Welcome to the Excel Stillmore podcast. I'm your host, Chris Emerson, and I'm thrilled to introduce once again a great sponsor for the program, Tyler Kane, a close friend and fellow believer. He serves as the senior loan officer at statewide mortgage, based in Louisville, Kentucky.

Statewide mortgage is a company founded by a brother in Christ.

Tyler brings 20 years of expertise to the table, making him a trusted advisor for numerous families navigating the complexities of the mortgage industry.

Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, considering refinancing,

or dreaming about future homeownership goals, Tyler and his team stand ready to assist you

every step of the way. For more information, you can find a link to their website in our show

notes or feel free to reach out directly to Tyler at 813-3-380-8487. And on his behalf and mine, thanks for listening.

Welcome back this morning and happy holidays. I hope you and your family enjoy the week,

that everyone is safe and that the name of Jesus is spoken often and emotionally in the midst of those that you love.

As we get here to the end of the year, it might seem fitting to talk about goals and planning

and changes that you're going to make, and we've definitely done some of that recently.

But as we get here to the end of the year, and maybe you're traveling with your family or you're

all sitting around having conversations, of all the things you can talk about that will make a difference next year, there is nothing greater than the power of God.

I am convinced that more Christian families need to talk about the power and the presence of the Lord, his sovereignty and control, the ruling nature of a

benevolent and involved Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit's power at work

through Scripture, through life, and within us. For some reason, it just gets super tempting

to get back to this boot strap, figure it out,

grit scale, toughen up, try harder mentality that finds its way into our everyday lives. It

finds its way into a whole bunch of ESM episodes. And you and I both know that wisdom and growing

and effort and hard work are important.

But if we aren't careful, and usually we aren't, we overtip the scale towards our ability and our accomplishments,

which brings us right back around to the realities of life, which is effectively we are powerless,

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