It's not about that. And Glenn said this, and I think this is so good. But God says, test him in the tithe. If you're here today and you're not a tither, don't even give it to Destiny Life. Find another congregation in town and start setting aside 10% of your income and watch what God does. He said, Jonathan, I can't get the 10% right now. Just start with 2%. Just start, right? And God will show you there's practical principles to manage the other 90. I mean, there's something to be said for budgeting and all of those things. Right? And if you need help in that, come and find. We'll connect you with some people that can help you in that. Of just, I know there's practical wisdom in it. It's not about the amounts, church. None of us have the same resource. But it is about a heart of, it's holy generosity. It's a willingness. It's care for the kingdom of God. It's a trust of God's provision. What would happen? We'd probably be blown away. Why don't you stand with me? I want to pray over us today. We're going to bring those baskets out and let everybody come and line up right here. We're just, I'm kidding. Father, would you help us today? Lord, I know even this morning as I'm praying over this message. I'm saying, would you search my heart? There's areas that I'm not being generous or areas that I'm blinded to. Lord, it's just such good practice. The Holy Spirit to turn a searchlight on? Would you do that over individuals, over families, over this house. If you're watching online, would you show us? How can we more effectively embrace kingdom generosity? Lord, I pray that it would be said of this house here that of those believers that we're in covenant relationship with as death and life, that there would be no need among us? Would you make us aware of needs and then would you make us aware of ways that we can provide and help those among us are brothers and sisters in Christ that we worship with that are in need, would you help us? Would you utilize your people to supply those needs? Guide and direct us. Lord, we're dependent on you. We're not out here trying to make it happen. And we're dependent on you because you're a good, faithful, loving, providing father. I thank you for it in Jesus' name. If you believe that, say good amen. You can be seated. Starling's going to come and lead us in a couple other. This is probably the most embarrassing business decision I've ever made. Wednesday, we have to hand over the keys from our little jewellery shop and we still have boxes and boxes of handcrafted gold jewelry with nowhere to go. So we're doing something you never thought will do. Our entire collection is now 80% off everything with free shipping included. We're practically giving away pieces that customers use to cut for. For 33 years, Henry and I handcrafted every single piece with real gold that will never turn your skin green or tarnish. We never mass-produced or took shortcuts. Some of you have become like family over the years, and we'd rather see our life's work being worn and cherished than sitting in storage forever. Please help us find homes for these pieces.

Your dog, he's trying to tell you something. Fresh flavor, gourmet variety. He loves them too. Your dog's one-way ticket to paradise. But why stop there? Bone broth, high-protein toppers. Are you listening? And low-calorie nutrient-packed drizzle all at an affordable price. Now that's a game changer. At Jinks, we've got the makings of the best bowl for your best friend. Good morning on this very unusual, and I'm going to have to say historical day here at Destiny Life in Claremore and Owasso. Let me just share this with you. Thank you for joining us. We're actually here on the Claremore campus broadcasting into your home, so good morning Destiny Life. I might even call some of you out that I normally get an amen from. And what we're doing this morning is simply bringing the message and the word for today. I remember in the early 80s, we had a snow day similar to this. We had two Sunday morning services then as well, we had an 8.30 and a 10.30 and we're in that little small building and the snow came and I dismissed the 8.30 service and I'm standing at the door when five cars came into the parking lot to join us and we weren't having service. They pulled away and I said to myself, I said, Lord, if you'll help me, we won't dismiss the primary Sunday service every year if at all possible. Well, that's been 45 years and this morning was a different kind of morning. In fact, Jonathan Cook and I were on the Owasso campus, six something this morning, and you couldn't even get into it and they cleared the parking lot here at Claremore yesterday, and this morning I literally had to take a shovel and shovel my way into the building. So I'm glad that you are home safe and we have a team here helping us bring this broadcast and and I really enjoy the time to share with you. So I want to pray and get right into the word today. We're not using this time for our worship so I encourage you do that right there at your home, but we do want you to hear the word. Today was an important day for us. We were using this day. Originally, Dale Gentry was going to bring a word to the house and that didn't work out and we already had the plan for this and then the weather named so it's perfect. So why don't you pray with me right there where you are and let's ask the Holy Spirit to use this for the kingdom of God and, of course, for our DLC family. Heavenly Father, I am grateful. This beautiful day as I see the sun shining outside and the gorgeous day and the team that's here to help us. And the technology that we have to come into every home. We give you honor and glory, praise. Use this day for your glory and cause our hearts to hear the word of the Lord. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. And I hope you say that with me right there in your own home. Today I have wanted to address what I'm calling a reflection and a projection, if I might say that of God's goodness and his glory and I want you to follow through with me on that and here's why. God does not operate on our timetable and you hear us say that from time to time that God's not in a hurry. And I often will reference out of Genesis 15 where God told Abraham, this is the promise of your descendants. And then he tells them far in advance for 400 years, children will be left in slavery until the fullness of the sin or the iniquity of the Amorites is finished. In order that God might be just and holy and that he would judge them justly. Now, here's what it tells me. In the difficult times of God's people, always good and always bringing forth his glory. And I believe that is the focus I want to bring through us today that God is not in a hurry and he's beyond our understanding. In fact, the scripture says don't lean on your own understanding but trust in the Lord with all your ways and in those processes, what he's actually doing is that He wants to reveal Himself, His glory and his goodness. And so we see that throughout the scriptures. I mean, one passage that you remember of course is Lazarus when he had died, Jesus literally said this plainly to his disciples. He said, Lazarus is dead and for your sake I'm glad that I'm not there. What do you mean? Glad that you're not there. Here's why. Here's why. He explained that, that you may believe. And I'm telling you, it always comes back to his glory. That's what the Bible is about and that's what this year is about for us. A couple of weeks ago, Jonathan and I brought forth on Vision Sunday a theme of stand and stand firm, I'm out of Ephesians 6. And today, I want to embrace that but I also want to take us into reflections on God's goodness. And I also want you to see God is taking us. You know, because that's part of it for us to see it. And when I look back over the last 45 years, I see every major shift and every major move came out of uncertainty. And I could probably say even out of difficult times that he would show his glory. It's almost as if he delights in this way. It's like his children of Israel. He says to them, when you don't know to turn to the left or to the right, you're going to hear a voice behind you saying, walk this way. This way, walk you in. In other words, I'm not telling you the future, I'm just telling you the direction to walk that we might see Him. And that's really what it's all about. I want to share three scriptures. If I were to think about the glory of God being revealed in difficult times, there's actually three passages that came to my mind and when I read them I want you to ask yourself, What do these three have in common and what you're going. You may not have known this. These are glorious passages but out of every one of them. It came out of difficult times. Let me read this to you. Habakkuk 2.14, one of our favorites, it says for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Wow. As the waters cover the sea. It's like yeah, but you need to see that in its context. And then another passage over to Isaiah 40. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh will see it together. Yay. But you need to sit in the context. I love it. And then Isaiah 6 and 3, you're familiar with this one. Holy, holy holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory and everybody shouts. But I want to put them in context because that's how I see where we are in the body of Christ right now. I love our theme, guys. To stand and stand firm, not only for us, I believe the body of Christ is being revealed and tested. If I might say that I don't want to be so presumptuous. I think what we have is for the body of Christ. But I do see that there's a lot of uncovering, a lot of uncertainty and we have to focus only on the Lord and strong. So let's go through these passages before I share some other things with you because each of these passages are talking about the glory of the Lord out of the dark night of the soul. It's as if God is revealing his vision and purpose from dark places. And what it says to us today is that we'll see His glory. Let me show. For example, when Habakkuk has just asked God when I was reading Habakkuk 2 about the glory of the Lord in chapter 1? Listen to what he's saying. He says, how long Lord must I call for, but you do not listen. You ever feel that way? How long? And you didn't listen. And then he says, or cry out, violence! But you didn't save. Wow. Why do you make me look at injustice? He says why do you tolerate wrongdoing and he goes on complaining. I think we can relate. It was in that moment. He's declaring that why do you tolerate this? And then God says to him, hey, I'm about to do work if I were to tell you, you wouldn't believe it. I've heard that preached like God's going to do great things. Do you know what God was talking about? He was talking about 30 years later, judgment was going to come from the Babylonians and they would be in captivity for 70 years and yet the Lord says, listen to what he says for the earth will be filled with the knowledge. Knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. God was speaking to Habakkuk concerning a dark day yet in his day. He said the glory of God. So Habakkuk was going to say that, but He was really speaking ahead to us. I want you to see this. The day we live in was being included in that, but it was fitting their prophetic time as well. If I were to take you to Isaiah. As we mentioned in Isaiah 40, you know what that passage is? That's about Hezekiah. Here's what the Lord said to Hezekiah. The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up to this day, listen will be carried into Babylon and nothing will be left. You know what Hezekiah says? At least that's not going to happen in my day. Well it did and the judgment coming. But listen to what God says. He reaches over as a cross to Hezekiah and Israel and talks about what we would read in the Gospels concerning John the Baptist than Jesus. It's as if God is saying, I'm going to show you a way you're going to see my glory but he's also referring to the day we live in. Listen to this, he said a voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, and the rough ground shall become level and the rugged places plain, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all the people will see it together, in a dark day, the mouth of the Lord has spoken, it's that. And yet he says the glory of the Lord, we've seen. I want you to catch this. I'm going to try one more passage. I want you to stay with me because the one you're more familiar with Isaiah chapter 6 and it says in the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord high and lifted up and is trained, meaning I believe the presence, I believe even he was seeing ahead that Christ would be lifted up and his presence would fill the church's temple. But he says and his train filled the temple. He said, the year that King Uzziah died, I saw him. And the seraphim were crying, holy, holy. Holy is the Lord Almighty and the whole earth is full of His glory. Why does he say in the year that King Uzziah died? Let me show you. King Uzziah was one of the few good kings. And for 52 years he had reigned in obedience to the Lord until the very end. When pride entered his heart and he was lifted up into destruction and he insisted to do it his way. He wanted to light the incense and the temple and it wasn't his to do. It was for the priest to do and the Bible says but he was lifted up in his heart. You're going to get this here in a minute. When we talk about our place,

He was lifted up in his heart, and 80 priests tried to get him to stop. But he did it anyway. He wouldn't listen. It was him, God had placed in his midst, God help us. We got to see the glory of Lord and so the Bible says he was struck with leprosy and they put him out. So here's Isaiah writing in the year that King Uzziah died. It was a great king who reigned faithfully for 52 years, but it was also a tragic end. It marked something for him and he said in that year I saw the Lord. Here's what's been coming to me in preparation for this day. You'll see this in life. If anyone else is watching, doesn't matter how hard it gets in the midst of it, God wants us to see Him because when you see Him, you're going to stand firm when you see Him, you're going to be established when you see Him. So why does all this matter? Let's talk about this, okay? What does that matter about this Sunday? Why is this so important? Let me tell you why I think it's important. I want to share with you pastorially if I could. Maybe I could even say prophetically. I want to look back over the last 45 years and I want you to see the glory of the Lord and I want you to see that where you are right now and and I want to remind us of this message about halfway through this year. Don't forget I'm not bringing this back to you. See the Lord that you might stand firm because every major shift and provision that I've seen has always come out of that. So our theme when we're saying to stand firm is so appropriate. If you see the glory of the Lord. A couple weeks ago Jonathan Cook and I reminded us of our vision statement when we say to see the glory of God revealed in every sphere. We shared that on Vision Sundays we often do, and you know what that means? It means the glory of God needs to be in every sphere. It means there's a need for it. You'll see that's not a slogan. It's not a building plan. You know what it is? It's a kingdom mandate. So when we say atmosphere, here's what we mean in every home, and every marriage. Man, I've been burdened from marriages this week. I don't know what's going on in every home in every marriage, heavy workplace, man, every place somebody's being educated, whether it's homeschool or Christian school where the children are and every place to the glory of God to every part of our community. And can I even say every nation where we have. How do we see that done? Well, I'll tell you Christ is not only first in our gathering, but obviously this morning, it's in every place. Is it? It's in every home. That means he has to be preeminent. Here's what Paul said. He's the head of the church that is in everything he might be preeminent. So here's what I want to talk to you about. We are called. You've heard this, but I want to say it. We are called to be a people who know God and know our place. So what does this mean for us? We often speak of knowing place and not our position, don't we? And Paul says we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. That means each one has a place. Not a position but place. And you'll hear say, every member is a minister. We've been saying that since 1986 because Peter says that your chosen generation, he basically the royal priesthood. And I believe that's

Destiny life is not built around a few gifted people. He'll see to it but everyone doing business. It's built around equipping the saints, isn't doing the work of the ministry. Wherever Christ places you. No one here is insignificant. Got no one here is unnecessary and no one who is here without a calling. So you'll hear us say that. So let me say this. You hear us say this, we are called to be a safe place and can I add for real growth. I don't know if you can have growth that's not real growth, but I just wanted to add that just for today. For real growth. Here's why I believe that we mean a place where people are not pressured to pretend but be invited that grow emotionally healed, spiritually healed. Paul writes speaking the truth in love. We are to grow up into all things. I thought I probably need to call Derek out and give me an amen this morning out in your home, Derek. In Christ, the head, he says, see growth requires truth and love, doesn't it? Grace without truth leads to immaturity. And truth without love leads to no one hearing you. For James says, confessions your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So we believe healing happens in the family, health, spiritual a family because without transparency, there can be no healing. Without vulnerability, there can be no growth. Somewhere I have to say, Glenn, you need help. You need to grow. I'm not going to grow up. Could take you back. Over the years where I heard that when you need to grow, Glenn, you need some healing. Glenn, and you need, that's what we are because this church has to always be transparent, authentic, safe and restorative. Not permissive, but redeeming. Not judgmental, but sanctifying. So we are called as a place for growth, aren't we? Now here's why this matters to me. We are called to many places but there's two, I would say, regions that you hear us talk about. If you're a part of the rest of your life, you know we have a campus here in Claremore, and we had one over in Owasso. And if I could say strategically placed. We are one church. In that sense, I know in the New Testament the church is not divided to accept my locale, is it? So I know there's a church in Claremore, the Broadway Friars. I'm not talking about best in life. I'm talking about the body of Christ. The church in Carmel and there's a church in Owasso and the communities around. It's not leaving those other communities out around. But those are two areas of sphere, could I say that? So we're going to talk about some practical things this morning. Not just the challenge that we see the Lord but in the midst of this, I call him where he's placed us, I want us to talk about it. We don't talk about it enough. Very seldom do we bring these things out but I believe the Lord has given us a call. You've got a church at Ephesus, you've got a church at Corinth. So I guess you could say they have a church at Claremore or in a church at Owasso, or in those communities but you hear what I'm saying. We are called, we acknowledge the truth, but we know God has given us a measure. In 1986 I'm driving down. Now this morning it was covered with snow, but there's five lanes. You couldn't find them. But there are five lanes. If you count the center turning lane between Claremore and Owasso, Highway 20. 1986 I'm driving a narrow two lane asphalt road that they called Highway 20. Driving over to Wausau, I don't know if you know this, Villa Russell was a little small community with one traffic light downtown. And Highway 169 only came up to 86th Street. So everything was just out in the country up towards Collinsville. I'm driving down this country road and I hear in my heart the Holy spirit say, I would give you a church in Owasso. I wasn't trying to be spiritual. I wasn't trying to hear from the Lord, but I knew the Lord was speaking. Came home, I told my wife and man, we had no idea how that was going to happen. That was long before internet, it was long before being able to do this for sure. It was long before that and we used to pray about it. Lord, how are you going to do that? Then we saw it was also growing. In 2000, that really grew. In 2007, the wife went over to see the Joneses home over in Owasso, Greg and Beverly Jones. And she called me from there. And she said, baby, it's time. I said time for what? She says, it's time for that work in Owasso. That was like 2007, so I went over the next day to pray and sure enough had that sense and taught the leaders and one year later we launched in one of the schools, moved to a sixth-grade center. Gathered in that place that was doing it at the time, reached out to the cooks that maybe they would come and you might want to go back and listen to Jonathan a couple weeks ago sharing his story of how he came here just because the Lord told them to come. And that was four years later though, because in 2009 we thought maybe that would work and that weekend, that was in December 2009, I really felt like the Lord said, physically be in the city of Owasso. We're just meeting in the school and so we'd open up a little store for an office over there. I went down to Office Depot and got some cheap furniture and set it up, but I'm just sitting over there in that little office and nobody around. And everybody's over in Claremore, you know? So, I'm sitting there, put it together on New Year's Eve and first week of January, I'm sitting there. A week later, Jack Voss walks into the office with Crossroads in Owasso. I've never officially met him, and I knew who he was and we visited. He said I've come to talk to you about our churches merging. And I said, man, what's our relationship? What's our kingdom connection and let's start praying together. He went home and told his wife, he said, he didn't ask me about the building. I didn't know they had 13 acres in the building paid for and we began to pray together and eventually within a short time by April of that year we had merged together, we blessed a ministry for him to go out if he wanted to and his board had deeded the property over to us and there we were launching in 2010 with Dusted Life and a Wassail. What a blessing. What a blessing can I tell you, we're not smart enough to figure these things out? We didn't study the demographics, it was out of the leadership of seeing the Lord. I hope you get this this year because You know, that was so significant for us. And I remember in those times, the challenge that was there and how we walked through it and how God blessed us. And just recently we're able to add another 5,000 square feet to the activity facility, They're making nearly 20,000 square feet in Washington. I think last Sunday it was like 350 or 70 people there. There's usually about 500 here. It's amazing on the two campuses how they grow and God is blessing them. But I look back, Man, we got to do this every once in a while guys. We need to see the glory of the Lord, don't we? 1980 when my wife and I came to come or at the end of that year I was 25 years old and I didn't know enough. I need to pray a lot. I need to remind myself, Graham, you still don't know a lot. We need to pray a lot. I was praying a lot, crying out to God, can't sound like Isaiah or maybe Habakkuk and praying, crying out to him and one night on Saturday night, I hadn't been there but three months. The Holy Spirit said to me to go outside. I went outside and what some of you don't know is we just had like an acre and a half there where the elementary school cafeteria is over there on Blue Star now, and there was a hill where the dumpsters are, at the trash dump. There was a hill and I walk up on that hill and look back at the little facility that we had, the little building and was thanking God for it and when I did, but I heard the Holy Spirit say, Turn around and I'll give you land that I'll provide or turn around and show the land that I'll provide. And I turned around and I faced that seven acres across the creek and there's like three and a half acres here that I found out later on it was in a flood plain which I didn't know anything about. And so I thought I should walk out there on it so I walked out there on the property and for some reason where the platform is today in the Gematrium now because we worshipped there for 30 years, I walked out there and looked back at the street and when I stood there, I stepped on this huge snake and it went out from beneath me. I can't why I wasn't afraid. It was weird, and I knelt down there in the mud and I just began to thank God and I saw the building where it is and I'm sharing this for a reason. Okay and next morning I called the two dentists that owned it, The Reed family and the Henry family here in town, and I say, hey, and I don't do in three months, so I couldn't tell anybody. I mean, we had a deacon board in those days and myself as the board and it'd be too presumptuous for me to tell them we're supposed to buy property as well. I didn't tell them. So I called the Reeds, and I called the Henry's and I said, are y'all wanting to sell the property? I said, no. We plan to build our offices is there. Didn't tell anybody so we started about the year the church started growing and we start adding plans. How can we build on where we are could that happen? Can we build on that? And three years later, before we got very far, they called. They said are you still interested in that property? And I had talked to nobody. I said, yes. We ended up the next year in '84, building that facility. But here's the thing. I didn't know if had we not bought the land out back, which haven't used the property. I didn't know it was in a FEMA flood plain and to get the building up high enough we had to take a foot off of that seven acres and move it because you can't bring dirt in but you can move it around in a floodplain and build that building up in order to build the building there and we couldn't connect the two because there's an easement through that. And guess what? Exactly where I saw it. It's where it is today. Wow. You know, God is so good. We don't talk much about our resources because I tell you, we are called to steward, aren't we? We're called to steward our land and resources. We see buildings as a tool, God y'all know that. Nothing less but nothing more. And we're blessed. We have approximately 70 acres or more. We sold 14 to the state. So it left 70 acres or more, with right at 80,000 square feet facilities on three different campuses and here's the good part, we're not be holding to anybody for it. We owe nothing. In fact, we paid off. We sold the 14 acres, we're able to take that money and self-finance. So we pay ourselves. What a blessing. You know, Haggai says the Lord says a silver is mine and the gold is mine. Can I tell you, we own the thing? Can I tell you, we control nothing? Can I tell you, we possess nothing? Buildings and lands are just a tool that exists. Yeah. Even this morning, I'm glad to be out of snow for training and a healing station and kingdom influence, but that's not our focus, but they are greatly needed. Can I tell you that we're grateful for the provision that God has given us. And hear some of our long-range dreams. I want you to dream with us. We can't wait until the day that Claremore Christian School is right out here on this present property where I stand, if I could only tell you how we got this land. Can I take a moment and tell you about how we got this? The church began to grow back out of the 80s

And I thought, we need to do something. So we drew out some plans over there on Brewstar. The Summit Centers up there that was a vacant land and we may be able to buy that. We might be able to buy that daycare sometime. Maybe we could build a larger auditorium. We use parking. And we just start figuring it all out, maybe buy some houses around there because I knew there wasn't anything else available. A week later our oldest life group, cell group. And Larry and Debbie Warren are still living. That was a long time ago. They were the youngest ones in the group at the time but they sent me letter and they said pastor, we're 110% behind you, but we've got some questions. One question and will the city let you build there? I had the same question. I didn't know. And then I had one other question. I don't remember the third question. They said, is this big enough for our vision until 2034. That was 35 years ahead. And I said, you're using my preaching against me because we were talking about thinking 35, 50 years ahead. And I said, I'll do something against you. So here's what I did. I said, you guys be the task force and I'd served in the chamber of commerce so I knew it wasn't available. I said, you go out and find six pieces of property of 15 acres over the next six weeks within the city limits. I knew he couldn't do it. Lo and behold, they came back in six days with six pieces of property in the city limits that all of them were 15 acres. I couldn't believe it. I drove out here on the property where we are here on that Saturday and I called Tom, I said, Tom, you've got to get out of here.

Man, that next Monday I'm in the prayer room. In fact, that maybe the Sunday after that, they said, The highway's going to come by here. People started calling, you think we're on that task force? You think you want to buy this? Yeah, we ought to buy that. The following Monday, I'm in the prayer room and Larry Warren calls me and he says, hey, I checked on the property. They've turned down cash offers twice 200,000. That's for the first 40 acres because we're about 20 right after that. First 40 acres is they've turned down cash offers for 200,000. What do you want to offer them? I said, tell them we don't have any cash. We'll give them 25,000 cash. We're all from 190, they had to finance it for three years. I didn't think they would take that. The next day I called his office and the secretary said, hey, you've got an accepted proposal on my desk. I called Tommy, and I said, good news and bad news. Good news, we own 40 acres. Bad news, we didn't tell the church. So we call it emergency meeting. Here's what I want you to know. I didn't know that Castaway family had believed that on this property in their family for a hundred years. And he was a former school superintendent and he told his family, I want there to be a church or school on this property. Can I tell you, we believe that someday not only the building would be here but where the church meets but a full football field, a gymnasium full facilities for elementary, junior high and high school right here on the Claremore campus. Come on, Derek, you need to be amening me right there in the living room. I hope you're shouting right here on this campus why because out of those times God will show His glory. We don't know how it will happen but we know that he's provided for us. Here's what we see. We see Claremore campus being primarily a reach for the Christian education for the school-age, meaning Claremore Christian School and the Owasso campus being enlarged to the size of this facility, at least upon that acreage, providing space for Christ's college. We see that Christ's college has been given to us to equip leaders. We can take people from the discipleship process of being born again, all the way through leadership. And even we want them to have at least equivalent to a one-year Bible college under their belt so they could be sent out wherever in the workplace or even plant churches. And to do that, we have Christ College, which by the way the next semester begins tomorrow night on Eschatology, which I'll be teaching. It has been going on now for two years, but we see a facility over there. It's a blessing what God has provided for. One major blessing we have, guys, I want you to hear this, is these two properties, one here of now 45 acres with the 14 sold or more to the state. 13 acres or so more in Owasso, they're sent strategically for commercial properties too. Our dream is along the way out here, Highway 20 to have income streams coming out of commercial properties. And in Owasso we have an acre out front that serves as a medical facilities that would serve the Warren Clan next door and 13 acres out back that could produce maybe non-retail income and here on this acreage of 45, we not only could build the school what we want but we can also have income-producing commercial properties. Watch this. Their income would provide the building and the facilities and for all that perpetually while we take the missions and tithe dollars and do what God has called us to do over the next generation. That is available to us. We didn't figure this out. You understand that? Wow. When that senior group sent that to me and they found that property. I'll never forget in 1999 we called an emergency meeting. He said to the church, I told my story, and I said, do we own this property or does a businessman on it. A businessman. And they offered, actually they were warned, offered to buy it if we just didn't want it. That senior group stood up that night and they put their arms together and they said the kingdom owns that property. And it was like the Spirit of God fell up in that place. So generational. That was the oldest group. Listen to me now bringing forth the blessing upon generations that are not even born yet. Why? Because we are called to be an equipping and sending center. Let me say it again. We're all to be an equipping and sending center. We're called to be the Antioch church, aren't we? A equipping base, an apostolic center. We have a mandate of discipleship. Can I tell you, we have a house full of strong, mature people. When I've watched you walk through this last year, Job said, thank you for maturity. Did you know I have a list on my computer right here of 25 of our people that could preach in any congregation around here within 100-200 miles on a Sunday morning and feed the flock. I have another 20 on here that could teach anywhere. We have a house full of mature. We're disciples. Man, we have a team of five elders that pastor of the flock, only two of us on staff full time, but they are in full-time ministry. I feel like I need to stop and thank the Lord. We have a team of deacons that give themselves to the people, check on them, visit him in the hospital, making sure they're ok. We have a family life team, gentlemen, they have worked their and they'll continue to develop this that can take people through families in marriage crisis as well as marriage preparation. How did that come about the same way. In the midst of need, the glory of the Lord is seen. Chris and Jules Rose leads a team into prisons all over Oklahoma. The overseers don't look back, house of guys coming out of prison that want more discipleship. Can I tell you, we're proud of those men every week.