Well, hi everybody. Hey, if you are a regular
around Central, you know that I often begin
messages by welcoming you, welcome you to
the house, and the glad that you're here.
Although right now I feel like, um, you kind
of welcomed us to your house. And so I just
want to say thank you. Thanks for letting
us come in and, and you go, I'm so lonely
and bored right now.
I'd let anyone in my house. Okay. I got it.
All right. We're not gonna get too far here,
but I mentioned last week, I said it's kind
of a weird thing. Don't get used to it because.
You get to see me, but I never get to see
you. And I'm, I just am in a empty building
talking to a camera. Although, uh, this week
somebody dropped by and what I'm staring at
right now is.
I've got a bunch of, I've got a poster, kind
of a collage and a couple of sheets that people
have put out there. Just some really nice
things said. So we're all in this together
and just thanks for being a part of it. Okay.
Now stay at home orders. Who had a thunk it,
right? Did you ever in your wildest dreams
think you'd be ordered to stay at home? And
we're trying to figure out all of this. Stay
at home has a whole new meaning. Remember
when you used to say things like, Hey, I'm
going to stay at home and now I'm not going
to, I'm just gonna stay at home and to relax.
And you actually had a choice. Remember, we
used to have a choice, and right now we don't
have a choice.
You're supposed to stay at home. And I know
that we respond to these moments differently.
Some of you who are extroverts, and if you'll
pardon me saying this, you are experiencing
the closest to hell on earth you have ever
experienced. You know, I gotta get outta here.
If you're an introvert, you're going, Oh man,
I died and went to heaven.
Are you kidding? I just get to stay home!
I don't know where you are on that spectrum.
But, uh, it's just, it's just crazy. It's
just a difficult, crazy, weird time that we've
all got to find our way through. Also, it's
changed our vocabulary. There's things that
we say now that you know, not like they never
were said, but there were, they weren't like,
you will always remember these phrases.
Let me give you an abundance of caution. How
many times have you heard that phrase? And
just out of an abundance of caution, how many
times have you heard this phrase, we're going
to shelter in place. We never used to say
things like the, shelter. Here's another one.
Social distancing. And now you literally,
you walk into a store and there's, there's
markers on the floor telling you how close
you can and can't be. Six feet of separation.
You got to stay this distance, six feet. That
kind of sounds like a Kevin bacon thing. All
right. But no, no, it's just how far you could.
Get close or how close you can get to somebody
else. Self quarantine. That's a whole new
concept. And then zoom. And now the zoom was
around before this, but you know what?
Zoom has become such a part of our vocabulary.
So today what we're going to do is we're going
to continue in our series that we've been
in for the last several weeks. It's called
uncharted. And we're in the service because
these are the times we're in. They're uncharted.
That we were like, we're on the sea.
We're like going along and we are mapping
it as we go. We don't have charts that tell
us where to go. We're just discovering things
along the way and making the best of it, using
our witts and our intelligence to decide how
to best live in times like this. Today's message
I want to just give you right now, it's the
title.
It's called all the lonely people. All the
lonely people because one of the uncharted
realities that we're experiencing as people
is that with all of these new phrases and
new, you know, kind of these self quarantine
and you know, stay at home orders and whatnot,
there's a lot of loneliness and it's all the
lonely people.
That's us. Okay. It's not like nothing pejorative
about that. It's just us. We're all the lonely
people. We just want to be back with people.
And so why don't you grab your Bible. We're
going to be in Matthew chapter 26 if you can
just take a moment to find that and I'll be
there in just a bit and then we'll, we'll
just dive into the word of God.
Now let's just talk for a moment about this
whole idea of social distancing. Okay? And
I want to say something about this. I want
to say that there was actually virtue to being
alone. Being alone is not all bad, okay. When
we are alone, we call that solitude and solitude
can be an incredibly positive thing.
It's best in solitude to clear your head.
I think prayer is often best in solitude.
Jesus practice the discipline of solitude.
He would often get up early and be alone with
God. Often he would drift away from the crowds
who he could be alone with. God. He guarded
and he protected his times of solitude.
Solitude is not a bad thing. All right, so
we're going to be really clear here about
that, but let me just say this, and you might
just write this down. Solitude is best taken
in limited doses. Uh, too much solitude. You've
got a problem too little solitudes you've
got a problem. So there's a limited dose.
That's actually good. The problem is, is we
want to go to the extremes and we're getting
too much or too little. So that's just a reality.
Now, let me just say this, too much solitude,
too much aloneness is not good. Now, let me
be clear. If you take your Bible and you begin
to read the first chapter in Genesis one.
And you start working your way through the
creation story of what God did when he put
us here. You start to realize that everything
he touched was good. And you know, he created
this and God saw that it was good. And that
phrase, God saw that it was good as a, it's
often repeated phrase. God saw that it was
good and he did.
And then he saw that it was good. And then
he, and then he saw that it was good. And
that's that that goes over and over and over
until you come across the first not good.
There is the first not good in the Bible.
Can I show you what. What that is is from
Genesis chapter two here it is: the Lord God
said, it is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a helper suitable for him. Everything
was good, everything was good, and he sees
man alone and he goes, that is not good. And
folks, a man alone is not usually a good thing.
That's a problem looking for a solution right
there. Okay? So God says, no, we're going
to fix that. He creates a woman, creates through
relationship, the kind of the, the whole idea
of being in community and you know, just having
people in your life.
And then he looks at him, he goes, Oh man,
that's just, that's not just good. Yeah, that's
very good. And he emphasizes very, very good
when, when you have that, now let me just
drop the big idea that we're going to develop
in the next few minutes. We were not created
to do life alone. You were made for more than
living alone.
You are made for more than not having friends.
You were made for more than just being told
to stay at home and cut yourself off from
everybody. All right? You were not created
to do life alone. There is an emptiness that
all of us have experienced when we have been
alone. I'm sure you can relate to that, where
you start to feel like, man, something is
something deep is broken and missing, and
God goes, it's not, it's not good.
That's not good to be alone. There is a passage
in Ecclesiastes where the wisest man that
ever lived, Solomon, kind of sums up the whole
relational issue and, and says, you know what?
I just made it an observation. And the second
part of the verse we're going to read is going
to ring like you've heard this, but I want
to read to you the setting, the context of
which Solomon's said
the second thing you've heard. Now stay with
me. This what makes sense. We're going to
be in Ecclesiastes chapter four. This is what
he said. There was a a man all alone. Oh,
that's not good. As we've said is that it's
not going to be good, okay? A man alone is
not good. There was a man all alone. He hadn't
neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil. Yet his eyes
were not content with his wealth. For whom
am I toiling? He asked and why am I depriving
myself of enjoyment? This too is meaningless.
A miserable business, a miserable business.
This idea of being alone, I'm working so hard
for whom? Who's going to benefit from all
my labor?
That's what he's wrestling with. Then he said
this, this is what you probably have heard.
Two are better than one because they have
a good return for their labor. If either of
them falls down, one can help the other up,
but pitty anyone who falls down and has no
one to help them up also have to lie down
together
they will keep warm, but how can one keep
warm alone? There's incredible benefits to
being in more than one. And then he says this,
the one may be overpowered, two can defend
themselves. A cord of three strands is not
quickly broken. Now, listen, church, I wish
this could be just an incredibly uplifting,
funny message and we could just laugh and
cut up and have a great time together.
But the truth of the matter is, is that this
is a very difficult and a very relevant subject
to our days. This issue of loneliness. And
many of us are being forced to be alone against
our wills, and it is breaking something, stressing
and straining something inside of us. And
we're losing our social connection and it
doesn't feel right and good.
And so we got to talk about it, but I want
to tell you, I think God has an answer. So
just hang on. Stay with me as we work our
way through this. All right? Now, too much
aloneness is what we refer to as loneliness.
Yeah, loneliness. Too much aloneness and just
too much of myself, I'm, I'm done. Okay. I'm
over myself.
I need to be with some other people. Can you
think of a time when you had too much of yourself
and you were just dying to be around people?
Like, I just need to find some people. You
might remember in the year 2000, there was
a movie that came out, became very popular,
is called Castaway. It starred Tom Hanks and
let me just remind you of the storyline. Spoiler
alert, if you haven't seen this 20 year old
show. Get out more. Okay. Um, anyway, in Castaway,
Tom Hanks plays a systems analyst for FedEx
and you know, delivery of packages and all
that around the world. And the way the movie
sets itself up is he's on a jet, a FedEx jet.
They're over the sea. I think they're on the
way to Malaysia. And a storm hits and the
plane crashes and it just is, it's a horrific
scene. And then he washes up on the shore,
the pilots wash up, they're dead. And then
it's the story of him trying to figure out
how do you survive? Because what you're going
to discover is for the next four years, he's
going to be on this Island alone.
Now stop right here. Okay? Those of you who
grew up with Gilligan's Island and you, you
know who you are, okay? I know who you are.
When you, when you watch Gilligan, could you
imagine how boring Gilligan's Island would
be if the only cast member was Gilligan? So
Tom Hanks finds himself on this, this Island
as a Castaway, and he's.
Like, Oh, this is miserable. Well, what happens
is some of the packages begin to wash up on
shore from the plane that went down and he's
opening up looking for things that could help
him to survive the ordeal of being on this
Island. As he opens up the packages, he opens
this package and he's like, what is this?
And as he looks at it, he discovers it's a
volleyball. And that's ringing a bell right
now, you're going, I see where you are we
going with this! And this volleyball is made
by the sports company, Wilson. And so he's,
he's like kind of fixated on this thing and
trying to figure it out. And in this particular
scene, what happens is, is he's, he's trying
to make a fire, ends up cutting his hand and
out of anguish.
He just smacks this volleyball and the imprint
of his hands. Blood goes on the face of this
volleyball, and then he's holding it and he
starts looking at it and he begins to draw.
The face, and he names his new friend Wilson.
Throughout the movie, they both do time together.
You can see this just the same character and
you know, they've gotten older.
All right? The years have passed. But here's
what you've got to understand this. This is
an inseparable friendship between him and
a volleyball. Now, at some point you had to
start asking yourself, how can you be so like.
How can you be so like in love with a volleyball?
All right, they'll stay with that because
in the, towards the end of the movie, in,
in give him, spoiler alert, he makes a raft
to get off this Island and he lashes everything
of value down and off they go.
And then he ends up falling asleep and hit
a storm. He wakes up and he realizes that
Wilson has fallen off the raft. And he begins
to scream and just let out all this anguish
as Wilson is drifting away in the current,
he's got the raft and he's got to make a choice.
There's Wilson. Wilson's going in the other
direction.
He's trying to pull the raft and he's screaming
his screaming. He's got to make a choice between
his friend Wilson and his life, which is on
that raft. It's a anguish filled scene cause
he's crying out, pleading for Wilson to come
back. Folks, Wilson's a volleyball and the
question you got to ask yourself is what would
cause somebody like that to be so driven to
befriend a volleyball?
And the answer is very simple. We were not
created to live, to do life alone. And when
you don't have somebody there, you'll come
up with something. Now, I want to assure you
if something, loneliness is not a sin. We
want to be really clear here. You're not violating
God. You're not breaking covenant with God
because you feel lonely.
So let's be, but it's painful and it creates
suffering and anguish. And I just want to
assure you, because I know many of you are
feeling this feeling right now. So I feel
so alone and fear sets in with, you know,
the loneliness and stress. You know what we've
talked about. So what I want to do is I want
to take you into a moment into the life of
Christ.
I want to remind you that what you feel, Jesus
felt and what you're experiencing maybe, Jesus'
experience for certain. Let. Let me read to
you. I want to take you into the last night
of Jesus' freedom. On the very next day, he's
going to be, uh, excuse me. Later this evening,
he's going to be taken and captured and he's
going to go the next day through the horrific
experiences of trials.
He's heading to the cross. He's going to be
crucified. And, uh, in just his last moments
of freedom, he knows they're coming, by the
way. It's not like it's going to catch him
off guard, but we read these words and this
is where we are back in Matthew chapter 26
verses 36 on down. If you want to join with
me as I read.
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place
called Gethsemane, and he said to them, sit
here while I go over there and pray. So he
brings his friends, go stay. Okay, just hang
out right here for just a moment, all right?
He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee
along with him, and he began to be sorrowful
and troubled immediately.
He's opening himself up to his friends. Now
he's got all these disciples or apostles technically,
and then he's got three of them that are his
closest friends. So we parched nine of them
over there, and he brings the tightest three.
It says, Hey, right here, and he begins to
tell them and open up and kind of bare his
soul.
He says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow
to the point of death. Okay, that's deep.
That's deep anguish and angst. Stay here.
He pleads with his friends and keep watch
for me, with me. Going a little farther. He
fell with his face to the ground and he prayed.
My father, if it is possible, may this cup
be taken from me, yet
not as I will, but as you will. So he has
this incredibly intense moment pleading with
God for what's to come and asking God, is
there any other way? Then he returned to his
disciples and found them sleeping.
You got to go there. You just got to understand
the emptiness that he felt the distance between
him and them. Just the like, guys, seriously,
this is, you're going to leave me? Couldn't
you men keep watch with me for one hour? He
asked Peter, watch and pray that you will
not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak.
He went away a second time and prayed my father,
if it is possible for this cup to be taken
away, unless I drink it, may your will be
done. When he came back, he again found them
sleeping because their eyes were heavy, so
we left them and went and went away once more
and prayed the third time saying the same
thing.
No, Matthew doesn't tell us this, but the
other gospel writers tell us the story, sweat,
the drops of blood, incredible agony, incredible
intensity, and he's got a set of friends who
he thinks are with him. But are actually not
with him. Then he returned to the disciples
and said to them, are you still sleeping and
resting?
Look, the hour has come and the son of man
is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise.
Let us rise. Let us go. Here comes my betrayer.
No, in those verses that were so much going
on, and I wish I had a lot more time than,
I've got to just unpack that. He's got his
band of brothers. Who go to sleep on him.
He's got his best three friends who go to
sleep on him. He has many, you know, a number
of conversations with them, pleading with
them, be with me in this moment of agony.
Every time they're asleep, he wakes him up
a third time and then he sees Judas leading
the mob that's going to apprehend them. Here
comes my betrayer.
One of the, excuse me, eight and three, and
the one there was eight that were out there.
Then the three that with him, and then the
one that went and got the, the soldiers. Folks,
here's what I need you to understand. Jesus
relates to your pain and your loneliness.
You are not alone. Let me just say something
though about loneliness.
From 2014 to 2017, the 19th surgeon general
of the United States, a guy named Vice Admiral
Vivek Murthy. He, uh, he started talking during
his tenure about the most lethal epidemic
happening in America and the one that we're
not talking about and we're not dealing with.
And he said, it's the epidemic of loneliness.
In fact, he said these words, these are, I'm
going to quote him. He said, we live in the
most technologically connected age in the
history of civilization. Yet rates of loneliness
have doubled since the 1980s. Today, over
40% of adults in America report feeling lonely.
And research suggests that the real number,
maybe well higher.
Additionally, the number of people who report
having a close confidant in their lives has
been declining over the past decades. And
during my tenure as US surgeon general, my
years caring for patients, the most common
pathology I saw was not heart disease or diabetes.
It was loneliness, loneliness. And you've
got to understand something.
When he said this, this was before social
distancing, before, stay at home before self
quarantine before, and you've just got to
understand, can you even imagine the depth
of pain people are experiencing right now?
You know what, loneliness doesn't care how
important you are. Loneliness doesn't care
how successful you are.
It doesn't care how smart you are. It doesn't
care about any of that stuff. Loneliness can
affect any or all of us. Most all of us know
the name of Elon Musk. Elon Musk has the distinction
of being the only individual ever to begin
four billion dollar companies. Nobody's ever
done that. four billion companies.
He's the head of them all. You can't have
more success in life than Elon Musk. And in
that sense, you can't, you can't, you can't
make a bigger difference. You can't do more.
He's sending spaceships, you know. And yet,
if you know the story of Elon Musk, you know
that he's dealing with deep sadness in his
life.
And, uh, the sadness that he's dealing with
is just the fact that he's not been able to
stay in a relationship. And I'm not. He talks
about this. So in fact, in, in, uh, rolling
stone magazine, in fact, let me make sure
I've got the right one. You know, rolling
stone magazine, uh, 2017 he talks about the
fact that, you know, he and his wife just
seen broke up and he had a actress, girlfriend.
They broke up and he's just, he's got this
massive house and he says, there is nothing
worse. This is in this article. There's nothing
worse than having a massive place and all
you can hear are your own footsteps. No one
else is walking, nobody else. And then he
made this statement and in fact, let me just
show it to you.
He said, when I was a child, there was one
thing I said, I never want to be alone. I
never want to be alone. And many people don't
want to be alone, but they find themselves
lonely. There is. There was a sense of aloneness
that both creates and intensify suffering.
And man, we are in the midst of this.
There is such right now, uh, such an acute
sense of loss that people are feeling. The
tragedy. Again, there's so much of this, let
me just briefly mention, so the tragedy of
people whose loved one is in the hospital,
but they can't visit because they can't go
in the hospital. People who are not able to
be with their spouse when their spouse actually
dies in a hospital and they're waiting in
a parking lot.
Unbelievable. Funerals for loved ones who
you can't bring all their friends together
because we can't gather together. Incredibly
painful, uh, people who won't, who plan their
weddings this spring time. And they were so
excited about their weddings only to discover
that their friends can't come and they can't
gather.
In fact, on our staff alone, folks, we've
had three weddings in this past month. All
very small, intimate affairs, often with very
few friends. Could be there because of a limited
people. Think about all the students, all
the high school students that for so long
it anticipated their graduation and celebration,
throwing their hats and all of that.
College students think about all the broken
dreams and shattered hopes. So we're going
to go to so-and-so this summer. We were, we've
been saving up for our vacation. I've been
talking to people. That's been the story.
I got tickets I was going to take my kids
to and I want to show them baseball, and the
list goes on and on and you get the idea.
It's an incredibly painful time. And folks,
what I need you to understand is that loneliness
puts us at risk physically. People who do
not feel connected to others are more likely
to catch a cold experience depression, develop
heart disease, have lower cognitive function,
leads to the progression of Alzheimer's, and
ultimately live a shorter life.
In fact, the longterm cause harm caused by
loneliness they say is similar to smoking
or obesity. 26% increase in the risk of early
death for those suffering from loneliness.
Do we need this now? This incredible stress
being put upon us. Folks, it matters. What
you do during this time, it matters. Why does
it matter so much?
Because we were not created to do life alone.
Here's my plea. You have to find ways to overcome
this. So while everybody is shouting, social
distancing, social distancing. Folks, I want
to shout a different phrase. I want you to
practice social closening. I know that's not
a word. Social closening.
How do we live now with these incredible parameters
that have been put on us so that we can thrive?
I know I've painted a dark picture of this,
but if we don't paint a dark picture, we're
not going to do the things necessary to keep
us out of the darkness of loneliness. It's
a wake up call. We're not created
to do life alone. You need people. I need
people. We need people. And folks, right now,
there are a a hundred thousand articles on
the internet and that is not an exaggeration.
All the things you can do while you're, you
know, staying at home and you can clean your
garage and do your ironing, okay? You do all
that.
I want to spend just the last few moments
I've got. I want to just cast a vision for
you of what are some possible things you could
do to collectively together. Uh, under the,
the stay at home orders, how we could benefit
and bless one another. So if you'll allow
me, first and foremost, you've got to learn
how to operate and find your way around zoom.
Now, it's not the only platform, but it's
the platform that many are using. Its a platform
I've had to learn. The zoom. You, I can't
learn that. It's too hard. No, it's not. No,
it's not. I wanted to bring this picture.
I have a picture of my. My little preschool
grandson Kayden, who's with his classmates
on a zoom call and it's darling, but I can't
show the picture of other kids.
I don't have the parent's permission. So I
just want you to understand if a little preschool
kid can understand how it works, zoom, you
could. He's in the right hand corner. It's
darling folks. You've got to learn how to,
it's a language you gotta learn. You gotta
learn it now. And so whatever it takes, it's
not hard.
Get on there. Get in the life group now. Now!
You know you've always wanted to do that.
You've told yourself, I need to do that. Now
is the time to do that. Get in a life group.
You'll be welcomed in. You're going to be
a little box in the zoom corner. I mean, it's
going to be cool. You're gonna meet people
and have fun.
You're going to make friends and it'll matter.
Form watch parties. What is a watch party?
A watch party is what all of us are doing
four times a weekend. It can be on the five
o'clock on Saturday night watch party, or
you might be at the nine o'clock or the 10:30.
It's when you, you and your friends are all
doing this together and you can talk to one
another and all that stuff's happening.
It's a watch party. You can do that with movies.
You can get together, you can do that same
sort of thing. You can have game nights, hosted
game night, get your zoom friends, and then
they get the same board and they do the same
game and you all just kind of work together.
Incredible. He fun things. Folks, just find
a way to make other people your top concern
right now.
Don't sit around and feel sorry for yourself
and focus on the problem. Find ways to connect
with people. You go, how can I kind of, how
can I minister to others? There are so many
possibilities of what you can do. Writing
encouraging notes and letters. I've been blown
away by how many notes people have written
to me and they matter.
Write a note to somebody. Somebody you just
want to reach out and connect with. Do that.
Make some phone calls. How are you doing?
I was just thinking about you doing okay?
You'd be, you'd be surprised. Check on your
neighbors, shop for your neighbors who are
at high risk. Go. Go to the store for them.
Send a, go to get online to a bakery in your
neighborhood and send your neighbors something
baked by a bakery and have it delivered. You
will blow their minds that you care that much.
Oh man, there's so many possibilities. Walk
around your neighborhood and just pray for
your neighbors. That'd be a way to minister.
So here's the deal. There's no end. I mean,
literally thousands. So I'm going to put a
slide it, you'll see this. If you go to centralaz.com/ideas.
Here's what we want to do. Tell us ideas you're
coming up with, you are incredibly bright,
people. Get ideas. Go I, that's a great idea.
Give ideas.
Post your your best thoughts on these things.
Help all of us with this, and it'll make a
difference. Now. Two things I want to suggest
you not do. Number one, don't put your focus
on your problem. I already said that. Number
two, don't watch news 24/7. Just break that
habit right now. Just go on and I'm not going
to go there.
It's going to take you nowhere good. So I
want to close this message. I'm going to read
you something that a palliative nurse in Australia.
Oh, her name is Bronnie Ware. She works with
people who have decided to die at home, and
she kind of helps with the hospice deal. All
right. And she asked patients who were dying
what was their, what, what are your regrets?
And she, she wrote about the fact that the
most common regret that she sees is, people
go, I let my friendships lapse as I lived
in my life. And she actually writes these
words, let me read them. Her patients had
become so caught up in their own lives that
they let golden relationships slip by over
the years. There were many deeper regrets
about not giving friendships, the time and
effort that they deserved.
Everyone misses their friends when they're
dying. I want to tell you something that's
very personal. My mom died on January 31st
of this year. I haven't mentioned that. Because
it's very painful. Let me explain why it's
painful. My mom had no friends. My mom had
no friends. She never invested in people.
And, therefore, in her last years or her last
decade, nobody ever stopped by.
But, but me and a few others, family, nobody
cared about my mom because my mom honestly
just never took the time to care about any
of her neighbors. I remember sitting in her
backyard years in the last, in the recent
years, and she would just bemoan the fact,
you know, nobody cares. I'm going, mom, you
gotta you kind of put energy into it if you
want.
She goes, yeah, but you know, nobody ever
comes and sees me. In her last year, she lived
in a nursing home and she made some friends.
She did not want to go to the nursing home,
but she made friends and that, that was good.
But, when she died there, there was no, all
of her friends are in a nursing home.
And again, only a handful to be, to be honest,
there was no, there was no service there,
there was no need for a service. No, no, no
one would come.
So church, here's what I want to tell you.
You know, the best time to make a friend is
when you actually don't need one. And you
go, yeah, well, I need one now. Okay. The
next best time to make a friend is now. You
go, where would I start? All your neighbors
are home right now. What? Your neighbors are
there.
It's just, you're right there. Go to your
neighbor's house and knock, knock on the door.
Keep your distance and go, Hey, I just want
to meet you and I'm going right over here.
Make some friends. Why is it so important?
Well, it's so important because we were not
created to do life alone. We were made for
more.
And even through the darkness of this hour,
we're living incredible. Things can come out
a lifetime and lifetime friendships can be
formed right now through the power of the
internet and zoom and a knock on the door.
Sure. So let's make a difference. Now. I'm
going to pray and we're going to go into a
time of reflection, and I just want to encourage
you, if you prepare communion, now would be
a great time.
And I would also just, you know, encourage
you if you didn't prepare communion, just
reflect on these truths and just think about
them. Also as a, as I was mentioning earlier,
an act of worship as we give. And I would
encourage you to be mindful about this because
this is worship. This is not something other
than worship.
This is how we can care about people. And
that's what keeps the church strong and able
to do ministry. So. Thank God for all he's
done for you, and then think about how you
can make a difference for somebody else. Let's
pray. So father, thank you for our time. Thanks
for friends. Thanks for the, the the truth
that's revealed in your scripture.
God help us right now to put all this together
in our own lives in a very positive way. Do
not let us live alone. Do not let us shut
our hearts through the people around us. God
move us, motivate us. To make a difference
in these days. And this we pray in Jesus name.
Amen.
