I love. I love Veritas. Cedar Rapids. Uh, this this is special place to me. And it's a gift to be here. I was telling our staff yesterday about what God's doing here and this this whole grow twenty, twenty six thing. And during our staff prayer time, one of our staff was like, Lord, help us to be more like Cedar Rapids. Yeah. And then I was, I was talking to a guy in the foyer on Sunday. He's like, yeah, usually I go to Cedar Rapids. Uh, I love Drake's preaching. You know, I'm like, that's super encouraging to me, you know, uh, really, really appreciate that. And I also feel like just, just an FYI, I feel like drew last night, he should have been tonight. Usually there's a grand finale. Uh, so let's all just like in your mind, there's a bar of expectation. Let's just kind of all right, now just knock it down a few, uh, the grand whatever happened last night was Awesome. Wow, that was amazing. And just. But the encouragement that I have is that you guys are fasting. You're praying like I think I could do anything like burp into the mic and you guys would be like, yes, Lord. I mean, it's like, you guys, you guys are so hungry for God. That's I that's my hope tonight that you just whatever happens here, you're going to be encouraged. Uh, Psalm eighty one ten says this. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. Wow. Tonight, just open your mouth. I'm going to try to crank open the fire hydrant of just the glory of God. And just. We're going to just let God. Um. Mhm. Try to get a drink out of the fire hydrant tonight. Um, I want to tell you my joy testimony. The day I learned something about God, that really changed my whole perspective of life with God and as a Christian. So I grew up going to going to conferences. I was part of a church that was very missions minded evangelism and missions and let's get out there. And I was an awesome church. It was a healthy church. It was a Bible preaching church. We would go to conferences, and on Friday night it was give your life to Jesus. And on Saturday night it was give your life to missions, you know? So every Saturday night of the conference, I would end up at the front on my face any time, any place, anywhere, you know, and I, you know, I even, uh, you know, they send, they have missionaries like partner with our, you know, our commitment cards to I'm going to like do global missions and I'm going to pursue this calling in my life. And, and so I always kind of went through life thinking that the chief end of Mark was the goal of my life. And what God wanted for me was be sold out for Jesus and go. That's what God wants from me. Like, if I'm really sold out for Jesus, I'm going to move overseas. I'm going to be a missionary. Um, I'm at least going to be somebody that at least shares the gospel with one person every day. That was a thing. And then came January of nineteen ninety seven. I was a junior in college, and we did this road trip down to Austin, Texas. It was the first year for this new conference this guy was putting on called the Passion Conference nineteen ninety seven. We road trip down there and this great worship. But this nerdy looking guy in a. Old plaid suit jacket that looked like he got it from the goodwill Got up to preach. None of us had ever heard of him. And he stepped into the pulpit and he brought fire from God. It's like fire from heaven just descended upon us. His name was John Piper. Uh, and that sent me on a journey of it was like a Copernican revolution. That was like, there was a time where they thought everything revolved around the earth and realized, whoa, we're flying around the sun like this is different. This is this changed everything. And that's what it was like for me. And so the Westminster Catechism, it says, what is the chief end of man? Why do you exist? Why are you here? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever and I would have agreed with that. Sure. Totally glorify God and enjoy him forever. You know Isaiah forty three six. You guys know this. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Everyone who bears my name and is created for my glory. That's why we exist for my glory. Indeed, I have formed them. Indeed I have made them. But here's the question. Glorify God. Yes. But how? How do you glorify a God who is self-existent, who depends on no one for his existence? Like last night. What drew says that I am Yahweh. I am who I am. So how do you glorify this God? But then it leads to a question of like, well, why did God create the world for his glory? What? Why did he create the world? That's a question your kids might ask. Is it? Did God. You know, it's like he has does God? Did God create us because he needs us? Like, does God have a testimony? You know, like it was a long, dark eternity and I kind of hit rock bottom of loneliness. And then I created Mark and my life is just fulfilled now. And I created all these people. And once I got all these people to just gather every Sunday and tell me how amazing I am, then my life got purpose. I just love grow twenty twenty six because I love three days in a row for people to say, you're amazing, you're amazing, you're amazing. And that's why my life has fulfillment now. Purpose and meaning. Last night, the city of God. God exists independently from us. He doesn't need us. So why did he create us? Here's a psalm that that I. Here's something I want us to think about. Psalm sixteen eleven. It says this you reveal the path of life to me. In your presence is abundant joy. At your right hand are eternal pleasures. Did you see that? So think about this. What is it like to be in the presence of God? If someone enters the presence of God, what is it going to be like? This is a great description. In your presence is fullness of joy, eternal pleasures forevermore. Pleasures. That's an incredible description. Here's the first thing I want you to know about God. And I think this is foundational. It's something we don't talk about a lot, but it's like maybe one of the more important things you need to know about God. Here's the first point. God is infinitely happy. God is infinitely happy and infinite. It means his happiness is not dependent on us, but but infinite. I use the word infinite because it's impossible to measure or calculate. If something is infinite, you can't. You can't measure it. You can't like your TI eighty five calculator. Can't count, can't measure, can't quantify it. It's it's infinite. And when it comes to God, his happiness is infinite. Uh, this this is like page one of the Bible kind of stuff. You know, Jeff talked about page one. He's the God who speaks. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and it uses all these verbs about things. God did. God made, God formed, God said. And then when it gets to humans, what's the what's the verb? This is unlike any of the other verbs in, in Genesis one twenty eight, it uses this verb, God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Do you know what that verb blessed means? It means to confer happiness upon someone. So here's the picture of Genesis one. God's the God of the universe is is over. I mean, he's he's making planets. He's making, you know, light and he's animals and all the creative things that Jeff talked about, and he's overflowing with joy and happiness. He's laughing and sharing his laughter and favor and goodness with creation and the purpose he gives these humans here. It says, God bless him. And he told them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth like, here's your purpose. Multiply the joy, multiply the blessing. Fill the earth with more image bearers that share the blessing. So I was after I, I heard John Piper, this kind of sent me on a quest to figure out where I need to. I need to learn more, so I. I figured out that a lot of Piper's ideas came from Jonathan Edwards. So Jonathan Edwards lived, uh, like eighteenth century. He's, uh, America. He's one of the greatest American theologians, uh, of all time, in my opinion. Um, and I, I went to Iowa State University and any cyclones and. Yeah. Awesome. Okay. All right, let's go. And, uh, so everybody's happy. The Hawks are happy. The cyclones are happy with, uh, this week's good, good time, good times in Iowa. Um, but it's a tough night last night, but anyway, um, here's we're on track here. I, I went to Iowa State, so I was doing a, my senior year. I, one of my professors that I really became good friends with was a guy, Hector Avalos, and he was a religion professor and he's, uh, like very fervent atheist, uh, very anti-Christian, anti-God. And he made it known. I mean, he tried to deconvert us and, and I just became friends with him, went over to his house, talked to him a lot. I did an independent study with him, and I got to choose whatever I wanted to study in theology. So I picked Jonathan Edwards book, The End for Which God Created the World. And in this book, Jonathan Edwards, a very smart guy, is trying to answer this question why did God create the world? And he says things like this and listen to this. God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper, and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven fully, to enjoy God is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here, better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children of the company of any or all earthly friends. These are but shadows, but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean. You know what Jonathan Edwards is saying? Every good thing you've ever experienced on earth. It's straight from the throne of God. It's a drop that came from the ocean of God. He is the source of pleasure. I think this is what James means when he's in James one seventeen, when he says, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of the heavenly lights. That's Genesis one language, the father of heavenly lights. He created it, right? And he's, he's saying that that goodness, every good thing you've ever experienced in earth. C.S. Lewis talks about, uh, any pleasure in its pure form? It's God's invention. God invented it. God is infinitely happy. But I still haven't answered the question. Why did God create the world? Here's here's another Jonathan Edwards quote. And this is kind of a summary of of the book. Okay. This was my semester with Hector Avalos. And this is the conclusion. Here's why God created the world, according to Edwards. Listen to this quote as there is an infinite fullness of all possible good in God, a fullness of every perfection of all excellency and beauty, and of infinite happiness. So it seems pleasant that this infinite fountain of good should send forth abundant streams. Here's the conclusion. According to Edwards, God is this infinite Fountain of good. Why did God create the world? His nature is like water. It overflows because that's what goodness does. So think of it like this. Like it's like asking, why does water flow over the edge of the Niagara Gorge? We call the Niagara Falls. Why does water do that? Well, the scientific answer is a glacier was formed and water from Lake Erie carved a path over the river and through the woods on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. And that's why five point nine million cubic feet of water flows over the one hundred and sixty foot ledge every second. But you don't want that answer. I'm going to give you the dumb down mark answer to why. Water flows over the edge because that's what water does. Here's what Jonathan Edwards is like. Water does water things, and when it's filling up, it flows over a mountain stream, cuts through canyons and fills oceans. Why? Because that's what an abundance of water will do. It's inclined to overflow. So why did God create the world? Here's why. Infinite goodness is like an infinite amount of water. Its tendency is to overflow. God's goodness has the same property as water. It overflows, it multiplies, it fills the earth. And since the source is God, there will never be a scarcity of blessing. There will never be a happiness drought because God is like this infinite waterfall of goodness and joy. So here you are Created and created to live under this infinite waterfall of goodness. So how do you glorify an infinitely good God? Here's the thing. God is glorified by the one thing that you have to offer him. What is it? Your need of him. God is glorified by you, opening your mouth and getting under the waterfall and saying, satisfied, satisfy me, O Lord, in the morning with your unfailing love. So here's the point. How do you glorify an infinitely happy God? Number two, an infinitely happy God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him. That's like a John Piper quote that's pretty much summarizes everything that John Piper will ever say. Uh, It's. God doesn't need us. We added nothing to his glory. The last few days. But we're here for to drink from the source of happiness. And to glorify him. Not by dumping our dirty cup of water into this mountain stream, but by taking our empty cups. And just like. Yes, Lord, we want you. We need you. Uh, the word bless is used like four hundred and forty seven times in the Bible. When you see the word blessed, just think this blessing is God's infinite happiness in action. When you see blessed, just think God's infinite happiness in action. When you pray over someone and you say, God Bless them. You're just like, Lord, dump out your joy and happiness and goodness upon them. Genesis twelve. Abraham, I will bless you, and all nations on earth will be blessed through you. Psalm sixty seven. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us. And I mean, it's all over the Bible. The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Let me illustrate this. So this picture here, uh, is, uh, this this will take me back to August of nineteen ninety nine. This was the day. You know what's happening here? Uh, little, uh, let's see, twenty at the time, twenty two year old Mark is getting engaged to Lisa Sternberg. And, um, so I had this whole plan. Took her out on my uncle's farm and we. Yeah. Surprised her. It was. It was awesome. Took her on a pony ride. Uh, my uncle has ponies. We used to. We're in the Iowa State Fair all the time. Six pony hitch, all that stuff. I was in the Cotton Bowl parade when I was little kid like these, these ponies. And, uh. And so I took her on a pony ride. We went down to this, like the creek that goes through the farm. And, um, and so I, you know, just imagine me and, uh, she's looking and I'm, we're, we're together and she's like, why did you do this? And I'm like, I asked her to marry me here by this creek. She says yes. And she's like, but why? Why did you do the flowers and why? Why do you want to marry me? And why do you want to spend your life with me? And I look at her and I say, Lisa, it is my duty to be with you for the rest of my life. I'm doing this because, doggone it, I have to. Okay, rewind the tape. Like, why did you do it? Why do you want to marry me? Why do you want to spend your life with me? Why did you. If I say to her, Lisa, it would be my pleasure and my joy to spend my life with you. Now, at that point, she doesn't slap me and say, you are always doing stuff for your joy and your pleasure and your selfishness. What a selfish person you are. No, loving her is my pleasure and joy and that in a way, glorifies her. So. So you. This is the way we we interact with God. This is our relationship with God. Why do we serve? Why do we do this? Like it's our joy to drink deeply from the Lord God Almighty like to. To do this. This to worship him. This is not our duty to be here on Tuesday night. Like you guys didn't come here because you had to. There's some rule that said you had to be here. You came here because you're like, I want more. God, that's. This is how we relate to the Lord. And and to know that that he is good. So I want to come down out of the clouds for a second and get practical. Not well, this is like hopefully the rest where we've kind of been up here. Uh, let's talk about what this means for us tonight. Wednesday morning. Thursday. Let's get practical. I want to show you a passage in Luke fifteen. This is the story of the prodigal son, a story of two sons. One goes off. Wastes everything. Eaten with the pigs. Wastes his inheritance. And this younger son comes home. Luke fifteen twenty five. Now the older son was in the field, and as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. Your brother is here, he told him. And your father has slaughtered the fattened calf. Because he has. He has him back safe and sound. Now, I want you to see this. Just. Just do you see what the father did for the son that wasted everything. The son that squandered the wealth. He comes home and dad does what? Dad throws a party. I mean, slaughters a fattened calf. There's music, there's dancing. This is like a dance party. Because the son came home. And so here's the point I want to say. If you have a testimony, anyone with a Jesus testimony has a joy. Testimony. Okay. That's that's the, the, the third point here. If you have a Jesus testimony, you have a joy testimony at some point. Jesus found you and threw a party. Now the verses right before the prodigal son story are really cool too, because it kind of it's like a crescendo. The Prodigal Son story is a crescendo, but but what it says earlier in Luke fifteen seven, it tells a story about a shepherd leaves the ninety nine to find the one lost sheep. And it says this in verse seven, I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous people who don't need repentance. Look it. There will be joy, more joy in heaven. What that's telling us is that's God erupts with joy when a sinner comes to know him. Again, he tells another story. A woman lost ten silver coins. Or she she she lost a coin. She. She finds them in Luke fifteen ten it says, I tell you. In the same way there is joy in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents. When. And I love this because it says there's rejoicing. There's joy in the presence of God's angels. So who's doing the rejoicing? We always talk about like the angels are rejoicing in heaven. What does this say? Who's rejoicing? It's in the presence of the angels. But it's not the angels that are rejoicing. It's God like God's the one throwing the party. God's the one pumping up the music. Kill the fatted calf. I, a sinner has come home. And then look at the older son. Luke fifteen twenty eight. This is how the older son responds. Then he became angry and didn't want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, look, I have been slaving many years for you. I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came home. When this son of yours came. Who has devoured your assets with prostitutes. You slaughtered the fattened calf for him. Do you see his description of his relationship with his father? I have been slaving for you. Do you know what Jesus wants us to know tonight? If you have been slaving for God. It's possible that you have missed the whole point. The crescendo of our grow twenty twenty six is all right. You're going to get up here on your knees. And who's going to Africa? Who's going to go to the ends of who's going to go to Saudi Arabia? Because that's the call of God on your life. Maybe, maybe. But do you see that? This is I think Jake wrote a book about this. God is the prize. Like God is it? He's the fountain like your life, like, get under the fountain of God and just love him, receive him, enjoy him. But whatever you do, don't slave for him. Like this older son who couldn't join the party. You know, if you've if you're struggling with joy, have you forgotten who God is like? He sent his son to die so you could have a party. He wants to spend eternity with you. And Psalm sixteen eleven. Just imagine what eternity is going to be like if if in the presence of God, there's abundant joy, eternal pleasures forevermore. Isaiah twenty five. One of my favorite passages of all time talks about. It's going to be a feast with aged wine and the choices of meats, and it's just going to be like a revelation. Nineteen it talks about it's a wedding feast of the Lamb, like it's all over the Bible. Can you imagine what heaven's going to be like? One guy, one theologian. They asked, what is heaven going to be like? He said, take the ten best moments of your life. It's like that forever. God doesn't want you slaving for him like the older brother. He wants you to enjoy him. If your faith has become duty and you're serving feels like slavery. If you have lost your joy, here's a few things I want us to think about just by way of application. One is just ask this question where am I seeking joy outside of God. You guys probably have heard Jeremiah two twelve. It says, be appalled at this. Heavens. Be shocked and utterly desolated. This is the Lord's declaration says, for my people have committed a double evil. They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water. You know, Jeremiah is saying there's something that that makes heaven shudder. It says, be appalled at this. Heavens be shocked. Like shudder with horror over this thing. There's something that makes Heaven be like, oh no, they didn't. No no no no no. Here's what it is. They abandoned me. The fountain. They they're like Niagara Falls of God's blessing. No, we don't want that. I'm going to dig my own. Well, I don't like his water. And we start digging and drinking from muddy, dirty water. And that's how he describes sin. You know, maybe we don't need to overcomplicate joy. Maybe you don't have joy because you've been digging for it on your own instead of receiving it from God. Maybe you've been trying to find it in your circumstances. Like dig in for joy in your circumstances. Well, if I just had a different job. If I just had a different spouse. If I just had a different boyfriend girlfriend. If I just had a different sexuality, if I just had a different car, if I just had a different vacation home, if I just had a. Maybe it's money. If I just had more money. Maybe it's online shopping. Maybe if I just had another purchase that. You got boxes piled up on your front porch. Like maybe. Be maybe gambling. Another hit of another game coming up. Maybe it's social media scrolling. Just dig in, dig in, dig in. Maybe it's a relationship. You know the most evil thing you can do to another human, to your spouse, or just any human for that matter. Just look at them in the eyes and say, make me happy. Because you know what you're saying to them. Be God for me. Only God can do that. Leaving the waterfall of God and digging your own will. Well. Maybe this today is the day just for you to say, God, I just. I return to you. God, you're the God who throws a party like maybe you've believed a lie about God. When you think about God, he's holy. Yeah, he's just he's love, but he's not very happy. And maybe tonight you just need to see, like, God, no, he's. He's the one turning water into wine. What do you like? He's the one throwing the parties. And he wants you to just know how much he. He wants you to return to him. Where are you seeking joy outside of God? Second thing I want you to think about Psalm one hundred. It says this. It says, let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. We're going to do that tonight and acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us wear his. His people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his holy name. For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever. His faithfulness through all generations. This second point of application is just simple. What songs are you listening to and singing like? What songs are you putting in your AirPods? What songs are you putting into your speakers? Into your ears? Worship is so important and we need. This helps our souls to reconnect with God. If we've been listening to just podcasts and news radio and news stories and news feeds and, you know, on Twitter X, whatever, social media, just watching little clips and, uh, doomscroll all that stuff, like we gotta set that aside. What, what, what are you filling your soul with? What songs are you listening to? What's encouraging you? And I love this psalm. Uh, C.S. Lewis, uh, as a new Christian, he hated the Psalms. He didn't understand the Psalms or as a as a non-Christian. Sorry. He he didn't understand the Psalms because he's like, what kind of God incessantly demands that his people tell him how great he is? Praise me. Praise me like it sounds. The Psalms to him sounded like a vain teenager on TikTok. Like, hey, like and subscribe. Like, look at me, praise me, praise me, like follow me. But here's what he discovered. Here's a kind of a long quote, but I think it's worth it. Listen to what he said. But the most obvious fact about praise, whether of God or anything, strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment or approval or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise. The world rings with praise, lovers praising their mistresses, Romeo praising Juliet, and vice versa. Readers their favorite poet. Walker's praising the countryside players praising their favorite game. Praise of whether wine's dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries. Historical personages. Children. Flowers. Mountains. Rare. Stamps. Rare. Beatles. Even. Sometimes politicians or scholars. Praise. Almost. Listen to this. Praise almost seems to be inner health made audible. Screenshot that. That's good. I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge others to join them in praising it. Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent. The psalmist, in telling everyone to praise God, are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about. My whole more general difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us as regards the supremely valuable. What we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing about everything else we value. Here's what he's saying. There's a reason you want to text your friend walking out of the movie theater after you saw the movie. After you watch the great Netflix show, it's like, Jake, dude, you gotta see this. Why? Because the praise completes the enjoyment of the thing. Like you delight to praise what you enjoy. And that's why God commands you to praise him. He would be evil if he didn't tell you to praise him, because he's the source of joy and goodness. He has to tell you to praise him. That's where your joy is. Do you see that? That's what we'll see. He knows what will satisfy your soul. It's him. That's why he's like. Come and worship and bow down with joyful songs. This last point. Is a little objection. That's all great. Infinitely happy God. But I'm depressed. I'm sad. And I believe that. But I don't feel that. What are you going to do with that? Here's the last thing I want to say is that joy is not the same as fun. It can coexist with grief. Hebrews twelve verse two says, for the joy that lay before him, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. How did Jesus endure the cross for the joy that was before him? His strategy for enduring suffering was joy. The joy that was on the other side of the cross, the resurrection. Paul describes himself in second Corinthians six, verse ten as grieving. Hey, Paul, tell me about yourself. What do you like? This is what he says. Grieving, yet always rejoicing. How do those two things go together? Grief and always joyful. See the Hebrews. Uh, the the Israelite Hebrew people. I think they saw. Joy a little differently. And you see this in like Greek philosophy too, that that happiness is more of a settled state of it's like more objective. It's not like I feel it's like I don't feel joy, but I have joy. That's that's happiness. You can have happiness, but also be grieving and also be sad. There's. Joy is not like a hit a drug like I just like I ate another Cheeto and I'm happy I ate another, you know, chip or I ate another. Uh, yeah, like I, I won my bet. And so now I have joy. That's like a feeling, a rush, a, you know, I that's why we scroll like is it gives us hits of joy. But that's not the joy and blessing that we're talking about. Ours is Christian joy. It's like deeply rooted. And some of you are going through a dark night of the soul. You're going through a really hard time. And I want this truth about God tonight to bring you to a place of longing to remember that we are not home yet. And if you're sad tonight and you look around the room, you're like everyone else. Seems like they really love this and I'm struggling to be here. Like I am not feeling it. And I see people raising their hands and I'm like, it's all I could do just to be here tonight. And some of you, you're not really. It's not like you're slaving for God. You're not here because you have to be. You're you're here because you want to be. But it's hard to be here, right? Some of you are in that spot. We were. I was in Zambia with Jeff. You can't be around Jeff for very long and not end up in Zambia somehow. So we're, you know, we're in Zambia, uh, and we're with this dear friend. His name is Joe Kalunga. Joe Kalunga. You will meet him someday in eternity. He has a special needs son. He's got, you know, like four or five kids. He's got he's a school teacher who was a school teacher and a deep into the bush. Uh, took him like days to walk into the bush. And we just love Joe so much. He's a farmer, a teacher. And Joe, you know, most of these Zambians, they, they live near the most beautiful places on planet earth. That's why a lot of planet earth is filmed in Zambia. And these these Zambians live in villages like not far from these natural wonders. And they've never seen them because they can't afford a taxi ride to go see it. So we had Joe go with us to Kunda Lila Falls, just a beautiful waterfall. Amazing. And we were standing watching this amazing waterfall. I'm standing there with Jeff Dodge and Ryan Hamby and, and Joe Kulunga, and we're just all quiet. And Joe says, all of us Americans are just in awe of this waterfall. Imagining heaven and all this. And Joe looks at the waterfall and he says, those are all my tears. Of suffering. And Ryan said, Joe, Psalm fifty six eight says, you yourself have recorded my wanderings. You put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? And he's like, And Jesus and God is catching them all. He sees it. Joe. Some of you feel like that. Some of us are looking at the waterfall like, hey, God, this is amazing. And others of you are like, Joe, just like, yeah, it looks like my tears. What will it be like when you step into heaven? Those of you that are suffering, that don't feel you have joy but you don't feel joy, what's it going to be like for you? Here it is. Isaiah fifty one eleven. Last verse. Then we'll close this says those the Lord had has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing. Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them. And sorrow and sighing will flee away. Let's pray together. Ephesians one three says that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ, Which means. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all the goodness that God wants to share with you. So I want to end our time by by leading you to the cross. Okay. So. So just you got your eyes closed. You're just I want you to think about this like. You're just sitting here in the quiet. As you know, music starts playing and and it's just we're we're here. You're sitting here and. And all of a sudden you You kind of sense that somebody's like coming up behind you like walking. They come, they come down the aisle. They kind of shuffle through the row. Like, what's going on? They, they come and sit down next to you and and you just feel their arm. You feel their hands just on your shoulder and they kind of pull you in. And you look and you see. It's Jesus. So maybe he, I don't know, is it? Maybe he smiles with you. You're like, no way. Oh, Jesus. Or maybe you just see him like he sees you crying because he knows. He knows what you're going through and you just see a tear come up just drip out of his eye. He loves you so much. If this week has done anything for us, let it be that we just want more. Jesus. We love you Jesus and you are hidden all the wisdom and treasures of God. You are the embodiment of God's blessing to us. Your body was broken for us. You were raised from the dead, and you will bring us with you into glory. And we can't wait. So just fill us with longing. We just end our time of fixing our eyes on you. Jesus, we love you.