Uncommon Devotion | Pastor Nicole Sweetman

I'm excited to continue the work series and we have a series that we're in the midst of called Good Work and it's really funny because a few weeks ago I had an opportunity to escape with some girlfriends to go to a conference and a women's conference and we were had some downtime doing the girly things that you do like going window shopping and all that fun stuff and two of the girls said, hey, we have to break away. We need to go visit our friend at work because she's really sad and I'm a very, you know, caring individual. So I was like, well, why is she so sad? And they said, well, because she has to be in the office today. And I go, okay. And she's like, yeah, she has to be in the office five days a week.

I said, I need you to just pause right there. And that's when I really began to show my age. And I said, I need you to hear the words that you just said to me. And it's funny because it illustrates for me this article that I found. I was, as I do, reading Forbes. I never read Forbes, but I was reading at this moment to do some research for this series. And there is this article that caught my attention that says, forget work -life balance. It's the future of less work. It's the future of less work.

And the gist of this article is that we approach work based off of an unspoken social contract. And, For any baby boomer out there or geriatric millennial like myself, that is my official title. You're welcome. We approached work with a contract that as the employee, I give my time, I give my loyalty, I give a large portion of my personal life in devotion and in exchange for financial stability and upward mobility. Now, that social contract has been changing even before 2020 hit. Like, the contract has begun to shift and move.

We now have more Gen Z in the workplace than boomers officially. And we have this big swing, right, to digital nomad workers. And so gone are the days of sacrificing everything for the sake of the company. And we want hashtag work less, live more kind of set up for us. So the social contract is now less work. And as a result of this new contract coming in, there is this trend we're seeing in the workplace of quiet quitters and anti -hustlers.

And we're seeing this trend in the workplace of quiet quitters and anti -hustlers. Now, I did a little research. What is a quiet quitter? A quiet quitter is someone who disengages from their role before they exit the position. It's someone who no longer wants to go above and beyond, but they just want to do the bare minimum. Anti -hustle is basically what it sounds like. It's rejecting the idea that any business owner should hustle, right? It's rejecting the idea of the once glamorized grind to outwork

everyone else. Sleep after you sleep. You achieve the goals kind of mindset. And now the notion is you should lean away from discomfort. It should be easy. If you have to push, then it's not your pathway. And I don't know any startup that actually successfully gets off the ground with that kind of culture. Do you hear me, newlyweds? You are in start -up season of your life. This is not the time to sit back, go to the beach every other day, go to Palm Springs every other week.

This is the season to hustle it out. Because 40 comes before you know it. And to all my single dudes out there who are trying to do the hustle train by yourself, can I just encourage you? You know, I appreciate your devotion to try to get a certain amount of zeros before you bring even to the picture. But man, that season is a lot more fun when you have a good girl standing beside you who's watering the soil with her prayers. Building you up in that season of trying to figure out how to hustle.

And figuring out what you want to do next when you do it together. I mean, my fondest memories of our marriage is Jake and I figuring out our careers together. When we got married, we got back from our honeymoon. The bubble popped quite quickly. We walked into our apartment with a bed that was given to us, a couch we bought for $200, and just a pile of Jake's junk. All he had to his name. Sitting in my living room. And

I was confronted. I was confronted with like, this is now my life. But man, of those memories of the 99 cent packet pizza crust you would make and make pizza together and it's, it's fun, so, you know, I appreciate the hustle, but get someone to hustle alongside next to you. But as I read this article, it was really, I mean, I couldn't help to attach it to this series because I'm wondering this, this, this anti -hustle, the quiet quitter has this new social contract begin to seep in and become integrated into how we now view covenant. In the body of Christ, how, how has this resistance to want to go above and beyond to quietly disengage and slip away to no longer advocate for perseverance and hard times? How is this influence the way we view church? Have we become soft in our dedication? Has our zeal, our fervency towards

our commitment, not just to God, but to the body? Has it gone weak? See, what you need to know about me is I have always been a church girl. I. I love the bride. I love the body of Christ, and I have had the benefit of having my feet in this same church family that we are a part of now for since I was 14 years old, and so I have seen the bride go through many different seasons and transitions, and it's been painful and frustrating. It's been a source of grief, but do you know what the bride of Christ has also been my place of refuge? She has been my place of where I've learned how to trip, fall

and get back up. She has been my place of redemption for my family. She has been the place where I have found the voice of edification and encouragement. She has been the landscape for me to walk out my wildest dreams. She has been my home, and she is my family still. I know it can sound kitschy and cliche to call church family, but is that not who we are to one another? And it's not like your gym family or your work family, because no matter how much your work wife or work husband do, and get along, and vibe in the office, we can all agree it holds no match to the covenant, sacred bond of true marriage. And that's what we need to understand, because when you and I choose to put our lives in Christ Jesus, we are now becoming adopted into his family, which means we now share in that covenant, sacred bond as brothers and sisters in Christ. So there is a different kind of love, a different kind of devotion, that we are meant to carry and have together in here, so that we can go and show that kind of love out there. And so from the jump of this series, we've been talking about connecting our work to this love we're meant to have for one another. So let me give you a picture of what this distinct love looks like that we're meant to have here as the local body. In Romans 12, 9 through 11, this is Paul writing to a local church saying, this is the kind of love we're meant to have. He says, love must be sincere, hate what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in love, honor one another above yourselves, never lacking in zeal, there it is, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. See, where the world is out there wanting to dial things down, as the body of Christ, we have a calling to keep things dialed up. And I know sometimes it can be hard to attach to God. And I know sometimes it can be hard to attach this thread of how I love my brothers and sisters in the body of Christ to how I am an employee, an employer, a boss out there. But can I encourage you that the two are very much connected? I remember growing up with this tension of feeling like my desire to do ministry, but my desire to pursue career felt like in competition with one another. I remember being a young newlywed to Jake, and we were stepping into full -time ministry together. But I was also doing full -time corporate at the same time while also having our first child. And so I called a friend. I phoned a friend because I was like, I can't do all of this. And I call my sweet friend who is, you know, stages in life ahead of me, a pastor. And I'm like, please help me. How do I do this? And she goes, oh, sweet Nicole, when I had my twins and we were doing ministry, starting out our ministry together, I was cleaning houses to just make ends meet. And I am like, I called the wrong friend. I called the wrong friend. And she's like, sometimes, this was good advice, sometimes you have to give 100 % here while giving 100 % there. You have to do both. But that's a beautiful thing that you don't have to choose, am I a king or am I a priest? You're both. And how you're a king out in the world should inform how much we can participate. Make her shine. Bring your skill. Bring your gifting. Bring your experience. And refine the bride of Christ to shine all the more. And the better priest, the better daughter I am in here makes me only a better king to stand out out there. Are you with me? Our work and church life are very much connected. So who's influencing who? See, despite what's culturally trending in the workplace, I want to bring us back to the heart of our work by showing us the uncommon things. The common devotion you and I are meant to share together in the local church. You ready to talk about it? So I'm going to take us to the story of Ruth. Now, men, please do not check out on me. I'm not going to be drilling into the love story that she is known for. We're actually going to be looking at a different kind of love that we see illustrated for us. And being a woman myself, I can recognize this love that is shared between Naomi, the mother -in -law, and Ruth, her daughter -in -law. It's a beautiful picture, their relationship of the local church. Because you're going to learn that Ruth is a Moabite, and so she was not Jewish. And you're going to know that Naomi, she's an Israelite from Judah. So here we have this picture of a Jew and Gentile bonded through marriage who share in this uncommon devotion that you and I are meant to share in here today. So let's jump into the book of Ruth. Open your Bibles. Join with me. Ruth 1. It says, Let's start at the beginning just to lay the scene for us. It says, In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, they went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Emelech. His wife's name was Naomi. And the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. If you read in verse 3, it says, Very quickly things turned sour. Now Emelech, Naomi's husband, died. and she was left with her two sons and they married Moabite women one named Orpha the other Ruth after they lived there for about 10 years both Malon and Kilion also died we've gone from worse to worser and Naomi was left with her two sons and her husband now what you need to know in setting up this story is that when it tells us that this was in the day of judges that was like living in the wild wild west for Israel because judges 21 25 tells us that when there was no king everyone did as they saw fit I mean kind of like living in Los Angeles right like everyone just did as they saw fit the other thing you need to know is that Moab was not friendly territory for the Israelites and yes they were at a season of peace here but Israelites would look at any of the Moabites with suspicion and so it's in this backdrop of everyone just normal to do whatever feels normal feels good for you and the backdrop of this tension between these two parties that what happens that Ruth exemplifies is very uncommon in how she responds to what Naomi suggests next let's keep reading this is Ruth 1 verses 6 through 9 it tells us that Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to aid of to the aid of his people by providing food so the famine has ended in Bethlehem so she gets her two daughters -in -law she leaves the place of Moab and they set out on the road to take them back and then Naomi has an epiphany and verse 8 she stops she tells her two daughter -in -laws go back each of you to your mother's home may the Lord show you kindness as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me may the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband so her stopping here she's lost everything and now she's willing to give up the only ounce of family she has left is just and the blessing that she gives them you hear her language there is so much love and care in this moment and after this little devotion to one another there's all these tears that happen and grief and Naomi is basically trying to tell the girls like hey listen I'm not trying to be harsh I'm just trying to get real with it okay I'm an old hen I can't be a good mother I cannot produce for you any sons to marry your spring chickens go back home and try again so Orpha through much tears and drama she obeys Naomi and she goes back to Moab but Ruth has a different response let's hear her response verse 16 Ruth replies don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you where you go I will go where you stay I will stay your people will be my people and your God my God and I will stay and I will stay and I will stay and I will stay and I will stay where you die I will die and there I will be buried may the Lord deal with me be it ever so severely if even death separates you and me when Naomi realized that Ruth was the strong -willed child and was determined to go with her she stopped urging her if anyone needs help on their vows when they get married this is a good place to go okay so what I want to do is I want to look at this really sometimes it's good to make yourself laugh even though no one else is laughing with you I that's a sign of insanity right anyways what I'm going to do is I'm going to pull out this line that we I'm sure you have heard before this famous line where you go I will go it's like oh so dramatic I love it and we're going to break it apart and we're going to show this uncommon devotion that we hold for one another as the body of Christ that informs what kind of uh how we do our work out there sound good you go I will go where you say I will stay see an uncommon devotion must be built with a sincere love if you remember what we read in Romans 12 he says be sincere in your love see sincere love is a love that is evident it doesn't hide it doesn't conceal itself it doesn't say one thing and do the opposite it is a sincere love in other words uncommon devotion that we hold in here doesn't have commitment issues see Ruth is standing on this road this road which one way would take her to Bethlehem the other direction back home to safety and security and she is looking Naomi in the face Naomi means pleasant and she would represent to Ruth all that was once pleasant in her life her husband stability family security and she can choose now to either go back and try to make plan b happen on her own or she would try to find someone new in her life to help her get back to Bethlehem and she has been threatened with this видите Naomi who is now a widow a woman whose future is unknown but she stays uncommon in her devotion see the future for a widow would have been bleak at best and Naomi is going back to Bethlehem yes because of famines open over but also because the law would at least guarantee her some form of a humane treatment i mean that's that's what we're going for here humane treatment and even naomi recognizes the future she when she gets back to bethlehem do you know what she says she goes i came away full to moab but now i'm returning the lord has brought me back empty don't call me naomi don't call me pleasant she tells her friends call me mara call me bitter and ruth from the get shows her uncommon devotion from an evident love as she stands with naomi through the pleasant season into the bitter one by remaining by her side through her choice to remain standing next to her to be devoted to her she gives us the most brilliant expression of her love i mean could you imagine for a second being naomi standing on this road that you once walked many years ago holding the hands of your husband and your two children and now you're standing on that road going back bitter and empty but god shows his uncommon devotion to naomi through the ruth who said i will go where you go because ruth's name means compassionate friend see in cathedral we are not fair weather kind of friends we're the kind of friends that stick through the transitions stick through the highs and lows we're with each other in it through the end and that's the kind of devotion you and i are called to have see we live in a world where we are just catered to have these itchy feet that every time the grass looks greener on the other side we just want to jump over that fence and be part of it but as the body of christ we show our evident love by remaining planted see this kind of devotion should impact how we participate in the body of christ some of us we are being casual daters to the bride we're going to this church for this program we're going to this church because we like the prayer meeting we're going to this church because we want the community group but on a sunday you're going to find me here because i like the preaching or the dating pool better and we need to stop mistreating the bride by stringing her along with an insecure love out of a devotion to self see can i encourage you here don't treat her casually you and you're going to find a healthy body of christ that is grounded on scripture that is grounded in christ dig your little toesie woesies into the soil and that is where you'll begin to see the fruit of stories like caitlin and memo and you're going to begin to experience the fullness that god wants you to experience some of you you have this is funny image but some of us we have like jesus in a headlock like it's just me and jesus i'm cool with the head but we're like not engaging with the body he's like i'm not engaging with the body i'm not engaging with the body i'm not engaging with the body i'm not engaging with the body i'm not engaging with the body i'm not engaging with the body i'm not engaging with the body i want to be a blessing i want to do things for you but you won't let my arms do what they should do for you there's so much fruit to be found if we just partake in this uncommon devotion and this kind of love this kind of committed love well that should obviously impact how you work out there you know cathedral we need to be the most dependable the most consistent our performance at the workplace is not dependent on our emotions okay because you're having a bad day and i just I need to take a sick day. No, turn up. Be ready. You should be the first name that pops into your co -worker, your boss's mind, that says they'll get the job done. They'll do it well. And don't let your commitment issues sneak into the work field. You know, as millennials, we are known as being the worst job hoppers around. We're so eager to find the best package, the best payouts, the best benefits, the best flexibility, that we've gone so far with that, that now we just have these choppy little resumes. We find ourselves stuck at entry -level, mid -level positions, and we have lost the fruit of longevity. You don't need to be a boomer and be committed to the same place your whole entire life. But don't shoot yourself in the itchy foot by being a job hopper. Maybe you do need to shoot that itchy foot. I don't know.

Let's not be fair with our friends, Cathedral. I'm so grateful for the friendships I've had that endure through the years. I'm so grateful for the friendships I've had that endure through all seasons of life with me. Your people will be my people. Uncommon devotion honors one above our own selves. To honor means to esteem, to place a high value, respect. Uncommon devotion requires us to bear one another's burdens, to serve one another, not to turn a blind eye when someone has a problem or an issue. And what we see when Ruth says, to Naomi, your people will be my people, she could not have put herself in a lower position. She could have not honored Naomi any more in that moment. Because if you recall, Ruth was a Moabite. So she's walking back into Bethlehem as like not Miss Congeniality. She's not going to get voted Miss Popular. She is going to be received with suspicion. Like you know when everyone's really loud, chatting, having fun, and you walk into the room and everyone goes quiet? . That's kind of what it's like for her. I mean, we can all remember our first introduction to Los Angeles and how confronting and shocking it was. You know, I'm a little Georgia girl and I show up in Los Angeles. The first words my friends say to me is, okay, Nicole, you don't smile and wave to strangers here. That's going to get you into trouble. I mean, that's just a drop in the bucket of what Ruth would have felt in this moment. She had no guarantee of being accepted by this community. She would probably live forever ostracized, but despite that, she shows her loyalty and her commitment. And she honors Naomi not just by embracing social suicide, but by becoming now her benefactor. She takes on the role of caretaker. She gets busy serving Naomi. See, just by coincidence, I think not, I think it's God's perfect timing that they rock up to Bethlehem and guess what? It's harvest season, baby. And there is a law that says that harvesters leave the edges of the field so the poor can glean. So Ruth sees that. She takes initiative. She says, hey, mom, let me go glean for us. I'm going to go glean from the field. And she's like, sure, go ahead, daughter. And it tells us in verse three that she went out, entered a field, began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to none other than Mr. Romeo Boaz himself. See her motivation. What moved her to go work and labor in a field? Was not for her own doing. It was for her love, her uncommon devotion to Naomi, to provide for her. And what happens? She just happens to find herself in Boaz's field. I don't think so. I think once again, God is orchestrating things behind the scenes that we can't always see. But when we choose to go low, guess who's going to elevate our story? James 4, 6 says God opposes the proud, but shows favor to the humble. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to be humble. Her finding her feet in that field was just the beginning of favor that she would begin to receive. You know the story. She marries Boaz. She has a baby. That child not only redeems the family name for Naomi, but is found in the lineage of Christ. What does that tell us, church? That here at Cathedral, when we keep our hearts soft, when we honor, when we go low, it keeps our hands ready to participate in what God's been orchestrating in the background, when he brings it to the foreground so that you can pour out. And that's what we're going to do. And be a blessing.

To honor, to serve, to bear one another's burdens, how does that impact how we participate in here? It means you've got to get close. Ooh, we've got to get cozy. You're like, I am close. Do you see this room? You've got to get cozy. Because why? I don't know what my friend needs me to pray for. I don't know how to be a practical blessing, how to turn up and support them if I'm not in their worlds. Some of us, we're dancing on the fringes. We're dancing. We're dancing on the edges of the body of Christ. And we're just kind of tiptoeing around. Some of us, we approach church like flipping through a People magazine. Do people still do that? And you're just page after page. And you're like, well, I don't personally, I don't have any skin in the game, so I can just form an opinion at a glance.

Some of you have allowed ill -formed opinions to shape judgment calls in your mind about the body of Christ. And we need to allow the Holy Spirit to come in and refresh and renew so that we can be able to learn what it means to serve the body, to participate. And this kind of honor that we carry genuinely for each other in here, it will impact how you work out there. See, what I love is that Ruth honors Naomi through mundane work. And God's agenda gets upon it. He, upon it, upon it. I love that there is always a God agenda behind a devotion like that. Some of you, you're like, I don't know. You're looking at your work, your 9 to 5, your weekend gigs, and you're like, oh, this is so mundane. What is the point? And we're missing the God mission. We're missing the kingdom plan that is hanging out behind it. Some of you, you're just, you're going, you're ignoring certain job opportunities. You're staying in the land of unemployment or just getting by. And you're missing the opportunities, the doors that God is opening so that he can open the window of heaven over your life and pour out a blessing. Come on, let's not be those kind of people. Let's be ones who turn up no matter what the job is. When you log on, when you turn up, are you just spectating? Are you just partaking? Or are you being an employee who has leaned in and you're seeing with the eyes of your heart to see what's God's story here? What is his agenda to this moment? See, Ruth didn't just sit back on her heels and let Naomi take charge. She took initiative. She was moved by her love, by an uncommon devotion. And it was in that place that God began to promote her. Okay, the next one is, your God will be my God. Your God will be my God. Now, this is a very significant statement for Ruth to say. Because an uncommon devotion clings to what is good. Clings to what is good, which means we have to do what Romans 12 said. We have to reject every kind of evil, which means if we want to live with an uncommon devotion in the house of God. We cannot live with a divided heart. We have to be unified. We have to have one heart. God used Ruth's willingness to step into the landscape of this field to bring about this amazing story of his redemption, of his protection, of his provision. But the kingdom plan had already been put in motion when God went to work on the landscape of Ruth's heart. burped into the mic. Anyway, sometimes you just have to be human. I'm a human.

Your God will be my God. See, the word that Ruth uses in this moment when she calls out to the God that Naomi serves is the word Yahweh. And that word for God is the intimate, personal name of God. Ruth doesn't use the general name for God. So when Ruth says Yahweh, what that tells us is that God is the intimate, personal name of God. What that tells us is that she has already in some capacity begun to open up her heart to him. That she has begun to get a gleaning, a revelation, and a trust in who this God is. So when she stood on this dusty road, one way back to plan B she could do on her own, or this way to the unknown, to the bleak, to the scary situation, she says, will I go back to the God of my homeland, Chumash, the God who would require human sacrifices, the God that had a king dedicate and sacrifice his firstborn child to? Or will I go to the God of Israel, the God that is one of a covenant love, a God that is a redeemer and a protector? She clung to what was truly good. And as she did that, and she stepped into the bleak unknown, clinging to God, God begins to show off to her his true nature through Boaz. If you don't know the story, as Ruth is working on it, I'm going to read it to you. She's working in the field. Boaz turns up on the scene to check on the work. He's like, who's that? The overseer says, that's Ruth, the Moabite. She came with Noemi. She asked permission before gleaning, and she has been working nonstop, only taking very little breaks. Isn't it amazing how she had a good testimony on how she worked in the field? And as a result, favor is bestowed upon her. Boaz approaches her and says, my daughter, come and only work in this field. I will tell not a single one of my men to lay hands on you. And if you're thirsty, feel free to help yourself to the water jars that my men have filled. God begins to show himself to Ruth as protector. Later on now, it's time to have dinner, and Boaz is like, come on, Ruth, help yourself. Have all that you want. She has more than enough to take back to Noemi. And furthermore, he says, listen. You don't have to just glean from the edges. Glean from anywhere in my field. So now, God is showing himself to her as provider. And this is where things get really juicy, because when she returns back to Noemi, she has her arms full of the evident blessing and favor of God. And Noemi starts to connect the dots. She's like, I know Boaz. He is a family redeemer for us. Clearly, he's taken some form of an interest here on you, so we're going to get this job done. This is what I need you to do. I need you to bathe. I need you to smell good. I need you to put on something nice. And when he's asleep on the threshing floor, you're going to go in there, lay at his feet, and uncover them. Now, I know that seems so bizarre, but that was just the ritual at the time to basically say, like, hey, I'm available. I'm in if you're in, if you want to tie the knot.

And that just brings up a little moment for me here. Because, girls, I know I gave the guys a hard time, but there's this thing out there. Like, I found this thread of this girl who I'm pretty sure was not married, and she's, like, preaching to us on Instagram about how, like, if he's not pursuing you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. If he's not pursuing you, then you need to just leave him behind. He needs to run after you. And I'm like, you know, yes, but a starting line to the pursuit. There is a starting line. Like, we grow up with this fantasy of Cinderella that, like, he's going to walk in the store, ladies, next Sunday, and he's going to see you across the room. He's not going to care what anyone thinks, and he's going to throw himself at you and invite you out to dinner and for the rest of your life.

we got to, like, there is a preliminary situation to the pursuing season. And that looks like putting yourself at Boaz's stinky feet. Right? Okay? Sometimes you just have to be, like, hey, I'm available. And you got to find yourself in situations. If you're only hanging out with old married people or just your girlfriends, I don't know how you're going to find a man in that situation. Unless you're willing to be Ruth and Oprah's who are going to wait for Naomi to birth them a son, you know? Like, that's weird. Anyways, I'm officially getting off my soapbox. But the point of this conversation is to just say, like, you know what? Like, you know, girls, we have a part to play in the whole, like, I'm available and interested. Once there's mutual interest formed, then, yes, the man should pursue. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right. So we're going to fast forward this story. We know what happens. The next day, Boaz goes. He makes this marriage legal. First comes love. Then comes baby. Then comes baby Obed. Oh, no. Hold on. First comes love. Then comes marriage. Then comes baby Obed and the baby carriage. Oh, I've really lost my theology. Jake will come and correct it in just a moment. And so as we close Ruth's story, we see God as redeemer. We see God as redeemer. And what I love about this story is that all throughout the highs and lows that Ruth would have been going through, like tilling the ground or gleaning from the field, you know, she's literally, like, probably thinking, am I ever going to have a child? Will I ever get married? Is this all my life will ever be, just trying to glean for the next day? But no matter what she did, she set her heart fully dependent on the God who she knew was truly good, so that even when the circumstances around her didn't yet testify to it, she remained devoted. She remained sincere. She remained honoring. See, the transformation of our hearts, they have to be what testifies to God. They have to be what testifies to Christ first on why we do what we do, why we're devoted, why we're part of the body before we ever look to the testimony of our hands. See, how we participate in the body of Christ can never be dependent on personal circumstances. The way we participate in the body of Christ, it needs to come from the personal revelation of what Christ first did for me. If I try to serve, if I try to honor, if I try to love, bear one another's burden from my own well of ability, eventually I'm going to hit the bottom of the barrel, and I'm going to get bitter about what they're asking me to do now. But when I live out of a revelation of what Christ did for me and how he poured out his life for me on that cross, then I'm living out of the wellspring. And as I refresh, I too will find myself being refreshed. But you've got to cling to what is good. Some of you have become a quiet quitter on the house of God. The testimony of your hands has run dry. And as a result, you've quietly disengaged and you've slipped away. I want to encourage you to devote yourself once again. See, what we cling to in here should be evident to the people around us in the workplace, so that when layoffs are coming, we don't get scared. We stand firm in our faith, knowing our God is our protector. Why we stand here today?

I keep circling the ten years that Naomi spent with Ruth in Moab. Ten years in Moab were the incubator period for this uncommon love and devotion to be birthed and to be formed and to be grown. And I imagine, wow, what kind of conversations, what kind of, what kind of service would they have done, what kind of honoring would they have given to one another, so that in this moment, before she even stepped foot in Bethlehem, before she ever meets her Boaz, she's saying, where you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay. Your God, my God. Cathedral, I wonder what we could do with ten years of devotion.

What we could birth, what we could strengthen, we choose to have ten years of uncommon devotion as the body of Christ. You know, in ten years, our fifth graders down in Biggs, they're going to be entering as now our young adults of this church. What will they need? They'll need ten years of those who are willing to have an uncommon devotion, to be teachers of the word, so they can stand on a foundation that isn't shaken by the news and current affairs. What are our kindergartners, our five -year -olds, they're going to be entering high school, and they're going to need the uncommon devotion of aunties and uncles in this space who are willing to show them what it looks like to walk a life that is Christ -centered, not driven by peer pressure. Gen Z's, in ten years, you're going to want to go from being nomads to have permanence. You're going to want to put roots down. You're going to want to have families that are flourishing and growing and careers that mean something. What are you going to need? Millennials? Boomers? They're going to need our uncommon devotion over the next ten years to show them what it looks like to keep taking steps of faith, to keep planning, to keep setting aside what God has put in their hearts to build up the house of God, so that they can see the fruit, so they can see the purpose. Ten years of good works, ten years of investing. What could happen? 1 Corinthians 15 .58 says, Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.