Build Your Character on these Foundations

TRANSCRIPT

I've been really looking forward to this series. It was one I proposed a little while back and it kept getting shunted a little bit. For whatever reason, I just go and do it and then the Lord said, no, no, push it back. But I feel like this is the right time for this particular series. Now I, I don't know about whether you've experienced the same as me, but I dunno if you've ever been out to a restaurant or something like that.

And the outside looks amazing and it looks beautiful and there's signage and it's got all this nice kind of plant thing going on, and you think this is going to be amazing. And then you get inside and it's like the staff are like horrible and the food is terrible. And it's like you, instead of being out there to enjoy yourself, you end up.

Managing all the, all night spent managing your disappointment because it feels like really bad. Well, that happened just recently. We don't, ed and I, we don't go out very often. We don't get ready, people don't let us out. So, but we, but we don't go out very often. And so she wanted to go to a particular place and she said, I said, okay, well let's go out and we go there and she'd booked a table and it was gonna be just for us around a table and we're just gonna have this wonderful time.

'cause we have to talk about what do you think about each other? You know, blah, blah, blah. And, um. Anyway, so we were all excited and we're all hyped up wi for this time. We got there at seven, you know, and instead of being around a table, we kind of ran a bar like miles away from each other, like yelling.

You couldn't even talk. And the table was booking for seven and like. We thought what? Seven half, seven 30, we'll get some food or something. It's eight 20. Nothing has come and my disappointment is beginning to show on my face. Uh, so, and just is like, calm down. So, so anyway, so we settled down and, and then I thought this, surely this can't get any worse.

It finally gets here when the, when it's closing and they're mopping around us round the bar to get rid of us out the door. I mean, it was like, what is that? I'll tell you what it is. It's someone that's investing really heavily in their reputation and their brand, but not investing in their character.

They're more, they're more interested in what they present to you outside than what it's gonna feel like when you get inside. Now here's the thing. This is where it gets a little bit. Twitchy. This is not just about restaurants, is it really? It's not about restaurants. We all do this, right?

We become obsessed with who we are, our reputation, what we might look like, what we might feel like, what we might be driving, how we dress. And we become so concerned with what other people think about us. 'cause we're worried about our reputation when what we should be concerned about is what's changing in us that actually makes us attractive to people, that they want to be there around us.

Maybe are we developing a life that is working well that actually sustains the reputation? Because here's the deal, reputation. We'll get you an introduction right there, but character will establish an ongoing connection of relationship and trust. Reputation might get you an introduction, but if there's no character to establish that ongoing connection, you got nothing.

Chances of us going back to this place. Why? Because I don't care how great it looks on the on the front. I know what's gonna happen 'cause I know what's going on inside. So it's really important. This series is really based on the fact that God is more interested in forming our character than building our reputation, which flies completely in the opposite direction to the world we live in today.

Because the world we live in today is obsessed around social media of making sure that you filter out all your flaws. Like this photo here, see, this is what she looks like. Really? But that's what you see when you go to her social page because you know what? We wanna make sure, let's get rid of all those flaws.

That's terrible. Get rid of that. Oh, look at that Here outta place. We are managing our reputation. We've become brand managers of our reputation. And it's like the, the next guy, you know, he wants you to see that he's had flying overseas. He's doing this wonderful life, but he's got a light with a toilet seat up there.

But this is what you see. This is what we see. Man, look at me. I'm on this vacation. Woo. He hasn't even left his house. He's just holding the toilet seat up and taking a photo. He's just a clever photographer.

It's, isn't it? We spend all our life trying to curate what we look like, what we feel like, because we feel like somehow that's going to, uh, it's gonna build a reputation for us. And at the same time, we try and hide the fact that we are not quite perfect. 'cause we want people to buy into our reputation.

Now the interesting thing about Jesus. Is that when he decided to start the greatest movement in the world for all eternity, uh, he chose to work with people not of brand reputation. He didn't go for the guys that were politically correct or didn't go with the guys that were the, the high up religious leaders.

He picked just some really unusual, unlikely characters. And then he formed their character as they walked with him in the most unusual of places. See, God used his character to form something in us that either bolsters our reputation or dismantles it, and it's something called faithfulness. It's faithfulness, not the glamorous faithfulness that you see on the TV screens or you see on the Facebook pages and things like that, but the faithfulness that comes from ordinary day to day when nobody is looking kind of faithfulness, it actually transforms you to be someone of significance because reputation will get you an introduction.

I get you the introduction, but if there's no substance, there's no character there, you won't be able to maintain it. So we're supposed to present ourselves in a way that represents God. And I don't know about you, but um, some people think that Christians, I dunno why they get this idea, uh, are a little unusual.

They just think we're a little unusual, and even God says we are a little bit. So let me take to a portion of scripture in one Peter, Peter was one of the, the disciples that was walking with Jesus and he documented some things and it became part of the cannon of scripture they called it, which is a New Testament with a new covenant, which is for us.

But, uh, he said this, he said, you are a chosen generation. So first and foremost, right there. God's letting us know I chose you. You might think you chose me, but I kind of chose you. But he says to be a royal priesthood. Now the priesthood was there to bring worship to God, to represent people to God and back this direction.

So these were the ones that were supposed to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. So you're a chosen generation, but you gotta, you gotta love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And then out of that place of health, you become a holy nation. You become a people that represent God well in the earth.

That's what we do. But then he goes on, and I dunno why he did this, A peculiar people, why is he calling us peculiar? And he says, 'cause you should shine forth the praises of your God. We represent our God. Now, peculiar is an older word. Uh. In some of your Bibles it might have, uh, unusual as the word some of them, and I hate this, someone has the word special.

Special. I went to school with kids and they are awful. And my teachers would say to my mom, 'cause I wasn't truly a very academic person. I dunno whether that shows, but I wasn't really academic. And so. And my teachers would say to my mom, and I would hear it, oh, KEF, he's so special.

No, I wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, but I knew that wasn't a compliment. I knew that wasn't a compliment. I was getting a backhander, but peculiar, special, unusual. Wanna hear some other synonyms for pe? Peculiar, bizarre. Some Christians are bizarre, some are curious. Some are eccentric and eerie. Get rid of the eerie.

Don't need any eerie, flaky. Let's not go with that one either. Freakish, funny. That's okay. We can have that. Bit odd. I can go with that. Outlandish. No worries. Spooky. I'll leave that alone too. Uh, strange and weird. So we are supposed to be a peculiar people and unusual people. Why? Because we should be operating from a different system to the rest of the world.

The world has a system breached in darkness and brokenness. We have a system built in light and the kingdom of heaven and what Jesus has to say on stuff. So, but sometimes that can make us look a little bit odd and a little bit weird. Doesn't need to be weird. Weird, you know, just weird. It's fine. Jesus did some weird things every so often, but he wasn't weird.

So it is possible to get this right, but there should be an unnatural, unusual, peculiar amount of. Qualities within us that represent the character and nature of God and they're found in Galatians chapter five. It says, the fruit of the spirit. Now, the fruit of the Spirit. This is, this is code for, this is the character and nature of God that should be in us.

Should be love, joy, peace. I threw that old one in forbearance actually means patience. Kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This is part of the character and the nature of God, but he says, you should have this. This should be inside you. This should come out of you when everybody else is losing it.

This should be an unusual, peculiar, calm, and self-control in you. That's what makes us look a bit weird. Because we don't go the way everyone else on the word go. Word goes. We are counterculture. We're counterculture to what the world is because it's operating outta brokenness. It's operating outta sin, it's operating outta death, and we should be operating out of the light and the life of Christ deep within us.

So God's more interested in informing your character than building your reputation. So I'm gonna drift back into the old Covenant, which is the first part of your Bible, which is after Genesis is for Ancient Israel, where God's forming a military nation to deal with the pagan nations, but also set the stage for the coming Messiah of Jesus, which is the new covenant starts in Matthew, which is for us for all peoples.

First one was only for Israel, but there are some great examples in there of this kind of character thing coming out. First one I want to just talk on a little bit is David. Now everybody's heard the word David King. David was the greatest of the kings of Ancient Israel. Um, wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

If you've read your Bible, you'll know that. But I wanna go back to when we first meet David. It's in the, it's in the chapter of First Samuel. I'm not gonna put the scripture up, but you can actually go on and read this for yourself. And we, uh. We see a David there that's not a king yet, and he's not on a battlefield fighting a big giant.

He's out doing the things that nobody else wants to do. He is a shepherd. He's out shepherding the sheep. It was one of the lowest of lowest jobs. Nobody liked it. It was awful. It was horrible. But there was this other guy, other guy called Samuel and Samuel. He was one of the prophets of God, so God would use him.

A prophet is someone that speaks on God's behalf to bring correction to try and get the nation back on track. So he says to Samuel, I need you to go down to Jesse's place because one of his sons is to be the next king. So Samuel goes down and Jesse prays his sons, these good looking guys, like, like massive, strong fighting warrior guys.

And, and each time Samuel's thinking, well, surely that is the Lord's anointing king and God, God just says no to 'em all. He just says no, all of them. And so, uh, Samuel was forced to say to Jesse, I, I don't suppose you've got another son anywhere. He doesn't even bring David into the lineup of the suns.

That's how highly he thought of David. David's just out there, not even gonna bring him in. And so he brings him in and then that's the one that's the one serious. So this little scrawny fella that was not even worthy to be considered for this kind of thing. Is the one and his life and his character was formed faithfully serving his father in the menial task of looking after sheep.

He protect the sheep, he fight off the lines, he fired off the bears. It's in there. He learned to develop his sense of identity in God and his strength in God. It's amazing. It is there with his character form. So when it comes down to, well, we all love the David and Goliath account, where he is gonna take out the giant.

He wasn't trying to build a reputation then. He was living out of the character that he already had built, and it was built in the quiet places. In the quiet places. Character is built in private, so that influence can happen in public. Let me say that again. Character is built in private so that influence can be really substantial in public.

And that's countercultural. That's David. Let's move on to another D in there, Daniel. Yeah, Daniel's another great guy, I mean, but he found himself in a difficult circumstances because Israel has misbehaved badly yet again. God sent them into captivity. He finds himself down in Babylon, and he is in this Babylonian culture.

But he is a really gifted, really impressive young man. I mean, he could have easily adapted into that and climbed the corporate ladder and done incredibly well. But David, Daniel makes an unusual decision. He resolves not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, not to defile himself with it. Well, is this, so is this just about diet?

Is that what it's about? No, it's not about diet, it's about character. For Daniel, his integrity wasn't negotiable. Wasn't negotiable. Even if it's gonna cost him opportunities, he is not going to compromise and he's not gonna become like the world of which he finds himself in. And here's what happened outta starting with simple of the what he ate, the way he treated his body, the way he was committed to prayer.

This created such an unusual guy. In Daniel that even the pagan kings of their time could not, but take note of this guy. And then when crisis comes King Nebuchadnezzar, and he needs someone to trust, who does he trust? Not the reputation guys. He bypasses them all. And he goes after Daniel. Why? Because he goes, Daniel had something different under the surface.

There was something different. Boling Daniel's reputation. One final one, Joseph, most people know about Joseph. He's the guy, you know, that had the dream with all his brothers. You know, they didn't like the dream. 'cause in the dream, uh, he, they were all bowing down, worshiping him. So they kindly just sell him into slavery.

And then he ends up in slavery, and then he ends up in pot ofs house, and then pot of his wife takes fancy to him, but he's not gonna be compromised his moral sexually. So he rejects it. So he ends up in prison and down in prison where his reputation has been destroyed, his character is being formed. And you can read this in the first book of the Bible, Genesis chapter 39, and you'll see one phrase that keeps coming out in regard to this.

The Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph, and you go, how on Earth could the Lord be with you through all that? It's going from one disaster to the other. He says, no, the Lord was with Joseph. That's what he knew. And while everything was falling apart, something of the character and nature of God, those gifts of the spirit were being formed in him, we're being deeply formed in him.

Now Joseph could have got bitter like most people do when thing they having justice. He could have compromised his integrity with pot of his wife, but instead he remained faithful. There's that faithfulness again, and he, he, he runs pot of for his house with such a place of excellence and he's maintaining his purity and he's showing kindness to the prisoners.

And so then what happens? A massive famine comes upon the land and they need someone to save Egypt. And who do they go for? All the reputation guys that they've got in the service? Nope. They seek out Joseph. That's an unusual and peculiar choice, but his faithfulness had built such character within him deep in the forgotten places.

I think it's important for us to remember the character is built, is often formed in the invisible. And the uncomfortable

in the invisible and the uncomfortable. That's when your characters form. That's when you find out what you are really made of, when the opportunity comes, when you know, I could, I could. I could put this through the books, you know, or I could just kind of move this around that way. Oh, hang on. I'm away from home and no one's gonna know.

No one's gonna see anything. You know, I'm just, it's a bit of harmful flirting. Your character is being formed in there. Decisions you make in those places is what either forms your character or dismantles it and eventually dismantles your reputation. So let's bounce to the new covenant 'cause that's the one for us.

And we'll look at Jesus. What happens when Jesus goes to pick the disciples? He doesn't pick the religious folks. He doesn't pick the impressive political folks. He choose tax collectors and fishermen and ordinary folk that he now have character, which means that they'll be faithful in the small things.

And Luke documented one of Jesus' statements, which is so powerful. He says, whoever can be trusted with a little. It can be trusted with much.

However, who, whoever's dishonest with a little will be dishonest with much. He's basically saying, if you can't be faithful with a little bit that you've got, you're not gonna be faithful when you get a lot. And then if I give you a lot, it'll turn into an idol and it'll destroy you. It's one of the, one of the key things to this is money.

Woo. Money is the number one competitor for the human heart, for worship of God, and you have to learn to give some away. That's why God says, you give me some first and best learn to be generous on all occasions. Why? Because if you learn to give it away, you take away that things power over you. But if you can't do that, that will stop you growing in every area of your life.

Every area. And I, I remember an old guy said to me once when I first was coming to Faith in Christ, he said, Kev, have you seen the story of Zacchaeus? I said, yes, I have. He said, well, until God saves your wallet, you ain't going anywhere. And if you know the story of Zacchaeus, he was a tax collector encountered with Jesus.

He, he says, I'm giving away half of everything I've got and then I'm gonna pay back this one and that one. It was this extraordinary generosity. And he, he was an old British guy. He said, until you Aussies get your wallet saved, nothing's happening. And it was a bit of a slang at me and a sling at me. But he was being true.

He was saying, until God is God of every era of your life, you're gonna get stuck and it'll erode your character because you can't be trusted. He said, if I give you a lot and you can't handle that, it will destroy you, so he won't give it to you. So it's all in those small faithful things. 'cause this is the big idea that we're trying to get to.

God is more interested in forming your character than your reputation. And it's all formed in the unseen places, in the unseen when no one's watching.

So here's the big question, 'cause I've thrown a whole lot at you guys online in here this morning. It's like, um. What are you gonna do about what you've just learned? What's going on in your head right now? What is God speaking to you about? Because the words come outta my mouth, but the Holy Spirit twists them and says something directly to you.

And you know what you've gotta do. What's for you? If you are learning, turns to action, you become wise. If you are learning, turns to knowledge, you become religious and you just want to debate, it's gotta turn into application. So you gotta ask yourself, I'm supposed to be an unusual pe peculiar kind of person.

A little bit weird. I mean like, I, this should be a, a level of joy in me that's different to everybody else. There should be a level of love that is way beyond what's expected from this world. I should be more patient than anybody else. More good, more faithful, more gentle. I should be able to handle anything and have self-control because it's not really self-control.

It's actually controlled by God's spirit within us. So let's get, let's get real prickly here. 'cause I know something going well. I dunno exactly what he's talking about here. It's not really affecting me at all. Character has to be formed deep within, it's in the quiet places. So here, here we go. Your characters form when someone treats you bad, when they're serving you somewhere at a restaurant.

We just had that, and Anne said to me, I'd written it down on my message. She said, you're not saying that. And I said, why? Because, 'cause that will, that will say where we are. And I don't want that. 'cause I am for out the Gold Coast and I'm for that restaurant as well. I thought, wow. Character. Character is willing to be wronged and hurt and not choose to retaliate.

That strength of character, that's something completely different. Think of Jesus is on the cross. Did he retaliate to anybody? What'd he say? He said to them, he said, father, forgive them for they, no, no, what they do, it's like, whoa. So we got some strong examples in here. Here's another one. This is gonna be a little bit prickly Whenever you keep your commitments, even if it's not convenient, and that's really difficult for your younger ones.

Uh, and 'cause of social media, there's so much going on and you oftentimes you say, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna do that, and then something better comes along and then you blow that off and go somewhere else. That's a character issue. You need to get to where your yes is your yes. And your no is your no. And I'm not saying that to be unkind to you 'cause it happens right across the board, but it's so much prevalent for you because of the man of social media.

So you gotta keep your commitments, even it's inconvenient. And if it's gonna hurt a little. How do you respond when someone cuts you off in traffic? Oh man, I fail on this so often. I so want to give them the Hawaiian sign of affection, but I just know I can't do that because they'll go, Hey, I saw the pasta the other day.

He was flipping some of the bird. 'cause they cut 'em off. I can't do that. But you see, it's a, so it's a character issue to go, oh, I really want to do this. I'm not quite formed in there a little, but you know what? I will submit to your will. We won't do that. So I'm on the journey, you know what I mean? What do you do with your thought life?

This is a really big one. What goes on in here when no one else is watching? The thing that I've discovered about our brains is they God can use them and they can be the most amazing entrepreneurial, kingdom-minded building thing in the world. Or this can be the worst triple X rated theater in the world and it will destroy you.

So what do you like when you're on your own? What's going on in your thought life character? What did Joseph do when he was tempted with a good looking woman? He ran. He ran. Now if Anne was here now she start to sing Flock of Seagulls and I ran 'cause she loves the eighties. He ran. Why? Because he knows that will undermine my character and that will blow my reputation out of the water.

And we've already talked about how do you handle money. Could you manage? Could, could you imagine what it'd be like if the whole world was full of these unusual, peculiar people that had all the character natures things of God through the Holy Spirit operating within them. So when things go bad at work and you have to stay back late, you're not asking for extra money.

You say, Hey man, I'm happy to stay back and help you out with that, because most of it today is, well, hang on. I, I get paid for this. I'm not gonna do anything more. And it's my job, not my job. And it's, it's pervaded everywhere. But sometimes someone needs a bit of extra hand and someone needs that. That should be us extraordinary kindness to say, Hey, are you struggling to get this done?

Finished? Hey, I'll hang back with you and you could actually make it a missional opportunity. And how about we have a coffee after that or a beer or whatever, and let, I'd like to hear your story there. There are ways of actually getting in and a relationship, but we gotta figure out, we've gotta figure out this thing of this formation of our character so that our reputation actually matches.

And doesn't undermine what's going on. We're called to be different. We're called to stand out. You gotta be a penguin. There you go. It's for you, Mary. You gotta be a penguin. Stand out. Stand out. Step up outta the crowd when everyone else is losing you. Stand up with calm when everyone's saying, let's go down, do this, this, this.

I I, I use this example for a while and I haven't, I haven't done for a while, but we had a young fellow was with us that, uh, he started, uh, working for an electrical company. Anyway, this is going back a few years when, I dunno if you remember, if you do remember, you shouldn't, uh, treetops used to have topless bar mates.

Some of you do remember, uh, not that I would remember. I, I wasn't here then. Uh, but the, the policy of the actual contractor that he worked with was, Hey, listen, we're going over and have a few drinks and just gork at these topless barmaids. And somebody said, what are you gonna do, man? He goes, oh, I can't do it.

I said, well, okay, bold move. So he, he kinda stood the boss up and said, I'm sorry, but I'm not going in there. I'm not gonna degrade those women by going in there and looking at them, and I'm not gonna degrade my wife. And if that means I don't have a job, I don't have a job. Guess what happened after that?

He got promoted. Given more responsibility. Why? Because character. There was a character that was going on underneath there. We should think, speak, act, sound, smell different to the rest of the world, and they should think we're a little weird. It's like, I don't get that. How is it that someone abused you like that and you can just forgive them because someone forgave me so I can forgive them.

See, it's the character that is forming there. So we should be children of the light. Not of the darkness. We shouldn't follow the ways of the world. That's why one of our key values is being counter-cultural. So what's an actionable next step for you? For this week, I want you to practice one area of faithfulness, because as a, as a people, we always want to be continually learning and growing around here.

So look at that list of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generous, faithfulness, self-control. What is one area? What is one area that you should probably lean into? Lean into, um, first one I'm gonna share with you is probably gonna get me no lunch today. Um, if say for instance, you struggle and you're always late,

you might want to make a deal with yourself and God say, well, Lord, would you help me? I'm gonna turn up everything 10 minutes early, everything, 10 minutes early because. It's gonna be a bit hard for you to hear. A disrespect for time is a disrespect for people. It's a character issue. There's a character.

They seem so small. They seem so small that's so insignificant. It's not, it actually bolsters your reputation. Maybe if you are on the, like me, I can be a bit on the pessimistic side. So I can, uh, pretty much give you 10 reasons why something won't work, even though you only need one. I can do that. Um. So sometimes they'll say to me, you just have to, I don't wanna hear anything outta your mouth unless it's encouraging and inspiring.

That is so hard and so unfair. It's so hard, you know? But sometimes that's for me, that's what it's don't, I don't wanna hear anything outta you unless it's positive and encouraging. 'cause you're just negative all the time at the moment. How dare you strike the Lord's anointed?

Keep your word. No matter what it costs you, if a better thing comes along, say, you know what, I'm really sorry. Can't be there. I've made a commitment. This is what I'm doing. Just try that. Choose gratitude for some of us. And I do understand the world in which we live in some of us, it's hard to be grateful at times 'cause there's a lot of stuff that happens coming out of our brokenness, but choose to be grateful instead of being a complainer.

Um, and. Yeah, choose to serve someone. Just choose to serve someone behind the scenes where there's actually nothing in it for you. Just loving on someone, caring for someone, serving 'em. But don't try and change everything. I've shared a lot with you. Pick one thing. Allow the Holy Spirit to share with you one thing and say, Lord, I'm gonna get you to help me work on that one thing 'cause that's gonna form my character.

And that'll form my character so that it doesn't derail my reputation. God is more interested in who we are becoming than what we are accomplishing. Sometimes we get so worked up in this world that we have to do this and we gotta build these great kind of initiatives and things like that. Listen, at the end when Jesus returns, the whole thing's a tear down.

It's a big demolition job. Nothing you do here, nothing you do here needs should compromise your character. I'm not saying you shouldn't do some good stuff 'cause you should do good stuff, but you gotta be careful. Don't get so caught up in it that it becomes the only reason you're only anything because of all the stuff you're doing and all the stuff you're accomplishing.

That's then moved into the idol space, which is dangerous. God's more concerned about your character than your comfort. But he is using ordinary, ordinary faithfulness in small things to prepare for extraordinary opportunities, and he will do that once God knows he has someone's heart that's fully devoted to him that will love him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and are committed to him, and they're not going to compromise in any area.

God uses that person in unbelievable ways. And you can see that all the way through scripture. So our journey has just begun for being unusual and God's not interested in forming our reputation. He wants to form our character because if he forms our character, it means we have more of him in us and less of us.

So let's be unusual. Let's stand out from the crowd in a really good way. It might be a little bit weird occasionally, but that's okay. As long as it's a good, weird, it's bad. Weird, good, weird, bad, odd, good, odd, you know? But we should look different. The people out in the world around us are desperately trying to find something that is authentic.

You can't find it anymore. Because of the pervasive nature of social media, you cannot find anything that is genuinely authentic. And as soon as you scratch on the surface, you realize this is a mess. That's not what it should be about us. They should be able to see us and go, wow, that is someone living completely different value system to what I am.

And they look really happy. They look really joyful. And you know what? I can count on them. I want to be around them because they encourage me, they inspire me, and they bring the best out of me. So let's be unusual people. Let's pray together. Father, I just thank you for this series. I just have a feeling this is the right timing for this right now, and we wanna be unusual.

We wanna be a bit peculiar displaying your character and nature to everyone in the world. Help us to remember the character formation is what gives substance to way that we live our reputation and it protects us from falling prey to idols form us into people that others can count on. They can trust us with influence 'cause people that are not into self-promotion, but into self-sacrifice for the greater good, achieve great things.

The question's not whether. You want to use us? The answer for that is absolutely, but you can't use us until your character is formed enough in us that we may handle what you wanna bring our way. So in your economy, it appears, Lord, that faithfulness creates extraordinary character and it all happens in the little things.

So we welcome your Holy Spirit to keep changing us and keep refining us that we might better represent you well, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.