2025 Reflection

Coming soon!

So, for those of you who have never met Ron and Jennifer, they serve on our board, and they've been on the board for a really long time, but we're having them come up here, and I just wanted them to share just for a couple of minutes, because we are celebrating today, although it actually happened a little earlier this year, their 25th anniversary of being members here at this church, years, which is pretty awesome. Pretty awesome, pretty amazing, and so it's just a picture of faithfulness, and so after service in the lobby, we are actually gonna have a couple things, but one of the things we're gonna have is we have a little reception, we have some little treats and some drinks and just some things that we can all celebrate with them. Afterwards, it's an opportunity for you to write a word of encouragement and take a little picture, a little thing afterwards, which is really exciting, but I just wanted to let them share just for, well, I told them as long as they wanted to, but they were like, "It'll be short," and I was like, "Okay, well, it'll be fine." So, who's going first? Okay, Ron's going first.

Ron's really extroverted, so hold on.

First of all, I wanna give God the glory for allowing us to be here, and also for planning us here.  

 And he gave me a wonderful wife that prays for me without ceasing,

 and most of you men know how important that is, and if you don't, seek it.

 So, we talked about words for the year, Jennifer and I did, and so the two that came to me through the Holy Spirit, I believe, is community and stewardship,

 and what we are all trying to build here, this community, is a blessing and a gift,

 and it is bestowed on us the stewardship of seeing that to grow and to reach out and to grab as many souls as we can on our way, and just to ask that you guys, this church,

 this body of believers, our pastors,

 Mike and Renee, cheers.

 They were a big piece of that, and Jonathan and Bebe and all the pastors and staff here have done so much for us, and just thank them for that, and just invest in this community. It will fulfill your life like nothing else. (Audience Applauds)

 So, speaking of words of the year, every year I try to have a word that kinda grounds me, and sometimes I choose that word, and sometimes God gives me that word.

 In , he gave me a word. He gave me the word consistency,

 and I was not excited about that word, as you can imagine. It just sounded so like I was gonna be in trouble all year long, be more consistent, be more consistent.

 And then the word came to me a little bit before, it was probably December,

 and then as January rolled around, I started thinking about what's gonna happen this year. What does  mean?

 (Sighs) Sorry.

 So  is my th year as a Christian.

 (Audience Applauds)

 So for you all doing the math, yes I am that old.

 And then of course, our th year here at Dustin.

 Which I could not ask for a better church,

 or staff, or friends, or community, or family.

 So I come to you to encourage you,

 and to challenge you maybe a little bit.

 I encourage you to stay planted where you are. Seek God in every turn.

 Consistency matters, and even when you're not consistent, He'll be consistent for you.

 And then my challenge for you is to think about your life.

 Where have you been consistent, and you just didn't realize it?

 Think about the things that you've done over and over and over again that just became almost boring. But look at the result of what that meant in your life.

 So I challenge you to look back, and to see the things that have been consistency.

 And I encourage you to be consistent.

 Because every time I was doing something this year, that I was like, "Oh, do I have to do this again? In my business, or in whatever? Do I have to cook again? Do I have to support my husband while he's cooking again?"

 The word just kept coming back. It was just this lovely reminder in my life of consistency matters.

 And that is the thing that gets us from A to B to C to D. And then one last thing.

 There is a big scrapbook that you're gonna see as you're leaving. I would love to know if you've chosen your word of the year. I would love for you to write it in big bold letters in that scrapbook. There's plenty of room in the scrapbook. And I would love for you to put your name next to it. And I would love to pray for you in all of  around your word of the year.

 Thank you. Yeah.

 (Audience Applauding) Uhoh.

 We have some spontaneous movement happening here. Get ready.

 Yeah, I don't do this very often. I just, I thought that there's just some things that I need to say too.

 I think it's important for you all to recognize someone like the Edwards, someone like Jennifer and Ron. I think it's important for you, church family, who calls yourself a member of this church to recognize that you are spiritually related to someone like Jennifer and Ron.

 They are complete examples in their lives of what spiritual motherhood and spiritual fatherhood looks like.

 They are faithful friends.

 They are the type of people who their relatives

 want to go to the church that they are part of. They are the type of people who invest in you, pray for you, and make it a point to leave every interaction with you

 where you feel clarity and peace and God.

 And because you are spiritually related to these wonderful people, I just, I don't want you to not recognize them. I wanna make sure, we wanna make sure that you know these are your spiritual relatives. We are blessed to call you our church family. We are blessed to call you our friends and our church family. And these people, our church family, are blessed to count on you. Thank you so much for making heaven on earth.

 I love sweet earth today. And every day, every Sunday, every time that you've taken a post to serve, every time that you bend your knees to pray, every time you've come to a board meeting with Jonathan and the rest of the board, thank you, thank you, thank you for all these years of faithfully trusting God to be who he says that he is and to make you two wonderful people, everything that he has promised that he can make you. You are wonderful. I know you wanna pray. No, you pray. I wanna pray. Yeah, you wanna pray. This is the truth.

 I love you guys, we love you guys. Father, we just wanna take a moment and recognize God who you are. Thank you for faithfulness like this, Lord.

 Thank you for faithfulness like this. Thank you for love like this, Lord God. Only you, only you can give us love like this. Thank you, Jesus, for Ron and for Jennifer and for all the very different seasons that you have seen them through, that you have been their God, that you have been their healer, that you have been their comforter, that you have been their everything God, their protector, their provider, their only one. I thank you, Jesus, for their faithfulness to your work in this place, to your call in this place. Thank you because you have declared promises over Destiny Church that Jennifer and Ron Edwards have dared to believe that they are yes and amen. And I thank you God for their faithfulness to your name. I thank you for your faithfulness to them and the love God that just spurs and bubbles

 around them and through them, God. I just ask, we ask in Jesus name that you lift up their arms. That as a church, we can be the people that lift up their arms, Lord God, and as they continue to serve you, as they continue to seek you, as they continue to be invested in everything that they do, thank you for their roots because they're deep roots and thank you for the fruit of their lives, Lord God. May it be blessed and it may be for your glory all the days of their lives. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. Amen.

 Awesome, love you guys. Oh.

 All right, as they walk off stage, oh, she already disappeared into the darkness. You're good. No, you can keep that microphone. Don't mind me as I walk off stage to grab my glasses because I forgot them and I can't read without them which makes me a thousand years old. So I'm just on the side stage. It's the Holy of Holies. You're not allowed to come here. This is where the Lord dwells. And now I come out and no one will even recognize me anymore.

 All right, hey, stay with me as we read today's word.

 I'm looking forward to it.

 Psalms  verse one, it says this. Oh, good, thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples.

 Sing to him, sing praises to him. Tell of all his wondrous works. Glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his presence continually. Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he's uttered. Oh, offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever and the words that he commanded for a thousand generations.

 Let's pray.

 Father, thank you so much for today. Lord, thank you for this Sunday, this last Sunday of  that we get to come together, Lord, into worship and to sing and to commune with you and to celebrate your faithfulness and to look forward to what you're doing in our lives and your words that go forth before us, which is so thankful for that. So in your holy name we pray, amen.

 All right, you may be seated. You may be seated.

 (Gentle Music) All right. Well, this Sunday is always fun. It's the last Sunday of the year. So we've gotten through our Christmas time, which I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas. You'll obviously hear, I'm thinking about Easter because that's the next thing we have to work on.

 But here's the thing.

 I always like to take some time during this season, specifically this upcoming of the week, basically after Christmas. From the th until we get to New Year's Day. And I personally like to take that time and spend some time reflecting on the past year and looking back on the last year and maybe sometimes further than a year, but looking back in the last year and thinking about what God's done. I like to do it personally. I like to look at it in our family, but I also like to do it and experience it as a church. And what did we walk through this last year as a church, as a community?

 And every year for the past several years, I also wanna encourage you all because I think that in this time, in this season, it's often such a great opportunity in this transition from the end of one year to the beginning of another year to take some time to set ourselves up for what's coming up ahead. Obviously, when the clock strikes midnight and all of a sudden it's , nothing dramatically changes. It's not like your selfdiscipline will improve or the New Year's resolutions that you make have more or less chances of actually happening. But there is something that we can do in this process of reflecting on the year and looking forward ahead to what God has for us. You heard Ron and Jennifer both talking about having ideas or themes or words that God sometimes gives them for the upcoming year. And sometimes they pick that and they pursue that, or sometimes they feel like God gives that to us, to them. And I think that's important because those kinds of things are things that we can participate in and they help kind of keep us in the direction of what we walk through. And I wanna talk about a couple of reasons why we do this and then moving forward, thinking about

 what that looks like for our church and kind of reviewing what we walk through as a church this year and then where we go forward. But here's the first reason of why we reflect or we remember what God has done. And the first reason is because when we reflect on God's faithfulness, it builds trust for what God has in front of us. When we reflect on the faithfulness that God's shown us in the past and we look back, it is what propels us and is able to attack what we see in the future with confidence. Because although maybe we have some ideas of things that come or are coming in the next year, the truth is we don't know what's gonna happen in the next year. Very little control of what's happening in the next year and things that we were sure were gonna happen could happen and things we thought had no chance of happening that can happen. I mean, all those things can change in a blink of the eye. And sometimes when we think about the future, uncertainty can create some anxiety or some fear. And when we allow ourselves to say, hey, the same God who got me to this place, I'm gonna remember because if he got me here, he's not gonna abandon me in the future. That tomorrow he has something different. And I thought about this story and it's a pretty fun story. It's in  Samuel chapter seven verse  through . And just to kind of put this in context, this is during the time of Israel when they were like, when Samuel was kind of the last judge prophet and we had the King Saul and then shortly after that King David. So this was in this ancient time and the big enemy of Israel at the time were the Philistines. You guys have probably heard about the Philistines. Goliath was the most famous Philistine. And so they were at war with the Philistines and Samuel was offering some burnt offerings to God. And in verse  it says this, as Samuel was offering the burnt offerings, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion and they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mitzvah and pursued the Philistines and struck them as far as below Bethkar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mitzvah and Shin and called its name Ebenezer. For he said, till now the Lord has helped us. So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the day of Samuel. So I love this, he sets up this rock. They were chasing these people. For those of you who know kind of ancient battle, like they would line up in these lines and they would have all these things and it's posturing. And then at some point the battle would start and these lines would clash. But typically ancient battles, there was actually by comparison very little death in the actual clash of the two groups facing off with each other. What happened was one group, one side would become fearful and their lines would break and the process of breaking, they would retreat and it was in the retreat or the running away that the most casualties in ancient warfare happened. Because when you're face to face and you got shields and you're only dealing with swords, you're able to kind of keep a distance. But when people turn away and people are running away, they're unprotected. And that was when the vast amount of destruction happened. And so the Israelites were chasing the Philistines for a long time, I mean, through different areas, through geographically, they were chasing them. And at the end of that chase, after this big victory, he set up this stone and he called it Ebenezer, which is like, God is my helper. And he said, God has helped me to this point. And it was like both this figurative idea of God helping them, but literally he set it up and was like, this is how far God helped me. We chased them all the way to right here.

 And I wanna put this stone here so that if we ever need to remember where God has led us and how far he's taken us, we don't have to look any further than the stone,

 this stone of help and say, this is how far God took us. And it says that they didn't cross that boundary in the days of Samuel anymore. And you see, when we get to set up these stones, and we've talked about this before, when we get to take time to stack stones in our life and to say, God has helped me to this point, it allows us to look back and to see these monuments and remember, another really famous story about stacking stones was when Joshua was about to lead Israel through the Jordan River. And this was the same guy, you know, Joshua and Caleb were the only two who had come out of Egypt into the wilderness and we're gonna enter into the promised land. And they had already walked through this miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, that we're actually gonna read a little bit about that later, but they already walked through dry ground to experience God's miraculous power. And they were there for the celebration of what happened when God freed them from slavery, that delivered their enemies into his hands and that they were free in this new place. But he also saw that not three days after they crossed that Red Sea, the nation of Israel was grumbling and complaining and saying that they wish they were back in Egypt and back in slavery.

 Because although they experienced a powerful faithfulness of God and a miracle of God, the moment that in their case hunger and thirst and hardship struck, they totally forgot what God had done.

 And they grumbled and they complained. So when Joshua was leading the people of Israel across the river and he was gonna walk through and experience a very similar scenario where the Jordan was gonna be opened up, God said, I'm gonna lead you through, he added something to it. He said, what we are going to do is when we, when the Ark of the Covenant goes into the water and the water stops in the riverbed, we are gonna gather some stones. We're gonna send one person from each tribe to gather a big river stone. And we want you to bring those stones out and we are gonna make an altar before God on the shore and an altar before God in the actual riverbed itself. And he said, and the reason that we're going to do that is because for all generations, when they look back and they see this altar, they can say, God led us to this place. Because he said, I want to experience the power, but I don't want to forget about it when the hardship comes because he knew that in that promised land, they were about to have to fight giants and battles and Jericho and all these different things he said. And I want my people to be able to look back

 and to see God got me through this.

 And so they stack stones. And you see, in our life, when we walk through different milestones, when you accomplish certain things, when God is faithful, it's so important to commemorate moments like that so that you can stack stones and say, God was faithful to this point. The reason that we get to celebrate the Edwards today, it's not because they're like the greatest members of our church or because they give the best money or because they've given me a car and this was their payment and so they could talk. All that would be awesome, but none of it happened.

 The reason that we celebrate is because for them, we get to have this milestone of something really big,  years, that we get to stack stones and say, hey, look at this. But this is not just for them, it's for all of us. That we can be part of a church that's multigenerational, will people come and they stay? And guess what? They're not here because they've never disagreed with anything, I'm sure they have. They're not here because their feelings have never been hurt, I'm sure they have. They're not here because they've never been offended, I'm sure they've been offended. They are still here because God called them to this place. They've put their preferences aside and they've chosen to be obedient and to stay planted at the place where God has. And today we get to stack stones and see the faithfulness of God. This past year, I got the opportunity to go, it's actually the only time I've ever done this. I was invited by a local friend of mine to come and speak at his church in town. It was in the spring, his son was getting married, his whole staff was going to, it was an out of state, a city wedding, and so he needed someone to cover his weekend services, so I went back. And it was particularly special because it's actually the church that I grew up in. It's a church in town called Christian Chapel, great church. I grew up in that church, my parents were part of that church for a really long time. And so I went back to speak at that church and I was really excited about it. But here was the thing, I knew, I still knew people were there, but here was the really wild part. While I was there and preaching, I'm out there looking at a church because they have a really healthy culture, they've been around for a really long time, and they had just celebrated  years as a church, and I'm looking out and there are people in that auditorium who changed my diapers when they were nursery workers.

 And that's a little awkward.

 Like they knew me, they took care of me, they have stories about me, and they're still in that church.

 And I know I look very young when I take my glasses off, but I'm  years old. Some of these people have been there for over  years. And here's what was wild, not only were they were there, people that I was in sixth grade Sunday school with are in that church still. They're this multigeneration, and then not only that, their kids are there. There are some families that have three or even four generations of people in the same church, and guess what, that's a milestone that you get to celebrate because that's people who are choosing unity in Christ as opposed to being frustrated or angry or chasing fads or something else. That is something that we get called to do. That is something we can do, and that's something that our church, we are building and we are growing into. And it's a really beautiful thing when you get to experience that. But we get to stack these stones, and so as a church, we get to stack stones because it's something that we get to remember for our community, but you as an individual get to stack stones. And when your children accomplish things, when you accomplish things, when you experience something, when you pay off a debt, when you move into a home, when you celebrate an anniversary, you stack these stones, you make these memories because in your life, there will be so much that you live, even really great things that you will forget.

 But there'll be certain moments that you can stack those memorial stones and you can look back and be like, wow, look how faithful God was. And sometimes, they're really exciting, fun things, but sometimes they're when you actually go through a real hardship,

 when you experience something really tough. But in that moment, God shows up and you stack stones, even in the hard moment, and you can look back and be like, that was a really hard season. That was a really tough season. I didn't know if I was gonna be able to get through that season, but look what God did. Look how God showed up. Look how God was faithful. And even though I would never wanna live that way again, I am so thankful that I experienced that in His faithfulness was with me. And we get to experience that each person who's here is not only part of this church family, but you have an individual life that you're walking through in which you are experiencing God's faithfulness. And we take time, we get to reflect, and we get to see how God shows up and how God moves. And so it sets us up for what's next because we don't know what's happening next.

 We don't know what  is gonna bring.

 We don't know what's gonna be cool or what's gonna be lame. We don't know what the next six, seven joke will be. Hopefully that one will end. Because it's really hard to not be able to use two numbers that are very important in daily life.

 But we get to walk through this process and experience it, and we get to see it. So we remember God's faithfulness so we can build trust for what's next. Because at the end of the day, if any of the stones and everything that I've had the privilege of stacking up in my life, both for myself personally, but for this church as a whole, as I can say, "Wow, He's been faithful to this point. "I don't know what's next, "but I know He's gonna get me through it. "I know He's gonna get me through it." And some areas I may have some ideas, some areas I have no idea how, but He's gonna get me through it. So that's the reason number one. The second thing is, sometimes, and maybe this is just personal, we get to learn from our mistakes and we get to repent.

 Sometimes when we reflect, we can look back and be like, "Wow, I made this decision.

 "It was the wrong decision." Again, maybe not you, maybe just me. There's been plenty of things that I look back and at the time I thought it was the right choice and I made the choice. And then in hindsight and reflection, it was the wrong choice.

 I shouldn't have done it. I should have done a different choice. I should have made a different decision in that moment. And sometimes it's just inconsequential things that are just something where you just learn, you live and you grow and you learn. Sometimes it's things where you realize, "Oh man, I made a bad choice and I need to repent "or ask for forgiveness to someone else "because I made a choice that negatively impacted someone "and that was on me."

 And I can take this time of reflection to look back and say, "Wow."

 And guys, realizing that you create mistakes, it doesn't mean that you're broken or that God can't use you, it just means that you're human. And in fact, being quick to repent

 is something that God is very fond of. That when we realize, "Man, I made a mistake, I blew it." We're quick to repent and to bring that to God and allow him to create restoration and healing and forgiveness. That is the thing that God can do that. So we learn from our mistakes.

 The next thing is, and we kind of touched on this in number one, is to prepare for what is next.

 I always love the idea, and there's lots of different sayings around this, but we can't really know and be prepared for where we're going next until we're honest with where we're at today. And we can't be totally sure where we're at today until we reflect on the past to know what God is to this moment. That in the process of reflecting about yesterday and this last year and this different season, we can fully acknowledge where I'm at today and in fully acknowledging where I'm at today in all areas in my physical nature, in my spiritual nature, in my mental health nature, and all these different things, I can fully be present where I'm at today and be prepared to face what tomorrow has. To be prepared for what God is calling me to and what I feel like He's throwing in my heart.

 And then the last one, the last reason, there's plenty of more reasons why we do this, is we wanna create a communal or even a familial memory that helps us shape the future.

 You see, when you begin to reflect not just on what's happened in you, but what's happened to your family, and you share that, you share that in your family at home, or in this church context, we share it together on things that we've experienced and what we've walked through. It makes you realize, just like what Vivi brought up earlier, is that we are part of something that's bigger than ourselves. Our life does not exist just within the sphere of influence of just my life. I am part of something else. I get to share this relationship with my family and with you all and with people outside of this place. And when I understand that I don't just have the faithfulness of God in my life, but the faithfulness of God in others around me that I get to hope and see and to believe and to experience, that creates this bigger idea that's beyond me. That's why Joshua said to stack those stones, it wasn't just for the people who walked through the river that they would remember, it was so that when the children ask, they will know God was faithful.

 You see, sometimes we have to stack stones not because I'll forget, but because I need my children to ask questions, why do we do that? You see, children will ask a lot of questions,

 a lot of questions. And if you don't have an answer, they'll either make up their own, which sometimes is very enjoyable to hear,

 or they'll just make assumptions. And they'll say, well, I guess there's no reason we do this. And something that can be very meaningful to you will have no meaning to the next generation because we didn't create a way for them to be able to share in that memory, in that bond, in that moment.

 And when we reflect on what God's doing, we're able to create those ideas that we can come together and say, look how we can celebrate this. Look how we can celebrate this goodness. And so those are four reasons why we get to celebrate. And here's, I wanna just take a couple minutes

 before we pray today. And think about what God walked us through as a church in this past year, .

 And here's the thing, when I was thinking about it, even before I walked through, before I sat down and I read through everything, like I had these thoughts, cause I didn't know about you, like most of the time I'm a relatively positive person. Would you say I'm a relatively positive person? I'm usually positive, more glass full. But every once in a while, even me, Mr. Positivity,

 can get a little like, man, like my confidence can be shaken. And when I was thinking, I was like, man,

 did I do anything this year that had value?

 Did we as a church, like, did we just like, was it just like a complete waste of  Sundays?

 Like, did we experience anything? Like, did we experience the goal that we set out to at the beginning of the year? Like what happened? And I was getting a like, trying to think back, like, oh man, did I, did I, I guess we did that, but I don't know if it made sense. And I was starting to get a little bit negative, but then God was spoke to me and was just like, hey, why don't before you do that, why don't you actually go back and look at what you did? Why don't you go back and look at the different notes and the different things and the things that you've made throughout this last year, and then you can come back and decide whether you think it was a success. And man, I went back and walked through the journey that we've been on as a church, and I was like, oh my gosh, God, I'm so sorry.

 You have been so faithful and so good to us this year, and what you've shared. And so here's just a couple, just like an overview, because I think it paints this beautiful picture of what we get to experience. So we started off the year, this last year, some of you remember, we did a six week series where we walked through kind of our vision statement about knowing Jesus and showing Jesus, and what it means to be on our mission and how we can live hands up and hands out and hands open, eyes open, hearts open. So what it means to be in community and what it means to be in service and how we're generous and how we pray and how we're open to the leading Holy Spirit, and we walked through that process. And then we went right into a seven week series where we talked about the Holy Spirit. And that was like a really, for me, that was a really big series, because that was something that I had to walk through

 and teach on, because I'd never taught on anything about the Holy Spirit of this church in the seven years that I'd been here. And to walk through and to see the role of the Holy Spirit and to talk about that, and it was such a beautiful time for me. And I know we had a lot of really great conversations as a staff, and I had a lot of great conversations with you, and it was just a beautiful time. And then we did that right up into the week of Easter where we got to celebrate Easter, which was a beautiful season together. And then we kicked off post Easter, something that God had put in our hearts the year before that we'd been working towards for several years, which was the  week series where we talked about spiritual formation, and what does that mean in our lives, and how do we walk through things within the idea of being formed in the image of God, and then allowing certain practices in our daily life to help us be transformed in the image of God. So that we can take certain things, kind of like what Jennifer said, and make them a consistent part of our life, so that in that consistency, God can have the space to meet us and to transform us and have an encounter with Him and be changed into His image.

 And then after we walked through that, we actually went into our first practice where we talked about generosity.

 And generosity was such a beautiful season for us as a church to have these conversations. We had our first spiritual practice class that we did to get where we could to walk through that as a church, and we were able to walk through and to see what generosity looks like. In the middle of that series, that was also when we got to do the sanctuary swap when we went to the building next door, which was a fun weekend and a little bit of a wild time. But I know for me, when I walked through this generosity, not only was it something beautiful there, I know that that series planted some seeds inside of my heart that I've still yet to see a harvest of. And I believe that it planted some seeds within our church's heart that we still have yet to see the harvest of, but that God is continuing to work in what He's done. And then after that, we took eight weeks,

 and we looked at what it meant to pray. And we asked God the question, He teaches how to pray, and what does prayer look like within our idea and within our context, and how can we pray in different ways, and we can listen and ask in petition and silence and solitude, and what does prayer look like? And we walked through a really fruitful season within that. And then we ended the year, which we just wrapped up with our four weeks of Advent in which we got to celebrate all the hope and the peace and the joy and the love that God has for us. And here's something that I thought was really profound.

 When we looked at some of these ideas and how these themes went, we went from this idea of, we as a church are looking to encounter God

 so that we can be moved, not just so we have this encounter, not just so we can't experience His presence, but so in that encounter, we can begin the process of being transformed by Him. And by being transformed by Him, the end of that transformation, or the process of that transformation allows us to be on mission with God. And to step out into the mission that God has for us. Maybe putting it in some of the language that we use around church is that we want to know Jesus, to have this interaction with Jesus, so that we can grow in His ways and so that we can show Him to the world around us. Because Jesus invites us to not just to know Him or to know about Him, but to be completely transformed by who He is, to have our complete persona changed. And so when we have an encounter with God, that is this like first step in which our whole lives are transformed. And by spending time in the presence of God, we are transformed into His glorious image. And once you begin to realize, you begin to look and to talk and to think like Christ, you realize this invitation that He has for us to go and to show His love to the people around us. It is not an obligation, it's not a burden, it is just the outflow of the life that we get to live in Christ, that we get to experience by living and being with Him. And you see all these spiritual formation practices that we talked about in the second half of this year, and we have some more that we're looking forward to do in this upcoming year, but they are not just so that we become experts at prayer or experts at generosity or experts in any of the ones we're gonna do in this upcoming year. Every single practice is done with the intention of trying to have a personal encounter with God and to give Him space for Him to move in our hearts and to find the areas in our lives in which we need to find healing and recovery and redemption and freedom and forgiveness

 and to look more and more like Him.

 And when I look back and when I see what God is doing in our church, I see people and I've got the privilege of having so many conversations with people who in this last calendar year, they had an encounter with God. Maybe in a group setting, maybe in a small group, maybe in a formation class, maybe during worship, maybe in their own time that they had an encounter with God.

 And in that moment, God was able to speak to them, to share with them, to give them hope about their future,

 but they didn't just leave the encounter with like, wow, that was great.

 They chose to continue to press in and to invite God to transform them,

 to be changed, to say, I don't want to remain the same way. I don't wanna leave this place the same way I came in because I believe that God, you have something better. And if I say yes to you, you have something better for me, that you have a life that's better for me, that you only want good things for me.

 And so even though sometimes it's hard to let go of something, what you have for me is far better.

 And then I hear story after story of not just encounters and transformation,

 but of people showing Jesus in their community, of people joining Jesus in the mission

 of saying that there are people who are still walking in darkness and they desperately need to know the love of the Father.

 And that there's people in this room who are witnessing to their neighbors, to their coworkers who are establishing relationships and saying, hey, this is not just a short term one time, I just found someone on the side of the street and I asked them if you were to go to heaven or hell right now today, but I'm investing in a longterm relationship to be able to have an experience in which we through relationship can have conversations about God and spiritual things.

 Because I love you and because I want what's best for you and I believe God loves you,

 that this is the thing that we get to be as part of a church.

 And when I read this through this, this isn't even the stuff of how great small group community was this year, how walking through our spiritual formation courses was such a blessing. I had so much fun on Wednesday night, hanging out and learning out with people, that was always fun. How we had the first book of our book club this year, how many things that God was faithful and continues to be, and to know that he's still not done yet.

 That we can sit here today and say, God has got us to this point,

 but this isn't the end of our journey.

 This isn't the end of your journey.

 God still has more for you. He still has things that he wants you to experience in  that you've yet to experience. He still has things in you that he wants to grow, that you maybe think that you didn't even know needed to grow and yet he said, hey, we have areas in room to grow. He has forgiveness for you in your heart that you can extend to someone that you thought maybe I can never extend forgiveness to. There's restoration, there's healing, there's abundance, there's provision, there's grace upon grace because the same God who has faithfully gotten us to this year

 is the same God who says, we're gonna have even more opportunities this upcoming year to stack some more stones.

 To stack some more memories, to see my faithfulness in your life. And the more you keep your eyes open, the more you begin to see how frequently God shows up and how frequently he begins to move in your life.

 And so here's what I wanna do. I wanna read this verse

 and then we're gonna pray and we're gonna dismiss.

 This is Psalm chapter , because for me, sometimes I can feel this way. You can maybe be going through a hard time, a difficult season, and you can think, man, God, I don't know what's going on.

 But there's a way in which that we can cry out to God and remember his faithfulness and we can see his goodness. So I wanna read this and then we'll pray for you today. Psalms chapter , verse one,

 says this is a Psalm of Asaph.

 "I cry aloud to God, allowed to God, and he will hear me. In the day of my trouble, I seek the Lord.

 In the night my hand is stretched out without wearing, my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan.

 When I meditate, my spirit faints.

 You hold my eyelids open. I'm so troubled that I cannot speak. I consider the days of old, the years long ago.

 I said, let me remember my song in the night. Let me meditate in my heart. Then my spirit made a diligent search. Will the Lord spur me forever? Never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious?

 Has he in anger shut up his compassion?

 Then I said, I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the deeds of the Lord. Yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your works and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What God is great like our God. You are the God who works wonders. You have made known your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. When the waters saw you, O God, when the waters saw you, they were afraid. Indeed, the deep trembled. The clouds poured out water. The skies gave forth thunder. Your arrows flashed on every side. The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind. Your lightning lighted up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was through the sea. Your path was the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen.

 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

 I love this Psalm,

 because to me it paints this picture of someone who's in turmoil, who's going through a hardship. And instead of wallowing in pitties, let me remember what God has done.

 And you can see him kind of building up and it started slow. And I was like, I guess he did. And then as he continued to speak and to remind himself of God's goodness, he became more and more bold of remembering God's promise.

 And then did you see that what he basically likened is, is he likened his current situation to the same type of oppression and storm and hardship that his ancestors were going through when they were being chased by the Egyptians and they were back to against the Red Sea.

 And he says that there was this problem of being chased from one side and death on the other side and no way through. And yet God showed up in a way that was completely miraculous.

 And he said, you notice this, he said, "The waters that looked like death to me, "those waters were afraid of you."

 You see, sometimes you have something in your life, you say, "This is death. "And I don't know if I can move forward. "I don't know if I can keep going. "This is something I can't overcome." And God says, "That's okay. "You don't need to overcome anything. "I already sent Jesus to overcome on your behalf. "And although it may look scary to you, "the thing that's scary to you is afraid of your God "because with one word, that entire sea can split. "And with one word, you can walk not just across, "but across on dry ground "and your footprints will not even be seen there. "It won't be even a memory that you have to worry about "because what you will remember "is that you'll be on the other side."

 And notice what he said. He didn't say, "You made the storm go away," or "You made my pursuers change their mind." He said, "It was your plan to take me through the storm."

 Sometimes you may be at a place where you don't want to reflect on what's going on because you're in the middle of a storm in your life.

 And you say, "God, can't you just get this storm out of here?"

 And sometimes God says,

 "You're gonna overcome because I've already overcome,

 "but we have to go through it.

 "But don't worry, your feet will be on dry ground. "You won't even leave footsteps.

 "Those things that are pursuing you "won't be able to chase you. "That thing that looks like death in front of you "will miraculously change into the very provision "of what you needed to get to the other side, "and in fact will be instrumental "in creating freedom in your life." And you say, "I don't like it, I don't want it, "but I will trust you because I am a sheep "and you are my shepherd and I will be led by you."

 So if it's good for you to take me through the middle of what looks like certain death to me,

 I will follow you.

 Because I know that you're with me.

 Because you are faithful.

 And I will reach out to the mighty one

 who has years at your right hand, who is Jesus Christ my savior and say, "You are my shepherd, will you lead me?" My invitation for you this week, Church,

 as we get to celebrate a new year,

 spend some time this week reflecting on this last year.

 Pile up some stones of God's faithfulness in this last year.

 Look forward to what God has for you in .

 But most importantly,

 take courage and trust

 that wherever God leads you this upcoming season,

 he will protect you, he will uphold you, he will be with you, he will be your forward shield and your rear guard, the protection on all sides, the good shepherd who leads you every step of your journey.

 It's who he is.

 Will you stand with me to your feet?

 (Soft Music)

 Father God, you are so good.

 We thank you for this last year.

 What a beautiful season we've walked here as a church.

 We thank you that you've taken us this far

 and have been our helper ever step of the way.

 And Lord, with hope and faith, you look forward.

 To the miraculous things that you'll do here in this church, here in our hearts.

 We love you so much, Father.

 So in your holy name we pray, amen and amen. Hey, a couple of things church, before we dismiss this morning. One, if you need prayer for anything, the prayer team would be down here. They would love to pray with you, answer any questions that you have. They're great resources that you'd need any prayer for you or for someone else. And then secondly, we have two things going on right after service. One, we already mentioned it. We have the reception for the Edwards. It's gonna be in the lobby area. There's the scrapbook. You can write here if you have a word for the year, that you can write that down. You can see there's other instructions. But also we have a baptism that we are gonna be doing right after service in the youth room. It is actually the Edwards niece is getting baptized. She said she can't wait to the next baptism service. She wants to do it now. And so today is a great day to do it. And so if you would like to participate in watching and joining us, watching someone follow Jesus in baptism, we're gonna be doing that here in a few minutes in the youth room. And so other than that, you are dismissed. We love you. We will see you next week and next year. Have a great rest of your Sunday.