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Transcript

Faithful in the Waiting · The Grove Church

• 0:01
  Charlie Loften: Hello, and welcome to The Grove Church podcast. I'm Charlie Loften, the lead pastor there, and we are so glad that you're joining us. Whether you are a member and you're just catching up on a sermon that you missed or you're someone who's brand new, we are really glad that you were joining us. And if you are new in some way, and I know that a lot of people will do that, we'll listen to sermons first before they visit. I want you to know that we would love to meet you at any point.
• 0:25
  You can join us live in our services on Sunday, nine and 10:30 or our streaming service at 10:30. Either way, we would love to be able to get to know you. And regardless of why you are here listening to this sermon today, thank you so much for joining us.
• 0:41
  Hey, good morning. Hey, I'm Charlie. I'm the lead pastor here. If you're new, really glad that you're here. And I would love to meet you if I haven't had the chance yet.
• 0:49
  I'll be standing in the back after the service. I'd just love to talk to you and figure out any way we can help you if you're to help you get better connected whenever it is you're ready. So again, we'd just love to meet you. So glad that you are here. And Mark, was hosting earlier, he's our small group discipleship pastor, and yesterday was his birthday.
• 1:10
  And I'm not gonna say how old he was. I'm just gonna say he's not 49. And so it's a big birthday, so give him a hug. Give him a hug. Let let him, you know, if you wish him happy birthday, Mark.
• 1:23
  Yeah. He's right there. He's there. I can't hide. He's right he's right there.
• 1:27
  Anyways, yeah, we had a great time at the at the men's retreat, and it was just a great time to celebrate again. You know, it's great to hang with you guys. And next year, if you didn't make it this year, you're like, if you're on the fence, I'm telling you, come. It's a great time. It's beautiful out there.
• 1:42
  It's a great time of connection. We are now three weeks. This is our third week into the story of Samuel. And just kind of catch you up on where we are. Really, for the first two weeks, we're just really kind of talking about almost like his origin story is kind of how he got called, and it starts with his mom who was unable to have kids for years and years and years, and prays and just begs God, hey, if you'll allow me to have this kid, I'll fully dedicate him to you.
• 2:07
  And God is faithful to her, and she's faithful to that promise. And then after a certain number of years, she has him come and live with kind of the chief priest, a guy named Eli. And it is in during that time that that Samuel hears God's voice for the first time and puts a call on Samuel's life essentially to be his primary mouthpiece to the entire nation, a prophet, a priest, a leader. This is who I've called you to be. I've called to be this incredible leader in all of Israel.
• 2:41
  And so we've got this call, and now we're gonna kinda see how things play out. But I think one of the things that we struggle with, like he has this big epic call moment where this awesome thing happens to him. He hears the voice of God, and God gives him a very tangible plan of like, this is who I want you to be. Now, we miss some of us, most of us probably, maybe have not heard an audible voice from God, and may not even feel like I've got this great sense of calling. Hopefully, over the by the time this series is over, you'll we'll be able to diminish that some, because I believe whether you've heard an audible voice or not, whether or not you're going to be a pastor or missionary or something like that, there's a call on all of our lives.
• 3:29
  There is a person that God has called you to be, a way... A a unique way that he wants to use you in the universe to bring the hope of Jesus to the world. And there's ways, and there's certain ways we see it play out. We see it play not only with occupation, but with our family. And there's all these things where God, you feel like I'm kind of on this path that I feel like God has laid out for me.
• 3:54
  And there's times we just kind of get this thing in our head, and we need to undo this, that if God calls me to something, it is necessarily going to be easy. Or the easiest and most obvious path is God's is God's call. We... I'll hear this sometimes from people. Right?
• 4:12
  I was struggling with making a decision, but I knew it was the right decision because everything worked out in this in this very orderly way. And I'm not saying that God doesn't do that sometimes, and it is fine to to to celebrate that when it happens, but really more often than we want it to be. The response to the call that God puts on your life is actually gonna be met with a lot of obstacles. Maybe maybe some waiting, some opposition. There's all these things that can happen.
• 4:45
  And I think it is important as we think about that God has laid out for us a path, a man, a woman, a leader, friend, someone who is bringing hope to people. There's a path that he has for you, that how we are going to react to long periods of waiting, how we're going to react when challenges come, and not just challenges, maybe fierce opposition. How we react to the stumbles along the way on the path is really, really kind of the defining moment of how well and how long we're going to be able to stay on this path. And so with Samuel, he's got this incredible moment. And actually, there's a long period of time before that moment and him actually being able to do that.
• 5:37
  Kind of catch you up where we are in the story, we've kind of did we've kind of ended in one Samuel one to three. We're starting with seven today. Kind of what's happening here in between is the Israelites are really just in full rebellion against God. They are not following Him. They are worshiping idols and kind of abandoning God, just in full rebellion.
• 5:56
  And as such, the Philistines, this group and we'll hear about them a lot, and if you're ever reading the early Old Testament history books, you'll see a lot about them. It's kind of this neighboring group that they're always at war with, you know, trying to take their territory, and they're trying to push the Philistines out, and very often are used as kind of a tool of judgment by God when they are in rebellion, And that's where we're at right now. They are in full rebellion against God, and in order to try to fight Him, they were trying to end rather than fully worshiping and repenting, they brought what's called the Ark of the Covenant out, which is this most sacred object that they that they had where when they were coming out of Egypt to take their land, you know, several, you know, many hundred years earlier with Moses, they've got they've got this, and it was kind of them carrying the presence of God with them. It was this very holy, sacred artifact that they had, and they thought maybe like they could just bring that, and things would be God would make it work out, again, even though they're in full rebellion.
• 7:02
  Well, the Philistines ended up capturing it. And at no point along the way are we turning back to God at all. The Philistines have it, and now they are they've got this, this incredible sacred ark there, and wherever it is they put it, their people were being cursed. And they finally realized, it's not really good. Maybe we should not have stolen this.
• 7:26
  And so they give it back to the Israelites because everything bad is happening to the Philistines. So they get it back, but they are not... That is not like, oh, wow. We need... Nothing that's happening.
• 7:39
  The the the losses, the victory of even getting it back, nothing is turning them in, and years are going by. And this is where we kinda enter our story here in first Samuel seven, starting with verse one. So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, his son, to guard the ark of the Lord. The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time, twenty years in all.
• 8:13
  Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. Twenty years. Twenty years. This is how long they have been waiting. It's how long Samuel's been waiting.
• 8:31
  Can you imagine? You have this audible voice you hear from God, I want you to be this this great prophet. I want you to lead the people, and all he's experienced is no one really following God, nothing but open rebellion and idol worship, And he don't... He doesn't he doesn't have a whole lot to do. And he is sitting here for twenty years waiting to do and be who God has called him to be.
• 9:01
  I can only... I would I would love I would love to have a glimpse of what his life was like in that twenty years. I'm sure maybe he had a a small following of people that would listen to him, but mostly, I'm sure it felt to him like he was just screaming truth at a wall. Wall, you need to change your color. Right?
• 9:18
  I mean, he's just he's talking he's talking he's he's just talking out into the air, and no one is listening. And for twenty years, he feels isolated, feels pointless. I'm sure at some point, no matter how vivid that audible voice story was when God calls out to him three times, at some point in twenty years, you're thinking, maybe I made this up. Maybe this is all in my head. But here's what we do know.
• 9:52
  We don't know exactly what happened those twenty years. We do know this, that he he remained faithful in the waiting. It was right when this moment is happens, he's ready. He's ready to speak truth to them. He is ready to help them get back onto the right path.
• 10:12
  Samuel Samuel is right there. I mean, in twenty years, I mean, that's just an insane amount of time. And the older you get, the more that you can identify with that. I mean, when you're a kid, like, waiting a day feels like forever. But eventually, you get old enough that you know what it's like to have a bad week, to have a bad month, maybe even a bad year, maybe in a bad several years, where you're waiting for something for a really long time.
• 10:35
  You thought it was gonna happen here, but now I'm waiting. It's been a year. It's been three years. It's been five years. But Samuel continues to trust.
• 10:45
  Now in my life, I mean, I... The the challenge for me in this was to think about which and how many stories to tell from my life when I thought that there was some obvious thing that that that God wanted me to do, and it didn't quite work out the way that I thought it would. Couple of weeks ago, I was kinda telling you, it's kind of with, know, kind of along with Samuel, kind of how I felt God's call in my life. And it started when I was a teenager and kinda reaffirmed in college, and then reaffirmed again a couple of years after college when I was on staff with this college ministry. And I did that for about six years.
• 11:23
  I did that for about six years, and somewhere around year five, I really felt like that God was kind of calling me to something different. That He was kind of changing my heart from being kind of a college pastor with a really kind of a focus on discipleship training, to really just more a pastor in general, to kind of more shepherding and care and to wider ranges of people. And kind of one of the defining moments for me was somewhere around year five, I remember coming home. And the thing about college ministry is it's the same year every year. They're always 18 to 22, and when they graduate, they just get it's always the same.
• 12:00
  You're getting older, they're not getting older. And I began to realize their conversations you have with freshmen and sophomore, it was very repetitive. And for a lot of that, it was really good for me. I like a good rhythm. But I remember coming home once and coming into the house and looking at Heidi.
• 12:19
  He's like, listen, if I have to have one more conversation with a 19 year old boy who says his life is over because a girl he didn't even know three weeks ago broke up with him, I'm going to put my head through the wall. Now, I don't know how you when you think it's time for a change in your life, but when head through the wall comes out of your mouth, maybe it's time for a change. And so that was kind of a catalyst for me to kind of think about what was next. And it was really cool because there was a guy who was about to graduate after it was going to be a senior during year six, who I think was really gifted to really kind of take over for me. And so I was going to train him up.
• 12:58
  And at the very same time, I'm thinking that God's calling me to be a pastor, there's an opening at my church for small groups pastor. And it's like, this is what I've been doing for five years, is kind of leading small groups and training people on how to lead small groups. I mean, I can do this. And so I talked to them, and they gave me the job part time in an interim basis. And so I'm finishing up my last year on staff with this college ministry.
• 13:22
  I'm part time with the church, and they're looking for somebody full time. That year goes really, really well. I teach some on stage for the first time, I feel like that goes really well, I'm doing the job well, I'm transitioning this off well, they're looking for a guy, here I am doing it, and it's going well, God's got this path laid out, So when it came time to apply for the full time job, put this really nice professional packet together, hand delivered it to each one of the elders, and a couple of days later, they got a callback. It's like, I'm not sure why you're sending us this. You are too young, and you don't have a seminary degree.
• 13:57
  We're not even gonna we're not even gonna interview. We're not even consider you for this job. I mean, the path had been clearly lined out. And I take one step into it, and it's like there was an invisible wall. It took...
• 14:11
  It almost took me out. I came home, told Heidi about it, immediately went back to our bet... Back bedroom, and I just remember sobbing uncontrollably. Because God told me to do this. And and and it was it was obvious.
• 14:34
  And then you hit that wall. Yeah, pretty soon after that, we make a decision, right? There's one thing that you can do. You actually fix both of those problems pretty easily. You don't have a seminary degree, and you're too young.
• 14:46
  If you go to seminary and get the degree, when you're done, you have it, and you're marginally older than you were when you started, right? So it was a thing we could solve. But there's this thing that we experienced, and for those of you who have been around for a long time, this will not be new to you, but we have never moved from one city to another where we successfully sold our house before we moved. From Conway to Seminary, it was about five months that house sat empty, which is a lot of waiting, especially when you are a pizza delivery driver or a Chick fil A night manager with two kids. There's really not money there for the mortgage.
• 15:32
  It was a long waiting, those five months. And then we moved to St. Louis. We were there for a few years, and we moved from there to Cabot, Arkansas. It was about eight months that house sat unsold.
• 15:48
  That's a lot of waiting. And I I did not have the ability. We did not have the ability to have these two mortgages. We're not that really. It was crazy.
• 16:00
  And then we moved from there to here. And the thing I was noticing, the trend, it seemed to be the length was getting longer. And so we moved here, and we couldn't sell it then. It's like, okay. Well, you know, it was first about four months and then maybe about seven months.
• 16:13
  And so maybe this is gonna be about ten months. And I was I was I was right. It was ten years. That's a lot of waiting, a long time to kind of feel like you wanna be unburdened and be fully here and to believe this is what God's called us to do, but there's this anchor pulling us back, holding us back. I think I'm supposed to be doing this, but why why won't why won't this happen?
• 16:41
  How long do I have to endure this? And I'm sure that there are things in your lives with your family, with a career change, with a relationship, with something that you would really love to see develop in your life. Maybe maybe there is... There's this there's this thing that God's put on your heart that I would love to be able to do, to accomplish, to to be able to serve our community, to to bring the hope of Jesus to people. And I've got this thing, and it just it just won't seem to happen.
• 17:14
  And there's something that happens in you in the waiting. In the waiting, God has you, and there's a shaping that he can do in your uncertainty. Sometimes we feel like we are at our best when we are the most confident, but we are the most moldable in the waiting. And I am sure there is any... I can't imagine the amount of character development and things that God was teaching Samuel in twenty years of waiting, shaping him for at just the right time, the path that seemed very clear will finally open up to him.
• 18:01
  Continue on here, verse three, first Samuel seven. So Samuel said to all the Israelites, if you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the asterisks and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So the Israelites put away their Baals and their asterisks and served the Lord only. Then Samuel said, assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you. When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord.
• 18:38
  On that day, they fasted, and and and there they confessed. We have sinned against the Lord. Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that the Lord had a... That Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them.
• 18:55
  When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel, do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hands of the Philistines. Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf, and the Lord answered him. And so Samuel, man, he takes full advantage.
• 19:23
  God has been doing a really cool work in his life, apparently, over the last twenty years, and when the moment finally came, he was ready for it. He's like, listen. If you say that you wanna turn back to to the Lord, he's not he's not a part time God. He's not one of your pantheon. There is only one God, and you have to get rid of all these other idols, these false gods, put them away completely, destroy all the remnants that you had of of of your worship of these other false gods, get rid of all of it, and you need to worship only, only God.
• 19:55
  And they they are faithful. Okay. Now you come over here, and we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna a ceremony, and we're gonna dedicate this. And so they all gather together at this place where Samuel is, and everything is finally happening. Samuel is able to to encourage them and to help them follow, and then they're getting rid of their idols, and they're wanting to turn their hearts back.
• 20:17
  And at that moment, you think, man, everything's finally going well, and we're finally through the waiting period, and now we're gonna have this tremendous hour and moment of blessing, but a trial immediately hits them. They're doing everything right, and almost immediately, the Philistines, their enemies that they've been battling for years, start coming on the march to where they are to fight them. Just at the moment where things were starting to turn around, the enemy comes back, and they're scared to death. They're scared to death. But Samuel isn't.
• 21:00
  Samuel's learned a lot in the waiting. God has shaped him, changed him, made him the man he is. And while everyone is out there around him are afraid, he sees something very different. And not only does he remain faithful in the waiting, he remains faithful in the trial. The trial comes, the obstacles come, and he does not see something to be scared of.
• 21:30
  In the waiting, he saw opportunities for God to mold him into the man that he would become. And what he saw in the trial was an opportunity for God to show off. When we are waiting, God is molding us so that when the trial comes, we do not see fear. We are not scared. We know that God will do what he said he would do.
• 22:03
  And so this trial, these Philistines, this attack, this potential disaster is not a disaster. It is an opportunity for God to show up in a huge way. And so Samuel prays. He's like, hey, let let... We're just gonna pray.
• 22:20
  I'm gonna I'm gonna make a sacrifice. And he cries out to the Lord, and the Lord answered him. Trials aren't something to be feared. Trials aren't something that can take us down. They are opportunities for God to do something great, and Samuel understood that.
• 22:42
  And we need to understand it. We feel too often we are walking on this path, and all of a sudden there is attack. There are big obstacles. Something happens to you. It's like, I must be on the wrong path because I wouldn't be if it can't be the right path if there's opposition.
• 23:02
  Do you hear how weird that sounds coming out of my mouth? I'm gonna say it again. I'm gonna say it again. We we think that we're on the right path if there's not opposition. If you're on the right path, of course, there is gonna be opposition.
• 23:19
  Last thing the Philistines wanted was for God's people to be united and worshiping the one true God, the God of this ark of the covenant that had almost devastated the town for them. That's the last thing that they wanted, and there is opposition out there all the time. Actually, talked about this a little bit at the men's retreat. There's there's... There are battles out there keeping you from becoming who God has called you to be.
• 23:45
  And the trial is not something that has to stop you. It is an opportunity for God to do something even greater than you imagined. So it was right at nine and a half years, a little bit more. It took us to sell that house. And, I mean, we we could not wait to celebrate.
• 24:04
  It was it was incredible. And we have been talking about this forever that once this happens, once we sell this house, we're gonna do what we do, which is go to Disney World. Right? We're going to Disney World. We're going to Disney World.
• 24:19
  So I mean, we signed all those papers in January, and there was almost no length of time between us signing those papers, me coming home, and setting a trip. And we were gonna go when school was out. So we signed the papers in January. We're going to Disney World in May. And we...
• 24:34
  I booked that trip almost immediately. Okay. I forgot to tell you what. The year was 2020. So we sell the house in January, and we did not go to Disney World in May.
• 24:50
  We are finally relieved after years of waiting, and we feel kind of unencumbered and free in a way to be who God has called us to be and and and to thrive in a way without this just giant backpack of rocks that we're carrying around with us. And I mean, it is not two months later that the world goes crazy. And I would say one of... What... I mean, the the craziest thing is I feel like it's happened in my lifetime.
• 25:21
  And one of the most significant obstacles against being a church and doing what God has called us to do. And typically, don't like to tell stories where I feel like I did... I I need to tell you I was... And I and I struggled in this. Like, I like to be the, you know, the the bad example in my story, but honestly, I look back at those kind of the the those six months, those first six months when it was at its craziest, I feel like we handled it really well.
• 25:49
  I feel like we did the best you possibly could have done. I feel like the decisions that we made were good, and I think I did. I believed I I believed very early on this was gonna be an opportunity for God to show up. When we're scared, we're uncertain, is is is the time when God best has the ability to kind of come in there. And and there was a renewed passion and love for worship and connecting with one another and connecting with God at the time when it seemed like it was least accessible.
• 26:22
  And rather than being undone by it, rather rather than it being the thing that kind of makes my way, I guess we gotta shut this thing down, or it's gonna kinda, you know, kill what we were doing. I feel like it was a revitalizing moment for us as a church. And those... That perspective is learned by going through the trial, and it is learned in the waiting. It is learned when things aren't happening the way that that you think they should.
• 26:56
  God's doing something in your heart, and then when he shows up, you've got a different perspective about who he is. I've got a different perspective about who who God has called me to be, and the trial can't stop you. And you can keep going, and you can know, and you can know that the faithfulness of God is coming. So he cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf, and the Lord answered him. Verse 10.
• 27:29
  While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day, the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Bethkar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shin. He named it Ebenezer, saying, thus far, the Lord has helped us.
• 28:01
  So the Philistines were subdued, and they stopped invading Israel's territory. Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. So Samuel knew God would show up, and he did. And he made such this big thunder in their camp that it just unsettled them. It was so stressful to them.
• 28:23
  It was chaotic, and it just allowed this opportunity for God's people to come in there and route them. God showed up in a huge way just like Samuel knew. But what's really cool is what Samuel does next. He doesn't just he's like, well, was good. You guys go home now.
• 28:42
  He takes some time. And we have we need to remember this awesome thing that God did. And what he does here, and now he remained faithful in the waiting and in the trial. And what he does next is he celebrates and commemorates God's faithfulness. We need to remember this.
• 29:01
  So he took a rock and made this kind of this little this little memorial, like a a remembrance right here. We're we're building this thing. And every time you see it, you need to remember this thing that God did. And he he calls it Ebenezer. Which really mean, which what that means like god has helped us.
• 29:24
  Side note, if you've ever sung the hymn, come thou fount of every blessing, there's a point in there, right? Here I raise my Ebenezer, and you've probably sung that. You're like, I've never raised an Ebenezer. I don't know what that means, and I I I wouldn't wouldn't even know one if I saw it. And so this is where it comes from.
• 29:50
  It's this. He raises Ebenezer. Right? He he he makes this thing a testimony, a remembrance of what God did. And I want us to always remember it.
• 30:10
  And so when we do it, it is us when God does something cool. We thank him, but we need to take the time to remember. And we need to set up we're like, Lord, I'm never going to forget. I'm never gonna forget the really cool thing that God did. Because we do forget in the waiting, in the trial.
• 30:35
  I'm gonna shift story trains and kinda go to our family. My wife and I, we have three daughters, two daughters are in their 20s and a teenager. There's an eleven year gap between our middlest and our youngest. And we tried for a long time to to have a third child. In fact, we always believed that this is what God wanted for us, have three kids.
• 31:00
  And for a year, for two years, for three years, for four years, for years. And it just would not happen. And pretty early on, after our our middle daughter Lauren was born, we got this really cool present, a little a little snowman for Christmas decoration. And this snowman had a a little belt, and he had five mittens on the belt, Charlie, Heidi, Mailey, Lauren, blank. And for years, every year, blank.
• 31:34
  Blank. Eleven years we waited, and then God did something incredible. We became foster parents, brought this brand new sweet baby girl home from the hospital, and eleven months later, we got to make her a part of our family for sure, forever. And now, for the last fifteen years, Charlie, Heidi, Mailey, Lauren, Layla. And every year at Christmas is an incredible remembrance of the faithfulness of God.
• 32:14
  And every year, I pull that thing out, and and we have it up, and I tell Layla about it. She's like, dad, yes. I know. I know. It used to be an empty mitten.
• 32:23
  I'm talking about it now, so maybe I can get the crying out. It can just be a little normal when we pull the things out in November. But I I I I I just... All I have to do is think about that snowman and it's five mintons. And it just undoes me because it not only reminds me, it reminds me about how hard those years were.
• 32:47
  But it it is also a testimony of I would not trade any of those away to... If if it meant... Did this thing, that God bringing that precious baby girl into our home. And it is a testimony that we celebrate about the power and the faithfulness of God in our lives. Our family in a lot of different ways, we've walked this path that God's called us to.
• 33:21
  We've done a lot of waiting. We've been through a lot of trials, and we still... We're still feeling all of that. It's it's all... There's always something.
• 33:31
  There's always a trial. There's always waiting. But in the waiting, God shapes you. In the trials, God shows up. And then we have incredible things to celebrate and to remember.
• 33:47
  So let us not be undone by the what the world continues to throw at us, but let's remain faithful in the waiting, faithful in the trial, and celebrate an incredible God. Let me pray. God, thank you. I thank you that you are a faithful God. God, I thank you that you've sold all those houses eventually.
• 34:21
  I thank you for all three of the precious girls that you have given to us and the incredible, powerful story behind each one of them. God, I thank you for this church and the trials and the ups and downs that that we've gone through here, the uncertainty, the waiting, the opposition. And, God, I thank you that you've always showed out. And God, I just pray for everyone here, whether they're waiting or they're feeling like the world is against them, that, God, that you would do the work in their hearts and in their circumstance to give them something to celebrate.
• 35:13
  And, God, I pray that every one
• 35:14
  of us now would also look back and remember all the times you have shown up and done incredible things and that we would be a people that never forget. Never forget your faithfulness. And as always, we are so thankful for your son, Jesus Christ, and the life that he has given us that makes all of this possible. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.
• 35:50
  Thanks again for joining us on our sermon podcast, and you can learn more about us at thegrovechurch.org. If you go to thegrovechurch.org/connect, there's a form you could fill out. Just let us know that you've been listening. And if you wanna dig deeper on some of these topics that we cover in our sermon podcast or just another issues of dealing with culture or theology, those kinds things, you can check out our cultivate podcast. It's on the same feed however you found this particular podcast.
• 36:15
  So again, this is Charlie, the lead pastor at The Grove, and thank you so much for joining us.