Today is the day that the Lord has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. And everyone said, Amen. Church, I fully believe that God is doing something amazing in this world right now. I know that when we look at the headlines, it's easy to get discouraged or maybe even a little distracted.

Listen, I'm not saying to ignore the headlines. We need to know what's going on in this world. But I need you to know that that's just that's one part of what God is doing in this world. He is doing so much more than what the news will report to you. Amen? So here's how to say to you, if the King and the Creator of the entire universe is doing a good work and his good plan is unfolding before us right now and he invites you into it, why wouldn't you step into that?

Today marks our halfway point in our two-year Proclaim campaign journey. We're going to reflect on the last year because what God has already done has been amazing. As we look to year two, we anticipate God to do even more amazing things. So if you're not part of Proclaim, or maybe you've started coming to peace since we started this journey. Here's what I'm going to say to you. This sermon series and this spiritual journey that we're starting today is your on-ramp. So jump on board. For the next couple of weeks, I'm calling upon the whole entire church to walk through this devotional together. I pray that you do. Everyone has a copy. Not only are there devotionals in there, daily devotionals, but you'll also see that there's the sermon outlines for the next three sermons so you can take notes and follow along.

We want you to pray. We want you to seek the Lord. We want you to spend time with Him each day so that together as a church we can look to October 27, the day this all concludes, where we will all be given a chance to either commit for the first time or recommit to what God is doing through proclaim. If you've been around Peace Church, you know he's doing an awesome work. We're going to recount some of that here today and in the coming weeks. But what I want us all to do is before we think about any sort of financial gift in a couple of weeks, right now I want us just to stop and press into God. Can we do that? Let's do that together.

So you have your devotional, I know you do. It was on your seat. Turn to page one. Now what we're going to be doing is we're going to be walking through a passage in the Bible together for the next three weeks. It's a little known passage that people don't get to a whole lot. Comes from the book of 2 Chronicles. It's 2 Chronicles chapter 15.

This is the story of King Asa. I'm excited to get into it. We're going to look at King Asa and his response to a prophetic word that he gets from a prophet named Azariah. Now if you want to use the Bibles we provided, that is on page 467. You can turn there now. But as you see on your devotional, if you want to follow along, you don't have to do what you want. But your first feeling would be this, and it's the title of today's message. And it's take courage, take courage. As we look at second Chronicles, chapter 15, verses one to seven is what we're gonna be looking at today. As with all things at Peace Church, we're going to use Scripture as our inspiration and our foundation for our path forward. But this is a passage that I know you probably don't get to 2 Chronicles a whole lot, let alone chapter 15.

And so coming to this, you may be a little lost as to what's going on. So I just want to take a moment, set the context so that you understand what's happening in this passage. Some of you love the history, some of you not so much but we're gonna talk about the history what's going on here because it's important to lay the context for what's happening so at this point we're clearly we're in the Old Testament at this point in biblical history God's people the Israelites are split into two different kingdoms the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom the northern kingdom was just called Israel of the original twelve tribes of Israel it had 10 of the tribes then we had the southern kingdom The southern kingdom was named Judah. It's where Jerusalem was that and it only had two of the kingdoms now The northern kingdom had nothing but bad Kings nothing, but apostate heretical Kings who Were against the God of the Bible they brought people away from God and his heart. The southern kingdom had a mix of good and bad kings. Now the northern kingdom, because they only had bad kings, they were wiped off the face of the planet fairly quickly. But the southern kingdom endures for a while. Now the passage that we're going to get at happened around 900 BC. King Asa has assumed the throne of the southern kingdom. King Asa great-great grandson of King David You guys know King David

Turn to your neighbor and tell him what King David did a Lot is the answer He did a lot killed the Goliath wrote half the Psalms awesome guy Now this is King David's great-great grandson. His name is Asa King Asa comes to power But we need to know is that King Asa is a good king and he's known as a good king. He has kind of a rough ending, but he's known as a good king. But he assumes power, he assumes the throne after back-to-back wicked kings who did not follow Yahweh, who did not follow the God of the Bible. In fact, they set up temples and they set up places of worship to foreign and false demonic gods. But Asa comes in, and he's not having any of it. Asa comes in and he brings it, we call them reforms, but really what he does is he cleans house.

He cleans house to bring people's heart back to God. And we find ourselves in chapter 15, but we're introduced to Asa in chapter 14. And one of the things that you see from Asa is right off the bat, he does what we all should do. He seeks the Lord.

He does what we just sang about, you know, we sang we surrender all. I'm not sure how many of us actually surrender it all, but this is what Asa does, and this is why we still talk about him nearly 3,000 years later. So Asa begins to rid the land of foreign idols. He's a great leader. He brings social stability to the kingdom. He builds up the infrastructure. He strengthens the army. He seeks the Lord. He calls people to seek after the Lord and God blesses the kingdom with ten years, a decade of stability and peace. But then a foreign army attacks and this army is twice the size of Asa's kingdom. And so Asa has a choice. And what does he do? He seeks the Lord. It's a decisive moment for Asa. He seeks the Lord. He places it all before God and he cries out to God. And so, when this foreign army attacks, that's nearly twice the size, they're outnumbered roughly two to one, God brings victory to Asa and his kingdom. A massive upset, a massive victory. It's amazing. Everyone thought they're going to die, but they didn't. God brought this incredible military victory. And so Asa and his army, they're returning to Jerusalem. They're returning as victors. They're returning still with the blood and sweat of battle upon them. And as they're getting towards the city, the city's there welcoming back their heroes and this triumphant procession because everything's been so much better than what they anticipated. So they're getting to the city and that's where we're gonna pick up. That's where we're gonna pick up in our Bibles.

So would you hear the word of the Lord? Second Chronicles chapter 15, we'll look at verses one to seven today. Would you hear God's word?

2 Chronicles 15:1-7

The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest and without law, 4 but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. 5 In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 They were broken in pieces. Nation was crushed by nation and city by city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. 7 But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”

This is God's word. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray. Father God, we are thankful for the work that you are doing in our midst. Thank you for the front row seat that we get to see.

Give us the eyes to see all the more of what you are doing. Yes, Lord, we thank you for the Proclaim campaign. We do place it before you. We rely on you. The glory is yours and we stand humbled and grateful to be part of what you are doing in this world and in this church. Father, as we begin this spiritual journey, and as we look to your word today, Holy Spirit, would you please illuminate in our hearts your truth here today and for this spiritual journey so that we may be united with what you're calling us to do. And we do pray these things in the name of the risen Savior. In the name of King Jesus, we pray. And everyone said, Amen.

All right, church, there's so much that we can draw just from these first seven verses, but we're gonna focus on just one main idea here today, and it is, I'll fill in if you wanna use that in your packets, it's here it is.

Here's our main idea for today. In a world turning from Him, God calls us to take courage in Him. In a world turning from Him, God calls us to take courage in him. So, as we learn about what God did in and through Asa and the kingdom, let's talk about how we are to call to take courage today. We're going to look at how courage is about taking a stand. We're first going to see how we are to stand in the spirit, and then we're going to talk about how we are to stand in the contrast. So, first, let's talk about the courage to take a stand, to stand in the Spirit. Prayerfully, you have your Bibles open.

Go back to verse one. It says this, "'The Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Oded.'" So here we are introduced to this prophet named Azariah. He has some important things to say, but let me just say this real quickly.

This is the only time we hear from this prophet. You may see the name Azariah elsewhere in the Old Testament. Those are different Azariahs. This is the only time we see this guy here I'm just a this is a side note is a total side note please hear me this this side no is definitely for everybody but I have a special burden on my heart to speak to the men for some reason right now is for everyone but my heart was speak to the guys right now this what this this little this little snippet of Scripture reminds me of is that your entire life, the entirety of your life, could be boiled down and remembered for only one thing you said and did.

Ezariah lived a whole entire life. He had an incredible ministry, but we only get one thing. He has just a short little reference in the scriptures, but it's so powerful. Man, you're gonna live a long life prayerfully, but here's what I'm gonna say to you. Your life may be boiled down to just one thing you say and do. So mind carefully what you say and do, because you don't know what people will say. So say good things. Say courageous things. Say powerful things. Say good things. Say things that build up other people. Say things that call people's heart back to God. Keep Ezariah in mind. His entire life was summarized in one thing he said, and yours may be as well.

So remember that whenever you come back to this passage. So Ezariah, the Spirit of God came upon him, verse 2, and Ezariah went out to meet Asa and he said to him, hear me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. So while the southern kingdom is given the blanket name of Judah, Judah was one of the two tribes of the southern kingdom. It was Judah and Benjamin. So when Ezariah says, listen up Judah and Benjamin, he's basically saying, I want everyone's attention. This goes not just for the king, not just for the army, this goes for the entire kingdom. And then he gives them a word from God. And Ezariah starts a prophetic speech with a theological truth about God. Here's what he says, continue in verse two.

Says, the Lord is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. So Ezariah is telling them to do exactly what he is actually doing in this very moment, standing in the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God came upon Azariah the prophet and he brings out a bold truth. But I know, and you probably do too, some cynical people are going to be critical of what is said here, but let me just try to understand what's being said here theologically. He says, The Lord is with you why you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you. So here's how to understand this theological truth that we're looking at.

If you want to leave God, in a sense, he'll let you. But if you stay with him, he'll never leave you. And that's not contingent upon your strength.

Your strength will wax and wane.

But if your heart is for God, He will never leave you." So church, don't just stand in God's love, although you should and we do. Stand in His spirits, the Holy Spirit, the living and breathing Spirit of God. And the Bible tells us that for those of us in the New Covenant, the Spirit dwells within us because Christians, the time of the Old Testament and the time of the Old Covenant is over and now through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we live in the new covenant and everyone said amen, amen, amen. And where the spirit no longer resides in the building, but the Holy Spirit resides in a people, the church of God, Christians. If you've called on the name of Jesus truly, then you have the Holy Spirit within you. And so it's time for you to take your stand before the kingdom of man and before God. Courage is about taking a stand, to stand in the Spirit, but let's also talk about standing in the contrast. Go to verses 3 and 7. Now let me ask you something. I want to know what you think. Would you say that people on a whole are forgetful people? I think so. I think on a whole we are forgetful people. Except, except for when someone hurts us. Then we never forget that. God being great and merciful to us when we don't deserve it, we'll forget that by the end of the day. But someone hurts us, we'll hold on to that for the rest of our life. We are interesting people, aren't we? God gives us so much goodness that we don't deserve on a daily basis, and yet we forget it before our eyes even fall asleep.

But we hold on to hurt. What's with us that we'd want to hold on to hurt and just forget about goodness? And so what Azariah is doing here is he's trying to help them remember something. Because Azariah knows something about the human condition that you all just confessed, we're forgetful people.

We forget so quickly. So Ezariah starts out with this theological truth and then he's going to turn their minds to help them remember something. And that's what verses 3-6 are. Verses 3-6 are a quick history lesson.

These verses are speaking about a time known as the time of the judges. There's an entire book of the Bible dedicated to this time. It's called Judges. It's a 400 year span in Israel's history when God's people did not have a king. Now, if you've read the book of Judges, you'll know that really the book of Judges is just nothing but this retelling of this constant cycle that happens over and over and over for 400 years.

The same lesson is being taught, but the people aren't getting it. See here's what happens in the time of the judges The people they don't have a king. They don't have a leader who's gonna call their hearts to God so it's kind of left to them as a people but these people have times of peace and prosperity and their hearts just kind of drift away from God and They forget God and they forget his love and they forget who he is and they kind of just say to God, I don't need you anymore.

We got it. Things are good. And God is like, okay, if you don't want my goodness and I'll take it from you. And then what happens if you know the story, a foreign army comes in and attacks the people. And so what do the people do? They cry out to dad. They cry out to God and God in his goodness. He raises up a judge, a temporary leader who's going to come in and bring about some military stability and some victory and bring people's heart back to God. And there's peace for a time.

And then that judge dies. And then what happens? The same thing over and over and over for 400 years. The same cycle. Why? Because we hold on to hurt and we let go of goodness.

And we don't remember what God has done. And it doesn't take very long for people to forget God's promises towards us. And so as Uriah, he's reminding them of this history because he's trying to draw a contrast. He's saying our people went for so long through so much times of strife and brokenness, so many times of turning to God and he saves us, he saved them, and then later they reject God. And what he's saying is we are at this moment right now.

Because don't forget the context. They're coming back from a military victory. And Ezraiah's like, hold the fanfare, hold the celebration, stop for a second, guys. This is where it all falls apart. If you know your history, this is where it all falls apart.

God just brought us a massive victory, so we need to stay with him at all times. Don't get comfortable. Yes, God's going to bring us a time of peace and prosperity, but we need to press into God every single day. Don't forget the history. It's so easy to forget God when things are going good. That's what Ezra is doing.

He's drawing a contrast between what was and what is. He wants to make sure that they don't repeat the past, so he gives them a quick history lesson so that he can remind them, we're not that people anymore. Things are different now. The history's changed. We are a new people, so don't fall back into the old ways. He's saying those were terrible times. Don't repeat the past. He's drawn a contrast between the people then and the people now and he does it with these two very powerful words. If you underline in your Bible, I'd encourage you to underline these, the first two words of verse seven. I love this, but you, as arise making a distinction. He's drawing a contrast between what was and what is, between who they were and who they are now. Some of us need to make that distinction in our lives.

Some of us need to keep that contrast between who you were outside of faith in Jesus and who you are now that you are in Christ. But you, but what does he say? Look at your passage. But you take courage. Do not let your hands be weak for your work shall be rewarded. As Uriah is saying, yes, those terrible times are over, but they can come back in an instant. So stay the course. Be courageous. Don't grow faint. Keep the faith. Men, be courageous. Teenagers, be courageous. Young adults, do the right thing. Keep the faith. God says your work will be rewarded. What that just means is that you be faithful to God, he's going to respond favorably to you. I'm not saying it's all going to go well, but God will do something good. Remember the context. The people and the king, they're returning from a massive victory. The prophet says, you've had a massive victory, but make

sure you give all the glory to God because you would not have had that victory without Him. It is His victory. He gets the glory. Don't celebrate yourselves, celebrate Him. Same warning goes for us, Peace Church. We've had an incredible year of year one of this campaign. It'd be very easy to pat ourselves on the back. And I do say a massive thank you to this church for stepping out in such sacrificial faith. But this is God's glory. This is God's work. This is God's story that's unfolding. And thanks be to God that we get to be a part of it. Amen? Church, do you know a key way to know if you are keeping the faith?

Do you want to know a key way to know if you are keeping the faith? You have contrast to your life. Contrast between who you were before Jesus and now that you are in Christ and contrast between who you are in Christ and the rest of the world. I'm not saying that makes you a better person, but I'm saying that there's contrast.

That's how you know if you're keeping the faith.

You want to know how you're not keeping the faith? You blend in. You blend in to how the world operates and how the world thinks. But we are to have contrast in our lives. So is there contrast in your life? Because contrast takes courage.

I fully believe that God is pouring out His blessings on this campaign, but far from making us lazy or apathetic, this should make us humble. This should make us prayerful. This should keep us on our knees ever knowing, ever knowing that this is God's work as we rely on Him. And I'm telling you now, as a church, not just individually, as a church, this takes Holy Spirit level empowerment and encouragement. Because we don't have prophets speaking a new word from God. We have the Holy Spirit reminding us of the Holy Word of God.

I'm gonna say something, I'm gonna say it once, even though I wanna say it a lot, I'm gonna say it once, so listen up. You don't need a word from God, you need to read the Bible. Lord, I wanna say it again, but I won't.

There's lots of word from God in there. And with it, the truth and the encouragement to be courageous in this world. So saturate yourself in the word of God and I guarantee the spirit of God will meet you there.

Next week, we're going to look at some of the bolder ways and the bold ways that King Asa and the people respond to this exhortation from Ezariah. But right now, let's just stop for a second and let's consider a challenge. See, Ezariah was called, Ezariah called Asa to respond with courage. So let's talk about how we're going to respond in courage right now. So here's my question for you. Is your courage proclaimed? Is your courage proclaimed? As King Asa lived out his courage, let's consider two ways in this moment we are in, how we might proclaim, that is to make known or put on display the courage we now have in Christ. So here's the first thing I want you to consider. Is your courage proclaimed in your spirit-filled obedience? Now I know that if you're American in the house, we are freedom-loving Americans. We do not like the word obey or obedience.

So let's consider it another way. What governs your life? Because the truth is, you obey something. For too many of us, we obey our sinful nature. But we obey something, whether it's a moral code or an elected governor. But only one form of obedience actually brings the freedom our hearts long for,

and that's when we obey God. Jesus Christ said some amazing things. He said some hard things. But he said that if we follow Him, then we'll know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Following Christ leads to freedom, freedom from sin, freedom from having to live up to cultural standards,

freedom from societal pressures. Church, what God is doing in our midst is unbelievable. Last year, we announced that our little church here in Middleville, Michigan, we were ranked in the top 100 fastest growing churches in the United States. And there's like over 350,000 churches in the United States. And last year we were in the top 100 fastest growing churches. That was amazing.

We celebrated that. We were thankful for that. But we kind of looked at our square footage and we're like, okay, this is coming to an end because we just simply don't have the space right now, which is why we're doubling the size of our worship center, but we said, hey, we don't wanna see people stop coming to faith in Jesus, so let's plant a church in Wayland. So we've planted a church in Wayland, God's exploding that in incredible ways. And then, and then two weeks ago, I got news that for a second year in a row, we made the top 100 fastest growing churches in the United States, that somehow God made a way when space felt so limited. I'm not saying this to brag whatsoever.

I'm saying this so that we can all understand the gravity of the weight of decisions that we need to make. And one of the things that we've said at Peace Church is that we don't want to just get big and bloated. We want to stay big and effective and connected. We want this big church to feel like a big family where everyone has a place and feels connected. And so we have a massive push for community groups. That's our small group ministry. You know that where we want people to get together in smaller groups to stay connected. And so we need people stepping up to be community group leaders. Now about a week and a half ago, I was talking to this couple about hosting a community group. I said, hey, would you please consider hosting a community group? And they said something, said some things that kind of broke my heart. They said, we don't want to host a community group because we're scared that people will judge our house.

You open up your house to a community group and someone comes in and judges

your house, you tell your lead pastor. Now invite them to a couple other churches in the neighborhood. And then they said this, my heart broke for that, and then they said, and we don't want to clean our baseboards every single week. Listen, church, we know that following Christ in this broken world is hard. In fact, it's so hard that Jesus recognizes it. And he even said to us, it's a good thing that he goes back to heaven, because when he gets there, he's going to send the Holy Spirit to fill us and to guide us. And so here's what I'm saying to you. I don't think to say, I don't want to host the community group because I have to clean my baseboards every week. That doesn't sound like a Holy So my question for you is, are you also giving answers that are not Holy Spirit led? When you give an answer to something that is a call from God or a call from your church, does your answer smell like the Holy Spirit? Or does it smell like selfishness or pride or something like that.

Here's the question for us. If God has sent us the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, and we're meant to stay in step with him, then our answers to his call will be informed and fueled by him. And there will be an alignment with him. So the question I have before you is, are you responding in ways that feel like it's the Holy Spirit leading you or comfortability. Christians, does your life courageously proclaim that you walk in step with the Holy Spirit? Because that's what it means to walk in step with the Spirit.

That's what it means to have a Holy Spirit filled obedience is that your responses feel like a Holy Spirit level response. Verse one, the Spirit of God came upon Azariah, the son of Odad, and he went out. I love the simple things.

I'm a simple man. I love the simple things we see in scripture. Verse two, those first four words, and he went out. That's just responding. Some of us just need to respond to what the Spirit's calling us to do.

And he went out. The Holy Spirit came upon him and he obeyed. Christian, let the same be said of you as we look to a Holy Spirit-led courageous obedience in this world. And so, that's very generic. Let's get actually uncomfortably specific here for a moment.

Can we do that? Is your courage proclaimed in your contrast-showing finances? Now, I don't mean proclaimed as in you go out and brag about how much you make or how much you give, even. But in our world, here's what I'd say to you. When we have a faith-based approach to our finances and when God's mission comes first in our lives, that's going to be clear whether we tried to hide it or not. Unfortunately, we live in a society like many others where we venerate those who have a lot of money, but I'll tell you right now, I'm more impressed by those who balance generosity and stewardship. Oh, oh, you paid cash for your truck, did you? Well, that's commendable, but did you rob God to do it? Or did you pay cash for your truck after you gave your first fruits to God and His work in this world? The challenge is very, very simple, my friends. Does God come first in your finances? Meaning, do you give to God before you do anything else with your money?

If he's not first in your finances, then he's not first in your life. And this will be hard for some of you to hear, but if God is not first in your finances, then you are not in step with the Holy Spirit or God's will for your life. My prayer is that if when you look around at what God is doing here at Peace Church, you don't first immediately think of sticks and bricks, although we are so excited about what's happening. But this is about building a place where God's kingdom can go forth, and why would you not want to be a part of it? So depending on where you are in your faith journey, let me just give you some specific challenges as we close up. First one is this. Maybe for some of us, it's time just to look at your finances and simply start setting aside God's portion first. Before Uncle Sam gets his, before you think about your bills, before you think about anything else, it's time to sit down and just make a commitment that, God, you come first in my finances. And I'll just tell you, I'm not preaching at you. I want to set the example for this as well.

My wife and I, I'll be transparent with you. My wife and I, when we get my paycheck, my wife doesn't have a paying job, but I do, when we get paid, when I get paid, the very first 10%, before Uncle Sam gets his cut, the very first 10% goes back to God's work through the local church without strings attached. We're not going to funnel our tithe to our favorite little accounts. It's a sacrificial gift to God, laying at the altar for Him to do with what He, for Him to do with it what He wants. But it doesn't stop there because we're excited about what God is doing elsewhere in this world. So we give on top of that to other causes that are near and dear to our hearts. I'll share more about that if you want. One of the things that we have a close heart for is the pro-life cause. So we give to pro-life causes. And then on top of that, we also give to Peace Church in other ways. If there's other needs that the church has, not to mention specifically thinking of the proclaim campaign. I am not telling you this to flex or to brag. I'm saying this as your leader to say, I will set the example first. I would never call you to do something that I myself am not also doing, but for some of us, we just tie. Maybe it's time just to sit down and say, all right, Lord, you're going to come first. Now, what does that mean? And then you seek the Lord. Second, maybe it's time to prayerfully commit to giving to the Proclaim campaign for the first time.

Maybe you need to go to the Lord and seek the Lord for an amount that he's calling you to give and ask God, Lord, don't give me a comfortable amount. Give me a faith-filled, sacrificial amount to your work through the Proclaim campaign. Thirdly, maybe it's time to renew your commitment so that we can end strong, or maybe for some of you, because you've been blessed or because you look at the blessings that God's been giving to this church, and it's time to not just recommit to your amount,

but maybe it's time to consider what it means to increase your amount in your pledge to what God is doing here. But here's what I'm gonna tell you. This is how beautifully personal our God is. He's gonna give a different answer to every single person.

The way that God calling you to respond may not be the way he's calling to the person next to you, or the person in front or behind you. What I'm calling you to do, what I'm asking you to do is you, through this spiritual journey, seek the Lord and say, Lord, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to give? How do you want me to contribute to this? And then allow God through prayer and through seeking his word to give you that answer.

For wherever you are at, here's one thing I'm gonna tell you, I want this spiritual journey to be a primary way how you discern what God's calling you to do. So engage the spiritual journey. Seek the Lord through scripture. Seek the Lord through prayer.

But let me just take one step back real quick. I know some of you are in a financial pinch and you can't even cover your bills, let alone thinking about being generous. Here's what I wanna say to you. We wanna help you get to the point where you've got margin in your life to be generous in the ways that your heart longs for. We wanna help you with that. So please reach out to us. If you are in a financial state of unhealth, we want to get you to a faithfully, financially healthy place.

If you are unsure about the Proclaim campaign, again, Pastor John will be in the family room, right behind the Worship Center, after each service in this sermon series, to give a short presentation on Proclaim and to answer any questions that you may have about it.

We want you to be informed as you make this decision and you discern what God is calling you to do. But church, we are at a moment where we get to respond to God doing something extremely unique and wonderful. How and why would we not want to respond to that? And before you respond to God's work through a campaign that a church is doing, no matter how wonderful it is, the very first thing you should respond to is the fact that Jesus Christ gave up his life for you.

So that you could have life and life to the full, so that you could be welcomed back into the presence of God, so that your eternity could be made secure, so that you could experience the love of God, because you can only experience the true love of God through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amen? So let's stand now and stand in that love as we sing of it.

Church, let me remind you, in a world turning from Him, God calls us to take courage Church, let me remind you, in a world turning from Him, God calls us to take courage in Him. So take courage now as you respond in faith through worship.