Thank you Faith. Well, happy new year, good morning to everyone. Um, so glad you’re here. If this is your first new year service with us, I just want to state from the beginning today, we’re gonna lay out 23 principles for how you can have a successful year 2023. Amen you guys are laughing because you know, as in the words of that fictional king from Wakanda, we don’t do that here. You know, we get into the word. Here we are returning to the gospel of luke as we kidded on our podcast. We will be in the gospel of luke until jesus returns. But no, we we are thankful for this word. We’re thankful for what God is doing. We’re thankful for this new Year and I’m excited for what God is going to do in and through our church. But the past is just born in that faith. Read to you, it made me think of a song. It was written by the late Sam Cooke. He wrote this song, a change is gonna come. That’s the title for today’s sermon. He wrote this song in 1964, right in the thick of the civil rights movement. It’s one of the most iconic, soulful songs that I think exists. I mean, it’s just amazing in terms of the soulful sound, you can kind of sense his his bewilderment in the lyrics in the song, he expresses a bit of a, of of a doubt that change was possible. But then he returns to the chorus to almost reassure himself that change is gonna come. In fact, the first verse of that song, he says that he was born by a river and just like that river he’s been running ever since echoing a sense of being unsettled, unsure of the future, unsure where he’s headed, hoping to to maybe reach a place of of of being at a state of Peacefulness and tranquility. I thought about that song because in this passage, here We have the Jews recounting to events that took place during their times. They were very turbulent times. Verse one says that there were some Galilean who went to offer a sacrifice and as they were offering their sacrifice to God Pilate killed them and it was so horrendous that their blood spilled over into the place where the blood of the sacrifices would flow. It says that they ming he mingled their blood with the blood of the sacrifice. That was totally horrendous. And then the second event that is counted here by luke says that a tower fell on some innocent bystanders. These were very rough times. And if you were a jew during this particular time, you have some questions, how is it that a man like pilot, a roman oppressor, how could he get away with what he’s doing to the covenant people of God. And then you look at what happened to the people of whom the Tower fell upon your You’re asking yourself a question again, man, what kind of a sinner were they that God would allow that to happen to them. So in the midst of all of that, you may be scratching your head wondering if change is gonna come, What kind of change? What needs to change? What needs to happen for this place to be different? And every new year for each and every one of us, it’s an opportunity to think about growth and change. Some of us do it naturally because you are high capacity, you like to get things done, you you like to accomplish things and so you think about the next thing to accomplish and so the new year for you, what do I need to change to accomplish? The next thing that I want to get done in life? Others of you, life is hard, really hard, really frustrating. Maybe this past year wasn’t the best year for you. And so the new year is a reminder to you that maybe there’s some hope, maybe there’s a change that you might enjoy that you might benefit from. And so you look at the new year with a sense of hope, but yet maybe still uncertain because I’m the same person, it’s a new year, but I’m still the same person, Could I change? Is it possible for me to change? Is it possible fo…