It's good to be with y'all this morning again here and Kathleen Georgia Warner Robbins made the drive up from Valdosta this morning got up about five o'clock and pulled out of town about 630. So it's good to be here with y'all again. I will say that Paul kind of tricked me when he asked me to come up and preach today. He said, Hey, john, can you preach on July the 12th? I was like, Yeah, sure. I'll be glad to do that. I always enjoy coming up to Houston Lake. And then After I confirmed that, he said, by the way, you'll be outside. So anyway, I got to give him a hard time about that when I see him next. But no, I'm kidding. I'm glad to be here. It's good to be outside. It's a reminder of what it was like in those old tent meeting revivals we hear of in church history. So this is what it was like, I guess, minus the amplification. Anyway, it's good to be with y'all this morning. I'm john Gordy, as Michael said, campus minister with our UF about us the state. My wife and I, Sarah have been been there for a year now. And we've been encouraging our first year even in the midst of COVID-19. This word that we wish we had never heard of but We're glad to be there and we definitely see God's at work after being on campus for a year. So we're just thankful for you, thankful for the church and y'all support and the way y'all care for us and support the ministry there. It makes a difference and really enables us to be on campus each and every week. Speaking of campus, classes plan to start back in person August 17th, that's what the university has said. We continue to wait and find out more details on that, what that looks like, so we're prepared to be flexible to whatever might come. But whatever happens, we know that there'll be a way for us to do ministry. We ended the year meeting through Zoom at distance, and we're prepared to be flexible and do whatever it takes to continue to administer to students on campus and reach them with the gospel. So please be praying for us if you think about over this next month as we begin to plan and wait and plan. So thank y'all. This morning we're gonna be in Acts chapter 11, the end of chapter 11 there, verses 19 through 30. And just to give a little context of where we're heading into, just jumping into the middle of the book of Acts is The book of Acts, of course, is the story of the early church and how the gospel spread out from Jerusalem. The disciples have seen great success, and many have come to faith in the early chapters of Acts. And then, of course, you get to chapter 7 and 8, and persecution really begins to happen. And Stephen is stoned. Stephen preaches the gospel, and then he's killed for it. And so as a result of that, the church is spread, it's scattered. They are driven out of Jerusalem because of persecution and to a lot of the surrounding towns and cities in the Mediterranean area. And so that's where we pick up this morning, our story this morning. And in the midst of all this, I will say Paul, or I should say Saul at the time, was converted dramatically on the Damascus Road. And so Paul has come to faith and he has become a minister of God's word too in the midst of all this persecution that's going on. But as we pick up the story with the church being scattered, being persecuted, a couple of questions that come to mind and that I want us to think about this morning as we think about even our current times is what is God doing in the midst of all this? What's God doing in the midst of persecution, scattering the church? It looks bad for the church. They're scattered abroad. They're driven out of Jerusalem from their homes, men, women, and children. And then at the same time, what is the church doing? How is the church responding to what God is doing there this morning? Two questions for us to think about before we come to the text this morning. I'll go ahead and read that for us now, and then we'll pray afterwards. Acts chapter 11, picking up at verse 19. Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit there would be a great famine over all the world. This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. This is the word of God, let me pray for us now. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for what it tells us and reveals to us. We pray this morning now, just in these next few moments, that you would reveal wonderful things, great things to us from your word, that you would encourage us as we leave from here this day. We ask and pray all this in Christ's name, amen. Please be seated. Sometime over the last 20 years or so, I was watching an interview with George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars universe. Many of you are probably familiar with and seen the movies yourselves. George Lucas said this about the second act of any good story, is that you place the characters in the worst scenario possible, and then you see how they're going to get out of it. Place them in the worst situation they could be in and then see how the characters are going to get out of it. He says that's what makes a great second act of a story. And, of course, what he was referring to, Lucas was referring to The Empire Strikes Back, the second movie in his original trilogy, which places all of the heroes that you met in the first movie in some of the worst situations possible. The rebels are scattered throughout the galaxy. They're pursued by the Empire. Han Solo, by the end of the movie, is frozen in carbonite. He's on the way to Jabba the Hutt. Luke Skywalker loses his hand in a lightsaber battle with Darth Vader at the very end of the movie. And of course, in the midst of that, in one of the biggest cinematic reveals of all times, is revealed that Vader is Luke's actual father. And so as you're watching the movie, you're like, could it get any worse for these characters that we've gotten to know in the first act? Because it really couldn't get any worse for most of them. It seems like all is lost for them. But as we come to our text this morning and we look at the story of the early church in the book of Acts, we see them in a very similar situation where they are facing, in some ways, the worst case scenario possible for them. They've been driven out of Jerusalem, they've been driven out of their homes. men and women and children, their families, they're forced to flee because of this persecution that's taking place against Christians in Jerusalem by the Roman Empire. And so could it get any worse? And maybe even today, we bring it to our day and time, we're thinking like we're in the middle of pandemic and it's the last three four months have been uncertain they've been trying times for us as God's people as the church and so we're wondering you know why is this happening why is this happening now Lord where are you at in all this where's God at work in all this and so Those are the questions we ask. Is God at work in what we're going through? The early church was asking that same question. Where's God at in what's taking place with them, being scattered and driven out from their homes? And I would even say that this has really always been the case, though. Wherever Christians have lived, they have always faced challenges. They have always faced persecution, trying times. We've always faced challenges of God's people. And our natural tendency in these situations is to worry, to doubt, to doubt God's goodness, to wonder, you know, where is God at? How is He working in all this? Why is He letting this happen? And so these men and women who've been driven out of Jerusalem are probably wondering the same thing. And so let's see what God does in the midst of this as He takes care of His people. Luke reminds us, as the text opens, that this great persecution has taken place, as I mentioned just a few moments ago. Stephen has been stoned. Men and women and children, they've been driven out of Jerusalem, and they're scattered. Some traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. And just to focus in a little bit on Antioch this morning, just because that's where the focus of our text is, is Antioch, just to tell a little bit about the city, was a huge city in the ancient world. It was some 500,000 people lived in Antioch. It was very cosmopolitan. It was diverse. There were people as far away as China living in Antioch, India, and also Persia. And so these men and women, these young Christians, have been driven out of Jerusalem. They come to Antioch, and what do we see them begin to do? They begin to speak the Word. They begin to speak the Word, spreading the good news of Jesus, this message of reconciliation and forgiveness through faith in Christ. And so what we begin to see here in the end of Acts chapter 11 is that the gospel has gone out beyond Jerusalem. It's moved out geographically beyond the borders of Jerusalem to the world, to the cities around the Mediterranean Sea. But also it's spreading culturally because this message is going to non-Jews, it's going to Gentiles. And we'd already seen that even a chapter back in Acts chapter 10. Cornelius, a Roman centurion, is converted to faith. And so we begin to see culturally that the message of the gospel is going out to other peoples, other people groups. These men from Cyprus and Cyrene on the North African coast, they spoke to some Hellenists in Antioch, and the Hellenists, to just simply define who they were, were Greek-speaking peoples. They were Gentiles. They were non-Jews. And so something for us to always think about in our lives, even today, is wherever it is God's placed us, wherever it is we live and have influence, who are the Hellenists in our lives? Who are the non-Christians, the unchurched folks living in our lives that God's placed us around? Who are those people? Something for us to think about. But as we get back to our text this morning, this is what Francis Schaeffer used to say about the church in Antioch, this church that was developing here in Acts chapter 11. He used to say it was his favorite church in the New Testament because of its commitment to overcoming cultural and racial barriers. That's what the church in Antioch was doing. The gospel was going out to men and women outside of Jerusalem, outside of a Jewish background. And that's true today too, the gospel is for all people, to all people groups, to all nations. And as I mentioned, it had already gone out to Cornelius back in Acts chapter 10, and it continues to go out and breaks new barriers there in Antioch. But this is really nothing new for how God interacts with humanity, right? If you look back in the Old Testament, this is how God has always operated. Yes, he gave a revelation of himself, specifically to Israel, but he also, you see, as you look at the Old Testament story, you see the gospel going to men and women outside of Israel. Rahab, by faith, she did not perish when Israel destroyed Jericho. She had faith in the Lord, and she and her family were saved. Ruth was a Moabite, but she said, your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Again, another outsider coming in to God's people. And of course, in Kings, Naaman was a Syrian commander, but he was healed of his leprosy because of his faith in the Lord, the Lord God. And so you see God's focus in all of these stories is on people outside of Israel. The promise he made to Abraham back in Genesis is coming true and continues to come through today. But even in these examples I just mentioned, we see God continuing to bless all nations, all people groups, with his gospel. And he's doing that in Antioch in our story this morning. And at the same time, he's using persecution for his own good purposes. He's using it to bring people to saving faith in himself, to knowledge of Jesus and who he is and what he's done for them and why he matters. And so the result of this is a great number believed. We see that in the text, a great number believed, and growth came to the young church there in Antioch. Not just because of these men and women's greatness, not that they spoke with eloquent words or anything like that, but because in verse 21, Luke reminds us that the hand of the Lord was upon them. God's hand was upon his people, and he was enabling the church to grow and to prosper, even in the midst of trying times, uncertain times. The Holy Spirit was at work in Antioch bringing new people to the gospel, the saving faith. And so what this reminds us is that nothing can stop God's word from going forward. Not persecution, not anything, no social barrier, no ethnic barrier, whatever it might be, God is going to bless all nations, all people groups with his gospel. Nothing can stop God's word from being sent and going forward. Not even the coronavirus can stop the gospel from going forward. Even in the midst of times like these, God's word is still going forward. The gospel is still going forward. You all, as a church, are still meeting on Sunday. God's word is being preached. People are hearing, not only here on your front lawn, but through the live cast, through the live stream. People are hearing the gospel. preached each and every week, and the gospel is continuing to go forward, and so the first thing we see this morning is that God continues to send his word. Even in the midst of trying times, God sends his word and brings new people to himself in faith. Just a few months ago, we ended the school year, as I mentioned, during social distancing. We met for large groups and small groups with RUF through Zoom. But a couple months ago, as the semester had just ended, one day, it was on a Saturday afternoon, I got a text from a student who I hadn't seen probably in almost two months because of social distancing and the pandemic. And he texted me and he said, I appreciate all that you and RUF have done to influence me in this direction. And I was, in one sense, I was shocked, but also encouraged at the same time, because I didn't expect that text to come just out of the blue like that. But that's how God works, right? God works when we least expect him to. In the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of social separation, we're scattered as a ministry and students. all across the state at that time, God is still working and he's calling people to himself. He's sending his word and he's making it effectual and he's calling people to himself in faith and he's continuing to do that here. He's doing it at Houston Lake. He's doing it in the Warner Robins in the Kathleen, Georgia area. He's calling people to himself even in the midst of trying times like this. And so as we go back to our story though this morning, we see God not only is he sending his word, but he's also sending help to the new believers in Antioch. We see that the church in Jerusalem hears, they get word of what's taking place in Antioch, and they begin to wonder what's going on there. We hear these stories of people being converted to the faith. And so they send Barnabas to see what's going on, to check it out. And of course, Barnabas was the perfect man for the job. Barnabas, his name means son of encouragement. Barnabas was the same man who back in Acts chapter 9, when Paul was miraculously converted on the Damascus Road, Barnabas is the first man to really go to Paul and welcome him and to be hospitable to him and welcome him into the church. Because just a few weeks prior to that, Paul was persecuting the church. But now he's been converted, and he's a Christian, and he's following the Lord. And so Barnabas goes to him and really commends Paul to the Jerusalem leaders in the church. And he says, hey, this guy, he's OK. He's one of us. We can trust him. And so Barnabas travels up to Antioch, and he sees the great work that God has done. And he encourages them for some time to remain faithful to the Lord. And again, we see God at work. A large number of people are added to the church. The church continues to grow. And then Barnabas does something else, though, that's remarkable, that's interesting. He travels to Tarsus and looks for Saul, as Luke tells us. Now, last we'd heard of Saul, Paul he had escaped from the church's help to Tarsus and that was actually some eight to ten years prior to this some time had passed and so Barnabas though goes to Tarsus to look for Paul to get his help. Now why would Barnabas go looking for Saul? Barnabas knew that he needed help. He knew that he needed help in nurturing and encouraging this growing and young church in Antioch. He knew he couldn't do it by himself, and so he needed help. Maybe he recognized Saul's gifts as an evangelist and a teacher, and he knew he needed that help there. Maybe he realized that Saul was gifted in ways that Barnabas himself was not. And so Barnabas shows humility by going to Tarsus and bringing Saul back to help him to minister and encourage this young church at Antioch. And so for an entire year, after he brings Saul back to Antioch for an entire year, they preach and teach the gospel to a large number of people, teaching and encouraging them. in the Lord. Remember, Paul was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He had been versed in the Old Testament, so he could teach them from God's Word and teach them what it meant to follow the Lord. And again, these are young, new believers, and so Paul and Barnabas are there, they're encouraging them in what it looks like to follow the Lord. And what it reminds us here today is that teaching is a crucial means of God taking care and growing his church. We need good teachers. We need instruction in the Bible, and I'm sure you have good teachers here. Paul and others are teaching y'all well. We need folks to teach us, to encourage us in the gospel, in God's word. We need to have good and sound theology. That's important for us to have. It's one of the ways that God builds his church. But sound doctrine is not all we need. Knowledge, at the same time, knowledge should lead us to change behavior. If there's no outward flow of God's grace and mercy to us, to others, then all the theological knowledge that we accumulate is pointless. It's pointless if we don't know how to love and care for those around us. And so the realization of the love and mercy we have in Christ should lead us to actions that reflect him, to those in the places around us where God's placed us, places where we have influence, spheres of influence. And so this begins to happen, though, at the church in Antioch. They're not only being encouraged by good, sound teaching, but they're encouraged to care for those around them in their city. And they begin to have an impact on their city, so much so that for the first time in verse 26, The young church will refer to an Antioch as Christians for the first time. That word begins to be used to describe the church, those who follow Jesus. And so it's because this church had been so impacted by the gospel that their actions began to resemble the one that they followed. And love and mercy began to overflow and to characterize the church in Antioch and how they interacted with those around them. The message of God's grace to sinners so impacted the church that even unbelieving pagans, unbelievers in the city recognized this. Now Luke doesn't give us details of what these folks in Antioch saw in this young church and these young Christians that attracted them to call them Christians for the first time, but something in them shined so brightly that the city and those that came into contact with these young believers began to call them Christians for the first time. I once heard a pastor friend of mine tell a story when in the city that he's pastoring and continues to pastor in to this day. One time he was going to meet someone for breakfast at a fast food restaurant in town. I believe it was McDonald's. And he had gone into places order with the girl at the register and he of course paid her and was waiting on his meal to come out and waited for a few minutes for his meal to come out and His milk comes out on the tray, and he realizes, you know, this isn't what he ordered. And I think the girl waiting on him realized that about the same time. But he told her, this is what he told her. He says, hey, don't worry about it. I'll eat this. He had begun to see this girl was having a bad day. Maybe she was new at the job and she was still learning, but she seemed stressed and was just having a bad day. And so he told her, he says, hey, don't worry about this. I got it, I'll eat it. It's not a big deal. And this is what's interesting, though, is her response is what's really interesting. She says, hey, are you that preacher from that church downtown? Hey, are you that preacher from that church downtown? And so what's going on with this girl at the McDonald's that waited on this pastor friend of mine is she had heard about the church that he pastors at in town. She had begun to hear about the things they were doing and the ways that they were caring for the city and loving neighbors, ministering to those in need in the city that he pastored in. And she saw something of that love and mercy and that graciousness in his response to her when he said, hey, don't worry about it. I'll eat this. It's not a big deal. And so she saw something different about him. She saw God's mercy, his love in the way this friend of mine responded to her. And that's what was happening at the church in Antioch. That's what's happening in the city of Antioch. They're beginning to see the love and mercy of these young Christians overflow into how they relate to people in the city. And could our city, though, say that about us? And where God has placed us, could our neighbors say that about us? That our actions are so radical or countercultural that people begin to take notice and see something of the love and mercy of Jesus in us. As we live in our neighborhoods, as we go about our jobs each day, as we are students in school, wherever it is God's placed you in your families or wherever it is, do those that you come into contact with see the love and mercy of Jesus in you? Or are we just known as only people with right doctrine and we're critical and we're judgmental of others and we're always talking about what we're against and oftentimes though we're not talking about what we're for. So are we merciful and gracious to those around us? Because like I said, it's so easy for us to accumulate more and more knowledge, to have sound doctrine. And this is a challenge for pastors as well. We struggle with this just as much as anybody else. In fact, we go to seminary and we get taught things, and so we're supposed to know what we're talking about, but does what we know, what we believe actually result in actions and care and concern and compassion for those around us? That's a question I think we all have to ask, which we continue to ask ourselves and remind ourselves of as we live in the places where God's placed us. But the church in Antioch, they understood this. They got it. And they were only able to do this because God had sent his word to them. God had sent his word to these young believers. He had called people to himself in faith. and his hand was upon them, and he was encouraging them and teaching them through Barnabas and through Saul. And so the second thing we see this morning is not only has God sent his word, but he sends encouragement to us. He sends encouragement to us through our teachers, through our pastors, through our elders, and so forth. He encourages the church in trying times. And as God sends his word and as he encourages the church, it leads the church to helping others. And we get a closer glimpse of this in this last half of Acts chapter 11 this morning in verses 27 to 30. We see that a great famine was going to come over the world, the known world at the time, the Roman world. Prophets came to Antioch from Jerusalem in verse 27, and they foretold by the Spirit that there was going to be a famine in the land, a shortage of food. And so hard times were coming. And so what does the church in Antioch do? Let me first ask this question. What will we do in this situation? If this happened to us today, what would we do? If we knew that hard times were coming, or we were living in the midst of hard times, what will we do? Oftentimes, the tendency for us is to take care of ourselves, to watch out for number one, or maybe we're anxious. Maybe we worry about what's gonna happen tomorrow. Maybe we begin hoarding food or whatever it is. And you would expect the church in Antioch to do the same thing, right? You would expect them to take care of themselves when they hear about this famine coming upon the land. But the church in Antioch does something completely counter-cultural, something radical, and because they've been impacted by the love and mercy of Jesus, they want to send relief to the church in Jerusalem when they hear about this. They want to help others out. And it's because they understand the love of God that he has for them through Christ. They've been built up, they've been encouraged by the word through Barnabas and Saul. And so what we see here in this last half of Acts 11 this morning is God's love and mercy again flowing out from the church in Antioch and going to the church in Jerusalem. their gratitude. Men, they have this care for these men, women, and children that are connected to in Jerusalem through their common bond that they have in Jesus that unites them. That same bond that unites all of us as believers here this morning united those there in the church in Antioch so many years ago. And so the gospel has moved them to help out in any way they can, each according to their ability. They are willing to help the church in Jerusalem, sacrificially giving to those who are in need. And so they send this help to the church through the hands of Barnabas and through Saul. And so what we see, as I talked about earlier, we see God at work in our text this morning. He's sending his word out. He's encouraging the young church in Antioch. But what do we see the people doing? I mentioned that earlier. What are the people doing? How are they responding to what God is doing? And we see the people responding here in a great way. They're responding generously. They're giving generously to those in need at the church in Jerusalem. Like I said, our tendency is often to think about ourselves, but a spirit of giving should characterize us as God's people, whether it's helping those out in need financially or giving time and energy to help others out, caring for those in need. That's what we're called to do, is God's people. That's what we're called to do, God's people, in good times, in bad times, in uncertain times, all the time. And so how can we be a blessing to those around us? How can we demonstrate our love to the community around us, particularly in light of the uncertain times that we're facing right now with a pandemic and racial tensions going on? What can we do to love and serve those around us? Particularly right now it may be just because we're separated and we're scattered. It may be just picking up the phone and calling someone because people aren't able to socialize and connect with each other as easily as they used to. It's great that we can gather this morning but we're also when we do gather we're kind of having to be careful and staying six feet apart and so forth, social distance. It might be just speaking to your neighbor or whatever it might be, thinking creatively about ways to reach out to people, particularly during times like these, just like the church in Antioch was doing. Because it's so easy for us to become focused on ourselves and taking care of ourselves that we forget the world around us. But if we've been impacted by the gospel, it's gonna lead us to loving and serving those around us in various ways. And so what's God doing? As I said, he sends his word, he sends encouragement. And what he's doing as he does these two things, as he sends his word, as he sends encouragement, is he's protecting his church. God is taking care of his church, protecting them in the midst of trials, in the midst of uncertain times. God is still at work. And that's good news for us this morning to hear because we need to be reminded each and every day before we wake up that God is at work. This is something I tell our student leadership a lot in RUF down at Valdosta State is before we step one foot on campus, God is at work. Whether we show up that day or not, God is at work in the world. And he's at work today. He's at work here in Warner Robins, in Kathleen, Georgia. God is at work through these times, through all that's going on in our lives right now. And we can have confidence and assurance to know that God's at work protecting his church in the midst of difficult times. And the church is responding, it's responding generously, as I said. It's speaking to others about Jesus, who he is and what he's done. Encouraging one another in the faith, they're helping those in need. And so all this talk, though, about helping those in need, why do we do that ultimately? Why do we do that? We do that because God is the one who first sent his word out. And I'm talking about the word that came in the flesh. John chapter one, Jesus came and dwelt amongst us and lived some 30 plus years of his of his life on earth. He became flesh and walked among us. He became human. And He would come and literally save His people. He would do and pay for our sins and do what we could not do. He would live the perfect life that we could not live, and He would atone and pay for our sins at the cross. He would go to the cross on our behalf, and He brought relief to us that we don't have to suffer God's wrath, God's punishment for our sins, because He has done that. He has paid it all. As Paul says, there's therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And this is good news for us to hear this morning. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And so God's grace is the motivator. God's grace is what motivates us to go out and love and serve those around us because we have been shown that grace ourselves through Christ, through the cross. And so we see God protecting his church today. He's protecting his church in the midst of trials, in the midst of uncertain times. God is at work, and the outward flow of his grace is to go from us to others. We're to be speaking to others about Jesus, who he is and what he's done for us, why he matters. We're to encourage one another, we're to encourage each other and build each other up in the faith to have good and sound theology. But that's not all we're to do. God's grace, his protective hand upon us is to lead us to loving and serving those around us in our neighborhoods, in our spheres of influence. And so we should be seeking ways to serve those around us, to give of our time and our money to those who are in need so that people might see a glimpse of the grace that's been given to us through Christ. And as these things begin to take place in our churches and amongst God's people, God's church begins to grow. And I don't mean necessarily numerically, because numbers is not necessarily the main thing, but churches begin to grow healthy as God's grace overflows to those around us where we live. We impact the community around us, just as we've been impacted by the love of God through Jesus himself. And it's not because of anything we do, though. It's because of the hand of the Lord, as Luke reminds us, was upon the church. God's hand was upon the church. It was upon the church in Antioch some 2,000 years ago, and it's upon us today here in our current context, in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of civil unrest, as we mentioned earlier this morning in our congregational prayer. God's still at work, though, in the midst of all these things. He's at work. He's taking care of His church. He's protecting his church in the midst of uncertain times. He's at work and he allows us to be a part of what he's doing in the world as he takes care of his church and engross his church and watches over them. So let me pray for us now. Father, we thank you for encouragement from your word this morning. We thank you for this reminder that you are with us. that you are with us in the midst of good times, you're working in the midst of bad times and uncertain times. And Lord, we are in uncertain times, but one thing that we can bank on, one thing that we know is that you're still at work. You're still at work protecting and guiding and watching over your church, that your hand is with us. And so we pray that you would be with us this day as we go out from here. We don't know what later today brings or tomorrow or next week, but we know that you are with us, that you are at work protecting us and watching over us, and that you would guide us and bless us in all that we do. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.