The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Mark 10:46-52main passage for the evening, the healing of blind Bartimaeus
46 They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.
47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”
48 Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”
49 Jesus stood still, and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”
50 He, casting away his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”
52 Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus on the way.
to follow Jesus you must give up your own way and take up your cross
34 He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This Monday evening gathering worked through Mark 10:46-52, the healing of blind Bartimaeus, the last healing recorded in Mark's gospel. The pastor connected the story to the broader thread running through Mark: the kingdom of God is a free gift received by faith, and following Jesus is also costly. Bartimaeus, a poor blind beggar, becomes a vivid picture of both.
What was said
By the time this passage opens, Jesus has predicted his death and resurrection three times, and he is heading toward Jerusalem. His disciples keep missing what he is telling them, yet Jesus remains patient. The pastor noted that patience and found it personally encouraging, saying that watching Jesus with his disciples made him grateful for the same patience shown toward him.
The healing of Bartimaeus happens as Jesus is leaving Jericho. When Bartimaeus hears Jesus passing by, he starts shouting, and the crowd tries to quiet him. The pastor lingered on this detail, pointing out that this man had likely spent years being overlooked, and he was not going to let this moment pass. He shouted louder.
Jesus stopped and called Bartimaeus to him. The pastor noted how the crowd's tone flipped immediately: from "be quiet" to "cheer up, he's calling you." He read Psalm 34 alongside this, the line "I sought the Lord and he answered me," and held it up as a direct parallel. Jesus heard the cry. That was the point.
When Jesus asked what Bartimaeus wanted, the man said he wanted to see. Jesus replied, "Go, your faith has healed you." The pastor took time here to explain what he meant by faith, describing it not as something a person musters up but as a gift from God, a divine persuasion that grows as it is put into practice. The father in Mark 9 who said "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief" was offered as a companion passage for anyone who finds that harder than it sounds.
The verse from Philippians about God working in us, giving us both the desire and the power to do what pleases him, came up several times as a source of encouragement. The pastor returned to it near the end, saying it matters precisely because following Jesus is costly, and nobody does it on their own strength.
The sermon closed with a look at what Bartimaeus did after he was healed. He followed Jesus down the road. The pastor drew a distinction between believing in Jesus and following him, and said the story of Bartimaeus is a compact picture of both. Jesus responds to faith with mercy, and the person who receives that mercy becomes a follower.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Dan pointed to Jesus being patient with his disciples even when they were slow to understand, and said, 'Thank you for being so patient with them, and thank you for being patient with me.' Where have you seen that kind of patience from Jesus in your own life?
Pastor Dan said following Jesus is both free and costly at the same time, and that Jesus never asks us to do anything he has not first done himself. How does knowing that change the way you think about the costly parts of following Him?
Hey. Good evening, everybody. If you're eating, keep eating. But welcome to another Monday night, and a big thank you to Linda and Sunny for dinner. That was so wonderful.
And just a couple of important announcements. Next Monday, there is going to be no we're not going to have a worship gathering because it is memorial day, memorial weekend. And so we're gonna pick up on June 4 on June 4. And let's see. What else we got?
Big night because we are doing a farewell for Joni tonight, so it's bitter bittersweet. But would you please give her a big, big hug before you go? And also, have a little bit of cake too? Please do. But we are in the gospel of Mark, and we're up to chapter 10 tonight.
It's conversation style, so keep that in mind. But before we get into the word, can we sing couple songs together in worship? By the way, this is Will. Will is working at Lost Creek, and we're we're bringing more musicians in as some are are transitioning out like Florina. I wanna cry.
But but but grateful just to to bring people in too. And so wanna stand, and we'll sing How Great Thou Are. Isn't this time of year just scream to us like God's praises? Like, we we look at this this these beautiful mountain landscapes and everything in it. Today, as Kristen and I were going for a walk, just was looking.
I I just could hear the the wind rustling through the, through the leaves. And I thought, how did I how am I missing this? You know, like, it it reminded me once again of that. How did I forget? And I was reminded once again, God, you are so good and so gracious and so kind.
There was a time that Ray and I were playing, I don't know, some function or something outside. And we were singing this when through the woods and forest glades I wander, hear the birds swinging sweetly in the trees, looking down mount mountain grandeur, see the brook, feel the general breeze. Like, we were all of those things were happening right there as we were singing. It was so, so beautiful. Here's a little, word of encouragement here from Lamentations.
Because of the Lord's great love, we're not consumed for his compassions never fail. They're new every morning. God's mercy is new every morning, and great is his faithfulness. Let's sing of it. God, thank you that for this right here in Psalm, you say, will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go, and I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
God, thank you that your loving eye is on us. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. That's who you are. You cannot be faithful. It's your character.
It's your nature. You always have been. You always will be. And, Lord, help us, to be faithful to you. You are always faithful to us, and and it you even say in your word, even when we are faithless, you remain faithful because that's who you are.
And so, Lord, would you, God, increase our faith as we look to you. In Jesus' name, amen. I have I have a little something I wanna share. And it's a it's a poem, and we're going to sing of it. And this was written by Joni.
And I don't know if you knew that Joni loves to write poetry, but she's wonderful at it. She's written some beautiful, beautiful poetry. The only song that I ever wrote music to was her lyrics. I've never tried to write a song otherwise, and I wanna sing it together. But before we do that, I I just wanna share some of the poetry that she's written over the years.
And and one is called second Corinthians twelve nine. It says this, sufficient it is his grace for me. All power was taken from me, you see. Devastated and frustrating, life seemed to be. A burden for life.
How could that be? Years later, I met Christ and was set free. For now you see, the Lord's strength is made perfect in me. That's beautiful. And then here's another one, and it's called, I've been in the presence.
And she writes, I've been in the presence of Jesus today. I felt his Holy Spirit. I've seen his power displayed. He is right here with us, and he wants to share his love. And so let's open up and let him share blessings from above.
I've been in the presence of Jesus today. I felt his Holy Spirit. I've seen his power displayed. But what can we sing of it too? Thank you for your presence with us right here and right now.
And, Lord, I thank you so much for Joan's Joni's testimony of your presence with her through every moment of her life and now. And just thankful. Very, very thankful, God, that when we draw near to you, you draw near to us. And so would we, lord, as we explore your word, as we just get into it, pray that it would hit us different tonight, that we'd see something maybe we didn't see before. In Jesus name, amen.
Alright, you can have a seat for a minute. Let's get into let's get into the gospel of Mark. Blake, you wouldn't happen to have a clicker, would you? Alright. Tonight, we're in chapter 10.
I'm I'm glad to be back. We've kinda had some hit and miss, days this month, and, I'm I'm really glad to be back in the mark with you. So chapter 10 verses 46 through 52. This is where Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus, which this is the the last healing, recorded in Mark's gospel. So up to this point and and just here's a little review for us.
We know that Jesus is headed toward Jerusalem. He has predicted what would happen there three times now, that he would be betrayed and he would be sentenced to die and then raised to life on the third third day. He's ray he said this three times now to his disciples. His disciples are slow in understanding this, but Jesus is patient with them. Who who can testify to Jesus' patience with us?
Seriously, though. Right? When I see Jesus' patience with his disciples, I think, thank you for being so patient with them, and thank you for being patient with me. So he's teaching what his kingdom is. Even though the disciples are are are are not understanding this very quickly, he's teaching them what the kingdom is and how to enter it.
And I wanna say something. This is as true today as it was then. K? So what we're seeing here, what we're reading is as true today as it was then, like this right here in Mark ten fifteen. When Jesus says, if you wanna enter the kingdom, you must receive it like a child.
That is as true today as it was ever back then. Meaning, we cannot buy or earn our way into the kingdom. It is a free gift of God through belief in Jesus. And we've heard these verses before, but, church, let's hear them again and be encouraged by them. Okay?
God saved us by his grace. That's his favor. We didn't earn it or deserve it. It's just God's favor that he's always extending toward us. He gives it freely.
He saved us by his grace when we believed. It's when we trusted or put our faith in Jesus. Coming to him like a child, just like a kid, with faith and humility and trust. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to the cross I cling. That that's it.
That's our story. And the salvation, we can't even take credit for it. Like, not at all. It is a free gift of God. It's not a reward for the good things that we've done.
We can work and work and work and work. It's not a reward for the good things that we've done. So none of us can boast. So salvation, the kingdom is free. Like, I I love this.
This has become one of my new favorite verses where in Luke Jesus says, don't be afraid little flock because he's a shepherd. He's a good shepherd and where's flock? We're sheep of his pasture. Says, don't be afraid, little flock. It gives your father great happiness to what?
To give to give you the kingdom. But let's also acknowledge this, church. Let's also acknowledge this because Mark is telling sharing the story. Mark's gospel is sharing this. To follow Jesus is costly.
So let me just share this. In Mark eight, he says, if you want to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, follow me. Or in Mark 10, he says, whoever wants to be the leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. So, yes, Jesus is freely giving away the kingdom, and following him is costly. It's both and.
Free and costly. Because Jesus asks us as followers, as believers in him, to reject selfishness and pride and serve others like he did. And that's that's the beauty of this is what I see is that Jesus never asks us to do anything that he hasn't first done himself. I love that about Jesus. That is so encouraging.
He models this for us. So 45, even the son of man came sorry. Here it is. Even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve others and give his life as a ransom for many. He gives us that example to follow so that we can do it.
And I love this verse from Philippians because this is the now you guys can do this. It's God is working in us, and he is giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases him. That is so encouraging. If we're going to be followers like the kingdom is free and following Jesus is costly and can it can be difficult, this is really encouraging right here that he gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases him. We're not on our own.
So please be encouraged by that. And and and this is also encouraging, this text tonight, because we get to see Jesus respond with mercy as Bartimaeus calls out in faith, and then he becomes a follower. So that's how I'd sum up these verses. That's that's as simply as I as I can put it right here. So I wanna go ahead and read it through and just comment on the verses as we go and then open it up for conversation.
If you'd like to add a little word of of testimony that relates to this or something that stood out to you in these verses that's encouraging to you or could be encouraging to us, please do. So starting in verse 46, it says, then they reached Jericho. So just a quick word on that. Jericho was a popular resort city in the Judean Desert, an affluent place. So I kinda think of a little bit of it, like, where we live a bit, an affluent place, a resort city.
This is about 18 miles away from Jerusalem. And so as Jesus and his disciples left town, a large crowd follow him. Mark notes several times that crowds large crowds follow Jesus. That's something to pay attention to. It's something to take note of.
There are witnesses. There were witnesses, people who told people, who told people, who probably told this man right here, Bartimaeus, this blind beggar, son of Timaeus, who was sitting beside the road. I love that, Mark gives his name and the name of his father. He personalizes this. This is a real person who had real hardship and real trial and peril in his life.
We get to know his name and his father's name. And 47, you can hear his desperation as Jesus is passing by because Jesus is leaving town here. He's leaving town. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus of Nazareth was nearby, he began shouting. Like, yelled, Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.
So he's heard Jesus' name. He's probably heard of Jesus' miracles. Again, witnesses who tell others who tell others. The large crowd thing, that matters. And when I put myself in the story, I imagine him thinking.
Bartimaeus going, okay. If Jesus healed those other people, he can heal me. I'm not going to miss this opportunity. He's leaving town. I'm calling out right now.
So he starts shouting. Unashamed, he's making his voice heard to the point where people get annoyed with him, maybe even embarrassed for him. Have you ever been in a situation like this? I was in Salt Lake just, this last week, and and there was kind of a situation in front of me at the line. I was I was in Chick fil A because that's what you do when you go to Salt Lake City.
And and there was this these people on the line, and I thought, oh my gosh. I feel so embarrassed for you right now because of the shouting and the things that happened. Like, that's the way I picture that. People are getting uncomfortable. 48.
Be quiet, many of the people yelled at him. They didn't have the patience for this guy. Again, we put ourselves in the story. Put yourself in the story. How many years had this man been ignored?
How many how how long had he been overlooked? I don't know. It could have been a long, long time. But he wasn't going to be this time. He made himself known.
He shouted even louder. Son of David, have mercy on me. And I love this. This is the meaning of mercy here. It's God's covenant, love, and loyalty.
Isn't that good? That's what mercy is. According to your covenant of love and loyalty to your people, God, have mercy. Show compassion. 49.
When Jesus heard him, he stopped and he said, tell him to come here. And so they they called the blind man. Cheer up, they said. Come on. He's calling you.
That's my favorite. That's my favorite part of the story. Cheer up. He's calling you. Here's your day.
Here's your this is the opportunity that that that you you called out. He's gonna respond. Here it is. Jesus heard his crying. One of my, favorite Psalms In Psalm 34, it says, I sought the Lord and he answered me.
How many times in your life have you sought the Lord just earnestly seeking and going, God, I don't know what to do right now or, you know, whatever the case may have been, but you called out. And I love that in Psalm 34. It's, I sought the Lord, and he answered me. He responded. He responded.
Jesus hears us. Could you could you put that in your pocket here for a takeaway today? Jesus hears your cry. He hears you. Look at Bartimaeus' response here in 50.
He threw his coat aside. Now that kind of gets me to and I know this is maybe just a small detail, but to me, that's a big deal. Like, if this man is a poor, blind beggar, how much is that that piece of clothing that he's wearing, that jacket? I mean, maybe I'm reading too much into the story, but I'm going, okay. Really?
What is that to him? That probably means a lot to him, that jacket. And he throws it aside with abandon. Why? Because he he gets Jesus.
He jumped up and he came to Jesus. And can you picture this in your mind from just utter hopelessness and despair to Jesus, the healer, the teacher that I've been hearing about, the witnesses who told people, who told people, who told me. Now he's leaving town. He's heard my cry. Now he's calling he's calling me to himself.
How encouraging must that have been? Even better, how encouraging is that today that Jesus is calling himself that he's calling our us to himself. He still is, friends. He still is. He is still calling us to himself.
51. What do you want me to do for you? Jesus asked. Isn't that awesome too? To ask this question, what would you like me to do for you?
And and we and it just brings us back everything that Mark's been saying. Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve others. Here's Jesus doing what Jesus does. My rabbi, the blind man said, I wanna see. And I bet he did.
I mean, can you imagine the peril this man lived in probably most his life? We don't know how long. I just he just wanted to see. And maybe he knew maybe he knew this prophecy from Isaiah, maybe not. But I can say this, Jesus was fulfilling it right there, right before him, both physically and spiritually.
You will open the eyes of the blind, and you will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons. I don't know if the blind man knew that prophecy from Isaiah, but he certainly demonstrated the faith to believe it. Are you with me? Because here's what Jesus says next. Go.
Your faith has healed you. Just as simple as that. Go. Your faith has healed you. Your faith.
Let's just look at this word again because this is so key. This is so, so important for everyday life for us. Faith is a gift from God. It is not something that we can manufacture on our own. It is a gift from him.
It is his divine persuasion in us. And the more we yield ourselves to him, the greater it grows. Ain't that awesome about faith? So can you muster it up on your own? Can you produce it?
Can I produce it? No. It's a gift from God. But we can make it grow as we put it into practice. Isn't that the wonderful thing about faith?
The more I put it into practice, the greater it grows, and it goes, and it goes. It's a beautiful thing. God gives more and more as we put it into practice. So great. I could you just let's just look at that slide just for just for another just ten seconds, could we, please?
God, we thank you for the gift of faith. And I think of that father, in Mark nine who said, Lord, I believe, but help me in my my unbelief. God, when we are lacking belief, could you help us just to put it in neutral? To stop trying so hard to muster it up on our own and just yield our will to yours and and what we believe to be true that we we put into practice what we already know. And as we put into practice what we we already know, you will increase our faith, and and that is your divine persuasion in us.
Thank you for that. May our faith grow as we yield our will to yours in Jesus' name. And then I wanna end with this. Instantly, the man could see, and he followed Jesus down the road. That's the story of Bartimaeus.
It's it's this right here. Jesus responded with mercy as Bartimaeus called out in faith, and then he became a follower. It's a very short and simple story, but it's so profound. And I'd like to hear what stood out to you and well, as well in the story. But for me, I just I wanna mention again that Bartimaeus cried out in in faith, and Jesus answered.
I I I love that in this story, how persistent Bartimaeus was even when people told him to be quiet. Unashamed, he he just he kept calling out calling out because he knew that Jesus could do something about the peril that that he was in. And so he just continued to cry out even when when people shushed him and told him be quiet. He said, no. I know somebody who can do something about this, and I'm calling out to him.
That's beautiful. That's a beautiful picture of faith. I also love that Jesus noticed him, and he healed him. I sought the Lord, and he answered me. And I also love this, that Bartimaeus followed Jesus down the road after he was healed.
That he wasn't just a believer in Jesus. He became a follower of Jesus after Jesus healed him. And that is very encouraging to me because we can be believers, yes, but more so, Jesus is asking us to follow him as well. And so I think that's that that that was some of the most encouraging parts for me. So before you share, if you've got any thoughts from this story, can I pray just one more time and and just give thanks for this?
God, I thank you for this good word to us this evening. How you physically and you spiritually open the eyes of the blind, and you set captives free, and you still are in the business of doing that today, today, responding to the call of faith with your mercy, with your compassion, your covenant loyalty and love. I love that about mercy. Your covenant of loyalty and love toward your people. God, like Bartimaeus, may we call out in faith.
And when you answer when you answer to follow you down the road, and whatever your answer may be, we don't always know how you're going to answer our prayer, Lord. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it's no. Sometimes it's not yet. But, Lord, would you help us to, whatever your answer is, to continue to follow you, to not drop off.
Remind us, God, that you are working in us, and you're giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases you. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. Well, so the story of Bartimaeus. Would anybody have any any thoughts to add to to this to the story?
Anything that that stood out to you?
I like Jesus is always kinda surprising at even his disciples, like, the guy yelling and the disciples just wanna shush him, and he stops him and goes back. Or when the little kids are running up to him and the disciples just wanna shoo the little kids away, Jesus, no. Bring him here. And this was the most encouraging verse for me tonight for God is working in you. It's in giving you the desire to do what pleases him because, you know, you believe and you feel like you wanna do, but this is a relief because it's not just on you to actually do what pleases him.
It's that he'll help you, and he'll he'll put that in you. So that was what I really liked.
Yep. Thanks, Blake. Thanks, Blake. Any other thoughts from from the scripture tonight? Nick, have you got one?
Can we go right here first?
Yeah. Can
you imagine how Bartimaeus, who was blind, I don't know whether he was able to hear, if he had hearing. Let's assume maybe he did because he heard Jesus when Jesus responded to him. But nevertheless, it's just incredible that he could call out to Jesus after all these however many years that he hadn't been able to see and yet believe that Jesus could heal him. I mean, it's just it's amazing. It truly is.
Thanks, Alan. And that struck me too, Alan, because you see that there. You see it earlier in Mark chapter nine with the woman with the issue of blood. And she believes even beforehand. If I just touch the Yeah.
The the the part of his robe, if I just do that, that that I'll be healed. Or or the the the father who desperately comes to Jesus says, you can make my son well. Like, you can hear my so they come into the the situation. They come into it believing that Jesus can can already do what Jesus does. And I I love these stories of faith.
I would probably relate more to the the father in in Mark who says, Lord, I believe, but would you help me in my unbelief? Because there are times where I I have a difficult time believing. I just just this human fleshy part of me that I I have a hard time believing sometimes, and and that needs to be my prayer. God, I I do believe you, but would you help me in my unbelief? Yeah.
I love these stories of faith, and thank you for bringing mentioning that, Alan. Nick, have you got got a comment?
Thanks, buddy. I I just like the the picture of stumbling around in in darkness and then kinda going against what, like, the religious folks would say. You know, he probably didn't look like them if he was a beggar. Yeah. He probably didn't look like them, and then he is shouting, over them when they try to qui him, the people who know better.
But he pushes everything aside to follow Jesus to find that light. I think that's just it's just a picture for all of us. We're all blind. We're all beggars, we're all less like you like to say, a beggar trying to tell another beggar where they can find bread. I think that's it's just a beautiful picture we see here that all of us can relate to.
Okay. I just wanna mention the elephant in the Bible. To me, the fact that here's Jesus, he has not been crucified yet, he has not risen from the dead. There is no ad campaigns, there is no TV, there is no media, and he always has a crowd that is right there with him. And push the apostles aside.
Know, just, you know, put put put Jesus aside for a second. They are there. They are present. They they don't need to read the scriptures. They don't need to see him be crucified.
They already totally believe. And I love when Jesus said, oh, your faith has healed you. Yes. These people are carrying so much energy along with this man. How would they know who he is?
This goes to show you how big faith really the part that it plays because these are people who have no evidence, no inclusivity, but they are drawn to them and they just know. And that is the big, big thing for me because no matter how many times, it's like the apostles at this point should be like, oh yeah, yeah, come on, come on. And they're like, no, no. And it's like, they can't even see it. But these people, they're not even part of Jesus' life.
And they're like, oh, no, we're there for it. We know who you are. We believe in you. We know you're real. And I just like to say, it was like years ago, I spent a lot of time traveling the world.
Whenever I can get a hold of a different Bible, I just like reading reading reading the scriptures. There was actually one time I actually read where the interpretation was not that he answered Jesus not to say that I wanna be able to see, but I wanna be able to see you. Seeing wasn't everything for him, to actually see Jesus. It was just like how can anyone deny who he was? Was so many people.
This shows you how big faith really is and I think the message to the Bible is the fact to have faith. Faith is what it is. Believe in something you can't see, but you just know. It's that knowing and having faith in yourself that you know.
You. God's divine persuasion in us. I love that definition of that. Any other comments? Lexi, have you got one?
Yeah, you were talking about that God hears your cry and I've been kind of convicted in my own life how sometimes I don't have the faith or I pray out of routine or duty, but maybe without faith. And there's something kind of in my life right now that I've realized I've been praying in that way. And I'm in a ladies Bible study back home. We're studying Ephesians and there's some verses that say, God is able to do far more abundantly than all that you ask or believe according to the power of work within you. And that just gives me a lot of hope because I can pray with faith, and God is big, he's able to change things that seem impossible.
And I shouldn't be surprised when God changes things because he is able to do that. And yeah. So it just kinda made me think of that.
Sometimes even when we're not feeling at that step of obedience, say, alright. I'm I'm still gonna spend time with you. I'm still gonna pray. I'm I'm I'm gonna gonna believe the best I know how. I trust that you can do the rest here.
You're at work within me. Giving me the desire and the power to do pleases you. Yep. Thank you, guys. I I love the conversation, Tom.
I really do. It's it's edifying. Can we stand and, just sing one one more song together? This is Christ be all around me. God, we also wanna make that our prayer that you would go below, before, behind, and that in every eye that sees us, Lord, that they would see you in us.
And God, would you give us the strength and the desire and the power to do what pleases you? For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. One more word here. Just oops. And that is I I just wanted to to share this little note of encouragement for for Joni.
And if anybody would like to to share too, just give Joni a little word of encouragement or maybe share a little something. I know that not everybody in this room knows Joni, but I wanna say this. I gotta write things because I I just blink. So it says I wrote, Joni, you are dearly loved, and you will be dearly missed. You were one of the first people that I met at first b almost thirteen years ago.
You were one of the first with a smile, folding bulletins with your mom. And your joyful spirit and your quick witted humor immediately made me fell feel at home. I thought, this is my home. And, Joni, because of you, that that's why I felt at home right away when when I became pastor here at this church. You're you're a big part of that.
And from then on, you've been a huge source of encouragement to me. Your deep and abiding faith, your steadfastness, your poetry, and your love for Jesus has made a profound, profound impact on my life. And it's hard to see you move, but there is no doubt. And we would not stand in your way, and there's no doubt that the Lord has orchestrate orchestrated every step in this big life change. And I and we are confident that you'll encourage and inspire the new community that you're going to be living in and your church just as you've encouraged and inspired us here at First Bee and in Jackson.
So, Joni, may the Lord bless you and keep you, make his face shine on you, and be gracious to you, look upon you with favor, and give you his peace. Alright.
