I want to take a second just to thank everyone that works behind the scenes to make Sundays happen because uh it takes like 800 something man hours just to make every Sunday that we we have together occur. And and so many of those people are are in roles that no one ever even sees, no one ever realizes. You don't think about the fact that there's a group of people that come early every morning to set up all the Lord's Supper and all the juice and all that kind of stuff. That stuff goes unnoticed. And a lot of those people like that. So we want to take a second just to put our hands together for all of our behind-the-scenes people. And uh and you know, if you ever want to be on one of those teams or any team, you just sign up at the Connect Desk in the main lobby on your way out, and and they've got a great team of people there that will help you find a fit because no matter how you're wired, there's a team here that fits you. And it might be one of those behind-the-scenes teams. They get to do a lot of really cool stuff, and so feel free to sign up for those this morning. Uh, if it's your first time here, I want to start by saying welcome to His Hands. We are excited to have you with us. Uh, this church is all about one thing: loving people to Jesus. We believe that if people get a taste of God's love for them, they will want more, and there is so much more of that. And so everything we do here is to help people get his love, grow in his love, and give that away. If you are new or relatively new, even if you've only been coming for a few months, after the service today, we have what we call a newcomer Q ⁇ A. And it's really simple. It's in room two, which is right in our main hallway. If you ran right through the back of this room, you'd be there. Uh, 15 minutes or so just for you to find out more about the church, how we got started, what what we're all about, what makes things kind of tick here at his hands. I'll be there. It'll be a great chance for me to meet you, and you can ask me anything. You can grill me, you can bring out some some real tough questions if you want. I mean, please don't, but you can. Um, I'll answer them because we're open books here and we we love we love talking to people, getting to know people. So stick around for that if you'd like to know more about this place, if you're a newcomer. Um, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who's helping out, everyone who serves and prays and gives financially. Nathan mentioned this verse uh a little bit ago. He said that our real worship according to God, according to the Bible, is that we see our whole lives as kind of living sacrifices. And we see everything that we are and everything that we have as something that God can use to help people, to bless people. And you guys are are amazing examples of that. You you guys, you give, you're generous, you're kind, you pray. And so we don't pass a plate or anything like that if you're new. There are four columns in the back of the room where you can support us financially. Every week I say thank you for that because it it helps things work here in a big way. We have bills just like everybody else, but you guys are so generous and kind. It's awesome. And uh I'm really excited here soon to give an update of how much we've been able to give away this year as a church. I I'm pretty confident that we're gonna shatter our record in terms of how much we've been able to give away to the community this year. And so um, it's exciting to do that. I love getting to share that with you. I'll do it soon. Uh, but pray with me and let's jump into the message this morning. Jesus, thank you so much for uh for everything you are. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for speaking your life into us. And we ask right now, God, that you would just open our minds and open our hearts so that we can receive what you want to teach us through your word. Um, just help our lives to be better. Help us live lives that we're we're proud of because we know we're living those lives for you. We ask this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Amen. Well, I was gone last week and I missed you guys. Ken was here, and if you were here last week, he gave an unbelievable message. So if you weren't able to make it, listen to it online, get caught up. I was out of town because I started a little tradition with my son. My son Liam is five, and you know, I've got Lily who's about to be two, and then Judah is still incubating, he's still getting ready to come. And so I want to I want to have a tradition with each of my kids. I just want there to be something that we do that's just it's just between the two of us. That every year I can I can take my kids somewhere and we can just have we can just have a tradition, something we enjoy. And so this year we started one, Liam and I. We left town last week, we drove to North Carolina to go to Duke's basketball season kickoff event. And uh now hold on, I know some of you are judging me right now. I know that. And all sports things aside, by the way, Duke football is ranked this year, so just you know, in case you didn't know, it's pretty rare when that happens. But you who know me might be thinking, that sounds like a good Justin trip, right? That sounds a little selfish. I thought this was supposed to be something for your son, but I will let you know as you judge me, okay, that there is nothing wrong with training your children to love what you love at all. It's just wisdom. I've been doing that since Liam was born. I've been doing that since he was born. I mean, literally, we have watched Duke games together since he was a baby. Uh, in fact, one of the first things he would say proudly when we were when he was really little was go gook. He couldn't say D's, so it was go gook. And if we'd say, What about North Carolina? Because I'm a Duke fan, he'd go, boo. And this is like Liam at one. Okay, so he was thrilled. He was so excited. He got to be on the court, he got to stand there, he got to meet a player, get his picture taken with the player. I mean, he had the time of his life. There was this one moment, though, on the trip where I was in a little bit of a moral crisis. Those of you with kids or who have raised kids, you've been in this situation before, where your kids ask you a serious question. They're asking you about something they want to be, something they want to become, and it's something big like being the president or an astronaut or something. Liam looked at me and said, Dad, can I play for Duke one day? And see, the real answer to that question, the honest answer is, well, it it depends.

Right?

Because it depends on a lot. If you want to be an athlete at that level, like I'm 5'9, I have not helped him out. Okay? He's got a grandfather that's 6'5, so if he can find a way to tap into that DNA, it's gonna help him. But it also depends on how talented he is, it depends on how athletic he is, it depends on how much he practices and works, and it depends on his exposure, it depends on a lot. So the honest answer to that question is I don't know, son. The odds are not in your favor. But you don't say that to children. You lie to them, right? You say, of course you can. You can do anything you set your mind to. And there's truth to that. We can do so much. I mean, God made us as people that are, it's unbelievable what a person can accomplish if they they have a will and they set their mind to something. God can do anything he sets his mind to. We can do a lot of things we set our minds to, but that statement, you can do anything that you set your mind to, it's not, it's not a hundred percent true. Childhood is a lot like that. There are many things we're taught growing up that we hear, and no one was trying to lie to us, no one was trying to manipulate us, they were trying to inspire and motivate us, but they told us things that just aren't fully accurate. Like I was told growing up that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. And when I was in the eighth grade, I was probably five, six or so, I got in a fight with a kid who ironically was six foot three. That's the size I wanted to be. You know, that whole you can do anything you set your mind to. I wanted to be six, three. Didn't happen. I set my mind to that, never worked out. He was six foot three. I punched him and he didn't fall hard. He punched me back and I fell very hard. And so it was more like the bigger they are, the harder they hit. That was a more accurate statement. But I grew up being told the bigger they are, the harder they fall. My favorite, bar none, is a phrase that I know you can repeat, I know you can finish this sentence. Um, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will what? Whatever, right? Words will never hurt me. If you break a bone, it will heal back, and it'll heal back stronger than it was before most times. But I have things that people said to me 20 years ago that still sting a little bit. Now I can think of things that someone said to me in middle school, which still come to my mind from time to time. As I've gotten older, I've learned that, okay, hold on, that shouldn't bother you. You should forgive that person, you should have a different perspective, but but it's ludicrous to say that words don't hurt. Words cut deeper than pretty much anything else. Listen to the way that the book of James puts this. James chapter 3, verse 2 says, indeed, we all make many mistakes, for if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth, and a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches, but a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it itself is set on fire by hell. Our words are powerful. So powerful, in fact, that James says they are dangerous. Our words have the ability to cut down, our words have the ability to destroy. Our words define us. The last month we've been in a series called Defined. We're looking at the choices that we make that define our lives. It is not our circumstances, it is not the situations that we face that define us. It is how we choose, how we decide to respond. Jesus' life was no different. His life was defined not by his hardships. Those did not shape him. It was the decisions Jesus made amidst his hardships that defined who he was. And very few choices you will make in life will define you as much as your choice of words. The words you speak define you for one main reason. Your words outlive you. Your words carry on after your life is finished. One of my favorite things is stumbling across amazing quotes by people in the past. If I read something that someone said a few hundred years ago, but it was so true and so meaningful that people are still saying it today, that just, I don't know, that speaks to me. I get excited. When I read books, I always underline quotes. I love quotes. People said something ages ago and they're remembered for it. Have you ever asked yourself, what do I want to be remembered for saying? When my life is done, what do I want to be remembered for saying? Make no mistake, your words will outlive you. There are things you will say to friends, there are things you will say to your children, there are things you'll say to people around you, and your words to them will live with them even after your life is done. What do you want to be remembered for saying? See, we live in a culture that tells us words are trivial. That's the basic message of that sticks and stones thing. Words don't really matter that much, so you shouldn't let them bother you because they're trivial. That's why we have phrases in our culture that are so common. Phrases like, I didn't mean it. We say something and then we just say, No, no, I didn't mean it, and that's supposed to undo what we said. Or we'll say things like, It came out wrong. I'm so sorry, it came out wrong. We'll say things like, I take it back. I take it back. What I said, I take it back. And if you're a man and you're like me, what you say often is just what did I say? What did I say? Please tell me, because I don't know what I said. I know I said something wrong, but I just don't know what it was. And we live in this culture. I say things like that all the time. I take it back. Oh, I wish I I could take that back. I have said so many things in my life. Where as soon as the words came out, the first thing I thought was, oh no, I wish I could rewind time and just punch myself or sew my mouth shut something, because I am the king of putting my foot in my mouth. I know some of us in the room would raise our hands and say, Yeah, I'm good at that too, but I'm like really good at it. My whole life, I just haven't had much of a filter between my brain and my mouth. There's just not a natural one there. Something went wrong in my childhood. I don't know what happened, but I just say whatever's on my mind, and that gets me in trouble. I have no idea how my wife married me. I don't know. Because even before we dated, I put my foot in my mouth. Megan and I went to high school together, and I noticed her really quickly because she was impossible not to notice. I mean, she was beautiful and talented, she's really athletic. She was a three-time All-state volleyball player, right? She was, she's just awesome at everything. And so I saw Megan, she was incredible and out of my league, but you know, I was a boy, and we have this tendency to reach for the stars when it comes to relationships. And some of you women here know that because you're looking at your husband going, like, I'm way more attractive than him. What did I, why? I could have I could have held out for more, but you you didn't. So that's our hope as men. And so when Megan was about a sophomore in high school, this is a few years before we started dating, I noticed her and I wanted to I wanted to make an impression. And so she was wearing this warmup that went with her volleyball uniform. Whenever the girls would play, they would wear their warmups to school. And on the front of her warm-up was a nickname. All the girls had nicknames stitched on their warmups, and hers was frosty. And so I thought, okay, this is my chance. I can say something cute, I can kind of make an impression. And so I walked up to her, you know, just bringing my A game, which wasn't much as a sophomore. Um I was really good at the chasing girls thing in elementary school and like poking them and pushing them, and that was my way of flirting, and I just couldn't figure out adolescence. Once that was no longer acceptable, I didn't know what to do. So I just talked. And I walked up to Megan and I said, Hey, Rosty, huh? That's a good nickname. I like that. Uh I get it, I get it. I have pale skin too. Yeah. So I learned that day that women do not like to be told they're pale. Right? I don't mind. I have the complexion of Elmer's glue. It does not bother me at all. Um, I thought that was a connection we had. I assume that that's why they called her Frosty, because Megan is very fair-skinned. Fair-skinned is different than pale-skinned. I learned that. But that wasn't why they called her Frosty. It had to do with some highlighting technique she did to her hair, and she let me know that. That was a good moment for me. Uh two years later, she had forgotten enough about that that she said yes to a date, but man, I put my foot in my mouth all the time. I say things that get me in trouble. Have you ever found yourself in hot water simply because of something you said? Have you ever found yourself in a in a serious situation because you did not exercise control over what came out? One of my favorite stories in history has to do with that. There was there was this young lawyer about my age, he was 33, and he had a he had a really good way with words. In fact, he was known for being really funny. He had a quick wit, and he would use his his quick wit, he would use his way with words and humor to pretty much destroy anyone who opposed him. And as he got older, he started to run for office. In his early 30s, he was getting involved with politics, and he had this strategy he would use against his political opponents. It's pretty brilliant. He would write these scathing letters, insulting them, humiliating them. They were funny, they were clever, they'd make fun of their appearance, their intelligence, you name it, and he would leave these letters who were written anonymously, he'd leave them in public places so people would find them and then publish them in the newspaper. And his opponents were humiliated. I mean, his opponents were, they were outraged. But eventually one of his political opponents found out who wrote the letter. And this is at a time in history when if you were really upset with someone, you could challenge them to a duel, and it was legal. You both got pistols and you shot at each other, and the one who lived is the one who won, and that was completely okay in the eyes of the law. And so this man challenged the young lawyer to a duel, but here was the problem. The lawyer was really good with words, but not so experienced with a gun. But the man that challenged him was, and it was it was understood, it was a certain fact, that this young guy, this young guy who just had to open his mouth, who just had to be clever and funny at the expense of another person, he knew he was gonna die. And the actual accounts of this say that his normal humor, his normal wit was kind of gone, and he was just solemn. He knew his life was just about done. And thankfully, a mutual friend of the two came in at the last minute and and resolved it without violence, and the man went on to live. In 1861, he was elected president. His name was Abraham Lincoln. He's known as one of the greatest leaders in history. One of the greatest leaders of men that has ever lived. And how crazy is it that we almost lost a man like Lincoln because he could not control his words, because he could not keep his words to himself. What's really amazing about that story is that when Lincoln was assassinated, they went through his desk and they cleared it all out. And they found in this locked drawer in his desk dozens and dozens of letters that he wrote that were very much like the ones he wrote when he was younger. They were letters he wrote to generals he was upset with, letters he wrote to opponents that he had, and these letters were they were like those letters of old. They were scathing, they were humiliating. He had not lost his way with words. But see, the difference is he never mailed those. He wrote those and he kept them to himself. The young Lincoln said things and then thought to himself, ooh, I take it back. The older Lincoln, the wiser Lincoln learned that he would never have to say, I take it back, if he didn't send it in the first place. He learned from Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 29, verse 11 says, Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. I love the way the message version says it. A fool lets it all hang out, but a sage quietly mulls it over. How much different would our lives be? How much more successful, how much more peaceful would our lives be if we were people who exercised extreme control over our words? Because words are not trivial. What you say has impact. In fact, the ancient Hebrew people they had a very specific idea of how words worked, and we might call it superstition. They believed that once a word left someone's mouth, that word had a life of its own. That word would live on and it could affect people for ages to come. That's why they believed so powerfully in blessings and curses. They kind of saw words like arrows that come from a bow. Once it's released, that arrow, it's gonna move, it's gonna have an impact, it's going to affect someone. You cannot shoot an arrow and then say, I take it back. I didn't mean it. I was just kidding. Doesn't work like that. See, words are no different. We have this incredible opportunity to become people who master what we say, to be people who recognize the power that our words have. Because yes, our words are dangerous. Yes, our words can cut down and destroy, but our words can also build up, our words can inspire. What do you want to be remembered for saying? What do you want your legacy to be? What quotes do you want credited to you when your life is done? I guarantee you this there is someone, at least one person in your life. Someone that loves you so much, someone that holds you in such regard, someone that's so close to you that your opinion matters so much to them. You have the ability to change their life with the right words. And that's how Jesus lived his life. Jesus never had to say, I take it back. Jesus never said, Oh, that came out wrong. If Jesus had a Twitter account, he would have never deleted a tweet, he would have never blamed a tweet on some intern or anything like that. Jesus meant what he said, and he said what he meant. Jesus was the living embodiment of Ephesians chapter 4, verse 29, which says, Don't use foul or abusive language, let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. How can your words inspire someone? What would happen if the people who claimed to be followers of Jesus spoke like Jesus? I mean, Jesus, when he spoke to everyday people, he lifted them up. There was the time that Peter, this fisherman who started following Jesus, recognized who Jesus was. And Jesus says to him, Peter, you are the rock that I'm going to build my church on. See, Peter was a fisherman, working class. In that day and age, the brightest and the best young men would be chosen by rabbis to become disciples. And Peter had been one of the ones passed over. But Jesus picked him. And then Jesus spoke into his life and said, Peter, you are strong. You are mighty. You're so strong, I'm going to build my church on you. You're going to be the one that leads this when I'm not physically present on this earth anymore. What did that do to Peter? How did that change the way Peter saw himself? There was a young woman who was brought to Jesus. She was caught in sin. She was caught in adultery. And in that time, you could be stoned to death. Stoned to death for committing adultery. And she was caught in it. The Pharisees, the religious leaders brought her to Jesus and they said, Look, the law says we can stone her. What do you say? Jesus asked which of them had never sinned before, and they got the picture, they left. And then he walks up to this woman and he asks her this question. He says, Where are your accusers? She says, They're gone. Jesus said, I do not condemn you. Now, this is a woman who had been condemned by everyone, everyone who knew her. She had heard countless people tell her who she was in their eyes, tell her that she was a sinner, tell her that she was she was trash. And Jesus, the Son of God, walks up to her and says, I do not condemn you. I hope if you're here this morning and you you struggle with guilt and shame, I hope that you've heard Jesus speak those words to you. And if you haven't, you need to hear it. He does not condemn you. He tells her, I don't condemn you, I accept you. See, that woman's life changed. She went from being a prostitute to being one of his most passionate followers. In fact, she's the one, most scholars believe, the Mary that Jesus first showed himself to when he had risen. The person entrusted, the very first person entrusted with the message, he is risen. She was the first one. But if Jesus hadn't spoken into her life, if he hadn't recognized that his words could change her destiny, that would have never happened. Your words are that powerful because you are made in the image of God. What do you want to be remembered for saying? Whatever that is, start saying it today and repeat it constantly. I have a really close relationship with my kids. I love being a dad. I love it. I'm really immature as a father. I'm just going to admit that. Like I Star Wars is about to come out. If if anyone has anyone recognized that? Yeah. Yeah, we can clap for some Star Wars. I'm with you. And I've told my wife, like, oh man, you know, it's going to be impossible to resist the marketing of Star Wars for a kid that's his age over the next few years. So we better just go all in, I guess. But don't worry. I mean, I've I've spotted some toys, and I'll I'll be happy to have lightsaber fights with them. And the video games, I got that covered, and you know, I already booked tickets to the movie and everything. We're good. I mean, because I'm a good dad. But with Liam, one of the things that I I have I've really worked on. And this isn't me saying, oh, do do what I do, because I'm actually the last person you would probably want to follow when it comes to what I say and what I don't say, because I just tend to say everything that I think of. But with him, more than anyone else, I have been really purposeful. I've really wanted to recognize that my words as his father will shape him. I know some of us had words as children spoken over us that have haunted us, that we have tried to forget. I want my son to hold on to the words that I say to him. And so there's two things that I can say to Liam any day, and he'll just repeat it. Like it's automatic. I'll say, Liam, why does daddy love you? And he'll say, Because you do. Because I tell him every day, I love you because I love you. That's the way God loves us. You ever ask God, why do you love me? He'll say, Because I love you, and it's my choice, and you can't change it. I tell Liam, I love you because I love you. I'll also ask Liam, what's my job? And Liam will repeat it. He'll finish my sentence, to teach me to be a good man. And that actually comes in handy a lot whenever I'm needing to discipline Liam because he's five and he's sometimes not a good boy, but that's okay. He's still a boy, he's not a man yet. We're still working on that. And I'll just stop and say, Liam, what is my job? And they'll kind of look down and say, Teach me to be a good man. I'm like, okay, would a good man do this? No. See, I want Liam to repeat those things to his kids. I envision Liam one day having a son and looking at his son and saying, Why does daddy love you? And I envision his son saying, Because you do. And I picture Liam telling his son one day, What's my job? And Liam's son saying, to teach me to be a good man, because see, he knows that I believe he will be one. And then that goes down to another generation. Do you understand this morning that's how powerful your words are? That they will outlive you, that what you speak will live on in the hearts of the people that God brings you into contact with. We are the people who follow Jesus. Let's be people who talk like Jesus. Let's be people that recognize that our words are powerful. This culture that tells us that our words don't matter, that words are trivial, just forget about them. It's wrong. Our words matter as much as anything. Jesus' life was defined by his actions, but it was also defined by what he said. Because here we are 2,000 years later, and we're reading what he said. We're trying to memorize what he said. We're trying to live by what he said. Our words matter. What do you want to be remembered for saying? You can write your own quote. You can sit down today and say, What do I want people to say? Oh, it's like it's like I used to say, it's like he used to say, like she used to say. What do you want your children? What do you want your friends, your family, the people you invest in? Those of you who volunteer at this church, what do you want the people you pour into, the people you work with to remember you by saying? Decide what that is. I challenge you today, decide what you want to be remembered for saying, and then start saying it, and start saying it every day. Because your words are powerful. Proverbs chapter 27, or rather verse 18, chapter 18, whatever. Anyone else tired today? I don't know why. I got up at three. But Proverbs 18, 21 says, Words kill and words give life. They're either poison or fruit, you choose. That's a choice you have today. It's your choice. Are your words gonna be poison? Are your words gonna be sweet, gonna be fruit, gonna be nourishment for someone's soul? I want to give us all an opportunity to just put this in in practice today. Because I love to do things quickly. I love to jump on things, you know. So in the in the lobby on your way out, there's a desk that's over by the source, a lot of tables around it. There's a ton of thank you cards on that desk. And those are for you. Those are for you to just take on your way out and write. Use words. Speak through those thank you notes. Give that to someone this week. Give it to someone today. Maybe there's someone in your mind right now, and you recognize, man, I love this person. I haven't spoken to them how I feel about them. I haven't let them know how proud of them I are. I haven't told them what I see in them, the ability and the potential that I recognize how incredible they are. Take one of those cards today, and before you go to bed tonight, write it out and give it to that person. I have a special favor though. There's one person in particular, and you can you can take one for yourself and still do this as well. And we have enough, I think. So there's one person in particular that I'd really like you to think about writing to today, and actually leaving it here at the church. Um one of the things that we recognize here is the people who have kind of gone before us, the people who have made this possible. And I have someone in my life that has affected me in a big way, someone that's affected many of you as well. Her name's Susan Craig. Susan and her husband Steve started his hands. And some of you know Susan, some of you have never met her. If you've only been coming to his hands for the last year or two, you've never met Susan, but but you have her to thank for this place being here. She and Steve got the vision for this church. They gave over $10 million to start this church. They gave that away. They served as the leaders here for almost a decade. They were my spiritual mom and dad. They invested in me. They invested in Nathan and a lot of other people who were leading here, and this church would not exist without them. Susan is one of those people whose words I'll never forget. A few years ago, I was really struggling with a decision, and I was I was nervous. I was scared about the consequences, and it just was hard for me. And Susan stopped me and told me, Justin, never ever make a decision out of fear. And that changed my perspective, and I've lived by that, tried my best to, to never make a decision out of fear. I'll have moments still where I'm looking at the choices I have and I'm nervous about this is kind of risky, this one seems hard. I don't know, it'd be easier just to do this. And those words, they're in my mind. Never make a decision out of fear. She's someone who spoke a lot of things into my life that I'll never forget. I don't want to. I hold on to those. And a lot of you know this, but in December of last year, Susan was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. And uh the last year for her has been a battle. She's been undergoing aggressive, aggressive chemotherapy. But her cancer is chemo resistant. Um so the chemo hasn't had the effect that we all hoped it would have or prayed it would have. And so she's she's in a fight, and it's very, very serious. And she's been in the hospital all week, going through some complications that are happening as a result of the cancer. She's been in a lot of pain, but but those of you who know her, she is Susan. She is strong. And so, you know, I was talking to Steve this week, and and I just told him, and he agreed, that we as a church have this great opportunity to let her know how thankful we are for her and how inspirational she is and always will be. Because what I what I want to happen this week is I want to send uh Cheryl Yoder, who's really good friends with Susan. I want to send Cheryl to the hospital with a stack of thank you notes so large that even if she doesn't have the strength to read all of them, just seeing them there will tell her how loved she is. And I know that she'll get to read them. I know someone will read them to her, and it'll mean the world to her, but what an opportunity that we have to recognize what someone has done that's blessed our lives and to thank, to thank her. And so as you go out on your way this morning, grab a thank you note for yourself or someone in your life, but but stop at one of the tables that's in the lobby and write one out to Susan and leave it in the basket that's on that table so that we can bring those to her. You know, people are always asking when they hear about how she's doing, what can I do to help? This is what you can do. Share. Speak life into her. Use your words to tell her how changed your life is because of what she and Steve started. And they started this together, but I promise you there were times where Susan was dragging Steve along. I promise you that. No matter what this morning, remember the power of your words. I pray that you make that question a filter for your life. What do I want to be remembered for saying? If you start to say something and you think to yourself, do I want to be remembered for saying this? And the answer is no, just don't say it. Because you never have to say, I take it back if you don't send it in the first place. You never have to say I didn't mean it if you didn't say it. But if you decide to be like Jesus and to be a person who recognizes the power of their words and chooses to exercise control of what you say, you will be someone who changes people's lives, who changes the entire course of their years, who changes the way they see themselves. You can be someone who speaks life into someone else. I challenge you to do that this week. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you so much for uh for speaking life into us. You're the one, God, who tells us who we are. You're the one who says we're made in your image. You're the one who says we're loved. You're the one who says we're accepted. You're the one who says we're we're powerful. You tell us those things. You speak into us constantly. Every time we open up your word, every time we sing a worship song, it's just us reflecting on what you've already said about us. You love us, you speak life into us. We need that, Lord Jesus, and we want to follow your example and we want to speak life into other people. Thank you for the people in our lives that bless us. God, thank you for people like Susan, who sacrifice so much so that we can just connect with you. We love you so much, Lord. We we thank you for every opportunity we have to speak life to anyone. Help us start doing that as often as we can today. Help us be people who are remembered for our words, our words of life, our words of inspiration, our words of hope. We pray this in your name of Jesus. Amen.