Well, hey, everyone, good morning. Hey, whatever campus you're at, let's welcome each other in together. Come on. Hey, my name is Caleb, and I get to serve on our staff team here as one of our Central Student Directors. And man, fun fact about me, I've gotten to grow up here at Valley Creek. I've literally been here almost my entire life since I was two years old, almost 20 years now. And I've gotten to discover Jesus for myself as a student. And man, now I get a front row seat to watch other students discover more about Jesus for themselves. And man, it is so incredible. And one of my favorite things I get to do here on staff is I get to help students discover more about the Word of God, the Word of God, His truth, His promises for their life. And you see, at Valley Creek, that's what we've been doing this entire summer. We've been discovering more about the Word of God because we've been in a series called 60 Days of Unfamiliar Promises. 60 Days of Unfamiliar Promises. And really, what promises are is they're God's Word. His truth in our life. They're the same yesterday, today, and forever. They were relevant when they were written and they're relevant today in our lives. 60 Days of Unfamiliar Promises. And it's ironic if you've been with us, because really, we've taken some of the most familiar verses and familiar promises in the Bible. They're the ones we see everywhere, the ones that are literally posted on social media. They're the ones that people get on the back of their Letterman jacket, or the Hallmark cards in the back of Walgreens. We see them everywhere. We see them everywhere, all those verses. But really, at the same time, if we're honest, they're super unfamiliar to us because we don't claim them. We don't receive it. We don't act as if it were so in our lives. And so we've been talking about some of the most familiar, yet at the same time, unfamiliar verses in the Bible. And we said it's like the gift card balance in the back of your wallet. It's available to you, you just have to claim it. You just have to act as if it were so, to believe it in your life. And we've been saying that there is power in declaring out these promises as well, that we can claim it and then declare it out loud over us and our family because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

And so we've been declaring these promises out loud, and as we claim it and declare it, we've been able to walk in it. We've been able to walk in the truth, the realities of these promises today, to walk with heavenly realities on earth today because every promise that God has made is a yes in Christ Jesus. And so for every promise in this series, we've been doing those three things, claiming it, declaring it, and walking in it. And today, we get a super fun promise. It is one of the most well-known promises in the entire Bible, and it comes out of the Book of Joshua. The verse is Joshua 1:9, and it says, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." It's incredible, and so just like we've been doing with every other promise in this series, let's begin by declaring this out together. So come on, read this out with me. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Come on, now, let's do that one more time, but let's declare it out like it's God's Word, His truth for us today. You ready? You ready? All right. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Come on. What an incredible promise. What an incredible truth for our lives. And man, if we're honest, we've probably heard that hundreds of times. I know for me, I've literally heard that hundreds of times. So what makes it so unfamiliar to us? What makes that promise so unfamiliar? Well, you see, it's at the beginning of the Book of Joshua and Joshua was about to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. And so for some context, the Israelites were just in slavery in Egypt for 400 years, they were freed, and then they just wandered the desert for 40 more years, and now the time had finally come for them to enter the Promised Land, the land that was rightfully theirs to go and claim, the land flowing with milk and honey. The only problem was there were giants in the land. Actual giants, not just tough circumstances, actual super tall people like Rubeus Hagrid, Jack and the Beanstalk, you know what I mean? They had big scary giants in their land and they didn't want to leave because I don't blame them. It's the land flowing with milk and honey. I wouldn't want to leave either. And so what does God do? He appoints Joshua to lead his people into the Promised Land to conquer the Promised Land and claim what is rightfully theirs. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." 

And see, there's actually two parts to this verse. There's a command and there's a promise. And I think this is so unfamiliar to us because we get so caught up in the command that we miss the promise. See, I think we focus on the, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged." But we miss out on the promise that God will be with us wherever we go. That's what makes us strong and courageous because God commands Joshua, "Be strong and courageous, stand firm, yeah, you may face some giants, and some enemies, and some things you weren't expecting, but I promise that I will be with you wherever you go." That's what makes him strong and courageous. See, He doesn't start off by telling Joshua why he's so qualified to go because really, he's not qualified. He's leading the Israelites. They just wandered the desert for 40 years. They're not a bunch of warriors. They've probably never picked up a sword in their lives. So He doesn't start off by saying why you're qualified. He says, "Joshua, you want to know what qualifies you right now in this moment to go, it's Me. My presence in your life, you want to know who you are? You're the people who God is with. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Isn't it interesting? Every time God asks us to do something, He doesn't start by listing off why we're qualified to do it. He just promises to be with us. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me." Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death doesn't sound fun, doesn't promise that everything is going to be great, but He promises to be with us wherever we go. See, anytime God asks you to do something, like make a disciple, take a step of faith, go into the unknown, and you're like, "Who am I, God? Why me? Who am I to go and do this?" He doesn't respond by telling you how amazing, and incredible, and talented, and gifted you are. He's not your mom. But He does promise to be with you wherever you go. He says, "You want to know what qualifies you to go right now in this moment? It's Me. My presence in your life, the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." See, the thing that qualified Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land was the presence of God. "The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go," out of the desert and into the Promised Land. 

And what's so interesting about this verse is that the Israelites actually had an opportunity to go into the Promised Land before this. God had actually given them the opportunity to enter the Promised Land with Moses. But the one catch was that the presence of God would not be with them. And so Moses quickly speaks up, and this is what Moses says. "Then Moses said to Him, 'If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?'" What else? What else will distinguish me and your people from everyone else on the face of the earth? In other words, if You don't go with us, then the desert is no greater than the Promised Land. Man, if Your presence doesn't go with us, then the desert is no different than the Promised Land. And the same is true in our lives. If God's presence doesn't go with us, then that promised job, the promised career, that promised team, or college, or fill in the blank, it's no greater than the Promised Land. Man, it's a desert without the presence of God. Without the presence of God, every Promised Land is a desert. And man, but with the presence of God, every desert is a Promised Land. You see, without the presence of God, every Promised Land is just a desert. But with the presence of God, every desert is a Promised Land. So what else, what else will distinguish us from all the other people on the face of the earth? See, Moses was so convinced of this. He was willing to go his entire life, never stepping foot in the Promised Land, as long as he had the presence of God. It was worth it. It was worth everything to be in the presence of God. And so can I just ask you, do you believe that? Is the desert with God far greater than the Promised Land without God? Because if I'm honest, I still struggle to believe that. I know that God is good, but is He really greater than the promised job, or that promised team, or all these other things? And to Moses, it was. It was God's presence that helped set them apart, that helped them live differently in the midst of the rest of the world that distinguishes them from every other people on the face of the earth. It's God's presence that separates them.

And why is that so important? Well, because the kingdom of heaven is upside-down compared to the kingdom of this world. They're opposites. They're always supposed to look different. So the Israelites were always supposed to look different than everyone else in the rest of the world. The wisdom of heaven is foolishness to the world. And it's so interesting because we spend so much of our lives trying to fit in. but God's presence was always meant to set us apart. See, isn't it interesting? We try so hard to fit in, to not stand out, to be like everyone else. My generation, you might not have noticed it, we are huge on trends. We literally go and jump off cliffs because everyone else is doing it. It's ironic. It's like we try to stand out by fitting in. It's like we want people to notice us, but we want them to notice the exact same things that everyone else does. Like our Stanley cups, or our oversized T-shirts, or the slippers we wear out in public, or our white shoes. Because for some reason, we only wear white shoes. I don't get it. Look, I'm wearing them right now because everyone else is. Man, isn't it interesting? We spend so much of our lives trying to fit in, trying not to stand out, but God's presence was always meant to set us apart. It makes us holy. The word holy literally means set apart. How often do we say we desire holiness or we want to be holier, but we don't want to stand out and we want to fit in, but we don't want to stand out? It's God's presence that sets us apart. And Moses knew this. He said, "We can't go into the Promised Land if Your presence doesn't go with us. We can't look different than everyone else if Your presence doesn't go with us. It won't look any different than Egypt did if Your presence does not go with us to set us apart." His presence makes us strong and courageous. Why? Because the presence of God is the greatest change agent in the entire world. See, it's the presence of God that changes everything. The presence of God is literally the greatest change agent in the entire world. You see, the two most common ways the Bible talks about the presence of God are as cloud and as fire. See, when God led the Israelites through the desert, He led them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Fire, that burns up everything, that refines, that purifies, that burns up any impurity, and then cloud that brings rain to wash, to refresh, to clean. See, it's not the Promised Land that brings them freedom. It's the presence of God that changes them, that refines them, that purifies them, that burns up any impurity, that washes them, that cleanses them and leads them into freedom. It's the presence of God that changes them, and oh, by the way, it's not just them, it's us. Them is us. It's the presence of God that burns up anything in our life. It's the presence of God that refines us, that purifies us, that washes us, and cleanses us and leads us into freedom because freedom is not a place.

Freedom is a person. Freedom is Jesus. Man, check this out. "Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." Where is freedom? There is freedom. "And we all with unveiled faces are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory." It's the presence of God that transforms us more into His image and takes us from glory to glory. The presence of God changes us, it transforms us. Man, I bet all of us could list off a person in our life that we know that just looks like their face is radiating with the presence of God. They just look like they've spent time with Jesus. It might be that teacher, that friend, that leader, the grandparent, but they just look like they spent time with Jesus. And here on our staff team, that person is Pastor Cordel. We like to call him Papa C, he's amazing. But man, anytime you're with him, he just looks like he's been with Jesus. Just by his countenance, his joy, his gentleness. Man, it's like every year he just looks more and more like Jesus. Why? Because the Spirit continues to transform him more into His image and His likeness, and he takes him from glory to glory. And I don't know about you, but I want the same to be true of my life. Man, I want to be transformed into the same image and same likeness. I want to go from glory to glory because God transforms me because His presence changes me. Man, I don't know about you, but I want that in my life. And you see, the Bible says the same which is true about Joshua, that that was a trait that was like a characteristic of Joshua. He spent time in the presence of God being refined and purified, being transformed. You see, when Moses would go and meet with God, he would meet with Him in this tent that they called the Tent of Meeting. And no one would be able to enter except for Moses and then his young aide, Joshua. And so Joshua literally grew up in the presence of God. Check this out. "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one speaks to a friend." First off, wow, that's incredible. We don't even have time for that verse. "Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide, Joshua, son of Nun, did not leave the tent." Joshua did not leave the presence of God. He literally grew up in the presence of God. That's what he's known for. That's why he's leading the Israelites into the Promised Land because he spent time in the presence of God. And so the question becomes, why did Joshua, who's literally known for being in the presence of God, need to be reminded of the promise that God was with him wherever he goes? Why is that the one thing that God tells Joshua before he goes into the Promised Land? "The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Why did he need to be reminded of it? Because, see, sometimes I think the things that we know the best are the things we most often forget. Sometimes the things we think we got down, the things that we've heard the most are the things we most often overlook because we think we've got them down.

For example, I just got married, and me and my wife totally forgot two people when we sent our guest list to the wedding venue. We totally forgot two people on the list, and we forgot me and my wife, because it was so obvious that we didn't even think about including me and my wife on our wedding day. And man, sometimes the things that seem the most obvious are the things that we need to be reminded of most. So many of us could recite that promise. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." It's so familiar, but at the same time, it's so unfamiliar. It's out of sight, out of mind for us. Could it be, we don't feel strong and we don't feel courageous? We are afraid. We are discouraged because we just lost sight that God is with us, because we just overlooked the promise that God is with us wherever we go. Because you might not be leading an army into the Promised Land, but man, you've got battles in your own life. That hardship at work, or the sickness in your body, or the tension in your relationships or in your family, you might not be Joshua leading an army to go and conquer the Promised Land, but man, you've got giants. You've got battles in your own life. And honestly, if we look at the world around us, I would say that there's probably not a lot of strength and courage. And there's a whole lot of fear and discouragement. If we were to take a look at the world around us, there's not a lot of strength, and courage, and there's a whole lot of fear, and discouragement and it makes sense. If the presence of God is what makes us strong and courageous, then the world without God will have some fear and will have some discouragement. 

I think that's why things like anxiety and depression are huge in the world today. Why? Because of the normalization of fear and discouragement. What is anxiety? It's fear that is so normal in my life I can't even refer to it as fear anymore. It becomes anxiety. And what is depression? It's the normalization of discouragement in my life. Fear and discouragement have normalized things that are so foreign in the kingdom of God. Man, they've normalized fear and discouragement, but God's presence was always meant to set us apart. And honestly, I think the fear is real, but there's just a whole lot of discouragement in the world around us. Man, it's like there's just this base level of discouragement everywhere we go. I finally got that dream job I've been dreaming of my whole life, but the people are so challenging, and I don't actually like it. And now I'm starting to rethink everything that I've spent my entire life pursuing, and honestly, I'm just feeling discouraged. Or I finally got that pay raise or the promotion I've been chasing after, but nothing seemed to change. In fact, inflation hit, and now I'm actually paying more than I was before, or I got the window seat on the airplane, hallelujah, but the dude next to me is 10 feet tall, and now the window seat is the worst seat on the plane. Come on, man, it's like the world has a way of taking the things that we wanted and still making us discouraged. Or how about, I've been reading the Bible every day, but man, I have no idea what it means. I'm still so confused and lost. Or I confess that sin, the pride, the addiction in my life, but nothing changed, it's still there. Or I prayed for the healing or that breakthrough for that cancer diagnosis. I prayed for that health issue, but nothing is happening. And man, I don't know why those things happen, but I do know that God will never leave us. I know that God will never forsake us. I know that He will be with us wherever we go. It's truth. It's a promise for me and for my life. 

See, even the enemy knows that there's nothing he can do to separate us from God. He knows that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from God. See, the enemy knows that. So he tries to make us buy the lie that God is distant from us, that He isn't with us. See, Satan knows the Scriptures where it says, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?" That "You're with me always." So he tries to make us buy the lie that God is distant from us. See, the presence of God doesn't mean the absence of battles and giants in our life, but it does mean the absence of fear and discouragement. See, in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him. It doesn't mean that everything's going to be great, but it means that God is good all the time. All the time, God is good. And so the question isn't like, is God with me? The question is, are you aware that He already is? Because the truth is, God is with you wherever you go. So can I ask you, are you aware that God is with you? Are you aware of His presence in your life? Or have you bought into the lie that He's distant from you? Or do you honestly just need to be reminded that God is with you wherever you go? And see, this is the story of the entire Bible. The entire Bible is the story of God reminding His people that He is with them wherever they go. It's literally the most repeated promise in the entire Bible is, "I am with you." Why? Because God is love, and perfect love casts out all fear. So where God is, fear cannot be. His presence makes us fearless. And so the enemy has no hold on us, has no hold on our life when we're in the presence of God because the presence of God makes us fearless. And oh, in the presence of God, we know that we're fully known. We're fully loved with no fear of rejection. There's no room for discouragement in the presence of God. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." His presence makes us fearless. And man, it sets us apart.

And see, you may not be leading the army to conquer the Promised Land like Joshua, but you do have some giants in your own life. And even more so, we have a kingdom to release. You see, we might not be following Joshua to go and conquer the Promised Land, but we are following Jesus to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth today. See, we're talking about Joshua, Old Testament, but do you know what the name for Joshua is in the New Testament? The name for Joshua is Jesus. Because Joshua is a prophetic picture of Jesus. In Hebrew, the names Joshua and Jesus are actually two forms of the same name, Yehoshua and Yeshua. So check this out. Yehoshua, Joshua, means "the Lord saves." And Yeshua, Jesus, means "salvation." Yehoshua means "the Lord saves" because Joshua is a prophetic picture of the salvation that comes from the Lord, but Yeshua means "salvation" because Jesus is the Lord, and from Him comes salvation. "At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord." "There is no other name under which we might be saved." And so yeah, we may not be following Joshua to go and conquer the Promised Land, but we are following Jesus to bring heaven to earth today. See, Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise that started with Joshua. Check this out, this is New Testament. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and He went around doing good and healing all who are under the power of the devil because God was with Him." Just like with Joshua, God was with Him wherever He went. See, Joshua was anointed to go and claim the Promised Land. Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power. Joshua went and claimed the Promised Land, but Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil. Why? Because God was with Him. Jesus came to do in the spiritual what Joshua did in the physical. He is the fulfillment of the promise to Joshua, and He did it all because God was with Him. He was anointed with the Holy Spirit, the literal presence of God in His life, and He was with Him wherever He went. And what's even more neat is that the same Holy Spirit that was given to Jesus is actually given to us. See, we've been given the access to do the exact same things as Jesus, to release His kingdom on earth today. See, this is Jesus talking to the Father. Look at this. "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit. He lives with you and will be in you." The same Holy Spirit that Jesus had is available to us. Any one of His disciples, anyone who follows Him, He's given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God to be with you wherever you go. So the promise that started with Joshua is still being fulfilled today. The promise that God will be with you wherever you go is still being fulfilled today with the Holy Spirit and the presence of God that is literally with you wherever you go. When God spoke, the promise never stopped. 

See, recently, we had an opportunity to take a group of students to Panama, the country Panama, not Panama, Florida. For some reason, that's been so confusing to people. But we had 46 students who said yes to going on a mission trip to Panama, and they got to share the gospel. They got to share their testimonies with hundreds of students all across Panama City, and man, it was incredible. But if you were to ask almost any of those students, I'm pretty sure they would tell you that the best part of the trip was the presence of God. The greatest part of the trip wasn't the ministry or seeing the cool things, it was the presence of God. There was this one night on the trip, it was after a long day of ministry, we're a little exhausted, and we just had a time of worship together. And so I hit the play button, and then we stepped out, the leaders, we went out in the hallway because we just had a leader meeting, and we let the students worship. We got cut short literally by the sound of all the students' voices drowning us out, declaring out, "Give me Jesus, give me Jesus. You are my one thing," and man, it was so emotional. It brought us leaders to tears and so we literally had to go inside. We're like, "What is going on in here?" And I can't even explain what happened, other than we were in the throne room of heaven. Man, it was the presence of God right there reaching every single one of us. The Holy Spirit, the presence of God was with us wherever we went. And it changed the entire trip, the entire rest of the trip because God was with us wherever we went. See, of all the incredible, amazing things that we got to experience, the greatest was the presence of God because there's nothing better than the presence of God. And yeah, that was in Panama, but that still happens right here, right now. Why? Because the Holy Spirit, the presence of God is with you wherever you go. The promise that started with Joshua is still being fulfilled today. And one more for you, before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave us one last command to His disciples. We talk about it all the time, the Great Commission. "Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And..." you know what he says next? "And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." The Great Commission, the command to make disciples of all nations. But just like He does with Joshua, He follows his command with a promise. "And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." Valley Creek, surely He is with you always to the very end of the age. The Holy Spirit, the presence of God is with you wherever you go. Everything God calls us to, He empowers us to do. See, if God is for us, who can be against us? And man, students, I just want to speak to you for a minute. It takes a lot of strength and courage to follow Jesus, to practice the ways of Jesus when everyone around you isn't. To live set apart, to live holy when everyone around you does not want to. And man, you can do that all because God is with you. God is with you wherever you go. His presence is what sets you apart. So things like anxiety and depression, the normalization of fear, and discouragement, and they have no hold on your life because of the presence of God. God is with you wherever you go. So the things that seem a little crazy to the world are actually normal in the kingdom of heaven. Things like praying always. Things like rejoicing in all circumstances. Things like worshiping boldly and wholeheartedly. Things like looking like a fool sometimes for following Jesus, for looking like a goofball in front of your friends because you're following Jesus. When no one else gets it, man, the presence of God sets you apart. And surely, He is with you always to the very end of the age. Everything He calls you to, He empowers you to do. 

At Valley Creek, imagine how different our lives would be if we actually took this promise at face value. If we claim the promise that God is with us wherever we go, imagine how different our lives would look. You see, for every promise in this series, we've been doing three things. Claiming it, declaring it and walking in it. Claim it, declare it, and walk in it. And so with Joshua 1:9, claim it, declare it, and walk in it. Claim it. It all starts with acknowledging that Jesus has already claimed this for us. That because of Jesus, we've been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit, the presence of God that's with us wherever we go. All we have to do is claim it, receive it, ask for it. If you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who ask for it? Claim it, and then declare it. Man, if Joshua, who grew up in the presence of God needed to be reminded of the promise, we do too. So let's declare this out over our lives. See, it might just be as simple as declaring this out every day this week. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Declare it out loud as a family. Declare it out loud like, as a Circle. Declare it over your lives. Man, this was the promise that my parents used to always declare over me. Literally, this was the exact promise that I grew up having declared over me every single day. The Lord, my God, would be with me wherever I went. It's so powerful. Amen. And we get to walk in it, walk in it, to act as if it were so, to believe this promise in our lives. I wish I could say that I had this declared over me and I just walked in it. I was aware of God wherever I went. I was casting out demons at the age of four, prophesying at five. I was totally aware of God's presence. But no, the presence that I heard the most was the one I most often forgot. It was so familiar that it was unfamiliar to me. It's really hard sometimes, I know, when everything is chaos around you. I know it's so hard sometimes when I don't feel like God is with me, when I don't feel the same as I do on a Sunday morning, or when I feel on a mission trip, I don't feel the same way, but the truth is that God is with me regardless of how I feel, regardless of what's going on around me. The truth is the Lord my God will be with me wherever I go. I can't imagine what it would have been like as a student, how many lost, lonely, and broken students I could have carried the hope of Jesus to if I wasn't afraid to carry the hope of Jesus. If I was aware that He was with me wherever I went, if His presence really did set me apart, if I wasn't too busy trying to fit in, trying to look like everyone else, keep up with all the trends, wear my white shoes, I can't imagine how many lost, lonely, and broken students I could have carried hope to if I was aware that Jesus was with me wherever I went. Imagine what it would be like going to work or home with your families aware of the presence that God was with you wherever you went.

If you just took it at face value, God is with me wherever I go. It doesn't matter how I feel. It doesn't matter what's going on around me. God is with me wherever I go. His presence changes us. It sets us apart. His presence is what leads us into freedom and it's with us wherever we go. And so, Valley Creek, have I not commanded you? "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." And so let's claim it, let's declare it, and let's walk in it in Jesus' name. So come on, would you close your eyes with me? What's the Holy Spirit saying to you? Even just right now in this moment, are you aware that God is with you? He's in the very air that you breathe. The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. And so Jesus, thank You for the promise. It started with Joshua, but it's still being fulfilled today. Thank You that you are Emmanuel, that You are God with us, that we can claim it, that we can declare it, and we can walk in it, because we know it is truth for our lives. And so would we, as a Valley Creek family, truly claim the promise that God is with us wherever we go. And when we get to walk in the realities, would Your presence transform us? And would it set us apart as we claim it, as we declare it, as we walk in it? In Jesus' name, amen.