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Well, we're at the end of the year and that's a chance for all of us to just say to the Lord, thank you so much for all that you've been to us this year and all we believe you're going to do the next year. I really believe as we end something one way, it positions us to begin it in faith, to begin it with God.
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That's so good.
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And we're just amazed by all God's been doing all this year, right?
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So amazed. God's so kind, he's been so good. And I do want to share a story because this one's beautiful. Beautiful and powerful. This is from Tara. She said, I first heard Pastor Levi preach in 2019 and his teaching immediately drew me in. Last year I was plunged into darkness when my 30 year old daughter shared news that left me devastated, afraid and spiritually lost. One of your emails led me to the message the art of Grieving and the Holy Spirit used it to speak into my pain, refocus my heart and change my life. I continue listening, sharing your sermons with family, friends and even my hairdresser, trusting that Jesus is faithful and will complete what he started. I am deeply grateful for this ministry and pray Jesus continues to bless fresh life so others can know him more.
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Wow.
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This is the kingdom. That message, the art of grieving. Specifically I wrote on the aftermath of my dad dying and just the struggle it was to believe it was going to be okay and receiving comfort from the Lord and then feeling the calling, the mandate like we've felt for so long to put that out there, believing that other people are hurting too. And it has encouraged our hearts so much to hear stories like this where that has been received readily and we're just, it's the joy of our lives to bring God's word to you each week and we're so grateful to all those of you who receive that and then give and support and stand with us as we bring a message of hope to this world that needs it so badly. And so thank you as we come to this end of the year. For those of you who have already or are praying about how you can participate in this year end offering, I think it's easy to think, oh, you know, if someone else would do that, but if everybody thought that way, no one would. No one would stand with us in that way. No one would give. No one. And the Bible says how can someone preach unless he's sent? How can he go unless he's commissioned? And by giving, you're sending us each week with this message that you have been able to receive so that more people could receive it. So.
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And what could we do together that we couldn't do alone? And I just believe that as we give in faith, God's going to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all we could ask or imagine.
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Well, thank you so much, and may God bless you. Stepping into this new year, we're going.
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To take some time now to read through Psalm 23. We're just going to read it, start to finish, and take some time to unpack it a little bit. But before we go, I just want to give you a little bit of the backstory. This psalm is written by David, looking back on his life. So he's taking stock of all the adventures that he's been on and all the ways that God has proven himself faithful. And sometimes it might be easier to look back and see God's fingerprints on your life than it is in the moment. And so we're going to take some time today to hopefully kind of tune in your sensitivity to how God is moving today so that you don't have to wait until it's all behind you to look and see what God has done, but to ride the wave of faith and enjoy the life that God has given you even now. Also, it's fairly short. It's six verses, and its strength is in its simplicity. I remember I memorized this psalm in high school Spanish class. Pastor, nada me faltara en lugares de delicados. Pastos me alma des cancar junto a agua me reposo. And then I forgot. That's as far as I could go. But in case my Spanish teacher is watching, I was paying attention sometimes. And, yeah, we're gonna read it now. I'm gonna take out my Bible. We're gonna put this up on the screen for you as well. And it goes like this. This is the new King James version. It says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the truths that are contained in this psalm, this powerful and simple declaration of who you are. Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes today to see just how you want us to enjoy you, to interact with you, and to be led by you. I pray that you would speak through me and touch lives and change lives today in Jesus name, Amen. Amen. We've titled this message. Hold on, wait for it. A rested development. It's very important. The space is very important. A rested development. Some of you heathens are like, oh, arrested development, like the TV show. And you could quote bees and banana stands and all of that. Not today. Not today. It's a rested development. And we came up with this title because of just how God wants to work in your life. It's so easy to think it's about you and incumbent upon you to do the things that would make you a better disciple or follower of God. And in this scripture, we learn that it isn't about you at all. In fact, here's the subtitle. It's a walk in the park. You're like, yeah, right. No, but it is. And I'm going to make it my aim to show you just that. But you know, the saying, there's been a development usually is not followed by good news. There's been a development tonight at 11, you know, but in this case, I want you to see how God is developing you. And just the way in which he does that is through your rest. And when we as a body start to understand just the posture that God wants us to take, that is where we will begin to enjoy just the journey. And that it is when we follow God, a walk in the park. So I want to go back just verse by verse here and, and take some time to enjoy the scenery. We're going to walk, we're not going to run, and we're going to take our time. This sermon is going to go for 36 hours, so hopefully you packed a big lunch. All right, so the very first verse, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. This is the original DTR statement of Moses or of David speaking to God that he, God, is his shepherd. I think it's really interesting. All the images of Pharaoh in antiquity, especially sarcophagus, that they found that they attribute to Pharaoh, he is a shepherd, is depicted as a shepherd as well. And we'll get into that further down in our study today. But it's really interesting that right out of the gates, David is saying, the Lord, Yahweh is my shepherd. He's my shepherd. And just that alone, it's so simple. But yet it could take the rest of your life to just unpack that and live that out and to make that declaration and that confession every morning. The Lord, Lord, you are my shepherd. And then to say, I shall not want following that is just the completion of when the Lord is your shepherd, you have it all. You lack nothing. And that was his statement. And it's not kind of a breeze by statement, a shallow statement. It's an understanding that shepherds, they are with and among their sheep, they know every wound, every irritation, everything their sheep is lacking, every pain point, every deficiency. The shepherd knows his sheep intimately. And his confession is, in spite of all the things that I'm lacking, I yet do not lack what truly matters, and that is that you are with me. We'll go on. The concept of God being a shepherd is so beautifully articulated in Isaiah 40, verse 11. He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those who are with young. So David is just out the gates, a shepherd himself, saying, I love you and I follow you, and you fulfill me in everything that I need. It's kind of weird to think of yourself as a sheep, though. It's not bad, but, I mean, it's not great. You think often that sheep are stupid animals. I mean, it's like you almost never hear sheep depicted in, like, a positive light. There's over 200 references in scripture of sheep, and only the times they're positively mentioned is when they're in the hands of or under the care of a good shepherd. And kind of to counter my own point, in 2005, this really happened. There must have been a symposium of shepherds. There was some kind of gathering where over 1500 sheep, Turkey were brought together. And these shepherds, what were they doing? I don't know. They abandoned their sheep for just a moment and, I don't know, got coffee or something. And the sheep went astray, over 400 of them. Actually, one small little sheep left the flock and 400 followed off a cliff to their own demise. Market value estimated a loss of $74,000 at that time. So I'm not saying that they're always intelligent creatures, but what I don't want to do is portray the sheep in such a way that makes their value diminished. They're just bad at caring for themselves. Amen. I mean, right? It's like, left to my own devices, watch out for the stage. I mean, I could be next. I'm not a great caretaker of my own best interests, but sheep are a valued commodity. They're an asset. They serve a purpose. As I was studying this, I kept thinking, like, if I'm a sheep, why, like, why does the shepherd care for me in such a way? It's like, I feel like I don't really have a lot to offer, you know, I'm not good at drawing. I don't know. And it's to think of it in terms of how a shepherd would look at its sheep, its sheep. Its purpose is to bear fruit, wool, to be a solution to many pain points. And so I think that's a beautiful picture that God sees us. Our purpose is to bear fruit. Why? Just because. Just because it feels good? No, to. To advance the kingdom, to grow the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. And so, of course, God would want to care for us. Not to mention the fact that he made us and he loves us and had that purpose in mind. Let's go on to verse 23. 2. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Sheep don't lie down easily. Maybe you knew that. I certainly did not. It takes quite a lot of factors to line up for sheep to relax, for them to just chill a moment. And so when you read this, he makes me lie down in green pastures. It's not like you sheep lie down. It's more like sheep will lay down when there are no more irritations like parasites, bugs, a lack of provision. So they're full. There are no threats around them. There are no animals that could harm them. And then when other sheep are relaxed, they relax as well. So they kind of take on this sympathetic nature. Well, how then, when David says this to God, how do you think he means that? You make me to lie down and in green pastures. I saw this in my golden retriever, Ranger. Ranger's a good boy. Ranger's a real good boy. But I don't know if it's that I am terrible at owning a dog, but I cannot make him lay down. Like, I'm like, lay down. And he is like, no, actually will not. I will not be doing that thing. Until about a week ago, we gave him a bath. Wasn't his first bath. Chill out. But we gave him a bath and it was like warm water and man, that dog melted. He was in hog heaven. To mix metaphors. And, yeah, it was really interesting. He, like, relaxed and then he laid down in the warm Water, like he was so happy to just be in that warm bath. And that picture also, I should say he's never been the same since. He's like, even more a good boy. So, you know, maybe there's some theology in there that when God makes us to lie down, what we experience is a newness, a refreshing, a peace. And we see that in verse 23 to the second half. He leads me beside the still waters. If you're ever up for a drive, for those of you here in the valley, over at the Creston garbage dump ring, go with me for a moment. Right off of Creston Hatchery Road, there is this beautiful stream. And every time I take the garbage to the dump ring in the spring and the summer, I would think of this verse because it's like a. I don't know, 5ft by 5 foot, 5ft wide, 5ft deep, beautiful, peaceful, clear stream. And maybe you've seen it and you know what I'm talking about. It's off of Highway 35. And it makes you just want to dive in there with your mouth open. I mean, it looks like. It just looks amazing. It looks so refreshing. And I don't know if you grew up in the church and maybe somewhat of a warped understanding of how God loves you. It's okay to relax, it's okay to rest. It's okay for you to enjoy the goodness of your soul being refreshed. I don't know if you need permission or not. Sometimes I feel like I do. Like I should be doing more, I should be doing better, I should be overcoming. And God's like, gotcha. Just let me take care of the things that are bothering you. Let me take care of the things that are causing you to feel stress. And you just enjoy this cool water. It almost feels scandalous, doesn't it? It almost feels like I don't deserve that. But that is exactly what this psalm is telling us God wants to do for his sheep. And that is you. Continue. Then through verse three, he restores my soul. Notice that every stanza builds upon the previous one. We can't get to soul restoration. On verse one, we start with the identity of who the shepherd is, and then we go to where he's taking us. Green pastures, clear, cool waters. Now he restores your soul. I don't know if you came into church today with the post Christmas hangover of I'm in more debt than I was before. There's a lot of wrapping paper in my life. All of a sudden I need more batteries or any of the additional Stresses of family time, extended family over the holidays. But sometimes we can kind of almost stress ourselves out more in the season of celebration of our newborn King Jesus. And so I love that we're taking some time right now to sort of reset before we begin the new year. And I just want to speak this over you. If you came into our church this morning, you're watching online or in our campuses with a soul that is weary, with a soul that is stressed out, with a spirit that is depressed, disappointed, unfulfilled, just meh. Can I just ask you to close your eyes and place your palms out and just hear this? Father, you restore my soul, you fulfill every lack and you ease my pain and you lighten my load. Thank you. This is how God shows his love for you as we read on. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. That's 23. Three God's ways, as we learned in this past series called this is the Kingdom are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His kingdom isn't of Earth's kingdoms. And I love that this verse says that God leads us in the path of righteousness for his name's sake, so that he would be glorified. There are times when I'll. We'll have college students or interns and I always take some time to show them this picture. This is A picture of Two Moon park in Billings, Montana. And it was in 2016. We had finally finished having all the babies and we could go on a walk and we decided to adventure in Two Moon park. And it has changed the way I see life ever since. You know, like it looks kind of average. To the one side we've got the Yellowstone river and sort of the brown area is the park. And that's Billings for you though. It's really interesting though when you get to this park. We had never been there before. We didn't like look at the map ahead of time. We just showed up to this park to go on a walk with all of our kids and our friends and their kids. And so it was kind of nerve wracking because, you know, I had a nine year old son at the time and then I had three, like two, one and newborn. And it was like where I'm watching all the kids. You switch to zone defense. With that many kids, it's not man coverage anymore. And so at one point, you know, it's like my oldest son could get away and it was all overgrown. You can't really see where anything leads. You just have this set of, you know, lefts and rights. Do I take this path? Do I take that path? Do I go this way? What's going to come of it? And what if he gets off path? What if he gets off in front of us and just around the bend? Parents, you know this feeling. It's like, oh, man, what if. What if he gets lost in this park? I don't. We didn't know where it ended. We didn't know anything. We were just out for a walk. And isn't that so, like, following God? It's like, man, I don't necessarily know where this is going to go, but I do know that his paths are righteous. But how do. How do you know what path to choose? Psalm 119, 105 says, Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So I would start in God's word. And Proverbs 16, 9 says, A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. So I would say that in context to these verses, to stay on the paths of righteousness means to stay in his word and to stay in close proximity to the shepherd. Funny enough, when you think of the shepherd's crook, it's about 6 to 8ft tall. It's got a big bend on it. And if I'm not doing well during this message, you'll see one come out the side here. And the crook is kind of interesting. I don't know if you know this, but sheep don't naturally raise their head up. They normally keep their heads low. And when they get off path, it's because they aren't looking around. And so a lot of times the shepherd's job is to take the lead sheep and pull his head up. And I hope that today you sense God doing that for you to lift your head and to see that his paths to follow are righteous. But sometimes it's just a matter of staying on the path. I think it's like, man, I'm marching along. I'm doing what I think God wants for me to do. Man stuff is difficult. Stuff is not easy. I'm fighting through it. I'm fighting my faith. I'm trying to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. And God's just saying in this verse, my ways are righteous and I give you peace, and he will lead you, and his word is a light unto your path. And that leads us perfectly into the next verse. Verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I feel like Some people from the 80s are going coolio with me. Gangster's paradise and the nerds are going Weird Al Yankovic on me. Yea, though I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain I take a look at my wife and realize she's very plain. That's the verse. In case you're wondering, There are two things to observe in this Walking through the valley of the shadow of death. You will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It's not an if, it's a win. You might be in there now, you might be exiting the valley or entering the valley, but you will experience the valley of the shadow of death. And I love that it's the shadow. You ever get knocked out by the shadow of a punch? No. When we have the Lord as our shepherd, the danger is immediately eliminated because he will take care of those things. And you will merely pass through the shadow and you will fear no evil. I speak that over you today, that you will pass through the valley of the shadow of death. And you will, when the Lord is your shepherd, fear no evil. And I'm thankful today that I've been through those valleys. And I'm expecting to again. Because what I have grown to know God to do is he takes our trials that we face and he turns them into trails that we can then retrace our steps and say, this is how God moved in my life. He takes your trials and he'll turn them into trails, and then we can praise him for it. The second half of this verse, though, is such an important piece. For you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. If you haven't noticed, he starts now speaking to God as directly to him. You, your, your. Before it was the Lord. It was. He was talking of him, but not to Him. Now he's talking to the Lord. And that is again, I think, a picture of how the Lord has risen his head with his staff, the rod. In this verse, the rod and the staff, they are different tools. The rod is a weapon to protect the sheep from things that are dangerous animals. I think of bees. I'm more scared of those than wolves. But it's there to protect them. And the staff is there to correct, to ensure that the sheep is on its path and not straying left or right. And so we can say then in context of this verse four, the only way that I can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil is to know that God is with me and his rod will protect me from evil. And his staff will correct me and keep me on the path once again. He's doing all the work. All I'm doing is staying near him, and he's leading me on his path of righteousness. It's his character and nature to comfort us, to protect us, to correct us. And without correction, we would say, we are not loved. So if you feel at times some Holy Spirit conviction, thanks be to God that you do, because that is him telling you that he loves you and that he has something more for you, it's easy to think of God as just wagging his finger and saying no to all the things that our flesh wants. But no. He's saying, don't hurt yourself. He's saying, I have something better for you. I have something more pure, more righteous, more excellent. Something that will cause you to be like David, to say, I shall not want. I have it all. In verse five, he says, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, and my cup runs over. I was kind of researching this, and I found that this is a reference to a victory feast for a king after battle. And it's written by David, who at the time had been a king. So he was a shepherd, and he wrote of the life of a shepherd, and now he's writing as a king. So now we see God go from shepherd to host of a banquet. He's saying, God has led me. He sustained me, he gave me rest. He protected me, he corrected me. He brought peace into my life. And now he's awarding me the victory trophy. He prepared a table before me, so he served me so that I can experience victory. Man, that is wild. Do you feel like you deserve that kind of adulation, that. That kind of reward? I feel like sometimes I struggle with that. Like, man, have you seen my rap sheet, Lord? Like, how could you possibly see me as a victor? But is that gospel, that we are victorious through Jesus Christ? That is our victory. And it's interesting, and in a moment, we're going to celebrate communion together. But I just think it's so interesting that Jesus prepared a table for his disciples in the presence of his enemies. Again, we see that God does the work. He chose us. He called us, and he filled us with life and goodness. And so we're to take this message and simply apply it to peace. Like, shouldn't I have, like, four execution steps, you know? And shouldn't I type it all into a computer and have a spreadsheet that would track my behavioral qualities and that I'm really living out all of these things. This is God saying, actually, just enjoy my peace, and I'll do the work. We see this in verse 6, chapter 23, verse 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is almost absurd that he would just say, I got nothing to worry about. It's gonna be great. Life is gonna be good. I'm gonna just dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Except that he understands that because God chose him as a victor, he has nothing to worry about, nothing to strive for. Goodness and mercy will just be the consequence of letting the Lord be his shepherd. And it makes me think back to this park, Two Moon Park. What I didn't know at the time, that I know now, is that every one of these trails are interconnected, and they're a means unto their own end. So they don't leave the area. If you took the left path, you'll see a cliff face. It is like a weeping wall. It's beautiful and serene. It's 100ft or so tall. And you kind of come around the side and you get to the river and you get onto another path. You took the center one. It's just cottonwood, puffy eyes, and runny noses for everyone. And then if you took the one to the right, you go along the river. And that one was a little sketchy because the Yellowstone river is actually pretty intense. But each one presents its own life experience. Each one is sort of unique unto itself. They're not redundant trails, yet they all culminate at the same point, the same point being the rope swing. They culminate at the rope swing. And we have a picture here of my son at the time launching off of this rope swing. I remember the water to be about an inch deep, unfortunately, so he got some sore feet. But this was really great because then we could tell our son, hey, just stay on the path. We'll meet you at the rope swing. We'll meet you at the rope swing. And this is essentially what we're reading here, is that surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I'll dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Church. Stay on the paths of righteousness, God's path. He will guard you. He will protect you. He will fulfill you. He will give you rest, and we'll all meet up at the rope swing. Heaven on earth and in heaven, in the afterlife. It's often. This psalm is often used at funerals and I had the opportunity, the honor of being a part officiating four funerals this summer and fall. And I can tell you, anyone can recite Psalm 23 as a performative piece, but those who know the shepherd, they feel Psalm 23, it's not a verse to study. It's a verse to absorb and to allow God to make it come to life. His word is alive. And to leave this room today to know you have a good shepherd. And his purposes for you are amazing. And the work that it's gonna take from you is to just trust him and be near him. And we get to hang out at the rope swing. It's so rad. I'm not a TikTok guy. I'm still pretty sure the Chinese government's gonna take over if I open TikTok. So I usually get my video dopamine hits through Instagram, but this one video that came from TikTok onto Instagram I thought was something that you should all see. This is from a gal named Torchy. Torchy. What a name, man. What a name. Okay, so I asked the team to put this together for us. This is Torchy Swenson and Psalm 23. Can we take a look?
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I was going to tell you something. The Lord is my shepherd. That's a relationship I shall not want. That's supply. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. That's rest. He leadeth me beside the still waters. That's refreshment. He restoreth my soul. That's healing. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. That's guidance for his name's sake. That's purpose. Yea, thou walk through the valley of the shadow of death. That's testing. I will fear no evil. That's protection. For thou art with me. That's faithfulness. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. That's discipline. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. That's hope. Thou anointest my head with oil. That's consecration. My cup runneth over. That's abundance. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. That's a blessing. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord. That's security forever. That's eternity. Face it, God loves you. What's the most valuable is not what we have in our lives, but who we have in our lives. It's not what we have in our lives. It is who we have in our lives. Remember that.
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I love Torchy. Big fan. And like that has like 20 million views on it, which is so cool. I. I understand that in this house there will be people in our midst that we're so grateful to have that maybe yet don't understand this whole thing and are here to give God one last chance and could potentially be. Saying all of this is just really hard to believe. And I welcome you. I'm glad that you're here. This is a place you can belong. Before you get it all right, have it all figured out. But God is. God is a good shepherd, and he has a good plan for you. And you've tried everything else and it has not fulfilled you. The world does not give you what David said, when God is his shepherd, he shall not want. The world will not give you that. The world will always give you a promise that it cannot fulfill and an ache in your heart. And so my testimony is that God is exactly who David describes him to be in Psalm 23, and that his expectation of you is to not have it figured out, but to just enjoy his proximity. And he will teach you, he will lead you, and he will protect you, and you will the byproduct of that. Have a faith that you didn't even think you could find, that you didn't think you could muster. And that's just it, you can't. So I want to pray and I want to invite you today, if you are, as I described, someone who would say, I can't, I can't yet say, God is my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. Would you today invite him to show you just the work that he wants to do in your life? Give him a chance. And the rest of you in this room and myself included, if today you just needed to hear this message and be reminded that you are a sheep and that you can't do it all and you can't get it all right. And that's okay. Well, I welcome you to pray along with us. So if you join me in prayer, Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for just this simple and powerful psalm to remind us just who we are, who you are, and how to interface with you. I know there are people in our midst that have been let down, have been hurt, have been disappointed, and are hanging on by a thread. And Lord, I pray that you would draw them to yourself if today you just needed to hear this message, to be reminded that God loves you and he has a plan for you and your role is to trust Him. Would you just slip up a hand for me? I want to pray for you. Father, I thank you for Those that are raising their hand today, thank you for reminding us we are your sheep. Thank you for reminding us of how simple it is to trust you and how powerful you are and how righteous your ways are. I pray that you would renew their faith today. I pray that you would touch them in their hearts with your holy spirit and heal them where they're wounded and lift their heads where they're downcast. You can let your hand down. For those of you in the room that have never just confessed that you need a savior, that you need a shepherd, I want to pray this prayer. I want you to pray these words after me. And it's not about the words. It's about your heart. I want you to repeat these after me and our church is going to repeat together because you're not alone in this house. And I want you to say these words. Say, dear Lord, thank you for being a good shepherd. Help me where I fall short. Forgive me where I've gone astray. Fill my heart with your Holy Spirit. Forgive my sin and help me walk in your path all the days of my life. And we pray this in Jesus name.