If you're gonna make your way to the back, you can take your Bibles and turn to Numbers chapter number one. I'm not gonna read the entirety of Numbers chapter one. But rather we will select various verses from it and work our way through the chapter in that manner. Likely that'll be the way that each of these sermons as we work our way through numbers will look like. It won't probably be often that we'll read the entire section of scripture that we'll be covering. You say, I want that opportunity to read it, and I would say you have that opportunity, so don't neglect that opportunity to read it. That's a great way to keep track and follow along, even throughout the week and on Friday when we send out those emails. That's an opportunity there as well. Maybe when you think about jumping into the book of numbers, and you think about the idea of numbers, it seems less than exciting. This is a day of numbers because we, you know, we'll be talking about numbers here. We're going to be talking about the building program. That'll be more numbers. We'll be talking about finances. That'll be more numbers, right? But in some ways, that's kind of how it works. If you are serious about any topic, it will involve Numbers. And if you're not serious about that topic, it will be confusing and even seem troublesome to you because you're not kind of in the know. Think about it for a moment. If you're actually interested in investments, do you have to deal with numbers? Yep. If you're actually interested in business, will you have to deal with numbers? Yep. If you're actually interested in sports, will you have to deal with numbers? Yep. You talk to anybody who is serious about sports and they will start spouting off numbers, numbers, right? So it is all around us. In fact, it's really almost in some degree, it's the uninitiated in a particular area that are not interested in the numbers. And the more that you get interested in that particular area, the more you're interested in the numbers. If you're going to talk about what kind of mechanical unit to put into your home, will you have to deal with numbers? Yep, right? You know, I mean, it's just, it is all around us, and to a certain degree, that what we find here in scripture is that the numbers tell a larger story, and of course, that's always the case, that whenever you deal in a particular area, the numbers, if you're aware of what's happening, they tell a greater story. And that's what happens here, is that it starts out with the census, but the census is just a reminder of the larger story that is there. That's not that it's unimportant. It's rather that it's pointing towards something that it wants us to be reminded of. This first major division of numbers is chapter 1 through chapter 10. And we're not covering all of that this morning, amen? That's a blessing. But many times it's summarized, and I think we even looked at it from that standpoint, it's kind of like the preparation for departure from Mount Sinai. So the children of Israel are gathered at Mount Sinai and chapter 1 through chapter 10 covers 50 days. That's it. It's dealing with 50 days in those 10 chapters. And it is not a bad way to consider that first division. It's looking at it from a practical standpoint. All of them are gathered at Mount Sinai and God gives instructions before they start heading to the Promised Land. But philosophically more is happening. This first division all the way up to chapter 10 actually forms the beginning of God's, of Yahweh's engagement with Israel at Sinai. what takes place in these 10 chapters, it kind of forms the foundation for the rest of the book and really for Israel's theology of life with God as a covenant community. And so more than anything else, Numbers is about the covenant community, Israel's relationship and life with God. It's established at Sinai, but then it begins to blossom and bloom and there's ups and there's downs. It gets shaped as they begin to work their way towards the promised land and even through the 40 years there in the wilderness. And so as we approach it this morning, I would simply put out to you that God's commitment to his people ought to create a commitment to him. And as we look at this passage, we're going to see how God showed his commitment to his people. God's commitment to his people ought to create a commitment to him. We've talked about how we're going to see the character of God come out. And one of the aspects we saw in Exodus and one of the aspects we're going to see here in this passage is God's commitment to his own people. So let's begin to see his commitment by understanding his generational faithfulness. And we see his generational faithfulness by the concept of him keeping his word. Look at Numbers chapter 1 verse number 1 and verse number 2. We will return to this multiple times. You can see it on the screen. The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of Menach, on the first day of the second month and the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. And what follows is that census. Now that's the second census. The first census took place in Exodus. The first census dealt with identifying how many people were there and that everyone who was there had to give a certain sum of money for the tabernacle. That was in Exodus. Now, here, this is a military census. And this makes sense with how a census works, doesn't it? Why does the government want to know if you are part of America? Because it wants to draft you or it wants to collect money from you. Well, that's simply how the census works, right? Or we could say it more positively. It wants to know how many resources to allocate to your well-being in your particular community, which is to say, it'll say, you need to give this amount in order for us to take care of you, right? And that's simply how that works. That's what a census does. And that's what it's doing here. Because we're dealing here not just with a religious community, we're dealing here with a political community as well. Because this is a theocracy. This is a government that is run by God. And he's doing so through Moses. So consider the census numbers. I just put together a simple slide that walks through the different tribes and the total number that we have. And so after the census is collected, we're talking about 603,550. Now you say, man, that's a very convenient round number. You notice all of those numbers are round numbers. because that is the miracle of God. Well, yes, probably though, they rounded. You say, that's not a real census. I would say it was to them. They actually probably get to set the rules of the census, don't they? And so, the census that they took, they wanted it to be rounded, probably just for ease of use. And they probably organized themselves that way, even in the counting process that they gathered in groups of 10, perhaps, and probably more likely 50. Do we know any of that? We don't. We're speculating. But yet we see these rounded numbers that are there, and it only makes sense that that's what was occurring. It's also interesting to see the divisions that occur within the different tribes, and you can see those that are, to some degree, blessed more, and others that have struggled. I'm not going to get into the weeds there, although the numbers tell the story, right? That's what they do. ultimately I think we can see some demonstrations of God blessing within each particular tribe. Now at the end of the wilderness wandering, that number changes only slightly and it moves from 603,000 down to 601,000. And so after that first generation dies out, all of them, except for Caleb, And Joshua, that number remains the same. Isn't that amazing? You say, not exactly the same. You say, no, not exactly the same. But we're talking about a difference of 1,280 people difference between those two generations. It's pretty remarkable. And it's also interesting that it actually lowers. So that nobody would say, God, what you were doing was waiting for a larger number of fighting men in order to really dominate Canaan. No, that isn't the case either. I think it's important for us to recognize that all of this points towards the character of our God and the fact that He is a promise-keeping God. God had promised Abraham that he would make of him a great nation. Genesis chapter 15, verse five and six, it says, and he brought him outside, speaking to Abraham, and he said, look towards heaven and the number of stars, if you're able to number him. And he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. You know, it's important for his own character, for God to keep his word. And it's important for his reputation that those who follow him realize that such is the case. God had promised Abraham a people, and at this point there were 603,000 strong with fighting men. And you say, what does that translate out if you you know, do the math and depending on who's doing the math, you know, you're looking at 1.5 to 2 million people that God had blessed Abraham with. Not only did he promise him a people, God had promised him a land. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, to your offspring I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephraim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. And so it's crucial for the Israelites to realize God's own commitment to keeping his promises. It's essential because they were about to encounter all of these people that God had mentioned. Think then how the census would have helped Israel take note of the faithfulness of God to his own word. And it truly is amazing to consider what God had done. He had made a promise to Abraham when Abraham had no children. Zero. Isn't that amazing? that he had said I am going to do this. He took one family and he blessed them to bring about perhaps two million people and he did so through the very unusual means of bringing them to Egypt and then allowing them to enter into slavery in Egypt, but continuing to multiply them, and then raising up Moses to bring them out of Egypt where they had become made slaves. And he did this over many generations. His faithfulness to his promise is long. He is such an unusual being. because of his timing, because of his methods, because his ability. It's so different from ours. It is really hard, I think, for us to wrap our minds around who God is because we are so limited and bound up with how we think. And this is not simply how God thinks. I'm just trying to think about how to illustrate this. And of course, one way to think about this is to make a reference to the nine dots puzzle. How many of you are familiar with the nine dots puzzle, right? And so the nine dots puzzle, this is literally, you've heard the phrase think outside the box, I think, I believe, this is where it came from, I think. And this is the idea that if you want to be creative, you have to think in a way that is not normal. So the nine dots puzzle, using four straight lines, connect all nine dots without lifting your pen off the paper. Now, in true object lesson format, I'm going to let you all do that. Underneath your chair is a piece of paper. Just kidding. That would be fun, though, wouldn't it? But think about how you would do that. Maybe hold your hand up and start making that dot. Can you do that on the screen? How would you go about with four straight lines connecting all nine dots without lifting your pen off of the paper. It can only be straight, only four, you cannot lift the pen. What a wrestle, what a challenge, right? Well, here is a way to do it. Is you think outside the box. And so you simply make the lines larger than what you would typically allow your mind to do. And so you make four straight lines without lifting your pen and there you have it. Can you do it with three? Sure. You can do it with three, right? And so it's just, it's thinking about it in a different way. And many times we can train ourselves to be more creative or to think about things a little bit differently than what we normally would be bound up to think about it. But what we're talking about with God is something that is completely different. And it's one of the reasons that God says, my thoughts are not your thoughts. And my ways are not your ways. And he identifies that because his thoughts are higher than ours. And he's not talking about the fact that he's thinking about it in heaven while we're thinking about it on earth, right? He's talking about, he's referencing the fact that God thinks about things differently than we do. And so when we come to this concept of God keeping his word, and it's hard for us sometimes to imagine how he's able to do what he says he's going to do, but this is the nature of our God, is that his faithfulness will cause him to do that, which he has promised he will do. It's crucial for us to recognize his character in that regard. Jesus is perhaps the greatest example of this. Jesus the Christ in this pattern of God's faithfulness to his own promise is a demonstration of him thinking outside of the box. Jesus is God's method of keeping his word. Promises that he made way back in the beginning of the history of mankind are completed through Jesus. And so this is a generational thing that occurs. Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20, it says, for all the promises of God, find their yes in Him. I think Paul is talking about that very specifically, very practically. That Jesus is the method by which God keeps His word. That His word is kept because of what Jesus did and that and he says that is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory that we look at what Jesus has accomplished and we see God keeping his word and we're able to respond with a even so in amen to God giving him glory and there is much to meditate upon here, isn't there? We could spend so much time, profitable time, considering how Jesus is the yes of God to all of his promises. God keeps his word. He also accomplishes his plan. He accomplishes his plan. I'm going to turn our thoughts back again to Numbers chapter one, verse one and two. He accomplishes his plan. The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month and the second year, after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take a census of the congregation of the people of Israel by clans, by fathers' houses, according to the number of names every male had by head. What God was doing was no small feat. He was leading the Israelites to the wilderness of Sinai, to the promised land. million people. The word for wilderness, Midbar, it means a place for driving flocks. It's not a completely arid desert. Don't think only of like sand, right? It contains a little bit of vegetation, it contains a few trees, but the rainfall in such areas is too light. It's a few inches per year. It's too light to support civilization. And so to bring two million people through such a land to provide for them, it really requires a miraculous effort. The importance of manna becomes very obvious when we think about the number of people that are traveling through a land that could not be cultivated. There are, of course, more challenges than just food. Water would be a massive challenge, and we see that over and over again. How do you take care of the sewage of two million people who are on the move? You say, that's not a pleasant thought. No, no it's not. But it's very much a challenge. Communication? How is Moses going to communicate to two million people in any kind of an effective manner? Law and order? How are That many people? How are they all going to get along? How is that even possible? What does jail look like? What happens when somebody does something that they should not do? Who are the enforcers? What's the police force that we're talking about? How about actual progress? Have you ever had a hard time? If you're camping with your family, have you had a hard time getting the family up and going to like go anywhere when you're out camping? What would that look like with two million people? And then it's like, okay, we're going to break camp and then we're going to go and then we're going to set up camp. How long could they go with two million people before it's like, okay, time to set up camp. We got to get this going. Two million people, it's crazy to think about. What an enormous challenge. And I don't want you to miss that one of the great problems with the book of Numbers is this huge number. And there's lots of challenges with it. There are a number of practical problems which I just mentioned that makes the number seem too large. There are other passages of scripture that cause a person to pause and consider if the numbers are intended to be understood differently as well. I confess I do not have answers to all those questions. The gap between the historical record and our present time is real. And we work hard to bridge that gap and to gain an understanding, but sometimes connecting all of the gaps to gain a clear picture is really challenging. And this is certainly one of those times. However, what is in question is not whether or not God could have supported such large a host. That is completely possible. It is from that standpoint that we approach the text. And we recognize that it's trying to tell us. What is it trying to tell us? God is faithful and powerful to accomplish his plan. Even when it seems in doubt. And what a tremendous lesson that the Israelites would have learned. They were about to encounter the inhabitants of land of Cana. People whom God had spoken about but they had yet to meet. And what would they do? And when they found out who these people were. The Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, all of these people. And the question is, is God capable of giving us victory over these people? Would God keep his word? And all of this, even the census was intended to help them understand God is capable of keeping his word. That drives forward the question even for us. What have you seen in your life which has shown that God keeps his word and that he's capable of doing so despite all evidence to the contrary. Will you just take a moment and just think a little bit in your own life. If somebody asks you that question, if they just simply said to you, hey, can you think of a time when God kept his word to you in a way that was just so very clearly from God? What would that be like? What would you answer? How would you answer that question? What would that look like? What have you seen in your life that has shown that God keeps his word? Maybe this would be a great thing to take some time this week and simply tell somebody else about how God has kept promises to you in times when you were wondering if he would. Wouldn't that be a great thing to tell someone, say, hey, I was challenged to do this at church and I just wanted to share with you, here's something that God has done in my life when I really doubted that he was going to do that. That would give God glory, would it not? That would bolter us, that would build up your faith, would it not? That would be a witness to somebody else, would it not? What a great thing to say, I'm just gonna take that, I'm gonna put that into my life, and I'm gonna share that with somebody. I'm gonna ask God to help me to remember to do that and to share that with somebody else. Take some time to do that. But that thing kind of drives the next question. What promises from God do you currently doubt? How do you imagine you would grow in your confidence of God's ability and willingness to keep his promises? You know, are there some areas where you're afraid to obey God because at a core level you are doubting His promises, that you're doubting whether He is going to do it or whether He can do it, either one. What might some of those be? And how does the faithfulness that He shows to Israel, the faithfulness He shows in Jesus, how does that speak to your fears? Isn't that a powerful thing, to speak to those fears that is there? The census numbers are intended to remind the Israelites of the faithfulness of God because of the challenges that were immediately in front of them, the things that they were going to see. God demonstrated his generational faithfulness. How else did he show his commitment to his people? God demonstrated his relational love. He wanted them to understand that he was faithful no matter what generation he was dealing with. He also wanted them to understand that he was interested in a relationship with them that was based on love. And we see his love demonstrated first through his desire to dwell with us. Again, that passage in Numbers chapter 1 verse number 1 and 2. It says the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting. The tent of meeting. The word meeting is derived from a verb that means to appoint. And so this tent may either be a place appointed by God or a place of appointment with God. So which one is it? And it could also be both. I think likely both are intended. It was a place appointed by God, but it was also an appointment with God. And so Israel was instructed to meet with God there. This covenant relationship that God had made with them involved God actually living among them. And Israel was commanded to build a place suitable for their divine king. And it was to go with them. And so this tabernacle, this tent of meeting, it housed the ark. and the golden candlestick and the altar of incense. It's fully described in Exodus chapter 25 all the way through Exodus chapter 40. So there is no question about what it looked like, right? And so we have a lot of details about that and even though it housed these most sacred objects. It was decorated inside with brilliantly colored hangings, but the exterior was covered with goat's hair curtains. And so from the outside, it looked like the black tents used by Bedouins today. And once you got inside, you'd be blown away by the color. But it was more than a shrine. It was a tent of meeting because there God would speak to Moses. And there, in front of the mercy seat, the sacrifices were offered. And it's incredible that an infinite God desires to dwell with his finite creatures. Have you ever been shunned by someone because they thought they were too good for you? You don't have to raise your hand, just think about it. Somebody decided they didn't want to spend time with you because they thought they were too good for you. No, it simply shows their own neediness. It communicates more about them than it does about you. Truly, that's the case. Because a truly great God does not need those that He designed, but He delights in us. God isn't too good for us because He delights in us. He doesn't need anything from us. He delights to invest in us. His dwelling with us is about his relationship with us. It's a relationship of love. It's truly an amazing thing. He desires to dwell with us. He desires, or he makes it safe to dwell with us. This is kind of a startling concept, but the threat of death upon the invasion of sacred space kind of recalls for us what God did even at the garden in Eden. Do you remember when Adam and Eve sinned and they were removed from the garden and that garden represented the holy of holies and God in front of that garden he put the angel, the cherubim with the flaming sword to do what? To keep them from entering into God's presence. Why? It wasn't because he was mad at them. It was rather because they were not holy enough to be in his presence. And it's the same thing that we're dealing with here. Cherubim are also located there in the Holy of Holies, located within the tabernacle. The dwelling that is there is built to remind us of Eden. And it's built then to point our hearts towards God. And one of the duties of the Levites was to keep people from violating the holiness of God. I want us to read Numbers chapter 1, verse 50 through 54. I'm gonna begin in verse 47, then I'll pick it up in verse 50 on the screen. It says, but the Levites, this is after the census, the end of chapter one, the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. For the Lord spoke to Moses saying, only the tribe of Levi you shall not list. You shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. Now verse 50 that you see in the screen. But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony. That's the tent of meaning. and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it, and shall camp around the tabernacle. When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down. And when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death. The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp, and each man by his own standard. But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony. Thus did the people of Israel, they did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. So one of the main tasks of the Levites was to guard the temple. In fact, the Hebrew phrases have a really precise meaning in these chapters, they specify those two main jobs of the Levites, guard the temple and to do the heavy work. It's kind of how it's literally translated, which would be the dismantling, transportation, the rebuilding, the erection of the tabernacle each time that they camped. And they were instructed to camp around the tabernacle to prevent people who are not Levites from approaching it unprepared, because this would unleash God's wrath against the people. Why did God respond that way? Because he was and is a holy God. You know, I think it's important for us to recognize that the same is still true today. You say, what's the difference? And I would say there's no difference in God's character. His holiness is such that he dwells in inapproachable, unapproachable light, that we cannot approach him. You say, on what basis then can we come into the holy of holies? And of course the answer is Jesus. It is Jesus. that Jesus has changed that dynamic. And we don't have time this morning to go to it, but I'm sure we will, because it's going to come up again and again, to go to that really powerful passage in Hebrews that contrasts the difference between Mount Sinai and Mount Zion. That shows us the difference between the blessing that we have in the New Testament of approaching God. But the difference isn't that God has changed. That's not the case. What He has done is He has blessed us in an even more remarkable manner. But for the Old Testament folks, as they were dealing here, God set up a way that they too would not die by approaching God wrongly. And that was the point. The point wasn't to restrict them. The point was to open up a way for God to meet with them. And so many times we put it into the realm of restriction. We're like, well, God wasn't interested in a relationship with them. And it's like it's the opposite. He was so interested in a relationship with them that even though he was a holy God, that people could not be in his presence, he said, I'm going to make a way. And it's going to take all of this effort and it's going to take a particular tribe, but I'm going to make a way so that you can be near the holiness that is me. That's what God said. And that's what we get to be a part of even now because of Christ. But this is all about God's desire to be with His people. That's what it's about. And so rather than looking at God as being some fearsome creature that we need to tread lightly around, we also need to recognize that He has reached out with love. Should we respect Him? Yes. But we should also reach out to His love with love. He desires to dwell with us. He always has. This picture of God dwelling among His people and guiding them on their journey is no more clearly shown than in John chapter 114 where it says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us. That's the word. And we've seen his glory. Glory is of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. You know, it's kind of amazing as you read all of these different things that are happening. One of the things that would happen, you know, when they camped, God was at the center. When they packed up and moved, God was at the center. In fact, the different vessels of the tabernacle were wrapped in different colored cloths, marking the different degrees of holiness. The most holy ark, the very throne of God, was wrapped first in a veil, and then it was covered in goatskin, and finally in blue cloth. And the only people that could touch the holy objects were the priests. But then the only people that could carry them after they were wrapped were the Levites. And God had this order that was there. And each part of the Levites had specific things that they were to do. Some carried the foundational items. Some carried the things, some part of the tribe. So like this family said, you're in charge of this part and this family's in this part. And it was very orderly. And you could imagine traveling in the wilderness and you look over and you see something covered in blue and you know, that's the most holy things that we have. And God is with us. What a beautiful picture we have. And you say, what's the symbolism of blue? Well, I'm glad you asked. No, I'm really not, because we don't have any idea. Why was that blue? Why were some other things different colors? There's lots of speculation, but I don't think there's any clarity. Ultimately, though, it would have been clear that God was in their presence. He desires He makes it safe to dwell with us, but he also desires to work through us. One final point I want to share with us. At the beginning of the passage, God told Moses to select leaders for Israel. And these men, chosen by God to help with the census, were there to lead the tribes. They're described in three terms, called, exalted, and they're called heads. And these people are called out, they're chosen by God, they're exalted from their father's tribe, they're lifted up from among their own people, and they were called to lead. Running through this census and the first census in Exodus is this important biblical principle. Every member of the people of God has a part to play. And I think it's a beautiful thing. This includes everyone. Some are called to leadership. Some are called to a specific service, like the priests. Some are called to other areas of service, like the Levites. Some are called to fight. All are called to give. Why does God do this? Again, does he need us? And the answer is a resounding no. Rather he determined to use us and this is a great and abiding privilege that is available to us. It's part of our relationship. A relationship becomes poisonous and toxic when it's one sided. accidentally hit the wrong button. It becomes poisonous and toxic when it's one-sided, right? And that's not the kind of relationship that God intends to establish with us. In this covenant relationship, the Lord was the faithful king of the Israelites. He rescued them from slavery. He protected them from foreign nations. He provided them in the midst of the wilderness. But then he also wanted them to have a relationship with him. They were his faithful servants, serving him alone, worshiping him alone, obeying his laws so that they could reflect his goodness, his justice, his mercy, his love, his character out into the world. In short, the Lord always redeems for the purpose of relationship and mission. You know, the New Testament underscores these same themes, redemption, relationship, mission. Redemption now comes in and through Jesus. He delivers us from the worst slavery of all, the slavery of our own sin nature. And although it may offend our kind of self-conception as free, self-determining individuals, the Bible describes us as slaves to sin. because we obey our sin nature. And sin is a hard master, isn't it? And the only reward, the ultimate reward is death. But Christ has come that we should no longer be slaves to sin. That's Romans chapter six. He has freed us from its power and its penalty. He has given us life in him and he redeems us to do what? To participate in his mission. That relationship goes both ways. That's why Paul says in Romans 6, 13, offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. God's redemption is always about relationship and mission. And we see this so clearly in the book of Numbers. All of these people of Israel were given tasks to do and it was based upon what God had done for them. And I would say, boy, should I take that to heart? And I would say 100%. 100%. Do I think of redemption as simply salvation from sin? Or do I understand it as a call to embody God's own character to a world? That people would see God when they looked at me. Why? Because of all that he has done. Does my life, does your life, give good evidence that you are on God's mission to what he is calling you to do. If he has saved you, he has saved you to something, not just from something. And that's important for us to recognize as an abiding truth as the people of God. So as we close out the service, I want to simply put before you some of these simple questions that I've asked throughout this message. Questions for us to consider, questions for us to wrestle with, in our own lives. What have you seen in your life which has shown that God has kept his word? I challenged us to be willing to identify that. to take time to think about that, to really put some actual practical thought into it, and then to share it with somebody else. Secondly, what promises from God do you doubt? Is there anything in your life that you know God says, I want you to do this, or this is in front of you, and you're looking at it and you're saying, I'm just not sure if that's really something I can take God at. What promises are there that you need to reaffirm before the Lord, that you need to embrace? And then finally, do I see the call of God in my life as a call to embody God's own character in the world? How is God calling you to live out what he has already done in your life, that salvation, that redemption that he has accomplished? I'm gonna close in prayer. We're not gonna sing a song. But even as I pray, I encourage you to pray along with me. I'm surrendering whatever area God is at work in your life over to him as we consider these questions.