January 19, 2025 | Principles of Life

Transcript

Good morning to you. Thank you for making it in this morning, braving the elements.

And if you are a youth or need a restroom break, now is a great time to slip out. Thank you for participating in worship this morning. We're going to continue on with principles of life. So we had a life announcement this morning and we want to continue to honor the sanctity of life and also. Uh, the designer and creator behind it.

I'm going to start in Galatians chapter six, 1 through 10. So I'm going to read that section. Now it says, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keep watching yourself, lest you to be tempted, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

If anyone thinks he is something, then he is nothing. He deceives himself, but let each one test his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Each one will have to bear his own load. Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. The one who sows in his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. Let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season. We'll reap if we do not give up.

So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially those who are in the household of faith. Let's pray.

Father, you are the designer, you are the creator, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and you created the world, and before that, you existed in eternity beforehand, and then you will bring the world to a close, and you will exist in eternity future, and we will have the privilege to be with you.

Father, thank you that you not only design, you give instruction. And your desire for us is righteousness. So the word of God is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. May these words reflect those things today.

Thank you for your spirit, but thank you for the person of the spirit, and I pray that, uh, that would have an impact on our lives. We would be encouraged and we would be able to point others to our father. And they may see our good works and glorify you. So thank you for one another. Thank you for an opportunity to read your word together. Do good work through us. In your precious name. Amen.

Principles of life.

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Review of Galatians

Alright, so whenever you read a text Uh, when, when Paul wrote this to the church in Galatia, it didn't have these nice divisions and breaks in it. And so therefore, what comes before what I just read? Well, the most knowledgeable part that most believers know, praise God for knowing scripture, is Galatians 5, it says, it talks about the deeds of the flesh, and then it talks about the fruit of the spirit.

Name the fruit of the Spirit with me. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. Against such things there is no law. You probably don't have the deeds of the flesh memorized. That's, that's okay. However, you feel them. They press on me, they press on you. The world, the flesh, and the devil are real.

And we want to Well, Galatians 5. 25 is the verse that comes right after that, and it says, If you live by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit. That word, if, is a big word. Uh, there's, there's a whole sanctification process in if you live by the Spirit, then keep in step with the Spirit. And so, that's what comes just before this text.

Uh, Pastor Jed has been talking about ambitious contentment and things that, uh, through, uh, Philippians chapter four and Hebrews 12, one and two, actually, I want to go to Hebrews 12, one and two, uh, cause, uh, it says, therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that's so closely that cling so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

looking at Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before endured the cross, despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. That's what Jed spoke on last week. He also gave a picture of trying to run a race with, like, twenty monkeys strapped on your back, which would, and thanks to the power of the internet, we were able to find a, how, how, how difficult that might be.

What I really want to do, I'm actually going to take that away because you're just going to giggle about it. Uh, Um, The next verse, Hebrews 12:3. Consider him who has endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. So this morning, we want to consider him, consider Jesus, who did these things, so that we may not grow weary and lose heart.

Alright, uh, go to the, there we go. Thank you.

Galatians 6:1-2: Purity and Purpose

So going back to Galatians chapter six, it says, brothers, if anyone is caught in a transgression, you are a spiritual should restore him with the spirit of gentleness. Keep watching yourself, lest you to be tempted. Bear one another's burdens of the law of Christ.

All right, so purity and purpose are referenced here. The purity is caught in a sin. Now that word caught there can mean. Like a, um, to, to do something on purpose. Uh, so, that word is a strategy word, whether it's strategy in military, whether it's strategy in a board game, whether it's strategy in a sport.

You want to take a shortcut or do something and you, you, you pursue something and you catch it. How many of you like strategy games? How many of you don't like strategy games because of the way your spouse plays? Alright, my, my wife says she doesn't like my board game personality. You can You can ask her what that means.

Because I want to win. She wants to tie, that's, that's weird.

Caught in a sin.

This happened in my life a week ago. Last Sunday morning, this was before we came to church. We didn't have Sunday school because the weather and Uh, we were trying to get out. I was trying to get out the door to come over here and there was something about washing dishes and communicating with the kids and I said I need to go and my wife and I just missed each other.

That's verbally missed each other. Like she had a plan and I had a plan and we didn't have the same plan. And we talked about it that night and I felt disrespected. Uh, it was kind of a, I don't know, big deal, but it was, I mean, the event wasn't a big deal, but how we processed it was, I was like, oh, that didn't feel good, and then when we talked about it, it didn't get any better.

Am I the only one in the room that has that problem? Alright, so, so then we talked about it the next night, I brought it up again, and we talked through it again, and I will say when it came down to it, I was selfish. I, uh, I'll say it out loud. I didn't want to be told what to do. And in that, I got arrogant and defensive and why and how and I was caught in a sin.

The event wasn't a big deal. How we responded and how my relationship with my wife was like, Oh, and when I said it out loud, I just didn't want to be told what to do. I'm like, okay, that's immature. I'm sorry, will you forgive me?

So it says here, brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. So the, the goal is to restore and we can get caught in a sin. Now I listed a few there, arrogance, apathy, anxiety, anger. You could pick other sins. My dad was a, uh, psychologist for most of my life.

Well, he still is a psychologist, but he's, he's retired. Um, but he would talk about marriage counseling, and he'd talk about the big four A's. Uh, abuse, adultery, abandonment, and addiction. And, uh, those are enormous words, and there's no way that can't impact a relationship. And you say, okay, well, God's grace is rich.

God's grace is good. God allows us to seek forgiveness and repentance from those things. Praise God. Now, but, but then if you look at the, well, okay, everyone's a little bit arrogant. Everyone's, everyone's a little apathetic about some things. How big a deal is anxiety? I mean, isn't that what social media is for?

I mean, or there's anger or, I mean, my point is, is we minimize it. My point is where we maybe even excuse it, or normalize it. And, just like a body is meant to move, and a brain is meant to learn, a spirit is meant to be sensitive to the things of the Lord, and when we sin, we're not functioning the way God intended.

I, I have a plantar fasciitis problem at the moment, so I can tell you exactly on the bottom of my foot where it hurts. That's not the way my foot is designed to work. There's supposed to be tendons that do this, and right now they're kind of frozen, and therefore it kind of feels like a bruise on the bottom of my foot, and my tendon is not doing what it's designed to do.

If you take that thought with your spirit, there are times where we get caught in a sin, and we want somebody else to help, or we need somebody else to help restore us. God gives us two biblical words for being free from a sin. The first one is to confess. I am wrong. I want you to say that. I am wrong. Why is that?

Why are those words so hard to say? I'm wrong. God's way is best. My little example with my wife, it was I was, I didn't want to be told what to do. That's immature. I am wrong. To confess means to speak the truth. To repent means to be walking one way and to turn away from something. This is not repentance.

God, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Oh shoot, God, I did it again. I really mean it this time. Oh, darn it. There it is again. God, forgive me. That's not repentance. Repentance is this. I know it's easy to say in a stage and walk one way and do something else, but in our lives, confession and repentance are gifts, and they're gifts of the Lord, and they're hard every time.

So we who are spiritual are meant to help restore other people. Two cautions. Do it with gentleness. And make sure that, you know, that influence goes both ways. What's the opposite of gentle? Stop doing that. I mean it. If you do that one more time, I'm going to, how many of you have been yelled at in your recent life, Andrew, put your hand down.

When you're, when you get yelled at, you, you, you kind of stop listening. Or maybe your ears are listening and your heart's not listening, something like that. God says when you help restore somebody, be gentle. And know that influence can go both ways. Can you think of a time when someone was doing something bad, and you went and did it with them?

Maybe they were just telling a perverse joke and you laughed along.

We want to be salt and light to this world. Praise God. We are called to be sultanate. We are called to restore our brothers. But keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted.

Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Say that with me. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Praise God. All right. Andrew, I need you to move for a second.

All right, Pastor Jed, will you come sit in this chair, please? I did not prep him for this. He doesn't know what I'm going to do. Just go ahead and have a seat. There we go. All right. So we're gonna play a little game here and we're going to play a little Mario game. And so from here until the, the end of this, uh, row of chairs is now lava.

And so you can't touch the ground, so you need to take your feet off the ground. All right, good. All right. So Tim, will you please. Bear, Pastor Jed, to the other side of this, um, row of chairs. No, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you gotta pick them up. What? You can't do it? Bear, one another's burden, and still fulfill the law of Christ.

Alright, uh, youth group guys, come up. Come up. Josh, come on. Judah, come up. Come on. Alright, if you want to take a picture or video of this, feel free. Alright, we are going to now pick him up and bear his burden across 1, 2, 3, go. Oh boy.

Okay, set him down gently. Alright, round of applause.

Thank you. Thank you for being a good sport. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Thank you gentlemen for demonstrating bearing each other's burdens.

Let me read a passage. These are the words of Jesus. Out of Luke. And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And the lawyer said, you will love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. That's a good answer. And Jesus said to him, you have answered correctly, do this and you will live.

But the lawyer desiring to justify himself said, who's my neighbor?

Jesus said, a man was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho and fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. I know that's graphic, but I want you to, I want you to visualize that picture. Somebody who got jumped, got robbed, got stripped and beaten and left half dead.

Imagine that.

Now by chance, a priest was going down the road and when he saw him, he, what'd he do? Passed on the other side. So likewise, the Levite, when he came to the place, he saw him passed by the other Samaritan, but it's, or excuse me, passed on the other side. The Levite also passed on the other side, but a Samaritan.

Now the Samaritans and the Jews did not get along. In fact, they, the Jews thought the Samaritans were half breeds, half and half. You're polluted. You're not real Jewish people. We don't have respect for you. We mock you. We even avoid your territory. We're not going through there. So there's a beaten and half dead Jewish guy and a Samaritan passes by.

And when he came, he saw him and he had compassion. And that word compassion is a compassion that leads to action. It's not just say, be, be warm and be filled. I'm going to do something about it. He had compassion and he went and he bound his wounds and he poured oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

And the next day he took out two denarii, gave it to the innkeeper and said, take care of him and whatever you spend, I will repay when I come back.

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?

He's the lawyer said the one who showed mercy. Jesus said, go and do likewise, go and do likewise. So when it says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, that good, that good Samaritan did that. You might even drop the word burdens. He bared his neighbor.

He picked him up. He put him on his donkey. He brought him to a inn. Took care of them, a compassion that leads to action.

If you're writing something down, how can how can the spirit direct you toward purity and purpose this week? Jot a note maybe just have a moment of silent prayer. How can the Spirit direct you toward purity and purpose this week?

Next slide.

Galatians 6:3-6: Comunity and Responsibility

If anyone thinks he is something, then he is nothing. He deceives himself. But each one should test his own work and then he will have reason to boast in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Each one will bear his own load. That word deceived is it. How would you define deceived? Talk back to me.

How would you define the word deceived? Lied to? Misguided? Wrong thinking. You can deceive yourself. One of the scariest verses in the Bible, in my point of view, is, I think it's, it's Proverbs 12, 15. It says, Even a fool is wise in his own eyes.

Does that apply to Berean Bible Church? Does that apply to your leaders? Does that apply to the President of the United States? Does that apply to your husband or wife? Does that imply, uh, have an implication for your children? And most importantly, does it have an implication for you? We can deceive ourself.

That's, that's what this says. If anyone thinks he is something, then, then he is nothing. He deceives himself.

That's why we need one another. That's why we need spiritual disciplines in our lives. That's why we need prayer. That's why we need scripture. Uh, I said it earlier, the scripture is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and righteousness so that the man of God is thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We need to be in the word of God or James one actually says that it says, don't just be a man who looks at himself in the mirror and then goes away. Look at yourself in the mirror. Don't just be a hearer, but be a doer. This is a strong warning for the Pharisees who were very good at saying the right things and living for themselves.

It's also a strong word for evangelical Christians in America.  If anyone thinks he is something, then he is nothing, He deceives himself. Let's each one test his own work and then he will have reason to boast. In himself alone and not in his neighbor, let each one bear their own load. Let the one who is taught good things, let the one who is taught share all good things with the one who teaches.

Alright, so there's a good side to comparison and there's a bad side to comparison.

When you join a sports team, um, you may, whether it's basketball or golf, if golf's a sport, I would say golf's a sport. Um, Or running, or whatever it may be, you join a team, and you probably have some sort of coach, and you probably have some sort of teammates, and you do a lot of skill work. Like, hit the ball like this, shoot the ball like this, serve the ball like this.

You are meaning to mimic the ones who do it well. That's good training. That's what teachers do. Emily McKeehan is a middle school teacher at Berean Christian School and she writes things on the board in her English class and she wants the students to mimic proper grammar, understand literature, things like that.

That's the good side to comparison. Modeling, shepherding, mentoring, training. The bad side to comparison is, I'm better than you. Why can't you be more like me? We don't usually say those words, at least why don't, why can't you be more like me? But that's kind of how we feel, but pull up in your mind somebody who's somebody who's doing something wrong right now. Someone who's not living godly principles right now.

Do you, we don't say it, but we can feel why can't they be more, why can't they be more responsible, but what we can mean is why can't they be more like me? And there's an arrogance that goes along with that, can go along with that. Compared to fifth graders, I am great at football.

If I play recess, I'm pretty good. Compared to an NFL team, my Minnesota Vikings lost last week, yes. Still, still bad. Compared to an NFL team, I'm terrible. So you can always find somebody better than you, and you can always find somebody worse than you. And when you compare yourself to somebody better, you can get depressed. And when you compare yourself to somebody worse, you can get angry. What it's saying here is, work hard and be responsible.

Each one should bear his own load. So, there's a NPR, uh, story that I heard about, um, in Washington, D. C. There's a fire department called the House of Pain. I think it's engine company number 10. And they, they, they're one of the busiest fire department stations in America. They're, they work 24 hour shifts.

They are, it's, the, the guy reporting it was interviewing one of the firefighters and he's like, every shift is a beating. You start at, you, almost every hour, some sort of emergency goes off. Whether it's a fire, whether it's a car accident, whether it's a medical emergency, the fire department responds to those things, and it's constant.

And it's hard and you don't get the rest that you think when you're going to go lay down from 1 to 2 a. m. And all of a sudden the fire alarm goes off and you're out the door again. It's constant.

The reason NPR was doing a story on this is because there's a waiting list to get into the house of pain. Fire, firefighters want to join that team and they can't because there aren't any open slots.

And the argument is, or the experience is, when you work that hard with that level of intensity, it forms deep and lasting bonds. You end up having deep relationships with good people for decades because you're that, you're in that much of a crucible all the time. Does it surprise you that there's a waiting list?

They're working hard, and it's not that we're sometimes afraid of hard work, I think we're afraid of loneliness.

Let each one test his own work, and then he will have reason to boast in himself alone and not in his neighbor. Let each one bear his own load. God has given you gifts and responsibilities, and he desires that you use them. My gifts are not the same as yours. Who's better positioned to share Christ with your neighbor, you or Pastor Jed?

You.

You have a relationship. You know who they are. You might have helped rake leaves. Maybe you pray with them. Maybe they're not believers at all. It's a beautiful picture for this room. For how many of this room lives in North Hills and how many names, you know, it's a good big list. You are engaging your neighbors.

That's how evangelism works. It's how discipleship works. It's relationship. So don't compare and each one bear their own load. And then it says. Uh, let the one who has taught good things share good, share all good things with the one who teaches. At the time, this was actually a financial gift. So many of the rabbis and teachers of the law would kind of become itinerant teachers.

And then they would attract a following. And if you, if somebody was your teacher, you would support them financially. So the, the original picture is a Taking care of somebody, including taking care of their physical needs.

We can do way more than physical needs. I, I will say that I was blessed by this body during Pastor Appreciation month. The number of cards, the number of thank yous, the number of gifts back. It's sweet. Uh, Tim and Colleen and the Awana team, they write pastor appreciation notes and I get stacks of. I get stacks of cards from the, from the Awana kids and many of them have misspelled words and they're, they're not organized, but you know what they say?

Thank you for teaching. Thank you for loving. Thank you for leading. I'm not sure what your best way of supporting those who have gone before you in the faith is, but show gratitude. Give thanks.

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Uh, do this right now. Find some, stand up, find somebody in this room to say thank you to for their good example or for their hard work. Do this right now. Stand up right now.

Thank you, you're the best. All right, go ahead and find your seat. Thank you. Okay, turn off the thank yous. That's enough. Put it away.

Thank you, guys. Thank you for such a great room.

As a father, since I, since I have the microphone, I will say thank you for all the Children's workers who pour into my children. And I have a three year old through a 15 year old. We're in diapers and we're in driver's ed. Thank you for loving my family. Thank you for pouring into my children.

All right, go ahead and flip slides.

Galatians 6:7-8: Harvest

We continue with this picture principles of life, God's design. And it says this next section is let, um, do not be deceived. There's a word deceived again. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that he will also reap. The one who sows in his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows in the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

I'm going to flip over to Genesis chapter 6. This is one of the worst passages in the Bible.

Genesis chapter 6, verses 1 through 8. Then man began to multiply in the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them. And the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive, and they took them as their wives, as they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh.

His days will be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. And they were mighty men who were of old and men of renown. And the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of his thoughts and hearts were evil constantly.

Gosh, verse six. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth. And it grieved him to his heart. The King James uses the word and the Lord repented. The Lord turned away from man. The Lord regretted humans.

And it grieved him to his heart. The fact that we can grieve God, the fact that God makes himself vulnerable to us. I'm sure we'll never understand that gift.

But it, it says here that the Lord was grieved to his heart and the Lord said, I will blot out man from, from that I have created from the face of the earth, man and animals and creeping things, birds in heaven, for I am sorry that I've made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

So when you go back to this verse, do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For what you plant is going to grow.

Lies we can believe. I'll get serious about that when I get older. I'll get serious about my faith when I get older. It's not true. It's not good. That's not just a youth verse, by the way. That's a human verse.

Another lie we believe. God will forgive me. I have said that to myself. God will forgive me. Romans chapter one, or excuse me, Romans chapter six. Shall you go on sinning so that grace may abound? What's the next phrase? By no means.

We can deceive ourself and we can think we're getting away with something. And what Paul is saying here is don't be deceived. God is not mocked. What you plant is going to grow. The seeds you plant are going to grow in your life and in the lives of the five closest people to you.

If you go back to the deeds of the flesh. Uh, I'm back in 519. Now the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envying, drunkenness, and orgies. And things that I warned you, as I warned you before, those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

When you plant those things in your life or give yourself over to them, it says that's not of the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the spirit. Say it with me again. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control against such things. There is no law. This room does those things well. Thank you for planting those seeds in my life. Thank you for planting those seeds in one another's lives.

Because it says that, Don't be deceived, God's not mocked. What you sow, you will also reap. From the flesh, you will reap corruption. But from the spirit, you will reap eternal life. That word, spirit. I know this is a weird statement. But God's not an idea. God is a being. And so when we talk about the Father, we talk about the Son, we talk about the Holy Spirit, those are beings that we interact with.

So when it says the fruit of the Spirit, or when you sow according to the Spirit, you interact with the Spirit. When you sow in the flesh, you're doing it by yourself. When you sow in the Spirit, you're interacting with God Himself. That's why it's called the fruit of the spirit. God is producing it in you and in me.

Worship is a picture of sowing in the spirit. Giving is a picture of sowing in the spirit. Fasting is a picture of sowing in the spirit. Intercessory prayer is a picture of sowing in the spirit. Sacrificial time energy is a picture of sowing in the spirit.

Answer that question to yourself. How can you sow seeds of righteousness in your life this week? How can you sow seeds of righteousness in your life this week? Because what you plant will grow.

Now take it one step further. How can you plant seeds of righteousness in somebody else's life this week?

I'll take it one step further. Who do you want to be around? So they plant seeds of righteousness in your life?

Don't be deceived. God's not mocked. What you sow, you will also reap. If you sow in the flesh, you'll reap corruption. If you sow in the spirit, you'll reap eternal life. Last slide.

Galatians 6:9-10: Do Good

So then, and let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we don't give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially those who are in a household of faith.

I was at a breakfast this past week and somebody was talking, we were talking about, or two weeks ago we were talking about these verses and somebody at the table said, well, we were talking about seasons and somebody said, it takes about 55 days to grow green beans. I didn't know that. By the way, I looked it up.

55 days to grow green beans, between 58 and 65 days to grow corn, depending on your type of corn, tomatoes are 60 days plus, and strawberries depends what kind of strawberries you got.

And let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season. We will reap if we don't give up.

There are seasons to life, but the focus is on doing good. It is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. That takes time. God knows that. We forget that. Or we live in a microwave world of, come on, give me the answer now.

Don't give up. I've, I've, I've run, I think, seven marathons with people in this room. I'm grateful for them. When you run a marathon. You have to slow yourself down at the beginning of the race on purpose because you, you, it's race day and you get your little tag and your number on and you're out there and you're, it's usually cold before the race starts and you're ready to go and you, you know, you got all these people around you and there's some sort of a national anthem and then somebody shoots a gun and then you start to run and you can run too fast to the beginning.

So you kind of have to temper yourself because the goal of the marathon, at least the goal for the marathon for most people is, is not. Olympic training, the goal of the marathon is to finish. And so, mostly, the goal of the marathon is not to give up. My first marathon was in Louisville, Kentucky. And, uh, at mile 16 of 26, somebody was yelling, Almost done!

I didn't have the energy to yell back, but I remember like, nah, I'm not almost done. And then, the marathon used to be 24 miles long. That's the distance from the story from Marathon to Athens. And then in the 1924 Olympics, they extended it from 24 to 26. 2. The story is because the Queen wanted it to finish in front of Buckingham Palace.

And so therefore, now the marathon is 26. 2 miles because the Queen wanted it to finish in front of the palace. So it's a little customary to mutter words about the Queen at mile 24.

Don't give up. Winston Churchill, during the bombing of the Luftwaffe on London, had a very hard decision. They made a movie called The Darkest Hour. And what's Winston Churchill's message? Never give up, never give up, never give up. Never give up, never give up, never give up. I'm grateful that bombs are not falling on us.

For the kingdom of God, let us not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we'll reap if we don't give up. And then it closes with, And then as we have opportunity, let us do good. There it is again, do good. As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially those in the household of believers.

When you read that last sentence, grateful for opportunities this week to be like your Savior. How are you grateful this week to be like your Savior? I'm gonna go over to, um, Psalms to close, worship team, if you wanna come back up.

Psalm 119, excuse me, Psalm 119. Not going to read the whole thing. I know you want to go home. Psalm 119.

Uh, this is the, uh, second section, verse nine through 16. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart, I seek you. Let me not wander from your commands. I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes.

With my lips I declare, with all the rules of, all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight, as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, and I will fix my eyes on your way. I will delight in your statutes, I will not forget your commands.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word here.

Thank you for these principles of life. Thank you that you are the designer and thank you that you grant to us forgiveness and one another and the opportunity to work hard and The opportunity to walk with you and your spirit Thank you that you are the Savior. Thank you that you are God. Thank you that you are our Lord Help us this week to do good Help us this week to encourage one another.

Thank you that you modeled this for us. Uh, thank you that we can look to you, the author and the perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider him who has done such things, so that we may not grow weary and lose heart.

Thank you for these truths. Put them in our hearts, put them in our minds, and may your will be done. Thank you for one another, and thank you for this church, and thank you for, um, the ability to speak your word. In your precious name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.