Pastor Bert Cloud opens with a story on himself: a moment in seminary when he misspoke the name of a book of the Bible while reading scripture in front of a packed chapel, then spent the rest of the service convinced he had ruined his future in ministry over it. Turning to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he unpacks what it looks like to live a life that is not fully our own, one that is, in his words, a group project with God.

Drawing on a daily prayer reflection and his own experience since a cancer diagnosis, Pastor Bert explores what it means to invite God into every decision, big and small, and to trust that the same God who calls us also believes we have what it takes to answer. This is an honest, funny, and deeply hopeful sermon about surrendering our need to go it alone.