All right.
Hey Mercy Hill, Pastor Bobby here. I am really looking forward to this message today. Every year, at the end of the year, we typically will take off the last week of the year, but we still want to get a message out to everybody. And just thinking about, you know, going into the upcoming year, 2025, there was a message and really a scripture that God had put on my heart that I wanted to be able to share with you guys.
I think this fits really great for 2025. You know, when I think about the upcoming year, you know, one of the things I think about is not one person on the face of the earth knows what's going to happen in the upcoming year. And it's pretty crazy when you think about that, right? Billions of people on this planet, not one person besides God knows what's going to happen in the upcoming year. That can be terrifying.
That can be exciting, I guess, depending on how we're wired. And so I want to share a message today from Joshua chapter three. And this was a really pivotal moment in the Old Testament, especially the story of God's people, where they're about to enter into the promised land. They're about to kind of step into this new reality for them, about to step into this new reality that none of them have ever experienced before. And so Joshua chapter three, I think really is a great passage to talk about stepping into the new year, stepping into a reality that none of us have ever lived before. And so we're going to be in Joshua chapter three today. I'm sure every single person that is either listening to this today, or is watching this today, I'm sure we all have this in common, that every single one of us, we want to step into everything that God has for us in 2025. You know, we want the life change, we want the growth. But really what I want to talk about today is stepping into that is so much more difficult than it seems. And here's the reason why, okay? So, you know, if you're watching this with your family, maybe you're watching this with a group of friends, I would encourage you to, you know, either raise your hand or answer these questions out loud.
The first question is this. Who here wants to get everything out of life that God has for you in the upcoming year? And I would guess that 99% of everybody that's watching this today would say, man, I totally want to get everything out of life that God has for me for the upcoming year. Like, yes, I realize that God's plans for my life are better than my plans for my life. And same thing with my family, my business, my kids, I want to get everything that God has for me in the upcoming year. Well, the second question that I would ask then is who here wants to step into uncertainty, risk, chaos, change, and the unknown?
It was a lot easier saying yes to the first question. We all want what God wants for us, the best for our life, but none of us, none of us are going to say, yeah, man, I want to step into the uncertainty, into the risk, into chaos, into change, and into unknown. But here's the thing, the very thing that we want to avoid is the very thing that God will use to have us to trust him more and to step into having more faith in him. And if you're going to get the best that God has for you in the upcoming year, it will require stepping into the uncertainty, stepping into the fear, stepping into the chaos, stepping into the change. You see the very thing that we want the end result, but we don't want the means to actually get there. And God to grow us, if we're going to get the best out of our life, he will have us step into that. And that's what we're going to see in Joshua chapter three today. Here's the big idea. Our growth in 2025 will require us to step out in faith before we see God move.
Let me say that again. Our growth in 2025, it will require us to step out in faith before we see God move. I remember one of the first times that God really taught me this principle. You know, a lot of times we want to see God move and then we'll step out in faith, right? But most of the times, and it's like this in Joshua three and the story we're going to see today, most of the time, God wants us first to step out, to step into that fear, to step into the unknown. That's what faith is to step out and then see God move.
So one of the first times that God taught me this, I was a couple years into college. I think it was 2003 at the time and I had a good buddy that was a mentor of mine and I had never been on a mission trip before. And he said, hey, I have this idea for a mission trip. I don't know how he found out about this, but he's like, hey, we're going to go, or I want to invite you to go with me and this other guy on a mission trip to the Middle East. And I'll just say this was 2003.
I'm not going to say the specific country that it was, but the U.S. was at war with this country during this time. And he said, hey, I'd love for you to go on this mission trip with me. And so I'm like, all right, you know, being young and not really thinking twice about it, I'm like, man, let's do it.
It's going to be awesome. And I remember we arrived in this country and man, it was just, it was chaos from the very beginning. I remember this particular airport, instead of like moving the planes that would crash over the years.
This cannot be good advertising. They would just like literally like brush the crash planes to like the side of the runway. And so like you're landing and it's like you see all these crashed planes everywhere, you know, and I'm like, man, this this cannot be good messaging for the airport. And I remember when we landed, we got off the plane, there was a there was a coffin on the runway. I remember that very distinctly.
And, you know, part of what we're doing there was we were going to help some missionaries that were trying to help build a school in this area. And man, it was just, it was going to be really awesome. But we were basically having to sneak money into the country. You know, there was a lot of shady stuff going on there. So we weren't gonna, we weren't gonna tell the, you know, customs people about the money or whatever. So that's basically what we were doing. And I remember this guy at the airport, he has a, this is the guy picking us up.
He, he didn't speak English. He had a little cardboard sign, you know, with the group that we were connecting with and he just wanted us to get in the car with him. And I remember, oh my goodness, like this is either going to be totally fine or this is going to end like really, really bad. And being super young at the time I had committed, I'm like, look, I'm not, I'm not being taken hostage. Like, man, I'm going to do everything right in that moment, you know, to either like, man, escape or get killed right there or whatever. Like, I ain't getting taken hostage.
You know, that was kind of my attitude. And my buddy and I, we look back and we laugh, we laugh now about it, but it was serious. We're like, man, this was, it just felt like a sketchy situation. This dude had a cardboard sign.
He couldn't speak English. He was going to take us where we needed to go. And the whole trip was like that, honestly.
I have so many stories on that trip that are just like that. And one of the things that God taught me, you know, this was before I went into ministry. One of the things God taught me through this is, man, a lot of times when God is calling us to do something, we want everything to get worked out on the front end, right? And we want God to do this big miracle and everything to be super clear, and then we're going to step into it. A lot of times God wants us to step into the uncertainty and to step into the fear, to step into the unknown. That is the definition of faith. You know, trusting God when we can't see all the outcomes. And God used that situation very early in my life to really, to really teach me that because that trip was all about that.
Stepping into the unfear, the uncertainty, the unknown. The reality is like, man, we just, a lot of times, like we just do not want to do that. You know, we want to, we want God to work it all out on the front end.
And I am just sure there are so many situations probably in your life in the upcoming year where that's going to be tested for you. Like, are you willing to step into the unknown because God's calling you to do that? Or do you need God to do something first? And the question is like, why would God want us to do that? Like, why does God want us to step into the unknown? I would say this because God wants us more than He wants to use us. Like, God wants our hearts. God wants us to be all in. God wants our hearts to be all in.
And God is willing over and over and over and over to test our faith so that we are all in on Him, so that our hearts are all in because God knows, man, that's going to be the life that we're going to be the happiest, have the most joy, make the biggest impact and also glorify Him the most. And there are so many stories of this throughout the Bible where we see God calling people to step out before they actually see God move. And that's what we're going to see in Joshua chapter three today. So Joshua chapter three, this is one of the most pivotal points in the story of God's people Israel.
So if you think about, you know, all of the different parts to the story, I was just thinking of like trying to orient people to where we're at in this passage. If you go all the way back to Genesis 12, I would say that's part one, you know, God's covenant with Abraham. And I would say part two, the Israelites, man, they go into Egypt, it's good, then it's not good, they're enslaved. Then we have part three, Moses and the Exodus, right, deliverance from Egypt, part four, you have God giving the law at Sinai, part five, God's people are wandering in the out in the wilderness.
You know, they're being tested, they're being prepared. This is the book of Numbers, you then have the sending of the spies in Numbers 13. Then you have Moses' death. And now the transition of leadership is to Joshua. And then you have where we're at today, you have the people are going to cross the Jordan in Joshua chapter three, and they're going to step into the Promised Land. So just think the hundreds of years that all this stuff has been playing out. And now God's people, they're right on the edge of the Jordan, about to step into the Promised Land. And I want you to see one, we're going to see kind of this paradigm that I've already been talking about in the first 10 minutes or so this message, that, yes, God is going to part the Jordan, but the first thing he's going to do, he's going to have the people step out in faith.
And man, they've been like hundreds of years to get to this point where they're standing on this edge of this river about to go into the Promised Land. And I just think it's so interesting that the story kind of plays out the way that it does. And obviously, you know, everything in the Old Testament doesn't apply to us in the exact same way, right? I mean, these are real stories that were going on for God's people at that time. But the thing with the Bible is we know 2 Timothy 3.16, like all of Scripture is useful for teaching us and reproving us.
And I really believe that there is one big overarching sort of principle that we can draw out of this passage. And that's what we'll do today. So let me go ahead and read the scripture for today, Joshua chapter three, verses seven through nine, the Lord said to Joshua today, I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel. So remember this transition from Moses to Joshua, that they may know that as I was with Moses, I also will be with you. And as for you, I want you to do this, command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant. I want you to tell them this, when you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan. And Joshua said to the people of Israel, come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. And then if we skip down to verse 13, it says this, and when the souls of the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing. And the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.
All right, so I want to make sure that we understand what's going on here. If we go back to verse eight, what's happening is, you know, God's telling them and telling Joshua and Joshua's telling the people, look, God is going to split the Jordan for you. Like, you're going to walk on dry land into the Promised Land. God's going to do this crazy miracle among you guys. But the first thing you're going to do, the end of verse eight, you're going to stand in the Jordan first.
And it's like, what in the world? Like why, why does God choose to do this? And this is the first point that I would draw miracles follow movement. What I mean by that is, God could have done the miracle without the people ever stepping in the river, right? Obviously, like, the miracle didn't depend on the people at all. But what does God do? Like, God makes them walk into the water, God makes them move before the miracle happens.
And I want you to kind of the best that you can try to put yourself in this situation for a moment. I don't think this was like, two inches deep, calm water, because we're going to see later in the text that there's some things that indicate that this was pretty chaotic water. And man, the people would have been scared, no doubt about it. Like, they would have thought, why in the world, if God is about to part this river, why in the world do we have to go stand in the river? And what God is doing here is like, man, God wants to make sure that like, they have skin in the game, in terms of their faith. You know, God's like, I'm going to do the miracle, but you guys are going to step out in faith by standing in this river before I do the miracle. Because them standing in the river, it's an indicator, God, we believe what it is that you're going to do, and we have faith what it is that you're going to do. And I would say the limiting belief a lot of us have around this, when we think about stepping into something new, or stepping into something huge that God's calling you to, or just stepping into the unknown of the upcoming year, 2025, a lot of times what we say is, look, I'll wait for God to act before I move. I'll wait for God to act before I move.
And here's the thing. It sounds so spiritual, doesn't it, to say that. And many of us have probably said that, man, I'm just waiting on God.
You know, like, man, I don't want to go first. I want God to go first. I'm just waiting on God to move. But the reality is, the paradigm of Joshua 3, and I'm not saying we never wait on God. You see the disciples in the early book of Acts waiting on God, so it's not like we never wait on God. But most of the time in the Bible, God wants us to step out first as an indicator of faith. And a lot of times, like, we want this clear sign first, and God wants us to step out first. You think what Jesus said in Matthew 13, verse 58, or it's saying this about Jesus.
He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Faith often precedes miracles in the Bible. And so the mindset shift I think that we need going into the upcoming year is God wants us to move in faith before He moves. You see, the very place that we want to avoid, this unknown, this place of fear, this place that's going to require courage, you know, standing in this cold rushing water that's so scary, that place that we want to avoid is the exact place where God wants to bring us. Because it's there, that's where God challenges our faith. That's where God grows our faith. That's where God allows us to trust Him, to test Him, to believe more deeply in Him. You see, God can do the miracle without us stepping out, but most of the time, God is going to have us step out first. And so I would just challenge you, what area in your life, maybe going into 2025, does God want you to wade out there in the water? You know? Like, your motion, your stepping out, may be the key to unlocking what it is that God is going to do.
You could say it another way, what area of your life does God want you to have skin in the game? You know? Like, the people could have just stood on the side of the river and said, God, we're not crossing till you part the river. It's only, man, only when there's dry land there are we going to walk across. You know?
And God was like, no, you're going to get your feet wet if you want to walk on dry land. And so I would just say, like, man, where in your life are you in this place where you're like, God, when you move, I'll do it. You know?
God, when you move in my life, I'll be more generous. You know? God, when you open the doors and you work it all out and you set all the steps and the path straight and all that, then I'm going to step into adoption or foster care. You know?
God, I'll go on a mission trip. If you work all this stuff out first in my life, and I just wonder, you know, these different areas of your life where God's like, hey, like, I'm waiting for you to step out. Like, you need to step out in faith first to show that you trust me. Because anybody can step out if God has worked out all the details ahead of time.
You know? God wants us to step out in faith, just like he wanted these people to step into this river and feel the cold water, feel the fear of that before he actually parted the sea. All right, let's continue in the text, verse 14 through 17. So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the Ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the Ark were dipped in the brink of the water.
And then the text notes this, and I want you to kind of put a little asterisk next to this. It says, now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of the harvest. In verse 16, the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethon. And those flowing down toward the Sea of Arabah, the salt sea, were completely cut off, and the people passed over opposite Jericho.
Now the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan. Here's the second thing that I want to draw out for us today before we close. Most of the time, and I would guess this is going to be the case for your life in the upcoming year, most of the time, chaos is going to precede breakthrough in your life.
Let me say that again. Chaos is going to precede breakthrough in your life. One of the notes in this passage, I think to kind of further make the point that God wants His people to step into the fear, to step into the unknown, so that they trust Him more. One of the things I think really makes this point, you probably kind of have it in parentheses in your Bible, is this thing that it says towards the end of verse 15. So the people are stepping into the river, right? The priests, man, they're going first, they're stepping into the river. God said He's going to part the river, but He's like, hey, you're going to get your feet wet first, you're going to feel the cold, you're going to feel how scary the situation, I don't know how far, how deep do they have to go, right? Like, was it waist deep? Was it chest deep?
Was it neck deep? I'm not sure, but I think the point was, it's going to be a pretty scary situation. What does it say at the end of verse 15?
The author makes a little note here. He says, now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. The point of saying this is, hey, however fast this river flows, this is the fastest time it flows all year long. So if you've ever seen a river overflow, it could be kind of scary.
You know, where we live in North Greensboro, we live on six acres, and we have a, I don't know if I'd call it a river, but it is a river, large stream maybe, going through our backyard. And man, when it rains a lot, and when it gets to kind of the high point, it is shocking how much that river can rise. And the point being made here is like, hey, they were stepping in the river during the time of harvest while this river is flowing faster and more crazy than it ever flows throughout the rest of the year. And so I think that really brings us to this point I'm trying to draw out, is most of the time in our relationship with God, when God wants us to step out, chaos will proceed breakthrough. Like, it's going to be really scary before it's not scary.
And with the people, it's like hey, you're going to step into the river while it's flowing like crazy, super scary, you're going to get super wet, all that's going to happen before you walk on dry land. So you have chaos, and then you have the miracle, right? You have chaos, then you have walking on the dry land. And the limiting belief we have a lot of times, and I think we need to get rid of this going into the upcoming year, going into 2025, the limiting belief we often have is like, hey, if things are chaotic, it must not be God's will. We have this real faulty view of God's will where it's like, man, if every door isn't opening, if I don't have this crazy peace, if things aren't calm, and everything in my life seems to be adding up and working out and yada yada yada, and it's like, man, that's this Western pop theology that doesn't match the Bible at all.
That's the reality of it. Because most of the time, when God has you stepping into something new and stepping out in faith, I promise you, it's going to feel chaotic. You know, when we started Mercy Hill more than 10 years ago, there were times where it felt like, man, this is the height of chaos.
Like, man, is this thing going to work out? I have so many friends here at Mercy Hill that have stepped into fostering or adoption situations, and I promise you, most of the time, it's chaos before its breakthrough. You know, most of the time, our church planters and church planting teams and people that go overseas, most of the time, what they experience when they step out in faith is like, hey, it's chaos before its breakthrough.
It's wading into the water before it's walking on dry land. But a lot of times, we have this kind of mixed up will of God theology where like, man, if stuff don't seem like it's going well in my life, then I must be outside of the will of God. If you think about the people in the New Testament, you know, you think about the disciples, like, man, you think about Paul's life, you know, if you took that theology that said, man, if everything's working out, you're in the will of God, you would look at Paul's life and you're like, man, he was shipwrecked, bitten by a snake, you know, beaten, dragged out of these different cities, tied up, put in jail, put in another jail, went before these governors, like you would be like, man, his life is nothing but chaos. But that's the thing, chaos, most of the time will proceed breakthrough. And so the mindset shift I think that we all need going into this upcoming year is like, man, chaos often comes before breakthrough. Like, when I step out in faith, and things are chaotic, and I'm scared, and I have to trust God, and God has to grow my dependence on him, and I have to have more courage, that is more likely that you're in the will of God, then everything is calm and peaceful in your life. And the reality is, when we step into any new ministry, right, when you step into something that God's calling you to do in this upcoming year, in your school, at your business, with your family, whatever it may be, serving here at church, something else, like if God calls you to step into something, it's gonna feel chaotic.
Like, it's gonna feel hectic. It's gonna feel like the logistics of things aren't lining up at first, and it's like that's where God wants us to be. Because that's where we're gonna have to trust God more, you know, and that's where we're not gonna be able to depend on all these different things in our life, we're gonna have to depend on God. And that's exactly where God wants us to be.
Because, like I said at the beginning of this message, God wants to grow us more than God wants to use us. Like, the ultimate goal that God has for our life is our personal sanctification, our growth. And stepping into those waters and stepping into that chaos, oftentimes, is where we're gonna see the most growth in our life, even though, man, we want the results from that, right? Like, we want to be in God's will. Like, we want to grow. Like, we want the blessings that God has for us this upcoming year, but we don't want the means by which God is actually gonna grow us. And I just want to encourage you today that that chaos does not mean you're outside of God's will.
So, let me just challenge you with this. Like, are you retreating because things feel chaotic in your life? You know? What if that very presence of chaos in your life actually means that you're about to have a breakthrough and God's gonna work through you in a really, really huge way? And that's really my prayer for all of us in the upcoming year. Like I said at the beginning, you know, the one thing that every single person on earth has in common today is that not one of us knows what's gonna happen in the upcoming year. Man, 2025 may be like the greatest year of your life. It may be a year that's filled with more challenges than you've ever faced before.
But in the upcoming year, you're gonna have to have skin in the game. Like, you're gonna have to trust God. You're gonna have to have faith. You're gonna have to be willing to step into the water before you ever walk on dry land if you want to see God work in your life in a way that He hasn't before. Let me close with this today and just kind of ask this question, you know, because the thing is, we can't rely on, like, past faith, right? Because God is constantly calling us to new things. Like, yeah, we can rely on past faith in terms of, like, our salvation, right?
Believing on Jesus, believing His death, burial, and resurrection for us, believing the gospel, we can rely on past faith for that. But it's like, your obedience to God in, you know, 2023, 2024, that doesn't translate to the upcoming year. There's gonna be new things that, you know, God wants you to be obedient with, you know? There's gonna be new areas in the upcoming year.
Some of you already know what those are. Like, some of you already know deep down, man, here's what God is calling me to do. And that's gonna require faith in the upcoming year. Let me ask this question, does it ever get easier? Like, does it ever get easier to have to step into the water, you know, to go ankle deep and knee deep and now your waist deep and the water's rushing, does it ever get easier to do that? You know, if you've been a believer for a long time, God calls you to new things every year, does it ever get easier? Here's the thing, I would say it actually never gets easier.
That may be a little discouraging, but it never gets easier. Every single time when God is calling you to wade into the water, every single time it's gonna be scary. One kind of funny example of this is, you know, a lot of people over the last number of years have gotten into kind of the sauna cold plunge craze and I've done ice baths for a long time being a runner, but this year I finally upgraded to like a permanent cold plunge situation. So if you don't know what a cold plunge is, it's, you know, you can do it a lot of ways. You can throw a bunch of ice in your bathtub. You could buy a horse trough or you could buy some fancy, this is what I have, some fancy insulated cold plunge where you could dump ice in the water and you basically, you'll sit in there for two, three, four minutes. Basically it's, you know, 40, 45 degrees or whatever, and there's supposed to be a bunch of health benefits to it.
You may be hearing this and like, that's absolutely crazy. But, so I bought a cold plunge this year and I kind of went to YouTube. I got this DIY chiller situation so I can keep my cold plunge at like 45 degrees at all times. And one of the things I've learned having cold plunged hundreds of times now is when you first get in that water, when you first completely submerge yourself in 45 degree water, it always hurts every single time. And it never, not one time ever gets easier.
Not one time. Seriously, the first five to 10 seconds, every single time, no matter how much you think about it, no matter how much you prepare every single time, it's equally hard. It's equally difficult. And but here's the thing, but if you know, Hey, it's bad for like 10 seconds and then I'm going to, I'm going to get beyond that.
It's not that bad. It doesn't ever make the first 10 seconds look any easier. Like it's hard every single time, but you know, Hey, I'm going to get past this, man. It's going to be totally fine.
I would say our faith and stepping out in our faith is always the same, is always the same. Like it's never going to get easier, right? Because God's going to call you to something. You're going to do it. God's going to show up.
You're going to trust him. You're like, man, you know, whatever that area of your life is, you're like, you know, now you're like, Hey, when it comes to giving, like I'm good. Like I'm all good, man. I'm in generosity. But then when God calls you to something new, something you've not done yet, a new area to step out every single time, that's going to be hard to do. And I would just encourage you at this.
That's the point. Like that's the point because God wants us to continue to trust him, continue to trust him that he's going to work in our life, continue to trust him that like we can't just rely on ourself. You know, when God calls us to something big each year, each month, whatever it may be, God wants us to step out so that he can grow our relationship with him.
Because here's the thing. Jesus promised us like, man, as you go and make disciples, I'm never going to leave you. I'm always going to be with you.
Never going to forsake you. And when we step into the water, before we step on the dry land, we get to experience when we are fearful, when it's difficult, when man, we don't know what tomorrow brings. We don't know what next week brings. We're scared.
We're like, man, is this chaos ever going to end? We get to experience Jesus in those moments. And I think that's exactly where God wants us to be.
Because remember, God wants to grow us more than he wants to do anything else. Let me just close with this today. I hope you can find something from this message in Joshua 3 that you could apply to your life, because I'm sure there's lots of different areas where God is going to call every single one of us to step into the water in the upcoming year.
Maybe some ministry thing, maybe something with your job, your family. And if we're willing and open to say, God, I want to follow you in the upcoming year, there will be places where God calls us to step into the water. Last thing I'll say this to everybody that's watching today is, it's really hard to trust God with some part of your life if you haven't trusted him with all of your life. And as you're wrestling with this truth today, I just think it's important that we all, you know, understand what it is that Jesus has done for us through the gospel. You know, because in the gospel, Jesus, he took on our sin. You know, we deserve to die death like he did.
You know, we have sin, we have struggle in our life. Jesus didn't have that. Jesus was perfectly righteous, and he was willing to take that righteousness and offer that to us and take on our sin and to be punished by God for that, to be separated by God for that. And then God accepted his sacrifice, and that's why he was raised three days later.
God's saying, man, I accept Jesus' sacrifice. And so we're able to take part in that great exchange, and that is the gospel. And if you have not believed it before, I would encourage you to repent of your old life, to turn around and to trust Jesus with your life.
But that's the thing. You know, we're never going to step out in some particular area in our life. I've mentioned lots of different ways that we could step out in faith. We're never going to step out if we haven't trusted Jesus with our whole life first.
You know, because that is, that's the hardest thing to do. And that's what faith ultimately is. Faith is ultimately saying, God, I can never get back to you.
No matter how hard I work, no matter how good I am, I can never get back to you, and I have to fully trust you, and I have to step out in faith. You know, and faith is something we can't see. We have to trust God and step out in faith. And so I would just encourage you with that today to make sure that you have that buttoned up.
Because if you're not willing to step out in faith with your whole life, you're not going to be willing to step out in one particular area of your life. So I hope this message encouraged you today. Let me go ahead and pray for us. I'm sure God's going to call us into the water in the upcoming year. And I just pray that God will give us the faith to be able to step out and to do that. Lord, I just thank you for everybody that's at Mercy Hill.
I thank you for everybody that's listened or watched this message today. God, you want our hearts more than anything. We know that you want to sanctify us.
You want to grow us. And a huge part in doing that is us stepping out and trusting you in the unknown. And so God, I pray every single one of us that our hearts would be sensitive in the upcoming year.
They would be sensitive to those things that you're calling us to do. Whether it's generosity here at the end of the year, finishing out our deeper giving, whether it's adoption, foster care, going on a mission trip this upcoming year, maybe stepping up to serve for the very first time, whatever it may be, God. I pray that we'd be willing to step out into the unknown and Jesus, that you would meet us there. And we are excited for whatever the upcoming year holds because we know that you're going to be there with us. And I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you guys.
