Life is a Series of Choices… | Sunday, November 20, 2022

Welcome to Cross Connection Church Online. I'm Pastor Garrett, and we at Cross Connection Church are so grateful that you are joining us for our service today.

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I confess, bowing here, I find my rest. Without You, I fall apart. You're the one that guides my heart. Lord, I need You. Oh, I need You. Every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness. Oh God, how I need You. Sin runs deep. Your grace is more. Your grace is found. It's where You are, where You are.

I am free. Holiness is Christ in me. Lord, I need You. Oh, I need You. Every hour I need You. My one defense, my righteousness. Oh God, how I need You.

Well, we have come to the point in our study here in the book of Deuteronomy at Cross Connection Church where we are officially on the very downhill or final sprint leg of this long book. We've been in this book for a long time, since January of 2020. Now, as we come to this point, we have just about five chapters left in the book.

Moses' presentation of God's law to the children of Israel and his reaffirmation of the covenant with Israel here in this passage effectively ends with these words that we find in Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 1: "These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb." This really is the close of all the statutes and judgments that we find here in the book of Deuteronomy in this reaffirming or second telling of the covenantal law with the children of Israel.

In this verse, Deuteronomy 29, verse 1, where he makes reference to the covenant in the land of Moab, he also makes reference to the covenant in the land of Horeb. We have a veiled reference, I think, to the revelation of God's grace. A lot of people think that God in the Old Testament was almost as if He was mean and brutish. They think that He had something like a short fuse, a really light hair trigger, and that He would quickly fly off the handle and smite anyone that happened to cross His path or upset Him.

But that isn't how God is revealed in the Old Testament. God didn't suddenly change even when you come into the New Testament. He didn't become nicer during that period of 400 plus years or so between the Old and New Testaments. God.

God is merciful and gracious. He is merciful and gracious in the Old Testament just as He is in the New Testament. In Deuteronomy 29, verse 1, at the last word of the reaffirmation of the covenant, there is a reminder of God's grace and His mercy.

The previous generation of Israel, which had received the covenant of God at Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai, failed to keep the covenant. In failing to keep the covenant, they forsook the Lord, and they did this very quickly. God gave them the covenant, and within two months, they had already broken it. Three times, they said to God, as He was getting ready to give them the law in Exodus chapter 19, and then two more times in Exodus chapter 24, "All that the Lord has commanded we will do, and we will be obedient to everything that He tells us to do."

Then, in about a month and ten days, they departed from the Lord. They broke the first, second, and third commandments almost immediately. They were commanded, "You shall have no other God before Me," "You shall not bow before any graven image or any sort of idol," and "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." They broke at least those three commandments, along with many others, immediately after they had received the law and declared their commitment to obedience. They forsook the Lord and broke the covenant.

According to the statutes and judgments of the covenant, God had every right, within the law, to destroy them. But He didn't. Instead, God was gracious, and He was gracious because that is His nature. He is merciful, and He is gracious.

In fact, as this nature is revealed in Exodus, after the previous generation had broken the covenant and forsaken the Lord, we see God reveal what His nature really is like. In Exodus chapter 34, Moses has an incredible interaction with God, where he is able to see some aspect of God's glory. He could not see the fullness of God's glory, as he could not survive it or live in the presence of such glory. In the midst of this encounter, God reveals His nature as He declares His name.

In a passage that I absolutely love in Exodus 34, we pick it up in verse 6, where God is announcing His name. In the Old Testament, a name is basically synonymous with the nature or character of the one who holds that name. God says, "The Lord, the Lord God, Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim," and He defines His name: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation."

I love that passage because, as God announces His name and pronounces what His character really is like, He chooses to begin to introduce Himself to Moses and to the world by saying, "Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim, the Lord, the Lord God, I am." The very first thing He declares is that He is merciful. Of all the innumerable aspects of what God is like, all the innumerable attributes of God, He chooses to announce first and foremost that He is merciful and gracious and patient. He reveals the greatness of who He really is to a sinful generation.

Now, that sinful generation, who broke those first three commandments and many others when they danced around the golden calf just a short time after they had said, "Everything that you have said, we will do and be obedient," did experience the consequences of their sins. They did not taste of the blessings of the promised land, but they were not destroyed. It is because of the Lord's mercies that they were not consumed, which is exactly what we read in the Old Testament book of Lamentations: "Because of the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because His compassions fail not."

We read, "These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb." God didn't destroy Israel when they were at Mount Sinai, at Horeb, after they broke the covenant, after they danced around the golden calf, when they departed from the Lord, forsook His covenant, and failed to fulfill the covenant requirements. Instead, God continued to work with that same people. He didn't start over with Moses. We don't know of the children of Israel today as the children.

Of Moses, we know of them still as the children of Israel, even though they broke God's covenant. They would break His covenant in future times, and yet, God would restore them by mercy and grace when they would return to Him. He didn't destroy that generation at Mount Sinai after they had broken the law. He didn't destroy them after they refused to trust Him and go into the promised land. He continued to carry along with them.

Now, with their kids and their grandkids, He reaffirms His covenant with Abraham's descendants. They are about to inherit the blessing of the promised land. They are about to cross over the Jordan River. They are east of the Jordan River in the plains of Moab. If you look at a map of that region, you will see the nation of Israel on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. To the right of that, or east of it, you will see the nation of Jordan. Splitting the nations of Israel and Jordan is the Jordan River, with the Sea of Galilee at the top and the Dead Sea down at the south.

They are right at the northeast corner of the Dead Sea and the plains of Moab, getting ready to come over into the promised land. They are right there on the border of blessing, ready to inherit the land that God had promised to them.

In this, it is so key and important to remember this: you are going to fail in the future. You are going to fall short of God's perfect, righteous standard and His glory. This week, you are going to do that, maybe even in a really big way. Perhaps even before the sun goes down today, you will fail. Even still, when you fail, the Lord God is merciful. He is gracious, patient, and abounding in goodness.

Now, He doesn't overlook sin, but He is abounding in goodness, patient, merciful, and gracious. It is because of His mercies that we are not consumed. His mercies are new every morning. This week, we will celebrate Thanksgiving, and I think that truth is something to be grateful for. We should be thankful that the Lord is merciful and good.

After more than two years of slowly working our way through this book, I want to make this observation and key point: God is always faithful to His covenant, even when we are not. I think that's worth saying again: God is always faithful to His covenant, even when we are not. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 13, we read...

If we are faithless, He remains faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Moses now reminds the children of Israel explicitly of God's faithfulness. I find this interesting. First, it is worth noting that Moses could have just ended his whole Deuteronomic discourse with that verse, Deuteronomy 29:1. The book is basically done, but he decides to give the children of Israel a bit more as he becomes a little more philosophical and reminiscent.

That's the first thing we will see as we go through this next section. Second, I have to say that it is a little strange what Moses is going to say in this passage of Scripture. We read this in Deuteronomy 29:2. Now, Moses called all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs and those great wonders. Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this day.

I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you. Your sandals have not worn out on your feet. You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. When you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against you to battle. We conquered them. We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh. Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

At this point, Moses could end what he's saying in the book of Deuteronomy. The statutes and judgments portion of the covenant are complete at Deuteronomy 29:1. But now he gets a little reminiscent and philosophical, and he says some things that are a little bit strange. Basically, it's as if Moses says to the children of Israel, "God has done some amazing things before your eyes over the last 40 years. Even though He has done all these amazing things, you've missed it. You haven't taken it to heart. It has happened to you and around you, and you've basically lived as if all of these amazing things that God has done are normal, and they're not."

In a sense, it is as if Moses is saying, "You have taken for granted all that God has done for you and to you during this whole period of time. God redeemed you."

From slavery in Egypt, He defeated the armies of Egypt before your eyes. He brought you out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, and you walked over on dry ground to be rescued by the Lord. Your clothes and shoes have not worn out for all these 40 years since you left Egypt. You didn't have to plow or plant fields or tend gardens, because God gave you manna. He provided miraculous food every single day as a daily miracle for 40 years. As you wandered in the wilderness in dry and parched lands, He gave you water from rocks. He defeated your enemies before your eyes. He provided for you, protected you, and covered you with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

All these things represent the overwhelming blessing of God. Yet, it was as if the children of Israel were blinded to the phenomenal and miraculous nature of what was happening around them and to them. Not only were they imperceptive, but they also seemed ungrateful. One commentator observed that they had seen all the miracles with their minds, hearts, and eyes, yet still did not recognize God's hand in these miracles, much less express gratitude for them. They witnessed the acts of God, but somehow, in all the amazing things He did for them over the last 40 years, they missed God in all of that.

In this, we observe an important truth: God continues to work in spite of my ingratitude or my lack of acknowledgment of His works. Perhaps it is a bit serendipitous that we are considering these things the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I believe it is true, as one commentator on this passage observes, that the root cause of unhappiness is ingratitude.

Consider the fact that one of the things Israel seemed expert at while wandering in the wilderness was grumbling, complaining, and murmuring. They were living and walking under the shadow of the Almighty's actual presence. He covered them with a pillar of cloud by day and guided them with a pillar of fire by night. They experienced His daily provision and witnessed His divine protection and deliverance.

And still, through all of it, one of the things that they were really good at, all you have to do is go back and read the Book of Numbers, is murmuring and complaining. As much as I would like to think that I am different and that I am somehow better than they in this, I am absolutely not. I often, as a way of confession, regrettably fail to acknowledge the Lord. I often fail to give Him glory, praise, and thanksgiving for His provision, for His protection, for His grace, and for His mercy and goodness.

Thankfully, God continues to remain faithful. He continues to work even if I am not taking notice of the great things that He has done for me, or if I am not exactly grateful, or even if I am lacking faith or lacking in faithfulness. So Moses says to the children of Israel, as he is kind of wrapping all this up, "Hey, I know that I just shared with you for a very long time all of the statutes and the judgments, all of the stipulations and the law of the covenant that you have entered into. I know that you have affirmed with a vow, with an oath, your intent and your willingness to hear, to heed, and to obey all the things that I have just shared with you. But I just want to remind you of all that God has done for you in taking care of you for the last 40 years. He provided for you. He protected you. He has delivered you. He's done all these amazing things."

In Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 9, it says, "Therefore, keep the words of this covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do." God is always faithful to continue working to fulfill His covenants. He does this in spite of my failure, my failure to be faithful, my failure to acknowledge His goodness, and to give thanks to Him for it.

But we observe that it is also true that my success is linked to my faith in God and my faithfulness to His commands. Moses here calls them to that faith in God and that faithfulness to His command. Therefore, keep the words of the covenant and do them so that you may prosper. My success is linked to my faith in God and my faithfulness to His commands.

So Moses continues in Deuteronomy 29, verse 10, "All of you stand today before the Lord your God, your leaders and your tribes and your elders..."

Officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and also the stranger who is in your camp—from the one who cuts the wood to the one who draws your water—may enter into covenant with the Lord your God and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today. He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and He may be God to you just as He has spoken to you and just as He has sworn to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Now, notice in this passage that this covenant, which the children of Israel have entered into with God, has been mediated by Moses through all of these 29 or 30 chapters leading up to this point. This covenant was with all Israel, from the very top all the way down. There was no one excused; there was no one exempt from this covenant. The same rules of the covenant, the same stipulations, commands, judgments, and so forth, apply to the leaders and elders, but also to the women and children, and even the foreigner who was in their midst.

The same statutes, judgments, curses, and blessings are applied to those who had high status, such as the priests and the elders, but also to those who had very low regard or low status, including the menial laborers. He mentions those who cut wood and those who draw water. As one commentator noted, there is no room for snobbishness for those who believe in the biblical teaching that all people are created in God's image. There is no need, in God's eyes, to separate and segregate His covenanted people.

Notice that women, children, and foreigners had the same requirement to fulfill the covenantal expectations of the law as those further up the hierarchical stack. They also had the same exact expectation of blessing as did everyone else. The priests, the Levites, the elders, and the leaders of the nation of Israel did not receive watered-down stipulations of the law. They did not have an easier set of requirements to fulfill than those who were further down the stack. Likewise, they did not receive greater blessings than those who were further down the stack. They all had the same expectation of blessing as did anyone else under the law.

We have an important truth that we hold dear to our hearts here, thousands of years later, and that is the ideal of equality under God.

The law begins with God. It didn't start with the 14th Amendment in 1868, nor was it original to Nebraska when they adopted it as their state motto a year before the amendment in 1867. It didn't originate at the Constitutional Convention, nor did it begin with the writing or signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, or even with the Magna Carta some 550 years before that. It begins with God.

We read in the Book of Numbers, chapter 15, verse 15: "One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord." In verse 16, it states: "One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you." This is such an important truth, an amazing concept that something like this ever came to be.

It has taken more than 3,000 years of slowly, methodically, and progressively applying this concept of equality under the law to reach the level of equality we have here in the West in the 21st century. This is a divine ideal, originally found in the Torah. This divine ideal, found in places like Deuteronomy chapter 29 and Numbers chapter 15, is akin to the proverbial chaos theory idea of the butterfly flapping its wings, which eventually changes the course of weather halfway around the world.

Do we practice equality under the law perfectly here in the West, in the United States and Canada, or in Western Europe and other Western countries? No, we do not. Not in the least. There are ways in which we could improve. We must recognize that the tendency of human communities, because we are innately sinful, is to default to unequal balances of justice. Far too often, those who are better off, higher up in the hierarchy, enjoy a different form of justice or even a greater level of blessing than those who are further down the stack. But that is not God's ideal. In fact, we read in the book...

In Proverbs 20, verse 23, the New Living Translation states, "The Lord detests double standards. He is not pleased by dishonest scales." We want equality, and we want justice. We expect these things. Where does that expectation come from? It did not arise out of nothing; it arises from the fact that we grew up in a culture built upon these foundational principles. This is a part of who we are because we live in a Judeo-Christian society. Additionally, I believe that God has planted in us a desire for equality and justice under the law.

The Lord detests double standards and is not pleased by dishonest scales. We have an important observation here in this passage: our success as a culture and a community requires equal administration of the law and uniform justice. I want to point out that I mentioned earlier that my personal success is linked to my faith in God and my faithfulness to His commands. However, I am now emphasizing that our success as a community requires equal administration of the law and uniform justice. This distinction is important.

I have an individual responsibility, and we also have a corporate responsibility. These aspects are essential, and they are worth contemplating. It is something you should take time to ponder and meditate upon this week. You have a personal responsibility to live out God's commands in Scripture, not to be saved, but to live rightly before God. We have an individual responsibility to do that, but corporately, we also have a responsibility to uphold justice.

This is why we read from the prophet Micah: "He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God." It is worth considering that if your culture is falling apart—and I think you could argue that there are aspects of our culture that are not doing well—then it is your fault. Personalize it all the way down. Ultimately, we must return to the idea that I am individually responsible for the failure of our culture and our community. We really need to think like that. This is one of the areas where I find that I wholeheartedly agree.

The guy who maybe you've heard of is Jordan Peterson. Because you're watching this on YouTube, you may have come across his videos, and perhaps the YouTube algorithm will recommend something he said. I wholeheartedly agree with Jordan Peterson on this. In fact, we could say that Peterson is really just highlighting a sacred truth from the Scriptures, which I believe is true. He may be the most vocal individual with certainly the largest platform that is emphasizing this important truth: if your culture is failing and falling apart, it is your fault.

You could set the world in perfect order if only you would start first at that very small local level. This is why the meme associated with Jordan Peterson often encourages you to clean up your room. If you want to see your culture move in the right direction because you observe your culture or community failing, then you need to personalize it down to the level of the individual and clean up your room. Take care of the small things that you can manage now. Set those things in perfect order, and then you can move out from there to try and see the culture or community progress in a proper direction.

If a culture or community is failing and falling apart, it's because the individuals that make up that community are not doing what they need to do. They are not remaining faithful to God and walking according to His statutes and judgments. They are not trusting in Him. Therefore, at the individual level, that is essential. However, our success as a community and as a culture requires an equal administration of the law and uniform justice. If there isn't, that ultimately goes back to us.

I have so much more that I would like to say on this, but I will have to address that at another time. For now, we will continue on with Deuteronomy chapter 29. Look at verse 14: "I make this covenant," Moses said, "and this oath, not with you alone, but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today."

This reminds us that this is a perpetual covenant. It extends not only to those who were standing there with Moses on the plains of Moab 3,400 years ago. It is not just for those who were present making this vow to enter into this covenant all those years ago, but it extends to every single person who will join themselves to the people of God after this point. The covenant applies to any and all who choose to enter into it after Moses gives it in the future.

This applies to those who break the covenant and then repent and return to the Lord. This is such an important and amazing thing in this passage, reminding us of the mercy and grace of God. The covenant that the children of Israel reaffirmed in the plains of Moab 3,400 years ago was a commitment before God. They took oaths of the covenant before entering the Promised Land. It was for them, but it was also for those who would come after them and choose to associate with the people of God. Additionally, it applies to anyone who would break the covenant and then return and repent.

In Deuteronomy 30, we find a long section that emphasizes this point. Let's look at Deuteronomy 30, verse 1: "Now it shall come to pass when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse of the covenant which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord God drives you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all of your heart and with all of your soul."

When you repent and return, the Lord will bring you back from your captivity. In the section we skipped over, if the children of Israel forsake the covenant and fail to fulfill the obligations, God says they will taste the curses of the law and be exiled from the land He is giving them to inherit. However, when they are exiles in another nation, if they return to the Lord and call out to Him, then, as verse 3 states, "the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and He will have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you."

If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. The Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. The Lord God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Furthermore, the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and persecute you. You will again obey the voice of the Lord your God to do His commandments, which I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. The Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep His commandments.

Statutes, which are written in this book of the law, remind us that if we turn to the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul, we encounter a simple but profoundly good truth. God is faithful to forgive unfaithfulness and to accept us again when we repent and return to Him. We are continually reminded of God's merciful faithfulness. He is good, both in the Old Testament and the New. He reveals Himself to be the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious and patient.

This leads us into one of my favorite sections of the book of Deuteronomy, and we'll close with this today. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 11, it states, "For this commandment, which I command you today, is not too mysterious for you, nor is it too far off. It is not in heaven that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us to bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Nor is it beyond the sea that you would say, 'Who will go over the sea for us to bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it."

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. I have commanded you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and judgments, that you may live and multiply. The Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. However, if your heart turns away so that you do not hear and are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go and possess.

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. Love the Lord your God, obey His voice, and cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days. You may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.

I love that. Choose today what you're going to do. Choose life, that both you and your descendants may live. I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. It's your choice. Choose life.

I will never forget a message that I heard probably 25 years ago when I was 17 years old. It was so long ago that the message was on an audio cassette. What completely amazes me in thinking about this message today is...

The person who gave that cassette to me, and not just the person who gave that cassette to me, but the pastor who delivered the sermon on that cassette, neither one of those people is walking with God today. Both of them have completely turned away from faithfulness to God's command.

However, the core message of that sermon, which I listened to when I was 17 years old and that impacted my life in a huge way so that I still remember it today at 42, was this simple statement: Life is a series of choices. Choose life, that you and your descendants may live. That was the simple message on this cassette. I listened to that message probably 20 times. Life is a series of choices. Choose life, that you and your descendants might live.

The pastor who gave that message was a man named Bob Coy. Some of you watching this might know that name. He was an incredible Bible teacher and pastored one of the largest churches in America. Unfortunately, he ended up committing adultery multiple times with multiple different people, and he is no longer in the ministry today.

Not only that, but the guy who gave me that message on that cassette when I was 17 years old is serving multiple life sentences today for assault and murder. I can't even imagine, and I can't even express how striking those two lives and that message drive home this essential truth: Life is a series of choices. Choose life, that you might live.

Ultimately, that life is not found in the law. Rather, that life, and actually a life more abundantly than that, is found in Christ. He is the one who fulfills the law on our behalf and fulfills it in us as He works in us to will and to do God's good pleasure as we are working out our faith.

Salvation comes as we follow Him by faith. The awesome part is that if those two individuals I mentioned—the one who gave the message on that cassette and is no longer in the ministry because of moral failure, and the one who gave me that cassette to listen to and is serving life sentences for assault and murder—were to return to God in repentance, then He would accept them. He would not undo all the consequences of their sinful actions, but He would be gracious to them and accept them.

That really is the gospel; that's good news. Some of you who are watching this are convinced that God wouldn't accept you because of something you did. But if He would accept those other two individuals who have fallen away in sin, then you can be certain that He will accept you as well if you repent and turn to Him.

You have a choice. I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Death and cursing are found in this world if you continue on the path you are on, but life and blessing are found in Christ. Choose life—the life that is in Christ—so that you might live a life that is abundant and eternal.

Father God, I pray that you would help us to be thankful and to have gratitude today because of your faithfulness to your covenant. You continue to do your good work in the world even when we don't acknowledge it, even when we are not thankful. Lord, help us to trust in you, to have faith in you, and to be faithful to you. Knowing that in following you by faith and following you faithfully, as you work in us to will and to do your good pleasure, we experience your success and prosperity in this world.

I also pray for our communities and our nation. We see so many ways in which our culture is failing, and it really does come back to us. What are we doing? What do we need to change? What do we need to do by your grace and by the enabling power of your Spirit to set things in order? Maybe that starts with us turning back to you in repentance, even if we feel like we've done something that we can't return from.

We certainly can. If we turn to You, You will forgive. You forgive our unfaithfulness and restore us back to the place of blessing if we will return and turn to You.

So God, I pray for anyone who might watch this, either on the day that it drops or in the months, weeks, or years after it's online. I ask that You would bring them to that place of turning to You in faith and repentance, calling out to You for Your grace. Because in You and You alone is life, abundant and eternal. We praise You for that. We thank You for that here at this week of Thanksgiving. It’s in Your name we pray. We love You, Jesus. Amen.

So teach my song to rise to You when temptation comes my way. When I cannot stand, I'll fall on You. Jesus, You're my hope and stay.

Lord, I need You. Oh, I need You.

Thanks for joining us for our broadcast today. I pray that you were greatly encouraged by it. We here at Cross Connection Church would love to invite you to join us in person next week on Sunday at 8:30 and 10:30 services. If you can make it, we would love to see you there. Of course, if you want any more information about Cross Connection Church, check us out on our website, LifeInConnection.com. God bless you, and have a wonderful week.

Good morning, Cross Connection. It's Pastor Garrett here, and we've got a couple of announcements for you as we get to live life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus Christ.

Coming up this Tuesday, our youth group is doing our Thanksgiving Basket Outreach. It's a way for us to go out to the community and say thank you for what you're doing. We want to recognize all the people serving in grocery store lines, the police department, fire departments, and various businesses during this busy season. They are dealing with a lot of difficult and stressed-out people, so we like to surprise them with a basket full of baked goodies to show our appreciation. We are thinking about you and praying for you. This outreach has been a big hit here in Escondido, and our youth group loves to participate.

If you would like to join us in this outreach, we need some baked goodies. We are looking for items that can be individually packaged, such as brownies, cookies, or anything else that fits that description. We will be packing them on Tuesday at 10 o'clock. If you would like to bring in some baked goodies, you can drop them off at the church office either tomorrow, Monday, or Tuesday before 10 a.m. We would love for you to be part of this outreach as well. If you have any questions, you can also visit our website at events.lifeinconnection.com.

Additionally, if you have any kids between the ages of kindergarten and 10 years old, we are organizing a children's choir this year for our Christmas Eve Eve service on December 23rd. It is such a blessing to see the kids worship the Lord, and we would love for your children to be part of that. You can sign them up and get all the information and details at events.lifeinconnection.com.

This week, our mission focus is Operation Christmas Child. We recently dropped off 149 boxes that you packed, and they are being sent out all over the world. We encourage you to pray for the kids who will be receiving those boxes.

From all over the world, this box is going to give them the opportunity to hear the gospel message and to know the love of Jesus through receiving the gifts that you dedicated your time to pack and pray for.

I just wanted to remind you to pray for these boxes. They are being shipped out now all over the world, and it's an awesome opportunity for ministry to a lot of these kids who don't receive any presents other than this one gift for Christmas.

Thank you to all of you who packed those boxes up. What a blessing that is.